The Great British Sewing Bears...

I've watched Episode 1, but was busy last night so haven't caught up with #2 yet. Pleased to see that Patrick Grant's clothing company has turned production over to PPE scrubs for NHS personnel [as has David Neiper's Ladieswear factory, and also one of John Lewis' suppliers] If the professionals are doing this, I don't feel guilty about not sewing scrubs from old bedsheets, as many others are doing. The factory output would far exceed mine, in terms of professionalism, correct fabrics, and meeting the rigorous quality control for such important clothing. I want to do something helpful - and I will make more Hannah's Headbands. I had a reply to one of my Lockdown Letters, and in it my young friend mentioned the PJs I'd made last week 

She included a picture of her bear, and the measurements. Well, I couldn't ignore a request like that [especially when she'd written such a lovely 3 page letter] I also had a thank-you from the girl next door, for her doll's pyjamas.

"When we clapped on Thursday it gave me a smile because I was seeing you."

I started thinking about the children who live in my road. We're at the top - I don't really know the families at the bottom. But in this row of just 6 houses, we have loads of 'key workers' - 2 teachers [I don't include myself] 2 firemen, a social worker involved in Fostering and Adoption, and 2 NHS staff [and Bob counts as a key worker too]  All of those 7 are parents of primary school children. So I put notes through their doors saying I was making pjs for dolls and teddies on Wednesday 29th, and anybody who wanted their toy dressed should leave it in my porch on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. And they started arriving before 9am!

One had a letter attached [and a chocolate egg in the bag with the teddy]

I set to with my fabric, and had a lovely day, making paper patterns and creating pjs. They sat on the table with their outfits, and I stitched happily all day. 

At 6pm I delivered them to the families. "I told you she would bring them before bedtime, Mummy!" cried one delighted young lady.

And yes, the red ted has got a pink dress too - but that is not quite finished, and will be delivered later this morning! These children may be anxious when Mum or Dad has to go to work - and toys are very important at such a time, when you need someone to cuddle. Making the pyjamas is one way of saying thankyou to my neighbours, and showing these families that they are valued members of our community.

Are You A Basket Case...

...Or A Trolley Dolly?

When both girls were still at home, and I was teaching 2 or 3 days a week, and quite busy the rest of the time, I used to do a supermarket shop once a week or so, and very rarely needed a 'top-up' in between. But patterns of life change, and certainly since we came to Dorset, I do the 'big things' shop about once a month, and buy fresh bits and pieces occasionally in between. I can easily carry eggs, milk, fruit and veg in my bike panniers. Now I am much more a basket case than a trolley dolly. On my bike, I cannot transport heavy loads - so carrying the basket round the store reminds me not to buy too much.
I tried in vain to get an online order slot.We needed a few 'larger' items, and Tuesday was Bob's day off. We went to Ringwood, where Waitrose and Sainsbury's are in close proximity. We split the list and went our separate ways. Each of us had "eggs, yeast, kitchen roll, baked beans and peanut butter", but otherwise we had different items to look for. We were successful with everything except yeast - Bob said Sainsburys were very short on beanz, and he bought a brand we'd never seen before.
Sainsburys opened early for Key Workers, and Waitrose had an early slot for elderly people. So we went at 9.30 after they'd finished. Or so I thought. Waitrose has a very efficient system of In and Out, with gloved, masked assistants wiping the trolleys and basket handles. And clear lines on the floor. Despite that, many elderly people wandered in, round the wrong side of the arrows, and dithered in the aisles, their trolleys perpendicular to them as they crouched to read the shelf labels. 

I queued to get Bob's peanut butter  [2 metres away and pressed hard against the side to allow maximum passing room]  whilst a lady-with--obstructive-trolley struggled to select the ideal marmalade, then another pensioner shot past me with a trolley, and stopped right next to her in the aisle, turned her trolley sideways and bent down to hunt for her perfect preserves. I tell you, it looked just like the French barricades in Les Mis. I wanted to burst into a chorus of "Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men?"

