Hello, and happy Mothers' Day to all the Mummies and Grannies and Aunties and Sisters and friends and 'Fur Baby' Mummies - in fact to all the ladies around the world.
What a lovely weekend I've had! Yesterday my son took me to the Inn at Whitewell for lunch.
We had a very companionable and happy time. We played dominoes (son won 8 rounds to 3 though - clearly wasn't letting me win for Mother's Day...) read the papers and had a beautiful meal.
Afterwards we went for a stroll along the river Hodder with Daisy Dog. It was still and quiet and we enjoyed walking and chatting and playing with Daisy.
My own Mum is no longer here with us, and I miss her every day. My new Mum-in-Law, however, is doing really well at the wonderful age of 96! We packaged up a hamper of all her favourite things to take to her nursing home. She loved it, and went in to lunch waving her balloon with glee!
I am always humbled by the generous gifts my children give to me, and this year was no exception. My son gave me a pair of Ernest Wright, handmade in Sheffield, stork embroidery scissors. These were the next pair on my list of scissors before the company closed, following the death of the owner. However, the company has been bought and reopened, which I am delighted about. Currently they only make three types of scissors, but are planning to expand the range again. As luck would have it, the stork scissors are one of the pairs they make!
How beautifully gift boxed they are, and each one has a certificate of authenticity, signed by the Mayor of Sheffield.
My darling daughter is treating me to afternoon tea at the London Savoy Hotel! I am really excited! We dined and stayed there for her 21st birthday and she promised she would take me back when she was working full time, so how lovely that she remembered!
This evening we are having a homemade pizza and gin dinner, which should be fun!
Now, which gin should we have...?
Donna x
Hello :)
You may remember a while back I wrote a post about my foray into bed-size quilting, making a quilt for my adult son.
I explained how I am using the 'quilt as you go' method, using 7" blocks, and how I thought I would need 60. Well, I am now up to 96! So, what happened?
Well, firstly, as a beginner, I hadn't taken into account how quilting each block as I went, with a fairly stitch intensive design, would cause each block to 'shrink' by half an inch, to become about 6 1/2".
Also, when measuring up, I simply measured my son's bed, which is an extra long single. I hadn't taken into account that when the bed is occupied the quilt needs to be longer to go up and across the inhabitant, in this case, over my son's very broad shoulders! After recalculating I decided to make the quilt 11 blocks by 8 blocks, and off I went again to complete 88 blocks...
Having completed 88 blocks, I trimmed each one to have a half each seam allowance (better than the standard quarter inch, apparently, for quilt as you go).
I laid them all into a pattern we liked and started to join them. As I am an impatient person, I soon decided to lay it out on the bed for a trial run. Good job I did, as it still wasn't quite long enough (!), as my son wanted it to really cover his feet, as a standard size duvet isn't as long as he would like. We decided another row - i.e. 12 blocks by 8 - would be perfect. I made 8 more blocks, using the fabric I had left, which wasn't, unfortunately, a full range of all the colours. Fortunately, however, I hadn't joined too many so was able to swap things around a bit to get a pleasing arrangement.
I joined them in a methodical order (I think!), by firstly joining each strip of 8 across...
...then strips into pairs, pairs into fours and so on. I chalked the strip number on the back of each one as I completed it so I didn't get mixed up!
This was all getting a bit unwieldy, so I moved my sewing machine down to the dining table to give me more space. I have the ironing board set up too in there when I'm working on it, so I can steam open the seams as I go. The ironing board is just the right height, for me, for joining them too, as using the table was a bit low if I stood up and awkward if I sat down.
I have the last two sections to join today and then I need to cut the batting and backing and start pinning it all together. Eeek!
Wish me luck!
Donna x
Hello!
The other day we were all crocheting and knitting away at Cooper's Creative in Skipton, when we got on to the subject of composting. I said I was a committed fan of worm composting, and my lovely friend Lucy (Attic 24) asked me to write a blog post with some hints and tips, so here I am!
I've always composted, but found traditional composting took up rather a lot of room, was fairly slow and also sometimes a bit smelly. Several years ago I discovered wormeries and my composting was transformed for ever.
There are all sorts of commercial wormeries you can buy, or you can make your own, but I will talk about the type I use, which are a series of stacking trays with a sump, tap and lid.
