Good things come to she who waits...

On Tuesday, I had to stay in, as I was awaiting delivery of my new iron (the previous magnificent beast had let out a loud 'PFFFT!' and an unexpected shot of steam at one point last week and then dribbled its contents all over my newish ironing board cover, and could not be resurrected).  

Needless to say, the delivery I was waiting for didn't turn up till quite late in the day, but it was just as well I was in, as another four (yes -four!) parcels were somewhat unexpectedly delivered during the course of the morning.  One wasn't for me, but the others were!

First to be broken into was this lovely little collection, which I'd only ordered on Sunday.

I'd seen a very tempting advert  for 'Textile Garden' in 'Mollie Makes' and was particularly taken with the cute little dog button, tempted enough to remember to look at the website.

Oh, it's full of lovely things!

Liberty 'Pepper' fabric bird button

Liberty 'Eloise' and Claire-Aude' flower buttons

I could have carried on for ages, adding things to my little shopping basket!  I was delighted with everything I received, each of which will give a special touch to something over the next few months.  And the speed of the service was amazing! If you're looking for some special buttons or trim, I can't think of anywhere better to go for a browse - Textile Garden!

Next was an ebay purchase - all 99p of it!  

I did some smocking years ago, and a friend recently mentioned it and mooted the idea of getting together to do some, over coffee, every week or so.   So when I saw this about to go unsold, I snapped it up.  It has good instructions of the basics and lots of patterns.  But I don't think I'll be attempting the dress on the cover just yet!

Last of my parcels was some Liberty fabric, which I'd pondered over last week.

'Claire-Aude' in quite a zingy colourway...

...and 'Eloise'...

Looking forward to getting going with these, but I may just hold fire and wait till my friend and I are ready to start our smocking get-togethers!

Eventually, the new iron arrived.  It's an even bigger beastie than the old one (luckily Mr U-t-B believes that if want a good job doing, you generally have to have decent tools - and he likes his smalls nicely ironed) (JOKING!)

It powered through two week's worth of ironing in a couple of hours.  But the best thing about it is the 'Auto-Off' function which will save me that sinking feeling when I'm out - 'Did I turn the iron off?'

Now I'm off to dream up some uses for those gorgeous buttons and ribbons!

Koumpounophobics beware!

Well, there's a catchy little title if ever I saw one. Somehow I think it unlikely that anyone will ever find this post after a Google-search for those words!   Anyway, if you are a koumpounophobic, the first part of this post is safe for you - I will give due warning when the things you aren't keen on are about to appear!

The weekend has been an exciting one for me because at long last I have a camera of my own again!  I am so pleased!  No more delving into Mr U-t-B's camera bag for his expensive digital SLR, no more swapping of lenses depending on what I'm taking snaps of and no more getting it wrong all the time!

I am now the proud owner of a lovely little Lumix...

We used to have one and found it very good, but it died after spending too much time in the concrete-and-sand filled pockets of my husband!  

To celebrate we thought we'd finally open a bottle of the Elderflower Champagne I made way-back-when (I won't put a link to the post as most of the photos have disappeared - anyone know why this happens after a while?)  We took it out into the garden and I tried the 'burst' program as Mr U-t-B popped it open and poured.  The camera dutifully took loads of shots, but I'll give you the edited highlights...

So what was it like, this delicately coloured liquid that had lain bubbling away in its stylish bottles inside the sleeping bag (my insurance against explosions) since late May?

I'd like to tell you that it was worth the wait, that the careful selection of ingredients and lavish care with which it was made had resulted in a brew par excellence.

But I can't.

It was horrid!

Maybe my pinch was too big after all...

Onward and forward!  Sunday morning we got up reasonably early and headed off to Guildford to my favourite car boot sale.

We were going to do the '£20 challenge' (Spikeyhead - whose family dreamt up this challenge - later told me that it's meant to be £1!)

If all had gone to plan, I'd have put our purchases - mine and Mr U-t-B - on here and got you, dear readers, to judge who should be the winner.  However, things once again didn't quite go to plan.  Here's my booty...

And here's Mr U-t-B's...

That's it - nothing!

The only thing he saw that he wanted was a hot water cylinder - well I ask you!

So I'll just have to let you enjoy my purchases.

First was a remnant of pretty fabric...

Then a couple of little bowls that will make nice candles...

Then a little Barbola frame...

Then a beautiful snowy-white, fine cotton embroidered and lace edged double sheet with two pillowcases...

And last, but by no means least, a tin... 
(Koumpounophobics, you might want to give the next bit a miss!)

...full of buttons...

...lots of different colours...

...lots of beautiful designs, including some lovely Art Deco ones...

Turned out to be a great opportunity to see how my new camera could cope with close-up shots...

Mr U-t-B ended up feeling rather charmed by the buttons and spent a goodly while helping me sort!

