Testing, testing . . .

Isn't this gorgeous?  It already has a new home, but it is SO vintage and retro - pure 1970s  - I knew it wouldn't hang around long . . .

A quick close-up of the pattern.

Note the sogginess of Little Whale, on the left.  He reckons the best way to dry out is to use your brother as a towel . . . and snuggle up close!

Enjoy!

Sunday witterings

 A Grecian urn filled with colour at Cothay Manor.

- or should that be Sunday gibberings?  This has been a busy week and things look like being busier, as I get my painter and decorator's hat completely in place to start going round in the wake of the builders.  At the end will be the complete window cleaning job, but as they are still painting with limewash, I have to stay my hand.

Old houses have to be allowed to breath.  Concrete render has been the death of many an old house, as it just holds in any moisture and you end up with galloping damp.  Lime mortar between the stonework is also essential, and lime render (3 coats) followed by 5 coats of limewash makes a house waterproof but breathable. Farmhouses used to have an annual coat of lime slapped on any old how (e.g. normally very thickly) but this is WHY they needed repainting every year, as the limewash needs to be slowly built up in layers  which don't crack as they do when thickly applied.

Of course, all of this comes at a hefty price, and over the years we have had to step up to the mark and abide by the Old House rules when renovating this place.  All internal walls with an external side have lime or clay paint to allow them to breath.  I prefer using the clay paint as it covers beautifully and applies like a good quality emulsion.  The limewash has to be built up with much thinner layers (gosh, I can remember doing that before clay paint was brought onto the market.)

Anyway, there is still SO much to do, and the garden needs a lot of work on it yet - mostly weeding, a bit of planting up and some mulching.  As for the veg plot, well we won't go there.  I haven't been able to dig, and cannot touch the waist length grass which is growing in part of it still.  My husband can, but hates gardening, tries not to eat vegetables and cannot understand why I want to grow them!  So it is difficult to get him to work out there.  I can only play the "We can't have it looking like this when the house goes back on the market" card . . .

Crafts have been temporarily abandoned.  When our eldest daughter was here, and then my Dorset friend, everything got put on one side, including the partly-done cane chair, so I must try and get back to this, especially as I have a child's high-chair to reseat in the same way (although the material is cut for that, and in balls).

I have an old Welsh blanket to put a small darn in, and a 1950s? Welsh quilt, ditto, so will try and do those today, and then do something with a couple of the old Welsh quilts which came part-and-parcel in an auction box of textiles bought this week (mentioned a couple of posts ago).  One looks totally beyond redemption, and is positively verminous and has been put out in the Back Place (store room off the kitchen) whilst I ruminate on how best to deal with it.  I may well have to trap it first though as it's practically moving of its own volition!!!  The design on the front is a large square of dark red cloth in the centre, and linked to smaller squares, one in each corner, and then with the very dull (or just filthy?!) backing material as infill.  Very old - Victorian - and very Amish in looks.

A 2nd - red Paisley quilt (always a Welsh favourite) has seen better days too, but I am hoping I can recover parts of it - perhaps turning them into cushion fronts, although with each quilt I want to try and photograph the quilting patterns first and possibly trace elements of them to use in future.  (I have harboured a dream to make and hand-quilt a wholecloth quilt ever since we've lived here.  I just LOVE hand-quilting. I even have the red Paisley material now which was put on one side for re-use after we bought some BIG curtains, though not a long enough drop for our bedroom.)

The 3rd quilt is clean but rather worn, and I would like to keep and use that.  One side is a bronzey colour, with a (nicer) backing of a golden satin cotton, and the scalloped edge has a puce ruffled border.  I think it was possibly made as a wedding quilt very early in the last century. 

Isn't it strange, I have come full-circle, as when we arrived here, I was so keen on patchwork and quilting, and made all sorts of things for the house and as gifts, but over the years life has gotten in the way.  Now it seems I am back to the beginning again, and as fascinated as ever by how women expressed their creativity in the past, and made practical bedcoverings.  They were always frugal, and the earlier quilts especially had a lambswool centre (where we would use a batting today), whilst others "recycled" a worn blanket (though this impacted on the quality of the quilting stitches afterwards because you just cannot manage small neat stitches through blanket!  I can remember one old quilt being held up at auction once, with a rather grim patchwork front made from old jackets by the look of things, and as it was held up, several old woollen socks fell out through a rip on a seam . . .  Waste not, want not as the saying goes!

