Treasure chest (of draws)...

I bought this beautiful miniature chest of draws for about £1 a few weeks ago and it is so lovely. When the bottom draw opens a tinkling tune is played on the steel music box inside and that music sends me straight back to my childhood.

I've decided to use it for Little D's treasures and at the moment it is home to some snail shells from the garden, some feathers from our day on a farm, our recent conker and acorn haul (his current favourite treasure) and all of the shells and small pebbles which we gathered from the beach in Hunstanton which i blogged about back in July (the crab shells have since been composted - much too fragile for the hands of a two year old!)

He loves to be part of my photo shoots and between all of my blog photos i have to take plenty of him pulling funny faces.

I cant wait to add more and more to this treasure chest and perhaps (insha'Allah) even expand the collection into other boxes, jars and tins. I used to have microscope slides which my dad had made when he was a boy - hairs, insects, insect wings etc but at some point in my own childhood i threw them away - why oh why!? I absolutely love these personal collections, and can spend hours looking at them. I was also fortunate enough to bring home a few boxes of old books of which most have hand written notes, newspaper clippings, hand made bookmarks etc tucked in their old pages, from the Victorian period all the way up to the 70s - and that shall wait until another blog post....

Watching the old family films...

The weather in most of England right now is hot, dry, and sunny, with a slight cool breeze to take the edge off it all. Although i don't really enjoy the summer i am really enjoying this last burst of summer weather before the darker winter months draw in. I feel like we should be pulling the paddling pool out again but the date on the calendar is telling me that it simply cant be warm enough!

As soon as this warmer weather calms down into more typical Autumn temperatures and there is too much rain outdoors for us to play in the garden, the advantages of  a TV comes into consideration. We have been without a TV for about three and a half years but we have decided that we cant hold fast to our morals any longer and we have borrowed a TV for the Winter (maybe longer, we'll see..). For me the possibility of watching Christmas TV fills me with joy and excitement, and although Little D is still a little too young to concentrate on a story line for longer than 20 minutes, the thought of watching movies together is wonderful.

I was recently given a DVD film called 'Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz', featuring the familiar characters from both programmes combined into a pretty funny but sometimes quite scary (for a two year old) film. We sat down to watch it one morning while eating breakfast and we lasted about 40 minutes before it got too scary for D and he asked to "Play toys together" (as he asks me so often). It was nice sitting together on the floor surrounded by cushions and covered with a blanket whilst drinking tea and eating our muesli, and i was delighted to hear all the familiar songs from the Wizard of Oz and sing them to him. I think D found the fighting cat and mouse the most entertaining! He giggled until milk started sputtering out of his mouth quite a few times!

The DVD was released on 19th September by Warner home video and can be purchased on Amazon.co.uk for just £3.69 here and Amazon.com for $14.99 here. If you like either or both of the originals then this combined film is worth it. Its better made than i expected and i think the kids would love it. 

* The DVD was given to me for the purpose of review

** And don't let your kids watch too much telly, creative play and books are the way to go!

Autumn is almost here...

We cannot resist collecting conkers, acorns and beech nuts (eaten and spat out by Little D just before i took this photo yesterday!)

We now have quite a collection! I still have a bonne maman jar full of conkers from last year - always to be cherished as his first bunch of conkers.

Here in the middle of England the weather has been absolutely beautiful, we spent all of today in the garden playing. Our grass is covered with a sprinkle of orange and brown leaves. Theres still plenty of ladybirds about, lovely little things. And shield bugs! Perhaps my favorite bug of all!

I have a lovely old miniature chest of draws for all of our natural treasure to stay safe in, il have to show you sometime...

Your first piece of patchwork...

My favourite style of sewing is patchwork - i love to use pieces of pre-loved fabric or left over scraps from another project to create a piece abundant in patterns, colours and textures. It feels so much more enjoyable to join squares (or rectangles, triangles or crazy shapes) together one by one and for me the look is homely, humbling, and oozes with warmth and love from the person who made it.

I have saved every single one of Little D's pieces of clothing (even the stained and ripped ones) for another little baby someday insha'Allah, and after that i shall probably use them in a patchwork quilt or two (or even three). Ive never really followed any rules with patchwork, just deliberated, roughly measured, snipped, and sewed until ive finished. For those who are beginners in patchwork and would like to give it a try (and i know a few of my friends are reading this with a patchwork project in mind), here are my suggestions, based on making a patchwork blanket...

• Choose fabrics similar in weight and type, preferably with little or no stretch.

• Start with rectangles or squares as they are easier for a beginner than other shapes.

• Work out how big you want your finished blanket to be.

