Sunday, 17 March 2013

Car Booting

Off we went this morning to our local car boot despite the little sprinkling of snow on the ground.  And do you know what I am soooooo glad we did as we came home with loads of bargains : )

For a grand total of £16 I bought - the Gruffalo's Child book, Brambly Hedge box set, 4 various books, Alice in Wonderland (golden ticket book), glass vase, some little girls pumps, vintage pillow cases (future project....watch this space), a vintage tea cup (all on its own), yellow vintage tea set, wooden boat, wooden key holder, strawberry glass, boat wall hanger, a storage box for my dolly peg paint and last but not least some children's clippo (like sticklebricks, if you remember those).

If you are a regular visitor to sockamabobs you'll already know that we are in the middle of renovating our new house so I have been trying to source inexpensive things for decoration (especially for my craft room aka the conservatory).  I have also recently been thinking about opening up a wool shop which also showcases some of the crafts that I make (its very early stages and a little bit too scary).

Anyways enough of the chit chat and on to the photos -


My little girl watching her Daddy and all the workmen fixing the house, hmmmm wonder what job she would like when she's older!

Some of my trinkets.  The boats are for our new bathroom.  I managed to get some turquoise and blue glass floats from the car boot the other week.  These had been shown on Kirsty Allsop's Vintage Home (a Telly Programme) and I had fallen in love with them.  The glass vase that I bought today can fit all of them in and once I have some fishing net, some shells and pebbles my centre piece will be finished and I promise to post a picture.

I also managed to get this beautiful vintage tea set for about 50p.  The strange thing is though I bought the saucer last week at a car boot we often go to.  It was all on it's own at the bottom of a box and I just loved it and had to have it.  The cup I bought today at a car boot that we went to for the very first time over 15 miles away!  It was again all on its own looking very pretty and a bargain at 20p. 

When I got home and I'd given everything a wash, it dawned on me that they were the same set, they even have the same markings underneath.  How uncanny - just need the winning lottery numbers now!

Anyway off to potter, can't wait to see what other treasures I uncover next week.   What have you been up to today????????

Sunday, 24 February 2013

A quick catch-up

Well hello there, I though I would just catch-up with you before I got sidetracked and started something else!

In my last post I had been doing a bit of baking and I had made some anzac biscuits for my works "bake off" that we were all taking part in for Comic Relief.

There have been 3 categories that we could put ourselves forward for - Scones, biscuits and tray bakes.  I only entered the biscuit category but out of 9 entrants I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I was judged the star baker!

I have always dreamt of having my own little wool shop one day with a small cafe to one side serving all the old favourites just like your grandma used to make. Last week I made Lemon Drizzle cake and it was utterly delicious.  This week I have made..........

Blueberry muffins.  When I went to my local supermarket this afternoon they had some packs of blueberries that were reduced to 29p - well enough said I could hardly refuse!

The recipe was from Lucy's blog at Attic24 and they were AmaZing.
 
Last week I also managed to finish my pram blanket - ta dah.......
 


 
 
I am very happy with the finished blanket and the baby who it is for was born on the day it was finished - I had also edged it with the turquoise blue not knowing that the baby was a boy!
 
We are still making slow progress with the new house - no more rooms finished but we have bought the paint and wallpaper so again watch this space.
 



Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Life's little pleasures

The weather is beginning to turn nicer and it's starting to feel a bit like spring.  We have had blue sky for the past couple of days and the sun has tried its best to peep through.

I haven't really managed much craft wise and I'm just finishing my crochet pram blanket so will post a picture of that soon. 

But I'll leave you with these -
Anzac biscuits that I made for a charity "bake off".  Yum yum of course it would be rude not to sample one - "just to make sure they are ok to eat".

 My collection of spring time flowers (bought from local supermarket and market for a grand total of £2.40).  And can you just see beneath the blue hyacinth; my bargain 1960's Pyrex dish bought from the car boot for 50p!

