Rewind

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL.
I'm hoping by now any sore heads are a distant memory and everyone is feeling wide awake positive for the new year ahead.
Although I don't want to tempt fate, the Hotchpotch household has managed to steer clear of the dreaded sickness bug and apart from the odd cough and sniffle we have stayed relatively healthy.

I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to followers/loiterers old and new and to anyone who has left a comment or kind word. I never realised how addictive this blogging malarkey would become, and I for one am more than happy to be an addict!
Through blogging I have realised that there are plenty of like minded people out there and this has given me the confidence to be happy in my own skin, doing my own thing.
I have done vintage/handmade fairs and opened up an etsy shop (o.k I might have only sold one thing but we will gloss over that!) but I have sold things at the fairs to people who return time and time again to buy purchase my wares.
I have met some fantastic, kind and generous people and Iv'e even met a 'real life' friend through blogging and to say she makes me laugh out loud is somewhat of an understatement (you know who you are!)
Anyway that's enough gushing for now.

2012 brought it's ups and it's downs.....I'm pleased to say mainly ups.

Here was my 2012 in pictures

Of course who could forget the amazing Jubilee Celebrations and the Olympics which I absolutely loved.
As you can see, I am a girl of simple pleasures and I can't see this changing any time soon.

So here's to lots more blogging in 2013 (hopefully I might learn how to take better photographs but don't hold your breath!!!)

: )

I want my mojo back

As you have probably noticed the blog looks very different, not because I fancied a change but bloomin blogger is playing up again. It was o.k while I could still use the old blogger interface but it decided to update itself and my background is no longer. I suppose it's somewhere out there, oh well I suppose a change is as good as a rest or whatever it is they say!


Life is a little up and down at the moment, it's been a week since our girls were taken from our garden and I'm still finding it hard to come to terms with the loss, I miss their clucking and scratching around and generally making a mess of Mr. H's lawn,  I miss them getting under my feet when I'm hanging out the washing and the garden seems so empty without them. We desperately want to get some more but are so afraid that the scummy little sods will return, I don't think I could bear it, the whole experience has left me feeling very vulnerable at the moment and I can't seem to shake off the feeling.

I have been keeping myself busy at work which has helped and I'm busy at home preparing for Mary's Marvellous Vintage and Craft Market this weekend. It's a fabulous fair full of beautiful things and I always enjoy being part of it.
 I haven't  had time to make anything for this fair  as I have been so busy at work ( In the space of a year I have gone from working 12 hours a week to 25) but I have lots of lovely vintagey bits and bobs to take along.
I'm hoping to sell these, Iv'e had them over a year now and never worn them so it's time to part company.

Ive also sorted through a few bits of embroidery I acquired  when I worked at the convent. I have kept quite a lot and I plan to finish them but there were so many that I know I will never get around to doing them all.

My lovely friend Little Adele will be popping down in the afternoon so I'm sure we will make time for tea and cake and a good catch up.

Mr. H will be collecting something very exciting later today that we spotted last weekend at Elsecar Antique Centre , it needs a little T.L.C but it had our name written all over it so a fiver deposit sealed the deal along with a promise to return Friday to collect it.
You may remember in my last post I mentioned  The button Tin and the fabulous day I spent there, well I haven't forgotten I just haven't got around to uploading the photos yet but I promise it will be worth the wait.... I just hope my snaps will do the place justice.

speaking of snaps I must apologise for the lack / quality of photos, blogger is not satisfied with buggering up my settings it's now decided it won't upload my pics in the usual way..........AAARRRGGGHHHHHH!

I'm also hoping there will be a TAH DAH coming up very soon, Iv'e been a busy bee threading in ends on my granny square camper van blanket but just as I was getting close to finishing I ran out of wool so in the mean time Iv'e been using up scraps and making coat hanger jackets, the perfect project now the nights are drawing in.

Hopefully I will be back very soon with lots of pictures and feeling slightly more cheery.