 Photos will follow, I promise.  My son has been absent this last week, house-sitting for a friend, but he is now back and we should be able to do the final checks and moving across to the new computer stack today.

Getting rid of plastics in the kitchen

I read an article recently, which spelt out how bad plastics are for your health, and that elements of them appear in the most unlikely places.   HERE is a link which explains the downsides of using plastic.  I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that whilst I'm not panicking about it, it does make sense to try and get rid of plastic storage containers and also any plastic gizmo's in the kitchen.  First to be replaced, was my plastic colander and matching bowl, which had been useful over the years for washing fruit or veg in and leaving to drain.  I had only replaced my previous metal colander because it was useless at draining, but now I have a deep metal one with lots of holes in all the right places! (£1 from the car boot sale this morning!)

Being frugal, I had been in the habit of washing and re-using plastic bags (freezer bags spring to mind).  Perhaps that hasn't been quite such a good idea.  However, storing things in the freezer (especially left-over portions of curry and such) will be slightly more problematic now, so I shall have to put my thinking cap on and ditch the ice cream containers and the like I had been using.  I used to have foil containers which I bought from Iceland, many, many moons ago when freezers suddenly became THE thing to have way back in the 70s (though I dare say many folk had them before that).  I will have to see if they have them in Wilko's. 

The plastic linings on cans are also suspect . . . and of course bottled squashes, mineral water, anything like that.  It will take some checking of supermarkets and trying to find things in bottles and plastic-free packs, and some stuff just won't be without a plastic cover I dare say, but when I do my next grocery shop I shall try and find alternatives.  Baked beans only come in cans or those plastic fridge containers - but we only eat a can or so a week. I shall replace tinned chopped tomatoes with passata. Then start thinking about anything else I use regularly which is tinned. I will make sure I take my own home-made bags for the fruit we get at Abergwili which is normally put into their thin blue plastic bags.  My husband's home-mixed muesli will now be stored in one of my spare big earthenware jars and that will free up the big plastic storage container for holding nuts and bolts or something in his workshop.  At least our spring water comes from the tap and without a plastic wrapping, so I shall be drinking much more of that!

Our Throw-Away Society

 Banshee keeping warm with part of my wool stash!

I am old enough to have grown up in a time when the old wartime adage of Make-Do-And-Mend was not only remembered, but actively practiced.    Naturally, it is a code of practice we have always lived by, and it seems, as I get older, it is even more important, especially in the Recession, and when finally, living frugally is deemed to be hip and trendy (hah - something I never was before!!!)

The obvious things of throwing vegetable trimmings etc on your compost heap (never a properly-kept one, I have to say, but it rewards us all the same), growing your own fruit and vegetables (when the slugs and the weather let us) and not wasting anything are like the breath of life itself here.  Rarely have we bought anything NEW for this house - all the furniture bar nothing has come from auctions or car boot sales - I think it's called "pre-owned" or "pre-loved" now (v. trendy!)  Now and again we "trade up" and sell one thing to help finance the purchase of something better. 

I got some brand new kitchen curtains from a charity shop recently.  They were - of course - a tad too short, so I took some dark green glazed cotton I had had in my stash for about 15 years now, and put a deep border on them and they look perfect (it was fortunate there was dark green in the pattern).   We bought some long curtains at a car boot sale, hoping they were long enough for our bedroom, but no . . .  The linings were marked, so I have recycled the lot - metres and metres of good curtain material, several feet of header tape to re-use, and the linings went for dust sheets and have already been used up the stairs (we have builders in).  My old kitchen curtains which I made using Laura Ashley material (couldn't afford it now!) over 20 years ago are now faded at the edges, but the linings and header tape is still good, so will be re-used, and the LA material will have the faded edges trimmed off and put on one side.

My husband restoring an old rocking chair which had been painted.


I bought some beautiful cotton fabrics (in the sale!) from a Patchwork shop recently, but was horrified at the price of the material which was between £10 and £11.50 a metre before reduction - mine was £7.50 a metre after reduction).  Anyway, that set me to thinking, and in recent weeks when we have been trotting round the car boot sales, I have been looking for dresses and skirts and blouses in pretty prints in 100% cotton and buying the ones I liked, and unpicking them to be re-used as quilt material.  It is now a regular habit for me to be sat in the car on the way home from the boot sale, with my stitch-ripper and a pair of scissors, unpicking the garment and leaving a small trail of thread bits in our wake . . .