Aside from the buttons there were all the other things you normally find in a button tin - poppers and buckles, fluff and bits of perished rubber band,
crumbs and little metal heads!

Can you find him hiding here?

How good is this close-up?

I am truly thrilled with my new camera.

Granny's Button Tin

On Easter Sunday, we had a special family get-together (more of that another time). A few chocolate-y items were exchanged, but I was the lucky recipient of this...

My Granny's Button Tin! 

 Actually, it was more of a haberdashery tin, with an exciting assortment of items.  Lots of bits of ribbon and elastic, a little lace, some pastel coloured cord and plenty of glass-y buttons...

...A beautiful filigree and diamante buckle and some prettily-shaped mother-of-pearl buttons, three sweet diamante buttons, a needlecase and a shiny thimble...

...And another little tin (I do love old tins!)

You may think I'm mad, but this was so much better than chocolate!

Flea Market Finds

 Here in the Used-to-Bees household we are all recovering from a very busy weekend, having taken advantage of the sunshine to get some serious outdoor work done..  Most of our busy-ness was not of the photogenic sort - there really is no way I know of that would make Mr U-t-B's work on the drainage pipes outside our house look blog-worthy, nor my revamping of one front door, one back door and (so far) four windows.  So we will move swiftly on to the one little leisure highlight, a visit to Woking for what was hailed as 'The Big Indoor Flea Market and Collectable Fair'.

As is usually the case, it did seem to be more Collectable than Flea, and as I'm always looking for bargains, my purchases were limited.

First to be nabbed was a lovely card of Art Deco-looking buttons. 

Then came this book which I knew Mr U-t-B would love for the content, whilst I would just admire the gorgeous cover!

Then I found a true flea-like stall!  Yippeeeee!

Soon bagged were this lovely cup and saucer...

 ...for the princely sum of £1!  (Okay, so the saucer has been broken and the cup has a hairline crack, but I don't mind old riveted mends - they add to the charm in some strange way!)

Next 5 items of embroidered linen.  20p each!

And then...Oh, how sweet!

Look at that face!

'Take me home!' it said.

So of course I did!

(Also £1 - how lucky was I?)

BTW, he's only about an inch and a half high - cute!

And last of all, taking me just over £10 total spend, this book.

I remember borrowing Joan Walsh Anglund books from the library when I was little.  I loved the illustrations and felt oh-so nostalgic seeing this book on the stall.

(I don't know whose grubby fingers those are!)

Till next time!

A slow Sunday

After a couple of busy days, it's almost nice that the weather has conspired against us and our plans to DO things today.  It really is so miserable out there that the walk along the canal to see if there are any blackberries left doesn't have much appeal, the outside work on the upstairs bathroom drainage must be put on hold and the couple of hours at the allotment would just result in a quagmire.

So instead Mr Used-to-Bees and I are up in the attic, with me tapping away at the computer, about to sum up the last couple of days, and him filling lavender hearts engaged in an activity he'd rather was not publicised, whilst GG gets to grips with plate tectonics, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes for her Geography project.

 Friday began with a spot of cake making.  

On the menu at lunchtime was to be 'Yummy Scrummy Carrot Cake', the recipe for which you can find on the BBC Good Food website, by clicking below my picture.

 

Yummy-scrummy carrot-cake

Unfortunately, if you have clicked the link, you will see that mine does not quite match the looks of the original - I never have perfected the art of drizzling glace icing, probably because I'm too impatient!  Nonetheless, it tastes really good and always goes down well.

Next was some soup.  I decided that a nice way to keep in the social loop now that I am only in school one day a week would be to have a 'Soup Kitchen' every couple of weeks or so on a Friday.  I live really close to the school so the idea is that I will have a couple of large pans of soup (thereby using up the veggies leftover from the week), some bread and some cake ready to go at midday and people can just pop in for a quick bite to eat and a chat.

This week's soups were...

 Roasted Tomato (for Delia's recipe, click the link below)

 Roasted Tomato Soup

And Lentil with Bacon (recipe thrown together by me)

(Look at that spectacular spatula!  Mr U-t-B made that when he went on his 'bodging' course in Dorset this summer!) 

I had only invited three people this time, as I knew it was going to be a busy time with the market the following day, but we had a good natter and everyone seemed to enjoy the soups and cake. Definitely worth the effort!

Friday afternoon also involved the sticky chaos that is a Cake Sale at school.  This was certainly a success as far as the children were concerned, each of them leaving with a little bag of goodies, the parents having been generous in their donations.

Yesterday Mr U-t-B and I were up with the larks, loading the car for the Maltings Market.  It was a good day, with plenty of customers and people to talk to.  I managed to curb my tendency to spend the profits and came back with only these delights...

My lovely companion has now finished his very important activity, so it seems an apt time to sign off and go and help him with something instead.  Don't be surprised if I have a wealth of plumbing knowledge to share with you next time!