Tins!

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

One of the nice things about doing lots of sewing (other than the sewing and the creations themselves) is that I can indulge my passion for interesting tins in a vague attempt to organise buttons, bindings, and bits and bobs.  

These two Coronation tins contain buttons and pins.  I was given the one on the right by a colleague many years back, from the attic of a house she had just inherited.  I always think of her whenever I see it, even though we have sadly lost contact.

The Cadbury's tin on the left is from the days of Queen Mary.  On the back it tells you that the painting is a portrait of Miss Mary Moulton Barrett, called 'Pinkie' and that it was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence and sold for £160 in 1795 , and later for £77,700 in 1926!  I wonder what it would be worth now - so pretty!

The tin on the right is a modern Spanish one, but I love the painting, so it houses a portable selection of embroidery threads and felt for creating cottages on the go.

These are the tins that normally sit on my old roll-top desk., giving storage for memory sticks, ink cartridges and paper clips.  I love the pixie-like, balloon-carrying children on the big tin. 

This one was an ebay bargain - I think I paid 99p for it!  It still had many of the contents inside, so I got an extra pair of tins.  I love the lettering!  I have scanned and printed the big tin onto linen and created little First Aid rolls from it.

The perfect place for plasters, paracetamol and wipes!

Another modern Spanish tin.  Beautiful design, lettering and colours!

A sweet French tin with a Parisian view - used to contain mints, but now it houses more pins.  Likewise the Dorcas tin.  I had to buy this when I saw it on ebay - my Mum has one just the same which I used to use when I was a child and first learning to sew.  

This is another pretty French tin, though my photo doesn't do it justice  It is for bobbins of thread and has two tiny holes in the lid so you can pull off some thread without any tangling. 

 Friday - Bingo!  Found a better photo!

 I wonder how long before these tins from Tesco acquire that essential patina of age?

P.S.  If you've been here before, do you like the new look?

Losing my head over a pair of boots

I'm sure we've all done it.

Seen a gorgeous pair of boots.

Known that they are impractical.

Known that they probably cost more than we should really spend.

Gazed admiringly from afar, not wanting to let them out of our sight.

Panicked when we've seen someone else pick them up (the ONLY pair!) and discuss them with the salesperson.

Then finally succumbed and bought them!

BUT

I bet not many have done this with a pair of boots they can't even wear!

Thus it was on Saturday, at The Maltings!

Here are the boots in question.

Gorgeous, aren't they?

In beautiful condition, with all the evidence of a previous life spent galloping across rural acres at full pelt - the leather burnished to tan on the insides of the calves.

The make is 'Regent' (embossed in gold inside in a gloriously swirly script) and I'm pretty sure they are bespoke.


As beautiful as the boots themselves are the wooden stretchers...

...which come apart in three sections.
Mr U-t-B is keen on the idea of stashing valuables in the hollow!  Shame we haven't got any!

The cream band on top of the stretchers tells you that these were made by 'Peal and Co, London'.  Above the company name is the name 'Miss Elliott'.  I presume this means that the boots and trees belonged to a Miss Elliott!  I find this fascinating - who was Miss Elliott and when did she indulge in country pursuits demanding such beautiful footwear?

I didn't buy them with the intention of wearing them, just knew that they would be a characterful addition to our home decor.  They do look the right size, if you're talking about feet, but Miss Elliott was blessed with rather slimmer calves than me - the boys I was at  secondary school with would have you believe my strong calf muscles are the result of my signing for St Helens at the tender age of fourteen, but I like to think it was dancing that did it!


Mr U-t-B is surprised I haven't yet put my family history hat on and come up with an entire potted history of said Miss Elliott.  It would be lovely, but 'Miss Elliott' is not much to go on.  So I shall just imagine (the Honorable Miss Elliott perhaps? Of the Nether Wallop Elliotts?) and be grateful that whoever she was, she looked after those boots so I can enjoy them now!

Feeling a bit out of sorts...

Maybe it's the fact that I've been in school the last two days, with a nasty,  projectile vomiting bug doing the rounds.

Maybe it was the arrival of this in the post...

...hot on the heels of the Homebase incident. (Actually, this did make me laugh!)

Maybe it's the fact that it's The Maltings Monthly Market tomorrow, and I haven't got anything new or topical to sell because I've been too busy over the road.

Or maybe it's this.  

One of the nice things that has happened since I started selling my creations at the Maltings, is that I have gained a few 'regulars'.  Some come to buy, some come to look and tell me how much they like this or that - which is just as good - and a special few come to give me bits and pieces that they have no use for and feel I will be able to use.  I have been amazed at the generosity shown!

One of my regular 'givers' phoned yesterday morning, just as I was about to set off to teach maths.  She wanted to thank me for the gift I gave her when I last saw her (a tiny, inconsequential bit of frippery) and wondered if I was going to be at the Maltings on Saturday, because she had some bits and pieces for me.  When I said that I would be there, she said that she hoped that she might get there, but if not, could she drop them round to me?  I said that would be fine, but couldn't I come over and pick them up from her, since I was the one getting all the benefit? 

She explained where she lived, which is about three-quarters of an hour away, and I said that I was going to be heading in that direction soon, as I want to go to The Quilt Room to get some fabric.  We chatted for a while - she knew all about the shop and mentioned other things I might be interested in in Dorking.  Then she said, 'I'll fill you in.  I'm being treated for cancer.  Or I was - the Royal Marsden have done all they can for me and I'm now on pain-relief only, so that's why I might not make it to the Maltings on Saturday.'  We carried on chatting - she is amazingly positive (in spite of receiving treatment for the last ten years) and full of praise for her husband who has patiently sat around hospitals on and off since about the turn of the millennium.  And she said that she had things that she wanted me to have, even after she's gone. You can probably imagine how choked up I was by this.  I've been thinking about her ever since.

