Mothering Sunday

Lovely cards from Will and daughter.

Looking good. 

Friday, we went for a cycle ride in the morning, not too far staying local, in the afternoon we watched Finding your Feet, which is a brilliant film, hubby was worried as it's 'not his sort of film', but he totally enjoyed it.
Saturday, morning we shopped around, looking for items for our bathroom, in Wicks, we found the perfect basin with cupboard below, a much bigger basin, but not too big for the room, the cabinet was a better quality, far more expensive than from B&Q. We also found the perfect shower cubical, in fact we had a choice of two, we could not get it in the car, so later in the week, we will go down in our van to collect. Afternoon my sewing machine came out, more on that in the next post.
Sunday, I asked for no gifts this year, I really do not require anything, and now all our own children have their children, I feel the day should be theirs. My phone has buzzed this morning with lovely messages.  I am heading out into the garden for an hour, it's far to early to be doing much, but I love being outside. I might plan another sewing project later.
Just hubby and I today, Will, mummy and daddy are in Somerset visiting family. No plans, we don't go out for lunch, everywhere will be far to busy, we had a lovely meal last night, pie and mash, the pies were purchased from Cook, we will go back and get some more, they are good for an occasional treat.
I hope your Mother's day is everything you want it to be.

Green gardening

This one photo is so full of hope.

All gardening is green, right? 

But think about plastic in the garden, I have. 

As with other parts of our lives plastic is everywhere in the garden.

I started thinking about the cost of gardening 6 or 7 years ago, and decided I would replace things with the best I could afford, at the time I was thinking after I finish work, I would not have so much disposable cash. So I started at the end of each season, purchasing good quality items at sale price, Wilkinson's and local garden centers were my best shops in late summer.
I also recycled my few large plastic pots for pottery, this was done because I thought pottery ones looked colourful and had better water level qualities for the plants inside.
I got my large greenhouse so I could grow my own plants, replacing the plastic ones I had for glass, which last much longer and can be recycled.
All the above means I can cut down on how much plastic I bring into my garden, if I buy plants in pots (almost only if they are on sale and I can revive them), I take the pots back to a local garden center (saving them until I am next in the area) where they are sent for recycle. My aim this year is not to buy bedding plants, I will grow all my own.
I have a lovely wooden plant pot maker using newspaper, and I save toilet roll centers for growing seedlings on.
In my shed I have loads of plastic covered metal plant stays, in many different shape and sizes, I have loads of heavy duty seed trays and covers. These will last me for years, in fact I don't feel I should need to replace much of my gardening tools.
I do buy compost, probably 8-10 bags a year,  I have no where in my tiny garden to have a composter, there was one behind the garage, but we moved it and put the shed in the space. I do keep the bags when empty, I almost always find a second use for them. All my garden waste is collected each fortnight by the council for use in compost.
My aim for the garden is to try and reduce to almost nothing the purchase of one use plastic, I see most places now have product in cardboard boxes as well as of plastic, and I will now always choose cardboard.
Our local plant stand in the local market is now having bareroot plants in newspaper, as my parent  got their plants. So ditching the plastic is already growing at nursery level.
I don't need to purchase much this year, but I will look for the green option.
Most of the decisions and changes I have made in the last few years were made for financial reasons, I love gardening and wanted to ensure I would have the equipment to allow me to enjoy our outside space. Now I can see the decisions will keep me away from the over use of flimsy plastics.
In my gardeners world magazine Monty has stated he is going as plastic free as he can, it will be interesting to see what he brings to my decision making, he made a start in last nights Gardeners World on TV.

Add to stash

More tea towels, these were £4 at Asda

The plain green one is in our kitchen

the other two are in my stash

 My mug has a chip in it, so this will be the replacement

 I love this author, 

looking forward to reading this book. 

 Thursday night hubby did ham, egg and chips

Can't remember the last time we had this meal

We popped to Asda, which is a shop we do not visit much, we have a huge out of town one close by. We did not have much to get, we went because we love their Shades quilted toilet rolls. The couple extra things fell into the trolley, I had added the cost to my stash list.
We also popped to B&Q, we are looking to replace our shower cubical, it won't clean up enough, plus we are looking for a square sink with a cupboard below, could not find cubical, but we think we have sorted the sink. Most of these types of sinks are shallow, but we saw one which fits into our space and is still big enough.
I love the Easter tea towels, so I want to make something, a bag would be easy, I have loads of plain materials in my stash for the inner. Most of the bags I have made have been for a purpose, but I will have a think, in case I can come up with a different project. I have not done much to my hexagons, but they are out where I can see them.
This morning I am in my greenhouse for an hour, my seedlings are still small, but I want to sort a few more trays so I can plant more seeds next week. Everything will require watering, it's really full in there.
Later we are popping to town, just need a trip to Boots, after we are off the the cinema, we enjoyed our last visit, but this time it's my choice of film.

It's a finish

Yellow fabric

Black fabric

Retro tea towel

 The tea towel had only enough fabric for the front and back

with a tiny bit left over

so the sides and bottom I made in plain black

 The yellow I used for the inner bag

With a pretty pocket on the back

 The handles were just two strips of material

one black and a thinner yellow

 Inside I made a huge pocket for my file and book

plus a pencil pocket

 Tea bags fit in pocket

plenty of room in middle for everything else

 The straps are long enough to be a shoulder bag

 Another tea towel, with material from my stash

next project ?

Two things dictated the size of this bag, my A4 file and the size of the tea towel, I only had one, purchased in a pack of ten for £5.99, with fabric from my stash, and coloured threads I already had.
I cut the retro patterned tea towel first, making it as long as I could, two pieces for the front and back, I then cut 2 yellow pieces the same size.
I cut 1 black and 1 yellow long wide band for the sides and bottom.
I cut another black and yellow long thin band for the handles. I folded the sides together and ironed each band and then pinned the yellow on top of the black, stitching with yellow thread on the top and black underneath. I would have preferred to had the retro fabric for handles, but I did not want to buy another pack of tea towels for for 1 piece of material.
I then added the pockets to the yellow inner, the big pocket for my folder goes to the bottom of the bag.
Next I stitched the black sides to the front and back of the bag. I then stitched the bottom, making the outer. Then I made the yellow inner in the same way.
I pinned the handles to the outer, measuring to ensure they were central, I placed the inner inside folded the top and stitched both bags together. I prefer to make a bag with an inner, it's much neater inside and the second fabric gives the bag loads of extra strength.
I really enjoy making these simple bags, it was a fun afternoon, and now I have everything together for my next class.
My daughter tells me yellow is in this year, plus retro, so for once I'm on trend.