Making Props - 1950's record player

I volunteered to help with the preparations for the school's production of Grease. I was asked if I could make a 1950's record player. I said yes although I'd never made anything like it before & wasn't sure where to start. I like a challenge and how hard can it be? 

I didn't have to buy anything to make it. I used off cuts of MDF & wood and anything else I could find in the garage.

I made a box to start with & cut a top to fit. I didn't bother with a base to keep the weight down.

I made a template out of paper & drew out the shape of the speaker on the front panel. 

 I stuck some calico to a scrap of MDF to make the speaker. 

 Drew a grid on it & stuck the MDF behind the hole that I'd cut in the front panel.

The knobs were made from 2 toothpaste tube lids. These were screwed to the front next to the speaker panel.

The turntable was made from the lid of a tin of chocolates.

Painted black & screwed to the top.

 It took me ages to decide how to make the arm. Like so many of my good ideas the answer came to me whilst I was stuck in commuter traffic on the way home from work. I used a wooden coat hanger. It had just the right amount if curve for the arm. 

I bolted it to the top using a stack of washers to get it to the right height.

Ready for it's stage debut. 
I won't win any woodwork prizes, but it looked just fine on stage. 

Duvet Cover

I've been busy decorating for a couple of months and haven't had much time for art & craft. This is a project that I completed before the decorating started. I'd been looking out for some new bedding since I was burgled last year and my bedroom was rummaged through.

As ever, I didn't want to spend too much money, and I struggled to find something that I liked. In the end, I decide to buy a plain bedding set, which I got in a sale, and then use some of the insurance money to buy some fabric to enhance it.

I got a top quilting tip from one of my favourite bloggers Frugal Queen to sew strips of fabric together.

Then cut across the strips to form squares. Much quicker & easier than sewing all the individual squares together. I then rejoined the strips to make the patchwork pattern.  

It took me quite a long time to centre the panel on the duvet cover. I had to move furniture to create enough floor space to lay the duvet cover. The cats kept trying to help .

I spray tacked the quilt section in place & then sewed it to the duvet cover. 

I trimmed the edge of the panel with navy blue ribbon.

I went for a simple gingham panel on each pillow case.

I trimmed I edge of the panel with the same ribbon I used on the duvet.

As usual I got a lot of help from the cats.

The finished project.

Brian has a well earned rest after all his help. 

Make & Take at the Fabric Warehouse

One of my favourite shops, The Fabric Warehouse, has recently moved premises and now has a workshop where they are running Make & Take classes, in all sorts of craft. I signed up for Home Made Hearts and took mum along.

 We started off with a cup of tea, which is always a good start

The session was 2 hours long so Victoria, the tutor, had made up a kits

 for everyone on the course consisting of 2 large calaco hearts with a fabric heart attached with bondaweb and a calaco panel. We also had some thread and some buttons.

We wrote a slogan on the calaco panel.

Then we back stitched over the writing. 

Everyone on the course had different levels of sewing experience and 

Victoria helped us all with tips & advise.   

                          

I added some buttons & crocheted flowers to decorate my heart.

Once the front of the heart was finished we machine sewed the back to the front

 with the right sides together leaving a gap at the top.

The hearts were turned the right way out and the gap was over sewn to close. 

They were finished off with a ribbon hanger & a bow.

We finished the session with a bit of cake. The perfect end to a very enjoyable couple of hours and some quality time with mum - something I don't do often enough.

Medieval Nosegay

 

Today we visited the annual  Medieval Festival at Manor Farm in Ruislip. Manor Farm is a local heritage site where there once stood a Motte & Bailey fort. Nowadays it's home to craft work shops, farmers markets & craft markets.

I found the Adult Education table in the main Barn. Natalie, one of the floristry tutors asked me if I'd like to make a nosegay and never missing a opportunity to make something,  I had a go.

A nosegay is a small posy of flowers. In medieval times when they were carried or worn on lapels or around the head to mask unpleasant smells.

 I was given some lavender ,a small rose, an ivy leaf and some twine.

 Just had to arrange the flowers as  I liked and then tie the twine around them.

 

I love it when I get to take a make home from a trip out.

Frugal Food - Just do with what I have July

Like a lot of people, I'm being extra careful with my money. 

I tried to be as frugal as possible this month.

One of my favourite bloggers, Frugal Queen, announced that she was having a 'Just do with what I have July'. She challenged her followers  to share recipes & menu plans to use up what was in the store cupboards to create frugal food.

Here is my humble effort.

Firstly I made a batch of carrot soup using left over carrots from the fridge. This time last year I would probably have thrown the carrots away. Instead I got a month' s worth of Saturday lunches. I frozen them in individual portions.  

Left over peppers & onions where thrown into the slow cooker with beans to make a curry. 5 dinners to be frozen. 

I love my slow cooker and often at weekend I will make a make a batch of chilli or curry, have some for dinner and freeze the rest. I've then got quick tasty meals to have when I get in from work. I just need to add any spare fresh veg to the chilli & serve with a jacket potato. 

These are my 15p Beany Burgers. It's one of Frugal Queen's receipes. I think mine cost a bit more that 15p a burger but no more than 20p. Half a pack of Aldi noodles (9p) with some frozen pepers (5p) and a handful lettuce from the greenhouse and it's another dinner for less than £1. I made batch of burgers and froze enough for another 5 dinners.

I make my own pizza now. It costs about £1.50. Friday night used to mean a trip to the chip shop but it's often pizza on a Friday night now.

Macaroni cheese is another  favourite.

Served with lettuce & tomatoes from the greenhouse.

And my favourite dinner of all - jacket potato, beans & cheese. I always have the ingredients for that in stock. 

I've eaten home cooked meals most days and they all cost less than £1.