Make Bags not War

Just before Jimmy left for his army cadet camp this weekend, he gave me a 'present.' It had been stuffed in the bottom of his school bag for godknowshowlong, and it was only upon packing for said camp that it was discovered. He made it in his textiles class at school

I wish he was as enthusiastic about sewing as he is about running around a field with a gun! I can hardly beleive that this is my little baby - now after only 13 years, a good 2 inches taller than me.

Meanwhile, Mr Marmalade and I spent the weekend engaged in our own war against chicken terror. We have tried everything to remove the torment which has invaded the hen house. We have scrubbed and sprayed, and dusted and cleaned, but still the red mites are alive and biting. Eggy and Peggy will not entertain the idea of temporary accommodation and still they pick and peck and scratch and itch. I have trawled the internet for information and searched the shops for solutions. Know your enemy is what I say! I've bought red mite spray, red mite powder, jeyes fluid (urgh!), vinegar and even coke. Still they creep and crawl and the house and garden now smells very 'carbolic'. However, my saving grace may have arrived as today I have taken delivery of a red mite WMD. Biological rather than chemical warfare must be the solution! Oh yes. Diatomaceious Earth.... or fossilised algae. Those mites better watch out! If you've got chickens, you better get some too.
On a brighter note, there has been a little crafting going on here, because it was also Mr Marmalade's birthday this weekend. I bought him some very sharp carving tools so that he has something to do with his hands when we are on holiday. They didn't come with any 'protection' so I made him a very sturdy and hardwearing pouch from a double layer of denim and some leather.
I'm not sure if he likes the leopardskin trim but I am very impressed with his first ever spoon!!

Celebrations Galore!

A very busy weekend at the House of Marmalade. We had the carnival to start with. Luckily the weather was just right, not too hot, plenty of breeze and no rain despite the looming clouds. I love Carnival day! It's a real party atmosphere and everyone comes out to play. It's the one day of the year where you can guarantee seeing pretty much everyone you know in the village.

This is our street, and we live right in the middle of it, next door to Mr and Miss T who invited me to their pavement party to watch the shirt race and the floats go by.

Mr Marmalade was one of the competitors in the Shirt Race with his friend Tim. You can read all about the shirt race and what it is if you click the picture below. It's Mr Marmalade pushing a 'stable'

Here's the front. They had been busy all week preparing and you can see it took a lorralorra work! It's supposed to be a take on the Queens Jockey drug scandal that has been in the news recently.


After seeing the various processions go by - pictures of which you can see here, everyone goes to the field for the main events. The most popular show in the arena this year was "Jive Pony". I had imagined that this would be dancing ponies (after all there were dancing dogs and dancing sheep too), but no! I was stunned. Here we had two lovely girls, doing striptease on the back of a cantering (yes cantering) pony in time to the song "Do You Love Me?"

Look! No hands!! Spectacular! It all happens in this village I tell you!

Mr Marmalade and I have only missed a couple of carnival days since we've lived here. One of those was in 1997 when we got married! Some people didn't come to our wedding in favour of the Carnival, but luckily the most important ones did. Ofcourse we are forever in their debt.

Very greedily, we had two weddings, one in the registry office on the Friday, and then a 'proper' wedding on the Saturday. I had always wanted to get married in leather, so that's what I wore in the registry office where it was just us two and our two witnesses. Just what we wanted, but my mother had other ideas...

The next day, off we trundled to a hotel in Alcester for the "ceremony". We had a "green wedding" which doesn't mean that we all wore a green outfits, but that it was as 'eco friendly' (to give it a label) and inexpensive as we could make it - total cost around £2k including dresses! We had a hog roast and hedgerow wines after an outdoor Pagan ceremony. My dress was made of crepe with a silk chiffon cape. Here it is.

It was the lady who made this dress who inspired me to sew. She was Amazing (note capital A). The most creative person I have ever, and probably will ever know. Which leads me to the next cause for celebration this weekend.

Look!!! I am famous!!!!! I am in this month's issue of Sew Magazine ... Not once...

but TWICE!!!!


This is good news for me because although I haven't mentioned it for a while, my "idea" is taking shape and I hope to have further news by August.

In the meantime, I better get on with some serious sewing now that I have a reputation to live up to!!

Melting Pot

Good Greif it's been hot around our parts this week!! It's been so relentlessly hot, all I've been able to do is flop around the house mopping my brow. I tried to do some sewing but the needle kept slipping from my sweaty hands. I wonder what the Health and Safety people would say about that? "Don't go out, don't forget your factor 80, put sunglasses on babies (???), don't handle sharp objects, don't enjoy the summer, don't live incase you die, but don't blame us if you end up with a vitamin D deficiency".

So instead of sewing, i've been slaving over a hot stove. Jam waiteth for no woman, and the blackcurrants and gooseberries needed my attention before the birds got them. Honestly, last year I wasn't quick enough and then it was a case of "now you see them, now you don't".

Here we have Blackcurrant Jelly and Gooseberry and Elderflower Jelly.

The Carnival began this evening, and the sounds and screams of the funfair are filling the air along with the smell of hot dogs and candyfloss. I'm enjoying the party atmosphere whilst sipping beetroot wine with a splish of rose syrup in my garden. BLISS.


Tommorrow, the main event, starting with the shirt race (which Mr Marmalade is in), procession of floats, morris dancing, brass band, carnival queen, and all the other attractions including dancing sheep and dogs. Ah yes, this is England in the summertime!!