The Gallery : Vintage

Through the marvel that is Twitter, I found an open invitation to take part in The Gallery. It's a great blog where the blog owner invites people to post photographs to their own blog on a theme that she sets every week.They then in turn get added to The Gallery post. It was the theme of Vintage that caught my eye. I'd actually been meaning to write a post about some of my newly inherited items, but hadn't got round to it. So here it is.

To say it's hard when you lose a loved one, has to be the biggest understatement ever. When sorting through the possessions of my parents with my sister I found myself wanting to keep everything. Clearly this was not possible or practical. But it seemed to me that so many items had fond memories attached. Memories I didn't want to let go. We really couldn't keep everything, so I decided that anything I kept would have to be something I would have out on display, or something that I would use often. Otherwise I feared I would literally box everything up and fill the loft. I needed to be disciplined.These are some (but not all) of my cherished items.

Carnival Glass

This dish is Carnival Glass popular from the 1920's to the 1950's. With that in mind it may have even been my   Grandmothers depending on how old it actually is. All I know is throughout my childhood this dish was kept well stocked with a variety of wrapped toffees and boiled sweets from Woolworths Pick 'n Mix. It now sits on the side in my lounge and I try to keep it stocked with sweets. (It would be easier if people didn't keep eating them!)

Complete with it's original glass stopper

Next up are these two little glass bottles. I believe these were my Grandmothers, but they always sat on my Mums dressing table. The one with the sliver lid has a couple of little dents but they add to it's character. The one with the stopper has a silver and tortoiseshell lid, also very slightly dented.
I have inherited my Mums dressing table and once I can bring myself to clean it and place all my own belongings in it I shall have these in pride of place.

This Little blue glass basket is one of those items that was just always there, either on a window ledge or Mums dressing table. It used to house odd earrings or tangled necklaces. I have it sitting on the window ledge on the upstairs landing. 1) because it's one of the first things I see as I come out of the bedroom in the morning and 2) because the light shines through the beautiful coloured glass perfectly.

This pink serving dish has seen many a trifle or salad over the years and since coming to live with me has been used most weeks. I have no idea where it came from or how old it is but using it reminds me of family gatherings.

Vintage Jars

When clearing the larder and the kitchen cupboards we came across no less than EIGHT jars and containers of mixed dried fruit! It made us smile or actually laugh every time we discovered another one. It was unbelievable and we could only guess at how old some of them must have been as my Mum had stopped baking a good few years before we found ourselves clearing the cupboards. Christmas puddings, wedding cakes and of course Mums famous Bread Pudding were all made in the tiny kitchen.
I saved only the vintage storage jars. They keep my cupboards in order and one will always contain mixed dried fruits as a tribute to my dear old Mum.

My Dads book. Up To Date Confectionery dated 1948

These are the kind of cakes my parents were known for.
Mum baked then, Dad decorated them.
They made a great team

This book is a bakers Bible of it's day. It makes fascinating reading. It belonged to my Dad and now it belongs to me.

I found it hard letting go of some of the things we just couldn't keep and someone said "Items don't store memories" But I don't agree. All of the above are steeped in memories and when I look at them or use them (I have lots more kitchen items) the memories come back and I hope they never fade.

Gifts to go!

So I asked the children what they would like me to make for their teachers this year as end of term gifts. I gave the a choice of a couple of possible, not too time consuming, items that I could make once I'd finished work before the end of term.
They asked for notebook covers. I ended up making five! M has two teachers, L and R have one each and a teacher they all like is moving on so it seems he needed one too!

I don't mind really as I have a fair amount (*cough-cough*) of fabric sitting in the loft and the notebooks are inexpensive. Also they're pretty quick to make, even for me!

All it takes is

2 pieces of fabric 24x34 cm (contrasting or coordinated)
2 pieces of matching fabric 24x24 cm folded in half & ironed
1 length of ribbon approx 28cm
1 piece of iron on facing approx 20x30 cm

The plain material will be the inside of your cover. The patterned material will be the outside of your cover.
The 2 pieces 24cm square, folded & ironed will hold the notebook in place. The ribbon is your page marker.

