books I'd recommend

so as you can see there has been a bit of a food theme when buying books recently. What all these books have in common is that they all have wonderful photos inside, ( except the Sugar Queen, it being a novel)and mouth watering recipes. The Sugar queen is as delightful as the previous novel 'Garden Spells'. all wonderful in these gloomy days

happiness....

I treated myself to this album. I love it and particularly this track.

my father was in hospital last week and now we have to wait for the results to see if the lump removed is benign. or not!!!! life can be crap sometimes, but he's got through the op, survived the anesthetic and if it's not good news we will deal with it. but for now he's recovering there's beauty in the dying trees and a song like this can lift your soul.

on our pond........

We have a small pond in our front garden, it has frogs and all sorts of wildlife.I'm so glad the ducks have decided to stay, and with a 'little one' too, how sweet.

hello again......

Well when you've been to court,and gone bankrupt what is a girl to do, well dye your hair of course!!!!!
especially when the weather is so gloomy, a nice bright 'Cherry bomb' hair colour is what you need. It's amazing how I always seem to come back to this colour. I do love it. and i always seem to get a half decent photo, with this colour!!


and despite the gloomy weather, the trees in Dorset do put on a magnificent display at this time of year.

oh what a year!!!!

So what have I been up to lately, well you might well ask, it's been a real roller coaster of a month , October seems to be a month of great changes for me.
last year I was admitted in to hospital to have my thyroid removed,I was scared, and tired of all the tests and hospital visits with no positive outcomes and it had taken a couple of years to get to that point, but ultimately it was the most extreme solution but the only real possible course to take, as all other paths had been tried and failed.

And this seemed to be the theme of this October, we have had a very hard year financially,( as have a lot of people ) and after a couple of months of seeking advice, we saw that the only option left to us was Bankruptcy. Now this filled me with horror, I'd read every article and watched every TV documentary about how to reduce your bills, how to live frugally, how to live on a pound a day, how to make your own cleaning products, etc etc we where doing all the thing suggested and more. I think I could now write a book on how to live on £1 for 3 weeks!!!!! and yes it was THAT bad.We had tried EVERYTHING. we'd tried to negotiate with the bank, credit cards etc, but all they did was pile on more charges and increase the interest rates, thus making the problem worse, not that I'm bitter , you understand!!!!

I've thought long and hard about this post, and whether I should write it or just keep it to myself, but I'm a quite straight forward woman, what you see is what you get, I'm far from perfect, I have many faults, and also many good qualities. one of the qualities is being honest about who I am, I don't expect any one else to do this , but I do.
maybe I should keep this to myself, but then I thought that there must be lots of people out there that are in this position, I did have moments where I felt slightly ashamed, I'm a grown woman, and should be able to manage my finance, but without going into the whole sorry sorry , sometimes things happen in life that you have no control over (health issues etc.) and sometimes that ultimate big monster in the corner that you will do everything to avoid , is the only solution. and you have to swallow hard approach it carefully and give it a good old hug!!!!

Bankruptcy is NOT an easy option, but it has made a huge difference to my life, and despite the monthly payments I now have to make( no, you don't get off without paying anything) I have a job, luckily, we don't have a property that we love and would be forced to sell, and we have a chance to start again and do it right this time. it has been hard on our marriage , but we are soo lucky that it has made that stronger too.

so if you are facing this yourself, do your homework , get lots of advice , ( the National Debt line are fabulous) take a deep breath, and take back control of your finacial life.
Why do we assume that life will or should be easy, sometimes the hardest things really do make us stronger.

bad links

I'm still here, but due to bad/ no internet connection, appalling weather conditions and life taking some interesting turns, there is a shortage of posts from this direction, I will be back SOON.

oh buggar!.....

I've been tagged by 2!!! YES 2 LOVELY LADIES!!!! I've just about worked out what to do, and will be onto it soon, but here in the depths of lovely Dorset, we have been besieged with windy, rainy weather and this cause's havoc with the broadband, so forgive the non response, and normal viewing will be resumed shortly!!
thank you

all I want for christmas...............

is a pink Ukulele and of course learn how to play it!!! I can't play one but the urge to purchase the above instrument and learn is becoming an obsession!!!I love the Ukulele, it's just such a happy instrument, I recently heard Alex James( I think he was in band!!!) quote on radio 4 recently " all you need is a pint of real beer and a Ukulele , to make the world right" and I couldn't agree with him more.
"The UKULELE orchestra of great Britain" IS A FABULOUS collection of Ukulele playing folk, do check them out, there version of 'Wuthering Heights' is spectacular, and nearly caused me to burst my stitches after my surgery, but it did cheer me up!!
"I wish I could learn to shimmy like my sister Kate" is another classic.

out and about.........

since moving to Dorset , me and the Mr like to go out on 'Jaunts' on the weekend. just to get to know the county etc, and we always seem to end up looking in churches, and whether you are religious or not , you have to admit that there is nothing quite like an English county church.

This one is 'St Mary's' in Beaminster, and extremely picturesque little village not far from us.

it's old!!! but has obviously had some rebuild bit at some time, and unfortunately the wooden pews have gone. to be replaced from some rather 'yuk' modern stacking chairs. oh well, the alter was beautiful.And it had a wonderful window and some great statues.

some more patchwork squares.....

just a few more of the patterns from the new quilt.





this tiny patch, above, is my favourite, I'd love a large piece of this.
I suppose because I'm a dress maker first I always think in terms of clothing and amounts of fabric for an item of clothing, but this one just gives me joy to look at . and this is the joy in this quilt for me, not looking at fabric with a view to 'what can i make with it'?! but just enjoying the fabric for itself and its print.

only have items that are beautiful or useful ..........

