Ridgeway Cottage anyhow

Discovering Shopping Lives , a blog which simply concerns itself with found shopping lists, has had quite a profound effect on me. It was possibly intensified by a chat with my sprightly neighbour (age 76) and her quaintly old fashioned view of life. She talked of going into town to get out of the house and how meeting or visiting friends takes up a good part of  the day. She lives alone in the house she was brought up in which was bought as a new build by her father in the 1930s. Just like the author of Shopping Lives I wonder about the lives of the writers of shopping lists and can't help but think that many must belong to ladies who were raised in a different era. My Grandmother would not dream of going shopping without a list and one of her collection of shopping bags. Then today in a charity shop I discovered a little thing that I felt was so poignant and representative of these ladies of the past that I had to buy it for the princely sum of 1p. It's no secret that I ha...

It would not be autumn without the colour rust. At the end of the garden, shaded by an over hanging tree and camouflaged by ivy is our old corrugated iron garage. I walk past it every day and barely notice it's spectrum of peeling rust coloured paint. It is ancient, slightly decrepit and most definitely unique. But I do love it in all its flakey, distressed rust coloured glory. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's been a day of firsts. I have been feeling a little bit under the weather and after being sick this morning I did not want to sit in the car for hours. So my husband and children have gone to visit my family without me. This did make me so sad but as there was nothing I could do about it, I thought I would just do my best to enjoy having time completely to myself. I have never been alone in the house over night. People have been away and I've been away but I have never had the whole place to myself for the whole night. I've finally got to grips with instagram and how the liking and the following and the whole thing works. I even got my first ever like which was so exciting. I'm guessing it's pretty addictive. Who should I follow? Where do I find people who love the same things as me? I think I still need a bit of help. And for the first time ever, an ironing board has been the object of my desire. I don't think that it even crossed my mind that ironing...

Amongst the chaos and the roller coaster ride of every day life, there are simple things that make me smile. My head always seems to be such a whirl of information, spilling out in all directions like a tangled web of confusion. The simple things in life give me to time to focus and clear my head of complications, contradictions and complexities. It allows me a moment to just stop and appreciate how amazing simplicity can be. I did get a copy of a vintage  Penguin publication of Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh and the classic design is perfection. It arrived wrapped in brown paper and everything about this book makes me happy. There's the imprint of someone's hand written notes on the cover and I love that I can't really read what it says or will never know who wrote them or when. This book has a secret history, that will remain forever hidden and I may even add to that mystery, if in the future this book is passed on to someone else. This reprint is from 1953 and...

There are so many things that I would like to spend time doing that I often think I don't really have time to go to work. I have asked, on several occasions whether I can become a stay at home mum but this occupation is not conducive to our current life style, beside I like my financial independence and I did have to do years of studying and hard work for my career. The grass is always greener but there is no harm in dreaming. One thing I would like to do is to work harder at my blog, mostly because it's something that I enjoy and secondly because I am a bit of a wannabe writer / full time crafter. Pip Lincolne is someone I would love to be, if she ever felt like a life swap and as part of her blog school, this post is my over due and late homework. The task was to list your favourite blogs in a post which for me was just too numerous to even start to think about. Instead I am listing my favourite blogs by women that I would like to swap lives with in order to discover whe...

The Women's Institute is turning out to be everything that I hoped it would be. The knitting and stitching circle is a twice monthly treat, I have met so many fascinating and incredible women, made new friends and last night Judi Knight kindly shared her wealth of knowledge with our Jubilee WI. Dressed in a pinny, with ritzy victory rolls, Judi was a master at the art of public speaking. She clearly had a passion for Make do and mend but there was no glamorization of the WW2 Home Front fashions. The thought provoking talk made me once again question why our world today has become such a 'throw away' society. I would not do well living in a time where food and clothing were rationed however I can't help wondering whether having whatever we like at our disposal makes us forget not only how truly lucky we are but stops us really appreciating what we do have. I am all for the War on Want and hope that my thrifty and make do and mend fascination is not part of a passing fad...

This weekend I had a real treat, I finally went to the Kitsch and Stitch Fair in Cranbrook. I got to go all by myself and peruse the lovely vintage and handmade goodies at my leisure. I could have quite easily bought numerous items, there were so many things that were almost too pretty for me to live without, but the stall I splashed out on was Simply Vintage Designs. I have been looking for the perfect cake stand without success, but the fabulous lady behind Simple Vintage Designs has a collection of very lovely plates and lets you put together your own two or three tier stand. What could be better?  I have put it together and I totally love it, but I wrapped it back up again and have put it away. I didn't feel that I should take a photo until I have baked some delicious goodies to display on it. I would love it if you could leave a comment. Please give it a go, I'm working on making it easier

