Uncategorized – A Cottage Crafter

Bad head-lights!

So this morning I was cycling to work in the dark at 0430hrs, when a cyclist came towards me on the cycle path with the brightest of lights flashing! I had to stop, I could not continue my journey. I had to put my head down t block the light, it was far too bright for me to cycle safely.

Why do manufactures think that we need to have these lights so bright?

It’s like the headlights on a car. They are so bright that I have to lower my visor down to a safe place where I can still see the road. But those lights are too bright for my head to cope with! Am I too old? Am I proving that there is something wrong with me because of my age? I’m nearly 50 and I feel so old when I complain that I feel older.

You will have to let me know what you think. Who has a problem with the car, bike or bicycle lights?

Let me know in the comments below.

Chat to you soon

ZJ xoxo

Reusable paperless towels.

Hi all how are we doing in this crazy world we live in?

I’ve been exploring the things we use in the kitchen and found that one main thing is a huge factor is paper towels. Not a lot of people think there’s much in a paper towel but when you look in a supermarket, there is half an isle filled with various makes of them and different size packets.

So, I have been exploring, what if we didn’t have disposable ones anymore and had something we could use over again? It would be better for the environment (with less going into landfill) and better on our pockets with less costs!

We could have them in great colours, patterns or pictures and they would brighten up a kitchen. And the need to be absorbent too, maybe something that can be squeezed out?

Here are some of the first cloths I have made. They are flanelette material or brushed cotton as most people in the UK know the material as.

These are super absorbent then place them in a washer once done. The best bit is that, to store them together, they can be rolled onto an old kitchen roll cardboard tube. The fabric is able to stick to one another until they are peeled off to use!

How good is that!

The best part about these is, I use old flannel cloth that is to be thrown away because of a hole in the material or a garment is ripped. It stops these materials being wasted and thrown into landfill. And what’s better than that is they can be used multiple times, wash after wash and they don’t take up a lot of space.

So, why not give them a go?

Look our for update for when I have them to my online shop.

Take care for now

ZJ xoxo

I’m an Uber driver!

Okay so, it doesn’t sound that flash but I will not be driving people about but I will be delivering food to people. Which is also good!

I can’t wait to get started and looking forward to actually working my own hours and not set ones.

I wonder how well I can get to do this and save up for my next goal, cruise for me and the hubster next year for my 50th!

https://buymeacoffee.com/acottagecrafter/uber-driver

See you soon folks stay well and if you feel like buying me a coffee, why not click on the link above.

Thank you all

ZJ xoxo

I bought a house!

Oh my goodness, it has been longer than a minute since I last wrote a post. That is rather bad of me. But I do have a valid excuse, I shall explain…

So, a year ago our rent got put up again after only being in the property for 2 years! It was getting silly and before long we wouldn’t be able to afford it.

I wasn’t in work at the time having being made redundant in the April, but finding it really hard to find a job that I could work around my husbands needs.

I did start looking at house prices to buy and found that with the income we had we could afford it, only we had one problem. He was 72 and I was 48, there was a possibility that we wouldn’t get a mortgage unless I was working. So the hard work began.

I set out a challenge of finding work and at the same time applying for a mortgage. Many brokers would take my call, set up the appointment and gather all of my financial information, then never called back. It started to become a real challenge and I felt deflated and defeated at every hurdle I came across.

December came and I started a new job. I was so pleased I thought positive for the first time. Until more brokers wouldn’t ring me back. This went on for three months which gave me time to get some payslips under my belt.

We found a house which we liked the look of and thought it would be perfect, but we couldn’t put an offer in as we hadn’t a mortgage decision in principle yet. But on calling an estate agent about a property and explained we were interested in viewing more properties but hadn’t got the mortgage sorted yet, heard her say, our broker is excellent and may be able to help us.

So we gave her our permission to have some of our details passed to him and he called us. I explained how eight other brokers had never called back and I was becoming more and more depressed with coming to the conclusion that I would never be able to own a house!

He asked me to trust him and he promised to always call me back when he said he would.

We had our appointment and then he didn’t call back! I was so upset. I went into the office and said I hadn’t heard from him. An hour laterbhe was in the phone apologising and taking more information from me. I’d have to wait again. I told him I was unsure if he was going to call back, he assured me he would and he did.

He kept communicating with us for what seemed to feel lile months but was actually three weeks and then he told me that I would receive a decision in principle by the close of day up to 10pm! But when I finished work it was there. This guy had helped us out and we were over the moon.

We wanted to put an offer in for the house but it had already been sold. We were back looking again. We saw so many that needed so much work doing to them.

Then we had an email from tjw estate agent asking if we were still interested in the house and that it was back on the market. We put an offer in, which was quite low but we had to start somewhere! It was rejected as we expected, so we increased the offer and they accepted straight away!

It’s been another three months and we finally completed last month. We moved in a couple of weeks later and now, two weeks on, we can’t believe that we got to have our dream house, our forever home with thanks to the people that worked hard for us.

Thank you to you all for giving me faith, it means a lot.

Now my new home journey begins

Love n hugs xoxo

Heat pads?

This weekend I have been working on making some heat pads. I have tried these out for myself before making some and I have found that they are really, really good!

