Does ANYTHING ever go to plan???

well as you have probably noticed my thrifty day's till Christmas came to an abrupt end a few weeks ago.

Everything had been going swimmingly, then I had a really crappy couple of weeks - and none of it was my own fault! Family stuff...I am still dreaming of winning the lottery and have had a tiny cottage that is away from it all and ready for my escapes, earmarked for the winnings for years now! lol - one day.

The thrifting is continuing, I can't wait for the Jumble sale season to start again as I have a list of things we need, can't afford but could quite likely find at a jumble sale (hubby is after a pressure cooker!) and Baby Fig and I have signed up to have a stall at a new local 'Crafty Vintage' fair on 11th Feb. 

I have been busy making more up-cycled items for both folksy and etsy - I am very pleased with these scented hearts for valentines day   filled with a divine vintage rose scent.

I have had some nice news to sweeten all the poo! I was asked to write a little 300 word sales story for Craft Seller magazine! It has been submitted and I should be in there in issue 9 - on sale on the 14th March, so if you get it look out for me! if you don't, take a sneaky peaky in the supermarket/news stand.

I shall be trying my best to get back on track with the thrifty tips and stories as soon as I can! 

359 Thrifty days till Christmas

A few years ago Mr Fig opened our wood burning stove and a huge nail fell out onto the carpet. We didn't notice until we smelled the carpet burning. 

Although it is a perfect image of the nail, it isn't what I wanted to look at every time I sat down in front of the fire, so I covered it with an old Ikea rag rug I had in the bedroom. 

While cleaning up for Christmas Baby Fig threw this rug out. it was filthy - although it has been washed many times, and Mr Fig had decided a couple of years ago to actually chop fire wood on it so it had slash marks all over the back (can you understand what I have to deal with!!!!)

I have so far not seen a rug I like - or more accurately a rug I like and can afford. 

My Grandad always made rag rugs from old wool coats, and progressed onto wool rugs when coats were not easy to come by. I have had a go at rag rugging and wool pegging and find them both incredibly time consuming and boring to make, they just don't grow fast enough! 

So I have just been up to the sewing room and brought down a bag of old t-shirts I have been collecting for ages and a pair of scissors. 

My intention is to cut them all into long spiral strips, plait them into one very long strip and sew them together into an oval rug - for FREE! 

I have found a brilliant tutorial HERE and like I said yesterday - I never had a better chance to learn! 

I shall be back with the finished item soon.

360 thrifty days till Christmas

Happy 2012 everyone! 

I hope you are all feeling full of the joys of a New Year and not letting this miserable weather get you down.

Baby Fig is recovering from a late night out in the Village, and by late I mean about 4am. 

I started my new year with coffee and crumpets in bed listening to the Archers omnibus - to me this is pure opulence, I LOVE IT! 

Today I will be hopefully clearing away Christmas, cleaning up and making tea - using up the mountain of cheese my mother very kindly (a little too kindly) bought us in the supermarket sales. 

I have been pondering today's thrifty tip. This one particular phrase keeps coming back to me constantly...

This is something my grandma, and then my mum would always say to me whenever I asked them to do something for me I thought I couldn't do myself (or was too damn lazy to do!) 

As a youth I would dismiss this and usually storm off with a 'don't bother then!' attitude, and would make do without whatever service I wished them to provide for me!

Over the years though, this phrase remained with me (mainly because they kept on repeating it) but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

Both my Mum and Grandma had to learn to do all sorts of things we take for granted these days, they would never ever have dreamt of asking anyone else to fix, mend or make something they could well do themselves. What they were in fact saying to me is "don't take us for granted, but use our skills and knowledge to enable you to take control and look after yourself, here we are right now, we are willing to share all this with you, you really don't have a better chance than this to learn"

This is something I have stuck too through out my life - my Dad has taught me how to put up shelves, change a plug, draw up an accurate design, drive a car, take a photo, process a photo, change a tyre amongst many other things, my mum taught me how to sew and knit and bake and decorate a room, Grandma taught me how to make bread, feed a family for 4 days on one chicken, darn, alter clothes to fit, patch a hole, play whist, Grandad taught me how to get the most from an allotment - well you get the idea! 

 

If something new catches my eye I take note, watch carefully, ask questions, pick up tips - People are always willing to share there knowledge, they offer it for free because they want to pass it on. So next time you ask someone to do something you think you can't do and they offer to show you how to do it yourself, remember, you NEVER had a better chance to learn!