A patchwork bread bag

Last week, just before all the digging and skip filling got underway I took advantage of having to wait in for collections, rather than deliveries with an impromptu sewing session. I've been meaning to make myself a patchwork bread bag for quite a while, remember them in this post of Portuguese food? 

Yes a while back. But what better timing seeing as though I'd made a loaf the day before.

I had some fabric in mind and a rough idea of what I wanted to do.  As I laid the fabric out I realised I needed to find a bit more, and managed to find some more that matched well. The white with blue stripes is an old work shirt of mine I cut up to use for scrap projects. And MOH said I'd never use it...

I knew that I wanted to line the bag, as my sourdoughs can be quite floury. And then inspiration struck. I'd use an old tea towel. Well not that old, but old enough that we only ever use it to wrap bread in rather than to dry up. You know the sort, too good to throw away, but too old to be out on display!

A MEAL WITHOUT WINE IS LIKE A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE

The only thing about sewing that I'm not so keen on is all the pressing of the seams. But I know it has to be done - and here's proof I did it.

The seam matching isn't perfect - quite a few match, some are close and some are way off - but that's part of its charm, right? Ahem.

So how did it turn out?

Not too bad. I added ribbon as a drawstring instead of cord and that works. I think though there's too much fabric to draw together easily, so for the next one I make I'd leave out the lining for that bit. Not quite sure how I'll do that yet, but I'm sure I'll work it out. I've got another tea towel lined up for the lining too, so I've got to give it a go and have a spare for when this one is in the wash, won't I?

Overall I'm pleased with it, and it's the prettiest bread storage I've had since that holiday in Portugal a couple of years ago. Pretty and functional, and you can't say fairer than that.

A new - and modern - coffee set

We're back from a weekend in Norfolk and I've a few Norfolk posts to share with you this week. I make no apology for that, as it's a beautiful place and one of those places that I find it easy to chill out and recharge in. As usual when leaving mum and dads, I left with more than I arrived with and full of cake, which of course is never a problem.  As well as our purchases - it's rare that I'll visit Norfolk and not buy some fish at the Fish Shed in Brancaster Staithe and so take up space in mum's fridge too - there were some aquilegias, lupins and foxgloves from dad's garden, a giant lettuce he'd grown and something more unusual, a coffee set.

But not just any coffee set.

This one, a Midwestern set called Plant Life, was a wedding present to my parents from my granddad, which they've hardly used (their words) since their wedding in 1958 and as I've recently developed a taste for coffee (thanks to Nespresso) when it was offered, I was thrilled to bring it home.

I have memories of the best dinner service coming out for special occasions as I grew up, and wanting  to be extra careful with it and not drop or damage it. I've a skill for being a tad clumsy you see, but I think I managed not to break any of this and I'm hoping that record continues. 

It's been a while though since I looked at the design more closely. I'm not sure back then that I ever really looked at it in the same way I do now. But now that I do, it makes me smile. Its images and drawings are still modern and contemporary, or at least not dated, if you prefer to think of it that way. 

And I've just the place for it too.  

It's now proudly sitting in my dresser, where I think it looks great. It goes nicely alongside my Le Creuset Classic orange casserole and the Norfolk-crafted earthenware noodle bowls and I love it against the duck egg blue and the wood. 

Bringing it home was the prompt I needed to spring clean the dresser's display cupboards and rejig what went where. Now it looks prettier but is still - probably more - functional, which is just as well as I've promised to put this to good use. 

Now, who's for coffee?

The cottage gardens at RHS Hyde Hall

On Sunday while MOH was cycling 102 miles around Essex (he completed it in just under seven hours if you wondered) I thought I'd do something less boring instead, as that old TV programme said.  It's Why Don't You? I think you'll find. No problem.  But anyway, I took myself off to RHS Hyde Hall.

My visit got off to a confusing start. The lady giving out the maps asked me if I wanted to go to the playground first as she started pointing things out. And she looked at me strangely when I said I thought I was probably a bit old for the playground. Or she must have thought me daft, because she persisted and wondered if my children might like to go there.

My turn to look confused now, because as you know I don't have any children. She looked behind me and so did I. And guess what I saw? Three small pairs of eyes looking between me and and the map lady.  I'm not sure she believed me when I said I'd never seen them before, but when they ran back to their mum she seemed content that I didn't need instructions to the playground after all.

I headed off and instead of heading up to the hilltop gardens first I took a left and headed for the cottage gardens. Yes, there's two of them. I headed into the Modern Cottage Garden first and this was the view I was met with.

If you're wondering what makes a cottage garden modern, I think it's partly down to the layout which when viewed on the map had a tetris like layout, rather than the more fluid beds of the traditional cottage garden next door.  The planting too was different, with the more traditional cottage garden plants like angelica and hollyhocks in as you've guessed the traditional cottage garden.

Like many places there seem to have been a lot of poppies this year, and now there's a lot of seed heads. I found one though that was a little different...

AN S SEED HEAD

The paths were lined with hostas, in fact the same sort that I have in my own garden where I've discovered they make a great edging plant, just as they've used them here. The grasses gave lots of movement and I loved the golden, much taller grass.

In amongst the grasses I spotted this bright pink flower, I've no idea what it is but I knew I liked it.

In another corner I found an area of orange spikes, and I was reminded that I'd not seen my red hot poker plant at home this year. I know these aren't red hot pokers, but they jogged my memory.

At the end of the Modern Cottage Garden there was a gap in the hedge into the Cottage Garden.  And straight into a ginormous patch of angelica.  And like mine, it's in flower.

When I moved past the angelica my view was very cottage garden.

In both of the cottage gardens there were plenty of benches and that was lovely, and hardly any were being used either. So my top tip if you want a sit down is to try here. You'll have a fabulous view too.

And once again the roses were calling me. This chunky wigwam frame was almost completely covered with a climbing rose.

Feeling refreshed after a blast of dense planting I left the cottage gardens to explore further afield - and you know what, I never did make it to the playground!