Bears, chutney and de-cluttering .....................

A rather overdue blog update.  Have been working hard this past week trying to catch up with orders and mundane tasks around the house.
The tomato plants are starting to look rather sad 'tho we do have a few plants in the little greenhouse which should last for a short while longer if we do not have frosty nights.  Megan and I spent a morning making autumn tomato chutney with some of the very ripe tomatoes using a recipe found on the internet. We picked the requisite apples from two trees which are laden with fruit and grow in the small park just up the road. Foraging for fruit is legal in England with the small proviso that it is not picked for commercial purposes.  This year has seen a bumper crop of all the berries in the hedgerows and the apple trees are laden.  As I still have several bottles of plum jam left from last year all this year's fruit was consigned to the 'green' bin, at least it was re-cycled and put to some use. 

So these beautiful red tomatoes and this mixture ..........

provided some thirteen jars of chutney .......

Another long overdue task took several days but we now have a tidy garage.  The surplus furniture has been put to good use in Austin and YoonMi's larger flat.  All our precious fabrics, trims and books are safely stored in strong plastic boxes and a lot more accessible.  I finally understand how good it feels to de-clutter, several items went to the local re-cycling centre and I have a box of surplus china and oddments to take to the charity shop.
Going through all the boxes I found several items which bring back many happy memories.  Some years ago Megan and I were invited to hold workshops for members of the Teddy Bear Guild in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Those wonderful women opened up their homes and hearts to us and we spent several very special days sharing and creating together.   This beautiful little pincushion was a gift from our hostess and is now back in good use on my work table.

In between times I have been busy stitching, the two pandas ordered at Hugglets are now complete and ready for their journey to Germany.  Embroidering the little outfits takes many hours and I am so pleased that my long list is shorter by two...

 

Lots of stitching to still do, the on line show draws ever nearer and the weekend beckons with lots of work to be done in the garden.

If the shelves are dusty and the pots don't shine, it's because I have better

things to do with my time. ~Author Unknown