Friday 30 October 2015

Dust cloths

Welcome to Sharon Means via Bloglovin.

Taking note from here, I decided to have a go at making Lavender Dusting Cloths. I found 2 old tee shirts and cut the body out to give me 8 sheets, ranging from squares to oblongs. It doesn't say how large to cut them but I reckon you need enough to be able to fold them as you go.

Again, not sure how many would fit in one dose of liquid, I doubled it to be safe. As it turns out it was probably a little too much. After washing the cloths in it, they were hung on an airer to dry:
They are almost dry, quite a bit of the dark patches is the oil. Once thoroughly dry, they were put into this lovely jar I found in town for £1:
I sprinkled in an extra drop or two of lavender essential oil onto each as they went in - now smells fantastic. Ain't blogland great for sharing ideas!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone.

Thursday 29 October 2015

Some times, you just have to laugh!

Bed changing day arrived and as usual, I can do most of it except flipping the mattress over and putting the quilt cover on so here, DB comes to help.

I don't know how many times we have done this job over the years, but this time it just wouldn't go right. We fed the quilt in, gave it a shake - nope a large ruck in the middle. We shook it from side to side, top to bottom, removed the cover, tried again. It just didn't want to play ball and we were perplexed and I for one, was starting to get annoyed at it!

Finally, with DB standing on the bed and giving it another shake, I commented 'What is going on, it just doesn't fit, have we put it in the wrong way around?"

Before DB could answer I realised my mistake and it was mine as I had picked up the cover! We were trying to put a king size quilt into a double quilt cover. That has never happened before and unfortunately, when we bought a new double cover, it came in a very similar colour!

A quick look in the blanket box and there was the proper cover. As it happens, both sides of each cover are the same colour and pattern so when we need to flip the duvet over after one week, to use the clean bit against us for another week, we have marked a 1 and a 2 on one corner so we don't get confused.

We change our sheet and pillow cases every week, not only for a nice clean smell, but if you have greasy hair, using a pillowcase for more than a week can result in it staining. This time of year also heralds the use of a flannelette bottom sheet, it really does make such a difference to getting into bed.

I don't know about you but in our household, a single bed has a double quilt, a double bed a king size etc. Whenever we went to stay with my in-laws, we had two single beds and two single covers. OK for DB but not for me as I toss and turn so much.

The problem with a single cover on a single bed, or a double cover on a double bed (for us anyway),  is every time you turn over, it comes with you and lets the cold in. We used to get around this problem on my bed having a sheet tucked in on top of the bed.




Wednesday 28 October 2015

Needs, wants and wastefulness

I came across a post on a new website today and thought I would link to it here
Give it a read and see what you think.

Honesty, admittance and a willingness to change are what strikes me most about it.

When we were first married we grew our own vegetables and practised frugality and simply living, or thought we were! Looking back from where we are now, we realised how much more we could have done. Despite saving money monthly for an annual holiday, un-known future events/problems, usually cooking from scratch etc., it is only now, we realise we could have, and probably should have, done far more.

It is just too easy when promoted, getting more money (and stress usually), to waste money even if you think you aren't. We could easily have lived on DB's wages, paying all our bills and saving as well. We could have and should have saved ALL of my wages, somehow though, my part-time wages just got absorbed, into what, for what, nowadays we can't remember.

One of the problems with looking back at anytime in your lives are the what if's and why didn't we's that tumble out of your mind. It is no good getting upset about it now. If you still haven't started on your journey to the life you really want to live, begin thinking about it and starting to act NOW!

Life is often far shorter than the eventual future life you might look forward to living. Also, if and when you are near to achieving your dream, you might just find your body is to old to do what your mind has been planning for so long.

We realise now that if we had saved more, planned more, tweaked how we lived far quicker, that paying off the mortgage earlier could have been achieved and retirement could have been achieved earlier, yet consumerism and living our lives left us sometimes feeling that we just didn't quite have enough money...

Although DB did retire early and we had paid off the mortgage at the same time, we survived with quite a lot of tweaking (see Year I of the War Diary).

Now we are not surviving, we are thriving. That has only come about by a change in mind set, a willingness to both walk the same walk. People assume we are poor because we don't have the heating on full blast all the time, that we cook from scratch, don't eat out often etc. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Yes, our money may be more limited than some, but our minds are thriving. We have outgrown our early thoughts of frugality and what constitutes a simple life. This kind of life is achievable with just a few willing tweaks. You will be able to pay off your mortgage, retire earlier if you sit down, right now, discuss and plan then implement. Not all at once obviously, baby steps and all that.

