Sew, Knit and Natter Friday!

Is it just me , or are weeks getting shorter? Here we are again and it’s Friday and time for a good old natter. I am going to be busy today, well busy for a retired person anyway. I have to collect my new glasses this morning, and sadly this afternoon I am attending a funeral. Is it a sign of getting older that you start to attend more funerals than weddings? This is for the father of my best friend Ms J who I have occasionally mentioned in these posts. He was known to my brother and I as Uncle John. He was a school teacher and I think there will be a “good turn out” for him. Sad days as the older generation passes. Soon I will be the older generation, but at the moment am just reaching middle age!!!!

Enough, happier topics. Last week we managed to visit a local agricultural show, this one in the village of Thornton le Dale, which we have visited many times in my blog. Today being S,K and N day we will visit my favourite tent, the craft tent. Remember the days when the WI had a tent of their own, now they have a few tables in the main tent. Here’s what caught my eye.

Look at the big crochet basket , and the lovely mandala.

f

I love this bag, a deserved winner for whatever class it was. There were just numbers shown, and no written name. Also I was disappointed that the judges had left no comments. Back in the day they did..

And this lovely embroidery which gained a second placement. I love it.

Outside

These old bodgers at work! If you enjoyed this part of the post I have more pictures from the show, so the old tour bus will be heading there on Sunday, if you fancy a trip. Mr Hicks and Gibbs there is a picture just for you two.

We had a meeting to get the Repair Cafe up and running and we have a scheduled date for late September, if we get the insurance sorted. Growl, why do good plans always come up with H&S and “what if someone sues us”. I don’t know.

Anyway I thought I better start to think what to take with me and how to get it there. Now I have a sewing box/caddy which I used to use when we lived in Oxfordshire and I went to dress making classes. It was full of a project that I had half done before we moved and has languished there ever since. That would be 15 1/2 years! I have taken it out, and the question is apart from buttons and threads, what do you think I should take along with me to aid repair volunteering?

Meantime I had a look at the UFO and decided the best thing to do was finish it off.

Quite impressed with the fleur de lys. Anyway you can just about see the piping cord in the picture. I have now sewn it to the front on the fabric with I must say a huge amount of difficulty on the sewing machine. Seems I should be using something called a piping foot? I haven’t got one. Reluctantly I am concluding the only way to enclose it in the back is hand stitching. What do you reckon?

I am going to finish this!

Meet Bertram Elephant!  I love him. I do like making elephants. The fabric has been sitting on the guest bed for weeks whilst I did that skirt. Give me a piece of scrap fabric and I am as happy as Larry, give me a piece of fabric I love and paid good money for, like the mountains fabric which should have been used on the skirt and I have months of terror before I pluck up courage to use it. A lesson there somewhere.

The other thing I have found is that rather than spend hours tormenting myself with luscious pictures and fighting the urge to buy stuff I am far more content and yes excited to fish out a project I have planned and to do it. Another lesson learned, maybe..

Master T’s jumper, we have a back, a front and 1 1/2 sleeves. Maybe next week a complete jumper?

And a little bit of cross stitch too

Any guesses what it is?

So that’s me, over to you now. How are you all? Do you like an agricultural show? Any ideas on what I need to put in my repairing caddy, chances are I have everything? And what about the piping cord, hand sewing do you reckon?

I hope you have a fabulous weekend full of yarn and fabric. Tell me all about it please.

Be Happy!

C x

 

Tour Bus to Chichester

Welcome to the cathedral city of Chichester

Let’s go inside the cathedral

This is the Arundel Tomb immortalised by Philip Larkin in his poem An Arundel Tomb. Notice that the knight is in full regalia and holding his wife’s hand, a first apparently to depict a knight in full armour thus posed.

This is a display of the work of Frieda Hughes who painted one picture every day for 400 days, according to her mood, more information here.

Frieda is the daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and her paintings are accompanied by her own poetry. It was a fascinating exhibition.

Now this is part of the St Richard of Chichester Embroideries

This is called the Piper Tapestry, most dramatic don’t you think.

Fabulous stained glass windows too. But what gave me the greatest surprise was this

Roman mosaic. Now there is no information about this in the cathedral, it is just there beneath a glass panel on the floor. I asked an attendant about it. She seemed surprised I wanted to know or had even look at it.” Oh “,she said breezily, “there are lots of Roman remains all over Chichester, this is nothing special!” Well I thought it was.

I do so hope you enjoyed my visit to Chichester  Cathedral. After this we wandered  into town for refreshments and then back to the cottage for a rest. Frankly after a  wedding and all our sight-seeing we were a tad tired. It took about three days back home to regain our normal energy levels, which are pretty sloth like at the best of times.

 

 

 

One a week Photo Challenge- Thrift

Upcycling, the perfect example of Thrift

Re- purposed Sewing Table spotted on a balcony in Carcassonne, France February 2017

Please feel free to leave a link to your thrifty picture in the comments.

Next week’s prompt is FOLD.

Happy Snapping!

Scrap Happy August

I got the hexie quilt out again this week as I finally had some new scraps to be able to use. You can see the blue floral with the large flower from the wedding bunting left over fabric.

Now don’t think I don’t have lots of fabric stashed away because I do, it’s just that they are large enough pieces for me to think I could do something with them.. the ones for the hexie quilt are pretty small pieces. I may just have to give myself a good talking too and start to use these larger pieces, I mean just what am I saving them for?

Meantime I have started another elephant from one of the bigger pieces. He should be finished this week, and of course I now have some smaller pieces for more hexies.

Sometimes I think I am ridiculous!

Joining with Kate and others for some scrappy happiness.

 

Postcard from West Sussex.

