Walnuts, orange juice, cotton buds and baked beans

There's a lovely place I know.

• Which is only two minutes walk from my front door.
• Where you can turn up at 7:40am without having cleaned your teeth, wearing dirty jeans and a University sweatshirt that is over 20 years old, and nobody minds.
• Where even dressed like this you are still greeted with a big grin and a shout of "Morning, Gorgeous!" as you walk through the door.
• Where you can be sure of being able to buy whatever it is that you need - even if that's walnuts, orange juice, cotton buds and baked beans.
• Where you can chat as you do your shopping and find out about how his bad back's doing and discuss the water main up by the hospital which burst again this weekend.

This magical place is my local corner shop.  A good corner shop is the nerve centre of a local community, and I think ours is one of the best.  Their friendliness and always-open-fully-stocked policy means that knocking up a quick coffee and walnut cake for Dad while he's out on his early morning training run is...well...a piece of cake.



I do like a nice plastic wallet

Since I finished the quilt last week I'm back on the knitting again, and remembering all the knitterly things that I love:

• slim dpns - they make me feel very clever and dextrous
• yarn - so tactile and squishy
• Ravelry - I can waste entire evenings rummaging around its pattern library
• portability - I tuck my knitting into my satchel and sneak in a couple of rows when I am on the tube, sitting in the playground or waiting at ballet.

This last point has been helped considerably by the purchase of one of these plastic zip-up wallets from Muji.

I have the A4 size, which is big enough to hold one or two small projects on dpns, some photocopied patterns, my tape measure and a little pair of scissors.  When it is zipped shut, I can tuck the wallet into my satchel and it is ready for whenever I have a spare 5 minutes.

I love the ghostliness of the wallet when it is shut

The wallet in my satchel - no more pulling out my umbrella and having a whole ball of precious Debbie Bliss cashmerino come too

I'm knitting things for the children.  When I asked O what she'd like she declared legwarmers would be just the thing.  I am knitting her a pair of these Easy Peasy Leg Warmers (pattern from The Witty Knitter blog).  The pattern is for a 10 to 12 year old girl, and uses thick worsted weight yarn.  So I am knitting it in much finer Debbie Bliss cashmerino to get a better fit on those skinny 8 year old legs my girl has.  It is a super easy pattern - and coming together gratifyingly quickly.  You can see more details on my Ravelry page for them here.

C wanted socks.  He is a (young) man after my own heart and likes nothing better than handknit socks.  I quite agree with him that they are one of the nicest things that can be knit.  For these I'm using the reliable, free, Kaffe Fassett sock knitting pattern that I picked up in John Lewis years ago. They yarn I am using is also by Regia - a deliciously bright primary coloured one called World Circus.  Again you can find more details on Ravelry.

I think I may be a little odd in being so motivated to knit because I have a nice plastic wallet to keep everything in...but perhaps not.  Muji must be onto something - everything in that shop just makes me feel like a small child again, wanting to spend ALL my pocket money on rubbers, glue, notebooks, pencils, folders, storage tins and felt-tips.  That small child is still in most of us I think judging by the crowds of middle aged people sighing over the plastic wallets and hex pens every time I go into the shop - just like me.

Spurred on

Sometimes I find that my mojo's floated off to somewhere with a warmer climate and I'm left feeling a rather flat and indecisive.

The past few weeks have felt a little like that. Maybe I left my mojo behind in Fabrics Galore?  But yesterday I had a day that left me feeling quite restored, and that has spurred me on to put some plans into action.

I met up with Dragonfly at Kew Gardens, on a gloriously cold and sunny morning, and we wandered around for hours, chatting about goodness-knows-what and pausing every now and then to stop and take photos.

Now is the time of year to go and admire the berries at Kew Gardens.  We saw big ones, small ones, red ones, yellow ones, even bright purple ones.  Juicy ones, curranty ones, exotic ones and home-grown ones.

Walking around Kew Gardens I was reminded again of how much I love to walk, and of how little I actually do, unless I am on holiday.  Walking clears my head, sets me thinking, and fills me with endorphins.  I have the time, and I love to do it, so goodness me - why aren't I doing more of it? 

