The weather is horrible today and, as my throat still isn't completely better, I decided getting soaked while waiting for the bus to Deal for my volunteering would not be a good idea, so I played hookey.
It's a good job I did because I'd forgeotten I had a man from the insurance broker's calling at 9.30 to find us a better life insurance deal. We took out our 15 year policies 10 years ago but have decided it would be wise to pay a little extra each month and have them extended by a few years to take us into our 70s. It's much better to pay extra now than have the policies expire in 5 years time and then have to pay through the nose for insurance because we're 5 years older, probably getting a lot less cover for the money. All is now being sorted and, as we're generally healthy folks who don't smoke and only drink very occasionally, we've hopefully negotiated a pretty good deal and might not even need medical checks. Having seen some of the adverts on TV for over 50s cover that pay out such paltry sums and often don't even give you full cover until you've been paying in for at least a year, I think we've made the best decision.
So, what did I do while waiting for yet another call back after I'd posed more questions to the nice man on the end of the phone? (Well, I like to make them work for their commission and we want to get it right first time so we don't find ourselves having to amend it again in a few years).
I made another bag, of course. Although I did also nip out for 10 minutes to the post office to mail off Kay's bag. I do hope she likes it.
So this is what I made today.
As it's so wet and windy outside I thought I'd make something bright and summery, hence the flip-flop fabric. I made a pocket for the inside with a remnant of that fabric instead of making a rosette which would have been lost amid the busy outer fabric design. A lovely vintage style white button and ribbon fastening finishes it off nicely. I think I'll be putting this one on Ebay too with a Buy It Now price.
The bag making was made easier with my new steam iron. My old iron that I've had for donkey's years had got so clogged up with our chalky water that it really doesn't steam any more. I hardly ever iron clothes, but do need a decent iron for pressing my sewing. Anyway, I got this beauty in Argos at a quarter of the RRP.
It was already half price which reduced it to 24.99 and I had £12.50 on my Nectar card so I paid just £12.49 for a £50 iron. I used it for the first time today and it makes things so much easier than using a pressing cloth that has to keep being run under the tap and repositioned on the fabric. Don't tell anyone, but I almost enjoyed ironing with it.
Dinner tonight will be the fishcakes I made earlier in the week served with oven chips and peas. I've also stewed some Bramley apples I bought a week ago (4 apples for 99p in Morrisons). I added some blackberries to half the apple and made a small crumble for DH to have with custard. We picked pounds and pounds of blackberries last year and I thought we'd never eat them all but unfortunately I only have one bag left in the freezer now.
The rest of the apple was made into a dessert with a sugar free orange jelly, 2 tablespoons of granulated sweetner, 250g of 0% fromage frais and 250g Quark soft cheese. You simply cook the apples to a mush (I do this in the microwave), add the jelly to the cooked apple and stir to dissolve, then whisk in the fromage frais, quark and sweetner until the mixture is smooth. Either pour into a large bowl or divide into individual dishes and put in the fridge to set. This is 1/2 Syn a portion (for the jelly) on the Slimming World plan with the stewed apple being a 'B' choice. Or you could be really piggy and eat the whole thing during the day for just 2 syns (the whole of the apple would be be just 1 'B').
I think that's all I have for now. The weather's supposed to be horrible again tomorrow so it might be yet another sewing day.
Look at me, 2 posts in one day.
I had a request from an anonymous reader for the recipe I use to make my macaroni cheese and whether it's compatable with the Slimming World plan, so I thought I'd write this out for anyone who's interested.
The recipe I use is based on a Jamey Oliver one which I tweak to make it fit with a GREEN day on the SW plan. I'm sure it could also be further tweaked to fit Extra Easy and maybe even Red although there's a lot of pasta in it. And those last 2 sentences will make no sense whatsoever to anyone not on the SW plan.
