Tribal Aphids warfare fighting enemy... war.

Having finally planted my seeds over the last few weeks (hee hee that sounds rude!) I am extremely pleased to announce that they are doing very well indeed! (Too well perhaps but i'll get to that...)

The sweet peas are quite big now...












and the rockit is really rocketing (haha!):














My butternut squash has doubled in size (3 plants now!)












(S'cuse the undies hanging in the background. Knickers and squash seed in happy union!)


And my avocado is sprouting after about 4 months of nothing!















I Love growing things! In fact, I got so excited about choosing my seeds and even more excited about planting them into egg boxes and toilet roll tubes, and practically hyperventilated when I first saw their shoots appearing above the soil! But it dawned on me this weekend that I made no follow on plans for when they actually grow whatsoever - ie they are starting to get too big for their little pots and I have nothing to transfer them too! Oh No! Stop growing seeds! Wait for me to get my act together!

It did get me looking for planters though, and I found these beauties:


















From the Guardian Eco Store













From Containerama (!)














From ecoutlet

All of them are under £20, so a real bargain if you ask me.

And now, to the Aphids...

I told you recently about my war with the Aphids, remember? Well here is an update. I am extremely sad to announce that we have lost a lettuce. It was loved very much and will be missed dearly by its parents, Reg, me and my mister. Its older siblings commented today that the lettuces untimely death will indeed leave a hole in their life....literally...












RIP lettuce plant.

But I wont let it happen again! I have armed myself with the most ferocious weapons the organic gardening sector can throw at me.... I have plant based insect repellent and i'm not afraid to use it!!










Grrrrrr, YEAH!





I have also made good progress with my dress but its late (actually waaaay past my bedtime at 22.53!) so no time to tell today. But I will say this. Dress darts are sew easy when you know how!! (How I make myself laugh!)

Still currently listening too Winters Sleeve by Animal Collective. It really is incredible. Still cant find a link, though apologies...

Hello world!

So, err up until now I have, rather sadly, been blogging to....myself. Yep thats right. I have immersed myself in my own weird and wonderful world, and have greatly enjoyed blogging away about all and nothing, indulging my every whim and fancy- from green politics to bunting. But I have finally relented to the peer pressure to share. So, ta dah! Here I am! If your really interested to follow some of the stories, about Reg the veg patch for example, you can start from the beginning- (the last post) and work your way forwards. There is alot. I may be revealing a little too much about my fragile mind when you see the sheer amount of scheisee I have told the internet over the last few months. But hey, I told you i'd share this one day, so here it is!


Listening too Lou Reed, Street Hassle. One of my ATF's (All time favourites) FYI: Telling you what im listening too as I write is a regular feature of my blog.

Baby and hannah Bunting finished!

(written on Saturday but the post didn't post for some reason?)

I finished my bunting today! I made 2 meters for my step mum and about 4 meters for me! Oops!

I'm very pleased with myself indeed. After I cut out the triangles (that's as far as i got on Tuesday) I paired them up and sewed them together, right sides facing each other.















Then I turned them inside out and pushed the point out with a pen and pressed them.

Then I just ogled at them for a while, look at how adorable they look!














Then I chose various lengths of ribbon (rather than that binding stuff ) which I ironed in half. I prefer the look of a mishmash of ribbon for the string part anyway.

You just tuck the triangles under the fold, pin it then sew it up! It was quite frustrating to get the triangles to stay tucked in though,I did succumb to sewing rage!

The pinned triangles, about to be sewed together:



















And here is the finished article! Yeah!


























(I like that on this picture you can see my very satisfyingly organised shelves with all my sewing stuff in them! Such pleasure. Sad i know.)

I'm terrible though because I cant thrown anything away. I have a bag for 'fabric bits too beautiful to throw away' but I found it hard to throw away even these teeny bits!














By the way, We watched Shortbus tonight, and its the best film I've seen for ages. The soundtrack is really great so I bought it just then.

Currently listening to Winters Sleeve by Animal Collective. LOVE!

(Sorry cant find link- you should buy this soundtrack though its lovely!)

Baby Bunting. (And maybe a little bit of Hannah bunting too...)