: /

What I did last week

Crikey I'm supposed to be on holiday, surely that means relaxing with a magazine or two, or maybe a little bit of hooky time or perhaps putting my feet up with not so little H and watching a film....alas this has not been the case and last week I was busier than ever (this week also seems to be heading in the same direction)

On Tuesday we celebrated little H's 12th birthday and as usual the sun shone, he didn't want a party at home this year and his football plans went slightly awry when only seven people confirmed due to being on their summer holidays (oh dear not enough to make two teams) so we had to cancel. Instead we had cream tea and ice creams with grandma in the botanical gardens and he bought a scooter he'd had his eye on so he was a happy chappie.

The cake was a bit of a rush and usually I put much more effort in but it tasted truly scrumptious, especially the day after when the marshmallows went all soft and gooey.


Wednesday I tootled over to Swinton to paint a friend's bathroom. I love a bit of decorating whereas she doesn't and it only took a few hours so it wasn't too bad and she loved it.
As for Thursday well I had been planning to pop down Meadowhell (as we locals call it) to the opening of Cath Kidston. I had been anticipating this day for weeks and had it all planned, I was going to get there early as I was predicting a queue, I was going to take a leisurely stroll around child/man child free and soak up the atmosphere and maybe make a little purchase or two BUT........... in a crazy moment of madness I decided I would clear out the spare room instead... WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!

I really can't explain my actions other than I couldn't bear to walk past it and see the pile of stuff gradually making it's way through the door ( I kid you not) onto the landing. I would normally just close the door and ignore it for a few more days but as the stuff was now creeping toward the landing and blocking the doorway I couldn't even do that.
There was only one thing for it...... I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in.
So Cath was put on hold for a couple more days and Mr. H breathed a sigh of relief.

This was taken during the big tidy up just as I was beginning to lose the will to live.


I'm still not totally happy with end result as there is still too much furniture in there but for the moment its clean and tidy and everything is in it's place.

As some of you know, we recently lost two of our three hens, first Bob then Hirsty so poor old Dame Judi was left bereft and pining, so on Saturday we decided to get her a mate with a view to getting three more when we return from our hols. Although we would have preferred to get more battery rescue hens we decided to steer clear for now as they can come with so many problems and cause too much heartache as we have found out to our cost : (

So here she is......Bobby our new girl.

I think maybe Bruce is in luuuuurve!


Our sad experiences haven't deterred us from hen keeping as they are so much fun and really rewarding but for now it as certainly put us off taking in battery rescue hens which is such a shame, maybe when we are more experienced.

Yesterday Mr. H and I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary, yes we have been married seven whole years and although it's very lovely to be married, seven years is nothing really when you consider we have been together for twenty five years *GULP!
When I say celebrated what I actually mean is we did our usual Sunday thing......Car booting, so actually not celebrating at all really!
I don't mind as we are saving our hard earned pennies at the moment as we go on our hols in a couple of weeks and as usual the camper a.k.a the money pit has had to have some work done, as anyone who has an old vehicle knows, what starts off as a little job turns into a rather large job resulting in being a few hundred pounds worse off : (

By the way how amazing was the opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games.

I have never been more proud to be British...apart from William and Kate's wedding obviously!!!

: )

Three become one

It's been another tough week for us this week as new chicken keepers.
Hirsty started to look slightly off colour on Monday after she laid and egg minus the shell. We did everything it said in the books to help her as the broken shell can cause problems if not passed or retrieved.
She carried on eating and drinking but became a little lethargic, however on Wednesday she seemed to pick up and was back to her normal self, foraging around oblivious to Bruce's obsession with bottom sniffing.
Yesterday however she looked peaky again and stayed in the same spot under the hedge nearly all day, she carried on drinking but had no interest in food.
Mr H put her to bed early last night hoping she would be better this morning but when he went to check on her before work this morning she had died.
I'm not sure I am cut out for this chicken keeping malarkey, one minute they are running free around the garden as happy as Larry and then the next minute they are sick and dying. I really hope it's nothing we are doing and more to do with their former lives as battery hens.