I don't have a picture of the dish yet as I'm making it later this week, but for anyone who wants to make a lower fat, tasty macaroni cheese here's the basic recipe:
Creme Fraiche Macaroni Cheese with Bacon
Serves 6
500g dried macaroni or other pasta shapes
300ml tub of half fat creme fraiche
180g strong-flavoured cheddar, grated
150g bacon
1 onion, diced
Tomatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
Black pepper
Chop the onion. Cook the macaroni as directed on the packet adding the chopped onion to the pot so it gets boiled along with the pasta. While the macaroni and onion are cooking grill the bacon and then chop into pieces. When cooked, drain the macaroni and onion but reserve 350ml of the cooking liquid. Put the drained macaroni and onion into a casserole dish with the chopped bacon. Mix the creme fraiche, cooking liquid, mustard, black pepper and 120g of the cheddar together. Pour this over the macaroni and mix together well. Top with sliced tomatoes and the remaining 60g of cheddar. Bake close to the top of the oven at gas 6 for approx 20 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Serve and enjoy. Lovely with a nice green salad.
Hope that makes sense. This makes a lovely savoury macaroni cheese but is less stodgy than the kind made with flour and fat.
The Slimming World stats are (as far as I have worked out):-
Free Foods are macaroni, onion, and seasonings.
The bacon is a 'B' choice and the cheddar an 'A'.
The creme fraiche is 4 1/2 syns per serving (100ml half fat creme fraiche is 8 1/2 syns, and each portion of this recipe has 50ml in it).
I love macaroni cheese so was really happy to find this recipe that I can have on my slimming plan. Hope this helps someone else.
Firstly a big warm welcome to Treelover, thank you for joining me.
Secondly, a huge thank you for the lovely comments about my bags. Kay asked about finding them on Etsy, well as Ebay had a free listing weekend they are on there instead. I started them at a low price with a higher Buy It Now option (unfortunately Ebay's rules say that BIN has to be 40% higher than your auction price nowadays). The prices should cover the fabric costs and give me a small profit for the time spent making them. There is a link now at the top side of this page which will take anyone who's interested to the details for the first bag, and from there you can click on 'see other items' for the other bags and some more bits and bobs I've got listed. Just in case there's an issue with that here's the link:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121334999550?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
I actually spent most of Monday afternoon and early evening taking pictures and listing items for sale, and I have already sold the last 1/2 metre of the 10 metre length of vintage Laura Ashley fabric I bought in a charity shop last year. I made approx £7 for this last piece which covered my initial outlay as that's what it cost, so I must have made at least £120 profit in total. I just wish I could have such a lucky find every week.
And as for the title of this post. Here are pictures of 3 of the meals.
Before I went to my Slimming World meeting yesterday morning (another 1.5lbs off, so that's 4st 1lb altogether), I spent 2 hours making enough dinners to last until the weekend. Last night we had sausages, mash, peas, sweetcorn and onion gravy which I haven't photographed.
I started by cooking 14 sausages, 500g lamb mince and a 500g pack of bacon pieces together in the oven. While they were cooking I prepared enough onions for the onion gravy, a shepherd's pie and a sausage casserole. I put some onion on to fry for the gravy, then divided the remaining onion between my 2 slow cookers and added carrots, garlic etc. When the meats were done in the oven I drained off the excess fat, set aside 8 sausages for last night's dinner, chopped the other 6 into chunks and added them to one slow coooker for the casserole. The lamb mince went into the other slow cooker for the shepherd's pie filling. I peeled enough potatoes for mash to go with last night's dinner, and to top the shepherd's pie and make tuna fish cakes. The casserole and pie filling were done by the time I got back from my meeting. Last evening I just had to cook and mash the potatoes, serve some with dinner, top the shepherd's pie and set enough aside to cool for the fish cakes. This morning I used the cold mash, a tin of tuna, some dried parsley, a squeeze of tomato ketchup and egg and breadcrumbs to make fish cakes.
