Make Do and Mend

Make Do and Mend was a pamphlet issued by the British Ministry of Information during WWII. It was intended to teach Housewives to be more frugal in the times of such strict rationing.

With pages filled with thrifty ideas for up-cycling and repairing worn clothing, the pamphlet became a household essential for the modern housewife. Encouraging women to turn to sewing, knitting and crochet meant many women took up the traditional skills as a way of life, not just a hobby.

The original trend for 'Visible Repairing' essentially was born, sewing patches in clothing, turning collars, re purposing worn clothing as childrens clothing, aprons or even rags for cleaning.  Darning and frogging back knitwear to re-knit jumpers and blankets was an every day occurrence. Penny pinching at its best , sparing all ration allowances for food where possible.

I have always been into altering my clothing, either to increase the longevity of the item, or to personalise to reflect my personality. Making my own clothing and accessories from recycled materials , charity shop buys or even re-purposed curtains is so satisfying. 

I frequently replace zips in items of clothing both for myself and for friends. A damaged zip does not by any means deem the item to be useless. A good seamstress can replace a zip quickly and it will cost you a fraction of the price of replacing the garment entirely.

Being brought up by a thrifty mother, daughter of the 'Make Do and Mend ' generation, lots of very handy tips have been handed down to me by them both. My Mother is a keen sewer, and has an ever growing Mending pile with my Father and Brother both being labourers. Not to mention my mums customers also making use of her skills in her part time role as a seamstress. 

*A turned collar -Sewn by my Mother. 

Being a fairly thrifty person, I seem to attract like minded people, my best friends both having sewing machines, an abundance of buttons and threads at the ready. I am steadily making my way through my close friends, teaching them to crochet and sew their own clothing.

We definitely have something to learn from the Make Do and Mend generation , an art I shall certainly not let die out !

XxP&TxX 

Vintage Kitchenware

Vintage Kitchen

With the forecast trend for Kitchenware being 'Mixed Materials' for 2018, it made me look at my own kitchenware in detail. Out with the whites and in with the gold /brass and wooden.

You may have seen on previous blog posts and photographs, I have quite a collection of vintage and vintage inspired well made kitchenware. 

Why chose Vintage?

The saying goes 'Ifs its not broken,dont try and mend it'. I feel this applies to kitchenware perfectly. Over the years I have accumulated a wide variety of kitchen tools. Modern Ikea sets, classic wooden tools and vintage pieces given to be my family members or bought in charity shops.

Vintage kitchenware is still around , because it works. Its been tried and tested and is still going ! Consumerism says that buy cheap and cheerful and keep replacing. But I like to go against the grain and say, Buy well,Buy once. 

In our house, we do not purchase processed meat products. Yes it takes longer to cook proper meat, but I would rather know exactly what is going into our meals . From added salts and sugars to preservatives , so much is packed into convenience food . I will stick to the butchers and fresh cuts of meat thanks.

Home cooking deserves to be executed with the love it deserves. Spending the time making pastry only to ruin it by using bad quality cookware is such a shame. Nothing beats the proper fluted tops of a homemade pie !

For example...My old faithful Pastry Blender was given to me by my parents years ago, It may have even been my Nans before that. I not only use this for pastry, but also find it much more effective for mashing potatoes than any of the hand mashers I have acquired. Its one of those tools you dont know you need, then you use all the time. It must be top of my 'Most Washed ' kitchen items!

My Pie dishes are another essential item that gets used...and used..and used. Actually daily. I picked both of them up in charity shops for little over £1 each. A complete steal, the white one is Wedgewood so will last years . They are the perfect sizes and the thick bases on them ensures my food cooks evenly . No soggy bottoms here !

I would love to give my children the real experience of home cooking as they grow up. Where possible using our hands to mix the ingredients and licking the bowl afterwards, isnt that what cooking as about as a child?

My kitchen may not be fashionable but its functional....a bit like me!

XxP&TxX

The Promise of Spring

With the gales we have been having here today, its hard to believe that in just a couple of months, we shall be fully into the swing of things in the garden. 

Soon the shrubs will wake up from their winter 'sleep' and will need tending to once again. The vegetable patch needs digging over and feeding before I can prepare it for this years crop. I am also hoping to extend it slightly to broaden the range of produce I can grow.

Winter can be a very dreary time when we dont have the excitment of snow or crisp frosts, but winter has its own beauty.

Snow drops are popping up all around us. Come March there will be a fantastic display of Daffodils,Snowdrops and Primroses bringing colour to our gardens and hedgerows.

