Birmingham's Rag Market

A week or so ago I had a trip into Birmingham to suss out the Rag Market, looking for suitably priced fabric for making bunting.  From working out how much fabric I needed to make a decent length, I had decided that doing it with fat quarters just wasn't viable.
I hadn't been into Birmingham on the train for ages and I was pretty much blown away by what they've done with the concourse at New Street Station  and the old Pallisades, now known as Grand Central.  It took me a while to get my bearings, but I soon managed to find my way to St Martin's Church, where I was meeting mum.

It was a glorious bright sunshiney day and the city looked impressive.

Now, you may ask why we didn't travel together ...Well, it's all to do with free transport!  As the wife of someone who has worked on the railway since the year dot, I get a certain amount of free rail travel each year and, as a pensioner, mum gets free travel on the bus.  Hence, in the name of frugality, whenever we go anywhere on public transport, we each make our own way.

We headed into the Rag Market, where we knew we would have a long, slow browse of all that was on offer, hence leaving dad at home.

























I was dead excited to be greeted by one of the owl sculptures that I had missed seeing last year.  Not sure how it ended up here, but I was really pleased to get to see it.






There weren't as many fabric stalls as I expected, but there was a really good choice of fabric that would hit the spot for £2 a metre, which is a really good price, compared to what I've seen elsewhere, even on the Internet.

There were lots and lots of other stalls selling all types of crafty bits and pieces and I couldn't resist a stack of zips, of all different colours and sizes for just 10p each and some decent sized square cushion pads for just £1.50 apiece.

As well as looking round The Rag Market its also worth a wander around the outdoor market, where we picked up some more fabric, and the meat market, which has a really good craft stall right at the back.  It's not all about meat, though if you're squeamish, you need to avoid looking at some of the stalls.
Laden down with our purchases, we decided to have a quick pitstop and we ended up in the cafe in St Martin's Church, which was actually quite nice, and was absolutely fine for a sandwich and a quick drink.

Ready to head for home, we couldn't resist a wander round Grand Central, which is packed full of lovely shops like Cath Kidston, The White Company and John Lewis.  There are also loads of cool looking places to eat and some of the patisserie just looked out of this World, I wish I'd taken some pictures.

I was soon back on the train for the short journey home and had managed to walk back home by the time mum was halfway back on the bus!!

I was really pleased with the fabric I bought, it was perfect for bunting and I've even made a patchwork cushion with some of the scraps.

If you are looking for cheap, but cheerful, fabric, I would definitely recommend The Rag Market, it's well worth the trip and I will most definitely be going again, probably quite soon.

The Cairngorms - Arrival & Visiting Ballater

Day 1 - Friday

It was time for our second cottage holiday cottage jaunt of the year and it did actually feel very close to our first one!!  This time we were venturing much further afield, to a little place just outside of Ballater on Royal Deeside in The Cairngorms. 

We were staying in Corndavon Cottage, on the Garnshiel Lodge Estate, which looked like a green wooden shack, with a very tartan carpet, just down the road from Balmoral and, as visiting Balmoral is high on my list of 50 things to do before I am 60, a visit was definitely on the cards. 

We had a really good journey up, setting off at about 9.30am, early for us, and arriving at about 5.00pm, with a stop off at Tebay services for lunch. The M6 behaved itself remarkably well for a Friday before a Bank Holiday. 

Upon arrival we were met with a flurry of snow and greeted by Archie, who was very friendly and welcoming. We intrepidly entered our home for the coming week and were pleasantly surprised. It was warm and cosy, deceptively spacious and just as described. You can read more about our thoughts on, what turned out to be one of the nicest cottages we've stayed in, here.

We were soon unpacked and tucked in for the night with an M&S chuck it in the oven tea, which was just the job. 

One thing we did do was to move the sofas around a bit in the lounge, just make it a bit cosier. We were very pleasantly surprised to find not a spot of dust or dirt under either.  I wish I could say that about my own sofa.  We were very impressed. The same can be said for the rest of the cottage, it was spotless. 

Day 2 - Saturday 

After our usual very slow start we arose to a fairly grey and misty day, though Martin did assure me that it had looked lovely at 5.00am, Fortunately he'd taken photos to prove it as I never would have believed it. 

Day 2 - 5.00am

Day 2 - 10.00am

After our long journey yesterday we didn't fancy going very far afield so decided to head in to Ballater for the afternoon, which is just about 6 miles down the road. 

