Bargain Books

I'm not one for picking up books when it comes to boot fairs and jumble sales, it's more my hubby's department - seriously our house looks like a library!! I normally head straight to the stall that sells housewares, nik naks (not the scampi crisps) and linen! But at the school fete on the weekend I actually took the time to have a browse through and even if I dare say so myself I think I picked up some lovely bargains.


The little elf illustrations in this book are just magical and was the kind of thing that captured my imagination when I was little.


And the title of this book just caught my attention - 'The Rabbit Gentleman's Adventures'


But out of all this is my most treasured find of the lot published in 1978.


The illustration remind me of so many images I grew up with in the '70's...


...does this picture remind you of something?!?


Typical boys - things don't really change - do they?


And last but not least an Eric Thompson first edition (paperback) from the year I was born - now that is a bargain (and old!)


Have a lovely day - enjoy the sunshine and I hope the heat isn't affecting you too much?!? xox

Ropes, Boats and Buoys

Well we escaped the thunderstorms here this weekend though it did threaten it once or twice and particularly when we were at the furthest point from home (typical) with no waterproofs making us wonder if we should turn around 'quick march' and stomp up the hill home before we got wet. Fortunately though (for us) it just threatened a storm by filling up the sky with thick black clouds, then it would blow over and leave us soaking up the sun, not the rain thankfully - 'B'liss!



Though the blasted sea mist did roll in yesterday, but only down on the seafront. Back garden - beautiful, peaceful, clear and sunny. Seafront sticky, crowded, tourists and misty. Guess where we spent yesterday??



So How was your weekend? Ours was spent pottering around making more jam - strawberry and gooseberry as featured on River Cottage last week. By the way I swear I didn't have a sneak preview of the last 'Spring' programme before any of my postings last week. It just seemed to coincide with all we have been doing down here at 'Tabiboo HQ' - honest guv!




I have almost finished the little (being the operative word) crochet blanket I started here. All will be revealed later in the week.



What else - eerrrrmmm, a school fete with bargains, I show you tomorrow my goodies!! A spot of gardening a bit of housework a healthy amount of sitting around in the sun during the day and in the evenings drinking lots of wine (naturally) in the garden!...



...'oh' and a new pudding that I tried to make and was fairly successful. I'll share that with you also later in the week (it contains chocolate!!). No later than Friday - I promise in case you fancy giving it ago.



That was it I guess - quite boring really, but very 'very' enjoyable! All the pictures were taking on Saturday when we went out for a stroll. Don't you just love this winding down for the Summer, taking it all in your stride and soaking it all up.



Have a lovely start to the week - I'm off to do a spot of fridge picking (leftovers, that is!) xox

Strawberry Shortcake

Not the lovable children's character I'm afraid though in turn my girls now adore her like I did when I was little. No, I thought I would share with you one of my all time top five favourite summer puddings which we have been making most evenings this week due to having such an enormous quantity of strawberries this year - Strawberry Shortcake.


Now this is a pudding that could probably hit the top spot for me if it wasn't for the fact that homemade strawberry ice cream just pips it to the post for us as a family.


The recipe I use is the wonderful Nigella Lawson's who is the goddess of cooking for me. So for the weekend I thought I would leave you with this link to her website and the recipe for her Strawberry Shortcake.


Enjoy, have a good one and please let it rain during the night 'only!!'. Also, to all my friends heading off to Glastonbury this weekend, which I am not jealous about, at all!!! - please remember to take your wellies and rain macs!!

ps. fingers crossed for the other friends heading to Hyde Park today - I'm hoping it's not going to be torrential - rain that is!

Tabi Cat and the Hat

As mentioned yesterday I stayed up 'very' late to make Tabi a summer hat. Now I know gone eleven is probably still early for some of you, but I'm a 'in bed by ten' kind of girl and as long as I am making my way in that direction by the strike of ten then that makes for a very happy mama indeed - well most days anyway, not taking into account hormones of course they are enough to make any sane person grumpy with a capital 'G'. I am also very lucky (in some respects) as my children are all very good at going to bed and sleep at least twelve hours (most nights) so for me this is very achievable and only the extreme of circumstances can keep me from my nine/ten (on a weekend) hours of beauty sleep, which more often than not involves friends and a couple of bottles of wine!!


This leads me back to 'the hat'. I felt that it deserved a little bit of my precious shut eye time to be made for my little Tabi as she has been so unwell recently and I wanted to do something for her. OK she is only eighteen months old, but like shoes and bags little girls 'cannot' have enough hats - don't you think?


It came as a kit - bet you can't guess which type?? OK then you twisted my arm 'oowcchhhh' it's a Clothkits and the design is by the very talented Jane Foster , if you haven't already found her blog then click on the link and take a wander over there, not only is she a fantastic designer, but she has the most amazing eye for things. The kit also came with a little purse to make so definitely a bargain, well I thought so anyway.



Anyhow, this is the first time I have 'ever' attempted at making a hat - of any kind so I think it's turned out OK? I may need to top stitch it a little as the lining seems quite baggy. I swapped it for some floral fabric I've had for quite a while as even though I like black and red as a combination I just wanted to try and make it a little girlie - don't gasp I can do girlie, sometimes!


