I must be coming down with something.....

...as I decided to spend most of my day off (today) spring cleaning the living room!

I know!!!

What on earth has got into me?

I sorted out our groaning bookshelves and have sorted two carrier bags of books to go to the charity shop and four crates of books to go up into the loft. I even cleaned behind and under all the furniture!!!!

I had an ulterior motive of course - I needed to find somewhere to put all my lovely craft books. Moogsdad and I share a bit of a book buying habit and over the years have amassed a rather eclectic collection to say the least!

If you want a book on the history of Wales or England or Scotland or India or Russia.....or want to learn how to speak Japanese, French, Spanish or German.....or want to brush up on particle physics or Bridge or hillwalking or windsurfing...or Celtic Art ...or even knot tying.......or maybe you're a nature lover and yearn to discover more about trees, wildflowers, birds, hedgehogs or bats....or maybe just fancy a bit of chick lit or fantasy fiction...or even a few classics.........or want to delve into the human psyche or the building regulations of the UK........or have a desire to learn how to cope with sulky people...then we can probably furnish you with an appropriate text!!

Having looked at the spines of many of these books for the past 10 years but never having actually read them I took drastic action and packaged them up and hoiked them up to the loft.

I now have some rather gorgeous shelves of rather gorgeous craft books to peruse at my leisure........once I've finished the Harry Potters of course!

Harry Potter update - now onto page one hundred and something of book 6 (Half Blood Prince) and have borrowed the Deathly Hallows from the library.

My blogland absence this week has been entirely due to my current fixation with HP.

I may rewatch the movies this weekend!!

So.......you may be under the impression that this was once a craft blog, right?

Ok then.

I give in.

I've taken the sewing machine out of mothballs.

Today (after the 'big clean') I made a present for Minx's friend who is having a very girly birthday party tomorrow at a local beauty salon - she's 7!!

A bag...



...with a matching purse.



I also finished off this purse for my shop and have a few others in the pipeline.



I loved making this as I got the wool fabric from Monda's etsy shop and Syko sent me the gorgeous floral fabric with her fab mini-quilt. It was so good to make something with such lovely reminders of two of my favourite bloggers.

I am now going to take my leave and play catch up with your blog posts....I may be some time......

Hope you have a relaxing weekend.

xxxxx

p.s. blackbirds still with us and very busy collecting yummy grubs and chicken accomodation coming on nicely.

Handy ironing tips for bloggers...

Apart from crocheting a bit of my poor neglected ripple blanket and doing a little fabric applique onto card, it has not been a terribly creative morning in Moogsville!

Standing for over three hours last night as I worked my way through this mountain of crumpled nastiness may not have helped! My ironing would not stand up to M-i-L's scrutiny - I sort of 'showed' it the iron!!



My tips for 'happy' ironing have to include comfortable footwear (sexy slippers bought for me by Moogsdad - he knows me too well :) ) .....


Plenty of fluids....


and Michael Palin bumbling round the Himalayas.

That revolting pile of drudgery included 14....that's fourteen..... yes 10+4.....2x7.....20 minus 6.....1,000,000 take away 999,986....of Moogsdad's shirts!! Considering he promised to iron his own work shirts, way back when he was trying to keep me sweet, that's rather a lot I feel.

We need to redistribute the chores a bit when I start work - working up to broaching that particular subject!!!

Onto much more pleasant things ....

Postie brought me a lovely parcel today - cheers Postie :)


A beautiful knitted bag, for my birthday, from the very lovely and very clever Jane! Thank you so much Jane - I love it and it's my favourite colour too :)




Thought you might just like to see today's little bargain!

I need a diary for when I start work and of course, as it's not January, the choice is somewhat limited in the local shops. I managed to pick up this 'pretend Filofax' for £2.50!!

It was either this or a teeny tiny one that I would, quite frankly have struggled to write in - big writing/small page = illegible.

I've decided it's Retro/1980's and therefore highly fashionable :)


All I need now is the right clothes and maybe a new phone I'll be all set!!

I have two hours left before fetching the little baggages from school, taking the car for it's MOT, going to the library and......

......making the most of the warm day by taking them down to the 'beach' (I use that term very loosely!!) to eat fish'n'chips out of the paper for our tea :)

Have a happy weekend xxx

Where domestic chores lead to a desperate need to be crafty

In honour of M-i-L's birthday tomorrow I have been rushing around like a loony this morning. First stop was the butcher's for a very nice piece of beef (M-i-L is most definately a roast dinner & red meat fan and did not respond well to suggestions of salmon or lasagne).

At the grand old age of 41 I was a beef-joint-buying-virgin! Therefore, it came as a bit of a shock to me that a piece of fine Scottish beef for one meal (albeit for 6 adults, 2 good-eating children, 2 nightmare-eating children and a nearly two year old = 11) cost me nearly a third of a week's grocery money - I hope the kids don't mind if I don't feed them next week!!

My only consolation is that if DH's highly carnivorous relatives don't make meaty pigs of themselves we may have enough to have with pickles and salad on Sunday - otherwise it's veg rissotto, take it or leave it.

With the in-laws and DH's brother and wife + 3 kids here for lunch and tea tomorrow and in-laws staying overnight I have had no choice but to abandon all crafting and do housework.

I even found some surfaces under the clutter and they responded well to a polish:

I'm pleased to say there have been some rays of sunshine in this begrudgingly housewifely day of mine :)

Postie delivered again - some gorgeous Melly & Me patterns from here.

