October

Having written blog posts in October about September I am catching up with October rambles.

Coming towards the end of #100hexies100days2019 on Instagram, which finishes tomorrow, I've joined another Instagram challenge of #iloveeppparty2019 so there is a prompt everyday until the end of October.  I'm not good at the everyday for a month type things but somehow I kept up with the 100 days.  I think that's because I spent one day a week prepping the hexies, photographing and posting about every other day so it didn't take up too much time. More time for crafting and less time spent Instagramming!

I've managed to finish the cardigan I was making for Flo to go with her dress for her christening for next Sunday.

It used just over a 100g ball of sparkly white yarn as I broke into a second ball to complete the buttonhole band so I may make a smaller version for my other granddaughter, Cecily.  I used a combination of two patterns - one was for the plain v neck and the other was the eyelet pattern design cardigan, but that had a round neck. When in Skipton I had a chance to visit a branch of Boyes, a department store that I'd visit when in the North (they have branches in York, Scarborough and a few other towns in Yorkshire) where I found some pretty white flower buttons.

Yesterday I went to the Region3 Day of the Quilters' Guild at Brockenhurst with my friend Penny and enjoyed two speakers and the chance of some retail therapy from the traders there.  One of the speakers was Dr Martin Gregory who had a presentation about the history of the sewing machine.  He  bought along machines dating from way back to 1851 and these early machines were in wooden cabinets and because of their value in Victorian times (they were the equivalent of a year's wages for a servant!) the cabinets had lock and keys.  They couldn't be touched as the silver plating had worn off and the varnish over the top of the painted decoration had also deteriorated.

It was an interesting talk about the people who invented different aspects in the development of the sewing machine to the Singers early last century which basically is almost like the machines we have today.

The afternoon speaker was Catherine Lawes whose life has been between England and New Zealand and had some really brilliant quilts and also made coats (which you can see on her website).  Amazingly she did this talk yesterday and workshop today whilst in the midst of moving house.

Here are some of her works that I managed to photograph

My retail opportunity came when one of the traders was selling a selection of their fabrics at half price.  I liked this Lewis and Irene line called Cocktail Party which looks like Sixties Mid Century Modern style and bought this collection of 15 fat quarters.  I don't often buy a large collection of fabric so this seemed decadent to me.

I'd also bought a few more templates from Kallosphere Creative suitable for postcard making

I really like these brilliant little templates. The Beetle one will go well with the Camper van one that I have.

I also took photos of the Contemporary Quilters journal quilts which challenges the quilters to try different techniques.

A really good day out, thank you to the Region 3 organisers.

Croome

A third post in a short space of time!  Although we drove up to Yorkshire in one go last Friday David and I decided to break our journey on the way home and stayed overnight on Sunday at Evesham.  The Premier Inn we stayed at was just outside the town off a main road and on the site there was also a small retail park.  This park had a garden centre which was handy for breakfast the next morning but interestingly there is a Crafter's Companion shop as well as another sewing and knitting shop a few doors along which was worth investigating.  Having already had retail therapy opportunities at Yarnhdale I didn't buy anything at these shops and the Crafters shop mainly specialises in paper crafts.

The main purpose of this stopover was to visit Croome, an NT site between Evesham and Worcester.  We stopped briefly last year for a tea break on another trip Up North and said we'd visit again.  Apart from Croome Court the main house with its history, there were also quite large grounds for walking and the weather stayed dry long enough to enough the autumnal weather.  Also there is an RAF museum there as the house was briefly occupied by the RAF during World War 2 and developed radar systems.

The day was cloudy so my photos are dark.  Above are Croome Court and the church.  We walked to the lake where David spotted a heron on the little island in the middle.

Above is looking across to a grotto

There were some interesting sculptures too, I liked the textured patterns

Inside the house, which unusually wasn't furnished, we got to see a couple of exhibitions, one was of woven tapestries designed by the artist Grayson Perry.  Messages about society today and a lot to read into his interpretation.  The one below is Them (in London) and Us (rest of the UK).

This second large tapestry is called Battle of Britain about inequality.

These two were amongst a few works he had in this exhibition.  When we visited it was the last day so this is no longer available to see.

We were also able to see an exhibition by local branch of the Embroiderer's Guild, which is at Croome until the end of December about Croome's landscape  which is well worth seeing.  Here's a selection of my photos below.

In one of the bedrooms, the only one with a bed in it, there were more textile items with some blue fabric draped from the bed to represent the river that runs through the grounds.

So it was a brilliant day out and the weather stayed dry until just before we set off for home

Flying Visit Up North and Yarndale

This year we decided we would go to Yorkshire and visit places we like visiting and me going to Yarndale in Skipton.  We stayed at a Premier Inn near Bradford (although it was further away from Skipton than I thought).  The weather for most of the weekend was pretty bad although the it stayed fine the Saturday until late afternoon.

David and I like a Northern fish and chip 'tea' and our favourite fish restaurant where we used to live near Wakefield is the Wetherby Whaler.  This local chippy took over the old Harry Ramsden's restaurant in Guiseley a few years ago and its a very grand looking place with ornate windows, mirrors and crystal chandeliers.  On a Friday night there is even a piano player to serenade the diners. We could not resist going there for our evening meal before going to our hotel.  It didn't disappoint even though it was a really busy Friday evening.