I should say here that my worm farm, as I call it, is in my vegetable garden, completely out of sight and away from the house. It is therefore not very clean looking. I would have washed it all down for you but it was freezing cold today and I only had a few minutes to take some photos! At one time I had the wormeries on the patio and I then kept them very clean and neat, and again, there was no smell at all.
I have two different brands and my favourite is Worm City. The trays are larger, you can buy extra trays and they just seem to compost faster.
I'm seriously regretting not hosing them down before taking photos...
Anyway, to get started with a commercial unit, build it according to the instructions and place the worm bedding provided in the first tray. Between the first tray and the sump tray I place a piece of fine nylon mesh, to save any worms that try to burrow down too far!
You'll notice at the bottom of each wormery a little black tap. This is to drain off the excess liquid, which, diluted down, makes the most marvellous plant food. I leave my taps open, as we do get a lot of rain up here, and I had a very sad episode when the bottom filled up and some of my worms died. I was very sad and felt terribly guilty, so I leave the taps open now, with old jugs underneath to collect the liquid.
With your wormery you will be able to buy a starter bucket of composting worms. These are different from the big, fat garden worms. You place your worms in the first tray with the bedding and follow the instructions as to when to add their first 'meal'. The idea is to start slowly and then build up how much you feed them.
Let's assume you now have your wormery set up according to the instructions and are now ready to start serious composting. What can you feed them? Well, the answer is, more than you may think!
We eat huge quantities of vegetables and fruit in our house and I keep two caddies in my kitchen for waste. I bought this one from Worm City, and it holds a good amount. You can use compostable liners in it, again from Worm City, I discovered Aldi sell them too.
My second one came from Lakeland, and holds a bit less, but it is neat and clean, and easy to wash. It has a charcoal liner in the lid. (I cut new liners from a large, cheaper sheet of charcoal pad. sold for cooker hoods.)
Into the caddy I put all our vegetable peelings, fruit peelings, tea bags, egg shells, vacuum cleaner contents etc. and then carry them down to the worms when they are full.
So, here are some things you CAN feed your worms:
Vegetable peelings (not huge quantities of onion though)
Fruit peelings (but not large quantities of citrus in one go)
Tea bags
Coffee grounds
Egg shells (better to crush them a bit)Dead flowers
Contents of your vacuum cleaner
Torn up egg cartons
Leftover rice
Leftover plain pasta
Used kitchen towels (not used for meat though)
Used tissues (the worms can't catch your cold...)
Receipts
Envelopes (remove the windows)
Confidential documents (the worms may read them but won't tell - promise!)
Torn up newspapers
Small scraps of 100% cotton or wool
It is better to cut large things up first, such as broccoli stalks, cauliflower stalks, melon skins, grapefruit skins. This makes it easier for the worms to eat, plus you can spread them around a bit.
You can also add soft prunings from the garden, old bedding plants etc. but not twigs or woody stuff.
I also save all my cardboard boxes and tear them up and add them a bit at a time to the wormeries. The worms love cardboard and it is amazing how quickly they demolish it!
What you are aiming for is a good mix of food - too much kitchen waste will make it slimy, and too much dry garden stuff won't keep them as happy. You also want to keep it nicely moist, similar to a wrung out facecloth. If it's too wet, add some more torn up cardboard or egg cartons. If it's too dry, add some of the liquid that's drained off, or some rainwater (tap water is fine, but worms do prefer rain water!)
There are some things you CAN'T add. These include:
Meat
Fish
Dairy
Ash from the fireplace
Large quantities of citrus
Large quantities of Onions
Diseased plant matter
Glossy paper
Plastic or plastic coated paper
As I have four wormeries I spread the food between them and that seems to work well and not overload them with any one thing.
Once your first tray is full, place the second tray on top and line the bottom with some torn up newspaper, egg cartons or small bits of cardboard, and sprinkle with water to make it damp. Then start adding food to that new tray. As the worms run out of food on the first tray they will make their way upwards, leaving the lovely rich compost behind.
Keep adding more trays in this way, and after a few weeks, take a look at the bottom tray. If it is nicely composted it will be dark, crumbly, sweet smelling with only the odd worm remaining. If it's not quite ready and you are running out of trays, try tipping the second tray into the first tray, (the volume of each tray will be greatly reduced) thus freeing up a tray to place on the top.
