THE POSTMAN COMETH.....!

Hello my lovelies (imagine this said with a warm southern drawl and not my squeaky Lincolnshire accent)

The postman cometh (in due course) to the following 3 wonderful bloggers for being the first to comment on my PIF post., and in doing so sign up to pass on a little act of kindness themselves. Their only commitment is to write a post in the same vein, pledging to Pay it Forward and send a little gift to the first 3 people to comment on their post. They will promise to send their gifts within the next 365 days, (but hopefully before)

The lucky ladies (this time) are...................... Susan from @home
                                                                     Em from Garden peas and fleas
and last but by no means least........................Jane from Marigold Jam

I will be sending out their parcels by the end of August, so if you can let me have your full names and addresses, (my Email is on my profile) that would be great.

And of course if you missed out this time, just pop to their blogs over the next week or so and you may be able to sign up there, although I know quite a few have just decided to do a post anyway and invite more people to join in.

And remember your gift doesn't have to be expensive or large, I am sure that something small made personally will be really appreciated much more in the spirit of PIF.

Thank you to whoever dreamed this up, I am glad I have taken part.

Hopefully next time I will be able to show you the progress with the puffin design!!

TTFN

Jenny xx

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE DONE UNTO YOU.....!

I hope that the title of this post grabs your attention.

I have just signed up to Pay it Forward (PIF) a lovely idea of passing on a kindness to others without expecting anything in return.  I am sure that there are a lot of folk out there who have already received parcels of goodies from complete strangers and wondered at their generosity. Well now we can pay a little back by keeping this ring of kindness going.
So...the rules...
I will send a gift to the first 3 people to comment on this post. I will promise to send it in the next 365 days (don't ask me where that came from, I will send mine by the end of August at the latest ). The only criteria is that if you sign up you must be prepared to send a gift to 3 other people by making your declaration in a post like this and sending your gifts to the first 3 people to comment and so on.
I don't know where the original idea for this started, I signed up with Jackanne of Starting Off.
I have never been a fan of chain letters but since each person chooses to join or not and are not coerced, I think it's a good idea and hope you do too!
Lets spread the bloggy kindness about, it's what we do best!!

.

....yes I know this has nothing whatever to do with this post, but isn't he so cute!! I am trying to draw a reasonable likeness to convert to embroidery for a new project, so thought I would just show you my model!

TTFN

Jenny xx

PS Dont forget the Blog meet coming soon!

STOP PRESS............PETERBOROUGH BLOG MEET!

If any of you lovely bloggers are within spitting distance of Peterborough on Friday 23rd July about 11.00 am, perhaps you would like to meet up for coffee, (and hopefully a cake), we do need to keep our strength up!

 I have been thinking of doing this for some time and now is as good as any. If you are interested please leave me a comment on this post and I will get back to you with the details.

I do hope a few of you can make it.

( image by doceopterix on Photobucket)

It would be so lovely to put faces to the wonderful blogs that we read, and chat about the great things you do! We're not standing on ceremony here, no panic about what to wear, you as comfortable as you like so that you can relax and enjoy it!

(image from photobucket)

I'll be wearing the pink ones!!

So come on girls sign up...I'd really like to meet you.

TTFN

Jenny xx

PS Will be back at the weekend (Saturday) to post about the Pay it Forward kindness giveaway, so if you've tried to sign up with someone else and just missed out here's another opportunity to join in.

TACKLING THE 'TO DO' LISTS

What a funny if typically British weekend this has been.
Saturday the temperature here barely topped 9 degrees, it was bloomin freezing!  Of course being me I'd decided to wear cropped trousers! Good job I popped a scarf round my neck before I trotted off to the shops or they might have found me days later frozen outside the butchers!
And then today..... bright sunshine, not blistering hot as it has been but around 19 degrees and certainly hot enough to sit in the garden until early evening.  It's no wonder our wardrobes are overflowing.  Gone are the days when we dared to take our winter clothes out at the first hint of spring and store them away with the moth balls (I never did this really...the smell! ooh no....) until autumn arrived.
However sometimes its the unexpected that spurs you on and forced to be indoors on Saturday I decided it was time to tackle that 'To Do' list. To be honest there was a pile of incomplete projects that I ought to have dealt with first, but.... I also wanted new bunting for the summer house, a new peg bag ( the plastic carrier hanging on the utility door now has only one handle), I had a pile of  T shirts to print for a family friend and a part of my daughters birthday surprise to make!!

And so T Shirts.....

.....done....Tick.

Bunting.......

 

.....done.....Tick

peg bag.......

......done....tick

Daughter's pressie........

.......done.......tick....... (Well I can't show you can I!)

And just to prove that I hve been busy in the week as well these are the little toadstools my grandson and I made from Das ( the air drying clay) and painted on Thursday. We are going to string them in a little garland for his bedroom..

And finally before they drop altogether we gathered these lovely roses from the garden. The perfume is beautiful, the real old fashioned scent, just like the ones we used to collect as children to put into water and make our own 'perfume'....

