Sorry, I'm a bad blogger (but here's some lovely photos to make up for it!)

Well my 30 posts in 30 days challenge seems to have fizzled out somewhat embarrassingly.

I really thought I could do it.

I had a plan and everything!

But what I don't have is enough hours in the day...

I didn't even manage a Veg Box post last week - it was a lovely one too. We had a half a watermelon and some gorgeous cherries along with the more usual carrots, lettuce, chard, potatoes, a couple of leeks, tomatoes, green beans and some plums.

watermelon 

cherry anyone?

Would you believe I actually *forgot* to photograph the veg box before I put it all away? I know! Call myself a blogger? Tsk....

In my defence I was cleaning out the fridge when it arrived and I just automatically put the veg away as I was putting stuff back. But clearly it shows that last week at least I just wasn't in blogging mode!

I have been busy too! Last week I spent catching up on the housework and paperwork that had been ignored for the previous couple of weeks due to prepping for the Tintern craft fair and over the weekend I have mostly been making these...

 

A variation on the embellished lavender hearts - these are lavender free but embroidered with 'Best Teacher' and added button cuteness. They make perfect gifts for teachers (summer hols are only a few weeks away now!) These four are listed on my facebook page right now at a special price until 9pm Wednesday evening. Another four will be added tomorrow night until 9pm Thursday. Any left will then be added to my folksy shop.  

*end of sales pitch*

On Friday we rescued a bird that flew into our window. The poor thing was a bit dazed and confused so we made it a little nest with some moss and brought it inside - away from the cat! - to give it some time to recover. It's not often you get so close to a bird so obviously the camera came out...

Thankfully, after about 15 mins rest it recovered and flew off.  The cat was a bit miffed though!

I'll try and be a better blogger this week - I have at least one tutorial to share with you, this one is for knitty peeps, specially for those fairly new to knitting who want to have a go at something pretty, practical and not too time consuming.  And don't forget there is still time to enter my giveaway and win a lovely bundle of fabric, buttons, ribbons and lace!

And as for 30 posts in 30 days... well, technically there's still time, if I post twice daily for the next week but you won't hold it against me if I don't manage it will you?

Giveaway - Boost your crafty stash!!

I promised you a little giveaway earlier in the month, just as a thank you for your continued support and as a little celebration of the fact that I have been writing in this little corner of the internet for four years now!

This one is for all you crafty people out there - or perhaps those of you who want to have a go at sewing some cute little things but don't know where to start. Or those of you who's main purpose in life is simply to build a stash... (or is that just me?)

I have put together a little bundle of goodies from my own stash just for you...

What's in the bundle?

 

A set of six fat quarters of lovely Tilda fabrics - perfect for patchwork, doll making and any number of small projects.

Ten 1 metre lengths of assorted ribbons, ric rac and some lovely vintage lace trim from my stash.

50 assorted buttons in pastel shades - mostly vintage/reclaimed but with a few new buttons too. There's hearts, flowers, shiny, matt and even one that looks just like a sweetie...

All together a pretty collection of items I think you'll agree!  

 

Want to know how you can be in with a chance of winning this beautiful bundle of crafty goodness?

How to Enter

• Leave a comment below - why not tell me what you would do with all this crafty loveliness!
• Tweet 'I'd love to boost my craft stash with @forestflower23's giveaway' with a link to this blog post
• If you are on facebook, visit my Forest Flower facebook page, hit 'Like' and leave a comment on the 'Boost your stash Giveaway' post pinned to the top of the page. 
• Share the facebook post with your friends for an extra entry too!

That's a total of four chances to win!

This competition will run until midnight on June 30th. I will announce the winner on Monday 1st of July so make sure you keep an eye on the blog, facebook page or my twitter feed to see if it's you!

Good Luck!

#WordlessWednesday 19/06/13

#SilentSunday 16/06/13

Craft Fair at Tintern

So, today I did my first craft fair of the summer, sharing a table with my friend, craft fair newbie, Marie.  Under the name Miss Willow, inspired by her beautiful baby girl, she makes lovely kids dresses and fab baby hats. 

Sharing a craft fair table with a friend when you first start out is a great way to dip your toes into the water and is much less scary than doing it on your own! Neither of us sold masses but it was a lovely day with lots of chatter, meeting some new customers, making new contacts and eating biscuits :-)

Plus I got to have lots of cuddles with THE cutest baby ...

The eponymous Miss Willow

Tintern is a small village on the banks of the River Wye situated between Chepstow and Monmouth, famous for its fabulous Abbey ruins that have inspired artists and writers for centuries.

The view from the window behind our table.

Good ol' village craft fair advertising (balloons are NOT optional!)

Our table - Forest Flower on right, Miss Willow on the left

Cute Owl dress by Miss Willow

After setting up my table I went for a little stroll across the cricket field to admire Tintern Abbey before the tourists arrived.

