Unbought Delicacies: 30/06/2013

Thursday 4 July 2013

Fibre therapy

Have just had a much needed couple of hours of restorative and meditative spinning; here's the result. It's a mixed fibre batt I bought at the Guild meeting last Saturday, very pleased with it, love the colours

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Around the garden................

Tuesday 2 July 2013

There is nothing in the world like................

............. fresh mint tea :)
I bought myself a couple of new mint plants to put on my wee table by the back door where I have my tea and coffee when I can. I'm making tinned pineapple wine today, so have utilised the big tins for the mint plants, I think they look great.

Monday 1 July 2013

Words

Do not be uncomfortable with
My truths I give you,
Wrought with fragile apprehension
From my heart's secret, honest depths.
A life too short,
With words unsaid
Is not for me.

Dawn

I watch the dawn come gently,
Paint the sky with form and hue
Colouring a brand new day
Heavy with optimism
And promises of
Peace and joy and wonder
To cheer the heart and nourish
The soul,
To seize as if
Another day may never come again.

The wisdom of my soul

My heart beats
To the music of our friendship,
The wisdom of my soul in tune
With the then, the now, and what is yet to come.
Shared joys fill the days
With light and laughter,
Warmth and belonging
Giving strength and hope to hold fast upon
When time decrees.
We share the moon, the stars,
The very stuff of earth
Where countless lovers' feet have trod as one,
Towards an everlasting love
That is the very essence
Of my wild and precious soul.

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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