Pit checks & mining display

This weekend, yet again has been a really lovely one - I seem to be doing well at getting really good weekends at three minute, it's fab! My mum and dad have been over to stay and do some work on our kitchen for us this weekend. It's almost finished now so there will be a big reveal in a couple of weeks to see the whole thing done. The only thing let to do is to get door handles put on the door and to get the glossing done. We have had some wood paneling put around the bottom of the walls in our dining room part so this has all been primed and made to look white but ha not yet been glossed. Like I say, only a couple of weeks and this will all be done.

We have however been working on something else. Where we live is an old mining village. The pit closed in 1993 however there is still a big mining community left in the village- almost everyone seems to have a connection to the pit in one way or another. I am fairly sure that we are in the minority as we don't really have any direct connection to the mine ourselves. My husband has always had a keen interest in history as have I so long as it's some sort of history that I can relate to. I like to hear stories from people and see real things from the time that I am looking at in order to really be able to take any of it in.

My husband has been collecting a small amount of memorabilia for a while now. This started mostly from finding a couple of things when we moved into the house. We found some old tools marked up with national coal board or the name of the local colliery. We also found a couple of "coal not dole" badges in various places around he house as we have been decorating. The thing that I really like and am pleased that Adam found and has started to collect are pit checks. Theses are small metal disks that the miners would take as they entered the pit so that above the ground there would be a record of who was down there should there be any kind of accident in the mine.

We have started to find some of these on the Internet - you can get all sorts of different shaped and sized checks and, the part that I really love is that each one tells a story. They all have the name of the colliery that they are from engraved in them and they would then be stamped with a number as well for each pitworker who would have his own number.

These checks and the few other bits that we had, have just been sat upstairs on a shelf gathering dust for a while as we didn't really know what else to do with them. However, inspired by the kitchen being nearly finished, we decided that now was the time to think of something to do with them (& clear a shelf upstairs!)

We went through all kinds of options for how to display the checks. In a frame was our first thought, a bit like I did for Emma and Ross' wedding however the one thing that we have both noticed when we came to show anyone the checks was that they would all want to pick them up, feel the weight and texture of them and just have that real hands on history thing going on with them. I really love this and so I didn't really like the ides of having them hidden behind glass.

My only other thought after this was that we should mount them on some kind of a board. We spent a full morning online the other week looking for how we could get any kind of plank of wood or board of some description to be able to put them up on. With a lot of the kitchen being a white as well and thinking that these might be able to go up around our dining table I didn't really want these to be plain wood - just to make the job of finding something suitable that bit more difficult! Equally, a plain white board could also be just a little bit too plain and perfect for displaying this kind of thing.

Hmmm...tricky!

I really liked the idea of getting a wooden board, painting it white but then sanding it back down slightly to reveal the wood grain through the paint again. Now we just had the problem of where to get a couple of planks of wood from that would be nice enough for us to have up on the wall but not finished or anything as we wanted to paint and then sand them.

Another couple of hours of searching the Internet later and we were still no nearer so I got far too frustrated with the idea and decided to forget it for a few minutes and just go for a wander about the house to take a break from it all for a few minutes. This was when we came across a set of shelves that we have up in our spare room (& used to have a set of down in our kitchen until we started decorating). This meant that we now have some spare shelves that we might be able to butcher for this very purpose.

We knocked the ends off the shelves first, we wouldn't need the brackets.

And then we could start with the fun bit - painting them!

Just one coat should do it I think as we want to sand them down anyway to reveal the wood grain back through now that they are painted

One done each and both sanded back down to reveal the wood grain throguh the white and voila. Two boards all ready.

Well almost! Now for the bit that I seemed to somehow get landed with...measuring them out and planning the spacing for the pins to get hammered into them. We worked out how big the largest of the checks is and made a plan around this. They ended up being 5cm squares with the marks for where the pins would go being 1cm from the top of each square & in the centre of the sideways measurement.

By placing this template and another identical one over the two boards that we had painted we then knew where each of the pins would need to go that the checks will hang on. And the fun can begin - the hammers are out!

My hammering skills weren't perfect but we both managed ok with knocking all of the pins in. There were a few slip ups with the hammers but this all adds to the character of the boards. That's what we're saying anyway! After a little bit of straightening of the pins we have two boards ready to go.

While my Dad was here with his drill at the weekend we asked him to put these up for us. They were originally going to go up in the kitchen but it was my Dads idea to have these up in the hall instead. They are there and ready to go now when you go in/out of the house as they would have been at the entrance to the pit. We have a nice little shelf out there where the other little mining bits that we have acquired can also go.