My step mother is pregnant, and she is due on May 1st! Im actually going to have a baby half brother or sister! Yikes! She's quite a bit (alot) younger than my Dad so this is her first baby (Pah! No such thing as the 'normal family' if you ask me!) and she's crazy excited. Im really excited for them too, and have been thinking about baby presents. I came across this tutorial from Joyful Abode, so i decided to make some baby bunting! (Really easy to use tutorial.)

I am a big bunting girl. My bridesmaids and I (well, ok. Mainly my bridesmaids) made 60 meters of the stuff for my wedding party which was outside in my parents garden in July. Here are my friends putting it up on the morning of my wedding in the garden of my parents house. The sun came out a bit later and we had a lovely sunny day. (Going through the pics still makes my heart flutter- i loved our wedding, i'll have to do a proper post about it one day!)














I still have it and I adore it although it has diminished somewhat, after volunteering it for numerous events, gigs and cake sales. So i decided that id also make some double sided stuff for moi!

So I got started!

Here are my triangles. I had great fun picking my fabric. With bunting anything goes really. I managed to use up some old shirt and bag fabric and stuff thats been hanging around at the bottom of my fabric box for 5 years!

Oh wow.

A-MA-ZING.

Seeeeeds!

It was our friends birthday yesterday and we hosted a garden party during the day. The weather was gorgeous. It was so nice to be outside- in March! A great excuse to get my Mexican bunting and my cake stands out, do some baking and fill the house with flowers. I love parties, but unfortunately my neighbours don't. I cant wait till we don't have a flat so we can have parties all the time! I'm the type of host that's not happy unless EVERYONE is having fun, enjoying the music, are warm, with full bellies and full glasses. Dave says I'm Hitler host. In a nice way, I hope!




















It was a really lovely day with my favourite people, but yet again I felt gross this morning (Internet, are you thinking I'm an alcoholic?) and had an urge to... plant seeds. I know that's a bit strange, but recently its my best hangover cure! Its also mothers day today- so Dave and I spent the day tidying the flat and doing V's to the TV screen at every mention of mothers (both motherless! Sad, odd but lovely that we've found each other really!)


So, back to seeds, Dave and I finally planted them today. We may have gone a bit over the top. We planted most of about 8 packets of seed, each of which gives about 60 plants!!! Yikes! That's.... (Cant do maths- wait whilst I grab my phone for the calculator...) 480 plants!

We made use of all manor of things for seed trays, to keep costs down. Egg trays, shoe boxes, toilet roll tubes, toothpaste boxes, and the best find: plastic cups. We don't even know why we have them, but they proved so useful- and brilliant seed labels too.



















Hungover me, Cornflowers...














Asos box, coriander, parsley, rocket...














There are now seed trays ALL over the house...
















Even in the bathroom!

Maybe because there's still a bit of party left in me; Currently listening too: La Roux, In for the Kill (Skreams Lets Get Ravey remix) Sounds worse than it is. Honest.

Squash seeds sprouting!

YEAH! Woo hoo! growth!!
















My Mister is also back today. Its only now that he's back that I realised how much i missed him. It was good fun, and i had so much time to myself but my conclusion is that Im better with him. Things are nicer. Everything's ok again! Pukesville, I know.

Lisnin' too: Animal Collective, Lion in a Coma

At war with the Aphids..

After yesterdays excitement about Reg, I went to bed feeling like the Queen Of The Soil. This morning i checked on my salad leaves and saw to my horror that they had dramatically wilted. When I looked closer I saw THESE things.














EMERGENCY!


I found out that the green things are called Aphids. Look at the white fly on the soil too! oh NO! I ran to find my 'Thrifty Gardener' book and read that diluted washing up liquid kills them so I went about hysterically drenching my salad leaves with Ecover, but i hope its enough! I also ordered some organic bug killer but that wont arrive in like 20 days (knowing these organic types) How frustrating! 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Anyway- I wont be beaten.

This is tribal. Im at war.

I am Charlie Dimmock.

I got back today after a two day 'team building' residential, which served its purpose pretty admirably, but I feel ghastly. The whole team got bollocksed on Thursday night, so was effectively wasted (literally) for the last day. As always- great fun, but as always I vow never to ever drink again...

