The Year Round Nigel Slater Discussion Thread - Part 5

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to this lovely space for our continued chats.

A bit of background for anyone not familiar with this topic:

The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles readalong usually takes place here on Mumsnet between November and February each year - the Christmas Chronicles being a book written by Nigel Slater full of winter recipes and anecdotes - It has been running for a few years, and the contributors collectively decided it would be nice to have it running all year round.

So here it is. It is a place to appreciate all things Nigel-esque. Think seasonal food and recipes, enjoyment of nature, gardening, appreciation of the weather, and sharing of news and small moments of joy. It's a calm, cosy space for gentle chat and merriment so pull up a chair, grab a drink and relax.

A very hearty welcome to friends new and old!

Yup. Criminal damage and trespass. I think she might be psychotic actually. There is no stopping her when she is like this, but if it escalates any further, I will report to police. Obviously I have the delightful video footage. It's been a while since I shared some mad drug and drink crazed video antics with the cops. I am now on the metro home and have checked my cams to make sure she hasn't made another guerilla gardening appearance. Tbh, she was so out of it, she probably doesn't remember. Hopefully her mother has locked her in her room or something. Joking not joking

We have reached That Time of Year here in Newcastle City centre. The place was swarming with hen parties when we left. We will largely avoid it at weekends now that wedding season is here.

I hope something pops up soon for you @martha79 on the house front. It would be nice if you got a call back about that first one. No rain here yet. Looks like we just might make it home before it starts. At least rain would keep her next door indoors!

Oh. I meant to say, we had a sniffathon in TK Maxx. Didn't buy anything candle related as I have a major stash already. I noticed they were selling St Eval candles, but in a smaller size and obviously especially made for the TK Maxx family. £5.99 for a small tin. £1.80 from each sale going to the princes trust.

Back camping this weekend The sun is finally out. Which the experience so much better

@RainbowZebraWarriorOMG! Just reading about your Neighbor’s DD hacking away at your garden. I’m furious on your behalf.

The first two are a couple of my hand pieced quilts, the Amish quilt was my very first which taught me the basics, we then had to work out the quilting patterns to fit into the bars…. The other quilt is a grandmother’s flower garden quilt, which was worked whilst on Teams calls! I will try and dig out some more for you. The cushion was me auditioning a block for a bigger project, it’s called a wonky star block… decided not to go big with it.

The last one is a WiP, I spotted it on eBay as an unfinished quilt, knew it would need tidying up but when it arrived, every block was out and had to be taken apart an resewn. Every mistake you could make as a beginner was there. It is a churn dash or shoo fly quilt, I need to add an inch wide inner frame around it in orange and a three in outer border in the same sea turtle fabric as the sashing.

Ooh lovely quilts! Always love a hexagon, and the shoo fly is cool - the sashing looks really nice. Adding a couple of mine in the spirit of sharing….

@comtessethat is a lovely Irish chain, I have one that just needs a border to be attached waiting in the basket… it will be off to Quilts for Careleavers after that. And that is a lovely bold Hexy quilt… love the positive energy of colours.

Have just properly caught up with the thread, had my hedges trimmed last weekend but not as much excitement as shared on here. At best it was Vidal Sassoon critiquing each twig and scaring it back into place. I have to say I would be so annoyed. Something similar happened with the grapes and roses at the end of the garden… they appear to have a new gardener who hacked at them on their side, even threw some cuttings over the fence, which is annoying as I let their tree surgeon in to gain access when they were pollarding. I suspect it is their gardener at the bottom of this as he is also an arsonist who tries to burn green wood and plastic. Funny how loudly I talk about the Council when I smell smoke!

Oh, these quilts are absolutely divine! ❤️ I would happily see more. A good friend of mine makes amazing quilts and spends hundreds of hours on them. She has them tastefully displayed and draped around her absolutely beautiful home. Her daughter has a very successful interior design business and has said she is categorically not interested in inheriting. I think this is such a shame, and rather narrow minded from a design perspective. Not everything has to be minimalistic and painted white.

I was talking to a lady down at the beach earlier in the year and she was telling me that she had made applique sea glass themed cushion covers. I was in awe, and have plans to try this for myself. I asked the daft question regarding wether she would sell them. I knew the answer of course. You can never make any money back from what is essentially a labour of love.

We tried to get an Italy football shirt for DD today (Italian heritage) Of course there are none to be had, as once again, Italy did not qualify for a major tournament. Might have to go a Vinted hunting.

I have messed up, and somehow booked my waitrose delivery for tomorrow evening instead of this evening. Nowt spoiling, thankfully. I have used up some freezer chicken and a pouch of Spice Tailor Kung Pao sauce, which I rate highly.