I haven't quite got to the stage of buying woollen jumpers to unpick yet, but I always look out for bags of wool (remnants or whole balls) at car boot sales, to use for crochet projects.  I have 2 bags of beautiful Rowan wool leftovers waiting for winter . . .

Rag rugs are something I have always said I wanted to make.  This gorgeous cushion is so colourful and a way of using up some of the otherwise unusable bits of recycled quilt material (see below).


Yesterday we were at auction again and had the successful bid on a box of 2 Welsh blankets and 3 old Welsh quilts.  One is trashed - a shame as it is the oldest (late Victorian or possibly earlier), absolutely worn to bits around the edge and, ahem, filthy as I think it spent its final years in the barn, by the look of it.  That I fear, is for composting, once I have taken photos of the quilting design and remains of the front (a large square of dark red, with dark red squares in each corner, and the backing fabric pattern as rectangles in-between.  Very Amish, especially with the dull colours.  Another beautiful red Paisley design quilt has also Had It as it has been worn to bits, but I may be able to make some lovely cushion fronts from the good bits.  That's the plan, once I've photographed it.  The 3rd quilt is almost usable - well, it IS usable, but it does have wear holes in it (I think the washing machine era did for it, tbh).  It is bronzey  on the top side, and a honey coloured satin cotton on the reverse, with a puce (!) ruffle around the scalloped borders.  The quilting is out of this world.  Photos to follow (I know - but today is going to be change-over day with the computers).

I wish there was a way of re-cycling paint (!) as we have the builders in at the moment, and I have been very busy rubbing down the outside woodwork around the bay windows and porch, prior to repainting.  It's a long job but will look lovely when it's all done.  The building work is costing an arm and a leg and I foresee even more frugal times ahead, for when it comes to money, you can only spend it once!

Permission to sit down please!

A beautiful little rambler rose which came from a cutting from a parent plant at Gelli-Aur Park.  I only know it as Gelli-Aur, and can't find it in my David Austin roses catalogue.  Any suggestions?  It flowers now, and just the once, and has the most beautiful perfume.

The last few weeks here have been hectic.  First of all, the builders arrived and because they are using lime mortar and render, everywhere has a fine coat of limedust and it is trodden in from outside so the hall floor is permanently filthy.  It also looks like a disaster zone as clearing up the junk room had been on the agenda, and postponed, and never got sorted until yesterday, when we could finally move all the car boot stuff back into the junk room. 

We have been busy with guests - firstly our eldest daughter T came to stay for 10 days, which was lovely, and whilst she was still here, my long-time friend Gay from Dorset came up for a few days.  We had some lovely outings, and of course went to Hay-on-Wye for the day.  I bought two paperbacks about Coleridge and Edward Thomas's book about the writings of Richard Jefferies, using his choice of Jefferies' work.  £7 in total, so I didn't go mad. 

The next day, we visited Jen Jones' Quilts at Lampeter, as she has a fantastic exhibition of quilts at the moment - traditional wholecloth Welsh quilts around the walls and hanging from the ceiling, a colourful collection of Kaffe Fassett's works.  I took LOTS of photos which I will get around to putting up in the next day or so.  We then drove on to the seaside, visiting Aberaeron for Honey Ice Cream, and then down the coast for a paddle at New Quay.  We didn't want to come home!

Before Gay arrived, we had a family day out to Somerset, getting up early and exploring the area around the Quantocks, as this is one of the areas of Somerset we don't know so well, and there have been a couple of cottages there recently which looked possibles - if they are still on the market when we finally attract a buyer.  We stopped to see what Taunton was like, as we had never been there (very pleasant), and also visited Coleridge's cottage, which was lovely.

Now the Aquilegias  are flowering in my garden, and making a nice show.  My wild ones along our outer field boundary have, however, fallen foul of the local verge trimmers and been cut down in mid-flower, which I am not best pleased about.  August is the time to cut back verges, when most of the wild flowers are spent and have seeded and the grass is looking dry and untidy.  WHY do Councils have this idea that the countryside needs to be kept clean and tidy like someone's back garden?

Sadly, this colourful Aquilegia was one of the winter's casualties.  Hiss and spit . . .