So...this weeks' menu consists of:-
Tuesday - sausage, mash, peas, sweetcorn and onion gravy
Wednesday - lamb mince shepherd's pie with mixed veg
Thursday - tuna fishcakes, oven chips and peas
Friday - Hairy Biker's Sausage Casserole with rice or couscous
All of that for a couple of hours cooking time, which means I can relax about dinners for the rest of the week...oh, and I nearly forgot, there's enough of the bacon pack leftover to add to a macaroni cheese for Saturday night. Plus there's so much sausage casserole and shepherd's pie DS1 can have some for his lunch before his late shift at work. I can't accurately cost everything, but the most expensive meal has to be the shepherd's pie as the lamb mince was £2.75, but that whole meal (including veg to serve with it) won't have cost more than £4 and will make 4 servings at £1 each. The other meals will work out even cheaper, and I saved on fuel costs by cooking all the meats at the same time in the oven and the fillings in the slow cookers. This week's menu is quite meat-heavy, but last week we ate mostly vegetarian so it balances out.
Other news is that we thoroughly enjoyed our evening out on Saturday. We were both blown away with how amazing our lovely daughter and her boyfriend performed. Pity we couldn't record any of it. Can't wait to see them in Jesus Christ Superstar at the end of the month.
And we had a lovely time at the Brocante on Monday. Gorgeous weather for the second year running and I did manage to pick up a couple of fabric remnants and some trimming.
I paid £1 each for the fabric pieces and the pink/blue/white trim, and £2 for the gingerbread man trim. The shoe fabric looks great but is quite thin so I will have to back it with interfacing if I want to use it for bag making. I also bought a short red duffle jacket for £5. Since losing so much weight I needed a new jacket that actually fits and this one is quite good quality with a 70% wool content. It's just right for spring/autumn wear.
I had an upset stomach yesterday afternoon and evening(from the antibiotics I'm taking for my throat, I think) so apart from a bit of crochet I didn't get anything crafty done. I'm still feeling a bit washed out today so taking it easy, and just about to watch Bargain Hunt.
Hope all is well with you and yours, big hugs, Helen x
I've been really busy this week with one thing and another, and one of those things is making bags.
I love making bags. Now that I've made a few I know the general techniques and feel confident putting one together. The part I don't like is preparing the fabric and working out the measurements. Give me money to work with and I can add, subtract, work out percentages etc. no worries, but anything else with numbers and my brain seizes up. Anyway, I sat down yesterday afternoon with paper and pen and worked out the measurements for a basic tote bag without interfacing, pockets or fastenings, using two coordinating fabrics for the outer and handle(s) and a single colour for the lining. I then made a pattern from freezer paper so that I can simply iron it on to the fabric and cut it out, without having to count the squares on my cutting mat while using my rotary cutter, and taking the chance of miscounting, cutting incorrectly and wasting fabric (which we all know is horrendously expensive these days). Yesterday afternoon I made this bag with that pattern using 2 fat quarters for the outside and the handle (I joined lengths together to get the one long handle) and a 50p pillowcase from the Age UK shop for the lining. The rosette was made from leftover fabric and the button came from The Works at 3 packs of 8 fabric covered buttons for £2. Unfortunately the pictures make it look much more wrinkled than it actually is, as I did press everything really well.
Earlier in the week, before I worked out my pattern, I made this little bag from just 2 fat quarters. The button was a freebie from Mollie Makes magazine.
And this one finally came together after a lot of measuring and chopping bits off and re-measuring and chopping more bits off and so on and so on (which was why I decided on making me a pattern), again from 2 fat quarters and a 50p pillowcase.
And what has brought on this spate of bag making you may ask? Well, I am hoping to get together enough stock to sell through my much-neglected Etsy shop, and I also have the possibility of a market in the US for the occasional bag. I have an email penfriend out there who I made a bag for about a year ago and who says she's had lots of people admire it. If I like, she's willing to promote my bags to friends and aquaintances and also at the restaurant where she works. My only reservation with that is the high cost of mailing them out to the States.
Now that DH has a full time job, I've decided to forget about my less-than-successful job hunting and concentrate on trying to make a little money from what I do well, which is crafting. My strengths are knitting, card making and simple sewing projects, so I'm going to try and put together enough bits and pieces for my shop and also maybe have a stall at a Christmas Fayre. Pricing is an issue. Fabric can be so expensive and bags take about a metre or more, but as long as I can source cheap lining fabrics then I can afford to use small quantities of more expensive fabrics for the outside of the bag. Mind you, the fat quarters I've used for these bags cost just £3.50 for a pack of 4 from Fabric Land (or was that Fabric World) in Southampton when we were in that neck of the woods last summer visiting our daughter, so each of these bags has only cost me about £2 to make. It would be more, though, if I used interfacing or iron-on fleece to give them more body.