Before making our way to Skipton we went via Ilkley and breakfast at the really lovely Betty's tea room.  The rain had just stopped and the weather was to remain really lovely until the late afternoon.

David dropped me off at Skipton station, where vintage London Buses from the Keighley Bus Museum were taking Yarndale goers to the exhibition, which was at the Livestock Auction Market on the outskirts of the town.  It was lovely to have the bus ride, but unfortunately not walking through the park meant I didn't see the crocheted Mandala hoops or any yarnbombing (though you can see this on Lucy - Attic 24's blog).

I'd bought the ticket online in advance which was safely stored on my phone but nonetheless it was busy getting in as the show had not long opened.  I didn't take part in any workshops, though I wish I had but as it was the first time I visited I wanted to see as many of the yarn suppliers that I could.

I did get to meet the some people - I met with Lucy Locket and bought one of her fingerless mitten kits, Katherine of Crafternoon Treats (whose podcast I follow) though I visited her stall several times as she always had a customer with her! At Katherine's stall I also got to meet Helen of Flora Honeypot on Instagram, who gave me a hug and a crochet sheep (called Philmena) with an extra little gift of a pomander set.  I also met with Lucy too and had a selfie photo with her.  I have really enjoyed her blog for years and it was lovely to meet her.

As this is place deals with livestock, there were sheep from different breeds in the pens and even an alpaca

And workshops, and a place to sit and eat lunch or take a break was in one of the auction halls.  Below the teachers were setting up for the afternoon workshops.

In the opposite entrance to the halls there were all these teddies!!

 I took a selfie photo in front of them, not imagining that I would see...

 ...Look! There was one of mine!!

Mandalas from a previous year were displayed

A knitted river

 Knitting, crochet and embroidery groups also exhibited

 And more sheep

There were a lot of vendors to visit too and it was soooo difficult to know what to buy that I was overwhelmed a didn't buy a lot!

So this was my modest purchases and other bits from the show

One full skein of 4 ply yarn and a pack of minis, a book of knitted birds and a bird kit, a pack of cotton yarn minis, a Fair Isle fingerless mitten kit, 2.25mm circular needles, a knitting project record book, some knitting markers and a cowl pattern. So not a lot, but good to see what the traders sell so I could make note and purchase later.  It was a good, if busy show and well worth going for the experience.

David was lucky enough to find that there is a heritage railway not far from Skipton, the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, where he enjoyed a ride in the brake van on one of the train services.

Furtling in September

I may have only done two posts in Spetember vbut I have been keeping busy.  Early this month I gifted a pair of socks to my sister for her birthday.

 For a few weeks I went without any socks on the needles and needing some car knitting (David prefers to drive long distance and I am happy to be a passenger, knit and occasionally navigate) so these are my socks.

This was during last weekend.  The sock is now finished all but the Kitchener stitch graft and I have now started on number 2.  The yarn for this sock is Opel Funny bit Silbereffekt and the cuff and heel in West Yorkshire Spinners Turquoise and the two yarns go really well together.

I've got not one, but two postcards sewn the weekend before last and these will be for the Craft 4 Crafters show at Shepton Mallet during October.  I went to a local craft supply exhibition, and saw these templates of a small camper van which I really liked.  It was made by local company Kallosphere

And had much fun making the camper van postcard that I made a second postcard with a boat.  I didn't use a template for that, just drew my own.  I layered the sea fabrics and added wavy stitch lines for the sea. Although you can see it, I've used some fine glitter glue for the sea spray.

Another day was taken up with making a Project Linus quilt and on a Sewing Saturday 2 weeks ago I took a ready cut out quilt 'kit' to sew up and finish off.  First I had to make some 4 patch blocks and I really enjoy chain pieced 'bunting'

 Singles into twos

 Twos into fours

 Now showing the completed quilt, but I had to make the backing.  I didn't have quite enough of the striped fabric so I cut through and added a band of the ombre fabric. It still wasn't long enough so another rainbow ombre fabric was inserted.  They really go well together.  I used some red batik for the binding.  It took a couple of days to get done - first day (well afternoon really) and the next day to layer, machine quilt and bind.

I've still been getting hexagons together for the #100hexies100days2019 challenge on Instagram and it's now just one week to the end.  I've now joined the #iloveeppparty2019 this month and hope I can keep up as I was useless in keeping going with the #greatbritishquilter.  I've now got all 100 but am up to days 94 and 95 (I don't post pictures everyday).

So here's week 13 and the theme was creatures.

And the beginning of week 14 - favourites, for which I chose a coastal theme

 And below is a piece of fabric (it was originally a fat quarter) of a Makower fabric from years back which had become useful for fussy cutting from which the starfish and the cottage came from.  Its come in useful for shells, boats, cottages that the fabric now looks a bit like Swiss cheese!!

I am posting a separate review of Yarndale, where I went to on Saturday. If you are interested pop back later and have a look.

Meanwhile I am linking (a bit late again!!) to Little Archie's Monthly Furtle Around the Blogosphere