Mixed Bag again!

Today's post is a real mixed bag - first off here is another package I received in the Buttons and Bows swap organised by Barbara at French Village Life this time from Lorrie at Fabric Paper Thread who lives in Canada.

It contained some lovely bits of ribbon and a couple of sachets ingeniously made from the instruction sheets of old patterns and with pretty leaf shaped labels made of fabric backed with card.  Sadly I had to tear the sachets to find the contents!

This beautiful selection of buttons, beads and even a tiny photo frame - just perfect for my crazy patchwork - Thank you so much Lorrie.

 You may remember I showed you my hollyhock which was literally reaching for the sky back here?  Well after a windy night it was brought low and I had to trim it back and a couple of days later this little pink hollyhock appeared.  It had obviously been waiting for the moment when it could see some daylight!

But where did it come from I wonder - I bought the black one as a single plant so maybe this one had been a seed which self seeded in the pot for it can't be part of the same plant can it?

 Yesterday we took another walk with our neighbours this time through Nine Springs which is our local beauty spot.  The dog enjoyed himself scampering on ahead as you can see!

 We finished up at the Gateway coffee shop (this is attached to the Yeovil community church and is another great place for a coffee/tea with helpful staff and tables outside (essential when walking with the neighbours' dog!) where we again enjoyed a cup of tea and a cake before walking home.
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I don't seem to have shown much in the way of cookery recently so thought you might be interested to see our dessert earlier this week when I hadn't been to the shops and all I had to hand was one left over cooking apple and a crust of bread!  A quick whizz in the blender with the crust and voila - apple crumb!  It's a simple easy recipe which I make often especially if I have any leftover bread - waste not want not and all that!  All you do is to melt some butter and stir in the crumbs along with demerara sugar to taste and use the mix to top some sliced apple with a drop of water added and some sugar to taste.  Bake in the oven till apple is cooked and the top crispy and golden and serve with ice cream or custard.  Easy eh?

Finally some craftwork at last!  I have been looking for a bag - I needed something large enough to take my glasses, purse, phone, umbrella, diary.... you know the sort of thing I'm sure?!  I also need it to be capable of being worn cross body, as these days I pay for it with a painful shoulder the following day if I carry a bag on my shoulder, but nothing I saw was suitable.  Many were heavy even before you put anything in them or the straps were too short or they weren't big enough.... so what did I do?  Well I had this rather nice piece of upholstery fabric which I got from the Scrap Store together with several other small pieces for £1 along with some remnants of brown suede fabric left over from another bag made years ago, a couple of redundant curtain rings and look a bag which I hope will serve the purpose and carry everything I need on a day out.  I have to say I don't think I will be going in for bag production any time soon though as I made this up as I went along and kept realising that I should have done A before I did B and having to unpick it - with hind sight I should have put a magnetic fastener on the pocket as well as the top of the bag but it was too late by the time I thought of that!  Though of course next time - if there is a next time - I would hopefully have learned from my experience!

Have a good weekend and let's hope the streets of our cities are quiet this weekend especially as I am off to London- taking my bag with me - tomorrow!