Sanctuary, Sanctuary!!

My ears need sanctuary today from the noise of the Flooring People removing the tiles downstairs in my living and dining rooms! (Not that the men themselves are making the noise you understand, just the machine they're using.) However, the sanctuary in the title is my newly refurbished bedroom.

 In August 2011 things had got so bad with my husband's alcoholism that I couldn't bear sharing a room with him anymore, so I bought myself a bed from a charity shop and moved into the tiny spare room. The main bedroom was just awful - food, urine, blood and faecal stains on the carpet, the bed broken where he'd fallen on it so many times, and the smell!!!! Urrgghh! This tramp, this unwashed, unshaven stranger who used to be my loving husband.....  

Anyway, a few months after God took him home for healing, I decided to reclaim the room as a joyous, peaceful sanctuary. I ripped out the carpet and dismantled the bed. I took down the built-in wardrobe (which I'd never liked) and gave it all a thorough clean. I decided to paint the walls a healing green, a Springtime colour. It needed several coats as the original colour was deep pink on one wall, and lavender blue on the others. I had new doors fitted on all the upstairs rooms - most of them used to stick or wouldn't shut properly. I had the beautiful wooden floor sanded, stained and sealed, and I vowed to furnish it with used items as far as possible - and to leave a big space in the middle for dancing prayers!!

So, at long last, here it is.....

On the outside of the door is this beautiful plaque 

which my daughter brought back from her visit to Ireland....

...and on the back of the door are some Shaker style pegs.

The head of the bed is in the niche that used to be the built-in wardrobe. During the day the bed is covered to protect against muddy paw prints.

This is a close up of the pretty coverlet I bought from Sainsburys.

Here is the bed without the protection - as modelled by Bramble, who wanted to see what I was up to. I made the duvet cover and pillowslip myself, using a beautiful yellow gingham with daisies  fabric, an old white sheet, and some little yellow ribbon roses. It doesn't really show properly in the picture, unfortunately.

The curtains are made of the same fabric. When the sun shines through it's like daffodils in Springtime!

Above my bed hangs this lovely cross, bought on a visit to Walsingham. It has the Lord's Prayer on it, and is so bright and colourful.

The bedside cabinet came from the shop at our local recycling plant. On it you see two Bibles (KJV and GNB), alarm clock, reading glasses, pen and paper - for thoughts that occur in the night!

Here is a chest of drawers for clothes, with a mirror, hairbrush and rosary on top - and Luna's back end as she passes by!

This beautiful old chest of drawers is another charity shop find. On top is an old dressing table set I got from Ebay a few years ago.

Here is a close-up of the back of the clothes brush, so you can see the embroidered (silk?) back.

My lovely little wardrobe, and a stand, both charity shop finds. I have to tie the handles together to stop certain kitties from trying to find their way to Narnia then getting trapped cos I haven't noticed they're there.

This Ottoman belonged to hubby's parents. 

My lovely, lovely wash stand!! It's actually a tea trolley that belonged to hubby's Gran. On the top layer is an enamel bowl from Ebay, enamel jug from QD, soap dish from charity shop and home made deodorant. In the middle is a towel and flannel, and at the bottom is a metal bucket for used water, covered with an old towel, dyed, and used to stand on when I wash. (Also useful to stop a daft Bramble from trying to drink the soapy water!) I soooooo love taking my time with my morning ablutions in my own room, and it will be really useful on a hot Summer's day to just refresh myself here.

Look how pretty the soap dish is!

I've always wanted a bureau! This is another charity shop find. You must think the charity shops near me are bulging with such bargains, but sometimes I have waited months before finding what I wanted.

Inside. The ink stand was bought from Ebay several years ago - it's good to have a proper place for it now.

On top of the bureau is this Willow Tree figure. I love the simplicity of the Willow Tree 'sculptures', the way feelings are shown by the inclination of the head and position of the body. When I had come to terms with being on my own, I bought this figure because she represents me in my new phase of life - she is thoughtfully sitting, contemplating God and the simple life He has given her, serene and content.

And, finally, a picture I intend to hang when I can find where I have put the hammer and nails. The picture itself was found by Google image search, and the quote is from an online story by my lovely web friend, Ember. In case you can't read it, here is a close-up...

So there we are......hope you enjoyed the tour, and may all who read this post find their own places of serenity and sanctuary  x x 

July goings on.

July has been a busy month so far. 


Inspired by this book:

I thought I'd have a go at bottling (or 'canning' in America) gooseberries. I bought some from a PYO farm I came across to eke out the ones I grew myself.

I used my new preserving pan to sterilise the jars and lids, with a tea towel folded at the bottom as instructed. 

Topping and tailing the gooseberries was rather tedious, but necessary. Miss Read, in her Fairacre series of books, says she uses a pair of nail scissors but I prefer my knife.

I packed each jar with fruit then added hot syrup (Just sugar and water). I screwed on the lids and slightly loosened them, then lowered them into the hot water and brought the water to 88 degrees Celsius for the amount of time it said (20 mins I think - it varies, depending on the fruit used).

The finished result. Now that the fruit has softened there is loads of room left in the jars!

 I was amazed at how the jar lids dimpled down, indicating a vacuum has formed. When you think about it this is just the same process as tinned fruit that you buy in the shop. 