As the weekend was a special one in the Geocaching calendar, 15 years since Geocaching started, and there was special 'virtual souvenir' to be had, purely by completing a cache, we decided to pick up a few on our way into Ballater.

We started out just literally a few 100 yards from our cottage with a cache at a local point of interest known as the 'the Ringing Stone'. Archie had already mentioned this to us so we would have gone to have a look anyway, so the fact that there was a cache in the vicinity was definitely a bonus. 

The Ringing Stone or 'Stain' as Archie pronounced it is a fairly large boulder which makes an odd hollow sound if you throw a small pebble or stone at it. It is surrounded by small stones and pebbles where people have tested this out. We were no different and spent a good few minutes dropping the biggest stones we could find on it and it is true, it did make a hollow ringing sound. 

From there we traversed the very strangely steep and high Garnshiel Bridge to make our way into Ballater. Archie had another tale to tell about the bridge in that, years ago, when buses had no hydraulic suspension, passengers had to disembark to give the buses sufficient ground clearance to make it over the bridge. He says that some playful bus drivers taking tours over the bridge still make passengers get off and it's a real treat to watch. 

Once in Ballater we parked up in the town square and had a good wander around. We have never seen so many 'By Royal Appointment' crests. After our visit we found out that, according to Discoverroyaldeeside.com the town has more of these warrants – a mark of excellence first used in Tudor times but popularised by Queen Victoria to certify high quality – than any other comparable place in the world.

We had a look at the old Royal Station, though we didn't partake of the visitor centre that commemorates Queen Victoria’s visits, with the unique Royal waiting room and a replica of the Royal train carriage used by Victoria in 1869. 

As it was such a dull day we didn't stay too long in Ballater and were soon heading back to Corndavon where a Butter Lamb Curry was bubbling away in the slow cooker. No prizes for guessing who got that on the go. 

Upcycling Project - Decoupage Placemats

I was beginning to think after having always been known as a 'completer/finisher', having left work after 30 years, I had turned into a starter off-er of projects, only never to finish them.

You don't know how pleased I am to be able to say that I have finally completed this project!  It has most definitely been a labour of love.

I'm not sure that this post fits into the category of a 'tutorial' but I did want to share my journey with you and let you know how I went about this project and the issues that I faced.

Basically we'd had the same Mediterranean style everyday, cheap and cheerful, dinner service for years. It had started to look a bit tired with lots of chips and crazed glazing from lots of spins in the dish washer. Whilst Martin and I still both loved it, we decided it was time for a change and put a sparkly new vintage floral dinner service on our Christmas list and Santa came up trumps. 

The problem now was that our placemats, whilst also tired, were too good to throw out but so didn't match the new crockery. I got that familiar twinge of excitement as I felt a bit of an upcycle project coming on. 

So here we are. I had never tried decoupage before but thought it was definitely worth having a go at trying to breathe new life into our old placemats and here's how we got on.

Step 1

I scoured The Range and got stocked up on decoupage paper, acrylic paint, glue and other bits and pieces.

Here is the full list of equipment that I used:

• Set of placemats to be upcycled
• Electric sander
• PVA glue (+ water to dilute)
• Small paintbrush
• White acrylic paint
• Emery paper
• Multi-purpose decoupage adhesive & varnish
• Decoupage papers
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Decoupage brushes
• Heavy metal roller

Step 2

Martin got set to with the sander to try and take the shiny top coat off the top of the placemats. 

Step 3

I sealed the surfaces with a diluted mix of PVA glue and water (1 PVA - 5 Water).

Step 4

I gave each placemat a couple of coats of white acrylic paint.

Step 5

Then I gave the edges of each mat a light rub with emery paper to ensure there was no paint showing on the sides.

So far, so good. 

Then I was ready to try my hand at decoupage and so the fun began. I thought I'd start with a coaster. Being smaller I thought it would be easier to have a go at.

Step 6

First I drew round the coaster on a piece of decoupage paper and cut out the shape so it fit perfectly.

Step 7

Then I put plenty of decoupage glue onto the painted coaster. Then I eased the decoupage paper into place, very slowly and carefully, using the decoupage brush to push it down and smooth out any wrinkles.

Step 8

Once the paper was in place and there were no bubbles I gave the coaster 3 or 4 coats of decoupage glue, leaving each coat to dry before applying the next.

It looked great, I was really pleased and you can see how it turned out here. So, feeling confident I thought I'd have a go at one of the larger placemats.