When I got back all the other stalls were set up...

sweet crochet baby shoes

This table was full of toy dogs modelling the funkiest dog coats!

Colourful tissue flowers

There were several stalls selling antiques and collectibles - I nearly bought this entire vintage alarm clock display!

Pretty vintage hand painted ceramic door plate (this nearly came home with me too!)

A selection of beautifully restored chairs and stools

A lovely day in a lovely location with lovely company.

And although I didn't sell a huge amount of stock at least I have some lots of pretty new things to add to my Folksy shop next week!

Trying to keep up...

Well I am ashamed to say that I am already slipping behind on the 30 posts in 30 days challenge. So far I have missed three days. And it's only the 13th of June!

In my defence I have been prepping for a craft fair that wasn't even booked when I set myself the challenge and that is really taking all my spare time.  It's been a while since my last crafty outing and as sales on Folksy have been quite steady so far this year I really didn't notice how little stock I had left!

I showed you the hearts and birds I started work on last week. Today my marvellous mother in law picked Roo up from school and took him over to his cousins house for tea and play, giving me a whole 8 hours to sew like a mutha!! My fingers are sore, my back a bit cramped and there are bits of fluff, thread and the odd button scattered about the house. It was hard slog but look what I did today...

from this....

...to this.

ah, who am I trying to kid? I spent 8 hours playing with buttons and felt and pretty fabric and colourful embroidery threads. Is it really work if you love doing it so much?

In other news, my other challenge is going well - today was also my fourth fasting day. I'd like to be able to say just how difficult it's been and how I am such a martyr to weight loss, suffering in silence whilst watching all those around me tucking into lovely food I can't have, but it's not been like that at all!! I lost 2 1/4lb in my first week, which is just fine by me. If I can continue at that rate I will be back to pre-baby weight by October. Just in time for a special 60's dance I am attending, celebrating the life of local music supremo Joe Meek.  

And yes, I have set myself yet another challenge - I am going to make my own dress for the event!

*gulps*

 Never let it be said I don't enjoy a challenge...

On that note I will leave you with my favourite photo of today's makes.

Vintage Singer treadle sewing machine

I have something to show you.

It's my new (but very old) toy!

Can you see what it is? Let's remove the cover...

Isn't she beautiful? She's a vintage Singer treadle sewing machine with lovely Sphinx decals. I think I'm gonna call her Cleo...

*sigh*

The belt is still in place, although it's seen better days and probably needs replacing...

 

The bobbin winding mechanism

The revolutionary 'vibrating shuttle' (fnarr fnarr) bobbin.. The metal plate that slides over the top is stamped as patented in 1886. Not sure if that means the bobbin shuttle mechanism or this particular version of it...

There is a plate with a model number which pins the year of manufacture down to 1900-01 so Cleo is well over 100 years old!

The cabinet is not in brilliant condition - it's badly in need of some tlc. Some of the veneer is flaking off, bits of the ornate turned pillars on the outside of the drawers are coming away and a only three of the six drawers have complete handles.

See that hole? It's a lock - two of the drawers are lockable as is the sewing machine cover.
And I have the key!

what a pretty piece of metal work.

The contents of one of the drawers (the rest were empty, sadly).

The base is cast iron and, apart from needing a good clean, is in excellent condition. This is the drive belt housing...

...and the all important treadle plate itself!

And just in case you were wondering who the manufacturer was...

and again...

 

Sorry, Cleo, who made you?

 

They certainly weren't afraid of adding a bit of branding back then were they?! ;-) 

I am so pleased with this - did I mention I was *given* it? For free? It would have been dumped otherwise and, well, Cleo might be a bit shabby round the edges but these machines were built to last and the mechanism seems to be ok. All she needs is a bit of pampering. A good old fashioned bit of spit and polish....

Then I shall need to utilise some modern technology (YouTube) and work out how to thread her up!

#SilentSunday 09/06/13

A slap up meal at Inn on the Wye

Last night we went out!

Without the small boy in tow!!

It doesn't happen often so please will forgive the excessive use of exclamation marks...

A few weeks back I won a competition on Facebook  - a three course meal for four, plus a bottle of champers at a lovely local pub/restaurant called The Inn on the Wye.

Situated on the banks of the River Wye with the fabulous ruins of Goodrich Castle just across the river this popular gastro pub has recently changed hands and had a bit of a spruce up.  I had been here before but it was quite a few years ago and far too much Stella was consumed on that occasion for me to remember too much about it!!  These days it's a well proportioned country style pub, with lots of comfy sofas, a big fireplace and various rustic dining tables about the place. They have a small number of rooms too if you want to use the Inn as a base to explore the local area. They also do wedding packages.

