...to Simple Things magazine, and the Friends of Glass UK [here] who just sent me a very generous shopping voucher.
The story began in December. I read Simple Things online, and noticed they had a feature promoting the benefits of glass. It is infinitely recyclable, and much better for the planet than single-use plastics. They asked readers to nominate businesses local to them which make good use of glass, and said FoG were going to give some prizes.
I decided to nominate Dann's. They are the local dairy farmers who make splendid ice cream, and also sell delicious milk in refillable glass bottles from a wonderful DIY dispensing machine. It is five years since I first blogged about them I was astounded to get an email saying I was one of the winners! Not that my answer was any better than any other - they had so many entries they just selected five at random.
"Look out for the April edition when we will have a further feature on this" they said. Well the latest edition is just out. They have the promised article, but have only mentioned five largish companies [Yet again, Gü Desserts, who were in the original article] I had hoped Dann's would get a promotion. The ice cream is yummy, and their cows are very photogenic!
The shopping voucher arrived, and has already been spent. Thank you to the FoG, and to the magazine. A lovely surprise
It's a jungle up there! Disorder and confusion everywhere
No one seems to care
Well Bob does
Hey, who's in charge here? - He could be wrong now [but I don't think so]
Over the winter it has been too cold to spend very long up in the loft. I scuttle up the ladder, snatch what I want and come down again. Bob thoughtfully fitted an extra grab handle for me 3 years ago. I occasionally return items by putting them in boxes, climbing to the hatch, and shoving them hard across the floor without even going right up inside. This does make for disorder and confusion. The main loft contains my sewing and craft materials, out of season clothing, and other random stuff [two guitar stands belonging to Bob - who rarely sets foot up there] The loft above the Futility is much tidier. All the Christmas stuff, and those empty boxes from important items [to be kept until the guarantee runs out, just in case] I set aside time this week to work on tidying the loft. This happens every couple of years. I have rules for myself during this activity
Go to the loo before climbing the loft ladder [for what Ro and Jess call a "Safety Wee"]
Take mobile phone [if I don't, its sure to ring - and if something goes wrong, I need to be able to call for help!]
Take a sharpie, a pair of scissors, a tape measure and a trash bag, for efficient labelling and sorting
Organise 'stuff to get rid of' into three boxes/ bags while still up there. Donate, recycle, and general bin. It is much easier that way.
Be firm and realistic. I am retired now. I don't need half a set of class worksheets about algebra anymore. Yes, the children can do drawing on the other side of the sheet - but be honest, just how many pictures is Jess going to do when she visits? I have been filling a plastic box with random craft materials to take to our local Scrap Scheme. Somebody else will use them.
Pieces of ribbon less than 10cm long are no use to me. Particularly if they are grubby from being on the floor up there. Ditto tiny scraps of felt. And elastic that lost its stretch back in 1998. Bin them!
Sort things sensibly. Label the drawers so you can find things quickly. Next time, put things away carefully in the right place, however cold it is up there
Nobody needs to keep every envelope, jiffy bag, and cardboard box that the postman brings. Recycle!
If an item has not been used for a very long time, why am I keeping it? Rehome it or ditch it. Now!
If it is properly tidied now, I can keep it tidier in future. My word of the year is restoration. I need to restore order and sanity...
I last tidied the loft in autumn 2023 [see picture]. But that space in front of the drawers is full of more stacked boxes now. So I cannot get to my Velcro stash, or felt pieces, without a lot of shuffling. A tidy up is long overdue
The current disordered state! I need to do the winter/summer wardrobe swap in the next couple of weeks. Back to work...
*It was used for the theme tune of that great detective series "Monk". Adrian Monk was OCD, he would have a complete melt-down if he saw my loft.
NB that empty HiViz jacket is strapped to the roof truss, It is not a desperate kidnap victim. Also, I found my little wooden eggs, just in time for Easter Decorating.🥚🥚🥚
I was really tired on Saturday afternoon, after a busy week. "I just want to sit and sew this afternoon" I said at lunchtime, so Bob suggested I did just that. Then on the Sunday, after a busy morning at church, Bob was going out to the Hospice. I sat and sewed again. And I finished my hen!
Here it is hanging from the doorknob. Approximately 12cm high, 12 cm wide. I would give this kit a 5* rating
There's more than enough felt and thread to complete the project, plus stuffing, and ribbon for hanging loop
There were very clear coloured instructions with helpful diagrams of the stitches
The embroidery is quite complex in parts but OK if you practice first on a spare bit of felt.
