Shades of red and other colours

Good evening

What a difference a few hours made - the rain Monday afternoon gave way to a beautiful sunset here in Suffolk - luckily I was in the right place at the right time and snapped a picture on my phone;

We were lucky here - yes it rained but there was no flooding and destruction like in other parts of the country - quite shocking to see the news pictures.

Tuesday I went to visit my Grandma - as ever I had a plastic tub with me so I could collect the blackberries that grow along the driveway. I also raided her orchard as I knew there were pears that were ready to pick - some for her and some for me. I also collected some of the windfalls for jam making.

 After lots of peeling & poaching of the pears - it was time to add them to the blackberries I've been collecting - the perfect amount - 1kg of fruit for 1kg of jam sugar. After bubbling away nicely it was time to jar it up - 6 jars in total - 5 for us and 1 for my Grandma :)

I've also been making pressies this week - this time for a stitch and bitch group friend - a simple string of rainbow felt hearts finished off with a jingly bell. Each heart being edged with blanket stitch in a contrasting colour;

Today there was a very rare sight. Me wearing trainers! and also gym gear. Yep I've rejoined the gym - I used to go regularly a few years ago and enjoyed it but the job I had at the time increased its hours and sadly I stopped going. Well after thinking about it since I stopped physio I finally made the call the other week and today was my first session with an instructor. Off tomorrow for a proper work out - I wonder how much my body will ache on Saturday? Probably quite a lot but am sure it will be worth it long term!

 As its the end of the month almost it time for 2 mosaic pictures. Firstly 9 pictures that sum up September in the VV household;

 Spiders, berries, butterflies, back to school, The Tour of Britain, autumn fruits, leaves changing colour, the steam fair at Henham and lastly chutney making time.

There have even been a few makes this month - mostly for the fair in 2 weeks time - more have been made since these pictures were taken. I need to spend a day with my sewing machine this weekend as there are strings of bunting to be made too.

Right that's more than enough for tonight - my eyes are feeling very tired. As soon as Little Son gets home from brass practise I'm off to bed!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx
 

What's yours?

Good afternoon

I found a total bargain in the charity shop (not the one I work in)  the other day - this bracelet;

I've seen these for sale in a little jewellers nearby and really liked them - however the price (£20) and the fact I didn't know if I could get one over my hand without using soap put me off buying one. This one was in the window and only £1 so I took a chance - with a bit of help from a squirt of washing up liquid, it was over my hand and I've worn it since (yes I can get it off again the same way).

Chocolate is my weakness but I'm trying hard at the moment to not eat it (and other less healthy things) - so far so good - my jeans feel a bit loser! Oh and I've a gym induction session next week!

As the weather has turned here and the promise of frost coming soon, I thought it time to pick all my tomatoes from the garden. Some had been eaten by something and I decided I'd rather not share them. We've eaten loads too and they have been so tasty. However there were as every year some that were never going to ripen - so it was time for chutney making;

 Everything assembled - tomatoes from the garden, local apples and onions and some of my homegrown chillies too.

 The chopping up took rather a while but the colourful result was rather pretty.

All that work for 5 large full jars and one part jar which I've sampled and declared delicious :)

One last thing for today - a lesson in always having your camera with you. I didn't but luckily I had my phone with me - though its picture quality is more suited to Instagram than blogging. 

I was on my way to visit my Grandma and walking up the drive looking for blackberries. I noticed a 'swarm' of something fly over me and settle on the ivy growing along the wall. It was butterflies - about 50 of them - I couldn't get to close to take a picture but managed to snap a couple of them;

There were loads of Red Admirals and a few Tortoiseshell? ones too. Very pretty - never seen so many butterflies in place at the same time.

I don't think I'll be seeing any wildlife tomorrow - the forecast is rather soggy - thank goodness I've a day at home planned.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Peggy Fairy & A Felted Pudding

Good evening

Wow just how cold was it today?? Even with my customary 3 layers I was still cold. We were lucky here in Suffolk - no snow/sleet/rain but I saw on the news tonight that others have seen their first proper wintry blasts.

At least now I've finished my leg-warmers - though the boys have told me that I'm not allowed to leave the house in these if they are with me!

