garden party love

I've been meaning to upload these photo's for a couple of weeks, but as usual, I keep getting sidetracked. The other weekend we had a family gathering at 'The Mill', my mother's family home, and still home to my grandmother and mother's brother.
You see the Mill is actually a real, still working flour mill that is in Ponder's End (located in between Enfield and Chingford) on the River Lea. It is the family business and has been for 140 years, and the Mill itself is even mentioned in the Doomsday Book, if you are interested you can read more about it here (if you do read it Ken was my grandfather and David who is in charge now is my uncle.)



You may have seen our bread and cake mixes in you supermarket (Wright's) we also make the own brand flour for Waitrose and Budgens and Warburtons (also a long standing family run business) use our flour to make their bread. If you watched 'The Great British Menu' last year One of the chefs from the South East choose our Sungold Pastry Flour to make shortbread for his dessert.



More than anything the Mill is full of lovely childhood memories for me. Since my mother was a girl there has been a swimming pool there, and I have fond memories of garden parties we had when I was a child, when all us cousins would clamber out of the swimming pool all shivers and goosebumps, wrap up in towels and feast on doorstep sized jam sandwiches made from Mimi's (my grandmother) homemade rasberry jam and freshly baked bread from from the test bakery.





We where lucky with the weather (as alway's with Mimi's garden parties) and it was a beautiful day, as always she took me on a tour round the walled garden



wouldn't it be lovely to have agreen house/potting shed like this...



on the way to vegetable patch, I managed to acquire some beetroot and a recipe for pickling them!



and this the window of a little out building, used buy my mother before and after my birth, as her pottery.



A glimpse of the River Lea, where the Mill would have originally got it's power from.



Finally, on a slighty less picturesque note, it's amazing what can happen after a few glasses of wine, and with the help of a highlighter pen, a uv light and few cousins.

Lucky number 18

After giving everyone who entered the giveaway a number, and asking Ella to choose one, the winner is number 18, Cathy of Pink Green, Congratulations!

I will be sending of your surprise package off very soon, (please email your address!).

But please remember that everyone who entered the giveaway will receive a little token of thanks, so if you haven't already, please email me your postal address via the email contacts link on my 'about me' blog profile so I can pop it in the post (including Alison of So Tread Softly who kindly said not to worry about sending her anything as she lives in NZ, don't worry I'll send something light!)

ISFJ?

So this is my personality. I would agree with most points, but I definately don't think I could take the pressure of being a chef, and I don't always get things done on time, maybe in the nick of time!

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal. A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways. In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music. You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for. In love, you express your emotions through actions. Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well! At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time. You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist. How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

Seaside love

It's been a while but I have finally got round to uploading my photos of southwold, unfortunately about half are missing. I took them using my mum's camera, (because the battery pack in mine isn't holding it's charge anymore, and is always switching off) but when I put the SD card back into mine when I got home, they seemed to have disappeared, and they aren't on my mum's camera either.

I have finally given in to getting a new camera, so after a bit of blog and review reading, I have made my choice, and hopefully it is winging it's way to me as we speak, yippie!

But in the meantime here are some lovely beachy pictures from beautiful southwold....



I loved this one, someone had their children (or grandchildren) waving from a window painted on the wooden shutters of theirs.




We couldn't keep Ella out of the sea, although she never went in deeper than bottom level, we all had a paddle too, But Danny won the award for bravery (or stupidity) and had a rather chilly evening swim after too many pints of Broadside in the Nelson!


These are my lovely things that I brought home with me, some lovely stripey towels in pink/white and blue/white, two new baskets, the shopper was £11 and Dad bought me the lovely green one (such a lovely shade of green) for my vegetable patch (it's available online from Garden Trading if you fallen it love with it like I did and at a reasonable £13.50)


I couldn't resist this pretty rose enamel basin, although I'm struggling to find a place or use for it, as Danny keeps reminding me.


and here are some beach finds, (apart from the shell) a piece of wood, painted a pretty shade of pale blue, two stones with a hole right through, they are supposed to be lucky so I'm told......


as well as these lovely weathered bricks, they crop up all over the beach, I wonder where they came from, and what they used to be?