I feel for younger members of family and those of friends, who are just starting out on their own journey. Realising that for them, retirement may be in their 70's - who can work for that long? Having a family gets pushed back only to find achieving that particular goal has either passed them by or they need help.

We all have to live our own lives, we can't live each others and although we can advise, in the end, it is up to everyone.

Are you leading a life you like?

If only blogland had been around then, full of fantastic ideas... 



Tuesday 27 October 2015

Inflation...

Welcome to Aurora Rout via here.

On the nights I can't get off to sleep properly I read. I am currently re-reading Mrs. Milburn's diary. She quoted some prices for August 1940 so I used the historic calculator to see how much they would be today!

Greengages 2d for 1 lb - now 49p
Other plums 1d for 1 lb - now 24p
Dozen Eggs 2s 6d - now £7.29p one month later £10.20p
Butter 1s 7d for 1 lb - now £4.62p
Milk 4d per pint - now 97p
Lemon 5d each - now £1.21p
Sweets 4s for 1lb - now £11.66p
Cox's Orange Pippin Apples 1s 3d for 1lb - now £3.64p
Blemheim Apples 11d for lb  - now £2.67p
Brazil Nuts 1s 3d for 1lb - now £3.64p
Fur Coat £37 - now £2157.25p 

She also mentions some prices from the First World War:

1 large chicken 22s 6d - now £69.71p
Evening Dress £18 18s - now £60.42p
Black Georgette £12 12s - now £40.28p
12 h.p. Rover Car £350 - now £21,687.64p 

Despite rationing, just because a lot of things were rationed didn't mean you could afford them. Mrs Milburn was probably what would be referred to as middle class.  

Monday 26 October 2015

Slowly slowly ...

Welcome to a new follower via here. I'm afraid I can't see who you are but welcome anyway.

Porridge this morning had a dessertspoon of desiccated coconut, a scant teaspoon of jam but no sultana's. Not too bad and we will have that this week then try dropping the jam next week.

We had our first air frost Saturday night Sunday morning. Our night time temperatures have slowly been dropping and we have learnt that whatever the temperature is forecast, to take off around 4C  for living in the country.

The menu tab for last week has now been added.

The front garden and window sill boxes, still have flowers:
On a different note, I just can't seem to get into the mood to make things as local gifts for this Christmas:(

Chastizing myself I finally found some fabric I liked from my stash of leftovers for quilting, so measured and cut what I wanted.

I can't say what I am doing as people in receipt of them read this blog. Also taken into consideration is the weight of the object and its thickness as some have to go by post!

I have been perusing blogland and beyond looking for ideas and have now settled on something, with a slight twist. They are now cut out, only 2 more stages to go and they will be finished. Come on Dc, come on:)

Scarlet, thanks for your comment. I haven't posted it as you had a name in it:)


Friday 23 October 2015

Positives and Negatives... BST ends shortly

Welcome to Yart via here.

Nothing too drastic here, so no need to panic.

Positives are getting the whole weeks shopping done (2 stores) and being home by 9:15am. Trying to reduce sugar where possible - not always easy - see here

Not that I am an advocate of some of the things some authors eat instead of sugar such as using huge amounts of Dextrose!

I usually cut sugar when baking by 1/3rd to 1/2 with no noticable effect on the product with regards to taste or texture. As we cook almost everything from scratch very little sugar (or salt) gets added but we always need to read labels on canned or packet products to be sure.

We are now tackling our morning bowl of porridge which has more sugar on it than we want. Recently we have substituted the sugar for desiccated coconut plus 1 teaspoon of jam which is quite a bit less sweet so is taking some time to get used to! Although very slightly more calorific coconut does also have some benefits.

Negatives are hitting and killing a blackbird in the car:(

Also we were £17.50 over for our food and toiletries shopping for the month. Like I said, certainly as far as the shopping goes, nothing too drastic as we have been stocking up on things that need doing every now and then such as toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and the odd thing for Christmas.

Ah well, must do better next month. Don't forget if you are a UK resident, that British Summer Time ends at 2am on Sunday 25th October when clocks go back 1 hour!