God Bless you Hirsty and I hope you enjoyed your few weeks of freedom : (

School's (almost) out

YAY school holidays are just around the corner which also means I'm off work for 6 whole weeks *does celebratory dance.
I appreciate that I am one of the lucky ones as I have never had to worry about childcare as my previous job at the Convent allowed me to take (not so) little H along.
My current job is term time only so again I don't have to worry about who is going to look after him while I am at work, especially now when he is at an age where he doesn't need looking after as such but still needs supervising.

I made a list, it's a very long list of all the things I hope to do while I'm off, what I will actually achieve is another story altogether!
Here are just a few of of the things on THE LIST

1. over haul spare room which is currently a dumping ground for my junk AHEM important craft supplies.

2. try new recipes as I will have all day to rustle up something interesting... fish fingers will be banished to the back of the freezer and saved for emergencies only (like when I forget iv'e put something interesting in the oven and burn it to a cinder!)

3. watch a film at least one afternoon a week.... without nodding off

4. Get at least half way down the W.I.P's basket.

5. take (not so) little H clothes shopping for the holidays.

6. rob a bank in order to achieve above task.

7. tackle the small mountain that is my ironing pile.

8. paint tea trolley.

9. transform oneself back into the domestic goddess I once was (or at least I liked to think I was!) o.k crossed this off as this ain't ever gonna happen!!!

10. potter- I love to potter and I must admit I am very good at it, so I can safely say this is one thing I'm sure I will be able to cross off THE LIST

Squeezed in amongst this hive of activity will be our annual camping trip and this year as some of you already know we are heading off to Southwold (never been before) via Norfolk (been loads of times before) and I for one can't wait.

All we need now is some much longed for sunshine as I fear another two weeks of damp miserable weather spent in the campervan will finally send Mr. H over the edge!

Just a quick chicken update... our two remaining chooks are doing grand with no sign of any illness, so we decided it was high time we introduced Bruce.......... so with bated breath and hands over eyes we let him off the lead and let the girls run free.

It could have quite easily gone t**s up but I am happy to report that he was an absolute star and apart from having a little sniff at their nether regions he was quite happy to let them do their own thing. This means we have been able to give them much more freedom and in return they are rewarding us with two eggs each day.

: )

HERE COME THE GIRLS

Well they have finally arrived!
May I introduce you to three new members of the Hotchpotch household.
They are battery rescue hens but have been living in a barn for a few weeks so don't look nearly as bad as I thought they would.
They have been with us now exactly two weeks and are settling in really well. Even in such a short space of time they are looking so much better, their combs have started to colour up as they were very pale when they first arrived and their missing feathers are just starting to grow back.


This is Bob, little H's hen. I have no idea why he chose this name but has stuck with it since we talked about getting chickens yonks ago so Bob it is.

She is a funny old girl, quite timid and doesn't really like to be handled.
she prefers to have a nest box to herself and perches perilously close to the edge and combined with the slight rocking motion looks in danger of falling off.

This is Hirsty, Mr. H's hen and named after his footballing idol David Hirst.

She is the pretties one of the lot and definitely the friendliest, she's forever around your feet and loves to be stroked.
I'm secretly wishing I had picked her now!


....and last but not least my girl,Dame Judi named after the lovely Judi Dench who I adore.

she is the ugliest and scrawniest of the lot,(Obviously no reflection on the real Dame Judi) most of the feathers around her neck and chest were missing when she arrived but they are starting to grow back and she has the most comical clump of feathers growing back, which makes her look as though she's sporting a badly fitting toupe!
She is the first one out of the shed every morning and always ready to make her escape given half a chance, she hates being handled and no way will she let you stroke her she's also the most destructive... trust me to pick the most badly behaved bird!

We didn't manage to get the run made in time for their arrival due to the appalling weather but Mr. H managed to get the shed ready which as it turns out wasn't in as good a condition as we thought and in fact had a whopping great hole at the back which we had failed to noticed because of all the junk we had piled in, but with a few bits of old wood and a few nails here and there they had somewhere cozy to spend their first night.






