I love Freecycle

Freecycle is beginning to be interesting again.  At the end of the year and beginning of January,  there was lots of furniture and TVs being offered - I expect this was following the January sales and Christmas gifts.

In the last couple of weeks,  things are a changing with all sorts of things being offered.  A couple of female rats were offered and taken last week -  yuk!    We have been fortunate,  first there was the table for the lottie - Mr Milly gave it the second coat of paint this weekend and now it looks like new.  The Portuguese Housekeeper was looking for a bed as hers is broken - one came along in the middle of last week and it is a really good one which has obviously been well looked after, she is really pleased with it.

And finally on Saturday a Petrol Lawnmower was offered - I duly sent my email to the offerer and waited,  I must have checked my email every 10 mins for the next couple of hours to see if there was a response - and nothing.   Usually when you are successful with something an email is returned really quickly,  from experience the longer the wait the less change of getting the item.

 Not this time though........... I was lucky  the email finally arrived on Sunday morning and yesterday I collected the Lawn Mower.   It needs a little TLC which Mr Milly will do for me - hopefully My Boy will help,  but it is working and with the 2 plots to mow (had I mentioned that I now have 2 allotment plots??!!  :))  this will be brilliant.  Once the servicing and body work have been sorted - I think a little coat of paint might be in order....   I wonder what colour????

Pink Table

Pink kettle and mugs

Pink Trug

Pink kneeler

Freecycle is great and even if the lawn mowers costs £10 to get it up fixed up a little it will be well worth it!

Exciting News

This morning at 9.05 on I was on the phone to the council and the result - Plot 96 is still available and yes it was no problem for me to take that one over!  The tenancy agreement is on its way to me,  and that now means that I have a whole plot to play with!   My current plot - No 95 is a 5 rod plot which is 1/2 a plot.   No 96 is also a 5 rod plot -  with the 2 together  I am now a full plot holder!

I have had my eye on this plot for sometime now as it directly joins to mine,  it has been worked last year with 3 reasonable sized beds having been in production.  To get this one up and running will probably take a weekend - to actually have it how I would like to run the 2 plots will take much longer.   There are some of the dreaded brambles to be cleared, however these are at the very back of the plot and could be left for now, in fact they probably will be left for now!  There is also a very small tin shed I think these are the original sheds put up on the site as there are a few of them scattered here and there - this will be useful though as I can store the pots I have accumulated and a few other bits and pieces too,  these will clear my shed a little and the back of plot 95 which is a bit of a dumping ground.

Plot 95 on the left and Plot 96 on the right,  the over grown bit in the middle separates the 2 plots.

Good timing really for this one to come up - right at the start of the year so there is plenty of time to prep the existing beds ready for planting!   This weekend the Portuguese Housekeeper and I cleared the front of Plot 95 WooHoo!!!  A double celebration!!    This is the very last bit of my plot to be cleared,  it was a hard slog to get it done but massive sense of achievement once it was completed with the last barrow load of weeds and rubbish taken away.   The Portuguese Housekeeper was fed up yesterday - 'I'm bored with moving mud' she said at one point, but we were so nearly at the end she kept going.  It has taken 2 weekends to clear this bit and without her help it would have taken me 4 weekends probably to do - I am extremely grateful for her help and the company!

All cleared - ready for digging over and making new beds.
The picture makes my plot look empty - in reality this newly cleared section is about 1/3 of the total plot,  the perspective of the photo is just not quite right!.

Clearing the last section of the front of my plot.   It definately isn't glamorous work!!  LOL 

The Smurfs came to help.........  
The Portuguese Housekeeper was cold,  we teased her all day  as she looks like a Smurf!

Plans are now afoot to sort out the  whole big plot I now have - pen and paper will be out tonight!  I wonder if I have enough seeds!!

The end of a long week

This week was exhausting,  it ended on Friday evening collecting a bed for the Portuguese Housekeeper (PH) - my little car to collect a double bed.  That meant driving to collect the PH,  driving to collect the first half of the bed,  delivering it to her flat - which is a very long walk from where the car was parked,  driving back to get the second half of the bed and repeating the process.     Not much blogging from me this week, but with the hours and hours spent in the car, I really didn't have anything remotely interesting to say and I was tired beyond tired!