I also spotted slightly bemused, smartly dressed, gentlemen [Bob saw some of these in Sainsburys too] They had baskets, and lists, and wore expressions which said "My wife has sent me out to get this stuff. Menial grocery shopping way is below my status. I am a retired Senior Civil Servant. I have no idea what I am looking for, or where it is. And I really cannot be bothered with markings on the floor or keeping my distance. I shall just go and grab the item anyway, whether or not there is a person in that space already. I may abandon the hunt for marmalade and just buy myself another bottle of gin"
I made a point of saying Thankyou to all staff, and saying that I appreciate their efforts to keep everyone safe. As I left the store, I heard the poor chap at the door - still saying "No Madam, please wait until I say...right you can go in now...no please follow the arrows to the left..."
I have put some milk in the freezer, and I think we can survive for a good few weeks without any major shopping trips. I shall stay home and sing happily to myself...

How Do You Spell It?

That stuff beginning with a Y, made by Rachel, Activia, Muller, Onken, Yeo, Alpro, Danone ...
Yes, YOGURT - that's my way - but do you add an h for yoghurt, h and o to get yoghourt...or do you abandon the central consonants altogether and opt for the French yaourt ? [how do you pronounce that? Do you eat yaourt in a yurt?]
Over the weekend, the girls and I seemed to be doing a lot of baking, and we WhatsApp'd lots of photos to each other of our creations.

Liz sent a picture of the yogurt cake she had just made. It comes from 'chocolate and zucchini' - the website of Clotilde Dusoulier. Liz made hers in a loaf tin, and added some lemon zest and blueberries. 
Yesterday I made one in a round cake tin - and added some orange zest.
It has a lovely texture. I Made An Effort and presenting it on a glass plate, and providing proper cake forks! Thanks Liz
Liz describes it as "an ordinary cake in a nice way" and I know just what she means. It was quick to make, and could easily be dressed up with fresh berries [as she did] or maybe chocolate chips, or dried fruit. It would also be lovely served as a dessert with whipped cream and sliced strawberries [made in a ring mould, with the fruit in cream in the centre...] Here is my Anglicized version of CD's recipe. 

Gâteau au yaourt

 Ingredients

·         1 cup whole milk plain yogurt

·         2 large eggs

·         ¾ cup sugar

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         80 ml vegetable oil

·         2 cups plain flour

·         1½ teaspoons baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         1 pinch salt

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C [165°fan] and line a round 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Fold the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, mixing only until all traces of flour disappear. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden and a tester comes out clean.

Let stand for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Steph and Gaz are still waiting for the baby to arrive- but their Saturday kitchen began with loading up some breakfast bagels, and then later on in the day she made Staffordshire oatcakes  [that's the picture from the Guardian] and finally some splendid home made pizzas. I might try that oatcake recipe if I can get some more yeast...

Going Round In Circles

There was a beautiful little photo story in the paper at the weekend, about a young woman called Victoria Rose Richards [pretty name!] from Devon. She is 21, and has just graduated in biological science- hoping to work in ecology or environmental science. But in her spare time she stitches. She grew up in the Devonshire countryside, and gets her inspiration from the Google Earth images of her county. [pictures below from The Guardian]

She uses satin stitch and French knots to make 'colourful and optimistic' scenes

Look at these waves rolling in onto the beach, and the little wooded islands.

Fields, roads, rivers and crops meticulously recreated in these textural stitches. I think they are brilliant. The hoops vary in size- so some of this is truly 'minute detail'.

You can see more of her work on Instagram [here]- and if you want to own  a piece of Victoria's artwork, go to her Etsy shop [here]
Young artists, producing lovely works like this are deserving of our encouragement. Thanks VRR for brightening up these difficult days!

Morning Worship And Communion

- From United Church Ferndown
Please click on the link HERE - and have bread and wine or juice to hand if you wish to share in the communion service with us.