Anyway, that and bank appointments, slimming club (lost 1 lb this week), volunteering etc. have filled in the gaps between sewing sessions. I have also kept up with my crocheting and I'm still working on those big granny squares to have enough to make into a lap blanket for DH's mum for either her birthday or Christmas (her birthday is Xmas eve).
Tonight we're out at the town hall to watch DD3 and BF perform numbers from Jesus Christ Superstar and other songs at a music from the musicals night. We only found out this morning that's it's a sort of cabaret event with posh tables etc. so we've both had to scrabble round for something a bit posher to wear than our usual jeans and trainers. Luckily DD2 treated me to a lovely new dress the other day and I've been hoping for an occasion to wear it.
Tomorrow should be a quiet day and bank holiday Monday we're off to Deal for a Brocante (open air antiques/collectables fair) on Walmer Green. Last year's event was lovely and we had a great day sitting in the sunshine on the seafront, so I'm hoping for fine weather yet again.
That's all for now. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and holiday Monday. Hugs, Helen x
Thankfully I'm feeling a bit better today. Certainly my back isn't nearly as uncomfortable, and I managed to get a reasonably good night's sleep, only woken a couple of times by hot flushes. I did wake up feeling a bit snotty and thought I had a proper cold coming on, but that's all cleared up as the morning's progressed and I'm now left with just a slightly sore and tickly throat.
Making the most of my back being okay, I got on early with making the cards for DD2. I have some great crafting cd roms and often use them for either the main image, backing papers, inserts or a combination. Both these cards were made from this cd which is actually for making squeezy (concertina) cards but I just cut out the images and layer them up and then add my own personal touches.
(image courtesy of:- thatsreallycrafty.com)
I used another cd rom I've had for ages for the wedding card's backing paper and insert.
These are what I made.
It's not so easy to see the layers on the wedding card as the image is smaller and there were only 4 of them, but hopefully you can see some of the 6 layers on the A4 sized retirement card. Hopefully DD2 will like them. She's usually very good at offering to pay when I make anything for her to give to friends, but usually I just get her to treat me out for coffee instead. This time I will ask for a bit of money as I had to use a total of 7 pages of semi-gloss photo paper and order another pack as I've nearly run out, and I've had to go and buy white A4 envelopes.
Just for fun, as I've transferred the pictures from my phone to my laptop, here's a couple of pictures of my blue British Shorthair, Shadow, soaking up some sun a couple of days ago. DH reckons he's coming back as a cat the next time around since all they do is eat and sleep and that's his idea of heaven.
As usual on a Thursday night we're having a junk food dinner, but I'm not spending a fortune on a take away. We're having hot dogs, oven chips and baked beans. The hot dog rolls, sausages and chips are from the freezer and the beans are from my kitchen shelf. Cumberland sausages are £1.09 for 8 from Aldi. The rolls were 6 for 72p or 2 packs for £1 from Morrisons (so 50p per pack). The chips are Aldi's crinkle cut oven chips and, I think, were 1.8kg for £1. The beans are also Aldi's at 24p a can. So, breakdown of the meal is £1.09 for the sausages (the guys will have 3 each in rolls, and I'll have 2 without rolls), 6 rolls for 50p, third of a bag of chips for 33p and 2 tins of beans for 48p. There will also be a squirt or two of brown or tomato sauce, some salt and some vinegar used so add another 6p at most for those. Total cost for 3 is £2.46 or 82p each.
The weather is dry here today after a wet night, and warm enough for me to wear my open sandals and no coat when I went to the shops earlier. Hope it's dry and warm where you are. Love, Helen x
I'm not very well today. I've had a sore throat for a couple of days that's making my voice croaky and I also seem to have strained the muscles at the base of my spine so my back's a bit uncomfortable too. The bad back means I've done a lot more sitting than I usually do and when I haven't been wasting time pinging from board to board on Pinterest (am I the only one who can spend absolutely hours on there?) I've been practicing my crocheting and these are the result.