I couldn't wait to get out in the fresh air,  minimal driving and do something enjoyable.   An early start for me yesterday,  a little shopping for essentials (chicken and parrot food),  collected my bag of goodies and off to the Lottie.  It was cold - a hat, scarf and a few layers of clothing sorted out that challenge though.   I had a very sore shoulder - from spending so much time in the car I think - so didn't want to do anything too strenuous, I decided to paint the table!

It took a while to do, but I was well wrapped up,  a cup of tea or 2 on hand, paint brush to the ready and the table has had its first coat of paint.    It is a bit lighter than I thought it would be,  but I do like it!

Table Before

Table after

I had a very interesting chat to Barney from plot 102 with some exciting news - the lady from plot 96, this is the one directly next to mine - has now given up her plot.  If you remember this post We have been Busy you will know that I have been thinking of taking on another plot and this is the one that I wanted.    First thing on Monday morning I will be on the phone to the council to see, well beg and plead actually, if I can take this plot on too.

Now I am not going to talk about Plot 96 any more until I have had the conversation with the nice lady at the council - hopefully with fingers and toes crossed I will have some good news to share tomorrow!

What awful weather

I left home this morning to travel to Colchester,  I moved precisely 15 miles in one whole hour.  The traffic was an absolute nightmare with all roads blocked in every direction.  40 mile an hour speed limits on the motorway and endless signs saying 'Caution Queue after Junction'  to top that it was absolutely pouring with rain.  As Colchester is 100 miles from home,  I could see it taking nearly all day to get there and then do a days work.  I gave up!!  Turned around took the 'A' roads home,  having travelled 15 miles and home again the whole trip took 2 hours!  What a complete and utter waste of time.

For my sins now I have to attempt the journey again tomorrow morning - this will be a round trip though 200 miles as I have to return home again in the evening.    Thursday I am off to Cheltenham - just a mere 180 mile round trip.  By Friday I am going to feel like I have lived in the car.......

To cheer me up with what I knew was going to be a busy week I have been shopping in my most favourite shop - Cath Kidston.  They now have all the lovely new season bits and pieces in together with a few left over sale items

My goodies look like this;-

Bargain Blackberry case,  I have been waiting for these to come down in price!
 And fold up shopper,  I use these all of the time.

Some lovely bargain fabric and a brand new design too.  Plans are afoot for both of them.

A little gift for My Girl as she is poorly at the moment. 

At last a doggie collar to fit a big dog

Star modelling her new collar - lovely!

Nestled under all the goodies,  did you see my very pretty new nightie???    I held it up for Mr Milly to admire,  hoping he would say something along the lines of  " that's pretty you will look lovely in that"  you get my drift I'm sure ;),  Oh no - not my hubby -  so what did he actually say??   -  "That looks very warm and comfortable"  Oops  LOL!!

A little message for My Girl - Love you lots and hope you feel better soon x x x Mum

We have been busy

I thought I had finished the quilt and have now decided a little more work is needed on it  :(.  Pictures to follow.

Yesterday the Portuguese Housekeeper  came to the Lottie with me - I had a definite mission in mind for this weekend - to clear as much as possible of the front on the plot.  Between us we soon got into a rhythm,  using my Azada I would take some grass off,  the Portuguese Housekeeper would load the grass into wheelbarrow and deposit it on the heap behind the plot, by the time she returned the next lot of grass and debris was ready for loading into the wheelbarrow.  A good couple of hours of this went on, we did have a  couple of tea breaks though as it is very hard work!  We didn't quite get the whole lot cleared,  however we were both really pleased with the progress and I am so relieved to finally be getting this eyesore bothersome bit of the plot tackled.   I want to get it sorted as soon as possible so that I can compost and manure it before the growing season gets properly under-way.

It does all look a bit grim!  I have been trying to find a before photo without success.
This has made me realise how carefully I have avoided photographing the front of the plot.