• Cut your squares / rectangles accurately - i like 10 to 15cm squares. Work out how many of these you will need to make up the size of the blanket that you want. And remember that your sewing will make each square about 2cm smaller (so a 15X15cm square will become a 13X13cm square).

• It is better to cut all of your squares before you start sewing - much better to have too many squares than too few.

• Decide if you want to follow a pattern or just randomly sew squares together. If you want a pattern then lay all the squares out and take a photo or draw a picture for reference so that you know how to put them all back together again when you start sewing.

• Keep your seam allowances to about 1cm all around each square.

• I like to sew a row of squares at a time, then sew all my rows together as im going.

• Once you have finished sewing the patchwork pieces together you will need a backing for the blanket to cover all of your seams. You can back it with another patchworked piece or with one large piece of fabric. Another blanket is an ideal backing.

• Snuggle, display or play on your newly finished  blanket!

I am in the process of making a patchwork quilt cover for Little D (in fact ive been making this for a few months now and just never getting around to finishing it!). I have already finished his pillow case and i love it, i think it will look so nice when its in his room insha'Allah! Give me another week or two!

*The link for my patchwork blanket post (as seen in the first photo) is here

Courgette pickle...

I have had lovely requests lately for my crunchy courgette pickle recipe, a marrow curry recipe, the 'how to' on making a patchwork blanket from old baby clothes, and how i keep my paperwork so organised. I'm very grateful to be treated like wonder woman :-) (and please know that i have plenty of bad days too!).

So first up is my Crunchy courgette pickle recipe, which i found in a 10 year old magazine i managed to pick up from our library magazine recycling box. I will share the original recipe which makes approx 18 jars of pickle (using 340g / 12 oz jars). I halved the recipe and ended up with 8 jars.

INGREDIENTS...

10lb (2.2kg) firm courgettes

2 1/4 lb (1kg) onions

1 1/4 cup (400g) salt

9 cups (2160ml) distilled vinegar

2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds

3 tsp celery salt

3 tsp turmeric

8 cups (1320g) sugar

METHOD...

Wash courgettes and slice really thinly, about 3mm thick

Slice peeled onions in the same way

Put courgettes and onions in a bowl, cover with water and add the salt

Let the mixture soak in this brine for 2 hours and then rinse well and squeeze out as much water as possible.

Bring remaining ingredients to the boil

Pour this mixture over the onion / courgette mix in a pan and leave to stand for another 2 hours

Bring mixture back to the boil, boil for exactly 5 minutes and then pack into sterilised jars

Share with friends and family!

HOW TO STERILISE JARS...

Click here for info. (I used the oven, and my jars were old pasta sauce / jam / honey jars which i had washed and saved)

Ive been eating this pickle on crackers, salads, with rice and curry and on the side of my dinner plate with whatever i happen to be eating! I think its a wonderful first homemade pickle!

The new bits...

I hope you like my new header and blog name???! And ive updated my 'About me' section too :-)

I want to work on this space a little more over the next few weeks, nothing too different but perhaps il put a spring back in my blogging step!

In other news...

We picked the last of our courgettes and marrows (yes, in our pyjamas) and put the very tired looking plants in the compost bin, then went and made Courgette pickle.

The next job is to tackle the carrier bags full of apples from our back garden, that involves a whole evening of peeling and chopping...

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Old cookery books...

One of my guilty pleasures is buying vintage books. I love everything about them and if i can get older editions of books which are still in print then i will do. I long for the time to make myself comfortable, hugged by a blanket, with warm tea by my side, sitting with a book in my hands (and probably one or two on my knee as well). Whether its high Summer or the bleakest of Winters this is possibly where i feel most content.

I know that many women have a love of cookery books but for me i keep my food books few and prefer to scrapbook recipes ripped from magazines or shared by friends and family. Two of my most used cookery books were given to me by my mum some years ago - 'Vegetarian Cooking' by Lalita Ahmed and 'Indian cooking' edited by Eileen Turner. Both very good books and highly recommended by me.

I have three old cookery books in my kitchen which i really enjoy flicking through.

'Odhams Encyclopedia of Cookery Illustrated' is the leather bound one. I think its from the 50's but there is no date in the book. 

Theres lots of old adverts in it for kitchen appliances or cleaning / food products - the wonderful Frigidaire, the Moffat automatic luxury cooker that thinks for itself!, Lyle's Golden Syrup Helps with your cooking!, and Oteg egg preservative!

The second one is called 'Good things in England - a book of real English Cookery' edited by Florence White. This one is my favourite. This book is made up of recipes which have been handed down through the generations or passed on from one woman to the next, and each recipe has a date, or the name of the person who owned the recipe or the place in England where it was used or if we are lucky, all three. Some recipes even have a short introduction or a story about the person who cooked it and maybe even their actual address!

