It's really a cupboard isn't it . . .?

 . . . said one of the plumbers we had working in our house!  Well it may be small be it is now rather gorgeous!  The W C letters came from some witty guests at our wedding who thought it was funny that the initials of our first names were W and C!  They have come in handy though!

I am really pleased with how this 'little' room has turned out.

Although you have to look closely to see the boxing hares and some people miss them altogether!

For those observant ones, you will notice that the tiles on the floor match those in the bathroom . . . I had a slight change of mind about what to do with the bath panel and decided not to tile it which meant we had tiles left over.  But I think they look lovely here on the floor - I wish I could say I had designed it that way all along  . . . !

A glimpse

Boxing Hares

A new bathroom

A new wall - yes no more open-plan bathing in our house!

Unfortunately, a boarded up window, the wood was too rotten to save and we are going to need a new window.  This will be very exciting when it happens, it's just a bit odd having no natural light in the bathroom at the moment!

It's all looking very clean and sparkly though . . .!

. . . and I'm aiming to keep it that way.  I have become quite obsessive in my cleaning, but hopefully after the novelty wears off so will my level of cleaning.  I have also spent some time examining the cleaning products in our local supermarket and came across this amazing cloth.  If you haven't heard of the e-cloth before it is a miracle worker!  All you need to do is spray on a bit of water and rub and all the water marks, smears and soap disappears for a wonderful finish - it works on the chrome too.

There still needs some prettifying to be done, hooks to be hung, a glass shelf to be reinstated but I am enjoying the clutter free look at the moment!

But this new bathroom has been such a joy so far.  A walk-in shower cabinet feels like a luxury and ooddles of hot water too, so there will be no more banging on the bathroom door with shouts of 'don't use all the hot water', when I get lost in the moment, enjoying a good soak!

Slowly coming together

 

I've been feeling a bit bad recently that I haven't been doing much craftiness to share with you here.  But then I thought actually the house is my craft project at the moment - it is certainly taking up all my time.   So you might have to bear with me as you are going to see a lot of what is going on inside our house over the next couple of weeks/months . . . !  Things I'm loving at the moment - my fishing creel which hides all our shoes - a perfect fit - and another bargain from Barbara's - how I love that shop!

Victorian Cottage Museum

One of the things that I like about living in an old house, apart from the quirky characteristics and charm that old houses bring, is thinking about all the people who have called this house a home.  Our little cottage, the Gardener's Cottage, was built in 1890, so I would think a lot of people have lived here over the years.  I wonder sometimes who the original gardener was, a Mr Reiss, and what he would think of the garden now - oh I do hope he is not too upset with how it looks now - if only I had hours to pour into it!  So these are some of the things that I wonder about.  One day I will actually try and do some research and try to work out who has lived here.  I read a wonderful review of a book once - sadly I can't remember the title of the book - but the premise was similar.  The author had researched the families that had lived in her house and then she wrote a novel, trying to imagine the lives that these people lived.

Anyway, I seemed to have trundled off the point somewhat.  The other joy of living in an old house, inhabited by many people are the treasures we find in the garden.  I've started a little windowsill Museum in the kitchen for all my finds.  It is so wonderful to be digging away in the garden and suddenly unearth something, like that glass bottle stopper which I found in our new potato patch at the weekend.

So here is to all those who have called this house a home and I hope you loved it just as much as we do!

OK I've just done a quick search on google and found the book I was talking about Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House by Julie Myerson. 

To a lovely sister . . . who rescues things . . .

I'm a hoarder - always have been and I fear always will be.  Even as a child I kept tickets from places we had been, badges, shells, in fact anything that delighted my magpie eyes.  But then I have moments, usually when I start to run out of places to store all my treasures, or if I lose something (or more likely forgotten where I had put something) and then I will have a big clear out.  I am ruthless in those moments.  I blame it on being born on the cusp and the winter solstice - I was never going to be a straight forward kind of girl! So imagine my delight and surprise when visiting my sister at the weekend when she bought out these Russian dolls for my little ones to play with.  'I rescued these' she said 'when you threw them out'.  Oh yes, I remember throwing them out and also how recently I had started thinking that I wish I hadn't!  'I've been regretting throwing them out' I tell her and then she gave them back to me!  Little Roo just loves playing with them in fact that is all he has played with since Saturday and I just love my sister for rescuing things that really I should keep even when I'm in the throws of a great big clear out!

Sewing in Love

I'm doing some very special sewing at the moment. I can't quite believe that this baby girl will be going to school for the first time in a week and a half's time!!! Where did all that time go? How did she get sooo grown up? I know I haven't missed anything, I've been there with her all the time but somehow living life day to day I can't pin point exactly when all these subtle changes, which happen gradually over time, have happened. And now I have a big girl, going to big school and it seems so strange because I know that she is ready for this next step, but I'm now just wondering if I am!

So each night I am sitting with her new school uniform in my lap sewing in her name tapes and thinking about all the things she will learn, the challenges she will face, the fun she will have and the upset too and I'm just wishing her strength, courage and confidence for this big step. She is so excited and I am too and I can't wait to hear all her tales of school although I have a sneaky suspicion that all I'll get is 'oh we didn't do anything today'!!

Good luck my gorgeous, lovely Flopsy Bunny girl x

A month of cat photos . . .!

I must apologise, in advance, for what is going to be A LOT of photos of our cat over the coming weeks and maybe some other animals thrown in for good measure . . . ! But my wonderful camera has been sent away to remove it's dark splodge or 'fleck of dust on the sensor' as it was diagnosed in the shop. Anyway I'm without the wherewithall to take photos - so old ones will just have to do.