I think In an bizarre attempt to purify myself, I had a sudden urge to go into the garden to be with nature and feel wholesome again. I checked on Reg, and found to my surprise that he has suddenly and magnificently bloomed! There is new growth where i thought all was dead; Im pretty sure the carrots and cabbages are growing and the Tatsoi and Kale have doubled in size! Charlie Domnock; eat your heart out.
(Sorry for rubbish phone pic)















But the weeds had also bloomed so did a bit of hoeing to cut the heads off the weeds and stop their growth.

When I went back upstairs and inspected my squash seedlings, I also found some very early signs of new life, which made me even more excited because I was about ready to recycle the soil and plant some new seeds in the tubs. Look closely and you'll see it (the teeny weeny white thing)


















My flower seeds have also arrived so will do some planting tomorrow.

Gardening is indeed a very cure for a moral hangover!

The christening...

Ive had a REALLY busy couple of weeks; seeing my family up north, catching up with friends (consuming way too much alcohol) and generally busying myself in the absence of my mister.

Tonight is my only night in this week- but its been lovely.

I christened my new LeCreuset tonight- and what a christening it was! I had lots of extra veg to use from my veg box so just bunged it all in the pan with some stock and spices, and it worked! Its also my favourite telly night: house night! Escape to the Country, Relocation, Relocation and Grand Designs. Sigh...

Who needs husbands when you've got vegetable stew and Kirsty and Phil?





































Currently listening to No More I Love You's, Annie Lennox.

Words I love...

Yikes (speaks for itself doesn’t it)
Whimsy (sounds like flimsy? )
Paraphernalia (I just love ‘stuff’)
Billowing (something to do with the 42 lavender plants I bought perhaps?)
Heebeejeebees (that’s 8 ‘e’s’!)
Kissering (When you bicker whilst kissing. Or is that just me and my mister?!)
Sheisse (so satisfying to say. And more cultured too)


Lisnin' too: Bon Iver Skinny Love....

Wedding Collage

My mister and I have been a little sluggish in organising our wedding documentation. This is from our wedding not one year ago, oh no. Not two or even three years, but 4 years ago. Yikes. So 'sluggish' meaning 'stationary'. When asked we say we are currently designing a lovely colourful wedding book, and the mister is editing a cool little video.
These projects are....ongoing.

A month or two after our wedding (in 2005) I learned that my Dad had saved a box of things that reminded him of of the day, which was really sweet. I wasnt sure what to expect but he had saved everything- from lists scribbled on envelopes, place settings, bits of bunting, receipts, and even some food packaging! I decided to make it in to a piece of art to hang in the house to thank them for hosting it. Lovely idea, I know, but I made this commitment nearly 4 years ago. Yep, It took me 2 years to finally sit down and make it and a further 2 to get it framed, but today, I am proud to announce that I am using this trip to Bolton to finally visit the framers!

For our standards 4 years is actually a winner!

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(The unframed collage)

Best bits of Bolton...

You would be forgiven for thinking that Bolton is a little lacking in cultural treasures. Scratch under the (admitedly grubby) surface, however and you will find one or two real gems. For me there is an obvious pull to Bolton in the form of friends and family, log fires and Dads home cooked food- (amazing spag bol, roast dinners and fresh pasta's.... mmmm).
















Whilst there isnt a whole lot more than that- there are some notable examples worth mentioning. Sadly alot of my favourite places have closed down; there was a great local junk shop round the corner called the Emporium, but its now a curry house! Devastating!

Bolton still has some kick ass charity shops though (yes- you heard me- kick ass) and my 3 all time winners are still going strong:

• Nortex Mill. The best fabric shop ever. Its a real treasure trove with rolls of fabrics piled to the ceiling, and every type of button and trim you could possibly imagine. The staff are friendly and Its also a real steal too; very Northern traits.
  

• Fredericks ice cream parlour in Chorley. Its a real old fashionsed ice cream parlour and situated right on a canal path. There's nothing nicer than eating some ice cream whilst walking along the canal path in the shade of the trees.

• Slatteries. I got my wedding cakes from here (not 'cake'- we had 15!) and it really is some of the best pud around.
  

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Slattery's, and the famous Manchester Torte. Well worth a visit. They do an afternoon tea to die for!

