Halloween happenings!

There are strange things popping up in my garden this Autumn!

And now I have Rats!

And friends who need feeding!

Its just aswell Jasmines comming to stay. It will be another "Co. Durham Bake Off"! I have plenty of cup cake supplies to keep her going this week. Then hopefully we will be going to Beamish for Halloween again this year. Pics will follow.

Vintage Fair for the Boys!

The love of all things vintage does not only rest with me in the household. My husband is very keen on vintage motorcycles and has in recent years restored  a Royal Enfield Bullet. He gets this from his dad who has been a vintage motorcycle enthusisast for many years. He has a spectacular collection of British motorbikes that he has restored to showroom condition over the years.

We have  also recently bought a vintage "Ferguson" tractor.The engine has been rebuilt, now waiting for some body work restoration to begin probably next year. Last weekend we went to a vintage tractor show at Alnwick in Northumberland so that we could see what was on show. It was a nice day out, father in law had one of his old bikes on show, and my dad had a trip down memory lane!

My brother has been a tractor fanatic ever since he was able to sit on my Dads knee and steer the tractor my dad was driving. He had a huge farm set with animals & tractors etc., his imagination was fantastic he entertained himself for hours as a child (and also the adults watching him play). He would talk to himself pretending he was the farmer giving out orders and telling his pals what they needed to do on the farm etc. He even made the noises of the different vehicles he was using at the time. He still tells a good story today!!  Anyway, all these years later he has bought the real thing a "David Brown" tractor his namesake. He was always proud of the fact that there was a tractor with the same name as himself. So with the help of my husband he has embarked on a huge restoration project.

My husband and sons having a good look about at the tractors on display.

Husband giving an interested spectator some information about the "Douglas".

Old threshing machine demonstration.

 My Dad telling the boys how it was done!

My brother explaining the workings of the tractor to my youngest son.

Men at work, how hard it must have been in those days. Dry, dusty heat, no health and safety!

Not like today with these beasts!

Honey to sweeten my mood!

My brothers latest interest is Bee Keeping. He has been talking about it for a couple of years but he often does this! I didn't really believe him when he told me he had acquired some bees, he said that the hives were situated in different places in our area this is ssomething to do with pollen and flowers \  foliage I think.

He seems quite knowledgeable as he has been on a "bee keepers" course at college recently. Anyhow he sent some honey over for us and I was amazed at it, I just like to look at the delicate honeycombs, the smell is beautifully aromatic. I am not a lover of honey too sweet for me and I really don't want to destroy it as it is a work of art. It would be lovey to make something with it like soap or bubble bath but I don't know where to start.

 Maybe I should have a little honey to sweeten my mood, I'm currently working day shift & night shifts all mixed into the same week. So when you finish a 11.5 hr night shift (that I only get paid 10 hrs for) the day that you would sleep on is actually your day off. I slept all day yesterday feeling ill, and tonight I go back and do another two nights, so I must try and sleep at some point or I will be ill with tiredness at work during the night. I cant describe how this feels!!! Sorry for moaning.

Home made pjs.

When I was younger my Mam made most of my clothes. I used to get sick of the endless fitting & pinning, clothes on and off etc. Also I wanted to be like my friends who sometimes had identical clothes bought at the same shop. How ungrateful I was.

I had a go at making a couple of garments while at school & college but my Mam always finished them off. She still claims to have a O level in needlework! As I am running out of inspiration for crafting or maybe just need a new challenge, I decided to make myself something to wear. I bought a pattern for some pyjamas and some cheap fabric (crinkly, silky stuff, £2.oo per metre at Boyes). They have turned out very well, I have surprised myself, they are comfortable too. My 16 yr old was a little worried when he saw me ironing the pants until I explained they were pjs!!

Also my new squashy pillow looks CKish I feel, and very comfortable. £3.99 at B&Ms. Its not somewhere I go but have had some quite pretty little things from there. 

Crockery.

I never realised how many people were interested in utility china. I am slightly obsessed with "Woods Ware Beryl". My Grandma used this daily and the green china takes me back to when I was little, I can almost smell her kitchen.

Her kitchen was very small but it had a tiny coal fire in the corner, I used to love sweeping the hearth and throwing the bits in the fire. My Granda would say "watch that brush doesn't catch light!". When she died some of the remaining china came to us, then when I got married they must have come to me somehow. When I discovered eBay I began to collect, this is an old pic as I have more now. My latest is a set of breakfast cups however, I'm a bit disappointed as they don't seem a big as I remembered, unless it is because I was little then!

If you look on top of my dresser you will see another collection. I was going through a Cottage Ware phase at the time. At the moment though I am looking for bone china tea sets, complete if possible. May mam will say "and where are you going to put that?" She is right but I cant stop, I have even got stuff packed away in the loft. Well its my day off today so i'll let you know what I find!!

Getting ready for Halloween.

Here are some snaps from past Halloween. I am needing some inspiration for this year. I was thinking of a witch scarecrow scene with pumpkins. The problem is usually the weather, the wind is quite bad around this time of year and the outdoor decorations get battered. Any ideas?

The Printers Drawer.

This is my printers drawer. It was used when printing was done manually and the printer had all of the letters etc. in little compartments in drawers like this one. Wall mounted, it is a great way to display bits and bobs that once lay around the house probably in a drawer or a box and never got looked at. It is amazing just how many people stop and look at this little display. Mine has badges, spoons, mini weights, old coins, shells, my grandads game keeping whistle tiny bottles my nurses medals and much more.

Finishing off projects.

Over the last year I have had several crochet projects on the go. I was accumulating many bags full of balls of wool and crochet squares. I have eventually got round to putting them together ready for the colder evenings.

This one I really like as it was my first attempt at trying different crochet patterns. I have done a basket weave, cables and a lacy design. I put them all together to make a patchwork style blanket. I would have liked to make it bigger but It would have took forever.

This one is just a little rug that goes over a foot stool and was made up of the left overs.

Here is a display of some of the pressed glassware I have been collecting. Yet again I am running out of space but you can stack these up on top of each other. I find it quite difficult to photograph glass but it looks nice when it catches the light.

The nice thing is that I use all of this stuff so its not just collecting dust!