Monthly Archives: April 2012

Scrappy Quilt from generosity

quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

I have been sent old quilts and shirts and bits and bobs of fabrics, from folk who have been kind enough to re-cycle or freecycle fabric in my direction. I have also used shirts from jumble sales and charity shops. This really is a scrappy quilt. There are also smatterings of lovely fabrics bought at reduced prices from the quilting show.

It’s made of all the off cuts from the stars I have made for my daughter’s quilt. It has the same spring time colours as her quilt.

I’ve made it alongside her quilt and backed it and edged it in what ever I had.

It’s become a ‘new’ throw for my fifteen year old sofa. You may remember from a blog a while back, that this is the self same sofa that Dearly Beloved repaired the frame of. No need for new, I can brighten up my home with the odds and ends, and bits and pieces of generosity of folk who have donated to me, jumble sales or charity shops.

If you look closely, you will see your old bedding, your husband’s shirts, ‘Lawrence Lewellyn Bowen’s’ shirts? my charity shops finds and they’ve all come together to make a throw for my sofa. DFS and your perpetual sales can take a running jump, my tatty old sofa will do nicely thank you very much and my ‘new’ throw is all it needed to keep going for a few years longer.

I’ll quite happily do with less, make do and mend and keep going with what I have for years to come.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Scrubbing up for a few quid!

Frugal beauty, Frugal fashion

Hello Dear Reader,

Just a quick hello before we head off out to lunch with family. Dress from Foster Mummy, shoes….first heels I’ve bought in years, tights from charity shop but still in pack (I got that hint from Foster Mummy too and now always look out for new tights that have been unopened). Hair coloured by myself, BOGOF from Boots, make up from Aldi! Who says you can’t be glamorous and frugal?
See you later xxxx
Froogs

It keeps me out of the shops!

quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

Thanks again to everyone who has commented, it’s a pleasure to hear from you. I’ve finished another quilt. My daughter took her quilt home with her on her last visit, so her bed ‘at mum’s’ is bare. I’ve just finished the top of another quilt for my daughter’s single bed. All sorts of bits to make this one, shirts, a skirt, cheapie fat quarters from the South West Quilt Festival. I shall spend this evening on my hands and knees with duck tape basting this with adhesive spray, which is not frugal, but makes it easier to quilt.
I am sure, but I’m probably wrong, that some people ‘go shopping’ as they don’t have anything else to do. Cutting up old duvet covers and shirts is really satisfying because it fills hours of my life. I am in my own little world when I’m sat at my sewing machine. I’ve also spent time explaining to people recently, why I make quilts. I want to kick back at the mass produced, at the ‘cheap’, at the sweatshop made. I’ve got the point now, that if I want something, I check where it is made. I then research whether workers in that country are paid a living wage, whether they have rights………whether human or worker rights, whether there are adequate health and safety laws, I check whether unions are allowed, that female workers have maternity rights. If they don’t….i.e….it’s made in China, then I don’t buy it!!!
I know I could buy a quilt, or blanket, or duvet cover really quite cheaply but I actually want to fill my home with the up-cycled, re-cycled, re-purposed, second hand and well cherished. The backing for my latest quilt is a 1980’s flowery duvet cover in rusty yellows. I always buy Hobbs batting from America as it’s not been outsourced to where labour is cheaper, but it’s made where it’s always been made. I try and use old clothes for the most part of my quilts to save them from landfill and to save me money.
I love reading all of your blogs, where you’ve cooked something homemade, where you’ve knitted, crocheted, quilted, crafted, grown, raised from a chick and where you’ve just generally made it yourself. I love your re-cycling, up-cycling, bike riding, rambling, camping, youth hosteling and money saving. I love our little blog world where we don’t fill our time with shopping but do something a lot more meaningful instead.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx

