Just another day.

Not a lot happening this week.

Monday, we took my Dad to the Diabetic Eye Clinic for an eye test, he wasnt allowed to drive himself as part of the test includes putting drops into his eyes to enable them to take photos of the back of his eyes. After a 20 minute wait he had the test, they found no sight in his left eye and limited in his right where he has the start of a cataract, the nurse said they would contact a specialist at the hospital to see if anything could be done, she also told him at 81 its probably due to wear and tear and not to be too hopeful, we will have to wait and see.  Dad said when the drops wore off he could see quite well, so I dont quite know whats happening!  Later that day we called at Lidl to pick up a good stock of Coffee Pods to find that they were no longer stocking them!   Shock! Horror!  What no coffee!!  An email has been sent to head office and I am just waiting for a reply.

Tuesday,  i caught up with laundry and cleaned through the bungalow, hubby had the chance of a flying trip in the afternoon so off he went flying a mate down to Fenland, near Peterborough and I enjoyed some me time....doing nothing!

Wednesday, I had a message from my niece to say Asda were selling fuel at £1:20 a litre, my car was empty so we popped over and filled up, while we were there I nipped into the store and bought some Senseo coffee pods, much dearer than lidl but we needed them!  I also got stocked up with long life milk and bread flour.  Late afternoon I made another notebook cover :-)

Thursday,   Up late this morning after a poor nights sleep :-( a quick cuppa and a toasted teacake and it was time to get ready to take Dad back to see the Diabetic nurse, he had to have another series of blood tests after the hospital lost the last lot! They didn't even inform his Doctors!  Lets hope they don't lose these, the results should be available on Tuesday next week.  Back home and a quick tea of salad and jackets with tuna mayo plus a yummy apple crumble and custard.

Friday,  so far just the Friday clean in the morning and then my Thimbles group in the afternoon.  Thats the plan........

Better go, I need to ring my son down in Plymouth before it gets too late.

Enjoy your evening 

Karen xxx

Padded Notebook Covers.

Thought I would share with you an idea for a little  Christmas gift or stocking filler.

 I bought the A6  notebooks in packs of 2 from Poundland

 You can see how the book slots in nicely, when its full just remove and replace :-)

Front View and Back View I have added a piece of elastic so that when its pulled over  it keeps the notebook fastened. 

 They are ideal for your handbag too, if you used them for shopping lists you could slot any vouchers or coupons into the little pocket.

Thank you all for your comments over the last few posts, I really appreciate them x

Back tomorrow

Take Care

Slow cooker Pork.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a lovely Pork Shoulder Joint in Aldi it weighs 1kg and cost £2:89. I decided to cook it today in the slow cooker with a large onion and a couple of stock cubes in water.

This is the underside and you can see just how meaty it is, nice slow cooking will soon turn this into delicious pulled pork.

I quartered the onion into the bottom of the crockpot under the meat, added 2 stock cubes dissolved in hot water and cooked on high for an hour then turned down to low for another 3-4 hours. It was meltingly gorgeous!!

Served with new potatoes and fresh veggies and gravy, yum! there is 'ding cuisine ' tomorrow and some to add to a porky pie for Tuesday, so it has been excellent value for money and something I will definitely buy again.......My plate is a small round one, not sure what happened with the photo :-)

We had a lovely walk this morning to get hubby mobile, he is having back problems at the moment and a bit of gentle excercise is good for him, we stayed on the flat and just local. Part of our walk took us round the edge of a housing area and guess what........ I saw a Christmas tree!! One of those light up ones people have on their house walls.....far too early!!!  Unless of course its still there from last Christmas lol. The week before Christmas is plenty soon enough for me, they only attract dust :-)

I spent the afternoon having a go at making quilted notebook covers.....more on those tomorrow.

Feet up and Downton tonight...

Take care

Karen xxx

It beginning to feel a bit like Christmas

Way back in August my friend Carol loaned me some patchwork magazines to browse and in one of them were some Christmas Table Mats, with the complete set of instructions and a list of fabric required i thought I would give them a go. I'm only a beginner at Patchwork but so far have enjoyed having a go, my seams are not always straight and my patches not always square but I am trying :-)

They measure about 14x11 inches and I made 6 identical ones, the backing fabric is just plain red and I have quilted "in the ditch" using my sewing machine.

I had some fabrics leftover so decided to make a Table Runner to match.

I just have a bit of the binding to sew down.  As you can see i made 2 halves and flipped one round just to make it less boring, I m pleased with it and I think it looks nice and Christmassy.  I was thinking about making another for a gift for my friend, she loves handcrafted stuff.

Nothing much happening at the moment, shopping yesterday and we have re stocked the cupboards and freezer after having about 6 weeks of using up, I find this is the best way for me to rotate stock otherwise stuff gets to the bottom or the back and gets forgotten.  Nice easy dinner tonight, quiche, jackets and baked beans. :-)

Back tomorrow 

Enjoy your evening

Karen xxx

Sunday Morning Walk

Sunday morning and the sun is shining, washing in the machine, dishes in the dishwasher and a pork stew in the slow cooker, just time to get on our walking boots and have a hike over the moors.

This beautiful area is just down the road from our house, having lived all my life in this area we do take it for granted.  There are many organized walks with the conservationists both daytime and nightime. I have taken quite a few photos so I will let you make up your own mind.

Tasty treats to eat on your walk :-)

And the not so tasty!

Fir trees poking out of the dying bracken

Lots of lovely heathers

Sorry this is a bit dark, I only had my phone to take photos.  It is naturally dark here due to the peat, this area is managed to keep the water levels under control and help to preserve the area.