Homemade lemon drizzle cake made using Lucy's recipe from Attic24.


 
 
The view out of my kitchen window whilst I wash up!
 
Hope you are all feeling spring like - I think my next task will be a bit of SPRING CLEANING and for a clean freak like me I'm actually looking forward to that xxxxxxx

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Ta Dah !!!!!!

Fan Fare Please!!!!!

I have no idea how I have managed it but I have finished 3 different projects and all in the space of two nights : )

I have really been struggling to fit any crafting time in this last week as Mr P has had a hernia op and has needed to have bed rest so I have been doing the school run, working, cooking, cleaning, tidying, washing, bathing etc.  I have to say I do a lot of this stuff normally but Mr P has not even been able to supervise the kids so no spare time for me (sad face : (  ).

Anyway on to the Ta Dah moments -

 
 
My valentines heart - one side crochet the other side fabric.  I used a pattern from Lucy's blog at Attic24 and then modified it slightly.
 

 
This was the one that I made for a friend's birthday sticking to the pattern.
 
 
 
My little knitted rabbit with a pom pom tail - he is soooooo adorable
 (and quite easy to make!)
 
And Finally .......
 
 
My giraffe ribbon taggie - struggled sewing the fiddly bits but I think she's come out quite well.  Even if I do say so myself!

Hopefully I will have some more Ta Dah moments to share soon as I have a few more things half finished or waiting to be crafted.

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Fabric Fripperies!

A while ago I was reading a post on one of my favourite blogs - Patchwork Chickens and noticed that Tracy had been to a shop that was actually on my doorstep.

 
So finally today I managed to have a little wander over myself!  I can't actually believe that the shop has been open for about 4 years and I have never even noticed it there.  It is a lovely little shop absolutely brimming with fabric in all different colours and designs.  As I don't actually do a lot of sewing and fabric crafts I headed over to the sale section and grabbed myself some bargains.


I managed to get all these fabrics for £4.08 - needless to say I am well chuffed with my buys.  I'm not actually sure what I'm going to do with these yet but watch this space!

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Another project nearly finished!

This week I have mainly been.............stinky and needing a shower.  Although in this bathroom I don't think I will be getting one!




For the past week we have been trying to renovate the bathroom.  It all got delivered just after Christmas and has been living in my lounge. 
On Tuesday my husband and Andy the plumber ripped out the bath and basin leaving a little lonely toilet!. 
They spent Wednesday sorting out some wonky bricks, an old leak and some missing floor boards - oh the joys!
Thursday saw the new bath in - yipee but alas no shower!   And Friday (fanfare please) we have running water, the basin in, a new toilet and the bath all fixed!

Yesterday we purchased some tiles at a bargain price (thanks B&Q) and got on with the messy job of tiling.  I have to say I got the safe jobs of measuring and marking the tiles and handing them in sequence to my hubby who was standing in the bath.



We have got some photos of the different stages although once we are finished next week I will post the finished masterpiece! Still got shower, new window and painting to do.

Thanks goodness for parents otherwise we would all be very stinky!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see I am sticking to my resolutions this year and starting what I have finished.  The blanket is still in mid progress but I have made some other lovely things which I will save for next time xxxxxxxxxx

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Happy New Year

I know I'm a bit late but as they say better late than never.  I have been absent on the blogging front for a while and I can't guarantee too regular posts at the moment either.

This is mainly because we have moved house and it needs lots of love and attention to bring it up to scratch.  If you have been with me for a while you will know all about the house move and some of the stress this was causing, but over the year I hope to share some of the journey with you all.

It has been a whole year since I started blogging and the resolutions that I started with did not happen, like so many I started with very good intentions but did not stick it out.  This year I don't really plan on making any resolutions apart from finishing what I start and enjoying time at the new house with family and friends.

So here you go project number one!


This is the Granny stripe from Lucy's blog at Attic 24 which you can find here.  I will keep you updated of my progress.

What new projects have you started????????