Five on Friday - Five Firsts

Joining with Amy at Love Made my Home.

This is my first Five on Friday of the New Year so it seems appropriate to share five firsts of the year. 

As mentioned in my short post yesterday I have recently returned from my first holiday in several years. In the past I have often traveled alone, usually meeting up with family or friends in different parts of the world. This latest trip was the first time traveling with a wheelchair

This poses a number of issues like, luggage; how to transport the crutches; not to mention the anxiety of wondering if the assistance booked will work. Luggage was kept to a minimum as it had to fit in the backpack pictured, which would go on the back of the chair. A couple of strong elastic loops stitched to the bag held the crutches neatly in place and I was all set to go. There was also a small cloth kit bag that sat on my knee. This filled up with all the layers of clothing peeled off  as the journey to warmer climes progressed. When there is not much luggage room it is amazing how many layers of clothing you can get on before expiring from heat.

The assistance worked well apart from a slight hiccup at Birmingham Airport on the way out but obliging strangers were happy to help.

First knitting project

I started a pair of socks over Christmas, (which still need to be finished). They could have been taken on the journey, but that would have involved two balls of wool and as already mentioned space was at a premium. What a good excuse to start a new project! This lovely hand dyed yarn from Abstract Cat  Yarn on Etsy and Close to You Shawl pattern on Ravelry fitted perfectly into a small bag. (I took a circular needle but have transferred it onto straight needles to photograph) As you can see, not a lot of knitting was accomplished, although it was a great conversation piece on train, plane and ship. 

First daffodils

On returning home one of the first tasks (after the mountain of washing - how did that happen with such a small bag, but, just like Mary Poppins it just kept coming) was to stock up at the supermarket. There is something very depressing about an empty fridge. Steering my fully laden and decidedly wobbly trolley towards the check out, I almost ran over a box of daffodils. They looked a bit neglected propped up by the sweet rack so I liberated a couple of bunches for myself and my lovely mum. They look much more cheerful in the beautiful studio pottery jug a friend gave me for Christmas.

First bowl of fruit

One of the rewards of the dreaded shopping is a cheery bowl of fruit. I could not resist the carton of Sweeteenie with glossy skin and leaves. (That name has to be  the figment of a PR person's imagination).  It is no doubt an extravagance paying for leaves you cannot eat, but they look so pretty and the fruit are very sweet and juicy too. 

First Craft Club meeting

This morning was our first Craft Club meeting of the year. A small group of us meet up once a month to "make" together. One of us, hosts and provides an activity, tea, coffee and cake and we take it in turn through the year. We lost one of our members last year, which we all found very hard and difficult to carry on. Doti would be very cross with us if we did give up, so we have begun this year with new enthusiasm. The bag of threads we were using this morning were Doti's, so she is still with us and part of our group.

Stephanie organised the activity and we made an early start on Easter creating eggy motifs for cards or a garland. None of us quite finished our creations, but there was cake to eat and lots of chat to catch up on!

Still not quite finished but nearly there.

I am looking forward to catching up with all the other Five on Friday posts. 

It is good to be back with a fresh start to a new year.

An Eclectic Five for Five on Friday

It is lovely to be back with Amy at Love Made My Home after a short break for Five on Friday.

My Five this week are rather an eclectic group as it has been difficult to decide what to share. The elves elf has been busy making Christmas gifts so they will have to stay under wraps for a little while longer - no peeking allowed. That includes most of my recent makes so forgive me for this rather odd five.

1. December 1st and the countdown begins

The Autumn wreath was replaced yesterday with this one. 

I have a growing collection of wreaths and several different Christmas ones that will be coming out soon. I saw this wreath on a stall selling traditional baskets at a Craft Fair recently and fell in love. The baskets were amazing too and I could have happily brought several of them home.  The wreath was tucked in a corner and bare of any adornment and I could imagine decorating it in lots of different ways for different seasons. 

Simple lights and a ribbon to welcome the month of December. The fairy lights have a warm and cosy feel and cheer up a dull day.

