Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

Peonie

Dh has lent the work van out , so probably loft clearing is off for this weekend, I did mention maybe going to the local antiques centre today to see if there is anything there for my birthday that's weird and wonderful. The only other idea I have is a handmade patchwork quilt or an Xmas quilt ,but they are serious money.

My family would happily give me money towards something I want like antique. That could be because, apparently, I'm hard to buy for. Another reason for the list; plus we are rubbish at thinking of ideas.

The quilt is a lovely idea. As an alternative to fleabay; try folksy.com Do you sew? If you have ever wanted to try, your family could pay for a course, the equipment and the fabric so you could make your own. But, quilting is an expensive time consuming hobby that would keep months onto your mortgage. If you are interested I can point you in the right direction.

newgirly

Hi Peonie, that's a good idea to make my own. Didn't find anything at the antiques centre ( that was not overpriced for what it was) which was a shame.

I have been scouring folksy for a quilt for a while now, but they are either too small or very expensive, although I do appreciate the months of work that have gone into some of them, but its a bit dear for me, still on the lookout though

I ended up in hobby craft and have bought 2packs of xmas themed fat quarters and already own a couple of quilting books, unfortunately I've never even used my sewing machine so it may end up bit of an experiment :eek: I am determined to create a family heirloom whether the kids want it or not :rotfl:

Peonie

newgirly wrote: »

I ended up in hobby craft and have bought 2packs of xmas themed fat quarters and already own a couple of quilting books, unfortunately I've never even used my sewing machine so it may end up bit of an experiment :eek: I am determined to create a family heirloom whether the kids want it or not :rotfl:

Make that 3 heirlooms. One for each of them.

If you want to learn to quilt without going to a group have a look on you tube for instructional videos.

In case you decide to go ahead; other than your sewing machine, fabric, thread and wadding you will need a walking foot for said sewing machine (if you don't want to hand quilt), a ruler, rotary cutter and cutting mat (if you need to cut fabric). You can get a starter pack from here: http://www.creativegrids.com/acatalog/Special_Starter_Packs.html Everything in quilting is imperial not metric.

See, your birthday presents are adding up already.

newgirly

Thanks for that Peonie I did look at the cutters at hobbycraft but am not sure what to do with them yet so didn't buy. Plus I should really be waiting for birthday money instead of spending it first:o I think the sewing machine might have the right foot anyway as dh has a sewing lady at work who told him which machine to go for to make quilts.

I'm up early for the first trip to the boot sales of the year :T dh is reluctantly getting up at the moment as I don't know the way to this one. The boys both like to come as they buy old DVD box sets and Xbox games. I'm on the look out for retro ceramic chicken egg holders, white vintage pillow cases, nice fabric to make stuff, and vintage pastel crockery.

Back later to read diaries

never_too_old

Good luck i know you have been looking for the ceramic chicken for quite a while now:)

newgirly

Alas no chickens I did get a 2x sets of old fashioned floral teacups and saucers, 5 pairs in one set 3 in the other all for £3 , so I'm trying to decide whether to use them or make teacup candles as presents. If I use them Properly I will give my mum our very expensive Jamie Oliver coffee set as she has the same ones . Dh would not be impressed with this though,giving away nice ones for old boot sale ones :rotfl:

I am on a crafting roll this weekend as I've just started knitting a frilly scarf for dd for Xmas , I can only knit one stitch in straight lines so this is just within my abilities, it's a lovely sparkly deep blue Wool bought just after Xmas , so a nice handmade scarf for £4.95,another present sorted hopefully by the end of this month which will cover feb's craft for Xmas.

Lunch is a very lazy pizza assortment and chips from icel*nd this week no roast dinner as I didn't fancy cooking it, I've borrowed skyfall from my mum so am going to try and force that on as many of my family as possible later today, dd is the only who has not seen it already,but is not keen. I will make her watch it

newgirly

10p a day op's the last few days and 77p today

I spent the whole day washing and cleaning yesterday from the half term whirlwind, still have lots of iron left to do though, I think I have washed everything we own in the last couple of days.

This morning I took the dog out with my friend and she mentioned the tesc* Easter egg offer of buy 2 get 2 free (£1.50 each) so we both went and got our eggs :T so I got 12 eggs for £9 and they are the ones that were £3 ish last year when I went. My friend didn't get all hers though as there was a 16 egg limit and she needed 30! A good price and lots of choice at the moment still.:easter_ba

Transferred my living/food money into my new current acct that I opened for the first time today , and have so far spent £40of march's money , oops.

Peonie

Thanks for the Easter egg info.

newgirly

Just managed to sit down finally today, I've been quite busy. Did lots of hours to help out dh, back to vets again as the dogs bladder infection still not sorted, batch cooked lots of spag Bol (again) did all the ironing and washing, until they all came home and filled the basket again! And finally had dd's prom dress arrive.

It's not quite the colour she wanted its a proper poppy red instead of the deeper red she expected and the satin underskirt is a bit too short so we will try and get a dress maker to fix it, the colour will have to stay as it is though, all in all though its made really well and does fit perfectly, except for the hem.

No mse stuff done today , I've been very lazy with surveys lately after being quite good at the start of the year, and have not even managed to do today's op yet, will have to do 2 tomorrow now instead as its too late and I'm off to bed.:D

lulabelle1

Another thanks for the Easter Egg tip- will head out shortly to grab some....

It's DH's birthday part next weekend and rather than handing out part bags with naff toys, I've decided to give each child an Easter Egg....