We have an old miners helmet that we have had for a while. We have recently added the lamp to this which we got with the white helmet on the right of this picture. The white helmet is a medics helmet hence why it has a Red Cross pained on the side of this one, we also have two lamps - one that would have been used (& is really battered!) and the other that is a miniature presentation lamp. We have a rebreather that would have been used in case of any emergencies down the mine and some union badges as well.

Triangles - a sneaky peak at a secret project

Tonight I started to cut out some triangles ready for a secret project that I am working on. I've had a thoroughly lovely evening all in all. I was able to sneak out of work about 10 minutes early so I missed all of the rush of people leaving the business park and was home nice and early. A lovely shower, and home ready for some time to play with my fabrics with a nice cold glass of cider that I really feel like I have earnt this week!

I started by working out the size of the triangle shapes that I want to work into a patwork for the front of my secret project. I decided on 2" tall triangles as the height of the panel that I need to make is 6". This should be roughly what it will look like when they are together

This all seemed like a great plan so I started to cut out my pieces. 3" triangles are definitely far too big! (The ones on the right)

I added my seam allowance to the 2" inch triangles that I had decided on and started work on cutting the triangles out. I had even remembered to add on half an inch to each edge for my seam allowance. I thought I was doing really well until my basic school maths kicked in and I realised that a triangle whose sides are all 2" long doesn't actually make a 2" tall triangles! Woops.

This triangle that I have cut looked tiny! Especially when I knew that there was a seam allowance still to come off of this. Plan B - 3" triangles that become 2.5" when the seam allowance is used. This means that each of the triangles should actually be about the 2" tall and therefore what I wanted in the first place. Hopefully they will be a lot easier to sew than these tiny ones too! Not too much fabric wasted luckily so some 3" triangles here we come.

The drink definitely helped the process along when I realised I had messed up!

I have a few types of triangles pre-cut now and ready to sew together.

And a few more cut into strips ready to become triangles tomorrow evening.

I love the colours and the patterns in these fabrics. I really hope that they will work together well as one panel.

I have already started to write a blog post about the full item that this is to become but I can't show you it all just yet. I really couldn't resist just showing off this little bit as I hope that this won't give it away too much.

Jammy!

On Saturday we bought some strawberries. This was during our afternoon/evening out with my parents to celebrate my birthday so was perhaps one of those ides that seemed better at the time than it maybe would have done under different circumstances. Hey ho - as always they probably were more intended for Henlow than for us to eat anyway and at the time that we walked past a market stall they were being sold off cheap.

When we looked at them again on Sunday morning - after they'd been dragged around with us playing mini golf, eating in a restaurant and to a fair few bars - they were starting to look ever so slightly worse for wear. There were a fair few out of the two punets that were good enough for us, ok again mostly Henlow, to eat but most of them were a little too mushy really.

So, for the first time ever, we decided to make jam with them. The recipe that we found online seemed fairly simple. Using a good, heavy bottomed pan, Chuck the strawberries in a pan and cook down for a few minutes.

Add a small amount of water (you can also use lemon juice if you don't want your jam to be quite as sweet) and then add equal quantity of sugar to the amount of strawberries that you started with.

This then has to be stirred in and brought to a rolling boil. Lower the heat slightly so it is still bubbling but will not boil over - do not stir any more! This is soo difficult to do but does work. We did stir very gently after about 10 minutes but this was just to release any strawberries that had stuck to the bottom.

Left to boil for 20 minutes (ish) and it begins to look a little bit like Jam. Keep checking it between 10 and 20 minutes.

To test if this is done, drop a small amount onto a cold plate (the recipe suggests leaving one in the freezer but we just ran it under a cold tap) and run your finger through the jam. If it wrinkles on the plate then the jam is ready.

Leave the jam to cool for about 10 minutes and remove any scum that forms on the top of the pan. Once this has cooled a little, pour into a sterilised jar to keep it fresh. Once the jam has cooled this can be put in the fridge.

Ideally this should be done in a non-stick pan but it can still be tricky to get the pan clean once you have finished. Try boiling some water with a dash of lemon juice in the pan if you are having trouble getting the pan clean. It should help to de-stick some of the remaining strawberries.

Normally I am not a huge fan of toast for breakfast but I have had jam on toast for the last two days and it has been absolutely lovely!

This is definitely well worth doing if you have some fruit that is going past its best before you have a chance to eat it raw.

Please comment and let me know how you get on if you try to make any jam yourself. I would particularly be interested if you have made jam with other fruits (although with Henlow we do tend to buy more strawberries than anything else!)