So I have resolved to try and do one long, solitary walk each week for the next few months.  And on the way back home, as the train skirted the Olympic Park and I looked up from my book, I saw this:

The main Olympic stadium - finished outside and now being fitted out with its seats.  And then this:

The Aquatic Centre, where I want to get tickets to see some of the swimming and diving in 2012. 

What better place to do my first walk than around the Olympic Park?  I'm thinking I'll try and walk as much of the local section of The Greenway as I can manage in the school day, and call in at The View Tube on the way for a coffee and to take some more Olympic photos.

I will wear my walking boots next week though - this time of year is muddier than I had realised.

And so I returned home from a really lovely day out with my lungs full of fresh air, plans for a new walk, and also a little paper bag containing this Japanese sewing book.  Because as well as a day out at Kew Gardens, Tracy also introduced me to the delights of Kew's very own fabric shop, Tikki Quilt and Patchwork.  I know.  A newly discovered fabric shop, AND one that sells Japanese craft books. 

Someone who introduces you to a place like that is a friend indeed.  Thank you, Tracy!

Nancy's Home Shop

So in an effort to postpone returning to regular employment any time soon, I have set up an Etsy shop!  You can find it here - it is called Nancy's Home Shop and is full of lovely fabric things for your home.

I've been sewing everything for the past couple of weeks, and am so pleased to have it all set up and working now.

My favourite thing - and top of my list to make more of - is this reversible apron.  The blue floral fabric is cut from a long, thick, piece of vintage linen that I snaffled up at a vide grenier in France this summer.  It is embellished with more vintage loveliness - an embroidered doily that I found at our local antiques fair a few weeks ago.

And because it is a reversible apron, you can flip it over for a bit of Kaffe Fassett mad colour if the mood takes you!  I've put a towel loop and some buttons on this side.

You can also find some really lovely peg bags for washing day.

I am so pleased with the design of these.  I was getting really aggravated at fishing around in a too-small, too-tight, too-old peg bag that I decided to make something that I could just hang on a hook and grab pegs from.  I put just one wide handle on, and then boxed the corners at the bottom of the bag so that it would stand up by itself.

There are also bread bags, face cloths and long, bright strings of bunting.  Go and have a look.  I'm heading back to the sewing machine now!

Sunday Marketing

The children and I have a happy new Sunday morning routine. While G goes for a run or a swim, we get on the bus and go a couple of miles up the road to Walthamstow for the weekly farmers' market.

C, on the bus to Walthamstow, doing his impression of a teenager

Walthamstow has a famous daily market which is a wonderful madness of stalls selling fruit and veg, clothes, toothpaste, buttons, sweets, handbags, shellfish, CDs and herbs. The stallholders are all local Eastenders and they bellow their prices at the top of their voices to the crowds squeezing past.

But the Sunday farmers' market is very different. It is part of the London Farmers' Markets organisation and is much smaller and quieter than the weekday version. The stallholders just sell food and drink and are all producers. Many are from Essex and Kent but others come from eye watering distances to sell here. They don't bellow as loudly as their midweek counterparts.

The first stall the children and I always stop at is The Giggly Pig Company who are there every week (their website gives details of their shop and all the other markets they sell at). I love their slogan: "No fat or crap in our sausages!". The women manning the stall each week are so kind and offer the children endless free samples. I often buy their sausages but the highlight is their faggots, which are the best I have ever tasted - savoury, meaty and not too salty. Ask C what is favourite food is at the moment and he will say faggots.


They're an old fashioned and rather unfashionable food I think, but I'll keep singing their praises and so will my children. Are any of you fans?

The next stop at the market has to be a cheese stall. The cheese producers vary each week; last week we had a buffalo cheese producer from Gloucestershire and this week the Lincolnshire Poachers were there. Yet again they were very understanding about my greedy children sampling every single one of their cheeses. But maybe the stallholders are wiser than me, because pretty soon I had O asking for this one, C asking for that one, and I ended up buying both.

The last stall was one at which I got to do ALL the sampling - the Millwhites Cider stall. So good.


And actually doing all the sampling myself didn't make me any more decisive. I bought one of each type of cider on the basis that G would need to try them all as well.

