Travel Bag for my Crochet

I like to carry some knitting or crochet with me when I'm out & about. Usually I just throw some wool & needles into a small carrier bag. The Argos catalogue bags are favourites.

In my Christmas Stocking last year was a fat quarter of fabric and some ribbon.

I made a simple drawstring bag.

I put pockets inside for scissors & finished granny squares.

So simple to make. I can just throw it in my handbag or work bag and always have my crochet with me.

Laura's Handmade Life Chicks

I'm not a big reader. I'd rather be crocheting or knitting if I'm sitting down to relax. I picked up this book while back mainly due to the bunting & teacups on the cover. 

I recently had to commute to work on the train rather than drive so I had some time to read it. Laura, of the title, makes bags and other things from vintage fabrics. She makes chicks for her family for Easter. There's a pattern for the chicks at the back of the book.

I just had to have a go a making them.

 

Keeping true to the book I used fabric from my stash.
 
The finished chicks. One for Mum & one for my daughter for Easter.

I'm Back Online

I had interment problems with my phone line & internet that started at the beginning of December. By the New Year, it had just about given up completely. I swapped suppliers & have been back online for a couple of weeks. So 2016 got off to a slow start. With no internet, I had more time to sit & crochet. I spent cold, dark evenings working on my Attic 24 Coast Ripple Blanket. I hope to finish it by Easter. 

  I'm being careful with money at the moment. I haven't started any major DIY projects, but have done a few make-do-and-mend ones.

This lampshade broke a while ago. The shade part kept falling out of the fixing. I ran some stitches around it screwed it back together & it's holding together nicely.

 I fixed a broken picture frame with a piece of ribbon.

I've made a draught excluder for the front door and started making a curtain for the back door. Hopefully it'll keep a bit more heat in.

And finally, I organised my wool colours as inspired by Lucy on Attic 24. 

Goodbye 2015

So often I can't wait for the new year to start as I can't wait for the old year to be behind me. This year is different. I look back on 2015 as a great year.

Apart from a minor blip with an unexpected vet bill, I have remained debt free and intend to continue doing so. 

My major task this year was was to remortgage & remove the ex from the mortgage & house deeds. Such a relief when it was all done.

I faced my biggest car repair ever, but had the money put away to cover it.

I've tackled DIY tasks that have long needed doing.

My frugal journey continues but my budgeting allows for a bit of living as well. We had a VIP trip to Les Miserables to celebrate my daughter's 18th birthday. All saved and budgeted for.

We had a relaxing holiday on the Isle of Wight where we walked alpacas & fed wallabies. Holidays are important family time to me. I have a small budget for them but it's worth every penny.

I kitted her out for university  She worked so hard to get there.We went to see Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet to celebrate the end of her A levels.

I've improved my crochet skills by doing courses at The Fabric Warehouse.

All in all 2015 has been a good year. Here's to 2016. Happy New Year!

Bathroom Makeover - Part 1

The room in my house referred to as the 'downstairs bathroom' doesn't actually have a bath or shower in it. It's on 2015 hit list. It was originally the kitchen, was briefly a utility room and then started its life as a bathroom.

It never got finished and a few years ago, a leaking toilet meant that I have to have the toilet & bath taken out & and an off-the-shelf toilet & sink put in. It was the first time that I'd employed a plumber. I was never happy with the work but have been living with for about 5 years.

For the last few years it's been Top Gear & Stig themed, complete with a Cool Wall,  which I did for a laugh as I was fed up with the state the room was in. Due to the demise of Top Gear as we know it was time for a change. 

I found an old roll of the wallpaper in the garage so I papered over the 'Some say...'. I've saved money by using vouchers that I can buy through work. I bought some MDF panels from Wickes to cover the wall that really needed to be re-plastered where the bath had been. I bought new skirting board from the local wood yard. They cut it to the right length for me & I only paid for what I needed. 

Some new wallpaper, bought with vouchers, to cover the slogans on the wall.

The wall above the door had been bare brick with a big gap since the door was installed. I boxed it in using bit's of spare MDF & wood. The wallpaper covers over my rather messy DIY.

I'm going to build a cupboard to box in the piping & stop cock.

The waste pipe also needs boxing in.

This will have to wait until 2016 due to recent car repair & cat repair bills.

Watch this space.......

Scrappy Draught Excluder

Another item on the 2015 to do list was tidy up the lobby by the back door, It's been a bit of a dumping ground over the years. The back door was also in need of some TLC.

Once I'd cleared all the junk out, I could get to the door, sand it down & give it a couple of coats of varnish. 

The lobby can be cold & there's quite a draught that comes in around the door. This has been wasting me money as my heat escapes. I put some sticky back draught excluder around the door frame.

The longer term plan is to make a door curtain to help to keep the heat in. 

That's going to take a while to finish so I made scrappy draught excluder for the bottom of the door from leftovers from other projects.

 I covered a length of pipe insulation with some wadding.

 I just tucked the ends of the wadding into the tube.

Final Step was to cover it all in fabric. It took less than 2 hours to make and cost me nothing.

Holding back the draught & helping me be a bit more frugal.

Off to University

Saturday was a big day for us. I took my daughter off to university. She's spent the last two years working hard to get the A'level grades that she needed. I've also been planning for university life for months to spread the costs.

Each week I've bought and extra item with the weekly shop & stored it away. The loft has been busting with boxes & bags for weeks.

I made a quilt using mostly scraps of old fabric. I had to buy a few new bits.  It was backed with an old duvet cover.

New duvets were bought using Tesco points when they were worth double. I got a summer & winter duvet for £7.50 worth of vouchers.

And that's how it all fits in a Citroen C1.