Oh dear I feel like the weather

Grey.........another overcast morning, with rain showers. I washed towels and put them on the line, only to have to fetch them in and put them in the dryer!!

Putting together another of the funky tree table runners, my cleaner wants to give her mother one for Christmas. I will applique the trees onto the background whilst DB has his siesta. I have seen a new design I like, a house surrounded by trees.....hmmmmm.

He has been out in the garden this morning, starting to tidy up the strawberries, he found 3 hiding, so it will be strawberries with the raspberries tonight.

Expecting a delivery from Dunelm after lunch. I had to order a new duvet cover to replace the country diary one which is now in a parlous state. I owes me nothing I bought it over 30 years ago. I may cut the fabric up and find something to make using it.

Supper tonight is pasta with tomato sauce and garlic bread.

Stormy weather

Very grey sky, rain forecast, sun early this morning and the wind has dropped a bit.

Load of laundry in, dried in the dryer as it was spitting with rain, all folded and put away.

Cleaner here, so house clean and tidy, all bins emptied except the one in my sewing room which is full of scrappy bits. I have a chap coming this evening to give me a quote for the shelves in my sewing room.

I had to ring Halifax this morning about my car insurance, I told them a month ago that I was changing providers I saved £75 by doing a search. Cheeky b*****s had taken £311+ out of my account. Waiting with bated breath for the refund.

I have managed to get the binding on the table runner, just have to sew it down.

If you look closely at the batting you will see I have joined several pieces together, they do not call me Frugal Flo for nothing.

My cleaner has asked me to make a set of angels for her and another table runner for her mother, I need to cut a couple of cream and gold trees and I have enough to make another runner. The angels are no problem, I can do 2 in about an hour. I do not have a large enough piece for the backing and binding for the runner though .......

The last of yesterdays chicken for supper tonight with new potato's from the garden and a tomato and celery salad. Possibly more rasps for dessert, despite there not being much sun they are ripening up quite well.

DB was in the garden this morning watering with plant food, he makes his own from comfry in a  bucket and filled up with water. It stinks, but the plasnts seem to like it.

Lots in the paper about the Leicester sweat shops, maybe they will do something about the situation, its been an open secret in Leicester for years.

oooppppsss

I forgot today was Sunday, DB gave me a shove at 8.30, I got out of bed and went for a shower, then remembered it was Sunday and we usually have brekkie in bed!!! Tough...... first time we have been up before 9am on a Sunday for ages.

Sunny morning but high winds again, the trees in the garden of the house that backs onto us are really bending and swaying, one of these days the enormous fir tree will come down and cause a great deal of damage, it must be all of 50ft high.

DB went out last night and picked more raspberries, I have a large plastic bag in the freezer which is almost full, plenty of raspberry jellies in the winter.

I am not going to rant about it, believe me I could..... the covoid situation in Leicester is very worrying, so are the new figures for Melton, for weeks they have been 77 cases, today they are 143, thats almost double. I wonder how many of those are people who travel into Leicester for work? Or who work for Samworths who are a major employer in the town. One of their factories in Leicester has reported as having workers with covoid.

There is a lot in the papers today about the situation in the city, there has been talk about BLM and slavery, what is happening in the sweat shops in the city is also a form of slavery, imposed by bosses of the same race. People have been forced to work for, in some cases, £3.00 an hour and work from 8am to 9pm each day. These people are slaves.....the minimum wage is around £8 - £9 an hour. It is inhuman to exploit these people although it is easy to understand why it happens and why the Police and council are very loathe to act.

The papers also have pictures of the crowds in the pubs...... we will never be free of this horrid virus whilst selfish people act like this.

Enough.......yesterday I decided to make another of the tree table runners I made a couple of Christmas's ago, laid them out and then realised that the backing would not be long enough...oooppss, so have to cut down the trees....I may make a couple of mats with the fabric trees left over.

The angels are dry and nice and stiff, I need to find something to mount them on, There is some mounting board in a bag somewhere in my sewing room. 

Supper tonight will be roast chicken breast, new potato's from our garden, with veg. Raspberries and cream for dessert.

Today we have rain

Again the mizzle, wets you through, stops for 10 minutes then starts again. dark grey clouds scudding across the sky in the stiff breeze Its also rather cold....brrrrr......