Far Eastern colour in the East End of London

On a wet, gloomy, autumn weekend in East London, what better way to brighten things up than with a trip to the Asian ribbon shop at Walthamstow market?


I was extremely (and quite uncharacteristically) restrained and merely came away with four metres of ribbon, a spool of silk embroidery thread and an armful of brown ricrac.

And I spent less than four pounds.

I am now looking around for some plain denim or linen to embellish with these happy, vibrant colours. Just the thing to brighten up autumn a little bit.

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Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions regarding American food in the comments on my last post. How could I have forgotten the fish I ate in America? The soft-shelled crabs, the clam chowder, the shrimp! All so very good.

Man shopping

We are having a party on Saturday, for ten people. I am at work all day so G, an infrequent but enthusiastic cook, is in charge of everything. I shall just turn up when it's party time.

Last night he gave me this shopping list of things he needs for the meal and asked me to go to the supermarket.

Yes, it really does include seven unwaxed lemons, two whole celeriac, five balls of buffalo mozzarella and two legs of lamb. TWO LEGS OF LAMB!!!

But he's cooking and he's paying, so I got everything on the list and lugged it home. But not before I called him from the supermarket car park and freaked him out by revealing how much money he now owes me. It's going to be some party.

A week in my shoes :: Day 4

It is Saturday. The sun is shining. So clearly I need some brightly coloured tights again. This time I chose purple ones.

Before breakfast, on the world's most awful carpet (in our hall). Accompanied by rather a large number of snippets of thread. 2009 will definitely be the year in which that carpet goes.

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In Wanstead, before lunch, on my way to buy a newspaper and a bunch of coriander.

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I love how my crazy tights can barely be seen next to the vividness of the tomatoes and spinach at the greengrocers. Just a shiny, patent toe peeping out.

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Back home, after lunch, next to the fire. Now the fire is lit, I'm in for the day.

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Other people's shoes

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Ali has a fabulous pair of red boots on. If I had red boots I think I would wear them solidly from October until March. After I've paid for a new carpet, red boots may be at the top of my spending list.

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My mother-in-law wore these shoes to have coffee with friends.

I hope your shoes are taking you to nice places this weekend. Or else that you are cosied up indoors next to a fire with some thick socks and a good book.

That's where I'm off to - right now.

A week in my shoes :: Day 2

These astonishingly bright tights are from Gap and I adore them! Perfect for grey autumn mornings doing nothing in particular.

Walking to school.

Waiting with G in the playground for a parents' numeracy workshop (very good - G and I were swots and put our hands up to give the answers quite often - ha!).

In the car on the way back from the supermarket.

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In the kitchen as I baked a cherry and almond cake.

Notes from yesterday:

• My mother bought some boots - I was merely there to advise and tut over the price, in a complete role reversal from my teenage years.
• The parcel was from Clothkits and is for O for Christmas....

A week in my shoes :: Day 1

It was trainers all day today as I was having a pleasantly busy, walking-around kind of day.

In the playground at school.

On my bike as I came back from picking up a parcel from the sorting office.

Walking down Oxford Street on the way to meet my mother.

In John Lewis trying on boots with my mother.

Packing books

I don’t pack lightly but I do pack compactly. I like packing. It usually starts with a list – maybe written down but often in my head. I enjoy starting with an empty bag and filling every spare corner with things, working out how to fold, pile and nest things so that they fit into the bag like rocks in a dry stone wall.

And sometimes my bags feel as if they have rocks in them. If something fits in the bag, then I’m unlikely to leave it out. Books are my main problem. When I travel I need books to read. It’s as simple as that. The worst thing would be if I were sat on a train, with a cup of coffee by my side, my iPod playing Radio 4 podcasts, pretty landscape rushing by but no book to read. What a horror!

So for an overnight trip to Oxford this week to have a day out with Anna and spend some time with my parents, I packed three fat paperbacks:

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
Constance by Rosie Thomas
Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym

Yes – three books for a trip lasting twenty six hours. But even though I was visiting the city with the best bookshop in the world and spending time with some one as book–obsessed as me, I still worried that I might finish my books and somehow not be able to find any more.