My first attempt did not go well.  I ended up with paper full of bubbles and wrinkles and no amount of brushing would smooth it out. 

I asked for technical assistance from my engineer husband, who normally has an answer to all my technical problems, and he provided me with a metal roller. 

We attempted the placemat again, together, and this time it went well. I held the paper whilst Martin worked at it very gently firstly with the decoupage brush and then with the roller and we ended up with a perfect finish. I can't pretend it was dead easy and I don't think I could have managed this size of paper on my own, but we were both really pleased with the finished article. 

This one having worked out so well we were enthused to finish the other 7 coasters and placemats. 

The coasters have all turned out really well.  The result with the placemats is a bit mixed and some do have the odd crease in the paper here and there, but we got to the point where we couldn't work the paper any more, without it tearing and I'm not sure how we could have overcome this.

So, whilst the end result is not perfect, it is most definitely usable and I am quite pleased with it as my first attempt ever at decoupage.  Maybe this was a bit ambitious as my first project! 

And ..... bonus ..... it's one of my '50 things to do before I'm 60' objectives fully completed!

Holmesfield, Derbyshire - Ladybower Dam & going Home

This is my third and, I promise, last Holmesfield holiday post - we just did so much!

Day 7 - Thursday
Our last full day of our holiday before heading back home on Friday.  We'd had a really busy and active few days so were hoping for a nice chilled out day, with no cake!

We woke up again to really thick fog and had a nice slow start, with a bit of a lie-in, a late and lazy breakfast and finally managed to log our Geocache finds from our Carlton Lees walk a few days ago, which we hadn't got round to yet. 

It was lunchtime by the time we decided to venture out into the gloom, with initial thoughts of heading up to Ladybower Dam and hoping that the fog would clear later on, as it had been doing for the rest of the week.

Once we got out onto the road however, our thoughts changed. You couldn't see more than 50 yards in front of you so we decided to stay on the main roads and head for Bakewell, which is a small town not that far away.  We thought we'd play it safe and have a walk round the shops.

Well, we got to Bakewell and the mist had cleared considerably so we basically decided not to stop but to risk it and head up to the Dam anyway.  As we went out of town the mist started to draw in again and by the time we passed Monsal Head, one of the best viewing points in Derbyshire, we couldn't see very much at all.  It didn't look like we'd be taking many pictures today.



We made it safe and sound to the Dam, parked up, got all the winter gear on as we were really high up and the wind was chilling today.  We took the short walk to the Dam and though it was still really misty and visibility was poor we did manage to take a few pictures, but will definitely need a return visit on a better day to see it in It's full glory.








Before leaving the Dam there was just one Geocache that we need to bag. Typically it was down a very steep path at the base of the Dam but we decided it was worth the effort and did what we needed to do.

The cache was in the bag and it was time to head back to the car.  Quick check of Google told us that the Castleton chippy was open so we headed there for the best battered scampi and chips ever.  We'd been introduced to this chippy a couple of years ago on a get together with friends.  It's hidden way in the back streets and unless you know it's there you would never stumble across it.

With the taste for the best battered scampi and chips ever we made our way to Castleton and managed to find a parking space.  We walked though the village towards the chippy, we could almost take the scampi.  As we approached the chippy there were a group of young school children waiting outside so we thought we were going to have a bit of a wait - though I don't remember ever going to the chippy when I went on a school trip.

It was worse than that.  After all that anticipation and me doing some homework the chippy was shut, disaster!  We were both gutted, we were starving and the only thing was going to hit the spot was those scampi and chips.

Dejected, hungry and tired we decided to head back to Gooseberry Barn to raid the snack cupboard and hope that we didn't spoil our tea.

When we arrived it seemed that the fog was just as bad as it was when we'd left, so we'd definitely done the right thing in going a bit further afield.

It wasn't quite so cosy to come back to today as Martin had whacked the underfloor heating right down, so we could light the log burner for one last time on our last night.

Day 8 - Friday
It was time to leave Gooseberry Barn and head back home today.  We needed to be packed up and out by 10.00am.  We'd done a bit of packing the previous night to get us started and were away in good time.

As we pretty much had to pass Hardwick Hall on the way home we had decided that we would make a 4th visit to the restaurant come cafe for breakfast and, if the weather was brighter, we would try and take some more pictures for the album, everything always looks better with a blue sky and I just don't believe photoshop is the same, it just doesn't seem honest.