Iron the facing onto your plain piece of fabric (or whatever you want for your inside)
The lay that wrongside down, rightside facing you.
On top of that position the two folded squares at the edge to form the flaps that will hold the note book in place. Pin.
Position your page marker ribbon to the right hand side, about 1cm from the edge of the folded piece. Secure in place with a pin.
You should have something that looks like this........

This is how it will look once completed

Make sure you also pin the loose end of the ribbon out of the way, so when you stitch it all together it doesn't become trapped in the sewing!

Tuck the end out of the way

Next. Lay the outside cover on top. Rightside down, wrongside facing you and pin in place.

all rightsides will be on the inside, all wrongside will be facing out.

Next sew on the machine. Sew all the way around EXCEPT for the bottom in between the two edge flaps. Leave this open for turning out your finished item.
I always backstitch a little at the start & finish and over where the ribbon is at the top.
Before turning out. Clip the corners & trim any excess fabric from the edges except from the bottom edge as you will have to turn this in to finish the item.

Clip your corners

Turn out with care. Fold in open seem and press, all over with an iron

Stitch closed on the machine

Add an A5 notebook

Finished! This one's for Mrs Downie

Oops! Ribbbon on the wrong side!
Pink sparkly swirls for R's teacher

Butterflies for Miss Hamilton, with purple lining,
as requested by M

Bright oranges & yellows for L's teacher

Bold tribal type patterns for Mr M who's
off to pastures new

The children were quite pleased with my efforts when they came home from school. I just hope their teachers like them. I see so many 'Best Teacher' mugs when I go into schools, piled high in communal cupboards in staff rooms. And from speaking to staff I know they often dread the boxes & boxes of chocolates they receive. So hopefully these will make a welcome change & last a little longer too!

Cover to cover

Piled up and ready to go

Sunny Sunday Feast

I remember so well the sinking feeling I used to get as a teen, on hot summer Sundays when I realised my Mum, bless her, was cooking a full blown roast dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice roast, Just not when it's a really hot day! So last weekend when the weather was lovely and sunny I thought we'd grab the chance to have our first dinner out in the garden. In my head I pulled together a collection of recipes I'd come across from various sources in the previous week, all of which said Summer to me. My friend had posted a couple of tasty looking recipes on her Blog. One was a sour carrot salad and the other a broad bean, mint and pea salad.

Sour Carrot Salad
Made from things I always have to hand

Broad beans are just about the only thing I don't like
I swapped them for Sugar Snap peas

 I also love the combination of feta and beetroot as a salad so that went onto the list too!

Cooked Beetroot, cubed. Chopped Flat leaf Parsley,
a glug of Balsamic Vinegar and crumble over some Feta. Easy

All three salads can be made in advance and make great leftovers, if there's any left that is!

I was going through some old copies of Delicious Magazine and came across this lovely recipe for Sunny Vegetable Patties. They looked so pretty and summery they had to go on the list. I made a double quantity and added some spices to the filling mixture.

Sunshine in a bowl

I added a couple of teaspoons of Curry Powder, some ground Coriander and some mild chilli. The original recipe said it made four patties, but they would have been very large so I made a couple of bigger ones and the rest at half size. This meant that there were plenty left over for lunch boxes the next day.

Next I made a simple Frittata. I sauted some sliced cooked new potatoes, spring onions and red peppers. Sprinkled with grated cheese, poured in 5 beaten eggs and sprinkled with parsley. I cooked it in the pan on top of the cooker and then popped it under the grill to finish off.

Simple Frittata

and lastly to round it all off some lovely potato wedges coated with the same spices as the patties.

All of this was served round the garden table, with the umbrella to shade us, while we ate, chatted and relaxed.

No one even realised there was no meat included in the meal. They clearly didn't miss it. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just worked out that way.

I wonder if this weekends weather will be as kind? Here's hoping!