The shed looking as good as before following a little paint touch up this weekend, I even cleaned the window and now I am thinking how cute it would look with little curtains - I am sure I have some fabric that I could use!  

I am still debating on whether to take on another small plot - I do think I am going to rapidly run out of  space for all the things I want to grow.  Another plan and probably the more reasonable one is to extend my plot backwards.  There are no plots behind me  and unlikely to be - it is very tempting to go in this direction,  and I think with a bit of moving around I could get in another 1 reasonable size bed or possibly a couple of smaller ones and have a good size plot.  Brambles are growing here though - more roots to be dug out YUK!  I'm going to have a think about this and hopefully if the weather is good this weekend Mr Milly will be able to get to the plot and between us we can make a decision on what we are going to do.

Today I have acquired a table - Mr Milly is pleased as I was after him building me a potting bench,  the table will do the job nicely and of course somewhere for the camping stove and a cup of tea.    My Boy collected the table for me today and took this picture for me too - his photography skills leave a little to be desired!

 A lovely Freecycle freebie for me and with a coat of paint I am sure it will look as good as new.  There is a brilliant choice of colours on the market,  I think I have narrowed it down to 2 - guess which is my favourite?????

That's My Milly's job for the weekend - rub down and paint the table,  a lot easier than building one from scratch and how brilliant is Freecycle!

I have had a few lovely comments recently,  Blogger is frustration though as I will have comments left by Anonymous - I would really love to know who you are, please please leave your name if leaving me a comment!!  

Some comments for your comments!:

Nearly There Claire - Thank you for all of your comments, it is good to hear from a kindred spirit and your blog is great,  I'm looking forward to watching your allotment progress!  The flagstones for the shed were laid directly on the soil,  we did our best to level it all out and just plonked them on!  The shed is still standing with no wobbling so all is good!  The foot did heal OK!  And the cider Boat is fab - although I am always the oldest to visit I still love it!!

Anonymous - from this post Re-use and Re-cycle.  I am glad you have enjoyed reading my Blog witterings and hope you continue to do so!  The chickens are all doing great at the moment with feathers reappearing after the recent moult.   Egg production is definately down though and during the very cold spell we had recently, no eggs at all.   I think with the dark short days the poor chicks are confused and can often be found in bed at 3.30 in the afternoon - This really affects egg production!

Colin - How lovely to hear from you and thank you for your comment - I definately WON'T let them beat me!

Anonymous - from this post How annoying.  Your comment did make me laugh! A finally touch up with paint this week and the shed is now looking as good as new!

Quilting

Tonight I am trying to finish the quilt,  there has been a choice made tonight - keep on with the quilt or stop and blog for a while.   The quilting has won........  back to the needle and thread  with a Blog update tomorrow.

Alison x

Re-use and Re-cycle

The first of this years seeds have been potted up woohoo!!

Lots of little paper pots have been made with the freebie papers that drop through the letterbox,   old margarine tubs have been cut up to make the plant labels and the seed trays and propagators are from my freecycle collection last year.  Pretty good going I think and a really good use of bits and pieces around the house.

Potted up today were;-

Gardeners Delight Tomatoes
Geraniums
Candy Cane Sweet Peas
Aubergines

All are now residing on a window sill in the spare bedroom, fingers crossed they sprout and grow.

The weather as expected was not great today  - we debated all morning whether we should venture to the Lottie,  in the end though it was a no-go,  how disappointing :(.   I consoled myself with planting up the seeds and re-checking my planting list!

I spent a little time this afternoon at the lovely sewing machine tackling the quilt I have been working on since Christmas  - it is huge.   The end is in sight as all the blocks have been cut, ironed, sewn together, ironed some more, batting and backing applied and pinned and the hardest bit of quilting all the layers together is now under way.  This is really tough to do as there is just so much of it and it is a wrestle with all the fabric and the sewing machine.   I can only work on the actual quilting for short periods of time as it is exhausting!  Tonight I am cutting the strips to make the binding - I'm looking forward to this as then it will be done.

