Motivated and inspired by Daily Stitching

 

I got busy yesterday.  This little chair had been a rash buy and painted green and then "aged" - it just looked dirty.  A quick paint job was essential.  This morning I shall make up the little cushion in patchwork to set it off.

This is the old - solid oak - table I mentioned to help dress my Unit.  It was filthy (been in the stables for 25 years or so) so had to have a good scrub down and a paint job.

I glued the crinoline stretcher back into place and you can now SIT on this chair again!  I shall polish it to perfection later.

Then I got totally wowed by a Daily Stitching Design project I'd seen on Instagram (k.j.turner - stitching for life).  This is her wonderful project - I was so excited about this last night I thought about it every time I woke up!!  I ordered Volume two - Circles - and printed it off just before I went to bed, which was not a good plan for a quiet night's sleep :)

The individual designs are up to you, and I was tempted by the floral designs, but think I can do those myself, and am already planning a little wall hanging with the Uffington White horse as a central motif.  I have no end of embroidery threads and others . . . went searching for those before bed too!

I have masses of embroidery floss but I wanted this thread to do the separating bars between the designs.  I had quite forgotten the burr-wood needle holder.

I also found a bag with these threads in, bought years ago when there was a long-established craft shop in King Street in Carmarthen.  Covid did for them.

Plus some coloured tops for spinning practice.

Poor photo of the work that k.j.turner has shared on Instagram.  So I won't be doing all just circles.  Kate at the Last Homely House is doing this too, but will have probably bought all the design sketches.  I just blew £7 on one.  I have gone in my sewing cupboard and found one of the long lengths of linen an American penpal sent to me back in the 1990s! and has been put aside waiting for its turn to shine. I can't wait to get started!

This won't do.  Time to get cracking.

P.S.  With all this firing me up, I forgot to mention that Tam has a date for Rosie's injection, under general anaethstetic, at Cardiff hospital - next Tuesday.  I hope it all goes smoothly, and works.  Worrying all the same . . .

A new challenge, and a castle

 Well, that was a journey and a half yesterday.  I went to check the Unit out, but took the "quicker" x-country route, which of course wasn't really quicker as through villages and changes of speed from 50 to 20, and the 50 section was always where it wasn't safe to actually DO 50!  I knew it wasn't ideal, position wise, but it is so difficult to get a Unit these days - I have been trying for 2 years now.  I had a choice of two, as it happened, but opted for the smaller one, which was slightly cheaper.  I will give it 6 months and sdee how it pans out.  Now I have to try and sort out some permanent pieces of furniture for display purposes.  I have a good bookcase in the stables, and there's a shabby pine boxwhich looks like it might do, plus a painted-white-in-the-60's table which needs a lick of paint.  A job for a dry day (this weekend is looking good).  I came home via the longer main road, and got myself a new wheelbarrow, as the old one has holes in the bottom and a puncture. This one has a solid tyre.    I couldn't run to the two wheels type I liked the look of that RewildingJude has.  This was expensive enough!

I had a wander round Carmarthen, mainly to check out a house that Danny wants to buy.  I love it and hope it all goes through ok for him.

I took a few photos of Carmarthen castle as I was passing.  Sadly the Council built their council offices right in the middle of it . . .  I have yet to hear of any Council with a true sense of history  . . .

The imposing gatehouse.  Below, you can see the portcullis areas and murder holes.

The central part of the castle originally had a small gaol, which became extended in the late 1700s. 

A filled in window and two substantial fireplaces.

There were arrow-slits in each direction in this tower.

Many thanks to medievalheritage.eu from whom I copied these pictures of how the castle used to look.

If you go to the Wikipedia page, you will find the history.

Right, this won't do.  TIme to get the grime of ages off the table to paint . . .  I don't get into the unit until 1st July.  

Listen to your body . . .

 I have to say, the 3 day weekend was pretty full on.  I babysat Rosie on Friday - away out of the house by 7, and not back until gone 8 p.m. and then Rosie was still awake at 10 as she had slept in the car coming here from Aber.  I had no chance of "down time".

A rare Llandod picture.  This is now the pharmacy, and the road immediately by it leads down to the Lake.

Saturday we went to Llandod, and then Rosie was pretty full on back at home, and same on Sunday, though the day was broken up going to Brecon, and walking around the mostly empty town.  The Militaria Fair that Keith and I used to do was on in the Market building, so I popped in to say hello to some friends, had BIG hugs with them, and then joined Tam in the Cat Shelter charity shop.  All thoughts of going for a walk were off as it was threatening to rain on and off all day.