Counting The Omer

I have always known that the Christian festivals of Easter and Whitsun happen at the same time as Passover and Shavuot. Jesus and his disciples celebrated Passover - and that meal is known as "The Last Supper" - and fifty days after Easter, God gave his Holy Spirit to the Church, when many Jews were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot. Jews and Christians alike call this time Pentecost [50 days]

What I have only just learned is that there is a Jewish tradition of Counting the Omer- marking off the 50 days [a bit like an Advent Calendar] An omer is a measure of grain, and traditionally, each day, the priest would wave this sheaf of wheat in the Temple as an offering to God. At Pentecost, the new wheat would be harvested and eaten and there would be feasting and joy. A celebration of the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of God's law to the people. [ [More about Counting the Omer here]
And that is happening now in many Jewish families around the world. But what really resonated with me is this - during the Middle Ages, there was a terrible plague, and many Jews died during the time of Omer. So now, until the 33rd day, there is a period of semi mourning, in remembrance of this. In this time, various things do not happen

• no haircuts
• no feasting
• no weddings
• no playing of music together
• no buying of new garments

And here we are in a time of pandemic, mourning those we have loved and lost

• hairdressers are closed
• restaurants, and bars are closed- and family get-togethers are banned
• weddings are not happening
• bands, orchestras, music festivals, theatres - all silent
• nobody needs new clothes, because they are not going out

The Counting of the Omer is seen as a time of reflection. Maybe we should use the quiet moments we have in these strange days, to 'number our days and gain a heart of wisdom' as the Psalmist says. 

Today's Sunday worship from UCF can be found on YouTube by clicking here. It will include Communion- please join us [you may wish to bring your own wine/juice and bread/wafer] 

Exterminate! Exterminate! Self Isolate!

I have a dalek in my kitchen. Let me explain...when we were first married, Bob was concerned that I used to clamber up on chairs to reach things on the top shelves. But I loathed the kitchen step stools which were popular back then. I never felt secure on them [my auntie had one] Then one day we saw an office supply shop which was closing down.
Bargain stationery!! we dashed in to see what we could find. And there was a 'library kick stool' going for a song. I think these are brilliant, you nudge them with your foot and they roll across the floor - but when you step on them, they brake [the wheels are on springs which are compressed by your weight] I knew I would feel much safer on that. So we bought it. Fifteen years later, I was working briefly for Social Services, and the secretaries had one in their office. They always called it The Dalek - it moved silently across the floor, and didn't go down stairs easily. 
Mine was renamed the Dalek too. I have used it so much in the past 40 years. Not just in the kitchen, but also when doing other tasks which require extra height [hanging curtains, decorating etc] My dalek became very grubby, and paint spattered, and tired looking. So yesterday I took it out into the sunshine and gave it an overdue refurb.

I removed the rubber rim on the base, and gave it a good scrub. A lot of the paint came away. I cleaned up the two rubber discs - you can see the improvement bottom left. Bob came outside and helped me to ease them away so I could paint the whole thing more easily.
We had blue and red spray paint [Wilko Enamel]  in the garage. I tried a little of each on the top. Originally I wanted red - but it came out a little too orange. So blue it was...

Three coats, and one of clear lacquer. I reglued the rubber discs, and the base rim slid easily into place after a generous lubrication with WD40. We also squirted the wheels and springs. The rubber discs are not perfectly clean- I was hesitant about cleaning them too thoroughly in case the rubber started to perish. I can still see spots of paint from different rooms in Kirby Muxloe. Happy memories of a happy home. 
My dalek looks bright and cheerful now, ready for a few more decades of service. Have you done any long overdue Refurb Projects during Lockdown?

Please Mr Postman

There is something lovely about getting a REAL letter. Not an email, not a text message, but an envelope, addressed to you - and containing a piece of paper with words of affection and encouragement. [I am not including letters from the Council about Garden Waste Collection, any sort of bill reminder, or a note from the bank about changes in the way they are managing your account] It is even more exciting if this missive includes a small gift.

This week there was a lovely story about David Easson, a sports journalist who lives in Sheffield. In 2012 he visited Norway, and discovered Kvikk Lunsj - a sort of chocolate bar similar to KitKat. He became very fond of these bars. A Norwegian bloke, Marten Wedebrand, who listens to David on the radio, decided to send some bars to him. After all, we are going through a lockdown and Marten thought the bars would cheer him up. But he didn't have the address. He sent the parcel to David Easson,"Somewhere in Sheffield, England, UK, GB, [but not EU]"

Marten gave as much detail as he could on the other side of the parcel. For Mr Easson. Survival stuff for him. I do not no his address. Married, wife Helen. Has child, or dog [or both] Has been in many Olympics, reporter not sportsman. Thankyou dear Postman STAY SAFE

Postman Derek Gilmour used social media to track him down and send a message. And David got his bars of chocolate. What a glorious story!