In this damp weather, fungi grows prolifically providing nutrients for plants and animals in the eco-system. Some Fungi make medicines such as penicillin. Although ,unless you are an expert,its sensible to avoid touching them.

I snapped this photo yesterday. I actually think Fungi is rather beautiful usually, but this slimy tree stump juxtaposed with the Snowdrops reminded me a little of the Beauty and Beast . 

If you look, even in the Winter, nature still gives us a marvellous show .

XxP&TxX

Out and about with Out'n'About!

Out’n’About Nipper V4 Mojito Green

Being a Mum is a challenge, every day, especially when you are massively outnumbered ! I have Three children ranging from 10 months to 5 years. In my time as a Mummy I have tried and tested many , many,many off-road pushchairs ( sorry husband) .I am glad to say I feel I have ‘nailed it’ with finding the ultimate pushchair for ‘outdoorsy’ Mums!

I have owned two Nipper Double V1s before owning ‘The Green Machine’ and adored both of them. Even heavily pregnant  I was able to lift the Double  Nipper pushchair in and out of my boot with ease. No drama! Bonus, all the fabrics come off to wash. Perfect.

When my now 3 year old started to refuse to ride in the pushchair , I knew I had to get a new single workhorse. My double was really used and abused on the school runs, playgroup walks, Jogging and walks around the farm visiting Grandad !

It had to be ‘Man Enough’ for an outdoor lifestyle. It needed to withstand heavy use, heavy loads, off road terrain but not too big to go shopping with either. 

The Nipper V4 was the perfect solution. Its 360 degree swivel front wheel makes it perfect for manoeuvring around the windy paths on our school run. It can locked to be fixed too which is ideal for exploring the woods on walks , when I go running and even glides with ease over the sand at the beach.

We purchased the Nipper V4 with the all important basket and the matching foot muff . It is super cosy for the bitter cold mornings and long enough to last my boy a long time.There are two big pockets on the hood perfect for snacks for the kids or your valuables. The shopping pouch behind the seat is an added bonus!

 I use the V4 every day, with its lightweight aluminium frame and easy handling it’s every busy mums dream. There are no fiddly extra bits to fit to get into your boot. I can fit this and my entire food shop in the boot with no fuss. It folds so compactly its unbelievable. The ultimate Mummy test….can you fold and unfold it one handed? Yes you can!

The five point harness was put to the test on this walk  as we had to pile into the bank away from a Horse that found it truly terrifying, cut through an almost vertical climb to carry on the footpath route and running through a narrow section of the road to the next passing place to let a tractor through. My son didn’t move an inch and stayed asleep the whole time. His comfort and safety are what makes this pushchair my ultimate choice.

The great thing with the out’n’about Nipper pushchairs is the fact they are real work horses. There are a number of them around ranging from the V1-V4 , all carrying heavy loads , children hanging off them and working their way through the thickest of mud and deepest of sand with no issues. They are the Shetland pony of the pushchair world! They come with a two year warranty, you will get years and years of use from these pushchairs!

 The Out 'n'About Nipper V4  is going to be my noble steed for a long time!

http://www.outnabout.com/

https://www.facebook.com/outnaboutuk?sk=wall

Kathy's potato pastry meat pie

War Time Inspired Pie

With our post Christmas 'big shop' due this week. I was mindful of the amount of food we consumed over the festive season. All the 'bad' food we put in to our bodies... im not complaining..I enjoyed every single cheese board and iced gingerbread !

I wanted to try and feed my family some proper back to basic wholesome food. What better cooking style to follow than the basics of war time food.

I stumbled across a Potato Pastry recipe. My family love a gravy based dinner. Pie it is! Working in the food industry on and off for a number of years, I can appreciate the true value of a good pie! But potato based pastry? It caught me.

With our societies strange opinion that 'perfect looking veg is best', I went against the grain and bought all of my ingredients in Morrisons in their 'Wonky' and 'savers' range. 40% of a crop of vegetables can be disregarded because it does not meet the aesthetic requirements of supermarkets. Having a perfectly shaped potato is not of importance to me 

The meat for the pie was purchased on the deli. Chopped cooked meat mixture just 70p for 100g. Chopped ham, turkey ,pork/pork luncheon and beef. Perfect pie filling.

This pie was made on a real budget. It fed all five of us in my household. One man sized portion, my portion, 2 good sized kids portion and a babys portion . One of my daughters also had seconds ,as did the man sized person at my table!

The cost?

£3.70 ....for all of us... thats just 74p each for a hearty meal.

XxP&TxX