I don't know if I can handle much more housey stuff today, although a trip to the supermarket is inevitable and then there's washing to hide, cakes to bake, dinner to cook, beds to change in the morning.................... oh, maaaaaan :(

I have plans for this evening, however, as I will be choosing a new pattern to try from this book and will be doing a totally random (possibly rather pink) rippled crochet lap blanket either for my Aunty or for keepsies - depending on how it turns out and when it turns out as her birthday is less than 6 weeks away and that is no time when I'm rippling!!

Just to round off a dreadfully dreary drudgy deliciously domestic day here's some advice you never knew you needed from this valuable reference 'bible':

Handy hint or tip No.1: Adapting a table - Cut down the legs of a small table to make a surface for food or hobbies when you are in bed.

Handy hint or tip No.2: Two-handed dusting - Using two dusters - one in each hand - will help you get around the surfaces in a room in half the time with half the effort. (what about needing a spare hand to lift all the crubbish so you can dust under it? - oh, yeh - just dust round it of course!!!)

Handy hint or tip No.3: Marking the spot - When removing curtain hooks, mark their spaces with nail varnish. This way you will not have to spend time guessing the correct spacing when replacing the hooks.

Handy hint or tip No.4: Removing smells - A clever way to get rid of a smell in the bathroom is by striking a match. The flame literally burns away noxious gases. (or causes a dramatic whoooosh of flame and fetches your eyebrows off!!!!!!!!!!)

Handy hint or tip No.5: Paying for energy - Keep a money jar by main light switches, and fine family members each time a light is left on in an empty room. (might try this as I can see it being quite a money-spinner in this house!!)

Handy hint or tip No.6: Substituting cocoa - if you run out of cooking chocolate, use 45ml(3 tbsp) of cocoa and 15ml (1tbsp) butter for every 25g (1 oz) needed. (mmmmmmmmmmm - will try this and report back!)

Handy hint or tip No.7: Making a low-fat filling - For a low-fat filling, mix together 200g (7 oz) soft cheese made from skimmed milk with 30ml (2 tbsp) honey, then flavour with finely grated citrus zest. Use as a filling or topping for a sponge or carrot cake as an alternative to a rich cream-cheese frosting. (another one I shall try and then feedback the findings!!)

So there you have it. I may or may not do lists of 7 somethings next week - I'll have to see what our bookshelves have to offer first!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and please think of me when I'm roasting half a cow and dashing around like Gordon Ramsay only much less polite ;)

Love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please do not adjust your sets - this is Moogsmum's blog!

Are you sitting down in a safe place with no sharp obstacles nearby? You sure?

Good.

Then it will be okay for me to show you something totally out of character that I did first thing this morning.

I got down on my hands and knees and cleaned this: and then I turned 180 degrees and cleaned the world's smallest kitchen floor!!
The kitchen floor tiles are so old and nasty that this is as good as it gets :(

Luckily I soon got over that ridiculous behaviour and got stuck into making a present for my lovely cousin's birthday on Monday. I sent her an email to ask what her favourite colours were and she said red and green.

Do you think I took her too literally? It is very red and green isn't it?!

Lined with Postman Pat duvet cover fabric :)

With a little bit of fancy stitching for good measure.

I also made a little coin purse to match. The front fabric and the large red flower fabric on the bag are both from a piece of vintage Mary Quant fabric that my M-i-L gave to Minx me a while back.

I've still to handstitch the lining in but that is an in front of the telly job for this evening.

Once that was done I could reward myself with a nice cup of tea and a slice of this:

Homemade Yorkshire Tea Bread - the easiest cake in the world.

Recipe:

8oz dried mixed fruit

40z soft brown sugar

1 egg

8oz self raising flour

half a pint of strong tea (without the milk!!!)

Soak fruit in tea overnight. Add sugar, egg and flour and mix to a runny consistency. Pour into a greased and lined large loaf tin and bake at 160 degrees C for about an hour.

I test it with a skewer - if it comes out clean it's done.

I also add about 2 teaspoons of whatever spices I fancy such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mixed spice.

Yum yum yum AND FAT FREE TOO!!!!!!

In the midst of all that the postman arrived with some fabric I ordered only yesterday!!! Fantastic service and beautiful quality fabrics.

To restore the Goddess:Slut balance here's a picture of the current state of my kitchen window - this is indicative of every window in the house right now. Reroofing and sparkly windows do not go hand in hand!!!I'm glad you all liked my 7 random things on yesterday's post.

How do you fancy another 7? This time from this timeless classic:

Here goes:

Thing to do No.1: Realize that good looks aren't the be-all and end-all, but learn to make the most of what you've been given. (yes to the first bit - could do better on the second bit!!!).

Thing to do No.2: Compose your own ringtone for your cell phone. (okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay......)

Thing to do No.3: Whittle something from a piece of wood. (uh huh......)

Thing to do No.4: Hold a snake, a lizard, or a frog. (may pass on this one)

Thing to do No.5: Learn how to whistle through a blade of grass (been there done that!!!)

Thing to do No.6: Live your life in a fully awake state (except when you're in bed at night). (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

Thing to do No.7: Smile at everyone you pass in the street for one day (and just wait for the guys with the strait jackets to roll up!!!).

If you are not 40 already (grrrrr) then hey, you have sooooooooooo much to look forward to!!!

If you are 40+ - good for you!!! You'll have realised there is actually a whole world of post 40 fun to be had and most of it is the same as the fun you had before!!!!

Now, where did I put that penknife?

Whittle whittle whittle......


p.s. the next Crafty Challenge is now well and truly on over here .

Don't forget - you can join in too if you'd like to :)