Today it was dry enough to walk to the island in the middle, a memorial has been placed on here, for the aircraft that crashed into the moor. The wreckage has been collected and placed around this simple wooden cross. It is the remains of a Wellington Bomber from 305 Polish Squadron which crashed into the moor on September 26th 1941.

A piece of the wing rib.

I thought this was leather but hubby says its the outer fabric which covered the fuel tanks.

This looks like a piece of the wheel struts.

Look at all those rivets, so neat, and probably done by a woman working in the aircraft factories during the war.

We headed back across the peat to the reserve and continued with our wallk.

You have to be careful where you put your feet, there is bog oak everywhere

All rotting down to make this fabulous, rich peat, its so soft to walk on its like a luxurious natural carpet.

Back onto the reserve path

Back towards the car park now, past another lake,  we have walked about 4 miles and now the battery has gone flat on my phone! Time to go home for a cuppa and a sandwich.

We had a lovely 'free' morning and feel better for having the excersise and fresh air.  This afternoon I have been doing a spot of sewing :-)

Back tomorrow

Love Karen xxx

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my jeans bag yesterday xx

Another up cycled Jeans Bag

When I made the Raggedy bags a couple of weeks ago I was left with the 'shorts' part of the jeans having used only the leg fabric, today I trimmed one side of them to make another bag.  These were size 16 ladies jeans and the size of this bag is just suitable for a 12/13 year old. I had better let my grandaughter have a look before deciding to sell it!

I thought it would be nice to decorate the back pocket with a fabric flower using a scrap of the lining, i used Bondaweb to attach it to the pocket instead of sewing it on.

As with the raggedy bag the strap is denim one side and the lining the other, i prefer this to a solid denim one.  I put a press stud in the middle to close the top. I am quite pleased how its turned out, so far thats two bags from one pair of old jeans and there is still a bit left.  Mmmm....what can I do with that! 

Too busy sewing to make anything exciting for dinner so it was Saturday Night Fakeaway....

Fish Fingers, homemade oven chips, peas, beetroot and homemade bread plus a dollop of tartare sauce, on a small plate for me :-)

Time now to watch Strictly on series record :-)

Enjoy your evening 

Karen xxx

Edited at 8:20pm grandaughter has just been, loved the bag and taken it home!!  Daughter in law brought 2stone of beetroot for me to pickle!.......Good swap :-)

Cheesy taster and cheats pasta.

Welcome to my new followers, sorry I forgot to mention you yesterday, how rude of me, its good to have you on board. Xx

I seem to be buying more and more in Aldi at the moment as do a lot of people judging by the full car park. Its a 30 mile round trip but as my battle with Specsavers is in the same town we are killing two birds with one stone.  We are getting a new store about 8 miles away so once that opens I might change from our regular Lidl store where parking is a huge problem, we will have to wait and see.  Meanwhile Hubby and I have had a little cheesy taste test this morning  so I thought I would share with you.

We have Aldi Extra Mature at £1:75 for 350grams

And Pilgrims Choice, Strong and Punchy at £3:50 for 350grams from Sainsburys, currently on offer at £6 for 2 packs.

Aldi, crumbly but a very nice flavour, a little acidic but strong and tasty, it gives a 'punch' as soon as you bite it.

Punchy and Strong, not so crumbly holds together well, has a nice creamy texture but not quite as packed with flavour, it takes a second or two to get the taste.

Both excellent cheeses, but, after a blind tasting we both prefered the Aldi Extra Mature, which is good news for our shopping budget as its half the price of the Pilgrims Choice.

Disclaimer..these are my own opinions and have nothing to do with either supermarket. The products were bought by me and this taste test done out of interest.

A quick and tasty Pasta dish.

Using homecooked roasted veggies, peppers, courgette, onion and tomatoes sprinkled with olive oil and popped into a hot oven to cook.

The veggies had been frozen so I reheated them in a pan while the pasta was cooking and stirred in a jar of Aldi stir in sauce, this was my cheat :-)  these are 89p and they are super tasty and very quick. Once everything was warmed through I stirred in the pasta. Served in a hot dish with a sprinkle of cheese it was delicious. Plenty for two and very filling.

Have you done any taste tests for fun, do you try new products on a regular basis or do you prefer to stick to what you know you like?  I would love to hear what you do :-)

Back tomorrow..... I am at Specsavers again!!

Take Care 

Karen xxx

Whats on my needles?

Just at the moment I have a few projects on the go, they seem to be piling up on my desk, so, while the weather is cold and rainy I thought I would spend the time getting on with things and finish a few off.

On my Knitting Needles

Another pair of hand-warmers, this pair will probably end up on the Christmas Fair stall for a couple of pounds, they are really easy to knit, the first pair are for a present :-) and made in a tweedy wool but I quite like the plain burgundy.

On my Sewing Machine Needle

With just the last seam to stitch

A bag for my Mum, I made myself one just like this and my Mum asked if I could make her one the same, I hope she still likes it.

On my Patchwork Needle

A hanging Christmas Tree decoration, I just need to make the base and stitch a ribbon on the top.  This was something I wish I had never started, I saw one of these at the Harrogate Quilt Show for £12 and instead of just buying one I decided I could make my own, no pattern, no instructions, this is one project I will be glad to finish and put away!

On my Hand Sewing needle

A Christmas tree decoration for the comunity tree in the church, Thimbles are making fabric decorations this year, these 3d ones are my contribution, its up to us how many we make so it depends how much time I can spare.

I want to get on with Willows quilt next and that will be another Christmas present made and packed away, then if I have time I would like to make some Christmas table mats, I have all the materials, just need time!

So, its over to you, lovely readers, what do you have on your needles at the moment?

Back tomorrow 

Take care

Karen xxx