Birthday

This Thursday was my Birthday so a good time for treats for me. A couple of weekends ago I popped into the fabric guild to see if anyone there might be able to take a look at my sewing machine for me and see if they could fit s new wick. They didn't do it for me but the repair man from there told me that it was just a small piece of wool felt that I needed to cut and insert into the machine to perform the same function as the original wick. I was very pleased when my hubby offered to do this for me when we got home so I think that my machine should all be sorted now and good to go. We had no sewing machine oil when he did this but have today bought some in order to drop onto the wick and provide oil around the machine. This should be sorted now and good to go with some more sewing.

I also couldn't resist a little early birthday present to myself.

I came home with this little lot. Lots of fat quarters, some more off cuts of fabric, toy stuffing (after the chicken I was starting to run low!) and also some wadding. I got this ready for when I am able to finish and quilt the seat cover for the little corner seat in my crafty room/study.

I think that some of these spotty ones are great and will be really good to use for things such as the lining of bags etc

I was also spoilt with this little lot on my actual birthday from my family

My husband knows me too well - a new board game for us to play and a sewing book, "half yard heaven". This is a book of all things that I can make with small pieces of fabric such as the fat quarters that I keep buying! I got the DVD from my Aunty Sarah and the other fat quarters and mini sewing kit from my in-laws. All very thoughtful and lovely pressies.

These came on Friday from one of my best friends - also known far too well. I can't wait to get stuck into the toffee once all of the Easter chocolate has gone.

Lastly but by no means least - definitely the present that has taken the most time and effort and that realistically has come from a friend that probably knows me least well - this fantastic handmade bag.

Quilted all around the outside

And using fabrics that suit me really well. Lots of bright colours and bold patterns, nothing too girly or flowery and my favourite of all - the tortoises right in the middle of each side!

This is an amazing gift and I can't believe how much time and effort will have gone into this. The inside has 4 separate compartments to store things inside as well as three extra zipped sections too.

Each of the zipped copartments is lined with a different fabric.

These two outside ones with this chevron fabric and you've guessed it, saving the best til last - the middle one is linesd with none other than...the tortoise fabric from the front!

Inside the bag were also these little extra gifts as well as a handmade card sent with this as well.

The templates for the English paper piecing have certainly inspired me to pick up my mini diamond blanket that I started with some scraps last year and also possibly to try and machine see some patchwork in this shape instead of the squares that I have done for the seat cover so far.

The final part of my prezzy was a day out with my mum and dad yesterday, hence I have loved having a full 3/4 day birthday this year and haven't managed to blog about it before today. Thank you everyone for all of the lovely gifts and making me feel very special over the last few days.

I have a little project that I am planning on starting shortly - I have gathered all of the supplies that I need to make it today so hopefully I will be able to start this over the next week or so.

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny definitely came to my house yesterday & we had an absolutely lovely day.

When I got up I found that the Easter Bunny had left me a trail of eggs to find around the house (ok ok so I know I am far too old for things like that but where's the fun in being old?) starting with a trail that led me down the stairs. A little treat on each step

At the bottom of the steps there were more to find by the front door

There was even one hidden amongst my flowers!

A pink one that blends in far too well!

And some down by Henlows house.

Into the living room and the hen was guarding a few

And more on our paintings.

I had so much fun finding these (good haul for me!) that, for our friends that came round later in the day, instead of just giving them their eggs we did another similar hunt for them. We couldn't quite believe that they had never done an Easter egg hunt before! Crazy!

This time I helped to hide the eggs and found a few new hiding places for them too. A few on the mantle piece.

And some more hidden on the coffee table.

Even a really high one as well as a little wrapped gift for their little one

They definitely seemed to enjoy their first ever hunts and at least their daughter who is only 9 months old will be able to say that she has done an Easter egg hunt.

Later in the day we had a lovely roast dinner. A bit like at Christmas, I'm sure we'll be eating the leftovers for a few days too. We played some games and chilled out playing with the eggs that I had made for the Easter basket. One of them was definitely approved of and spent a lot of time in the little one's mouth! More adult games then took place later on and we tucked into the Easter cake that I had made.

It is our traditional cake that I like to make each year but, even if I do say so myself, this was a particularly good one!

We made this one with duck eggs instead of normal chicken eggs as we had heard that they were good for cakes. Our breakfast on Saturday consisted of one duck egg and one chicken egg each, on toast just to test them out. To eat they were lovely and fried the white came out a lot whiter and the yolk a lot creamier and richer in the duck egg that the chicken one. They definitely passed the cake test with this one was well. We will definitely be getting those again in future.