So, I set to work with some small pieces of scrap fabric. I soon had four made up and had a look for more material to experiment. And I did!

I had made a lovely hero themed heat pad along with two handkerchiefs. They look really good and I can’t wait for them to find their new home.

Have a look for yourself via my website for further details.

Thank you all xoxo

Update on what I’m making

Hi all, I have been working hard behind the scene to complete something that I have started!

I have quite a few on the go and I really do need to stop my head from turning into a crazy mad woman haha.

I have a hexagon cardigan that both sides have been started and I could finish it in one to two days!
I have a crochet t-shirt that I tried to get finished before the sun went down on Sunday.
I started a sock pattern that turned into a bed sock as it was far too bulky.
I started another sock pattern but it wouldn’t go round my feet and I’m really thinking it should be pulled back a bit and made into mittens (hmmm, I wonder?)
I’m on with a lovely pair of fingerless mittens that I think look absolutely fabulous but I just can’t seem to get the pattern on the thumb part to look right!
I have a sewing project of making as many heat pads as I can create and sell for a way to save water and to stop rubber hitting our landfill sites.
Another sewing project of handkerchiefs, also to help the environment from too much waste.
I have started (last night) to make a 0-3 month cardigan for my friends that have informed me that they are expecting their first baby.
For the last 4 years I have had a shawl on the go and I must finish it sometime.
And I have lots of cotton yarn that I make into dishcloths. Another great idea I have to be more eco friendly.

I seem to have many great ideas and need to focus on just the one thing really.

It’s such hard work trying to work out what I should make first, but I will eventually I will get to the finish line with some of the projects. I think I will have at least 4 completed before the end of September! What do you think?

So there you have a preview of some of the things I’m currently working on.

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think is going to be the first finished.

See you again soon blogger friends

ZJ xoxo

Latest makes

This month I am on with a few projects at the same time! I should be really but that is just how I roll. So, I will show you one of the items that I am currently enjoying and once finished will appear on my website.

This make is a jumper where I thought I could use five different colours throughout and use up a fair amount of wool in the process.

And here it is!! Doesn’t it look fabulous in it’s lovely colours.

I am hoping to get this completed before the sun goes down on Sunday, here goes nothing!

I’ll update the progress as soon as I have some to show.

Bye for now

ZJ xoxo

Being social media active!

Wow!! I really do need to keep a check on how many times I do not make any updates! It is really hard to keep a check on things sometimes, especially if, like me, you are creating new products along with running a home. Unfortunately, I am taking my husband to the hospital every fortnight for treatments, and that can be exhausting for the both of us.

It is just so hard to keep up.

So, I have decided that every Wednesday I will make the necessary reminders for me to have an admin day!

I do hope you enjoy reading the latest posts or even the latest additions to my online shop.

See you all soon folks

ZJ xoxo

Land prices!

How can buying a piece of land be so expensive? This is just so silly!

I’ve wanted to have my own piece of land since I was a young child. I always thought my grandfather would leave me some in his will, but that never happened! So I thought I’d look for land myself.

Looking for that perfect area to buy land was harder than I thought, but the cost was good at the time I started looking.

As the years have passed, the cost of land has risen. I have no idea why it should rise, but I get rather cross and upset by it.

For example, when I saw a perfect piece of land in my neighbourhood, I thought I would go for it. But at the time, I was a little short of funds, so I had to save a little first. This was going to cost me £5,000 which for the size of it was ideal! Then, two months later, when I was nearly there with my savings, I looked again to see if it was still for sale, and to my amazement, the price had increased to a whopping £140,000!!

How could this be? What had changed?

So, i did some digging. I found that some planning permission had been passed to build 2 houses or a small block of flats! Why?

Why do we have to keep building? Why can’t we just do up old buildings and have some land to grow food?

The government and the powers that be, are so so stupid! Why can’t they just leave the land alone? It is just so unfair!

So, my idea of having my own plot of land to become self-sufficient and not have the everyday stresses of the technical world we live in today is becoming increasingly difficult!

But one day, I will succeed and have my own land.

Keep positive out there and stay happy

XOXO

Handkerchiefs

Hankies used to be deemed as very unhygienic. I agree with this to a certain extent, but if you look at it in a different way then you will see what I mean!

So, you have a runny nose and go for the tissues. But when you have used those tissues, where do they go? Does it affect anyone or anything? What happens when the bins are emptied or when they’ve been flushed down the loo? Well… these are the kind of things that do go into the landfills or the sewage and then all of our germs are spread into the environment.

A handkerchief, when it has been used, can be washed with a detergent and the germs do not get exposed to the environment as much as tissues. These can be used multiple times and once they have got to a stage of extensive wear and tear they can then be put into a compost bin or food waste bin which is collected by the local council.

I think that we should go back to using handkerchiefs just to cut back on the amount of waste that we are accumulating. It probably doesn’t seem that much when it is just tissues, but when you think about how many people are disposing of said waste, it adds up to a larger scale!

I have made my very own selection of handkerchiefs to buy on my website. You can purchase them via the link below.

https://acottagecrafter.sumupstore.com/product/handkerchiefs-6-pack

13/08/25: new handkerchiefs will be added to the online shop on Sunday 17th August 2025, hope you all like the new additions!