Independence Day in the US.......guess they will not be celebrating thanks to the high levels of coronavirus they have. Of course you always get the idiots as we do here. 7 policemen injured last night trying to break up an illegal party in London. One thing, people will not be flocking to the seaside.......

No plans for today, feeling a bit restless, finding isolation a bit boring now to be honest. I am concerned for DD1 she went back to work and has now been furloughed again for 2 weeks. As far as I know DD2 is working.

Yesterday I put my cooker on Gumtree, spoke to Mark Electrical about the new cooker, due in 2 weeks, have ordered it and put down a deposit. If I sell the cooker before the new one is due I can manage with the combi micro and electric steamer. So a halt in savings for a month. The emergency fund is doing ok, but I will be happier when the target is reached.

Need to sort out my last present.......might do a Christmas runner....will see.

Planned to have gammon for supper with egg and tomato, no gammon......I have some cooked gammon in the freezer, so it will be gammon, salad and our own grown spuds. Raspberries for dessert.

Rain?

According to the forecast we should have rain, what we have are the high winds back!! Just what we need.

DB is about to go out and take the shears to the climbing Jasmine rambling along the front fence, which wants to take over the pavement, its in flower, but sorry, it needs to be cut. The front garden its self needs a bit of TLC.

I have no plans for today apart from working on two mats I am making from the two designs I used as a sew out. I have found some rather lurid fabric to back them with and for the binding. I am sure I have some orange thread somewhere, I need to have a look for it. If I cannot find it then cream will have to do!!

The angels have had the stabilizer soaked off and are drying between two sheets of baking parchment. Hopefully they have dried ok, I did iron the paper sandwich to speed up the drying a bit.

Our usual Friday supper, fish and chips........there may be some raspberries for dessert.

Finished today the two mats from the sample blocks.

Going into the Christmas present box.

Mizzle

Not raining just mizzle, that very fine rain that wets you through. Very grey sky.

I have towels in the washer, they will go in the dryer, no point hanging them out.

Progress on the angels, I had another failure yesterday but......I have just one more to do and the set is complete. I will be looking for some different designs. I have a couple of blocks I want to square up and make into mats. I will look for something else to do. I did see a good idea for cards yesterday........just a few special ones.

DB picked raspberries yesterday, he watered the garden last night it was so dry, the wind is drying the soil quickly. If it clears up he will be picking more rasps today.

Order in for Sainsbugs for next week, was hoping for Thursday but no slots so Wednesday afternoon will have to do. It will be well into Auugust before I venture out to Aldi.

Supper tonight is frittata and salad, I have some new potato's so will make potato salad to go with it.

Finished!! 12 free standing lace angels............

All 12

 Two holding crosses, and two praying.

Two with parcels, two praying.

Two playing the harp, two playing the trumpet.

Every one has a different dress. I have come to the conclusion that my machine is a morning lady, she sailed through the last angel no bother. After lunch she definitely needs a rest!! All the disasters I have had have been after lunch!!

Pinch an' a punch

for the first of the month, July already. We have been in lock down for 12 weeks of this year........

Dull morning, a few bursts of sun, but very weak, rain is due later, the wind is still blowing a hoolie.

Did some more at the angels, not without problems. The first two sewed perfectly, the third, messed up on the last bit grrrrrr...... no idea why this happens, no threads caught or anything, check the bobbin case every time before I start. I am going to look for a different design once this lot are finished, I have another 4 to go for this set.

You do not have to look far to see the mess!!! Another angel bits the dust.

I have towels to wash but they can wait until tomorrow. I did manage to do the ironing yesterday.....I had lost a pillow case, found it in the duvet cover....all creased up. Quick spray of starch soon altered that.

Beef stew tonight, I suspect with dumpling and veg. DB picked a dish full of raspberries yesterday and I pulled a few sticks of rhubarb, its cooked, just deciding what to do with it.

Just could not resist cutting these three buds. DB was dead heading.

Tonights supper, beef stew, herb dumpling, cabbage and cauliflower. The stew cooked in the PKP this morning, with onion, carrot and sweetcorn. In a casserole pan on the stove, as soon as it was bubbling I added the dumpling and turned the heat down. 35 minutes and supper was ready. I cook my veg in the steamer, cabbage does not stink the house out then. It was delicious!!!