In keeping with this post's seaside theme, I've recently discovered a lovely new blog called driftwood shack, so if your hankering after some more seaside love, pop over and say hi.

Finally, thank you to all of you that have entered my blogiversary giveaway, I will be announcing the winner on friday, but remember, everyone who entered is a runner up and gets a little present so please email your addresses via the link on my 'about me' profile, so I can start sending your little packages!

Happy Blogging Birthday To Me!

x


Well to be truthful it was actually yesterday, but things have been busy this week (more later).

So in true blogging style we have cupcakes to celebrate, and a giveaway, Yea!

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started this little blog, and I'm so glad I did, I've got to know some lovely people, and made some lovely blogging friends who share my passion for "others people's old crap" as my husband calls it, my love of making and painting things, and all the other nice things in my life, as well as inspiring me and cheering me up with your lovely comments when I'm feeling low.
I still feel real excitement when I check my inbox and see that someone has left me a comment. Although over time my posts have been become less frequent (after the initial buzz of having a new blog) I still love my little blog and appreciate every little comment that anyone makes, even if I don't get time to answer them all (or if I forget!)
Thank you so much to all of you that have visited me from the beginning of my blogging days, and to all of the new people that pop by too.

So to show my thanks I am holding a giveaway, but with a difference, there will be one main winner, but everyone who leaves a comment will receive a little token of thanks, it could be some ribbon or lace, some bits of fabric, a handmade card, or something else, who knows!

The main winner will receive a larger package, stuffed with some fabric, vintage buttons, ribbon and lace, perhaps a pretty vintage cup and saucer and some other little treasures that I can lay my hands on.

All you have to do to enter is to tell me what your favourite colour is, and tell me about one of your most favourite things that you have in that colour. If that makes sense!

Now, I have to show you some of my latest treasures........


My latest haul from the lady with the junk stall at the Saturday market in town, you have to look hard because most of it is a bit grubby, the candlestick holder was really dirty and covered in old wax but it scrubbed up lovely, along with the three pretty floral ceramic brooches.
The embroidered picture was a great find but was in a falling apart dodgy black plastic frame with a very dirty mount, here I've already put it in new frame and mount from the hardware shop, which has now been painted in ivory.


Next is my latest charity shop finds, all vintage cotton pillowcases, on different days, in different shops, but for the grand total of £4.45


These were the first £1.95 for a pair of pink candy stripe with a ruffly edge.


Next where a pair of white cotton housewife pillowcases with a pretty hand embroidered edge for £1.25


and finally a pair of white cotton square oxford pillowcases dotted with little embroidered blue roses for £1.25

all in mint condition without any stains, you can imagine my joy, all I need now is some square pillows to put the blue rose pillowcase on! I am doubly pleased as well, because charity shop finds are becoming very thin on the ground in my neck of the woods, and often when you do find them they are a bit overpriced for my liking.


Oh....I almost forgot, the reason for me being rather busy this week is my new project, on Monday I was chatting to my neighbour over the garden fence about the fact that I was keen to start a vegetable patch (spurred by recent TV chefs that shall remain nameless, as I'm sure you know who I mean) but due to long waiting lists for the council' s allotments and the restricted space in my garden I wasn't having much luck.

Anyway she mentioned that a while back she used have a vegetable patch towards the back of our other neighbour's (86 yr-old Joe) rather large garden, but after an operation a couple of years back she gave it up, but she was now keen to start again. So later that day she had a word with Joe, as she knew he was having trouble up keeping what was grass and hedge, and so in return for keeping the back of the garden tidy, and a few vegetables once they are grown I am now the proud owner of a plot.

So this whole week has been spent clearing the long grass and brambles, digging new beds, huffing and puffing, and constructing wooden frames to create two neat beds of my very own, I'm so pleased, and even more pleased I did all the back braking work to get them!

It has been a bit of a race against time, because as you will probably know if you are a veg grower, it's a bit late in the season, so time is of the essence to get some use out of it this year.

