Hello, sorry I have been away for so long...I left my camera behind on a train, along with my bag with all my birthday presents in and my computer died but I am back on track....

Have been enjoying the autumnal weather

It's perfect weather to go foraging with my little grandaughters

Patience and Esme

I have also been enjoying using my newest tea pot...she is a teeny tiny decorated brown  bettyand she is so pretty and autumnal I am so in love with her.

Have started making quilts for the girls beds for Christmas , not by hand this time but by machine...We try to make as many presents as we can or buy previtntage...pre loved vintage x x x

I have pickled eggs, no mamby pamby white vinegar..we want to wince when you bite into them! And in honour of my grandfather I have got a sweet jar and pickled onions.My grandfather Grampy Uzzell made the best pickled onions and piccalilli in the whole wide world...maybe I will make some piccalilli next year...Right I am off to start  shredding grapefruit skins for some grapefruit marmalade....I am glad to be back and will catch up with all your blogs over the next few days x x x

Jelly.

Todays flavour...

Apple, cider and rosemary. And it's delish!

Lavender blue dilly dilly.....

Today was a happy day doing my new favourite thing to do ...make jam!

And my absolute favourite jam to make at the moment is....Lavender Jam

This is my second batch ...the first batch was yomped up by friends and family.....and is very much in demand

I used to make jams in the 1980's , and have fallen in love with it all over again...

Taking simple ingredients and boiling them all up.....

gives me a real sense of calm and satisfaction....

And I just love seeing a row of jewel like coloured jars in my cupboard.

so far me and my daughter have made..strawberry and black pepper, strawberry and nettle, nettle, pear and ginger, lavender, earl grey, beer, rhubarb and ginger, blueberry and plum, green tea and mint. tomato, pink grapefruit marmalade, elderflower,wild honeysuckle,spiced blackberry and chilli jam.

 Not all jams have come out amazing though...my rowan berry jam was inedible, I think I picked the berries before they were ripe, but I am having another go at it later in the season. I am making crab apple and sage jelly today as well and am looking forward to making some hawthorn and some elderberry jam.Although what I am going to do with it all I don't know.....Most friends and family are getting jam hampers for Christmas lol x

Are any of you ladies making jam?

oh i feel better.........

I have been collecting china for six years now and to tell the truth I have started to feel bogged down with all my china....I also have a dresser with tea pots on it.....I realise that I had so much that I wasn't really using it all which is one of my pets hates...so today after alot of heart searching I finally tackle this lot.....

 

 After hours this is what I am getting rid of....

 I have saved all my favourites....and put all my pink, flowery, and green summery plates in boxes destined for the attic...And this is my dresser now....

This is my autumn.....

Winter.......

And Christmas dresser.....

I feel much "lighter"

And looking at my dresser now I know I will use every single piece at least once over the coming months....

' 

And imagine my excitement next spring when I pack away all my winter collection and unpack my spring/summer collection! A new tradition is born!

When September Comes.......

TAH DAH!!!!!! finished at long last!

Well here it is folks.....

after one and a half years....

and quite a few tears (pain)

my poppy tablecloth is finished.....

I love vintage embroidered tablecloths and have quite a few that I use....if you don't use something what is the point in having it! And i don't agree with "saving" things for best or a special day...everyday is special in my house......

I have a tablecloth that my mother can remember her grandmother sewing when she was a child and I treasure it......My mother for Christmas 2011 bought me this vintage cloth and a set of poppy iron on transfers ....I ran out and bought a selection of threads and it really has been a labour of love.

I have often picked up a vintage embroidered tablecloth and wondered who had painstakingly stitched it .... so when I finished mine I stitched my name and the date incase 50 years or so down the line someone wonders about my cloth too...although...I would like to think it will still be in the family and passed down as a family heirloom....

This cloth has been on its travels...I  have stitched on beaches and buses and airplanes and its been worked on on the Greek island of Agistri and all over the country when I have visited friends and family...it's been my constant companion....

I think my daughter Poppy will end up with this cloth....and hopefully will tell her grandchildren one day that she remembers me stitching it...and they will want it as a link to their past and distant great grandmother....

Thing is....I have another three children so  to be fair....will have to stitch another three tablecloths...think I will have a bit of a rest first though!