So Tabi and I had our little photo shoot this morning and even though it is a bit big for her I'm thinking she will grow into it.


It looks a bit unshaped in the photos, but I bet you can only guess how difficult it is trying to get any toddler to keep a hat on...


...or socks, shoes, cardi's etc!

Have a lovely Thursday - I'm off to catch up on my lost hour and a half of sleep, even though it was a couple of days ago that's the beauty when your toddler still has an (occasional) daytime nap!

The Taste of Homemade Summer

I had all good intentions of telling you about the hat I stayed up until 11.20pm last night making for Tabi, but my little un has slept virtually all morning and is not in the mood for a photo shoot today - bless her little cotton socks, she is just absolutely exhausted from being so poorly these past couple of weeks. Soooooo I thought I would share with you the latest pots of fruity stuff to be made by my hubby - Strawberry Jam!

When he first mentioned the idea of making strawberry jam, my first thought was 'why?'


Why would you want to turn those deliciously red, gorgeously sweet tasting fruits into jam when I could devour a whole punnet or four in one sitting!! But 'she says' we have had such a huge glut of them this year that they are ripening and going soft as quick as we can pick and eat them. So strawberry jam suddenly became a very good idea (he does have the odd one!).


I have to say I like strawberry jam though it's not one of my favourites. I'm more of a blackcurrant or apple jam kind of gal, but this homemade stuff is absolutely gorgeous - I've 'never' tasted anything as good as this. Maybe it's because the strawberries are homegrown or that we (sorry darling) he made it with plain old simple ingredients - none of this supermarket processed (until an inch of it's life) jam. I can actually still taste the strawberries and if anything the sugar has accentuated the flavour. I think they do say add a sprinkle of sugar to your strawberries to make them taste sweeter.

And in the words of my husband 'OMG - I can't believe I'm making toast just to eat homemade strawberry jam rather than Marmite!!' He is addicted to the stuff - Marmite that is.

He also dug up the first new potato from the veg patch yesterday which the kids had with their dinner last night - it didn't go round very far, but was very, very tasty indeed...


...he also bottled the Elderflower Champagne! We have to wait a week for this bubbly drink to mature, but 'hey' I'm sure I can wait a week for alcohol!!


Now doesn't that get you a little bit in the mood for summer? If your answer is 'nope' then what would your 'Taste of a Homemade Summer' be? I'd love to get some fresh ideas.



Have a lovely Wednesday - xox

Gooseberry and Elderflower Fool

Jus at the 'Beach Hut' left me a comment on my Gooseberry Jam post from last Friday asking 'Will he make gooseberry fool too...that really is delectable!!'


Weeeell my reply was 'Never guess what? - he did at the weekend' and it 'was' really, really delectable!


I am sure there are lots of different variations out there, but this is the recipe my hubby followed and taking into account his background is in science so when cooking everything has to be exact - measurements, temperatures, the lot! It was one of the nicest puddings I have had in a long time - if you don't count my chocolate pots and banoffee pie that is.



This is the perfect summer pudding. Have a lovely, lovely day. xox

Candy Floss and Raspberry Ripples

'A Tale of Two Parts'

When we were away 'Up North' last weekend I happened upon some lovely wool shops - as you do. These kind of establishments are a new experience for me and I was naturally drawn in.

Like a child in a sweetie shop I was completely entranced as soon as I stepped through the door, my eyes oggled at all the gorgeous woolly goodness all colour co-ordinated and sat in baskets bundled with other fat and chubby little yarny friends.


I wanted to go and squeeze each and everyone, pick them up and have a good old sniff - the smell of something is just as important as the look of it - don't you think? But not only being in a strange town with a weird 'southern' accent and in a place where I felt a little bit out of my depth - fabric and all manner of sewing goodness is my first love!! I ended up wandering around the shop trying to look inconspicuous.


Then I spied upon the bargain basket - bargains, now I can do 'that' and just as inviting as all the other beautifully displayed full price woolly bundles! I ended up coming out with a bag full of wool which cost me £5.50 in total. Most of them had been reduced to a pound and one was only 50p due to the outside strands having faded, but for me it is just as beautiful as all the others and I'm thinking the further I unravel the less faded it will become.


So this weekend gone with two very poorly little girls - Gastric Flu with lots of puking and risen temperatures!! I have been crocheting again. In between mopping brows, holding back hair, stroking foreheads wiping tears and lots and lots of cuddles.


I made my first jam jar jacket out of three of the balls I had bought - including the faded one. The colours are a little bit garish for me all put together, but for one of the girls rooms it will be perfect. Tabi was curled up on my lap for most of the time, watching and nodding off to the rhythmic movement of my hands with the hook and yarn it seemed as if it was just as soothing for her and I felt like I was doing something productive whilst nursing my two very poorly little girls rather than sat watching endless repeats on CBeebies which is fine for them as they were drifting in and out of sleep, but bottom numbing boredom for me - sorry I'm not a very good nurse!!


Have a lovely day, we are through the worst of it - fingers crossed all will return to normal tomorrow.