So far I've stuck with doing them exactly as I was taught at the workshop, but I've been looking at alternatives in my huge stack of crafting magazines, and also online, and I think I could probably follow a simple pattern so once the white and purple square is finished I'm going to try another design.
Of course, my back's hurting and I can't stand for long or keep bending over the table and straightening up again, so trust me to suddenly get a real hankering to do some sewing. Isn't it always the case? Using my enforced rest to flick through all those magazines hasn't helped calm my urge to sew as I've seen loads of projects I want to try. I really want to make a padded case for my mobile phone, have a go at making a zipped pocket in a bag, and make myself a simple, tiered, elasticated or drawstring waist skirt for the summer, but those will have to wait until I'm all better.
I do have to try and make a couple of cards over the next couple of days. True to form, DD2 has left it until almost the last minute to ask for a card for her friend's wedding on Saturday and a retirement card for next week. This morning I've printed everything I need for both cards and will cut them out tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be well enough to make them up either tomorrow or Friday. I know exactly what I'm going to do for the wedding card, and more or less the layout for the retirement card. The retirement card will be A4 size so that everyone in the office can sign it, and I need to buy some large white envelopes for that one. I'll post pictures when they're done. I still enjoy making cards from time to time but don't make nearly as many as I used to when DH would sell them to the staff at the school where he worked.
Dinner tonight is nice and simple, just half an Aldi chorizo sausage ring (75p for the half), diced and added to 2 packets of Approved Foods savoury rice 50p for the 2) with half a packet of Aldi frozen mixed vegetables (50p for the half) mixed in. It should take about 20 minutes to cook, and cost around £1.75p for 3 portions (approx 59p each).
That's all I have for now. I'm hoping my back is all better by the weekend so I can get out for a decent walk rather than just hobbling the short distance down the road that I've been managing for the past couple of days.
Hello everyone...that's if anyone's out there still checking in on this blog.
I'm so sorry to have abandoned you all for a while. I know it's been ages since I updated but the thing is after I'd left it a for a week or so the task of bringing it up to date and the length of post I'd have to write started to seem humungous so I kept putting it off even longer. It's been playing on my weird mind as I didn't want to abandon it entirely. So, guess what? I've decided I won't bother trying to update everyone on the past few weeks, instead I'll just pick up from here and now. Well, from yesterday actually.
The title says it all. I finally got the hang of crocheting. After years and years of trying to teach myself by book and video, I took the day off from my usual Thursday volunteering and went to a workshop at the Sewing Space in Hythe where last year I learned to use my sewing machine and make bags, and also where I did a beginners patchwork and quilting course. Within 2 hours of meeting the lovely, patient Mandy I was making granny squares like this.
And last night I did this one all by myself.
Now, I'm not sure I could follow a pattern or make anything more complicated, but then all I really wanted was to be able to make granny square blankets and now I can. Plus it will be a great way to use up all those odds and ends of yarn I have stashed away. I must admit I'm quite chuffed with my little self.
This just goes to show that everyone learns differently because I know Pam over at A Good Life In Tydd very cleverly taught herself to crochet, but obviously I need someone to show me how and to patiently sit down and talk me through when I make mistakes. Once I learn something then I'm off and running and will try out variations on my own, like I did with bag making. I learned to make a basic lined tote with boxed corners at my beginners sewing class last year and now I'm on to turning out bags like this one I made recently from a pattern in Lisa Lams Bagmaking Bible book.
I've also sadly neglected reading a lot of other blogs I enjoy, so I'm going to spend some time catching up and find out what everyone's been up to while I've been gone.
It's been glorious weather all week down here in the Dover area, although still a little chilly. With DH on Easter break, we've been getting out and about walking and visiting some local attractions like the East Kent Steam Railway at Shepherdswell and a stroll along the pier at Deal. Today, once the washing's finished and on the line, we're just going to wander down to the seafront, walk along Dover pier and then treat ourselves to coffee.
That's all I've got for now. Promise I'll try and update more regularly again. I hope everyone else is well and happy and getting a chance to enjoy some lovely weather.