A very little sneak peak of the quilt.

Finally today my latest ornament - I have seen these types of things in a few places and decided I wanted one,  I had forgotten about the twisted willow growing in the garden, which is now getting huge.  Mr Milly thought I had lost the plot when I stood for ages in the garden looking at the willow tree - I wasn't mindlessly looking though I was deciding which bits would be the best to cut for my ornament.   Finally the decision was made and a few snips later, a bit of arranging in a vase and bingo - I had exactly what I wanted.   My oldest nephew had helped me last weekend collect some acorn cups when we were at the Lottie - another one in the family who thought I was losing the plot LOL!!

Anyway - it was a good excuse to do some needle felting - the result an acorn tree!   The plan is to change the decorations throughout the year  - hearts during February,  Eggs at Easter,  Pumpkins at Halloween,  baubles at Christmas and whatever else takes my fancy for the rest of the time.

Not a great photo - I'll try to take one in the daylight tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting today.
Alison x

Home at last

I've been away nearly all week...I am really glad to finally be home!   Nothing to report today though...... 3 days in the office and 2 nights in a hotel with my lovely Kindle for company means no pictures, no crafting and no lottie  :(.

I have been looking forward to spending time at the Lottie this weekend, but the weather has been so very awful this week I am doubtful I will be able to get much done as I anticipate it will be a mud bath,  I do have some offers of help this weekend though  - so fingers and toes crossed for a few productive Lottie hours this weekend and a bit of time out in the fresh air.

Time to begin this year's sowing at last! - Mr Milly has been collecting the free newspapers for me and my Paper Potter is going to be put to good use over the next couple of days

http://lieandloveofthemillys.blogspot.com/search/label/Paper%20Potter.    

This years seeds have been catalogued - how organised that sounds!  Really it is just my month by month list of what to sow and when to plant!

That feels like a plan for the weekend;- make some pots, plant some seeds,  clear some window sills - the pots have to go somewhere (best not mention that bit to Mr Milly!) and clear some more of the Lottie.

I hope you have a good weekend!

Alison x

Little Helpers

A difficult day yesterday and today as always life moves on.

To lighten my day yesterday I had two willing little helpers at the Lottie,  My oldest and littlest nephews came for a visit at the Lottie and it was fun to do 'little jobs' with little people.   We dug over the flower bed and pulled up the weeds,  a little tutorial to begin with on weeds and flowers just so that the right things were pulled up.  That bed was soon tidied,  I had some tulip and allium bulbs which should really have been planted by December,  I had forgotten about them and figured better late than never!  I used my dibber to make holes in the bed and left the boys to randomly plant the bulbs.

Next onto the onion bed - I have been meaning to weed this bed for ages and a perfect job to do with the littlies - the little one did get bored after a while and spent ages playing with the water pump, not the best day really to be playing with water - the ice on the top was about and inch thick,  but he managed to have a great time!  My oldest nephew helped pull up the weeds,  he did advise though that some planks of wood between the onions might be a good idea - it would stop the weeds and we wouldn't have to walk on the ground - how did this 9 year old get so sensible and how come I'm listening to his advice!!    It was great fun having the boys around and lovely to have some help - this week I am going to look out for some boy size gardening gloves for them to keep in the Lottie shed for the next time they visit.

Mr Milly and I finished the wire frame for the raspberries and that was about it for the day.   I forgot the camera yesterday so no Lottie pics today.

Finally I have finished the Cathedral window cushion - I am really really pleased with it and have now decided that it would be good to make some more to match my living room - just need to find the right fabric and I can make a start on them.   I really hope the recipient of this cushion will be pleased with it!

Cathedral Window Cushion

A day to remember

It is 10 years today since my dad passed away.   Today my thoughts are of my lovely, kind, caring and funny dad and the very many happy times we all spent as a family.  My brother and I were very lucky as we had parents who were devoted to us and each other and the result of this is that we grew up in a secure loving home full of happy childhood memories.

I love this song,  it reminds me of my dad - take a minute or two to have a listen.

