Inbetween meeting friends yesterday

One at lunch time and one late afternoon. I stayed in town and had a wander around.  I ended up in John Lewis' looking at the "bargains" in the sale and came away with a couple of further bits of kitchen equipment.

My general purpose knife spatula broke a little while back/icing knife so I ended up buying a new one.  I also ended up with a Microplane fine grater as well.  I found a rolling pin/flour shaker/pastry measurer reduced a Mason Cash porcelain one.  I also came away with four large Kilner wide mouth jars and four medium ones (8 in total). I have also bought an enamel meat pie tin (a large one) and an icing paddle for the Christmas cakes.

There were lots of bargains in the china/glassware department.  I was just looking.  I found some ivy and wisteria sprays for decorating a table or the house with as well so they came home.  Thought that they would be useful for the table come Christmas.  I know it is early but I am already starting to get in gear for the C word this year.

The Christmas cards, and crafting items are already out in The Works, as well as a couple of Christmas magazines, including the Good Housekeeping Christmas magazine and the Prima Craft Magazine.

I am continually on the look out for materials to use.  I found some broderie Anglaise fabric yesterday two lots which will come in very useful for making little bits and bobs.  It was well reduced and is pure white.

I also managed to find a couple of sample pieces of fabric which I thought would be useful for either making the back of a cushion or indeed using fussy cut pieces from it as an insert into a cushion or whatever else takes my fancy.  So I am forever on the look out for materials for crafting etc.

I then met up with my friend.  Something we have not done for a while.  It was lovely to meet up with my friend again and we were out for a good couple of hours putting the world to rights.

One of the things that I am not using much of at the minute is gas.  Use has been minimal but I am still continuing to add extra to the meter at about £30 to £40 per month on the card even though we are not really using it because of the fine weather we have experienced. Our usage during the winter months tends to be higher so I am adding a bit here and there whilst I can in readiness.  The same on the electric so that the bill does not come all at once.  I have found that using the payment cards I can keep track on the electric and the gas a lot easier which is important. We need to keep warm when there is a need to do so but it does not mean that we should struggle to keep warm and/or paying the bills  is allowed to overwhelm us.  It comes down to priorities.  Roof over head, food in stomach and heat.  They are the three basics and in the cooler months we definitely need the heat to keep body and soul together and together with food keep our health intact as well.

I am also looking out for plain items that can potentially be embroidered on whether this be clothing, bags, plain fabric, etc. I have not got to the embroidery machine yet but I will do once I have restored more order in the house and got the decorating out of the way with.  That is going to be a whole new learning curve for me in any event! 

Right things to do.  Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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