One of the huge Victorian houses in the town (which is 95% Victorian architecture, built in a short period to make the most of the Spa wells in the town). I loved the attic window design.

Tam and Jon had bought a huge, nay ENORMOUS tent from Vinted.  She put it (having been checked) in the back of my car, and we needed to get it out for the base to be totally dried off before it went back into the bag.  We managed it, between showers, but gosh, it's not easy to pack!  It's so big you could have a Festival in it!  Fortunately the rain held off long enough.

This was probably once a hotel.

Tam helped me with various jobs I had on my list.  The best thing she did was to change my Smarty phone plan which she had originally set up for 2G because I didn't use my phone much.  However, listening to (many) hours of Podcasts has decreed that I needed more and she upgraded it to 8G for the same money.  That put a smile on my face.  I am late to Podcasts but enjoy them SO MUCH.  Three Ravens is my favourite, and Dan's Snow's History Hit, Medieval Murders, Ramblings, The Poisoners' Cabinet.  Must look for Archaeology ones too.  OMG - just checked and don't know where to start!  Anyway, we sorted out banking too, Vistaprint for my business cards and got a sack (have 3) of FYM up to the top of the paddock for the Winter Squashes whichTam and Rosie sowed yesterday.  Didn't get around to bleeding the radiators, and I didn't sort out my small camera and charging/changing batteries until this morning.  Nearly there though, and Ed and friend carried up the other two sacks of FYM for me.

I felt really tired after lunch, and went for a nap and slept for over 2 hours, so that was the entire afternoon gone (was going to garden).  Tomorrow is another day.  Having Rosie here is exhausting.

I watched the final episode of Outlander last night - on tenterhooks tbh.  It was well done.  I won't spoil it for you in case you haven't watched it, but I do feel absolutely lost without it now.  Will have to buy her last book in case she writes a totally different ending.  We have all been reading the books/watching the series so many years, the characters seem almost like family now.  

Sunday Baking - Banana and Strawberry Loaf Cake

 

If you click on the recipe, it will enlarge and you can read it more easily.

From the latest  Landscape magazine.  I shall make this again.  Started it off at 7.30, and it takes an hour and a half in a mild oven (160 deg.)  Guess what we are eating for breakfast, still warm!  I had a bag of large frozen strawberries in the freezer - had to freeze them because I thought T&R were coming one weekend and got a BIG tray of them. Of course, once frozen they just go to mush and can only be cooked with.  Didn't want them to waste when they couldn't make it, so they came into their own this morning.  I cut down on the sugar content of this as there is natural sugar from the bananas.  

Enjoy!

Oh shoot . . . and a "scary fat" . . .

 I spent yesterday babysitting Rosie at Tam's - a long day as had to leave here at 7 a.m. and we weren't back till nearly 8 p.m. because of stopping for fish and chips in town on the way home.  Then, quickly warming plates, feeding cats etc, and at one point in the evening I saw Rosie carrying my bum bag.  "Heavy" she said.  This morning, is is lost.  Put somewhere by Rosie who of course can't tell us.  I have looked everywhere...  It, of course, has my bank cards in it.  I have looked EVERYWHERE.  Under beds and furniture, in and behind every cupboard.  I have looked all over the piles of everything in the Library, the most likely place.  Will have to start a more indepth search in there and get Tam to dowse for it (she's better than me).  Yet Rosie is more likely to have lost interest and just left it on the floor somewhere.  We had a Bat Alert with Tam screaming and me having to put the lights out and open a window, so that hasn't helped the general confusion.  Rosie is now calling it a "scary fat".  She is coming out with proper sentences now.  Yesterday I had, when I said I was going in the other room for something, she told me "No, that's dangerous, because Mummy is upstairs".  She has been round before . . .

Here is my lovely Verwood Pottery " Dorset Owl" -  an earthenware costrel dating from about the turn of Victorian into Edwardian times.  It would have been taken out into the fields at harvest time, filled with ale, cider or even cold tea.  It has been up on top of a kitchen cupboard, half hidden, all the time we have been there.  It will go to my new Unit - it is time for someone else to enjoy it.  I may part with my wooden antique costrels too.

This morning Tam, Rosie and I have been to a Jumble Sale in Llandod.  Not as I remember them, with donations of clothing piled high on a large square or rectangle of tables often manned by the WI, and everything 6d or a shilling!  This was more like a one table per person indoor car boot sale  I just bought a shabby pine box for £2, which I will polish up and use for display to give a bit of height.  My new display stand arrived yesterday, so I need to assemble that today, ready for the next Fair.