I found it helpful to draw the main lines with a Frixion pen [see here] to guide my stitching on the neck, body and tail and also position the eyes and the stars. The ink disappears under a warm iron!
I have loved making this French Hen, and I am glad I now have a paper pattern in case I feel like making more! Though whether I will make another before Easter is unlikely. I reckon it took six hours start to finish. In the absence of my little wooden eggs, I balanced her on some conkers!
A new Lidl opened in Dereham last month. Excited shoppers queued in the rain [not me, I was in Manchester that week] It's a lovely big store, with good car parking, an instore bakery and lots of extra features [like a self scan checkout area] I've been in there two or three times, and I like it. There's more space in the aisles, and a wider variety of products. Early on Monday I was in there getting eggs and milk, and also picked up one of the Too Good To Waste boxes. It cost me £2 and I am really pleased with what I got for my money. I do not often post 'shopping basket' pictures on the blog, but decided this was worth sharing. I separated out the items and priced them up
These are the contents - 2kg potatoes, 500g leeks, 1kg carrots, 9 bananas, 6 easy peelers, 1 grapefruit and an apple. Bought individually in store, I would have paid nearly £5 more.
The bananas will need to be eaten up fairly promptly [or used in banana bread, smoothies or a pudding] but everything else will keep OK in the fridge for a few days, 🍌🍊🥔🥕🍎🍌🍊🥔🥕🍎🍌🍊 This strikes me as very good value. The boxes are kept on the far side of the tills - so you inform the assistant that you would like one, she adds £2 to your bill, then you collect it as you leave the store. This is a good system. It stops people handling the produce or swapping out the contents of their boxes, exchanging leeks for more easy peelers!
Do you ever buy these bargain boxes? What is the best thing you ever discovered in one?
I love the signs of spring everywhere - the 'volunteer plant' primula which has randomly popped up in the back garden, the buds on the trees, the sense of new life, and hope. I love the fact that Easter happens in Springtime. We are certainly celebrating new life in our family - my niece had a baby last week, her second little boy. I have a new great-nibling!*
A good excuse to knit a hat and bootees, and make a Spring-like card. Primrose yellow seemed an appropriate colour, the bootee pattern from my favourite Zoe Mellor book.
God bless this little bundle of new life, may he bring great joy to the family, and be always surrounded by love
[*if sisters and brothers are siblings, nieces and nephews are niblings]
This is the logo of The Magpies, aka Dereham Town Football Club. Norfolk boasts a number of FCs with bird nicknames [Norwich Canaries, Kings Lynn Linnets, Reepham Robins...] Founded in 1884 as Dereham FC, merging in 1986 with a Sunday league team, to become Hobbies United - in 1991 named Dereham Town FC.
This year, 2026, marks 60 years since the first name change, and our local museum is making this a year of sport [we just had the Winter Olympics] So Katie asked how we could bring the Museum Mice up to speed on this. I said that creating sports gear for the mice was a bit of a challenge - why not dress them as footie fans, and give them all hats and scarves? And I'd got black and white wool in my stash... Oh no I hadn't! Lots of white dk, but somehow almost all my black wool got used up when I donated it to some poppy-knitters. I bought a cheap ball of black dk and set to, producing first scarves and then hats. And the hats needed pompoms. "Why is there a small fork on the coffee table?" asked Bob. "It's mine, I said defensively, "my first ever fork, it used to have a little spoon with is but that got lost decades ago" "Buy why is it on the coffee table?" "It is perfect for making Mini PomPoms"
That really is black wool, it just looks navy in the picture! Here's a diagram. Choose a fork the width of your finished pompom.
Thread the ends round between central tines a few times [use a darning needle] and tie tight. Cut and trim.
The project is going very speedily, I'm making hats with both white and black pompoms. The mice should look splendid! I decided to polish up my little fork, so got out the giant tin of Brasso. Don't forget, if you polish a piece of cutlery with Brasso or Duraglit, you should wash it in regular w/u liquid afterwards before using it for food.
Have you ever made mini pompoms?
Do you support a football team? [I don't]
Do you still use metal polish? [The National Trust polish their copper and silverware just once a year before the start of the season]
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Magpie began on ITV in 1958, it was intended as a rival to BBC's Blue Peter which began ten years earlier. Magpie ran for just 12 years. BP is still going, approaching its 70th birthday, it's the longest running children's TV show in the world
Preacher, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, craftswoman. Married to wonderful Pastor Bob since 1979, now happily retired to Norfolk, but still busy. I am blessed with two brilliant grown-up daughters and four wonderful grand children
...to Simple Things magazine, and the Friends of Glass UK [here] who just sent me a very generous shopping voucher.