Once you have your finished compost you can spread it on your garden! Fish out any worms you see and put them back in the wormery. Also remove any bits that aren't composted and put them back in to finish off. The worm compost is very rich, so add a thin layer. You may find a few odd seeds sprout (tomato seeds, I'm looking at you), but these are easily hoed in.
I recently emptied all four wormeries, and had literally buckets of the stuff. We spread a layer on both greenhouse beds and on the vegetable beds too. I therefore don't have any finished compost to show you, but the bottom tray is nearly done, and looks like this:
The tray above is actively composting and looks like this. There are litterally hundredsd of worms gathered just under the surface:
You soon get in the rhythm of moving the trays from the bottom, using the compost and placing the empty trays on the top, one at a time, as you need them.
One final note is that worms don't like excesses of temperature. If you can, place them in a sheltered area that has a bit of shade. If the winter is very cold you can either move them into a shed or garage, or cover them with large pieces of cardboard or even an old blanket (this is what we do, as the shed is full and we won't talk about the garage!) You will find the worms don't eat as fast in the winter so don't worry if thing take longer in the colder months, They will soon start chomping away when the warmer weather returns.
At the risk of sounding peculiar, I love my worms! They do such a great job and help turn everyday waste into 'Black Gold'.
Donna x
Hello!
I'm a bit late writing this post, but March has crept up on me and already it's the 7th! I'm sitting in my sewing room, Radio 5 Live on in the background, looking out of the window at squally rain and thick cloud cover, thinking back to that sparking month we called February.
February in the UK is a funny month. Some people say the only good thing about it is the fact it's the shortest month, but I disagree with that really. I like to think every day is a blessing, but also feel that February is the turning point in the winter, when all of a sudden you notice the afternoons staying later for longer, and you can 'take a walk between afternoon tea and dinner'.
This year however it was a cracking month! We broke all sorts of records and topped 20 degrees Celsius more than once. I tried to get out in the garden as often as I could and really got ahead of the game, particularly in the vegetable garden, getting things ready for spring planting.
I took advantage of the warm sun and gentle breezes to get line loads of laundry dry outside. This is one of my Simple Pleasures, watching the whites wafting in the breeze and bringing them in smelling fresh and fragrantly clean. I even 'treated myself' to a new washing machine to honour this spectacular month!
(My dear friend and her lovely Mum came over for tea and cream scones this week and DF's Mum commented that I liked alliteration. Reading the above paragraph I can see she is clearly correct!)
DH and I had our first picnic of the year too in February! We visited one of Daisy Dog's favourite places, Quarry Bank Mill. The early spring flowers were out and I loved these Narcissus, with their ears blown back, windswept look, as if they were travelling in a fast car!
My favourite hellebore were going strong, nestled in a bed of snowdrops.
After our picnic we strolled down to the woods at Styal and whilst the trees were still in their winter clothing, it was a really warm afternoon and the birds were tweeting their little heads off!
The promise of spring proper was everywhere...
We went to the National Trust café for a cup of tea and whilst we were sitting outside in the sunshine I took out my sock knitting. Realising I was a stitch marker short, I looked around for something to use, and the string on my tea bag was just the thing!
Back at home, the unseasonably warm weather continued and Daisy and I couldn't take our usual walk over the fields as they were full of spring lambs, bleating and baaing and generally making a lot of noise! Daisy was very curious but we could go no further than the stile, and so you can't really see the lambs in the distance, sadly.
To round off the month we had a wonderful treat and visited Michelin starred, Northcote Manor, courtesy of a very generous wedding gift from friends. We spent all afternoon enjoying our delicious lunch. Here is my roasted aubergine tortellini with Parmesan foam and black truffle tuile.
What a fabulous way to spend a weekday afternoon! Plus we still have enough vouchers for a return visit. Can't wait!
Sadly, but predictably, the warm weather came to an end and we were back to lighting fires and wearing layers. Salads gave way to comfort food. That meant lamb shanks in red wine for DH and DS, but a mushroom bake for me, the sole vegetarian in the house now.
With the return of the colder weather I left the gardening for now and returned to my sewing room, and did some more on my son's quilt. This has become 'the quilt that grew', but more about that next time...
Donna x
