Charity Shopping

At the end of my road is a Weston Hospicecare charity shop.  I could probably see it from my bedroom window.  I've lived here for 8 years.  I love old things and I love bargains.  Weston Hospice is an excellent cause.  Yet I've only been into the charity shop about three times!  I think it must be one of those things which you never get around to because they're so close at hand - a bit like appreciating your husband or noticing how nice your life is!

Anyway, yesterday on my way back from a super day crocheting with Cuckoo (more on this next time, suffice it to say I am totally obsessed with granny squaring and just cannot stop making them), I decided to carpe the diem and get into the charity shop.  And these are the spoils:

 I am planning to use them as covered vegetable dishes.  How I wish I had a sideboard next to the dining table to put them on.  The pattern is on the inside too.

I put my rings on the plate to show how teeny they are.  Just big enough for a single cupcake.  Can you imagine how sweet that would look?  I suppose it is a sandwich set really.  If only I liked cucumber I could put crusts-off little cucumber sandwiches on them too.

Oh, I am so pleased with my finds....

Hope you are all well, my hook is calling me, must answer.....

xxx

Sewing

I don't very often sew; usually only when I need to make curtains but my machine has been out loads lately.  I seem to be in a sewingy frame of mind of late and keep thinking of things I need to sew.

It all started when I said I'd make a roman blind for my sister's bedroom.  I had about half a metre of fabric left over from a blind I made years ago (and got paid for it!) and bought some extra to go with it - luckily there was a tiny flaw in it so I got it for £2.99/metre rather than £8.99.  Then when I opened the bag of lining I realised that it was blackout lining rather than ordinary so it was even more of a bargain!  I love bargains...mainly because I am tight I think.  This is the story so far on the blind:

"Just" got to add the tape and rods and hem the top and bottom.  Oh, and find time when Mr D and I can go down to Devon and put it up.

Then, I was sorting out my knitting stuff as I had a new knitting bag from my (not wicked) step-mother for Christmas.  I looked at my needle roll and it was all tatty with about 3000 needles stuffed into each segment and I thought, "ooh, I could make that".  Then I thought, "ooh, I've got all the things I need to make that," and THEN I thought, "I'm going to make that".  And I did.  And here it is:

Of course as soon as I'd finished it I thought of loads of ways I could have made it better, but that's ok, because I also thought of lots of other things I could put in rolls.  Like my small but growing crochet hook collection, my DPNs and the lovely knit pro needles which Mr D gave me for Christmas.

Aren't they pretty?  They are lovely to knit with and very portable.  One of the girls at Knit Club has them and says she will never go back to using straight ones.

And finally on the sewing front (for now), I went to visit my friend in Exeter yesterday and we had a lovely crafting afternoon at her house whilst our husbands went to visit an old friend. She has been having Taiko (sp?) lessons and wanted to make a bag to put her drumming sticks in (as you do) and I'd seen instructions for a sewing machine cover on the Mollie Makes blog, so we perfected the art of chatting over the noise of the sewing machines.  Here's my cover (you may recognise the fabric!):

By the way if anyone has any tips about making photos on blogs look better, like making little collages and stuff, do let me know as I think my posts look a bit samey.

Sew long all!

xxxxx