TARRAGON & THYME

I needed somewhere to jot down ideas for future projects using stuff I already have to hand with possibly a few extras and thought it might be handy to put it down in note form so that I have a continuous record as it were as to stuff I want to achieve and location of patterns etc.  By the time I get round to them I will have forgotten what I wanted to do so I thought a visual and if possible the instructions would help me out in the longer run.  These are of course on top of the other projects I have on the go. As many of you know I have been collecting men's shirts for quite some time with the idea of making a quilt.  Mostly in pale blues, whites, navy, reds but also in pinks, yellows, mauves, with an idea not just to make one or two quilts of different colourways. Project One Howe ver I was browsing Pinterest and I spotted a bought patchwork quilt in reds, greens and creams and I thought I could do that for next Christmas from the majority of ...

For all your kind wishes in respect of my recent bout of illness.  It is very much appreciated.  Still hanging on in there and just as I think it has gone it comes back for the next round! This one is holding on for grim death (excuse the pun). Fingers crossed it disappears soon. Thank you once again Tricia xx

I have so many floating around in my mind's eye that I do not seem to be able to settle on anything at the moment.  Sometimes I have my head in the sky planning and plotting this and that, that I forget to live in the everyday.  I am perhaps worn out because of too much dreaming and not enough doing.  At the end of the day it is a question of balance and I need to try and restore my inner equilibrium which at the moment is all over the shop.  Tied to everyday restrictions and practicalities does not help the mix but at the end of the day you have to make the most of what presents itself to you.  Sometimes it is not the journey or the specific element you are dealing with at the time but the way you deal with things that is the learning curve never mind that sometimes you feel as though you are treading in perpetual quicksand. I am time rich in some respects at the moment but because I have lost focus I am not achieving very much. It is seriously grieving me...

I am still not right with this lurking cold and it has come back tenfold today with me coughing, coughing and coughing.  So I have done absolutely nothing and am trying to rest up so that hopefully I can encourage this bug to clear orff! I had an early night last night as well and it looks as though it will be another early night tonight.   Sorry I don't mean to complain really; I am a lot luckier than most.  However I am a bit down  generally at the moment a lot of it I am putting it down to the really cold weather which has also triggered my arthritis and other issues.  I am just hoping I have a better winter on the cold front this year than I did last.  Have to try and keep warm, layered up and positive.  I am still taking the vitamin D tablets but just feel generally overwhelmed and frustrated that I am not getting on with things as quickly as I want to. It seems to be really cold all over the country at the moment some places more than ot...

as usual, now that the cold still has not quite gone and the upset Saturday night have calmed down I am starting to do a bit again which may mean that I will not post as regularly as I have done.  Coupled with things am trying to do in the house, get tidy, get rid of clutter, etc. etc. OH is working overtime where he can which means that muggins walks the dog as he comes in too late and as she is an old lady nine on 31 October I like to keep her in routine as best as possible as she is so very good in any event. As it is a good mile walk  - normally we go down in the van and then walk her for a good 1/2 mile or so and then come back but when I take her she is taken on the lead to where we walk her and then walked and then walked all the way back.  She is a bit nervous of the traffic but walks for me at least very nicely on the lead. Not necessarily so for the OH as she thinks she can do as she wants when he is around.  I like her to behave herself whilst at the same...

After last nights upset I have had a very easy day not doing very much and only having something light to eat.  I had some ham and pea soup and OH had a spicy bean soup.  After a trip to the tip we have come in and kept in the warmth each of us doing our own thing.  I have been researching some more posts he has been watching TV.  We have not moved very far.  OH crashed out today as it has been his only day off this week and he has worked a couple of lots of overtime.  At least we got the tip run out of the way. I am cooking a roast dinner for tomorrow night's tea.  We have a small piece of beef and I intend to serve a variety of roast veggies i.e. parsnip, sweet potato, onion, roasties and some roast squash together with some mixed veggies, and spring cabbage with lashings of gravy.  I might also make a bread and butter pudding we have not had one for a while and it is a firm favourite here.  I have just prepared some tuna buns for OH f...