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Thursday 22 October 2015

Pickling Onions

I have to admit to not using a recipe when making these but there are loads of recipes around although it is amazing how much sugar goes into them - say what! Read all the way through this before starting just in case I have some instructions out of order.

A couple of things we have discovered over the years are these:

Prepare onions and spice vinegar (if needed) the day before:

Onions: -When preparing the onions the day before, there are two lines of thinking regarding peeling. 1) Pour boiling water over them, leave to go cold then peel. 2) Cover them with just warm water (so as not to chill your hands too much), peel under the water if able to, leaving them in until they are all peeled.

Once done, dig out the peeled ones and place them into a bowl, adding 1 tablespoon salt or (1/2oz) per layer. Toss them at the end then cover with a double layer of cling film overnight to try and stop your kitchen smelling too badly:)

In the morning, rinse well and dry with a paper towel. They must be dry before pickling. Pack the onions into your clean jar, packing as tightly as possible.  Top up to barely below the brim, with ready spiced vinegar*, poking out any air bubbles.

Vinegar: -  Most recipes call for ready spiced malt vinegar* but over the years I have used all kinds of vinegar, spiced and un-spiced! This year I managed to get hold of some gallon containers of non-brewed condiment for my laundry and used that. It is what is in most chip shop onions!

How much vinegar, well again recipes vary but roughly 1 pint of vinegar per 1lb of onions. Again, we do it by eye. Spices can be your own choice if you can only get hold of un-spiced vinegar.

This year, we added 1 tsp of whole black peppercorns, 1 fresh bay leaf and 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds to each jar before filling them with onions. Some years we add a small dried chilli to each jar.

Sugar: - some recipes seem to use huge amounts, others none at all. We like to use just a small amount, between 1 tsp and 1 tablespoon per pint. As we add our spices seperately we warm our vinegar (on the same day as peeling the onions) and melt sugar into it. After 1 tsp of sugar per pint of vinegar has been added, taste and check. Not pleasant but needs to be done. Remember, you can always add more but taking it away is more difficult. Leave to go cold.

Again, once your onions are packed into their clean and steralized jars, top up with vinegar right to the top. Poke air bubbles out and put on the lids. If you haven't prepared enough vinegar, don't panic, just add extra even if it hasn't got spices in it.

If you have some vinegar left over, decant it into a bottle and store for topping up. We generally find that the vinegar doesn't drop as it soaks in but if you notice it does (and particularly if doing a lot of jars which will take longer to eat), check them periodically and top up where necessary.

Leave for 6 weeks then open and enjoy!


Wednesday 21 October 2015

Belated Happy Birthday!

Monday was the 4th birthday of my blog, who thought I would still be writing it 4 years down the line! I thought today was its 4th birthday but mistakenly wrote down Wednesday 19th October (when it started) and without thinking, thought it was today. Come on brain wake up!

The final preserving for winter took the shape of some pickled onions. We don't do them every year but both fancied some:
We also picked the last of the pears off our small trained pear tree - a Comice I think):
Four at a time are left out to ripen, the rest are in the fridge. We still have about 10 to eat. They are a beautiful pear (far nicer than the prolific red ones we grow) - nice and crisp with a good clean taste.

Now, time to think about Christmas on the food preparation front. DS, DDil and our grand-dogs should be with us this year, which will be great!

Tuesday 20 October 2015

More 'pumpkin' ideas....

Our menu for last week has now been added. Yesterday eventually became windy but warm enough to get a line of washing dried outside. I love days like that, especially in the colder months. Even in the depths of winter, if there is enough of a breeze blowing, washing goes out to be finished off in front of the wood burner.

Having made the scones, we had just about 7oz left of the roast pumpkin puree so that got frozen for making another batch another day. I want to make a pumpkin tart later as well so weighed out 13oz of the boiled puree. Ah, only 13oz there.

Ah well. I'm saying ah, as I also needed 4oz of pumpkin puree to make a pumpkin cake and had actually been soaking the dried fruit overnight for it. Never mind, I found two small quince on my tree, cooked them, put them through a sieve and had just enough.

The recipe is very similar to a Victoria sponge except it has double the flour and one or two extra's!  Weigh out 4oz of mixed dry fruit and steep in tea for 1/2 an hour then drain and leave to go cold.

