Frugal Gardening

Friends told me that one of the local garden has a plant sale at the weekends. They sell off plans from 50p that are still OK to plant out but may be past their best to be charged a full price.

I picked up all these for £4. I used them to spruce up my pots & containers.

In the mix was a 50p pepper plant. Re-potted & with a bit of TLC in the greenhouse, it's doing very well.

Same goes for my 50p fuchsia.

I've been collecting pallets for free from work to use in the garden. I painted  a couple with left over paint from the garage.

The pallets made a stand for my collection of plant pots.

My frugal garden feature.

At last - A nice cup of tea & a sit down in the Garden

I've spent so many Sunday mornings this year working in the garden and today I finally got to sit down, relax enjoy the results of all the work.

To start the year I took a couple of months to chop back the trees a bit at a time. They burst into life as soon as spring arrived.

The same for the vines, which now provide shade over the decking.

 Once the weather picked up & the rain went away, I spent a couple of weekends cleaning & sealing the decking. I've planted up the flower tubs & planted vegetables.

Last week end's job was to paint the little shed.

So finally, after an early trip out to get new car tyres, I finally got to spend a Sunday morning, just sitting & chilling in the garden. One of life's simple pleasures. 

Joined by Billy - a master of just chilling.

Breakfast from the Garden

I've just picked the first of the raspberries & strawberries from the garden. Accompanied by low fat yogurt it was the perfect breakfast on a sunny summer morning. 

 I'm hoping for a good crop of raspberries this year. 

I was hoping for lots of strawberries as well but the squirrels have been at them.

Not only eating them but burying them. Another job for my list- construct a squirrel proof cage for the soft fruit !

Make do & Mend weekends

I decided that before I start on any more art & craft projects that I should tackle all the jobs that I've been putting off. So, I've had 2 or 3 make do & mend weekends. I've mended about 5 pairs of trousers, sewing on buttons, mending holes & I've been through lots of old paperwork. 

I've been meaning to recover the dining room chairs since last summer when I decorated the living room.

A 25% off weekend at the Fabric Warehouse was a good excuse to finally update them to a silver grey to match the room. 4 chairs recovered for under £10.  

The job that was really bugging me, was the bare patch of wall where the old boiler used to be. I've been looking at for nearly 2 years.

I painted over it with some left over paint I found in the garage.The pin board that I made at the Fabric Warehouse was always going to help fill the space on the wall. I have a friend who loves to travel and always sends a postcard. I've saved them over the years so that I could do something with them.The postcards help finish the cover up. The corner's tidied up now without having to re-plaster or redecorate the whole room - a very frugal make do & mend.

1st Steps in Quilting - Part 2

A few more Sunday afternoons & I had enough square blocks to make my quilt.

I laid them out on the floor & Bea helped me to decide the final pattern.

        

I sewed the blocks into rows & labeled them, then sewed the rows together.

After a lot of sewing & ironing the quilt top was put together.

.

I taped it right side down to the kitchen floor & sprayed it with 505 temporary spray adhesive.

I sandwiched some wadding between the quilt top & the backing - an old duvet cover that I cut up. It's upside down to most of the advise on the internet but it work for me.

Everything was pinned in place before I removed the tape and lifted it all from the floor. To finish off I quilted the large blocks by sewing over the existing seams and then turned the edge of the backing over to form a border. 

My finished frugal  quilt. It cost me less than £7.50. I only bought the wadding and some thread. Everything else was from my fabric stash.  

Billy - doesn't help with the making but always approves of the finished item.

Pin Boards on Mother's Day

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day this year. I took Mum out for breakfast which was a good start to the day. Later, my daughter & I went on a pin board making course at

The Fabric Warehouse

All the craft sessions at The Fabric Warehouse start with a nice cup of tea.

We were each given a plain pin board.

 There was a wonderful choice of fabrics to use.

The boards were covered with wadding and then with the fabric. 

We covered buttons with a contrasting fabric.

Then it was time for another cup of tea.

Ribbon & buttons attached.

I finished the backing when we got home, whilst watching the Grand Prix & having another cuppa. 

Our 2 finished boards & a perfect Mother's Day.

1st Steps in Quilting - Part 1

I have a small mountain of fabric off cuts left over from other sewing projects. Quilting seemed like a good idea to use up the fabric & make something to snuggle up with on a cold night.

I made a 5 inch square cardboard master template and from that a paper template which I used to cut the squares of fabric. As soon as I started to cut the squares I knew that wanted a rotary cutter & a cutting mat, but I was determined not to spend any money on this project so carried on with my paper pattern & scissors. 

I took pictures of the 9 squares as I cut them out to help me remember which order to sew them in.

The seams need to be pressed flat at the back as the squares are sewn together. I normally avoid ironing unless it's absolutely necessary, so I found this part of the process quite tricky.

My first finished square.

The 9 patch squares were cut into quarters to make the blocks.

After 2 Sunday afternoons of sewing I'd made 28 squares and I could see a quilt beginning to form. A few more Sunday afternoons and I should have a finished quilt.

Things I've learnt on my frugal journey

I need my virtual support group
There's lots of advice out there on the web about budgeting. I can create the most fabulous spreadsheets showing how much money come in & goes out but that didn't change my habits. With help from Martin Lewis' moneysavingexpert.com I shopped around for 0% credit cards to help clear my debts. I repeated his mantra 'Do I need it? Can I afford it?' 
Frugal Queen inspired me to shop more methidically & cook more. With a freezer full of home cooked food I could ignore the call of the chippy after a hard day at work. 
Chanel 4's Super Scrimpers & Kirsty programs were full of money saving tips of things to do & make.


Half it, double it
This is a tip that I picked up from from Super Scrimpers. If a tube of hand cream appears to be empty cut it in halve. There's still loads left. I was amazed how much hand cream & toothpaste I'd been throwing away. NowI used up ever last bit.



Wood working
My dad gave me some basic instructions years ago, but I'm mainly self taught. OK,  I've only made a few shelves and a 1950's record player prop, but I think I now have enough basic skills to tackle boxing in the bathroom pipes.

Tree Maintenance
When I was first on my own I got someone in to cut the trees back. It cost £130. I don't have that spare money now. I've learnt as I go along. The first few years I just hacked them back, but now I can see they've grown all twisted where I haven't cut them back properly.  

I now have a better understanding of how they grow & how to look after them and I'm much more confident in cutting them back. Last autumn I even cut a tree down following the instructions from James May's Manlab. (It's not just for men). 

Make do & Mend
I've always tried to make do & mend with my clothes, but now I'm mending the mending on some things. The pocket on these trousers had been mended a few times. I added a patch to cover the mending & reinforce the fabric, saving the trousers yet again from the bin.  

 I've also mended draw runners, re-grouted & sealed the shower. 

Being debt free was just the start of my journey to staying debt free.

But most importantly ..............

Keep Calm and Carry On