On the cards today was a visit to The Festival of Thrift held in Darlington along with my friend Lesley.  I had no expectations of what to expect as this was the first one to be held.  It was free and Wayne Hemmingway was at the helm so it was worth a look. 

We were very lucky as the weather was perfect for a day out. I had been to Lingfield Point in my previous sales career attending a networking event.  It was explained that it had been the old Paton wool factory and the long term view was it to become an eco village. To build eco houses, people being able to walk to work, and having a self sufficiency food programme including building allotments and bee hives.  At the time I was very impressed.

On arrival there were volunteers to meet you with programmes of what was happening, again free. The queue for the workshops were quite long so we headed straight for the stalls which were a mish mash of craft, food, vintage, and not for profit organisations but a lot of emphasis was on upcycling and make do and mend.  There were some fabulous creations on the stalls and lovely stallholders willing to chat, except for one.  I was told politely ‘no taking pictures of my stall with mobiles’ when I was actually texting.  Little did I know that Lesley had already taken a picture of it and carried on so I must have got the rollicking! She did chuckle.

The best find of the day was a line of VW campervans which were turned into dining rooms for the day.  Everyone had a different theme such as African, Indian etc. We plumped for the Indian, so we booked the camper, and set off to get a real ale to go with it. We clambered in with squeals of excitement when we saw all the flowers, knitted bunting , Indian cloths, incense was smoking and it was perfect.  The chef came and introduced himself and we were then waited on for our two course lunch.  Mung bean soup was followed by three veggie curries, rice, chipati, and 3 different side dishes. The meal was delicious and it was one of those memories we will treasure.

Some of the people milling round were dressed in vintage clothing and really looked the part and the street theatre was very good too.  One man was dressed in a cress suit which was pretty amazing, a rag and bone man, some men riding round on a made steam roller with very little clothes on, the tea ladies were really funny too.  One of them whispered in my ear that Mrs Morris down the road took her tea wearing no panties!

I am a sucker for kitch and fell in love with an old caravan revamped and made into a mobile shop.

I also recognised one of the designers from the TV programme Fill your house for free making a caravan from pallets.  Then I saw the girl who went round picking up everything in the van from the same programme. I asked if it was them from the Kirsty programme and was told 'it was our programme and Kirsty just fronted it' Oh well that told me then! 

The atmosphere was vibrant and quirky and we came away feeling on top of the world. My head is buzzing with all sorts of ideas although I only bought a bad full of clothes from the jumble sale and a piece of Liberty material and they only cost £8.50 for the two.  I hope that it will be on again next year as I would love a return trip.

Day 2 and 3

It has been a busy couple of days and I have enjoyed every minute of them.  Spent most of yesterday mooching around Guisborough, I was in the vintage charity shops and managed to buy some beautiful yellow and pink doilies.  I found a craft workshop called Blue House which has many courses including glass painting which I would love to have a go at.  Then into Leven crafts which to any crotcheter, knitter or sewer is like a fabulous sweetie shop.  This was followed by a wonderful lunch and much needed catch up with my old neighbour and friend Vicki. 

Back at home it was time to put my jam pans on to finish the jelly off.  I added a little port to the apple, elderberry, plum and sloe pan.  The smell was wonderful and well, it will be Christmas after all!  This jelly can be used for savoury use such as added to gravy, used as a marinade, accompaniment or is just as good on toast. I love the fact it is a good all rounder.

This morning started with switching my sewing machine on and fulfilling a promise for my florist friend Rachel.  She has just rebranded her company and wanted a new apron in her new colours that would be pretty but not too girlie.  She was very pleased with the result this afternoon when I delivered it. 

Tonight I have finished my jars off with labels and Christmas material I had left over from last year.  The cloth tops remind me of kids dressed as shepherds in the schools advent plays for some strange reason and has made me smile while putting string around them.

Jam pan has been put back on to use the last of the apples.  This time I have added rosemary which is a lovely savoury jelly.  That is in the strainer now and will be finished off tomorrow. Don't know how I managed to fit work in.

Starting out

Well hello and welcome to the world of Susie Cottonsocks. I have longed to write a blog for a while now and it just seemed the right time to try.  I hope you find it interesting.

You can certainly feel  the change in the seasons now, and this has prompted me to start thinking of Christmas (I know it is early) but this year I intend to do a homespun Christmas, probably along with a lot of people it is down to lack of cash.  I have a great interest in crafting, make do and mend, anything vintage and upcycling.  Having watched programmes like Superscrimpers, Kirsty Allsop making crafts, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall foraging, it has wetted my appetite to make things for Christmas this year. 

So the Christmas preparations were kicked off yesterday when Anne from the Ladies Club I run said ”I have brought you some crab apples” oh lovely I thought.  There was only 24lbs of them!

So on this morning’s walk with Millie, I managed to forage some plums, sloes and elderberries from the walkways near my home.

 I have also picked the last of my brambles (blackberries to anyone not from the north east) from my garden and set to work. The weather has been superb for apples, elderberries and bramble this year, anyway I digress, apples and brambles go in one pan.

Apples, sloes, plums and elderberries in another and the smell is divine. The contents of which are now draining through a jelly bag and the process will be completed tomorrow.  Jams, chutney and jellies make a great Christmas gift and since it is only costing the price of sugar so cheap.  If anyone has never used elderberries before make sure you don’t cook the green ones as they contain a small amount of cyanide and could make someone ill. 

Some of the apples have been put to use in making cider.  I found the recipe in one of my favourite books, The forgotten skills of Cooking by Darian Allen.

I’m quite excited as I have never made it before and it will be a great stocking filler come Christmas.  I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out and for the cost of cinnamon stick and sugar it will be made for pennies.  Oh I am loving this already!