In a bowl put 8oz self raising flour, 4oz margarine, 4oz sugar, 4oz pumpkin or in this case, quince puree, 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, then crack in 2 eggs plus a good teaspoon of mixed spice. Mix together well. Fold in the drained mixed fruit. You could also add 2oz of chopped nuts if you wish.

Now you have a choice, either put into a greased and base lined 8" deep tin or put into muffin cases. If you choose to make a large cake it will take about 40 - 50 minutes at 180C. If making muffins 25 minutes at 190C.

Enjoy:



Monday 19 October 2015

Pumpkin moan and bake...

First of all, welcome to Jean Scholefield and Catherine at ditzygranquilts via Bloglovin.

This time of the year sees the annual pumpkin harvest. They have been harvesting them close to us for a few weeks now. It is also a huge time of waste with all those lovely pumpkins being carved for Halloween then thrown away. I suspect most people simply thrown the insides of their pumpkins away, such a shame as there are loads of recipes that could use it all up.

On the hunt for something different this year I perused t'internet and came across this recipe and decided to give it a go. The only quarrel I had with her recipe is 'a spring of rosemary'. Now how long is a sprig - that sort of thing drives me mad. I mean, they must know how large a sprig they used, why can't they say so? In the end I used about 3".

Pumpkins seem very cheap this year, the one we bought was just 50p. Buying a pumpkin can sometimes be a bit of a lottery as you never know how much flesh is going to be inside until you cut it open:

Did well on this occasion. There are also loads of recipes on what to do with the seeds.

Anyway, I decided to roast half of it to be used in the scones and gently boil the rest for another recipe or two.

Once cooked, both were mashed, chavelled further with a stick blender, left to drain, then finely forced through a metal sieve to give me the puree I needed for all the recipes. Lots of washing up:)

Herewith the scones:
I could have made 13 but didn't have room on my tray hence the two large rustic ones middle and top left! I do not like to waste an egg yolk to coat scones so these had a little milk brushed on top and sprinkled with paparika before baking.

They are very very light and quite difficult to handle when first out of the oven. We had two each with some soup for lunch.

I couldn't find any baking powder in our cupboards so had to use equal amounts of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. Plus by doing so, also omited the 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in her recipe. Enjoying the ones we had with our soup, and as we had run out of potatoes for this week, decided to warm two each for our tea:
The quick casserole was made from half a pork fillet, two small apples, cooked in cider then thickened. Less than 30 minutes for it all. Now that is the kind of evening meal we like!


Friday 16 October 2015

Cool weather needs soup!

Welcome to Patricia Sylvia via Bloglovin.

We have finally given up on cold lunches, now that the sunshine seems to have disappeared, and started having soup. First on the menu was this, made up and added to as needed. Here is what I began with:
The onion was diced and fried in 2 tablespoons of the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes. The finely sliced carrots and garlic clove were added along with the spice which was 1/4 tsp of hot paprika and 1 tsp of mild or normal. Not on the picture but added here was 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds.

In the jar are about 4 slices of sun dried tomatoes, which were diced and added along with both tins of tomatoes and 1 tin of water. All was brought to the boil, lid on and simmered for 45 minutes. Then 1 cup of the lentils were added, and the soup cooked for a further 25 minutes.

After checking the lentils were done, both stock cubes were added (I used beef but you can use what you like) as well as 1 tablespoon of tomato puree. The whole pan of soup was liquidized using a stick blender before being served up and adding S & P to taste:
We had enough for another bowlful each the next day. Have a lovely weekend everyone!




Thursday 15 October 2015

A labour of ....

Who knows what but my blue rag rug is finally finished - hoorah. I decided to really move on with it as it has taken a long while and my wrists, thumbs, shoulders, neck etc, can just about manage to do this form of rag rugging using a locker hook.

This post here, is when I began it - only 2 years and 9 months. Mind you, I have only being doing it during the colder months as you just get far too hot having it on your knees during the warmer months. Even then, only every now and then as I have just not been in the mood for doing it. Ah well, here she blows:

Herewith a close up:
It has been stored rolled up so it might take a while for the creases to come out! It measures 40" long by 20" wide. Just the right size to put your feet onto on a cold morning. Welcome to Jayne via Bloglovin.

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Pillows and the store cupboard!