Stupidly I didn't have my blogging hat on last night so no photographs of food to share. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looked gorgeous and tasted even better.

I had a warm goats cheese salad with balsamic dressing for starters and haddock and beautiful crunchy steak chips with tartare sauce and mushy peas for main. Delicious!! (chippy fare this was not... oh how I wish you could see it!)  

The portions were well on the generous side - so much so that none of us had any room for dessert. But that wasn't a problem - our waitress just took our order and wrapped it to take away!

The service was brilliant and the atmosphere was relaxed making the evening thoroughly enjoyable.

If you are ever in the area I heartily recommend the Inn on the Wye!

 We brought our champers home too.

Now just need something really big to celebrate!

Please note :: This is not a sponsored review post - I won the competition run on their Facebook page and was under no obligation to write about it. I just felt I had to share coz it was just soooooo good!

It's dieting, Jim, but not as we know it!

I have almost completed my second 'fasting day' on the 5:2 eating plan (still hate the word 'diet') and so far it is proving much easier than I imagined.

I weighed myself on Monday, before starting the first fast (no, I am not willing to share just yet!) Constant weighing is most definitely a no-no - especially as my scales seem to change their mind every time I step on them! - so next weigh-in will be Monday morning.  I have been advised by other 5:2 eaters to make sure I keep my calorie consumption around 2000cals (which is about what I would normally have anyway) on non fasting days so my body doesn't think it truly is starving.  It's so refreshing to not have to think too much about counting calories. Apart from the two 'fasting days' food consumption has continued much as normal.

I nearly slipped up earlier - Roo wanted an ice lolly when we got home from school. Mini milks were calling and I actually got one for myself and unwrapped it before suddenly remembering that today was definitely NOT an ice-cream day! I actually managed to wrap it back up and put it back in the freezer.

To be fair I could have eaten it - they only contain about 30 cals - but then I would not be able to have the ryvita I plan to nibble on with my soup a bit later. I am actually quite astonished at my will power over something so small - in the past I would have eaten it, reasoning that an extra 30cals is hardly going to make a difference, but not this time. I even managed to bin the half a fish finger and a few french fries that Roo left on his dinner plate.

Clearly my will power is exerting itself!

Keeping busy certainly helps and I suspect the beautiful warm sunny weather we have been having has a great deal to do with it too.   I wonder if the lure of chocolate will be stronger on those miserable days when nothing is going right and my period is due... We shall see. It's early days yet! 

Tomorrow I am heading out with the Other Half and his parents for a three course meal that I won in a Facebook competition at a local pub/restaurant The Inn on the Wye.  Friday night is fish night and I am really looking forward to tucking in with absolutely no diet guilt whatsoever!!

New stock - Lavender stuffed hearts and birds

I have a craft fair in less than 2 weeks. It's the first one I've done this year and I am sharing a table with a friend who has just started her own craft business. She makes the most adorable baby dresses - mostly inspired by her adorable baby girl ;-)

I still have some stock left over from Christmas - mostly of the red and white felt birds and hearts like these - but I decided that this fair is an opportunity to try out a few new items.

After the success of my reversible tea towel I bit the bullet and bought a couple of metres of pure Irish linen to make some more pretty tea towels (or dish cloths if you are American!) - I am planning on doing applique motifs, ribbon and ric rac trim, maybe a little embroidery too.  Who says drying the dishes has to be boring? I can't wait to get going on those and show you the results!

In the meantime I have been making a few of my best selling lavender stuffed hearts and birds using some of the bright, pretty and just plain quirky fabrics in my stash...

Completely hand stitched using some lovely vintage Sylko mercerised cotton with fab names like 'green plume' and 'wedgewood blue'.

Did you spot the gorgeous vintage thimble I found in Nan's old sewing box?

I can't believe how much quicker I could sew whilst wearing it! The stitches were much neater and more even too as I got a good rhythm going and I didn't have to stop every few seconds because I'd pricked my finger again!

Adding the dried lavender - using a paper funnel is much easier and less messy than trying to just drop it in! I lightly stuff with super soft carded polyester stuffing first then add a generous scoop of home grown and dried lavender flowers.

I dry lavender from my mother in law's garden by tying it up in bunches then hanging it in a paper carrier bag away from damp and drafts for a few months. The bag catches any loose bits that fall off so it doesn't make a mess! Once properly dried out I strip the flowers from the stalks and store in a large glass jar.  Just coz it looks pretty, especially with a lovely piece of ribbon from Jane Means tied around the neck! :-)

This year I hope to start my own lavender border - it will be a few years before it is established enough to harvest from though!

Once the lavender is in I add a bit more stuffing then stitch up the gap.

Once they are all stuffed and sewn up I will embellish them and add little metal hoops to hang them by.

But that's a job for another day.

I do so love my work!