I am slowly getting over the Pleurisy, but it seems like 3 steps forward and 2 back and I soon pay the price for over-doing things.  Yesterday had to be a rest-up day, as we had a hectic weekend with boot sales, and then on Monday I worked flat out rubbing down external paintwork around the bay windows and porch and also putting a final coat of cream on the windows and one door surround in the kitchen. 

Today I see my Consultant again, so I will be interested to hear what he has to say.  The pollen has just started to get to me  - it is apparently a very bad year, because of the late spring and all the trees, shrubs and grasses flowering together and even people who have never had hay fever before seem to have it this year for the first time.  I trust I won't get as bad as I did a year ago, when I already had a bad chest-infection when the pollen hit, and I thought I would suffocate.

Anyway, the sunshine, much enjoyed, has left us and in its place we have grey damp weather with a soft drizzle (which is, let's face it, a great improvement on the usual Welsh monsoon).

Busy . . .

 Sturminster Newton Mill, Dorset

Sorry for the long delay between blog postings, but I have been alternately resting and being busy, and now we have our eldest daughter here, which is lovely.    I have been working on various craft projects, including re-rushing a stool with fabric-covered seagrass, which is an incredibly long-winded job and certainly not commercial . . .  Photos to follow. 

I have finally bitten the bullet and bought an external hard drive to accompany my reconditioned stack/hard drive, so I am slowly getting organized.  It took all day to transfer my photos across yesterday.  One more day (or less) of other stuff and I can recycle the old computer (minus hard drive which I shall get my OH to destroy).

Meanwhile, it's off to the car boot sale this morning . . .  We'd have been there much earlier, but we have to take our son into work first . . . at the most inconvenient starting time of 8 a.m.

Our house and its place in local history

The days seem to be going past so fast at the moment.  Remembering last summer I am trying to make the most of every moment of sunshine, and enjoying it to the full.  My cooking apple tree which is still thriving despite keeling over a few years back, is in full bloom and has a Jackdaw perched on it, with bees still busily working all around him.  I saw a sunny wall-side garden in Llandovery today, where their Aquilegias were in full bloom.  Elsewhere, my garden included, they are in bud, but not full bloom yet, and I know from the gaps in the border that I have lost some of the more interesting colours and petals.  Sigh.  That includes a small pure yellow one which was struggling last year and which I didn't manage to get seed from.  I think I need to visit Touchwood Plants again and get some more seed or young plants.  I need to phone and find out when the Garden is open for viewing - should be any time soon.

Anyway, our jaunt out today  got us another replacement chimney pot and cowl (though not as cheaply as the pair bought last weekend.)  We found that one of our present cowls was cracked so needed replacing, and the pot we bought on Sunday is just a tad too large to be one of a pair on the North chimney stack, so we will sell that (hopefully) at the car boot sale.  It was a nice drive out to beyond Llandovery, and we stopped for a wander round the charity and antique shops on the way home.  I found an elderly paperback edited by Fred Archer, about Country Life, which was just my sort of book so I blew £2 on that.

The current building works/repairs have shown that our little back kitchen window was once a raised doorway to the house, approached via steps.  We thought we had the same on the opposite side of the house, but it is actually a window.  We can also now clearly see that the front half of the house was the original Medieval (15th C and earlier) Great Hall, although much-modified (Georgian proportions) in 1718 according to  the plaque over the doorway), and again in early Victorian times.  It is fascinating finding out the history of our house, which may date back to the 12th C, according to a carved stone in the wall of our local church.  The family who were here in the 15th C joined the Welsh army of Henry Tudor (subsequently Henry VII) gathered by Rhys ap Thomas and marched off to Bosworth to do battle with Richard III.  As a result, one of their sons was made Esquire to the Body of Henry VII . . .  How strange that I should now be living at the home of the one family and volunteering at the estate of  the other . . .  Oh, and that our wonderful builder also had an ancestor involved in the battle - how weird is that?

I am busy with crafts at the moment - and repairing old stuff to sell.  New frames for old pictures, re-upholstering a couple of stools, patchwork, all sorts. 

Healthwise, I am on a strong course of Steroids again and took my last antibiotic (of a 2nd course) today, so hopefully I am on the mend again.  I am feeling a bit more energised, but the Pleurisy is still there in the background and I remember it if I am climbing anything much more than a gentle slope or trying to run up the stairs here.

The bluebells in the top photo, by the way, were photographed in the orchard of Thomas Hardy's Cottage last year.

The lake beside Talley Abbey.