I am the princess and the pea where mattresses are concerned and similar when it comes to pillows. It is just as well I don't really drink or smoke as I need extra money to constantly replace pillows:)

The problem is, manufacturer's just don't seem to stick with making things in the same way over the years. I try to use Fogarty medium firm but for a few years couldn't find any locally. Then I found some on line so ordered a twin pack.

Obviously my body has changed over the years as they were a little too firm to sleep on straight away. However, after a few weeks in the lounge being used for my back one of them was just right. More unfortunately after just 6 - 8 weeks it had a nice head shape in the middle and was getting too flat.

I always shake pillows and normally, you can jiggle them back into shake - not this one. In the end I cut it open to see just what was inside - want a peek?:

Now, I don't know about you but I reckon it is similar to a duvet, that has been rolled up and stuffed inside a case. No wonder I couldn't jiggle it back into shape:(

Anyway, we had also recently bought two box shape pillows in a recent sale. The cotton covering on these are so thick that it doesn't let the air out and they couldn't be used how they came, by either of us.

Taking courage from opening up the Fogarty one,  I did the same to one of the box ones. No picture here but inside is justs lots and lots of loose stuffing, similar to what you would buy to stuff a toy. That's more like it thought I, as it was used to restuff the casing from the Fogarty pillow.

It was temporarily sewn up by hand to be tried out. Unfortunately it is a little high so a few days behind my back on the settee should flatten it just enough - hopefully.

Our use of £30 a week food and toiletry money is still okay. If we have a bit left over, we use it to either get in some Christmas things or top up our spare food cupboard. So far so good:
Third shelf down (as the jam and pickle cupboard above this is full) are two jars of Delia Smith's mincement, which was made a few days ago, using half the recipe:
I did make a slight error in that we used eating rather than cooking apples which made it far too sweet for us. So I added about 4 oranges worth of frozen orange zest which balanced it more to our tastes. I must remember to lower the amount of sugar if using eating apples!

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Trialling a new dry crumble mix

Welcome to Ali via here. Thanks for your address Julia, I will post it as soon as possible. Not much to read but some nice pictures and ideas!

I decided to make this mix from here, which is dry and can be stored in your cupboard:
I melted the required tablespoons of butter (2 tablespoons per 3/4 of a cupful) to make us 4 small crumbles. In the bottom are 5 or 6 very large blackberries, 1 small apple and 1 small pear:
Each dish had 1 tablespoon of our own damson brandy spooned over the fruit. I used 1 1/2 cupfuls of dry mix, so 4 tablespoons of butter were mixed in and sprinkled on top:
Once baked they looked like this:
We had the first 2 with custard and the last 2 with evaporated milk. The crumble stayed a little dry and seperate but was fine if you don't have too sweet a tooth. It might have been that I didn't fully incorporate the butter. However, it tasted nice.

Monday 12 October 2015

Not RSI and Sunbonnet Sue drawn again...

Welcome to Faith Archer via Bloglovin and Jackie Holliday via here.

Sorry Essexgran but I have given you a whole week to respond and for whatever reason you haven't. Julia has now been drawn out of the hat for the Sunbonnet Sue book. Just in case there is more than one person called Julia, here is a screenshot of your profile:
Please send me your address via a comment before Wednesday this week otherwise I will draw again!

Can you remember when I posted about my rag rug here,I mentioned how sore I was in my shoulder and thumbs? As it wasn't getting any better, finally went to see my doctor, who confirmed what I was beginning to suspect. Yep, a bit more of me has succumbed to oesteoarthritis, this time, at the base of my thumbs!

I have had flare ups in the past in some finger joints closest to my nails, one of which has got the early development of nodes. I have read quite a few articles on this condition over the years so know I need to keep mobile. The doctor examined me, got me to do various movements, pressed gently then let me know that I still have a full range of movement, even if it is a little uncomfortable at the moment.

He gave me some topical ibuprofen cream to apply when it is at its worse and to stop using it as soon as able. Then I asked what all the crunching noise is when I flex my shoulders - crepitus - and to not do it unless I really felt the urge to. Whilst there is no pain associated with flexing, crepitus is quite noisy, apparently quite common but not necessarily associated with arthritis unless accompanied by pain. Again he tested movement range, pressed and prodded and said not to use the cream at the moment unless I really need to. Well I don't so I shan't!