The little white ones are seagull which now covers the archway outside our kitchen door and the perfume wafts in everytime we open it , it's really lovely.

And so with this pretty image I will leave you...hope you all had a good weekend...

TTFN

Jenny xx

JUST FOR YOU....AND A LITTLE BIT ON THE SIDE

Yes this post is dedicated to all you lovely bloggers both old and new who have kindly taken the trouble to follow my complete ramblings.  I do try to check out all your blogs, though there are a few for whom I don't seem to be able to find any contact details.
So this is my big thank you.  I have had so many lovely comments, so much encouragement that if once I doubted my wisdom in doing this blog I certainly don't any more.  You may only be internet friends but I have felt some real warmth and reading all your lovely blogs, found some fantastic shops and been inspired by some great projects.
I have always thought how lucky I am, good health, lovely family and a home of my own, but now I feel even more blessed with all the new people I am 'meeting' every day.
So keep it up ladies (and gentlemen) you would be surprised how the smallest cheerful comment can brighten a dull day.


........ and now the little bits on the side.

I am pleased to have joined in a couple of little projects. The first is to make a raffle prize for Caithness Rare Breeds.
 Just a couple of my needlecases but embroidered with a sheep theme..

Why don't you pop along there to see all the amazing prizes that have already been donated. I am in awe and will definitely be buying tickets when they release them, hopefully any time now!

I have also joined in with pip at  Meet me at Mikes in her decorated envelope giveaway.
What a top idea and lucky the person who eventually receives what now appears to be a mountain of stuff. Got my fingers crossed....
Heres my effort and a peek at the goodies I've enclosed.....

I have tried to stick to the advise about only including small inexpensive things I had squirrelled away. A few ribbon roses and bows. a print to frame, some tags etc. I have decorated my envelope, but have cheated by putting it in another so that the customs label and postage don't cover it all up....I hope that's still Ok...I'm sure it will be...Pip is going to display all the envelopes in her shop window and then in 6 weeks, probably 5 now, she is going to draw one lucky winner to receive all this bounty!!!!
I have really enjoyed painting the envelope...perhaps I should learn to do my blog banner and make it really individual....Now I am getting carried away I think!!
However there's one thing for certain that I have learned from all this, that I really do enjoy giving as much as receiving.


Off to do a bit of ironing now before I have to go shopping for new clothes as they're all in the wash!...Don't think hubby will wear that one though.........

TTFN

Jenny x

JUST ONE DRESS....

Well lovely bloggers here it is finished at last.  Now I did warn you , I am definitely not a contender for Britain's next top model, and have to confess I wouldn't want to be. Frankly I have never felt so stupid. (or probably looked it), especially when the neighbour appeared to put out her washing and I was nonchalantly stood there in my best hat and jacket!!. In fact the funniest thing was she didn't even appear to notice, so at least when I go out  in my jim jams in future I needn't worry at all!!

Ta Daa!!

The finished dress.......front view...( I did press it honest, the wrinkles are me not the dress)

  

And the back....(note to self..need hubby to put fake tan on back before I actually go out in said dress)

 

Pop on a cardi, some heels and its lunch with the girls....

Change to flats and a pretty corsage and any one for tea!......

But throw on a hat a dressy bag and killer shoes and the instant answer to a last minute wedding dilemma...and all from one fairly plain semi fitted spotty dress....( have to confess this one felt better...could hide under the hat)

Its true what they say it's not what you wear but how you wear it!!

PS dress cost me £1.50.....for material, 50p for the zip and £1 for the lining.... not a bad bargain I think!

Thank you for bearing with me, and now you have seen me warts and all. I shall not inflict this on you again, well not too soon anyway. It will be a little while before I tackle the next one..

Enjoy the rest of your evening..and that drink.. I am off to get a large one now!

TTFN

Jenny xx

APRON SWAP 2010

Yippee!!

This week another super parcel arrived all the way from Australia. This was from the lovely Jan at Running Thread. You can see what I sent her there as I can't seem to find the pictures I took.....

Inside were 2 neatly wrapped parcels tied with pink and white spotty ribbon, (duly filed to be recycled on some future project) and 2 postcards. One had a lovely message from Jan and the other a recipe for fluffy pink undies!!! What more could a girl want!....pretty things and a recipe for booze!

Inside the parcels.....

A stunning apron and a heart shaped box with rose soap petals, absolutely gorgeous.  The latter is now sat in my bathroom with the pretty rose print bottle I acquired from the car boot.

How adorable is this.......

The flower detail on the bib....

.

The fabric detail....

Just perfect....Thank you again Jan xx

And a big thank you to Sarah at Red Gingham for organising the swap.

I'll be back tomorrow with some piccies of the finished spotty dress, so I warn you come armed with a glass of something 'cos model I am not!!

TTFN

Jenny xx

IM NOT ALL CAR BOOTS AND COLLECTIBLES.....

Though if you have read my posts just lately you would think that I was...

No my first love and the one I return to again and again is sewing...and not just cushions and bunting and needlecases but what I really love........dressmaking.