There were a few leftovers from decorating the cake

Well it would be rude not to finish them up!

Butter cream and mini eggs from a spoon does become pretty sickly pretty quickly though. I was happy we weren't going to be eating lunch until quite late after this in the morning.

This year is the first time to me that Easter has really felt like a big event and a lovely time was had by all. It really felt like a proper celebration day, like a second Christmas, and it was lovely to be able to spend it with friends too. I hope you all had a lovely day and are enjoying what remains of your holiday time.

Ooh - a little addition to add as well. As the weather has been so lovely this afternoon, Henlow has had his first outdoor adventure of the summer. He was properly running around as well and up to all kinds of mischief n the front garden, eating everything in his path. We couldn't take our eyes off him for even a few seconds. The sun has definitely filled him with energy and a desire to explore!

I'm really looking forward to letting him out of his house more this year. Hopefully he will be able to have free run of the hall a lot of the time throughout the summer.

Putting all of my eggs in one basket

The last couple of days I have really enjoyed just a bit of quiet time - peace and quiet to chill out completely and do exactly what I want to do. So I have spent much of this time sewing, watching more Cold Feet, lots of films and (slightly obsessively) crocheting eggs for my Easter basket.

I started off by sewing together the fabric pieces that I had cut for the wattle and comb

Turning these out the correct way and then lightly stuffing each piece before they would be ready to attach to the body of the chicken.

I had managed to get a piece of felt last weekend that my hubby (again to the rescue!) cut to the correct size and inserted into the bobbin race of my machine to keep it oiled. No problems with this again this weekend so I think that this has done the trick and fixed it. Thank you.

The wings were next to be completed. Again the two pieces of each wing were attached together and then turned out the correct way. These were also lightly stuffed and then the detail added for the wings. This comprised of sewing three lines into each wing to imply feathers.

The body itself in some ways wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had expected to sew together but I did have a few issues attaching the wattle to start with but this was mostly because I had misread the pattern and was therefor trying to attach this far higher up the face that it should have been.

After much swearing and unpicking, they were attached as they should have been.

The part that I thought was going to be the most difficult was attaching the bottom piece of the chicken onto the sides, especially when attaching the second side, but this seemed to work out fairly well. I think that this was something I had planned for before it became an issue and therefore it worked out about as well as I had planned.

After this, the rest of the project involved an awful lot more hand-sewing than I would have liked. I even managed to rope my hubby in to provide a little assistance earlier on when making the comb as I struggled with this on the sewing machine due to the points at the top of this. I did attach the wings myself using small stitches in the back of each one and a small beak.

The beak again, I had chosen to divert from the pattern to create. For this I had chosen a to cut two small tringles of fabric. I used a green section from he same fabric that I made the wings from. This had a chevron pattern on so I hoped that this would work to form accurately, the details of a beak. These two triangles were again sewn together by hand (too small and fiddly to do on the machine) and then stuffed.

I had at this point had enough of the hand-sewing so I didn't manage to finish the whole chicken yesterday. The beak and eyes were lift until today and then sewn on. Whilst attaching the beak I had to ensure that I folded the raw edges under so that these were not left on show. Quite a pretty face she has really I think

A fully completed chicken all ready to sit on her eggs

Any spare moment that I have had over the last couple of weeks seems to have been taken up by the making of eggs for her to sit on. Admittedly there hasn't been too much of that available during this time but I don't think I have come out with a bad number really.

Here they are in all of their different sizes

They were all made using the same pattern but just using different yarns and hook sizes.

The largest ones were made with 3 strands of double knit yarn all used together with a 10mm crochet hook. The next size were made using 3 strands of 4ply and a 8mm hook. The third largest eggs were made with 2 strands of double knit and a 6mm hook. Fourth is 2 strands of 4 ply with a 4.5mm hook and fifth is 1 strand of double knit with a standard 4mm hook. Finally, the tiniest eggs wee made with a single strand of 4ply with a 3mm hook. This is slightly smaller than would normally be used for 4ply but I wanted these ones in particular to be tightly crocheted so that no stuffing would be seen through the fine yarn.

My favourite of all of the eggs is this one I think. This was made using some left over multi-coloured 4ply sock yarn that I had just a small amount of leftover alongside some plain white.

These smallest ones were definitely the most fiddly to make but are very cute!

The eggs fill the basket quite nicely

And are all ready to be sat on by our lovely hen

I am really happy with the way that my decoration has turned out and am really looking forward to having a lovely day with friends tomorrow with our chicken, lots of eggs and a nice roast dinner to share too. Happy Easter everyone! I shall check in again in another couple of days to fill you in on the full celebrations.