The only good news, is that oesteoathritis, in general, has a tendency to flare up then die down, which I know, as my finger joints are currently 'quiet' and painfree.

I did want to start another rug but will have to leave it at present I think. Using a wooden spoon, writing for any length of time, knitting etc are all uncomfortable at the moment. DB luckily can weild a wooden spoon with the best of them, but when I wanted to make shortbread, he had to do most of the work.

I know some people take various things to help. I did try them for a while but most of the tablets are huge and I can't swallow them. Might think about going back onto cod liver oil, see how that goes. My sister says that Marjoram oil, blended with oil or lotion and rubbed in might also help.

I wonder if oesteoarthritis is what causes the discomfort at the base of my big toe joint whilst on our walking day?

Friday 9 October 2015

A bargain

Essexgran - this is the last call for your address via a comment so I can post the book you won. If I haven't heard from you when I read my blog first thing Monday morning, I will have to draw another name out of the hat.

Coming back from our chiropractic appointments the other day, we stopped at a roadside farm shop to buy a few things. We saw huge bags of apples outside so bought one of eaters and one of cookers:
Each of the bags of apples had a weight between 2.5kgs and 3.75kgs, both at £1.50 each so very good. Yes, some of the eating apples were bruised but most were fine. The cooking apples were Lord Derby which I have not used before.

As you can see, we also bought a few raspberries and plums to put on top of our morning porridge. The carrots were so sweet, they were just amazing.

Anyway folks, hope you have a lovely weekend!

Thursday 8 October 2015

Baking for walking

 Essexgran, please send your address so I can post you your Sunbonnet Sue book!

I used to buy biscuits for us to eat before the start of the walk but now the cooler weather is here, thought I would make something on the day that I bake the bread. Besides, I know what is going into my baking rather than some of the rubbish in shop bought biscuits.

Last week we had Bara Brith:
This week we will have shortbread slices (not the whole tray) the rest is for us for the week:

Two pieces of dough were pulled from the bread dough to make us a bap each for lunch:
We had them filled with tuna and lightly pickled cucumber slices, home grown tomatoes and home grown pears. The rest was turned into our weekly 2 loaves.


Wednesday 7 October 2015

'Preserving' something for future use

Essexgran, please send your address so I can post you your Sunbonnet Sue book!

I have no idea is this is okay to do or not but as it is a hair product and not meant for consumption thought I would give it a go!

As you may remember from previous posts, I am trying to 'clean up' products used on our hair and body. We finally settled on a shampoo and conditioner from a company (you will find their details on my Beauty Product tab - second company).

However, by the end of this month, being natural and having no preservative in them, they need to be discarded. I really don't know why I didn't think about preserving them for later use when they first arrived but ho hum.

I only use the conditioner maybe one wash in three and really did not want to throw away nearly 3/4's of a bottle so came up with this solution - freezing in large drops that look like while chocolate - must remember to label the box:

All I have to do now is pick one out, pop it into an egg cup to thaw, then use - hopefully:)

The next shampoo when we order it, will have half of it decanted into another container and frozen. Hopefully once thawed and shaken, might be okay to us.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Welcome, Updates and the back garden

First of all, welcome to Lindsey E Martin via Bloglovin. Essexgran, please send your address so I can post you your Sunbonnet Sue book!

I have just updated the menu tab with 2 weeks worth of meals. The War Diary tab for October has also been added for anyone who is interested!

Our blueberries bushes have gone a beautiful colour:

They were recently moved from the garage wall to the other side of the fruit cage to give the blackberry more room to grow and fruit. Everything seems to have more room now. Both rhubarbs and one gooseberry were also moved:
Despite our leek seedlings being poor to say the least, one or two have improved in size so we should get something, even if they will be baby leeks:







Monday 5 October 2015

The winners of the 1000th post giveaway are...

DB did the honours of drawing your names out of the bowl.

Frugal in Derbyshire wins "Frugal cooking with Dry & Canned Foods"

Rose H wins "Ration Book Recipes"

Simple Living originally won "The ultimate Sunbonnet Sue collection" but decided in the end to put it back into the raffle. The new winner for this lovely book is Essexgran. Congratulations.

Please send me your address via the comment section, as soon as possible. I read all comments before publishing so your address will be safe!

Should you decide you don't wish to receive the book allocated to you, please let me know so I can draw other names.

Congratulations and I hope you enjoy them!