2. Winter has arrived

The garden turned into a winter wonderland on Tuesday and by Wednesday the frost had frost on it! Although my garden faces south and is lovely and warm during the summer months, it remains in shade during the winter because of the angle of the land. This creates some spectacular frosty scenes if there are several days of low temperatures. This year, for one reason and another, I have not cut back the plants and shrubs, which have left it looking untidy. So the pretty frosty leaves definitely improved the overall appearance. There have been lots of little birds foraging amongst the old leaves, so perhaps they prefer the untidyness.

3. Felt angels

These little angels are for JETS (Junior embroiderers group). The adult helpers volunteered to help make a Christmas decoration as a gift for each of the girls. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made as we all decided to do our own thing. The angels were a combination of several ideas from Pintrest. I can loose hours looking at Pintrest imagining all the things I would like to create rather than getting on and actually making.

4. Felt scarf

This was an experiment following on from the felt vessels. I had seen examples of felting onto fabrics at craft shows, so while the felting equipment was still out I decided to have a try. After some research in craft books and good old google, it looked fairly straight forward. The wool fibres need to be able to work into the fabric so a piece of chiffon seemed ideal. I cut a length of the fabric and gently felted fine layers of merino wool tops into the edges. It is not perfect but I was amazed at how sturdy the felted area was, despite being quite fine, once it was dry. The chiffon feels very flimsy in the centre and it would be interesting to see how other fabrics work.

5. On my knitting needles

This delicious hank of wool from Truly Hooked has been in my stash for a while. There have been many occasions when I was tempted to wind it into a ball but Christmas gifts had to come first. Although all the Christmas cards are not quite finished and a few other things need to be completed with the sewing machine, all the knitting and crochet projects are done. 

Finally the hank is wound and a Couthie shawl is on my needles......

.......and this one is for me! 

Well there is no law that says you cannot give yourself a Christmas gift is there?

I hope your week has gone well and all your preparations for the festive season are progressing smoothly. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone else at Five on Friday.

JETS - September 2016

JETS (Junior Embroiderers' & Textile Students) group met for the first session of the new school term on Saturday. We had had a break over the summer except for being involved in the local children's activities week at our local centre, Medbourne Pavilion. It always surprises me how much the children grow over summer holiday. In just over six weeks they all seem to have gained several inches in height. It must be all that sun, fresh air and freedom to run  around.

All the children were quite tired after their first week back at school but enthusiastic to start stitching again. We were making name badges to help us (mainly the adult volunteers!) to remember their names. There was a choice of hedgehog, rabbit and flower, which increased in challenge with the flower needing the most cutting and embroidery.  

Shapes were cut out and names stitched on.

A backing was cut and stitched in place.

Careful over stitching around the edge.

Hedgehogs need stitched spines.

Lily has only been stitching for a short time and learned to do French Knots.

Charlotte decided to decorate her flower with tiny sequins.

The final task was to stitch a safety pin on the back 

Here are the completed badges.

Everyone managed to complete their badge in the two hour session. 

A great start to our new stitching term.

Please remember to bring your badges in October girls!

Five on Friday - Two Venues & Three Gifts

During two weeks in June artists and makers open up their studios for Bucks Open Studios. Members of the public are able to visit, explore and talk to artists in their working environment. This year there were over 300 artists covering a whole range of artistic disciplines across Buckinghamshire to visit. For my Five on Friday this week I thought I would share two of the venues I have visited this week and three items I acquired for the gift drawer.

1. Claydon House

On Wednesday I went to the Courtyard at Claydon House which was hosting a number of artists including a printmaker, ceramicist, painters, textiles, sculpture, photographer and silversmiths.

Claydon House is the ancestral home of the Verney family and was built between 1757 and 1771. Sir Ralph Verney gave the house to the National Trust in 1956. Sir Edmund Verney, Ralph's son and a former High Sheriff of Buckingham still lives there. Claydon House has close connections with Florence Nightingale as her sister was married to Sir Harry Verney in the mid 1800's. Florence had her own rooms and spent much time there when not working and travelling.