The wind is wild here. One of my panes of glass in my garage is hanging out. I really need to see to this asap. Another job on the never ending maintenance list!

@RainbowZebraWarrior that is absolutely appalling behaviour on the part of your neighbour, really intimidating. Sounds as though she needs to get a grip on the drinking, not that that excuses her behaviour.

@piscofrisco I'm glad you've reached a final decision on the job and are happy to stay at the farm. It does sound amazing there.

@martha79 glad you found out about the dodgy landlord/agent in time. My DD and her uni friends had a close shave with a dodgy one in their hunt for a house for this Sept, fortunately they found out in time too.

@LatteLady fabulous quilts. My late MIL was a talented quilter, she was going to teach me and I was going to teach her to crochet but she died very suddenly and we missed our chance. I went to a taster class on English paper piecing (I think? hexagon paper templates) a year or so back and really enjoyed it but I have too many hobbies already.

Morning all.

Sunny, and more importantly quiet on the North Eastern front here today. I have just sat on my bath chair with my feet in some lovely hot water with delicious bath crystals. Put some nice cream on my feet before putting my socks on. Closest I get to a pedicure. I don't do this enough, really, so have promised myself it will be my Sunday morning pre market visit ritual. I also finally located my expensive neck cream (neck is suffering with looking very weather beaten) so that's been slathered on too.

Hope everyone is well and has a lovely Sunday.

@piscofrisco did you get the M&S shorts? I love me a pair of silky shorts. Was it the chocolate satin ones by any chance?

Just caught up after a few awol days - so sorry about your awful neighbour and decimated garden, RZW. Amazing crochet and quilts all round - I sometimes think I would like quilting but like @ElegantDresses I have enough hobbies and more than enough half-finished projects. I do have a couple of books about patchwork ready in case the urge ever becomes overwhelming 🤦‍♀️
I’ve had a pleasant enough week, the highlight of which was listening to Maggie O’Farrell talking about her new book at the local theatre. A good friend who lives in Kent (so I don’t see all that often) came up specially to come to it with me and stay a night, so that was a real treat. DD3 has only three gcse exams left thank goodness. DD2 went to really remote Vietnam and out of contact for 4 days but I am delighted to have received a text from her overnight. DD1 flew to Kenya yesterday to work with a charity for 10 days! And DH is in Boston in his kilt, no doubt he will be very cheerful today 🤣
I’m lounging in my bed and considering what I will do with my day. I had hoped for some sunshine as I am the ultimate fair-weather gardener and all that rain this week means there are weeds in abundance. But it’s looking very overcast and I’m not sure it’s all that warm. Perhaps I will tackle one of said half-finished craft projects. I have a dress nearly made - it just needs shoulder straps attaching, press studs on the back opening, and a hem. Hmm

@RainbowZebraWarrior Goodness. I am so sorry to hear about your destructive neighbour; that’s just awful! I would be furious.

I’m having a gardening day here. For various reasons I’m running late with my allotment veg so I’m sowing some things late and keeping my fingers crossed there’s enough time. I’m in the south west so I may get lucky. The slugs and snails have also decimated my sweet peas so I picked up some straggly extras from the garden centre to see if they’ll fare better, as well as a wonderfully scented black peppermint plant.

Wow I'm really impressed by the quilts - it's not where my strengths lie either. I did have a sewing machine for a while and made some cushion covers, tote bags and even re-covered some dining chairs but it was always very hard work.

I must look up Maggie O'Farrell's new book @Celiathebanshee, I like her writing.

I'm having a quiet day here. Sat in the garden for a bit but got too hot! Pleased to see the hydrangea flowers are starting to gain some colour. I'm now indulging in my new TV licence by watching a load of Beechgrove Garden and Gardeners' World - good comforting Sunday TV. I might even add in Countryfile later.

I couldn’t make a quilt if my life depended on it so I’m in awe of those that can!

I did get the shorts @rzw.yes, the brown ones! Very pleased with them. We are going to see Harry Styles on Friday so they might get an outing, weather dependent.

ive been at work since 7am and just home now as it was sheep shearing day so all hands on deck. Came home covered in Lanolin and reeking of sheep but we had such fun getting them all neatened up for summer. Here is Miss Clover getting her hair done. She loved it of course. The sheep shearer was something of a character. He wouldn’t work without music blaring from his huge speaker that he bought with him, and he has alternated between hard house and opera all day. The sheep didn’t have a notable preference

I don't get to gigs these days @piscofrisco -my last was in 2019 - so do let me know how Harry's goes (it's going to be epic, natch)

I very much doubt he will sing this, but I love his cover of FM's The Chain. TBF, he could sing the Teletubbies theme tune and make a hit of it!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=eM_FR7I2Ttw

I saw Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park a few years back and Mr Styles came on to do the encores with her. Landslide was so beautiful I cried and I am not ashamed of it (I cried a few times at that concert 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️). https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M92_3sr9z1Q&t=113s&pp=2AFxkAIB&ra=m

Well, remember a couple of months ago some of you had read and enjoyed Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton and I said I had tried it, found it boring and given up on it / sent it to the charity shop. But then it was suggested the audio book was a good listen so I requested it from the library (didn’t want to pay for it twice!) and it turned up a couple of days ago. I have listened to it over the weekend. What a revelation, it was so good, I couldn’t stop listening. So beautifully described, so much information. I might listen to it again before it expires.