It all started many years ago, no doubt encouraged by a mother who made just about all my clothes, by hand, and I mean by hand as she never owned a sewing machine. But at the time like most kids I didn't appreciate it and especially as I reached my teenage years in the '60s'.

Twiggy, mods and rockers, (I was a mod..DH a rocker !!) Mary Quant, and so needless to say, to a trendy teenager, mum's best 'homemade' didn't really cut it.  It's funny to read though years later how Twiggy herself with all her fame made many of her own clothes and still does!

Well I was fortunate enough to meet a girl just as we started High school who also had an interest in fashion and like me no cash to splash....and her mum had a sewing machine!  And no that wasn't why I became her friend...and still am to this day, meeting every Wednesday evening for our own version of 'stitch and bitch'. Usually one of us sews and the other bitches about the rubbish on the tele.

Anyway we started by making simple skirts and gradually copied all the latest trends by either starting from scratch or remaking something we already had.

Oh we weren't brilliant by any means and I dread to think now what the finishing was like, but it worked, we enjoyed it and the seed was sown.

So many years on I still feel the need to sew. Sometimes because I just can't find anything that fits properly, sometimes because what I see in the shops is so shoddy for the price they're asking and sometimes just because I've found the perfect fabric.

Well the urge is upon me again. Having spent a few months doing swaps and giveaways I wanted a complete change so out came the patterns.

Well it is almost summer...and we have had some sun!

Over the years I have bought many patterns, but because I nearly always have to adjust them, I find I buy ones now with more than one option so that I can use it several times without appearing to always wear the same thing.  I am the classic English pear shape.....if you turn me on my head!! 

I found this natural and white spotted fabric in my stash and thought it would be perfect for the straighter style..

Just doing the final fitting and minor adjustments

...Zip gone in Ok (not pressed yet so don't look too closely) and waist seam nicely aligned...

All it needs now is the bodice lining attaching and the hem to be finished and I will show you a picture of the completed article.....and then of course there are the other styles

Fancy this one with a white band round the top, very 50s..

And this one for my holiday in France in September...now I wonder what fabric I should use...

Can you spot a bit of a theme here........ perhaps I'd better look through my stash again........perhaps ditsy roses ....or stripes..Oh no! imagine the problems matching that over my womanly curves!!

Too late to do any more now and so before I really do get spots before my eyes I will have to pack up. I will be back though to show you the result.

Hope you have all had a good weekend

TTFN

Jenny xx

HOW DID IT GET TO BE FRIDAY?.......

Well last time I checked it was Tuesday, which I thought was Monday...and now it's Friday and I just don't know where that week has gone!!

I said last time I posted that I would show my plunder from an intensive 3 days of scouring CBs....

Well.... to start with and apologies to the people of Wetherby who organised it Saturday was an Antique and Collectibles show!!...And as usual, since a good proportion of it was outside ..it rained all day!

We arrived in Wetherby itself about 11.30 and having refreshed ourselves with the obligatory bacon sarnie and cuppa we headed for the town hall where a small collectors fair was being held.

I did get this...

I do love advertising ephemera

Not much else appealed and despite the rain I did get these from the racecourse show

Golden dawn plates by Johnsons..If you're new here I collect the 'dawn' pottery and have just decided to collect all four icecream colours . Will have to get rid of some of the pale blue (called greydawn) to make room.

On Sunday it was the local CB...and the sun shone! But no bargains this time except for a couple of things that are to be surprise pressies so no piccies yet. However on Monday.........A veritable treasure chest..

A pretty box marked 4/- (4 shillings about 40p)

Holding these lovely hand embroidered tray cloths

Some Masons vista...only started collecting this to put red and white pottery on my white dresser. It does look good ........ and I only collect pieces I haven't got now!

A cute little water jug or maybe coffee pot, but a bit small I think!

A lovely rose patterned bottle for my bathroom...even the stopper is decorated..

And finally 2 Sylvac square dishes...such a pretty shade of pink..may not keep these but were too good a bargain to pass by

I did try to but this but I don't think the owner was very keen!

My SIL and I are now debating doing a stall at Lincoln showground at the monthly collectible fair, to have a bit of a clear out, ( only to make room for more of course...!), so if we do I'll let you know in case anyone lives hereabouts and would like to come and say hello.

.....Oh but before I go...

I received this super gift in the post today from Crystal, it was a raffle prize I won after making a donation to cancer research. I was amazed when I received the Email, as I have to admit I didn't even know there was a raffle. I was happy enough to donate anyway, as it is a cause close to my heart.  But thank you to everyone who organised it and especially to Crystal for this wonderful water bottle cover complete with water bottle.  They must have known that I am a real fan in the winter, even filling one and putting it on my lap on the coldest evenings and wrapping myself up in one of my quilts. Ooo heaven!

At least I will be very stylish this winter!!...and in case anyone organising anything for other good causes needs raffle prizes do get in touch as I would be only too happy to oblige. I have received such a mountain of wonderful gifts from so may people I have never met in these last few months that it would be a pleasure to give something back!

Hope your weekend brings you all sunshine even if the weather doesn't.....

TTFN

Jenny xx