This is the rear of the house but I love the brickwork and the shape of the windows. It reminds me of a very posh doll's house where the facade could be opened out to reveal beautiful stately rooms. There are beautiful rooms inside with many artefacts from Florence's era, which are well worth a visit.

This side of the house overlooks the Courtyard making up the fourth side of a quadrangle.

This area would have been the stables and has now been converted into artist's studios, gallery, tea shop and gift shop. Although it was a grey, wet day it was lovely to have the opportunity to meet a number of artists and talk about how their work was inspired and created.

2. Westbury Arts Centre

Yesterday I went to Westbury Arts Centre  in Shenley Wood. The Centre is based in an old farm house, parts of which date back to the 17th Century.

 Much of the character of the old building remains although the house has been converted into a community of artist's studios. An old barn next to the farm house is used as an exhibition space and performing arts venue. It is all set in a lovely wild garden with fruit trees, bee hives and chickens scratching around. 

The Centre is very involved in the local community and holds workshops, masterclasses and lectures regularly as well as art performances. I have attended a number of workshops there, including book binding, metalwork with Kate Edwards and I am looking forward to a felt flowers workshop with Hilly Edwards next month.

I find it impossible to visit artist studios without coming home with a few items! There were many beautiful things that I would love to have brought home but finances dictate that they were to be admired not acquired. I was tempted by the following three items on the basis they would make good gifts and would go in the gift drawer ready for friends and family birthdays.

3. Felted scarf

This beautiful hand crafted scarf was created by Sharon Howard at Ichyfingers. It is made from merino wool with gorgeous splodgy, purple flowers.

Although the photo does not really do it justice it is quite fine and wonderfully soft.

Sharon also creates amazing little sculpted animals in needlefelt.

4. Porcelain Pot

Kirsteen Holuj created this beautiful porcelain pot. She explained to me how she creates the ripple effect in the glaze using shellac. 

There were a number of these small pots and everyone was different so it was very difficult to decide which one to choose. A group of three would have been very effective displayed together but I restrained myself.  You can see more of Kirsteen's wonderful work here.

5. Set of Felt Cards.

I was particularly taken by Rosalind Castling's work. Atmospheric landscapes created with felted fibres. There was a large picture, which captured moorland meeting the sea. It reminded me very much of the North York Moors and East Coast of Yorkshire where I spent many holidays as a child. When speaking to Rosalind it transpired that she was from the North East of England and much of her work is inspired by that coastline right up to Northumberland. 

The large picture did not come home with me but I did buy this set of cards. This second card reminds me of the moorland close to where I grew up. It is funny how we are drawn back to our roots despite not living there for many years.

I shall frame the cards and they will possibly (more than likely!) be a gift to myself. 

Well, you have to have treats in life - don't you?????

I plan to visit more Open Studios this weekend so there may be more finds for the gift drawer. There will certainly be more wonderful artists to discover and work to admire.

It is great to join up with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Five Crazy Creatures for Five on Friday

As mentioned in a previous post our Branch of the Embroiderers' Guild started a JETS (Junior Embroiderers' and Textile Students) group at the end of last year. We meet in my local Parish Council Hall and the group is growing steadily. The Parish Council hold a Summer Fete each year in July so the local community can get together and have some fun. I thought this would be a good opportunity for the JETS group to be involved in the wider community and also raise some funds. We plan to offer an activity for anyone who would like to try their hand at stitching, kits to sew and small stitched items for sale. 

We were lucky enough to be gifted lots of fabrics, threads and embellishments when the group started. So we have plenty of resources for the students and enough left over to make kits and items to sell. Among all the resources there was a large bag of small felt squares, which were left over from a Guild activity last year. I set myself the challenge of making something with them........

So here are my Five Crazy Creatures for Five on Friday!

1. Funky Chickens

2. Sweet Hearts

3. Wise Owls

4. Bouncing Bunnies

5. Pretty Puppies

They are all little brooches and will hopefully raise a few pennies for our group. 

The plan is to be able to buy some art materials and a junior sewing machine in the future.

Now, there is a huge bundle of net fabric, 

what could I make with that............??