Now, like a lot of 'sewers', I have a stash of fabric, including a large bag of fabric samples, these are squares  of mainly quilting fabric, you can buy assorted packs, charm packs I think they are called. a bit of a lucky dip.

Now it would be wasteful to throw them away, there are some quite lovely pieces, come just plan odd, but I now have a selection of fabric with a few lovely ones, but now enough of any one design to go with a theme or colour way, so what to do with them?
I also have this rather lovely quilt, I bought it as part of a bed set, in a sale, ridiculously cheap, it have a lovely subtle green boarder and a bit of embroidery , but the main part is cream. Not good with a bed sharing puss-cat. and I'm not really into the minimal thing , or cream, so it never gets used, such a waste!!! and we don't like waste in this house!!!!

I love the Kaffe Fasset school of colour and quilts and spend hours pawing over his books, and I do indeed have a stash of his fabrics to make into a quilt, but I don't want to dilute them with other fabrics that don't  'match up'. so what to do?!!!!!

go back to basics of course!!!! make a quilt out of scraps  using a backing of a quilt you don't use and VOILA!!!!  a thing of beauty( well to my eyes anyway)

How the whole patch work quilt thing started!!!! make use of things and enjoy them.

 and put all together, the patches, have a beauty of there own, and it's a joy to 'find' these slightly odd fabrics. the whole' jumbled up' effect gives  each patch a new 'feeling', and makes them more interesting than when they where viewed alone.

I 've spent ages just looking at the designs in a new light.

Yes , there is a patch with cows on it!!!! why ? I don't know, but it makes me smile.;)
 Koi carp on a bed spread anyone! pretty colours though!!!

SUMMER FLOWERS

 
REMINDERS OF SUMMER

 
REMINDERS OF SUMMER

it's friday.............

and continuing on the theme of inspirational women, we have the wonderful Kate Bush.
Now I have been a fan from the start when my father bought me my first album, 'Lion Heart' and it's still one of my favourites.
Her music Like her style, the little that we see of it, seems timeless, of no particular age or fashion era, and I love that.
various of her album evoke a time and place' The Red Shoes' will always remind me of a group of women I used to know, and late night drunken dancing in the living room, sweet memories.
and although I would love to have fewer time gaps between her album releases, I greatly admire her attitude of not taking part in the 'Celebrity 'thing.

cure for the common cold...............

I've had a horrid cold for the last 5 days, I'm totally fed-up with it, so I've been listening to the 'ladies of letters', they always make me chuckle. originally they were serialised on BBC Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour'. two ladies who are 'great friends' but with all the one up-man ship that ladies of a certain age have. very English.
I adore radio 4 and was first introduced to it's delights when I started working in costume wardrobe departments, (about 22 yrs ago GLUP!!!). I don't know if every wardrobe department listens to Radio 4, but about 99% of wardrobe people I've met do.
I think it's that comfort of the story telling thing. there is nothing better than a ghost story on the radio , on a blustery autumn afternoon.And of course audio books are just my idea of bliss.

autumn

I always thought that making jam was a very complicated ordeal, however with the help of Nigella, bless her, 2 lbs of blackberries have been made into jam, and very nice jam it is too, even if i say so myself.I'm ready for the WI.!!!



And just to confirm that autumn is on it's way, look at my monster !!!! it's a 'Turk's Turban' squash, bought for 50p, when it was a mere 3" tall, little did I know that when i carried it from the house plant sale in Bere Regis it would grow into this giant.

I've never grown them before, and the Hawthorn bush is doing a great job of support plant.

AND ONE MORE THING......THE HAIR

I ADORE HER HAIR!!!! I have abandoned my bright pink hair, too much bleaching and the colour coming off everywhere, so it's back to the henna for me. and my hair is kind of kinky, but not curly or straight, basically, the " dragged through a hedge backwards look". so I love helena'S hair, 'cause it does what mine does,
EXACTLY WHAT IT WANTS!!!! AND I HAVE VERY LITTLE CONTROL OVER IT.
so I go with it, and no I don't want to 'straighten it' or 'tidy it' . leave my hair to it's own devices thank you very much.I'm sure it will calm down as it gets longer, NOT!!!

p.s. I do realise that I'm sounding like a petulant teen , but I don't care!!!

and here's some more lovely frocks with HBC

my inspiration.....

So when I hit 40, A couple of years back now, I was asked or sometimes told, by various peeps that I should maybe 'tone down' my appearance.at the time I had short atomic pink hair lots of silver jewelry , and a love of stripey tights and platform/new rock boots, and do you know what? I very nearly considered it!!!! should I now dress more " grown up"!!! dress for my age etc. I was never quite sure what exactly was meant , but I think it had a lot to do with an attire that was ' subtle' 'chic' 'beige'!!!! now if that's your style fine! but it's not really me. I don't do the natural make-up look, even for gardening a slash of lipstick is required. and I haven't seen my natural hair colour since I was 13. so why, did I ask, should I now change my taste /style because of my age. true I no longer wear short skirts, not appropriate for me, and the cleavage stays as contained as possible. but why do I have to appear to be fading , with dignity into the background, you know the sort of thing, 'don't stand out' or wear colours too bright, or too much of anything!!! I think once we are deemed passed 'useful age' ie child baring or being sex symbol material, it is thought we should quietly fade away, with dignity, until we have no more viv, or fizz, like a rather meek beige cardie, sort of mousy and apologetic for taking up space.

well BUGGAR THAT I SAY!!!! and that is why I adore Helena Bonham-Carter, her films are wonderfully diverse and I can't think of one I don't like, and her personal style is inspirational. and it really seems to get up the British press/media that they call her a bag lady and she doesn't care. they just don't seem to get it. she has a beautiful face and great figure and yet she still won't dress like a pornstar barbie!!!!