I tend not to worry if others don't like my 'look' - I'd rather be warm and woolly!

I managed to complete one of the jobs the other day that I'd initially planned to do in September once the boys went back to school. We all know why I've taken so long ;) I'm trying to empty my freezer to make room for some scrummy Christmas treats and there were 3 tubs of blackberries in there that I picked in August. Finally they got their chance to become jam;

You might have seen Dawn mention on her blog today about our little trip out together yesterday. We headed to Snape Maltings to the Cool Yule Christmas Market. Oh how brilliant it was. So many stalls with loads of wonderful handmade goodies. We spent ages browsing the stalls and of course neither of us came away empty handed;

Peggy Fairy made by a very clever friend of mine and the most wonderful needle felted Christmas pudding. Both are great and I can't wait to put them on my tree this weekend - just need to send MrVV up into the attic to retrieve it.

I bought this Acorn and Will  brooch from another stall - I've seen these on loads of blogs and had promised myself one at some point - I do need a replacement for my felt poppy on my coat!!

I've been out today too - back to the hospital for a check up with the orthopaedic people. They are pleased with how I'm doing and I don't have to go back to see them again but just carry on with my weekly physio sessions (such hardship ;) ).  Once they'd reassured me that I can't do any damage by just walking and I can reduce the number of supports in my shoes, there was only one thing on my mind - SLIPPERS. Again I'd planned to buy some in September - our house is tiled downstairs and whilst these are great in the summer in the winter they are cold on your feet. We stopped off on the way home so I could treat myself. Again not the most stylish of items but again warmth is far more important;

Fair isle, furry lined and pom-poms - what more could a girl ask for!!

Right that's enough for now - my computer is in the hall and its draughty in here so I'll bid you all goodnight.

See you soon.

xxx Vicki xxx

Jam & Jail

Good evening

Happy 4th of July to my American visitors and followers :)

I hope everyone has had a good weekend? I've visited a few blogs earlier and shall be having a good read this evening so I can see what you all got up too. We had a lovely weekend. It started rather late on Saturday morning - I don't think anyone was awake before 10am and the teenagers were still dozing at almost 11am when MIL called round!

Saturday was spent doing weekend jobs - washing/ironing/grass cutting - intermixed with some busy doing nothing moments too;

 Finishing a few more blanket squares and trying to read the last few chapters of a soon to be overdue library book!

I had to go into town with the boys - all this sunshine & rain had turned them into yetis again and haircuts could not wait till the summer hols. Rather glad I did venture out - my favourite little charity shop had some inexpensive pretties;

3 flowery tea-plates and one smaller stripey one - I picked the Sweet Williams from the garden - I think the seeds for these were from a bloggy swap at some point.

Sunday was a family day - not quite such a late start! We headed firstly to Southwold - the usual drill - chips, walk and then ice creams. As we'd parked on the common we bought chips in town and sat on Bartholomew's Green to eat them. Couldn't resist a pic of little son in the stocks;

 

On the way home we called into a nearly PYO farm - like last year, the jam cupboard is empty and it needed refilling. Of course asking teenage males to pick strawberries can only lead to a few missing the tubs and 'falling' into their mouths!! However after a short while we'd picked a couple of kilos. We decided to have some for pudding last night and the remaining ones were to be jammed;

From this

Via this;

To this - 6 (5 pretty ones and one less pretty one - hence its not in the photos! ) jars should last my jam lovers a little while - hopefully until we've had time to go raspberry picking and replenish my jam jar supplies!

  Can you see the strawberry fabric in the background - I bought that today - planning on making myself a new summer frock - sometime between now & next weekend!

As ever this time of the school year means things start to happen - we've brass concerts, awards evenings, leavers assemblies, work experience, visits to High School, parents evenings and music exams. So like last year I might not be blogging quite as much - however if there's spare time rest assured, blogging will always get priority over housework ;)

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

A quiet weekend

Good evening

Just for a change we decided that we'd have a quiet weekend - no going out - just a weekend at home. When I first started blogging I wrote about the Wonderful Weekend Book by Elspeth Thompson and how I loved the idea of reclaiming weekends. Well it was a habit we kept to for a while but then things got hectic - boys have places to be and people to see and of course there have been some great family days out over the summer. However this weekend was going to be reclaimed - its started with a lie-in :)

The weather helped - it was really quite soggy here for most of Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday - just the sort of weather to keep you indoors doing home stuff. Firstly there was;

Jam making - Apple & Blackberry

There were 6 jars - one was given to a friend as a thank you and another swiped by the boys before it could be photographed!!