Her husband's coming round this evening to deliver some fabric books and some old linens.  I want to send something to her, and have chosen my latest copy of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', hoping that she might like to bury her nose in a book, and because it is such a sweet one.  But it's hard to know what is the right thing to do.

Thinking of the friend I scarcely know, and wishing her lots of happy times with her husband, children and grandchildren in the months to come.  I wish I could do more.

The glamorous 30s, 40s and 50s

I've been scanning in a few photos for my aunt today, a job I love and could waste lots of time at, poring over each snap and picking out the details that seem to tell the story.  Mostly, today's photos are of my grandparents in the 1930s or my Mum and my aunt in the 1950s.  How come everyone looked so effortlessly stylish back then?

My great aunt, my great-grandmother and my lovely Granny, in Argentina, around 1933.  Although Granny was born near Oxford, she emigrated to Argentina as a small child, due to my great-grandfather being advised to move to a warmer climate for health reasons. As he lived on till his mid nineties, the warmer climate certainly did the trick!

My Grandad and my great-grandfather (the one who emigrated for health reasons). 

Granny looking cool and stylish in white!

Great cars!  Not sure I'd fancy long journeys in mountainous terrain in one of these, though. The last of the three photos was taken on the Argentine-Chilean border, which I'm sure means the Andes!

 I think this is my great-grandfather again.  Looks like a man living the good life!

I love this one of my grandparents and my aunt,  I can imagine it being sent to all the family 'back home' at Christmas time.

My aunt and my Mum.  Fancy dress in the days before political correctness...

My Mum, Granny and aunt on holiday in Ireland in 1952. This was the first time my Mum left South America, travelling by sea, of course.

Travelling style!

 What would your preferred travelling style be - heels, hats and corsages or sweatshirt, joggers and trainers?

Curtains!

Yesterday I popped into IKEA as it's not too far from Gatwick, 

from where I was collecting Mr U-t-B from his 'ski-with-siblings' weekend.  I needed another length of worktop, due to the slight re-design that has been possible because the new boiler is placed above worktop height, and also another cupboard of some sort.  

Somehow, an 8 metre length of fabric also jumped onto the trolley, so late-ish yesterday evening I set about making a pair of lined curtains for the second bedroom across the road.  Nothing fancy, but all the same I was pleased and surprised to be hanging them by lunchtime today - should make it a bit cosier.

Here's the fabric...

And the curtains...

A big improvement, I think!

Hoping to make some forward progress on the kitchen this evening, so I have taken it easy this afternoon Internet-hunting for fabric to complete my Snapdragon quilt, and for the Omnigrid 96 ruler to allow me to start the matching Jigsaw quilt.  The end of all this decorating and renovating is in sight and I will soon be able to devote myself to that type of stitching again!

A temporary return to normality

I'm feeling a little disorientated today, as for the first time in over two weeks I have not put on threadbare, paint and glue splattered clothes and traipsed across the road, but have spent the whole day in our own house, doing the things I normally do!  

 Miss U-t-B and her boyfriend have now moved into the flat across the road, though they are having to put up with the fact that the kitchen isn't finished and that, although the new boiler is making it nice and toasty-warm for them, it has decided not to let them have any hot water!  Good thing Dad's next door for showering facilities!

So back to normal.  First of all I tackled an enormous pile of ironing, whilst I caught up with 'Lark Rise to Candleford'.  I do love Twister and Queenie, and so hope that Dorcas finally finds love (even though I'm sure no such thing happened in the book!) Ironing done,  I then felt justified in returning to the Snapdragon Quilt. When I last did any work on it, it looked like this... 

Today I added a plain and pieced border, so it now looks like this...

Sorry about the quality of the photo and the hopeless colours - Mr U-t-B has 'sloped off' for the weekend, with the decent camera.!  I am quite pleased with it, though I need to improve my ability to stitch a 100% accurate 'scant quarter of an inch' seam at all times. My measurements are a wee bit out, and therefore the block border is off at the corners (which, you may have spotted, I have squeezed out of the photo!)  Live and learn!

I also made a big batch of watercress soup, as everyone here loves it, and as the newbies across the road are without any cooking facilities, it's a useful standby.  It always looks so lovely and green - you just know it's doing you good!

Then I put a load of dried fruit to soak in tea, to make a couple of 'guilt-free' teabreads (no fat or eggs - though we won't think about the sugar!) one to welcome Mr U-t-B home tomorrow, the other in case the kitchen-less ones need a small smackerel of something tasty.

The smell of those is currently wafting up the stairs to the attic office so it must be nearly time to take them out of the oven! A spot of tea perhaps?

With Mr U-t-B back tomorrow, I guess I will have to get back to the scrubby clothes and join in with the final push to finish the kitchen,  But at least today has been an oasis of calm in the middle of the renovations!

It's eight o'clock in the evening...

...And Mr Nick Knowles is on the telly, doing DIY SOS.

Doesn't he know he's meant to be doing up the flat over the road with me?

And to add insult to injury, the boiler has now turned up its toes and keeled over, never to be resurrected, and we have to replace it! 

 PS: We did at least get a better quote.