A Reminder
Don’t forget, if you want to catch up with new posts please visit our new blog http://thriftlane.wordpress.com/
See you there!
We’ve Moved
We’ve been thinking about this for a while, but the Husband and we have finally decided to merge our blogs together into an all round super-mega-awesome blog. It will combine my crafty and thrifty posts with his allotment based talk, with a few new sections too. It’s all very exciting and I hope you can ll join us there http://thriftlane.wordpress.com/
And Now For Something Completely Different
This blog focuses quite heavily on my various craft projects. That is all I write about in fact. There is something else I would like to share with you though, and that is my love of thriftiness in the kitchen. I like to try and make a meal from nothing, or from the cheapest ingredients I can find. Having an allotment definitely helps. We have things like potatoes, onions, courgettes and sweetcorn in abundance, but I also like the challenge of looking around the kitchen and making a meal out of whatever I can find. Above all, I hate food waste. We throw away a ridiculous amount of perfectly edible food in this country. With this in mind, I found myself looking at a rather large bag of eating apples this morning. We had been given them by the in laws and they were beginning to look rather sorry for themselves. But what to do with apples? I have many crumbles in the freezer, we’ve only just had apple muffins, there is apple sauce in the cupboard…
The inspiration came when I least expected it. I had asked for a slow cooker as a wedding present. Not an ideal present for some I grant you, but after a couple of weeks I couldn’t be without it. It make tea times with a toddler an absolute dream. I was searching for such a tea time recipe when I stumbled across a recipe for apple butter. I had never heard of this before but it was described as being an apple spread that could be used on anything, so I gave it a go and it is absolutely delicious, and incredibly easy. If you have a slow cooker, definitely try it, if not, I’m sure it can be made on the hob
Apple butter recipe:
1kg of apples
1 cup of caster sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of salt
Peel, core and chop the apples, put all of the ingredients in to the slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours. Stir every half an hour to avoid burning. Half way through the cooking time use a stick blender to blend the apples til smooth. When it is cooked it should be golden brown and a spreadable consistency. It can then be stored n the fridge for a couple of weeks or frozen. I suggest eating it on toast. It’s really delicious!
Making something out of nothing
As I have probably mentioned before, I made a lot of bunting for our wedding (I know, that’s the last time I promise). There was tons of scraps from cutting out the triangles, but it seemed such a shame to throw so much away. I had a look on Pinterest for ideas and found a few posts that were about making fabric yardage out of scraps. Being the thrifty type I liked this idea, so I had a root around to see what I had.
The method I used was with bondaweb. I just unrolled some and overlapped the pieces on top of it, pressing with an iron as I went. There may be a better method, but if you can’t find one, try and be careful. Bondaweb is a devil to get off your iron.
After ironing it all I trimmed it to make it neat, and then I used my sewing machine to zig zag stitch around the pieces to secure them. Ta dah.
The idea was that I would make Mr and Mrs cushions for the bed, but I haven’t quite got round to that yet! Another thing to add to the list!
Getting back in the swing of things
Our wedding was beautiful, our honeymoon couldn’t have been more perfect, but now we have to get back into the swing of things. Not that I’m that happy about it, I’d give my left arm to pick up and move to Whitby. But, it’s nice to be home and to get things back to normal.
I was rushed off my feet before the wedding, but I still managed to start half a dozen things. Now I’ve got a lot more free time, so I’ve knuckled down and got some of it done. Within a few days of being back I managed to finish a top for Bobbin, and yesterday I got my crochet skirt finished. It hasn’t lightened my load any, but now I can get started on things for Christmas. Yes, I mentioned the C-word, and it’s fast approaching so I’d best get started!
Getting things done
I had a good look at all my WIPs recently. Then I looked at my stash, and all the projects I wanted to start, and calculated I’d be around 60 before I had worked my way through it if I carried on at this rate. Something had to be done. I had to, gulp, finish some projects.