I am not one to be beaten by yarn and needles so I started my gloves project again. As there was very little wrong with the beautiful peacock vintage mohair yarn, I picked out some size 7 needles (see conversion chart below) and cast on a few extra stitches. Courtesy of Simply Knitting This time the gloves were far more successful due to simple things like counting the rows and the stitches and making both the gloves exactly the same. I know that they are better because I have finished them and already lost them to Josie who was my model for the disastrous but rather hilarious photo shoot.   It was getting a bit dark so we went outside Herbie kept getting in the way And then Josie really get the giggles I'm just pleased she likes them. I would love it if you could leave a comment. Please give it a go, I'm working on making it easier

As if my knitting wasn't bad enough already, I decided to have a go at my own free style pattern and although creativity is fabulous, when making gloves, I feel that there does need to be a bit of consistency. I am not the type of person who can bear to wear odd gloves, irregular patterns are fine as long as the irregular patterns are the same on both gloves.  I had no doubt that I was likely to stray on to another project between gloves so made a few notes as I went. I was completely confident that I would forget which needles I used, number of stitches cast on and crazy deviation from an actual stitch that would manifest itself in my project.   I veered away from the cheaters lace stitch pattern I found on the Internet after just two rows. (You can find the original pattern here ) I used 3.5mm needles Cast on 32 stitches K2, P2 to make a rib however long it happens to be ( I was hoping that I could measure this as I certainl...

It has been one of those weeks where challenge after challenge has crossed my path. Work is exceptionally busy as the students rush to get their assignments in before the end of term and at home the weather and stresses of the last few weeks have taken their toll, we all have little sniffles, feel drained and weary. When I finished work for the week on Thursday, I thought it was time to be kind to myself (I had a huge headache) and decided to finally have a go at making an a-line skirt from the beautifully summery fabric I picked up at a charity shop for £2. Inspired by the WI knitting and stitching circle meeting I went to last week, I thought I might give making my own pattern a whirl. The Internet is simply full of useful advice, tutorials and information and I did use to make my own clothes when I was younger. The shape is pretty easy for an a-line skirt. I measured my waist added a few centimetres and then halved it and did the same with my hips. With these two measureme...

By the time it comes to tea time on most days, my brain has pretty much turned to mush. What with getting up early, work and the battle of the school run, I am not really capable of any in depth thought, even after a cup tea. That "What's for tea?" question used to give me a bit of a panic attack but then I sorted out a menu planner. I wouldn't say that I was exactly qualified to give good mummy advance but when you have an eating machine like my Charlie, being a little bit organised seriously reduces the amount of stress. If they want to know what is for tea, I look on the fridge and that is what's for tea, no discussion, no negotiation and no arguing and because my husband is such a complete star and does the shopping, everything I need to cook what the fridge tells me, is in fact in the fridge. There is a little bit more to it than that, like deciding what meals are going to go in the menu planner and writing the shopping list, but I am so grateful to have the ...

Yesterday the children were off school because it was a staff development day. It was raining and I had had a busy week so we decided on a home day but by mid morning, they were craving my time and entertainment. Children are never interested in how many jobs you need to do: they care very little about the piles of laundry, the washing up or the untidy house so we decided to have a button competition. This cleverly allowed me to complete another unfinished project; Josie's noticeboard which is the final part of her bedroom makeover that I did for her last birthday. And just like that an hour of our lives flew by as we all worked on our separate button project right next to each other in the front room. Each of us, admiring the exquisite vintage buttons, sharing nicely and commenting positively on each others work. Initially there was a lot of talk and speculation about what the prize for the competition but as we worked and talked, we collectively agreed that this was the pri...

Rather optimistically, I made some homemade lollies yesterday but seeing as I have been making them pretty much continuously since Josie was a baby and Charlie will eat a lolly on the coldest of days, I doubt very much that they will remain in the freezer for too long. Lollies are one of the simplest and most diverse things I make and when I discovered that I needed some more moulds, I could not let another opportunity for an essential purchase of vintage Tupperware pass me by. When we were young, my mum made homemade lollies from orange juice using Tupperware lolly moulds and the memory of eating them sitting on the hot concrete step in the garden is so clear in my mind. "Tupperware" made in England Making the lollies is so incredibly simple and easy and just the thing to make with little ones. 1. Find the moulds and put them in the tray (the perfect job for little fingers) 2. Fill with any delicious liquid - homemade smoothie, freshly squeezed f...

As a teenager in the 1980s I was lucky enough to go camping in France every year which suited my young cosmopolitan spirit and sense of adventure. Apart from the limited vegetarian options in restaurants (salade de tomates avec pommels frites) I was very much at home in the more liberal European countryside. This was in the days before Tesco had taken over the world and French hypermarkets were more stylish, advanced and well stocked compared to the ones in England. The food was interesting, new and exciting; prickly pears, horse meat burgers and cheese made with champagne stick in my mind. They sold kitchenalia, clothes, electrical goods, stationary which was not common place in the UK. My mum was quite taken with the Arcopal white glass crockery, especially the Veronica ditsy blue flower design and built up an extensive collection over the years. At the time I found this quite bizarre but now I could happily follow her example and head off to France to collect such delights. Y...