I too have been writing letters in Lockdown. We have some lovely families at church, so some of us are writing to the children so that they do not feel left out. I tweaked a Simpsons picture for my letterhead and wrote my two letters yesterday morning.

I tried to make them interesting and age appropriate, adding pictures - and I typed them on the PC so that they'd be more legible. I found some pretty envelopes in my box of stationery. I was going to post them, but after lunch I decided to cycle round and deliver them by hand. This was a good move, I had my daily exercise; a 7 mile round trip, and I got to have lovely end-of-the-garden-path conversations with the Mums. Have you written or received any special lockdown letters?

Helping "Hannah's Headbands"

I have found a sewing task I can do to help things along. I was unhappy about making masks. My neighbour up the street put notes through all our doors during the Easter Weekend asking for sheets and pillowcases as she is sewing scrub-bags. I delivered some bedlinen, and wondered about volunteering to help when I had done my other sewing jobs. Then a friend from the Parish church rang to tell me about her daughter's project, and asked if I'd publicise it through our church WhatsApp group. It's called Hannah's Headbands in Dorset. 
Hannah who started all this is in Norfolk and makes wedding/prom dresses, her company is Hannah's Gladrags. She heard that many medical personnel were finding it uncomfortable to wear masks all day, the elastic was chafing their ears. So she devised a simple headband, with a button either side. You put on the headband, and hook the mask elastic behind the buttons. Here's a nurse in her headband.

My friends daughter, down here in Dorset, picked up the idea - and now has people all over the county making the headbands. 

These nurses are at the wonderful Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital, where Bob was treated in October. RBCH has asked for hundreds. "But the problem is, finding inch wide elastic, and buttons about 20-25mm across. We are having to order from China" 

I have both of these in my stash, including some lovely beige elastic which was originally destined for sports underwear, and doesn't rub. I got it from the Scrapstore last year and used some for play costumes at school. And I have jars of buttons. And I have odd shirtsleeves and scraps of polycotton left over from making Memory Bears.

I sorted out some appropriate buttons and fabric, and once Kezzie's shirt was in the post, I set to to make headbands. On our daily exercise walk, I was able to deliver these twenty headbands to my friend. She was grateful - apparently the RBCH personnel are grateful for all the headbands, they really do make a difference - but had mentioned that not everyone wants a pink floral one! Do check out the facebook page- there is a lovely clip of Delighted Dancing Dorset Doctors [and nurses] 

Bob, meanwhile, has been building a coffee table to go in the summerhouse at Cornerstones. This is using scrap wood [panelling removed when UCF was refurbished 5 years ago] He's sanded it down and waxed it. The circular recess will hold the base of an IKEA Lazy Susan [which is waiting in Norfolk]

I was pleased to see that my friend has a basket of finished headbands in her porch - so that any of our local carers can help themselves as well - the headbands are not just going to the hospitals. Ferndown has a high proportion of older people, and dozens of care homes. This is a really good way to reduce my Great Stash of fabrics and haberdashery.

Chaos In The Covidian Kitchen

You win some, you lose some. My breadmaking is gradually improving. A pan of water in the oven, and having the temperature slightly lower than the recipe suggests both seem to be important things to remember. I've stopped making one loaf with 500g of flour, and instead I split the dough in half, to make two smaller loaves. It works better for us. 
Last Thursday, after I'd been ringing my school bell for the nhs, my neighbour called across "Do you have a loaf tin we could borrow please?" Young Rosie-next-door is learning to cook. We discussed recipes, and she'd tried banana bread, but used the wrong sort of tin and it hadn''t worked. I said yes I could lend one - and had she made biscuits yet? Later that evening I left a loaf tin and some cookie cutters on the doorstep.
But this has meant a rearrangement of my twin loaf system.

I made a tear and share loaf on Monday morning, arranging 7 balls of dough inside a cake tin.