Then there was finishing off of various sewing/knitting projects - I can't show you most of them as they are destined for swaps. I did finish my purple scarf though - rather handy as its been so cold;

Sunday afternoon was particularly chilly, however MrVV insisted it was still shorts weather so I was surprised to see him wrapped up in one of my quilts watching the Grand Prix;

More baking was needed - well you need something to go with mugs of tea;

Blueberry muffins - yum yum

Back in blogland - don't forget that I shall be drawing my mystery blog birthday giveaway on Wednesday. Also I've just signed up for my first Christmas swap - (its a Secret Santa one)over @ Laalaa's - go on have a look, you know you want to take part too, it should be great fun.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx



The joy of.............

.....peeling onions!

Had to peel loads of these the other day to make chutney. My poor tomatoes were starting to go mouldy on the vines so I picked the ones that were still ok and turned them into chutney.  Reading back to one of my first blog posts I made last year, I had problems ripening my tomatoes last summer too. Am beginning to think I need to sort out a mini-greenhouse for next year!!

Anyhow all the effort & tears was worthwhile - we've now 6 jars of green tomato chutney to keep us going through the next 12 months;

I have been a busy little Vicki this past week - working a couple of days for MrVV - oh the joys of typing pages of figures into the computer.  I  have also been trying to make a start on some of the swaps I am taking part in - if you haven't already - look at my sidebar - think there are 2 swaps that don't close till the weekend?

I spent Wednesday afternoon as a volunteer in a local charity shop - something I shall be doing each week. It was rather fun - a real mix of ages.

As the weather has been mixed this week, I've started knitting a scarf for myself. When I was @ Latitude in July, I picked up a couple of balls of Debbie Bliss Eco Organic cotton from the knitting stall. I liked the colour and thought it would come in useful.  Last week when my very clever knitting sister came round I showed them to her & asked her advice on what I could knit that was simple? She had a rummage through my needles & handed me 2 ones of different size. Knitting like that produces a simple lacy pattern - I'm rather pleased with it;

One ball used up and I've made a start on the 2nd one - just enough yarn to produce the perfect size scarf :)

Thank you for all the positive comments on the gingerbread house in the last post - hopefully there will be some of those available to buy very soon ;)

Until next time

xxx Vicki xxx

In a jam ;)

Good evening

Another weekend has whizzed past in a mix of lie-ins, washing, band engagements & sunshine.

Am sorry that some parts of the UK didn't have great weather - its been another hot one here so many ice-creams have been eaten & glasses of Pimms drunk ;)

Yesterday we went strawberry picking - the jam cupboard is empty so it needed re-filling;

So simple - just strawberries, sugar & a splash of lemon juice. Made even simpler as my smallest assistant wanted to help - the reasoning? some of this jam would make perfect end of year pressies for a couple of his teachers!!

This morning, labels were written & the jars with plainer lids given strawberry themed hats;

4 big jars & 1 little one for us - should last a little while.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to pick raspberries too and come September, blackberries.

We decided this morning that a long walk was in order - selling this to the boys now they are bigger is never easy - some days we're referred to them as Cushion1 & Cushion2 due to the amount of time they are sat on a sofa!! Today's selling point - walk, then lunch, walk again, ice-cream - it worked!!

Thorpeness to Aldeburgh - lunch bought from the Deli & eaten on the sea-wall. Return walk back along the beach with ice-creams from the little tea rooms as an end treat :)

No idea who these people were!! Was too busy today to get just a view!! Sizewell A&B to the left and Thorpeness village to the right.

I love this point on a Sunday - its peaceful - the Cushions have been joined by Senior Cushion and they've watched the Tour De France and now its Top Gear time. I get over an hours peace to sew, knit & blog :)

Have a good week - the end of term stuff starts to go up a gear this week so my blogging might be a tad hit & miss.

xxxx Vicki xxxx