Also, tomorrow we are off to Southwold for the weekend. Mum and Dad have rented a house there for two weeks right on the sand dunes next to the beach (and it's got a verandah!), and we are to be the first of their many guests. So Lily is being bundled off for her first stay in kennels, and the car is already loaded up with buckets and spades, balls, picnic paraphernalia, polka dot windbreak, and clothes for all weathers (the forecast hasn't been great, but that won't dampen my spirits, we will cook sausages on the beach!) So wish me luck, and fingers crossed it doesn't rain too much!

four years ago.....

Danny and I got married, it was a very 'homemade' wedding, I made the invitations, Mum and I bought and arranged the flowers the day before the wedding (luckily the man had plenty of Peonies), the food was a typically English buffet, with coronation chicken, plenty of salads, cold beef and ham, salmon, strawberries, meringues, cream, and chocolate torte all made by myself, mum, my sister, my grandmother and Danny's brother.

Phillippa made us a gorgeous wedding cake similar to one I had seen in a magazine, with beautifully made pink sugar roses in between the layers (I shall have to find a photo). We had the reception in the evening in a marquee in Mum and Dad's garden decorated with fairy lights and plenty of tea lights inside and out and the luckily although it had rained a couple of days before, we had lovely weather.


I'm so glad that I chose Peonies for the flowers, because they are only really around for June, and so it's always just before our anniversary that I see them in the florists, and I can't resist buying a bunch!


The only thing I regret about our 'homespun' wedding is that we didn't get a proper photographer. Although everyone took photo's at the wedding, and gave them to us, with all the commotion getting everything ready in the marquee before everyone arrived we forgot to take photos of everything laid out beautifully before it had been 'trashed'

I love this photo of Ella at our feet, see was six months old when we got married and I was still breast feeding her! She slept throughout the evening reception, but when we got back to the hotel she wouldn't go back to sleep, so she kept us up all night. At 6 in the morning Danny got up and took her to his mum's who lived round the corner just so we could get some sleep!

This was taken at the reception towards the end of night after plenty to drink and lots of dancing looking slightly dishevelled. I think it was one of the rare points that night that we were together, we spent so much time making sure we spoke to everyone there and thanked them for coming and for bringing presents, that the evening went so quickly!
So to anyone reading this who helped out with our day, thank you so much, it was such a lovely party, and we couldn't have done it without you!

Bottling Spring

Last weekend on the way to Mum and Dad's I noticed the elderflowers where out, and when we arrived I announced that I want to make elderflower cordial or as Ella has now dubbed it "flower juice", so after the rain had subsided Mum, Ella and I put our wellies on, grabbed a basket and a pair or scissors and set out foraging for elders in flower, and within our reach.

Due to the fact this had been a rather off the cuff, must do it right now, urge to create, make or cook something, I hadn't actually looked up any elderflower cordial recipes so I was unaware:  

No.1 How many or much elderflower heads we needed

No.2 that you are supposed to collect the elderflower heads on a sunny day when their pollen is most strongly perfumed

No.3 what other ingredients are needed. 

We decided that the more elderflowers the better and managed to gather a huge amount (rather too much as I discovered later) and I have say, it was almost worth it just to be able to put your nose in that basket and draw in all that beautiful scent.

When I got back home that sunday evening I got straight on t'internet and after some research discovered that I needed more sugar than I had, more lemons that I had, and some citric acid, which I didn't have any of! So back in the car for a quick trip to the co-op where I managed to get lemons, sugar, but not surprisingly they didn't have any citric acid. Not to be defeated I decided to make it anyway, citric acid or no citric acid. 

If you search elderflower cordial on google lots of different recipes come up, and all of them are slightly different (amount of lemons to citric acid, and amount of time you leave the infusion to steep) but in the end I chose this one, doubled the quantity, and added the citric acid to the mixture the next day when I had managed to track some down from my local hardware shop that sells wine making stuff. (If you are looking for citric acid you might be able to get some from your pharmacy). 

It made five bottles, one of which is already finished, and one now on the go and one gifted to my mother. I used two plastic bottles which I didn't sterilize, but used these first and kept them refrigerated, and three glass bottles, which I sterilized using the tips in the recipe I have linked to above.