I listened to The Kitchen Cabinet on Radio 4 on Saturday morning. This has been a longtime favourite programme, and their broadcasts during lockdown have been superb.

This week they had a scientist on the panel, who was giving us amazing facts.
Did you know that if you are handling garlic, and want to remove the odour from your hands, you should rub them with a piece of bruised apple? The other panel members tried this out [as they were recording in their own kitchens] and declared it really works. Barry Smith explained it was to do with the garlic molecules and something in the apple. He suggested cutting a small slice from an apple before you start cooking, and when you finish, it will have gone brown and be ready to deodorize your fingers! I have yet to try this myself. His other interesting comment was about cucumber and melon.
He said they are basically the same thing, but one has more sugars in it. If you peel and slice cucumber and put sugar on it, you will think you are eating melon. I tried this, and added mint and blueberries. It seemed to work. It was certainly a refreshing little dessert.
The Kitchen Cabinet crew were advocating using 'aqua faba' [which means bean water] in recipes. This is the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas. I found an internet recipe for aqua faba meringues and decided to try it.
There was a packet of shortcrust pastry in the freezer. I used half to line a pie dish, and filled the dish with some stewed apples from the freezer. 
Then I made my meringue - I used the Kenwood. TIP all the recipes say beat the liquid till it is white and glossy and has stiff peaks. This takes far longer than it does with regular eggwhites. But in the end I got there, added a tsp of cream of tartar [allegedly this stabilises the mix] and the sugar. I had a bowl of billowy white clouds. 
I piled this onto my pastry and apples, but had half a bowl left.
I decided a pavlova would be a good idea. I put a parchment paper circle into a flan dish, and piled the meringue onto it. Then I baked them. The pie didn't turn out too bad. But the pavlova - oh dear! 
It just sort of vanished - leaving a sticky mess on the lining paper.
And I used the remaining half packet of pastry to top a leftovers meat pie. I definitely had the oven too hot here, and should have let the rolled out pastry rest a little longer. There was hideous shrinkage.
It is a good thing there was only Bob and myself to eat it!

Still, apart from the pavlova, it was all edible. I should say that the pavlova did seep over the edge of the flan dish, and there were strange black carboniferous lumps like magma on the base of the oven.
I've recorded all the Daily Kitchen programmes with Jack Monroe but only watched three so far. The sound quality wasn't good - and I put on the subtitles. That was screamingly funny. They referred to Wartime Cook Marguerite Patten "cooking with the Russians", a strange character called "Anchovy Phillips" - and most bizarrely of all, the phrase "cinnamon rolls" was subtitled "nipples"
We're not starving, and we are laughing a lot. I hope this is the case for you too.

Lock DOWN - Dress UP

Don't forget, it is the Queen's Birthday**. So all handwashing today must be accompanied by two rousing choruses of ...   "Happy Birthday to the Queen,  Happy Birthday to the Queen Happy Birthday to her Majesty,   Happy Birthday to the Queen"

On Friday evening we watched 'Phantom of the Opera' [one of the Friday night performance on YouTube, part of The Shows Must Go On] It was enormously enjoyable. Not a musical I know, there seem to be just variations on two tunes, [but that's just my opinion, and I apologise if POTO is your absolute favourite show]. I was blown away by the brilliant costumes though. 

Bob alerted me the following morning to some more excellent costumes. A couple called Izabela and Lukas Pitcher create bespoke period costumes for museums and re-enactors. Their company is called Prior Attire and they live in Clifton Reynes near Milton Keynes [that sounds like the start of a poem...] They decided that when they took their government-advised daily walk, they would wear their costumes - so they have been delighting the residents of their little village by strolling down the street in period costume. 
Look at these fabulous pictures - I've added some vaguely Royal captions

Just don't lose your head when you meet the King, dearest

 'Oi! Charlie, d'ya fancy a squeeze of my oranges?

 By George, that's fine and dandy

 And did you see the Queen in Windsor?

You know, the weather in Florence is much better than this

I'm one of the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit

Let's go up to Norfolk for the weekend, to the King's houseparty at Sandringham

I think this is a lovely idea- and I hope the publicity gets them more business in future. Do check out the Friday Night YouTube shows. They are each on for 24 hours only, from 7pm Friday - 7pm Saturday. 