We managed to build the run between the showers the day after they arrived and although it needs a little fine tuning it's secure enough to be able to leave them out during the day while we are at work.
I'm thinking some sort of roof would be a good idea as it's a complete mud bath up there at the moment with all this rain we've been having.

Still not sure how Brucie feels about their arrival, he doesn't appear to be aggressive towards them and there has been no showing of the teeth, although I'm sure Iv'e seen him licking his lips!!!

They have been a great addition to our family albeit a lot dirtier and untidy than I thought - not to mention the smell and the (how shall I put it politely?) manure, they are actually like babies and spend all day eating drinking and producing copious amounts of poo!
Despite all this I still look forward to getting up each morning to feed and water them (actually Mr. H does this) and to check the nest boxes for eggs. So far we have been getting an egg each day which is perfect for us and yesterday I was able to give our lovely neighbours some for their breakfast.
As for the poo I'm sure our compost bins will be all the better for it!

and it's such a good eggscuse to do a bit of baking!!!

Marvellous Mary

OH This weather!
I really don't want to bang on about it but what is happening?....glorious sunshine one minute and torrential downpours the next, my poor veggies don't know whether to look to the sky or dive for cover, they are looking decidedly bruised and battered.



However the dreary weather doesn't seem to be bothering the bees and the chives are absolutely heaving with them at the moment





Apart from the obligatory mowing, the gardening has been sidelined for the moment as the chickens will be arriving next weekend (about bloody time I hear you cry!) We knew the longer we talked about it the less chance we would actually get around to building the run so we decided hey why not order the chickens then we would definitely have to build the run, so thats where we are at the moment... still no run and the girls arrive next Saturday!

Back to this Saturday and it was that time again when St Mary's church in Sheffield threw open it's doors for it's 8th (I think) Vintage and Craft Market.

As always the fair had been well publicised so an orderly queue had formed outside and as soon as the doors opened at 10a.m the church quickly began to fill up,there is always a really good mix of people from all generations, some experiencing vintage for the first time right through to the more mature ladies and gents who have seen things come round full circle.
The sellers and crafters are also a great mix of people and the organisers always manage to get the balance spot on, keeping the regular stallholders but always mixing it up with new sellers.

As ever I took ages to set up as I always take too much so it was a quick sprint around before I had to get back to man my stall ( and devour a bacon sarni!)

My stall was the usual mix of vintage bits and bobs with a few of my makes thrown in, although I have struggled to find time to make much I don't think it looked too bad. Sorry no picture today, I forgot!!!
I try to make something new for each fair just so the regular visitors don't get bored of looking at the same things. I have noticed I have a few customers who always buy from me which is really lovely.





I made a couple of these to take along, sadly I also brought both of them back home again,I noticed people were certainly not spending much today and after talking to many of the other sellers they were noticing too, and some of them were only just getting their stall money back which is really sad when you put so much care and attention into making things not to mention the cost of the materials.
I didn't do to badly so I can't complain and I have lots to take along to the next fair and I did have a couple of ladies approach me about possibly selling my things in their shops, one a tea room and the other vintage furniture, both were looking for locally made crafts so fingers crossed!



I met Heather last Christmas at a school Christmas fair and was bowled over by her gorgeous books







the book covers can be anything from vintage tea towels, to ladybird books and maps, I could have quite easily emptied her stall in one fail swoop as anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for notebooks.

I was very very good again today and only came home with this sweet little brooch....



although there were lots of other things I could have brought home, including this little fella



All made by a lovely lady who's other work can be found here.

I have been so busy getting ready for the fair that I'm ashamed to say I'm not on the ball with Father's day preparations this year and only managed to get a box of licorice allsorts for Mr. H and as for my dad and stepdad I will have to get my thinking cap on and get something in the morning - OOOPS!

Off now to make 3 Father's day cards and 2 cards for Grandad's.......It's true what they say- a woman's work is never done!


Love to all the Dad's, Grandad's and let's not forget the Godfather's

: )