@ElegantDresses
I too adored Raising Hare on audible. I listened to it a couple of winters ago during many dog walks through frozen fields. A friend has the paper version and tells me the illustrations are lovely.
I collect hares, of the ornamental variety.

@Celiathebanshee
When I sang Landslide with my choir and caught my daughter’s eye in the audience it made me very emotional indeed. I like The Dixie Chicks’ rendition too.

Whoever recommended the Radio 4 series narrated by Stephen Mangan about Desert Island Discs celebrities on a….desert island, thank you! It was brilliant!

Fabulous quilting going on and @Bimblesalong your crochet looks very complex. I haven't picked up my crochet for ages, I must get around to it.

@RainbowZebraWarrior your neighbour's daughter sounds a nightmare and how heartbreaking to see all the damage to your garden.

We have had such a lovely weekend. We went to a wedding near Bromsgrove. The wedding didn't start until 4.00 pm so we went up early and went to Tardebigge Locks and walked along the canal. It was beautiful! It's not an area I know and I really enjoyed our flying visit. The wedding itself was in one of those gorgeous country house venues and a great time was had by all. We stayed overnight and had plans today to visit a museum of reconstructed buildings, but we might have overdone it a bit the night before, so we came home instead! It was a lovely respite from a rather difficult time in our lives at the moment and I appreciated every moment.

Oh wow. I remember this being mentioned before. I so wish I could have seen that!

I play the original Edge of Seventeen video / listen to it pretty much every single day (much to DD's annoyance) as it's just wonderful in every way. Her outfit (especially the cape and boots!), the lyrics, her dancing, the mega famous guitar riff, her voice, that era in general.

Oh that does sound a lovely weekend @Confusedmeanderings. Judy the ticket when you are having a rough patch.

I might try raising hare again then on audible as I was one who couldn’t get along with it before. I can’t get along with our book club pick either at the minute - the girl with the louding voice.Has anyone read it? I knew I wouldn’t like it as I even find the title irritating for some reason.

One Direction were the girls first gif when they were tinies and Harry was always our most favourite. I tend to favour indie music as do the girls but we all have a soft spot for them still. I like how Harry has evolved, in particular his dressing which is 10/10.

Sun is out this morning so hopefully a nice day at work, then I’ve to fit in an emergency nail appointment before Ascot tomorrow and try to figure out what to do with my hair vs hatinator!

Have a lovely Monday all

I also loved Raising Hare on Audible. I think the narrators voice helps (Louise Beasley?) It's great to listen to in the garden whilst pottering or on a train to quietly drown out the sound of twits shouting on speakerphone

I don't remember the Island by Stephen Mangan being mentioned, so I have just bookmarked that thank you. Looks brilliant!

Ah @Confusedmeanderings I am so pleased to hear that you had a lovely time at the weekend and were able to forget difficult things for a while.

I am trying to get some teacups candles made before the school run. I have just realised we only have 12 days left to prep for our Together Festival stall. I have a whole box of honey to process this morning too, so starting early is the only way if I am also to get my beach fix.

Oh, and it's cloudy, dark, and 7 degrees here, so the heating has been on again this morning. I cannot believe I am still wearing winter clothes (thick trousers, layers, hoodies) I feel like flipping hibernating!

Good morning, I'm back on the train to work after a week mouldering around the house. The most N thing I did was make a fabulous fish stew last night (one good thing about living here is that the fresh fish is 👌). Oh, and I made it to see the organist Anna Lapwood in concert - dd1 and I are both big fans and she didn't let us down.

All that's left post-op is some niggling back pain, fatigue and a lingering suspicion of dairy products. Hopefully all three will clear up soon!

@piscofrisco
Stick with Girl with the Louding Voice, I reluctantly read it for my book group and loved it.
Not a book I would usually choose, I guess that’s one of many reasons book groups are so good.
DD arriving home tonight from interrailing, can’t wait to hear about it all.

A lovely man in my Pilates class handed out these plants. My Nigel element to today will be planting it. Anyone know what it might be?