** Advice for the Queen, and others, having a birthday during lockdown - 

1. keep the cards up at least three weeks to cheer your spirits.
2. remember to change the water regularly in the bouquets 
3. have a quiet tea with your housemates/pets. Forget wild parties
4. don't be surprised  greetings from long forgotten friends [who are spending all day on Facebook at the moment]
5. after lockdown, remember to claim all the prorogued birthday hugs and kisses 

Kezzie's Clara Cosplay

My good blogging friend Kezzie wanted a blouse like Clara's. I looked this up - and discovered this "The orange Shalex Eye Blouse is the rarest of all Clara items. It literally does not exist. There is a wine red version of this exact shirt around, but ... I know only three cosplayers who own it. Then there is a wine red dress with the same pattern available, but guess what – it’s as rare as the shirt version...The chances of finding this one are very, very slim. During my two years of collecting Clara items, I’ve seen two wine red alts sell and no more" 

Clever Kezzie managed to find the red dress. Could I turn it into the shirt? Eek!
The dress has a lowish round neck, and a zip. The shirt has a collar, button band, patch pockets, epaulettes and rolled up sleeves.
My first move was to find a collar pattern in my pattern drawer, and make a practice 'toile' in scrap cotton. The pattern was borrowed in the 1980s from Janet - who has been married for 30 years, and retired last year! I have now sent it back to her with grovelling apologies.**

The collar had to be in two pieces [because of the zip] and each piece needed front back, and a two sided collar band.
That took quite a lot of material. There was no way that it would be possible to make a collar with an open neck.I cut as carefully as I could, but the short was then only 21" long. I'd have liked to have made it longer- Kezzie is tall! 

I managed to cut two rectangles for pocket shams, and two pocket flaps. I pinned these on to the blouse - I wasn't sure if Kezzie would actually want them - and anyway, placement of breast pockets is difficult- its best if you put on the garment and work out where they look best.

One tiny piece left - I decided to send that back to Kezzie. There really wasn't enough for epaulettes. I made a false button band by top stitching two tiny pleats down the front.
And I used some of the left over lining fabric to add a band round the hips, making to top a good inch longer. Kezzie should be able to tuck it in at the waist.
The fabric was horrid to work with, very slippy and prone to fraying. I rolled the sleeves and tacked them, to keep them in place. And I finished the bottom edge of the collar with binding, and handstitched it in place- Kezzie can easily remove it if she wishes and just have the round neck.

Finished shirt. You can just see the loosely pinned pockets. I do hope Kezzie likes it. She sent me a beautiful dress in exchange for doing the sewing, which is really kind of her. [Thank you K] It was a wonderful lockdown challenge.
**Janet was in India in January and bought some fabric back - she said she was wondering if I still had the pattern!

Time For Worship!

Because Bob and I should have been in Norfolk on holiday, Dr David Hilborn, Principal of Moorlands Theological College, had already been booked to preach at UCF. So David has sent us his sermon to include in the service. 

If you want to join us this morning, click on the YouTube playlist HERE. You will get all the parts of the service [music, reading, prayers, sermon] in order, and you can click through at your own pace. Please note - today's service is a little longer. Bob's included this little clip, which explains things. [even if it does say "unprecedented" - a word definitely being over-used right now]

Although I'm still in Dorset, I shall nevertheless be leading worship and preaching in Norfolk this morning [via the Foulsham Chapel Conference Call Service] which is amazing. Once again, thank you to everyone who has been linking in to our worship - Bob has been checking his YouTube stats, and there are lots of you! We have had some wonderful messages from people all over the world - especially saying how much the three services over the Easter weekend have helped and blessed them. Thank you.
You may be reading this by yourself, but remember, you are part of a caring group of friends. 
God bless you all!

Blessed Are They...

Another brilliant Dave Walker Cartoon. If you can't see it clearly go to this page HERE.
Dave has said his artwork is free for people to share - but as the text was by Jayne Manfredi. Dave would appreciate it if people who shared it gave a donation to the amazing charity for which she is fundraising. [So I have]

God bless you all