Magic Moments.....#11

Good Monday Morning my lovelies!

I hope you all had marvellous weekends?  I am very happy to linking up with the gorgeous Jaime at  The Oliver's Madhouse for Magic Moments again.

I thought I'd share with you some bits about the WI Garden party we were lucky enough to attend last week.  I've not been a Women's Institute member for very long, so this was my first garden party.  I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, I was pretty sure that there wouldn't be any vodka, so not exactly my usual kind of party, bet hey, in for a penny, in for a pound!

The ladies had insisted that I bring both children along, which was fine with me, as they wanted to meet them.  So we all donned our pretty dresses and headed off.  It was held at my friend's lovely farm and involved cake.  Lots and lots of cake, and a bring and buy stall - where I was lucky enough to get my mitts on a brand new ladybird backpack for Wiggles which will come in very handy!

The garden party was lovely, very sedate!  We all sat in the sunshine and drank tea from beautiful vintage cups, which in itself was a magic moment, but not what I wanted to share with you.  Nope.  In fact the magic moment wasn't even watching my lovely friend The Farmer's Wife expertly milk her very compliant goat....

In fact the Magic Moment I wanted to share with you was when the very sweet and very kind Farmer took Biscuit with him to collect the eggs from their chickens....

She was, understandably, a little cautious to begin with as she wasn't sure if chickens could bite or if they had teeth.  You have no idea how long the chicken's teeth conversation turned out to be, but that's another matter....

Anyway, she dutifully followed all The Farmer's instructions and popped her head into the first chicken run.  Which was empty.  I could tell she was upset at the lack of eggs but she carried on to the second chicken run.  Again, empty.  Uh oh....

She stuck her head into the third and final chicken run and made one of the happiest sounds I ever have heard, yelling "An egg Mama, an EGG!!!!"  It was lovely, she was thrilled to bits.  

Of course I insisted on taking a photograph, which did make her a bit cross (see above) because she was convinced that my camera might somehow break her one and only, very precious egg, but nevertheless I promise you she was very, very pleased with herself.

Who'd have thought a simple egg could bring so much happiness....

 

WI haul.....strange but true!

I am yet to write a "haul" post as they're called, although I do love seeing what other people have been out buying.  I think the main thing that prevents me is that I don't often spend money on myself.  Not buying anything interesting anyway!  I'm not sure you'd be terribly interested to see the new deodorant I bought last week now would you?

At the last village WI meeting something a little unusual was occurring. Before you get too excited, there was no photography involved and no one was trying to saucily obscure their nipples with iced buns. Perish the thought!  I first noticed a kerfuffle (love that word) around one of the back tables when I arrived at the Village Hall.  I thought maybe they were gathered around The Cooking Cannon who was speaking that night, that perhaps he had a gaggle of admirers akin to Beliebers or whatever the beep they're called.  In truth it transpired that the recently deceased Lady Poshington-Posh (not her real name) of this Parish had left her sewing bits and bobs and material stash to the ladies of the Women's Institute.  I just think that's such a lovely and thoughtful thing to do!  This very sweet and terribly well to do lady had left all the things from her, frankly enormous, collection to be taken by anyone who took a fancy to them.  I nearly wet myself with excitement and joined in!

I am hugely pleased with what I brought home with me.  Here's a picture:

1 - I think this used to be a belt, but it looks really nice as a neck scarf, something I wear quite often as they make a plain black tshirt or jumper look so much more interesting.

2- This is a really light silky fabric with a wonderful intricate pattern.  There's quite a lot of it so I'm hoping enough for a summer skirt perhaps

3 - A really stunning piece of blue and mustard patterned silk.  Again there's lots of it, but I thought it might possibly be too light to make a skirt from this so number 4 would come in very handy

4 - A heavier gauge woven fabric in beautiful navy blue, hangs beautiful and doesn't crease.  Would be perfect for lining a skirt

5 - My FAVOURITE piece of fabric, two pieces of beautiful Blackwatch tartan.  I seriously, seriously love blackwatch tartan and I've wanted a simple pencil skirt in this material for such a long time.  I nearly fainted when I saw this on the table, there's just enough to make a skirt from it, provided there are no cock ups along the way.  This probably means I will have to get someone else to do it for me as I can't risk ending up with no skirt - or worse a mini!

6 - A little scrap of Liberty print material with little birds on, it's just beautiful, I couldn't leave it behind even though it was only the tiniest piece.  I thought I might attempt a Great British Sewing Bee style patch pocket or perhaps a false neckline on a top.

7 - Another little scrap of bright mustard almost velvetty fabric.  I felt the same was as I did about the Liberty print, it just shone out at me and I couldn't risk it ending it's days in a recycling bin.  I'm sure I'll find something nice to do with it.

8 - A wonderful long strip of tweed.  The fabulous thing about this lady is that she obviously had her clothes made for her and really invested in material.  This seems to be an off cut from a very large piece of tweed, I'd love to see what the original outfit looked like.  This will probably be used as a trim of some sort.  It's gorgeous.

9 - A little collection of elastic.  Anyone with a small child will know they pull their clothes about to the point where only adding extra elastic around necklines and cuffs can save them.  This will come in very handy!

All for the princely sum of £0.  That's right, no English pence.  I am thrilled.  I will try very hard to make something out of everything that I brought home and I will always think of the kind lady who left them to the WI.

Does anyone else have any little pearls in their fabric stash they'd like to share?  Or have you ever been given a marvellous freebie that has really made your day?

Love, love,

Like Calendar Girls only slightly less sexy...

Well, I've been....

• Doing a spot more blog hopping. Thought I'd have a mooch around The Friday Chaos Blog Hop this week. Check out my new (irritatingly massive, can anyone tell me how to shrink it a little) button. It's going to take me an age to work my way through so many new blogs and decide which are for me.

• Dealing with a baby with (suspected) chickenpox. She's not happy, poor love. It's not fun. Get well soon little wiggles x

• Joining the WI, otherwise known as the Women 's Institute. A monthly meeting of ladies of all ages with a different topic each time. Think Calendar Girls only slightly less sexy. Until I joined, obviously! Last night featured a speaker discussing how people married in the UK prior to the current marriage act. It wasn't the best topic in truth, difficult to make it really scintillating, but it was interesting. Next month's speaker sounds AMAZING, can't wait for that. I'll do a separate post over the weekend going into a bit more depth about the organisation. But I got a cake, a cuppa and a canvas bag! Not much more a girl needs in life is there?

• Getting stroppy with the husband. The other night I told him I was popping to the loo, five minutes later he shouted for me like there was some sort of major emergency kicking off. I dropped everything (well, actually pulled everything up) and ran. He wanted me to know a new series of Lewis had started and we'd missed the first episode.....grrr.

• Blogging for over a week. It's an obsession right now, but I think I'm finding my way. Enjoying it so much. It feels like the world just got bigger!

The ironing.  With perspective cleverly provided by a small, poxy baby 

• Ignoring the ironing. It's now epic in proportion. It's going to take me the whole weekend. Surely, if technology has reached the point where we now have computers the size of a bar of soap SOMEONE can invent crease-less clothes? Don't look at me, I can't even shrink a button....

That's pretty much it. Have amazing weekends...