The Wendy House

A bit of this and that

Up until I left my job last year I had worked the previous 17 years as a community nurse visiting patients in their own homes. In that time I met and cared for some wonderful people. Sometimes the nurse would be the only person that a patient would talk to for days at a time. One thing that always impressed me would be the people that lived alone but would cook themselves a decent meal daily. Over the years  I was supplied with many hints tips and recipes. One of these recipes I use every year when I start my chutney making. It is so easy as it involves no cooking and makes a wonderful chutney. All the ingredients are finely chopped then left to soak overnight in vinegar before being bottled. It needs to stand for one month before it can be used.

If any of you wish to try making some let me know and I will post the recipe.

A couple of lovelies have arrived in the post this week the first was from Carolyn. I admired these beautiful needle cases on her flickr slide show a couple of weeks ago. The detail on it is wonderful and I will really enjoy using this. I just remembered, having written a chutney post that Carolyn has written four cookery books her latest is due out very soon. That is impressive.

Yesterday Lucy received a parcel from Mel, one of her uni friends and inside was a little gift for me. She thought it would add a little sparkle to my work room. The instructions state that you iron it on a cool setting between parchment paper and include non fusible items if you wish. I am looking forward to trying this out. Thank you Mel that really was thoughtful.

Finally I just want to mention the two people I met by participating in the One Skein secret pal. I received the most wonderful yarns and gifts from Rebecca and I sent my packages to P. Both have lovely blogs that are well worth a visit. They will go into my sidebar when I can remember how to do it.

I'm still here

Can I just say thank you very much to all of you for the lovely comments we received for our anniversary and I apologise for leaving the same photo on here to look at for a week, it was not the intention. I don't know where the time has gone, I have hardly switched the computer on. I think when it gets to this time of year and we get the bonus of some fantastic weather, I feel the need to be outside as much as possible. Sort of charging up my batteries for the cold grey days that seem to make up our winters here. So the time spent on the scaffolding has been quite enjoyable and warm, the windows are almost finished which will probably mean I move back indoors and can start some new projects.

One tiny project I would like to do is one that Lucy found for these little little hats . It will be a good way of using up some short lengths of yarn.

I have managed to complete a simple gift for Nat  who found me through googling a peg/pin bag. Just a glimpse before it heads of in the post. It has been a pleasure to meet you and I have enjoyed making this.

For the swap I am doing with Carolyn I didn't have to make anything she has asked for some of this..

I didn't have to sew a stitch so for me it was easy ( apologies for blurry photo). It is on it's way Carolyn.

I have a date with 2 windows this morning, then as my reward I am spending the afternoon with a friend doing our annual chutney making. It's always much more fun doing it whilst having a good catch up.

Warning all dancers.....

I am writing this post as a warning to those of you who may be considering taking dancing lessons, to make you aware of what can happen if you find yourself in the position I was in just under 3 years ago. I was 40, my only fledgling had just flown the nest and suddenly I had time to realise that I was alone and actually very unhappy. I looked fine on the outside to others because as I've said before I love smiling, but on the inside when I look back I was far from alright.

A friend suggested joining her for ceroc lessons, so we agreed a date and time to meet. At least this put one date on my social calender. So off I went, I have to admit found the whole thing extremely nerve racking, worse than any interview I had ever been for and to make matters worse the friend arrived late, by which time I had been thrown in at the deep end.............ALONE.

To cut a long story short Tim asked me to dance once the first lesson was over. He was a very competent dancer and I just trod on his toes a lot. Since that first dance I have never looked back, and today is our first wedding anniversary.

We had the most fantastic day and I married the most fantastic man. If I had a pattern I would knit a few more like him.

Tim, I am so glad you asked me to dance. Happy anniversary  xxxxxxxxx

So if you are considering dancing lessons be aware...... You really could be swept off your feet. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Wendy the window woman

The time has come that I have been dreading. In some respects the awful weather we had during August worked to my benefit. It allowed me some time away from diy and gave me time to sew. Roman blinds are the thing of the moment here, I still haven't found the answer to my rod pocket calculations but never mind I am doing it how I think.

The last couple of days the weather has been beautiful so this job could be put off no longer, I am working against the clock now to get this done before the temperature drops too much.

Nancy, you are only allowed to read on as long as you promise not to worry, you don't tell my mum what I am up to( or she will worry) and don't think your son is mistreating me by letting me do this.



This is when I realised that at 43 I am not so flexible as I used to be. When I went out through Lucy's window, which is smaller, it would have been helpful if I had the ability to dislocate a joint or two to make myself narrower. It is actually easier to get onto from the window than climb up from the ground.



Once I was out there it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was provided with regular cups of tea and biscuits. It was quite strange looking in from outside on Lucy and Tim  whilst they were beavering away indoors. The most difficult bit was using the nozzle from the vacuum cleaner out there after sanding down the woodwork. I'm glad no passers by saw that bit or I they may have thought I'd lost the plot completely.



Only 8 more to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure by the end I will be enjoying it :o(

Lots of thank you's

This post will be a thank you overload, because I have so many to say. The first one is for Katie,I love her blog and visit daily. She has just returned from a very exciting trip. When she said that she wanted to make some more felt balls I left a comment asking if she would do a demonstration. She did just that, with excellent photos and easy to follow instructions. This will be something I will try in the cooler months ahead. I really appreciate the time you spent doing that wonderful tutorial Katie and thank you very much. Pop over to her blog and have a look.

Next I have to say a really big thank you to Rebecca who has been my secret pal for the last three months. She has sent the most beautiful yarns and gifts during this time, and this week I received this lovely bag that Rebecca has knitted and felted, she has a lovely blog which I look forward to following now I know who she is.

Thank you very much.

I have just taken part in the gift tag swap, which involved making 10 gift tags and sending them to Tammie the organiser. This week I received my bundle of tags in the post, one from each of the participants. It's amazing that they are all so different but all really lovely. The blog address was included on each tag so I will list those for you to check out. Thank you to Tammie for organising the swap and thanks for all the lovely tags from those who took part.

Melissa, Zoe, Laurie, Susie, Mo, Julie, Barbara, Alex,  Kerry, Kristin,. I can't believe how long that has taken to insert all those links.

Finally this thank you goes to Sophie who is one of Lucy's friends. She sent us a lovely card she had made to thank us for letting her stay here. She has also just finished her textile degree and is looking for work. I ordered 6 of the cards from her just a few days ago and she got straight onto making them. They arrived on Friday and are lovely.

I have sat here for so long doing this I haven't got time to look at the blog links properly myself, so I will have to save that for later.