Rare treats

eco home

Hello Dear Reader,

If you are as old as me, then you’ll remember Sunday night baths. Everyone had one whether they needed one or not! The rest of the week was consigned to a strip wash! I still wash up and down with a bowl of water, tip the water down the loo and then have a five minute shower every other day. You can see my real water meter below, a cubic meter of water, including the cost of getting it into my house and then disposed of, costs about £5. I am careful with water as even the most meagre use of it costs me £350 a year.
I don’t wear something and then wash it immediately. I will often air it, or put it back in the cupboard or wardrobe and wear it again. The same towels, get put over the bannister and used again and again all week. If you wear something one day after the next, they will know you haven’t washed it, if you wear it a few days later, then they will be none the wiser. I will often ‘spot’ clean a jumper or shirt and put it away. I sniff clothes, if they smell clean and have no marks, they are not dirty!
All hand washing water is used to flush the loo. In the dry summer, it’s used to water the garden, as is shower water. Because I do this, having a bath is a rare treat. I get in and Dearly Beloved has the water after me, of the other way round. For a lot of people my age, that’s normal. I would have a bath and my sister and brother would have my bath water. We had a Rayburn, which heated our kitchen/living room, was a cooker/stove and it heated our water. Once a bath was filled, the water tank would be cold again and the stove would take hours of heating it up. We couldn’t afford the coal to keep it hot, so it was kept on ‘tick over’
I look forward to baths, I relish them and time them to listen to a play or documentary on the radio. I usually have a bath every three weeks or sometimes less frequently.
It may seem the simplest thing, but all that hot water, just for sitting in, is just the most indulgent and wonderful treat. Roll on the next one.
What’s your infrequent and indulgent treat?
Love Froogs xxxx

Sneaky peek!

frugal food, quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

That’s as much as you’re getting today! I’m going to really take my time over this quilt and line up my blocks as accurately as possible. Any way, enough of the quilts. No shopping again today…..not even a few minutes in a charity shop!
I thought I would share a weekday meal secret with you. One evening a week, we always have an ‘on toast’ supper. Beans, an egg, beans and grated cheese, grilled tomatoes and cheese…..you know the kind of thing. It means, I don’t have to plan anything, it’s cheap, there’s very little washing up and it’s a small light meal.
Do you have a weekday secret meal? I’m a great believer in making life simple. On that very small blog, I’m shattered and I’m off to bed with a book.
See you tomorrow and I might show you a bit more quilt.
Love Froogs.

I just need two more blocks!

quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve cooked supper, washed up and now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to finish making the last two blocks for my ‘Cornish Springtime’ quilt. I’m making a throw with the left over triangles from it, so I’ll have two new quilts to share with you soon. I’ll be in my tiny sewing room, Radio 4 keeping me amused, slicing and cutting and sewing. I should be done with this quilt in another week. I’m now getting requests and my dad wants one.
Thanks for the lovely comments you’ve all been leaving, and sorry to dash, but tonight a compellingly cheap addiction is calling me to stitch together colourful fabric. I’m sure you’ll all allow me a night off. xxxx I thought I would share some of the ‘stats’ from my blog and say thanks to all 3,711 of you who clicked onto ‘Frugal Queen’ yesterday and the average 3,500 of you who read each day. I feel a bit naughty sneaking off so early but it will give me lots to write about when it’s finished.
Pageviews yesterday
3,711
Pageviews last month
95,114
Pageviews all time history
1,261,439
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs

No spend days.

money saving

Hello Dear Reader,

I don’t carry round any money, or means of extracting or spending any money. It does mean I have to be prepared. I have breakdown cover, so that’s any car faults covered on a day to day basis. I always take a packed lunch, flask of coffee and container of cold drink. I take a library book to read so I don’t need a paper.
I menu plan and shop fortnightly. I bulk cook so there’s always something easy and ready. I bulk shop for durable items on offer. Recently, it was laundry liquid at a hugely reduced price, sometimes, it’s loo rolls, shampoo or bleach. I’m organised so I never run out and have to run to the shops for one it.
I plan journeys and use the car wisely and drive at a reasonable speed to maximise fuel efficiency and reduce braking. I fill the car with fuel fortnightly and never use it for short journeys which are always walked. All this means that I can go from one day to the next without any money in my pocket. I can look at my bank statement and see very few transactions or withdrawals. I don’t shop as a pastime…………I walk, sew, knit, draw, dog walk, garden, clean, read……. any thing but flamin’ shopping! We have free days out and know where walks have free parking. We take home made cake and flask of tea. We sit on picnic benches and take in the view and enjoy each other’s company.
I try and make thirteen out of fourteen days no spend days. The less I spend, the more I make the most of what I have. If I think I need or want something, I’ll leave it for a few days. The feeling either passes or I forget what it was so it couldn’t have been important.
How are you all doing on your no spend days?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xx