Arts and Crafts lunch

(Written on Fri 6th March on a train to Bolton, but couldn't post till today)

I avoid talking about work as much as I can, as this blog is about how to do pleasing things OUTSIDE of work.


There is however, one delightful exception. As a new starter, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw ‘ Arts and crafts’ lunch in the team diary. But no, I hadn’t. I had found a kindered spirit in my first week! Apart from the expected exchange of pleasantries, the first and second Arts and Crafts lunch consisted mostly of Argos bought painting by numbers, and some childrens cut out cardboard animals, and It was actually brilliant fun! It reminded me of my kitchen table and the summer holidays. Lots of people have since admitted that they don’t consider themselves to be creative at all, and came only to meet new people, but everyone enjoys it, and word has spread fast. The first one had about 9 people, but about 30 people signed up for the second one!

I found out that the instigator of Arts and crafts lunch is leaving, which almost knocked me for 6, until she asked me to take the mantle and coordinate in her absence. Whilst outwardly I was saying ‘ Im sorry your leaving, but I guess I have time’ Inwardly I was thinking ‘YES YES YES- ARTS AND CRAFTS LUNCH IS MINE!’. There are going to be equipment lists, reminder emails, coordinated lunches, a cake making rota and allot of tea. It was announced at todays lunch, and I think I have already planned enough ‘A and C’ lunches to last 64 years. Oh dear. I hope I am not chucked out for Nazisizing it….

Next month, there was general consensus that people fancied trying to learn to crochet and knitting. Two things I haven’t the least idea about. I guess we can all learn together, right?

Wish me luck.



Currently listening too Canned Heat, On the Road Again. Because im... on the road again. (See what i did there?)

Today...

• I am finlly the proud owner of some lecreuset volcanic orange cookware! Purchased today!

• I ordered 42 lavendar plug plants today in the hope of filling some of the borders in our unwieldy garden. 42! I chose them as they are hardy and grow fast, and id love the garden to be full of it. (Id love to make my own lavender oil and pillows- and lavendar cake too!)
  

Things I love today

I love Cocodamol after a three day migraine
I love snuggly blankets on the sofa whilst the wind roars outside
I love childrens chocolate, especially the chocolate freddo's that my mister left in my bag
I love that the first crocus's are starting to sprout
I love my daffodils opening on my bedside cabinet
I love my cold blustery walk through the park at the moment.
I love fantasizing about my garden, full of billowing whimsical flowers, sprouting in great drifts across the lawn.
I love home made celeriac soup straight from the freezer. Lazy and lovely...

Success! Laptop case...

My mister is away at the moment, which is bad because I miss him, but also a little bit great because I can catch up with all my craft work!

After a dead end with my dress darts, and a dead end with laptop case number one, I was glad to have finally finished something!


I laid out the fabric, and decided to create a border along the top out of the floral fabric.


I dont mind Dave being away as much because i have my trustee roberts radio! I love it. Im a bit obsessed with my radio's (dont get me started on my digital alarm clock radio!)


I stuffed the 'flap' (sorry- is there a better word?!) with wadding before I stuffed the body of the laptop case to try and make it a bit easier.

I then turned the main body inside out and stitched along the sides, then put the wadding in afterwards. I did this because my machine cant manage stitching 4 pieces of fabric and waddding together, so i stitched it then stuffed it. (Really technical aren't I)

Ta da! I then added some trim, a button and ribbon to finish.


Laptop fits perfectly- nice and snug!

Laptop cases, take 1...

Eeuch, ive come home from work early because ive got a stubborn migraine. It really sucks. I couldnt sleep so i tried to tackle my dress darts instead, but they beat me. In my groggy state anyway.

So I am tackling 2 laptop cases. Dave set me a challenge that i have finish them by the time he gets back!

I choose a floral fabric for mine and a grey/green cord fabric for his. I bought some wadding and am going to roughly follow an envelope design ('roughly' meaning make it up as I go along)

I started out by laying the fabric and wadding out to measure



I sewed the 2 pieces of cord 75% together then turned it the right way out and put the wadding in, then closed it up.


The next bit was simply sewing the sides up (backwards then turning it out) but it proved too think for my sewing machine, so did this:


Its because I dont know enough about tension! Grrr. What do i do now?!