Its a very fascinating piece of social history and contains some really good recipes, and many regional ones too. I've used it quite a few times now and always feel like ive stepped back in time when i read from it. If you click my link then you can see a new edition (1999) of the book on Amazon and the synopsis here is very good.

And the final one is called 'Perfect cooking' and was published by Parkinson Cowan appliances to be used with their gas cookers. The edition i have is 1958 and the recipes (and the illustrations and front cover) are all very much in the 50's era. Theres lots of easy and basic recipes in this book so its good for spur of the moment cooking. To be honest im just drawn to its perfectly retro front cover and colourful illustrations inside.

I would love to hear your own favourite vintage books, and if you have an old blog post (or want to write a new one about them) then please do share with me!

In the garden right now {September}...

Just a few photos from around the garden right now.

Perhaps these are the last pops of colour for this year before autumn browns and russets mixed with the greens of lichen, weeds and grasses take pride of place throughout autumn and winter.

The weather is still nice here, not too cold, not too hot. Short showers of rain, exciting (and refreshing) blusts of wind. Blue skies some days, grey skies the next, both beautiful in different ways.

We are still seeing bugs, worms and butterflies. Still watching squirrels foraging and doves and pigeons taking relaxed strolls around the garden.

And i love that every single one of these flowers which remains in our garden right now was grown by me from  tiny seeds. God is great!

I love that being a stay at home mum and housewife means that i have plenty of time to enjoy my home and garden. It really is the simple things...

Handmade cards...

I never managed to show you the handmade cards which i gave to my friends and family this Eid (two weeks ago). There are so many very nice cards in the shops but hand made or even shop bought but tweaked a little always seems much nicer. Its lovely to receive a personalised card isnt it?

I managed to make about 8 cards in just one hour using a very simple technique. I opened up my box of  scrap booking papers, stickers, ribbons, tapes etc and chose some pretty papers and stickers and some boyish ones for Little D. I then ripped the papers  into strips (no measuring needed) and then stuck them down in a striped patchwork pattern  Adding 3D stickers helped to finish them off, and that's it!

Total cost :: I didn't spend anything as i used things that i already had. You can use ripped magazines, packaging, newspapers, photos or books for this too.

Materials used :: A folded piece of card and an envelope, plus stickers and papers. Oh, and glue of course.

Time taken :: Eight cards in one hour. 

Seaside in the city...

Yesterday me, my hubby and Little D visited Abbey Pumping Station which is close to the centre of the city. Its a science and technology museum situated on the site of the Victorian sewerage works which used to pump the waste away from that part of Leicester using beam steam engines. Ive taken D once before but this time there was a seaside fun day.

And Oh it was wonderful! Old buses, motorbikes, pick up trucks and fire engines. (Such delights for little boys)

Hand operated wooden carousels, teacups and the old classic game of hook-a-duck. 

Ice creams and paper bags filled with chips from a 1940's chip van. Sandcastles and big splashes on the 'beach' with a frantic dispersing of children when rain drops started falling. 

The whole day had a 20's through to 50's theme, brim full of nostalgia and old style fun. There was a knobbly knees contest, and a plate smashing game.

It was a shame that so much vintage crockery was being smashed up though! I wanted to step in and pick up some pieces to bring them home but i resisted of course! There was even a Punch and Judy show but Little D wanted to take a trip on the steam train instead (bumpy, windy, smoky fun!).

And there were donkeys with bells which D had a ride on, he loved it! Bouncing up and down with the movement of the donkey called Henry as he walked down the grass path and back again. Oh how i would love to own my very own donkey, such sweet and humble animals.

All backed by the sounds of old childhood holidays - an eccentric guy hailed from the 80's talking loudly over a microphone, embarrassing innocent members of the public. A husband and wife team with a folksy music box and an accordion. And of course those donkey bells jingling as they carry small excited children on their saddles.

Il show you some photos from the actual museum in another post as i took some a few weeks ago on our first visit there. Id always resisted visiting this museum as im not overly interested in science and technology, but i must say that it is worth a visit, especially for transport mad little boys who will wow and woooo at big hunks of metal machinery!

Yesterday certainly was a wonderful day out, and i most certainly cant wait for next summers seaside fun day - not to be missed!

Little D the photographer...

Little D absolutely loves my camera, he will pull silly faces and pose for photo shoots, and carry the camera around with him and look at things through the LCD screen. He demands 'wotos' rather than 'photos' and will say 'see him' if he wants me to put the camera in movie mode and film a short video.

Today he wandered off around the garden with the camera hanging from his neck, and here is what he came back with...

Pretty good for someone who is younger than the camera he shot the photos with! Im very excited about buying him a little camera for himself in a few more months time, i think he will love it!