Silence!!!!

love and family

Hi darling girl,

If you ever read this, and maybe you’ll stumble across it when you Google your name one day; this may sound really indulgent, but I wrote to you on the day I really wanted to talk to you, but you wouldn’t answer. I’ve been texting and calling you for days on end and console myself with the fact, that if you need me, you can and do call. The tables soon turn and today I really needed you. I needed to know you’re eating, that you’re safe, that you’re happy. I know I will see you real soon, but I missed you today in a kind of blurry vision and bubbly snot kind of way (I miss you every day). I couldn’t tell you, so I thought I would write it here. One day, you may read this and I could get the chance to tell you that today I needed a hug from my daughter, so tight that I could smell your hair.
Love you so much small thing,
Mum xxxxx

Pineapple upside down cake and Another! Quilt.

frugal food, quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

I thought I would share a wonderfully retro recipe with you - Pineapple upside down cake! This is the sort of cake my mum would make for special occasions. It can be eaten warm with custard or cold as cake. We’ll do both. We’ll have some with custard as pud with Sunday lunch and the rest will be take to work in the lunch boxes.

As usual, I have a roast dinner cooking (chicken today) and I’ll plate up four meals, two of which we’ll eat when we get in from work tomorrow evening. I’ll also pick the chicken for us to have Coronation chicken sandwiches (chicken, mayo and a smidge of curry paste and tiny amount of mango chutney). I had to use up the rest of the oven whilst that was cooking. So here’s what I made. I put half the contents of a tin of pineapple in the bottom of a lined baking dish, added a few Approved food, sold for pennies, glace cherries. I then mixed up a sponge mix. Into a bowl I added, 6oz marg, 6oz sugar, three eggs and 6oz of SR flour. I whizzed the lot together with a hand held mixed and poured over the top of cherries and pineapple. The rest of the pineapple was popped on top and I poked it into the mix with a spoon handle. It went in the over for about an hour. I keep checking.

I had the juice left over and wondered what I could do with it. I made a fruit cake. 5oz marg, 5oz sugar, 10oz SR flour, and two eggs (slightly less due to the pineapple juice) - which I mixed together. I had previously soaked the fruit and another pack of glace cherries (they really are that cheap) and I chopped the glace cherries into quarters, in the fruit juice. I also had a few left over walnut pieces, which I also chopped to be smaller. The whole lot was mixed together.

I found the mixture was a bit wet, so I mixed in more SR flour, until I was happy with the consistency. The whole lot went into the over, the fruit cakes will take about an hour, I’ll then test them and see if they need longer.

To be cooked!

Here’s the finished retro cake - Pineapple upside down cake. So easy to make and it keeps for ages if wrapped in foil or kept in a cake tin. Sunday lunch deserves a pud and Sunday teatime deserves a nice cup of tea and a bit of cake.

Needs a doily really !

Do you have a retro cake recipe or just a retro recipe that you love and can share. I look forward to you sharing it (and making it?).

I’m also in the middle of making a quilt for the spare bedroom and part of the process involves cutting triangles off the points of the stars. I’ve made pin wheels with these, sashed them (get me………..all quilty talk now) and added a border. I have a crib size quilt topping, or a lap quilt. I’m going to keep adding to it and make a throw or just another quilt but I have no idea who for just as yet. Here’s the photo’s of the progress.

Until later,

Love Froogs xxxx

And the winner is!

giveaway

Hello Dear Reader,

I didn’t have a hat or receptacle big enough for the draw so I used a shopping bag. All names were printed off, folded and stuck in…………the following was pulled out!

The winner is……………Frugal Up North!!!

Please get in touch with me as the wee gift will be off on it’s way as soon as I know where you are.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered. This has been great fun and I’ll think of something to make and give away really soon.

In the mean time, I look forward to hearing from Frugal Up North and can’t wait to send her the little basket of goodies.

Some news from me…………I got lucky through Freecycle today and answered the ad to ‘free firewood’. When we arrived, we discovered about three trailer loads of old fences, fence posts all in thick seasoned wood and we’ll go back with a saw and bring home weeks and weeks of wood. So, I feel like a winner too today. xxxxxxxxxxxx

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx