End of Term

It was a bit of an end of term atmosphere at our Young Embroiderer's meeting today and even though quite a few of the girls were missing due to other commitments it was lots of fun as usual. Last time we met we made bunting but as the girls hadn't finished by the end of the meeting they were under a promise to bring it back finished this time. And doesn't it look fantastic! I wish we could keep it on the guild notice board all the time... much more fun than notices.

 

 

Today we were making little brooches from woven threads and beads and Imogen finished this beautiful pink and purple one.

 

Francesca made a brooch for her dog "Lucky" and here he is sporting it on his collar!

 

Very smart and sophisticated!

 

Bluebell managed to finish two brooches and was wearing them both... they look terrific together.

 

Hannah's looks fabulous with her clever use of complementry colours.

Gabby made her pretty brooch to decorate her bag.

 

Jemima also finished two... one for her little knitted friend, which she had knitted herself.

 

And this beautiful one for herself. So clever... and I love those nails!

 

And Abigail finshed hers just in the nick of time as we were packing up. I did take a photo of Heather's too but it was out of focus... sorry Heather!

 

And of course, it wouldn't be end of term without cake!

 

It was a lovely meeting girls... thank you! Thank you to my lovely helpers too... we did a great job clearing out the cupboard  and now I'm wondering if you fancy coming round to my house for a clear up!.

More Crochet Bunting

I would like to start this post with the bold claim... "By popular demand"... but to be perfectly honest there wasn't any demand, popular or otherwise!

 

 

However I was not going to let a little triviality like that stop me and I have been beavering away to make more crochet bunting... and more importantly... to write up the pattern.

 

Now I am very aware that there are lovely bloggers out there who will happily write up such patterns and give them away for free on their blogs. And I'm quite sure that gains them many, many more loyal fans and followers than I currently have or I am ever likely to have.

 

But tempting though it may be to get lots more cyberspace friends, I am foresaking popularity for the need to actually make a living.

 

So the pattern is available as a download, for a modest fee, from my Etsy Shop.

 

Lovely bunting that you can make yourself in any colour combinations you like.

 

I would love to see what you make!

Birthday Bunting

I crocheted some bunting.

 

 

I used some lovely Planet Penny crochet cotton which was fabulous to work with. I took bits and pieces from various patterns and combined them to get the look that I wanted, finishing it off with some of my dyed buttons (one batch of scarlet dye produced all these different reds and pinks)

 

I pondered over how to best photograph it... it's not easy to photograph bunting in order to show it off at its best you know.

 

And in the end I decided it looked best draped over my dresser... but it didn't stay there as it was not for me. It was for a special friend who had a birthday at the beginning of the week.

 

But I might have to make some for me too... because I like it on my dresser... and I have a bithday at the end of the week. And the world needs more bunting...

 

....and cake.

Birthday cake... for my friend and me!

 

We did share it with all the other ladies from Spectrum.

Bunting

I feel as though I have been under house arrest for the past week... only venturing out for bare essentials.

But at last the bunting is finished... all 12.5m of it! (That's metres not miles)

12.5m made in two lengths consisting of a total of 46 individual flags.

Each one has been embroidered with reminiscences of street parties and celebrations ranging from the silver jubilee of George V in 1935 up to our recent jubilee celebrations.

Each one has been made from vintage embroidered table linens, much of which has been donated by you, my blog readers. Thank you so much for for supporting me yet again and being part of this project.

The bunting will hang out side the Cambridge Folk museum this weekend to coincide with the Olympic torch coming to Cambridge. The torch leaves Cambridge for Huntingdon early on Sunday morning July 8th and will pass right past the folk museum along Castle Street. After that the bunting will hang in the museum tea room which is open at weekends. It has been a great project to be involved in although it has taken far more hours than I originally thought and because we were waiting on collecting the reminiscences it has all been very last minute.

I did give myself a day off yesterday and we worked in the garden all day. As ever I completely forgot that I'm not as young as I used to be and a full day in the garden has left me barely able to move today... I never learn!

Good job all I had to do was sit at the sewing machine and stitch bunting all day today!

A New Project

Much as I am enjoying the challange of creating all the little matchbox books it is good to have a new project to work on. Last week I met with some people from The Folk Museum in Cambridge to discuss a project to coincide with both the Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic torch passing through the city.

 

The people at the museum are collecting memories of street parties from Cambridge residents and I have been asked to help turn those memories into bunting. I decided that using old embroidered table linen would provide the link with the theme of tea parties and I would embroider snippets of each memory onto the flags.

Each one will have the date and the place and a few other key words to capture the essence of the memory.

But I need some help. My supply of table linens is quite sparse, the charity shops etc have next to nothing, I have a limited budget and I know that it is in high demand... so I'm on the scrounge again! If any readers have any scraps of old embroidered table linens that I could use could I make a plea that you send them my way. I don't want your treasured heirlooms or anything of any value sentimental or otherwise but any pieces or scraps, in any condition, whether stained or in holes will be perfect as I will be piecing them together. I know you have always been so supportive of my projects in the past... so I've got my fingers crossed.

It's been a busy weekend - teaching on Saturday and then a large part of yesterday spent making the bunting samples to show the museum so there hasn't been as much book making as I might have hoped. Just one...

My brief was Blue and Green... Sea colours

So I made an embroidered cover for the box and the book is a tiny flag book with folded envelopes to hold the pages. I've a couple more to make with blue as the theme so I might work on those next... as well as some more of the Jubilee books. The ones in my shop have sold (thank you!) so I'll try to get some more there by the end of the week.

And last but not least... Su has been picked to receive "The Fine Colour of Rust". All I ask Su is that is you also pass it on when you've read it and make your own list of Pleasing Things for us to read!