This doesn't mean that there isn't any crafting going on, which there is! I'll keep you updated on what I've been up to and hopefully I will have lots of things to show you when my camera is back in action. In the meantime here is my cat Saffy looking a bit peeved at the extreme closeup and for being disturbed from her sleep!!

Festive Tip

If you are planning on having lots of roaring log fires this festive season - like us - then stock up on tangerines too! The peel, when dried, makes the most amazing fire lighters and much cheaper than having to buy some!!!

Balancing tangerines when I should be knitting . . . you can see why I don't get many things done around here!

Rainbow gorgeousness

Gorgeous colours - what a lovely package to open this glorious autumn morning!

Hello Goodbye

Goodbye artex ceiling and anaglypta wallpaper. Hello smooth walls and ceilings and bright fresh colour (although the photo doesn't do it justice as the light was so poor that day). Still a little bare but getting there - our newly decorated sitting room - love it!

You may have noticed a little musical theme in the last couple of posts - just something for you to hum along to when you are reading!

Wonderful Herbs

I've been having a bit of a herby day today. We've had a bit of a glut of herbs recently courtesy of our veggie box. So for lunch I made my favourite soup - parsley soup - which is really leek and potato soup but just before it is ready to whizz up in the liquidizer you blanch a good bunch of parsley in some boiling water for a minute and then plunge it into cold water to stop it cooking. Then add to the soup and whizz! Fantastic parsley flavour and fabulous green colour - a total hit in our house.

We've also been inundated with basil too - so I've been making some basil ice cubes. Chop up some basil and put a teaspoon of chopped basil into each cube of an ice cube tray, fill up with water and then freeze. Hey presto you've got freshly chopped basil ready and waiting whenever you need it- just add a cube or two to whatever you are cooking!

Blackberry and Apple Jam

Blackberry and Apple Jam has to be my all time favourite jam. I'm not sure whether it is because of the taste or whether it is because it was the first jam I ever made. I first made the jam at school and in fact still use the recipe today. Although reading through my book I don't think I was paying much attention that day (I was a bit of a dolly daydreamer at school) as it was rather brief, I had left out the amount of sugar needed and the instructions were simply, wash and then cook the fruit, add the sugar and boil until setting point is reached. OK so that is basically how you make jam but there was no ideas of timings etc. So this year I decided to actually work out some timings so here is my recipe for Blackberry and Apple Jam:

3/4lb Blackberries
1/4lb Cooking Apples
1lb Sugar
A little water
********
Wash the blackberries and peel, core and chop the apples. This time I cooked the fruit separately, but in the past I have cooked them together. I'm not sure if it actually makes much difference and might actually cook them together in future. Anyway place the fruit into a saucepan and add a little water to just cover the bottom of the pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes until the fruit is soft. If you are cooking them separately then add the cooked Blackberries and Apples together into a large saucepan and then add the sugar. Heat the mixture gently and stir while the sugar dissolves and once it has dissolved bring to the boil and boil for about 8-10 minutes until setting point has been reached. I now use a jam thermometer as I can never work out if it's reached setting point using other methods such as the cold saucer method. Then it's just a case of filling up your sterilized jam jars and adding labels!

I made twice the quantities and made about 4 jars worth with a little left over for tasting, although I might have made more but I think I over boiled it at the end - got a bit distracted with two little ones and having to change a nappy! If you are not a fan of the pippiness from the blackberries, The Cottage Smallholder has a non pippy version. I might have to pick some more blackberries to make a second batch, the rate we get through jam these four jars won't even last until Christmas!

Lovely Lolly

An unexpected sunny afternoon had Flopsy Bunny and I running for the ice lolly's to eat in the garden. We had been very excited when our rocket lolly moulds arrived in a package from Lakeland and I quickly whipped up some lovely raspberry lolly mixture (recipe courtesy of my sister). I wasn't sure how much the recipe would make but in the end we had lots of mixture left over (after filling all the moulds) so I filled up some little pots with lids and froze those too and DH and I have been having little raspberry sorbets for pudding - what a treat!

Reshuffle

Very topical at the moment I know, what with the cabinet reshuffle, but we've been having a reshuffle at home too! With Little Roo's arrival the question of who was going to sleep where seemed obvious - Flopsy Bunny would move into the spare room and Little Roo would take her room - easy! Or so we thought. The problem was where to put all the things that were in the spare room and this has orchestrated a ripple that has run through the whole house. There are still some periphery ripples but in the main it's done. Flopsy Bunny is sleeping in her new room with most of her toys. Little Roo is sometimes sleeping in his room but preferring to sleep in our room if he can get away with it! The assorted clutter and stuff has either been thrown out, found new homes or been hidden in the black hole that we call the loft for further deliberation at a later date!

One of the main problems is that I'm a hoarder and I come from a long line of hoarder's. I believe that actually I'm very green as I tend to hold on to things "in case they are useful in the future", maybe I've inherited the make do and mend war mentality of my grandmothers. Although as DH pointed out when he discovered three big bags of bags (not even handbags but paper bags you get from shops or gift bags given to us over the years) that even I couldn't use all those and that they were just taking up space - he had a point. So I've been ruthless. I've also discovered a wonderful blog about spring cleaning your house in 10 days! (my sort out has taken 6 months and is ongoing ... but never mind).

Anyway, one of the causalities of my tidy up were all my magazines - no where to store them, so I have been ripping out pages to stick into a book (when I have the time) which I can look at to give me inspiration. The photo above is a selection of the pages I've pulled out. But I have found some really good articles, wonderful photos and images and lots of recipes for jam so the whole process, in the main has been very useful! The other hit of the mass tidy up is that I've found a new home for all my craft things, everything in one place so I'm very happy about that - just need to get making now that I've got some space to do it in!