For my dad - Mervyn Jenkins 1936 -2002.  

Love and miss you always x x Alison

All Fixed

Mr Milly and the Portuguese Housekeeper came to the Lottie with me today,  this is the first proper visit to the Lottie this year.    Mr Milly went armed with nails and hammers and he has fixed the shed door - a little touch up with paint required and then it will be as good as new.

Near as good as new.

The Portuguese Housekeeper (she isn't really our housekeeper - it is just a teasing name we have for her! She house sits for us  and looks after the animals when we are away - she is also Portuguese,  hence the nick name!)  she helped me weed and cleared the soon-to-be flower bed.  

The bed which housed the Brussels sprouts was finished - I'm not sure what I did wrong with the Brussels this year as they looked so promising and then came to nothing - has been cleared today.   I dug the bed over and with the help of the Portuguese Housekeeper we cleared it and then planted the raspberry canes.   We did laugh a lot today,  mostly as my expense....  I am rubbish with a hammer and the stakes for the raspberry canes were tough to hammer into the ground,  I am not sure what I was doing with my face - possibly it was the lovely blue colour as I hold by breath when hammering,  but both Mr Milly and The Portuguese Housekeeper sat and laughed at me for ages....  it did get too much for The Portuguese Housekeeper in the end and she took over!

The New Raspberry bed - I know they look like dead twigs,
but trust me they are raspberry canes

We finished the day by tidying the shed and a few other little tidy ups around the plot.

Nice tidy shed

Anyway today it felt like some progress was made and has given me the push I needed to start getting the Lottie ready for the growing season this year.   And what a beautiful day it was today,  yes it was very cold,  but the air was clear,  the birds were chirping and there was a lovely bright winter sun,  a perfect day for being out in the open and  really welcome at the end of a long week stuck in the house. Fingers crossed it is the same tomorrow as I'm champing at the bit to get back to the Lottie and tackle a few more jobs!

Mr Milly and The Portuguese Housekeeper surveying their handiwork!

A little helper

Firstly, thank you for the emails and comments I have had following the break in at the lottie - I have really appreciated your thoughts and humour too!

On a positive note - I am now feeling motivated to get to the lottie and start sorting it out ready for the spring,  both Mr Milly and the Portuguese Housekeeper have pledged time this week end to come with me and make a start - I expect the work will be down to me,  but the company will be extremely welcome.

I have had another offer of help today - from my oldest nephew,  he is 9 and often when he visits I will show him the recent photos I have taken and we talk about them.   He spotted the fox in the tree in a nano second!  Today we were discussing the lottie and  I duly showed him the pictures of the damaged door,  we discussed in detail what might of happened, he studied the broken door with great interest.  He has assured me he has some wood from his old bed that will help to fix the lottie door.  He asked his mum what he was doing at the weekend as he wanted to come and help me.   We talked about some of the other jobs that need doing,   planting the raspberries and building their frame,  pulling up the Brussel sprouts and clearing that bed,  a general little tidy up where the recent high winds have blown things around and whilst there is no new growth I would really like to cut down some more of the brambles at the back of the plot.   Now my nephew weigh all this up,  he established that he has some gardening gloves - and wanted to know how prickly the brambles were!

Anyway I have a lovely little list of jobs that he could do he was happy with that.    I'm not sure if he will make it to the lottie this weekend and as he was leaving I told that it would be great to see him this weekend,  but if he can't make it, then not to worry as there will be lots more weekends!  He did seem quite happy with this as he kissed me goodbye today.

Tonight I am sitting with some seed catalogues and trusty Google trying to decide what goodies I am going to attempt to grow this year.   Already there are things to be done - now is the time to be chitting seed potatoes ready for planting.   Which ones to choose - there are zillions of the things on offer and it is confusing and before even choosing  the type a decision to be made on which sort of crop - did you have any idea that the crop list was this long??????

Extra Earlies

Earlies

Second Earlies

Main crop

Late Crop

Pen and paper to the ready, trying to work out the whole thing out - how complicated for the humble little potato!