I'm very excited about all this! I love seeing the pictures of Amish cupboards filled with jars of produce, and I love the thought of preserving food without needing a freezer. I've bought some smaller Kilner jars to preserve rhubarb, chopped peaches and chopped pears. I would like to preserve vegetables, soups and stews this way too but, due to low acid content and the danger of botulism therefore, I would need to get a special canning pressure cooker for these.


This month in the veggie garden, after weeks of rain:


First potatoes dug up.

Courgettes (zucchini) are forming. Had to pick these a bit smaller than usual due to slugs nibbling the skins off!

My one remaining Pumpkin plant is now flowering. It always amazes me just how big Squash flowers are! I caught this one in the morning; by midday it had curled up again.

The mint plants, which grow wherever the mower can't reach, are also coming into flower. The bees LOVE them!

And finally my 3 'helpers'....


Bramble,

Luna,

and Flopsy.

What have you been up to this month?

Veggies, water and washing

Some piccies from my garden today...

Busy washing day! Boil washed my un-paper towels, then hot washed towels, hand washed 3 things and ordinary washed the rest - 3 linen lines worth. I love to see washing blowing in the wind. It connects me with all the women all over the world, all through the past, who have cared for their families by washing their clothes.

I have two water butts but they have yet to be connected to the drain pipes. Still, I leave the lids off to collect what they can and......

.... I leave all this out to collect more rain then pour them into the water butts. This has really transformed my attitude to rainy days from gloom to excitement. I love harvesting the rain God sends!

The St. John's Wort is living up to its name by blooming in time for St. John's day. (June 24th) Picture is slightly blurry, sorry.

Mint grows wherever the lawnmower can't reach.

The potatoes are flourishing - looking forward to the first dig!

By contrast the beans are really struggling. This is the second sowing, 24 bean seeds each time, and only 3 have made it. 

The strawberries are beginning to ripen, a few at a time; not enough for a bowlful yet.

Apples are swelling on my new Jonagold tree.

The onions are coming along nicely - apart from the one I accidentally chopped with the hoe. Oops!

The courgettes have survived the slug attack....

..... but this is the only one of 3 pumpkin plants to survive the chomping molluscs.

The gooseberries are almost ready to pick!




And finally, two nosey pets who just had to come and have a look....

Luna, our little girl cat....

...and Flopsy, peeking coyly over his shoulder.


Hope you've had a good day too!  x x

Green deodorant update

Well, I promised you an update after a week and.........IT WORKS!!! I can't believe it but it really does work!  (In case you didn't catch the original post, here's the link...)


I mixed one spoonful of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in USA) with 6 spoonfuls of cornflour (cornstarch in USA) in a little container which I keep in the bathroom. Each morning, when I've done my usual ablutions, I dampen my underarms then use my still damp fingers to pat the powder on till it feels dry. I do this leaning over the sink in case I spill any. It doesn't mark my clothes and it keeps me fresh and dry all day. It even worked when I did my exercise class - the rest of me got hot and sweaty (as it should if it's doing me any good) but there was no smell and no pit stains! (sorry if I'm being gross here) AMAZING!!!


And, of course, as well as needing no throwaway plastic container it is so cheap to buy. I reckon the amount I mixed will probably last a month or so, easily; and there's loads left in the packets I bought. Wow!


Sorry if I'm sounding a bit evangelical about all this but I can't believe how well it worked.  To think of all the money I spent on useless chemical formulas in planet polluting packaging.... (Ooh, good bit of alliteration there.)  Bet this is something the cosmetics companies want to keep veeerrrry quiet!   ;-)

Homemade nightie

I needed a new nightdress: my old one was developing holes where it had worn thin on the back. Remembering the works of art some girls created for needlework CSE at my school in the 1970s,  I wanted to make one myself, a long, old fashioned nightie, but hand sewing it. I found a pattern for beginners:

Now what fabric should I use? Cotton was recommended by the pattern envelope but I wanted something a bit warmer. Fleece was too warm, so I went for a kind of jersey fabric. As usual I bought everything from my local haberdashery, The Fent Shop. Oh how I love the Fent Shop!!! It's an Aladdin's cave of fabrics, threads, wool, curtains, embroidery supplies, buttons, ribbons, and hundreds of other things too. I can spend hours there just looking at it all! Best of all it's run in the old-fashioned way, with assistants who know what they're talking about, who add up how much you've spent by writing the sum on the brown paper bag your goods are packed in.


Anyway, back to the nightie....there were two kinds of fabric which seemed warm enough: one was blue with sheep on, but the one I chose was creamy with chickens on it! It was not an easy fabric to cut out or sew because it was so stretchy, but I persevered. I adapted the pattern, choosing to make the sleeves with cuffs on the end instead of elastic, and accentuating the buttonholes and some other bits with contrasting red thread which matched the chickens' red combs.


Soooooooooooo are you ready for this??? Ta da!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!  It's just the right length and is so warm and cosy.


 I intended to use 4 bright red buttons but only had one, so Daughter and I searched my button box and chose some favourites. These were intended to be temporary, till I had chance to pop into town again but I decided I rather liked the eccentricity of 4 different buttons  ;-)

You won't find anyone else wearing a nightie covered in chickens with 4 different buttons, that's for sure!! Hee hee!!