I love the idea of the Nana Cathy Tour bus as described by Kathy, in the comments on the Weald and Downland post. So please hop on board we have three destinations today.

The windmill at Shipley, and if it has a certain familiarity you could be right, remember Jonathan Creek. Here’s his windmill. Goodness knows how they managed to film it for the series.

Next stop is the village of Southwater, the church of the Holy Innocents

I particularly wanted to see the new stained glass windows depicting

Christ’s Hospital and

Traditional craftsmen. This window was paid for by the Piper family who were wheelwright’s and blacksmiths.

Final stop today is down on the coast at Bognor Regis .

Looking rather down at mouth since it was visited by George V and gained the Regis , which indicates royal approval. We had a rather blowy walk on the sea front.

All that remains of the pier.

The hotel doesn’t look open for business, but someone is living there, see the washing over the name. All I can say is how very sad this is, and what a far cry from an illustration I found in a book about Bognor in our holiday cottage.

There is one more destination on the Tour Bus, but that is for another day. Hope you enjoyed the trip.

Have a great Sunday.

 

Sew, Knit and Natter Friday!

I left you in the Weald and Downland Museum yesterday in a rather insalubrious place, the privy. Lets’ go back inside the Victorian cottage and see what we can see,

That’s more like it a nice cup of tea, oh and look, crochet.

Now couldn’t you just settle down here , tea, cat on your knee and something yarny in your hand. Talking of yarn, which I was sort of, I mentioned hands on demonstrations yesterday.

I had a quick go at carding while no-one was looking. As I left, another Nana came in with her grandson, picked up the bit I had just carded and showed how it was spun! Hurrah for Nanas.

I mentioned also that there were crafts people at work on site now. We were especially interested in this incredible  gridshell building. The lower part is used for storage and the upper for conservation and repairs.

Now did anyone see a TV programme called The Repair Shop on BBC 2? Basically people take broken treasures and have them fixed/ upcycled by experts.  I was super keen to see just where at the Weald and Downland this was situated. Tucked away behind the Watermill and the under re construction Bakehouse. There it was.

So disappointed I could go no further , because that notice on that board  was to stop us interrupting filming for a new series. Hurrah and Boo at the same time.

Which very nicely leads me onto a new venture Mr E and I hope to join in with. Now have you ever heard of Repair Cafes? These began in the Netherlands and are places people can go to have every day items repaired by volunteers. Well now I can sew a zip I am an expert.. seriously though I could darn a sock, sew on a button, untangle knitting, fix a hole in fabric, and as for Mr E he is King of computer fixes, saucepan lids, parcel shelves, grill pan handles etc etc.

We spotted an article in a free local mag, by a small group of people wanting to start one close by, and we have volunteered our time. Last Saturday I visited one in Leeds with a couple of people, such a good idea. Saves waste, land fill, money, teaches people , what is not to like to want to be involved with. Early days yet, but am super excited.

Sew down to business. Did I finish the skirt? Yes I did.

Feeling quite pleased with myself.

Safely dispatched to Little Miss F. Hope for a picture soon.

And as to knitting, well we have a back and a front to the jumper for Master T.

In the meantime there has been a bit of cross stitch and I now have enough scraps to get  going with my hexie quilt which has seen nothing doing to it for ages. I also feel another elephant coming on.

Ouch!

So over to you now, do just join in for some nattering. What are your weekend plans..

Be Happy!

 

 

Weald and Downland Museum.

The Weald and Downland  museum opened its doors in 1970. What began as a place to save/ reconstruct actual historic buildings threatened with demolition for things, such as road building ,is now so much more. It is now described as a living museum with people working on site. You may have come across it in various TV programmes when a historic site is called for. It was a favourite place for us to visit when we lived in Sussex and was top of our list for a revisit this Summer during our holiday in Chichester. Let me show you why.

This building dates from 1620 and is the Town Hall from Titchfield, Hampshire. In the 1960s it was totally derelict and was going to be demolished till a new home was found for it here in 1971. This is a favourite film location, where a crowd situation occurs.

This house came from Walderton , Sussex and was offered to the museum as it was due for demolition.It has been used inside to show how houses changed from the 15th century when houses were built in a single storey with a big central hall, to the 17th century when a ceiling and stairs were added and the hall divided into room with chimneys added replacing an open central fire. There is a staff of gardeners who with a team of volunteers add authenticity  by cultivating gardens. What I really noticed was the absence of lawn, all available space being used for vegetables, herbs and flowers with medicinal properties. A really pleasant place to sit a while.

This is a grander affair being a medieval house from Sole Street, Kent. Condemned in 1960 as not fit for habitation ,it was occupied until 1967 , before coming to the museum. It is used for demonstrations and hands on activities.

Poplar Cottage, from Washington, Sussex. It was situated on the edge of common land and would likely to have been occupied by an agricultural labourer.

These oxen are working animals used to fetch and carry wood,etc, as there are on site crafts people at work.

Bayleaf Tudor Farmhouse, this one saved from drowning under a much-needed reservoir! I think I spotted this one in an episode of Midsummer Murders.

Inside the properties is just as interesting as outside.

Beds– clearly you can see the ropes that formed the base of the bed on which the mattress was laid. These ropes need tightening from time to time, hence the expression To Sleep Tight!

A visit to the nearby Tudor kitchen to sample some bread and beer! Your eyes gradually get used to the dark!

Inside a Victorian village school!

Inside the Victorian cottage.

But outside and round the corner for the

Privy!

Well really Nanacathy, what note to end on, but is it the end? More on Friday . Do drop in for a natter.

Hope you enjoyed your tour. Have you been, did you like it? If not let’s see if they can tempt you, have a look here