How annoying

This morning I had a phone call from the John the site manager of the allotments  - what was the phone call for?  My little lottie shed had been broken into!  

I had to wait until my lunch break today to go and see for myself what had happened.  To my relief nothing had been taken - but isn't that odd?  There isn't anything of any value in there as we did know of previous break-ins at the site and dire warnings from the other plot holders made sure nothing valuable was left there.  Having said that everything in my shed is valuable to me and it is mine!  I was most worried about my lawn mower (a second hand one) and my spade and fork - I did pay a reasonable sum for these (about £20 each so not a fortune),  BUT that is not the point - it would be annoying and inconvenient and costly to have to replace them and THEY ARE MINE!

It does look as if it was completely mindless, pointless vandalism and nothing else.  The door is damaged and the lock is broken,  my freebie freecycle clock is smashed and most strange of all - MY chairs were out of the shed, on the patio area as if someone had been sitting on them (Goldilocks - whose been sitting in my chair, springs to mind),  my scarecrow too had been taken out of the shed and thrown on the floor.  So it looks like some small minded person or people unknown have broken my shed to take the chairs out to sit on!  How very very stupid is that!    At least nothing is gone and some repair work will be required at the weekend.  Just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have any rain between now and Saturday as the shed is definately not water tight at the moment.

Broken shed door

What a strange thing to do

Smashed clock on the patio

Considering it is the winter and the plot is seriously unloved at the moment and even with the broken door - No 95 is still looking neat and tidy - that does make me feel a little better!

Patchwork

Patchwork is something I have never really tried - I think I might have dabbled in the past but I don't think I had the patience for it.

My patience has improved a little (I'm not sure Mr Milly would agree though!),  I have had a go at paper piecing.   The result a lovely vintage looking project bag for me.   This has taken ages to complete,  in fact I think I started just after Christmas.   The bag is made up of 60 hexagons,  each one is cut around its own paper template and then tacked to the paper to hold its shape,  the hexagons are then hand stitched and once all are in place the whole thing is ironed and then the papers unpicked and removed.   It was quite fascinating putting it together and I have enjoyed sitting with the work on my lap doing some hand sewing.   The bag has been lined in a matching fabric and now I have a lovely big useable bag to keep my current project (or 2 or 3!) in.

My New project Bag

60 Hexagons later and matching lining

Paper template - one for each Hexagon

Fabric and Paper tacked together

The 3 steps for a single hexagon

So moving on from the paper piecing I've had a go at Cathedral windows.  This also is hand stitched and will become a cushion cover.   This first attempt is going to be a gift - It is a work in progress at the moment and I have learnt a lot from this.  The backing is 100% cotton fabric which is folded and ironed a couple of times before the inserts are folded and hand sewn in place.   This fabric is thick and my goodness it has really hurt my poor little chubbie fingers!  Plasters to the ready yet again and I have now had to buy a thimble too!  When I do another one of these and I expect there will be a few more, I will be more careful which fabric I choose to try and save my fingers!

A couple of pics of the work in progress.

First lot of windows sewn in,  one pinned and still to be sewn

The final windows in positioned and ready for attaching.

Mr Milly is thinking this will make a great quilt,  I am thinking this would take years to complete and would probably cost more in plasters than fabric :)

Cookies

Do you remember these?

Today the first of the cookies in a jar have been created!  My oldest niece DJ called this morning to tell me the cookies were underway - how lovely to know that the gifts are being used.   I have been sent these lovely photos to show progress of the cookie making.

DJ mixing the cookies

This picture made me laugh....  these cookies
 won't be allowed to burn!  LOL

Yum -Well I'm impressed!



All done ...

I think they look great - and DJ does too  :) x

I've been playing a little more with the needle felting,  I think I am getting better as my fingers only have a few punctures this time!

Bear

Flower Fairy

Toadstool House

Mr Milly has claimed the little bear and a couple of the others have been claimed by My Girl and the Portuguese Housekeeper - in fact the girls had a bit of a fight over them which was quite entertaining LOL!