Apart from sourcing the citric acid it was really easy to do, and apart from the boiling water and bottling it's a good recipe to make with children (Ella loved it that we made 'juice' from flowers that we picked from a tree in the hedgerow of a field, and she loves drinking the end result!)

Pretty things

I found some lovely things for the website in the last couple of weeks, and have managed to upload a few things in the last few days. Here is a sneeky peek.



I think this embroidered pyjama case is so cute, I almost didn't part with it, but I can't keep everything I buy, Danny would soon put a stop to that.


I have found a few bits of violet china recently, including this espresso cup & saucer which is one of a pair, a matching sugar bowl, and this pretty milk jug below, I just love the gilded pattern printed over the top.


There is a few rose tea sets one for two, one for four, and one for six people, so the choice is yours.


and one of my particular favourites at the moment is this gorgeous embroidered petite point floral hand bag, with a gold tone frame, set with what looks like a jade finial and tiny enamel flowers and lined with oyster coloured silk satin.


All of these are on the website now, along with a few more new things, so pop over and have a look, the link is in my sidebar.

Oh what a beautiful day...

Frilly tulips...


Pretty forget-me-nots


This striking little fellow


does anyone know what it's called?


one of my car boot treasures, 20p unfortunately it has a hairline crack, and no saucer, but it is so beautifully delicate and hand-painted too, if you look carefully you can see the tiny brushstrokes.


The perfect lunch on a warm sunny day


I made this simple pasta sauce from a tin of sainsburys taste the difference cherry tomatoes (49p a tin) that I discovered the over day, a little bit more expensive than your bog standard tinned tomatoes, but definately worth the extra.
I made it with what I had left over in the fridge and what I had in the garden so very cheap and low effort.

1. simmer the tin of tomatoes on the hob with a few sprigs of thyme (or basil, parsley, oregano what ever you have in the garden) and a 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally, and squashing some the tomatoes with the back of the spoon if you want.

2. stir in about a tablespoon of low fat creme fraiche (if you have it) to thicken the sauce a little (although the sauce in the tin is quite thick already) season to taste, and heat through for a further 5 mins.

3. tip the sauce into the pan of cooked and drained pasta and stir through coating the pasta, letting it sit for a minute or two allowing it to soak up some of the sauce.

4. serve in a bowl crumbling over some feta or goats cheese (or grated Parmesan, what ever you have in the fridge really) sprinkle with a few fresh thyme leaves (or other fresh herb), bit of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil if your feeling a bit like Jamie.

5. Crack open a bottle of chilled white wine!

I would say this would do two generous bowls of pasta, but for more, just double the quantity.

Craft Fair Fun

As promised here are some pictures of my stall at the craft fair, we where so lucky with the weather, I even got burnt!
I didn't make an absolute fortune, but I did make enough to make it worth my while, and it was such a lovely afternoon.

Mum came and provide transport there in the form of her old volvo estate (which is as old as my soon to be 21 year old sister, but it's still going!) and she kept Ella amused all day, there was also another little girl there, and they spent most of the day playing together, pestering the shop cat, and eating the cupcakes provide for customers! I must say, I was very proud, as lots of people came up to me and said how well behaved she was (shame she's not like that at home!)



As I said it was a beautiful day, and there was steady stream of customers, so It had been well advertised, although buying was a bit slow, and some people hadn't brought any cash.
I'm not sure what it would be like if it's raining on the day as it outdoor and there is no cover provided, I'm booked for the next one on Saturday May 31st, so fingers crossed it doesn't rain next time either.
Even though buying was slow, I still managed to take home £76, also I had invited a few family and friends who turned up through out the day to break things up a bit, and one customer even asked to take a picture of my stall, which was very complimentary



It was lovely to meet some other bloggers and etsy sellers there too, Piccolo, Lottie Frank, and Cheeky Leopard



I had asked Sophie at Sophie Stansfield Designs if I could take some of her super cute jars filled with felt 'sugar cookies' as I thought they would look lovely on the stall. They were very well received and I managed to sell a couple of jars, and lots of people took her moo cards home with them, so I hope she might get a few orders in the next few weeks.




I love this picture of Ella, even though she is scoffing her face with yet more junk!