And I did just that. Turns out that if you don’t start a new project every other day, you can actually get some done!
First done were my socks, which you might recognise from my previous post about WIPs. Impressively, these were on my needles for about 3 years.
Then there was my thrifty shawl, which I started in order to use up my scraps. This was a long time ago and my stash has doubled since then. At least. However, it is finished.
And also, a relatively new addition to the WIPs, a collar that was supposed to take a weekend that I started in June. Done!
Of course now I’m free to start lots more things. Yippee!
A Break
I’ve been knitting the same complicated lace snood forever. I’m 7 repeats in to 11 repeats and it turns out I don’t have enough yarn, and I can’t get it anymore. I decided to weave in some contrasting sock yarn alongside my existing yarn to make it go further…
Anyway, this was driving me insane and I needed a break, a nice quick project I could knock out in a couple of hours. I decided to supersize one of A Creative Beings mandala patterns from Simply Crochet. I used a 10mm hook and super chunky yarn and turned it into a rug for the bedroom. I’m quite pleased with it, and it only took a couple of hours. I feel all refreshed to go back to my snood now. Eventually…
The Napkin Project
A while back I came across a post on A year without supermarkets blog about the napkin project. They were asking for people to embroider a napkin with an idea of what home means to you, and these would be presented to Saffron Gardens, a dementia care home in Bristol. The idea is that a creative environment can stimulate and encourage creativity in those suffering from dementia. Dementia runs in my family and I saw at a young age how it took hold of both my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother. My Grandmother bought me my first embroidery kit, so this is a project I felt that I really needed to be a part of. My Husband-To-Be helped me plan the design, as I wanted it to represent all of us as a family, and here it is
This corner represents me and my love of crafts. Incidentally, if anyone finds yarn in this colourway could you please let me know?
This corner represents my wonderful better half and his thriving allotment
And this is our 2 year old daughters’ hand print.
It was actually quite difficult to give this away, but I know it’s for an amazing cause that I’m really proud to say I’m a part of. I think I might make another just for us though.
Liebster Award
I’ve have been spending most of my time running around like a headless chicken making and organising for my upcoming wedding. This has left me little time and inclination to write a blog post. I would however like to graciously accept a Liebster award from Emma over on EmmaMade. Go and check her out, it’s a lovely blog full of wonderful things.
She describes the award (or rather had the award described to her) as thus “The Liebster award, though information on its origins are fuzzy, is an award for bloggers with less than 200 followers who are nominated in light of deserving recognition and encouragement for their blogging work and talent. Liebster, the sweetest German word you ever did hear”.
1. What inspired you to start blogging?
I started the blog as a way to show a few ladies what I was making. When I began it was really just to show people what I intended to sell. It’s changed an awful lot since then, as I’ve been inspired by a great many beautiful and informative blogs.
2. Stand out moment of 2013 so far?
My first crochet workshop, which has led on to a fair trade craft workshop I’ll be doing in October.
3. What is your horoscope sign and do you think it relates to your character?
I’m Scorpio, not that it makes much of a difference!
4. Do you have a geek-girl passion? If so, what is it?
Erm…Batman, X-men, The Hulk, Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Stargate SG 1, Buffy…nope, I’m not much of a geek really.
5. What has been your favourite blog post so far?
My last one as it included a pattern which I wrote by myself, and it got lovely feedback.
6. The Beatles or Rolling Stones?
The Beatles. Obviously
7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Anywhere. Except Sainsburys. I really hate Sainsburys
8. Baz Luhrmann – love him or hate him?
Loved him, now I hate him.
9. What is your life’s motto?
I’ll finish it tomorrow.
10. What one piece of advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t worry about what other people think. They’re probably idiots anyway!
So with that, I will pass this award on to some of blogs that I really enjoy, I’m I’m sure you will too.
If you’d like to take part, please share 10 interesting facts about yourselves. Happy blogging everyone!
Bluebird Vintage 