I needn’t have worried. I went with three books and came back with nine. I couldn’t go to a bookshop and not buy any could I?
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Organisation

People often say that I am organised. I think it comes with being such a fan of lists and planning.

Last week I went to St Pancras to buy tickets for the Paris Metro, because in a week's time we will be crossing Paris in a great hurry to make a very tight train connection, and I don't want to waste precious minutes at the Gare Du Nord queuing to buy Metro tickets. The woman at the Eurostar ticket office commented on how organised I was to plan in advance in this way. I thanked her and felt more than a little bit smug.

But this week, a couple of things have thankfully wiped away that smugness. The first is my Cupboard Of Shame. Here is a picture to show you how the cupboard earned that name:


It is a cupboard in our bedroom that bulges and threatens to spontaneously burst open each time somebody walks past. It is STUFFED with suitcases, old clothes of the children's and all the files and textbooks from when G and I were studying for our accountancy exams.

I qualified nine years ago and G qualified five years ago. We have not looked at these books or files once since then. I think it may be time to throw them out. And all those children's clothes that are too small? Well I have plenty of friends with younger children or babies who could make good use of them, and there are several skirts and dresses of O's that I could cut up to start a collection of fabric for a quilt for her.

And we will need the suitcases next week when we go to France - with the Metro tickets that I was organised enough to buy in advance. Ha! As soon as I have written this, I am off to clear out the cupboard. I feel the shame.

The other thing that has made me reconsider the benefits of being organised, happened last night. After a really tough week at work I decided I needed an evening out. I've never been to the Waterstones at Piccadilly and after discovering that they have a cocktail bar on the top floor I thought that it might be a good destination for a bit of after work relaxation.

When I got there I discovered that the sewing books were next to the cocktail bar - how about that for good planning? And once up on the 5th floor, who should I find browsing through the Kaffe Fassett quilt books but my good friend Miss Moss Stitch! She was killing some time before meeting her chap for a night out at Gordon's, so I got her evening off to an unexpected start by whisking her off to the bar. We had a wonderfully spontaneous time poring through quilt books, chatting and drinking sublime cocktails. Not bad for a Wednesday night!

One of the things we chatted about was my new Pleated Beauty Bag that I received from Kathryn through the Bend The Rules Sewing swap. You can read Kathryn's blog about making my bag here.

I love that Kathryn picked fabrics based on the lush greens in my photographs - so thoughtful - so to honour her choice, I took some photos of the bag hanging in our lilac bush.


Isn't is a beautiful bag? Thank you, Kathryn, I love it!

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Thank you all for your very kind comments about my quilt. I am ridiculously proud of myself, and have already planned about four more I want to make! What is it about quilts that does that?

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The pattern for the quilt is from Amy Butler's In Stitches. The pieces were all sewn onto muslin, which is an unusual way of making a quilt; I think it would be easier to piece in the traditional way. The next one I do will be a BIG log cabin one that I started fifteen years ago - yes really - see earlier comments on being 'organised'.

List season

This time of year – leading up to Christmas – sees me wallowing in lists. There are so many of them to be made.

• A present list – very important. Usually there are two lists – one with presents for G and the children on it, which I keep very secret, and one with presents for other family and friends on it which I leave lying around and then worry about losing.
• A menu plan – even more fun than the present list. This one I can happily start in October and keep amending until Christmas Eve. It involves me spending happy evenings curled up on the sofa with a pile of recipe books beside me and a helpful glass of wine by my side.
• Out of the menu plan will come a shopping list and an order list. I’ll order as much of my Christmas food as possible from the local butcher, Abel & Cole, or other fancy places rather than slog round the supermarket.
• There will also be a list of school things to do – costumes to be made, altered or borrowed for Christmas shows; presents to be made for teachers; cakes to be baked for random fundraising events and cards to be written to best friends.
• I will enjoy drawing up a things to do over the holidays list with G and the children. My first contribution to this list will be a request to go skating somewhere in London.
  
  Bring it all on! With all these lists (I haven’t quite sunk as low as creating a Christmas List of Lists – but I admit it has crossed my mind….) I am loving the seasonal stresses.