Last night I had a lovely tea of fish and chips.  I had just enough - did  not stuff myself and did not feel uncomfortable.  Later on in the evening I was violently ill.  I believe as a result of an acidosis attack which happens every so often despite being on medication for it.  But needless to say was not too good for a couple of hours and despite having the heating on high I kept going extremely cold. I managed to get comfortable and slept and indeed feel a lot better than I did yesterday.  I was doing a lot of bending and sorting things out yesterday and I suspect that did not help the situation. However I am being gentle with myself.  I have had a very light breakfast and have not done very much apart from some research for a future post which falls into line with something I have already posted about.  But all will be revealed shortly on that score. We are supposed to be going to the tip to get rid of some more rubbish but we will...

What a cold and miserable day it has been today.  Grey, wet, damp, freezingly cold and so I understand it several areas have also had their first snow of the season.  Brrgh! I have not ventured far from home.  When I got up I had the heating on for a couple of hours to warm the house up.  I have found that having it on for a couple of hours and then switching it off the heat remains for quite some time.  I then pop it on a little later to really warm things up and that usually lasts us until bedtime and keeps the house reasonably warm overnight.  I am mindful of the animals here I know they have fur coats but even so the rear of the house at present where they live does get very cold. OH walked Missy earlier on and I went with him and stayed in the van as it was far too cold.  We then went on and grabbed supper.  A piece of fish and a portion of chips, mushy peas each and that did us nicely.  Its very nice to have your own piece of f...

I think saving things or bits of things has been part of my family's make up for many years.  You learn much at the heels of your family members and as  you become an adult you start carrying on family traditions.  It's something you do without particularly thinking about the process just reciprocating.  My Nan was one for recycling paper bags or pretty paper bags and they used to be kept in the drawer of a little kitchen table that she had together with useful pieces of string.  If you needed anything then it was sure to be found in my Nan's stash.  That was not the only thing she kept though.  Anything that she thought might be useful used to get stashed away.  I think this was as a reaction to the war years when so many items were restricted and so in her practical way my Nan made sure that there was always something that could be useful to someone. The cats have demolished my kitchen blind by jumping up into the window to sunbathe.  ...

It has taken me a good couple of hours but I have sorted through one of the button boxes that came from my mum's home and I believe the owner of it was my Nan.  A couple of small tell tale signs.  Nan was rather fond of Quality Street sweeties (when they were proper sweeties and sold only in small tins) and these buttons are stored in such a tin.  Also as I have patiently sorted through the tin I have found a few different vintage buttons -not the sort of thing my mum would have gone for for instance.  There are also a lot of green buttons in that tin.  Green was my Nan's favourite colour.  It also has a lot of mother of pearl shirt buttons in which I am quite excited about.  Not sure at this stage whether they are going to go onto a special ornament to commemorate my Nan and Pop or whether I am going to encompass them within the button chain or wreath.  I suppose in part that will depend on what I find in the other two boxes. Because they ha...

However it is for the best part nice and warm here depends which room you go into.  However its perishing out.  Do not have the heating on either.  Had it on first thing for a couple of hours and it seemed to warm the whole of the house up a state of play which it seems to have maintained since then.  I may have to pop it on for a little while in  a little bit as the kitchen bathroom and loo are a little chilly.  I am hoping to get cracking with the door curtains in an attempt to try and keep that part of the house a little warmer in the next few days but the kitchen needs to be completely cleared by then and also all the decorating out of the way.   I have had a heck of a sort out in the kitchen.  All the cupboards have been cleared out and decluttered, every item hand washed and dried and I have sorted out the basic stuff I need out on a day by day basis and the fancier stuff has been sorted and popped into a storage box(es).  I felt t...