This will be the design on the front of my new business card - it's a photo of a lovely old handmade Welsh quilt, long sold.  

Meanwhile going through the process of freezing my cards, and will phone the Chippy later, in case I left it there as I was sitting on the bench waiting for them to do my order.  After that, the police station . . . but I am SURE I remember seeing Rosie carrying it and she saying it was heavy, but perhaps that was at Tam's and I can follow it as far as the chippy . . .

Update: It was at the chippy.  Last night I was waiting there for about 20 minutes as 6 people with multiple meals in front of me, and I obviously just set it down on the bench beside me after paying.  My poor brain has been so frazzled with baby sitting, an early start, lots of driving etc.  Then today I have been trying to sort out banking, and Vistaprint business cards, getting rid of umpteen NZ 1 second "videos" which I loaded onto the computer and overwhelmed it.  Will have to un-video them on the camera another time.  My poor brain is absolutely frazzled and Rosie was very late to bed last night as slept on the car coming here.  She's been showing her stubborn side today too, little ratbag!  She's just sat down with some mango now. Tomorrow we have to go to to Brecon to get a piece of Uranium glass Tam has found for Jon, who collects it.  I will get a few bits of shopping at Aldi whilst we're there.

Headhunted! Plus wildflowers from my walk.

 

Last autumn, a dealer friend Keith and I knew well, was impressed with my stand at the Autumn Antiques Fair.  He has a shop in the next county, and  said he wished some of his lesser dealers would leave, and then he could offer me a Unit, but . . .  Anyway, I've seen him recently at the small fair I do, and he said nothing about a Unit.  Then this last Builth Fair, another dealer with a shop approached me and wanted me to have Unit again.  He is half an hour's drive away, and I was giving it some thought but went to check out the Shop and was shocked.  Keith and I had a Unit there when I was running my little business pre-Covid.  I am sure much of the stock that was there then - especially the bits hanging from the ceiling! - had bred - there was double the amount of "stuff" in the shop, and it reminded me of the first time Keith and I went into ToysRUs and had to come out as we were SO overwhelmed by the pile it high stock in there.

Pignut.

I thought long and hard about it, and then decided there was nothing to lose from phoning my other dealer friend and seeing if there was a Unit available . . .  Well, I spoke to his business partner and she said he was looking to get in touch with me as a dealer was leaving and space would come available at the end of June.  We had a lovely chat and I am going over next Tuesday, with some recent stock photos, and hopefully I will be in.  Which means restarting my old business again, having some fresh business cards printed, and carrying on with my fossicking around Fleamarkets!

Guelder rose

I am absolutely thrilled to bits and hope it comes to pass...  I really wasn't happy about the other offer as it would mean working a couple of days a month in the shop to reduce the Unit rent too and I hated doing that first time round!

Creeping Buttercup

I think this may be Multi-flowered Buttercup (Ranunculous polyanthemos). 

Hedgerow Crane's-bill?

Probably Common Ramping fumitory (they all seem much of a muchness!).

White Dead Nettle.

Crosswort (Cruciata laevipes).

Cut-leaved Cranesbill.  (Geranium dissectum.)

Ground Ivy.  (Glechoma hederacea).

(Sticky) Groundsel.  (Senecio viscosis) Used to pick this for our budgie!

Bedsocks in May!

 The Daily Express (which I have never bought) is always putting up scare stories of "snow will hit 24 counties tomorro/by Friday" etc.  I don't pay muich attention, but it has been cold enough the past couple of days to think they may actually be right by the weekend!  I have just put the heating on for an hour, and turned my electric blanket on for a warm bed later.  The hotty botty was not enough last night.

Taken on yesterday's walk along the old railway line.  The little May bush looked so pretty.

Today I have been to my patchwork class back near where we used to live. It was good to see my friends again and chat and see what everyone else is working on.  I needed to top up on fuel, and was fortunate to find some at 179.9, which is ten pence cheaper than in town.

More May blossom along the pathway of my walk.  I took some wild flower photos but will put those up tomorrow.

I listened to several podcasts on my journey today, some from Three Ravens, and several from Medieval Murders, which is a bit more cerebral and talks of various aspects of Medieval life and laws.  

Still reading Raynor Winn's Landlines, and about to give my brain a bit of a working planning outings from The Holy Wells of Wales, to give folk a break from church bothering.

I went mad and ordered some Tablet Weaving cards. They cost £8.29, so not too huge a going mad moment!   I know I have some, somewhere in the house, but have looked and looked and can't find them.  When these arrive, the other ones will turn up...

Now, time to go in a warmer room with The Holy Wells of Wales.