Third Degree (Robert) Burns

Being married to a bagpiper leads to a surfeit of invitations to Burns Suppers round about now.   We always go to the village one, which has few speeches, plenty of haggis and loads of Scottish dancing.   Some villagers even remember the steps from year to year.   Tonight we're going to some friends for another one.   This time - loads of speeches, plenty of haggis and hardly any dancing.  

This is the Supper that I made the two corsages for.   The girls are wearing their kilts and I've felted some merino with a touch of alpaca and silk to try and echo their tartans.  The top one is Ancient MacDonald and the lower one is Black Watch with my version of a Scottish thistle.    The photos don't really show the colours all that well, but everyone seemed more than pleased with them, which was a big relief.   It's aways slightly nerve-wracking making things specially for people.   But, as the owner's cat curled up on the Black Watch brooch, I felt reassured that it had at least one fan.

amo, amas, amat

Always feel a bit guilty about cutting up even old decrepit books but closed my eyes and punched some hearts out of The Oxford Book of Latin Verse.   (Thrifted, of course.)

Still got loads of brown wrapping paper from Amazon deliveries, so made a 

 bag with rows of layered hearts machined on

 a big 2" version with enough hearts to make a 3D bauble on red thread

 and a wee one on a tiny cream coloured tag

with a dangly red thread

Are you feeling all Valentinesey now?

OK, I'm off to practice my "Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie" in case I'm called upon to contribute to the evening's entertainment!

               See you soon

Chrissie

Brightening up Boston ... and a brooch

A lovely lady who is a favourite and faithful Etsy customer needed something to brighten up her Valentine's Day.   Now there's a girl who plans ahead - me, I've only just got the Christmas tree down!   

I usually send her Etsy parcels in a muslin bag, tied up with a pair of stringed hearts. 

So, at the lovely lady's request, I made a bundle of heartstrings and sent her a photo, which she somehow managed to access on the train into work in a cold and gloomy Boston, (that's Massachusetts, not Lincolnshire).   Isn't technology wonderful?

I'm also experimenting with some new ideas for brooches and playing with merino that I 'drizzled' flax and silk fibres on to and wet-felted some sausages.   The ones below are a bit short and sturdy to bend into petal shapes, so something else will become of them, but the longer ones worked quite well and made a big 6" daisy brooch.

And I've now got a commission to make 12 different coloured egg cosies with contrasting bobbles, so the kitchen is about to be invaded by big bags of bright merino wool in every shade under the sun.   And since we've got rain and lowering skies (it's 'dreich', where I come from..) for the next few days, I shall welcome the invasion of some cheery colours.

I've also been asked to make a couple of corsage brooches which can be worn on Burns Night in a couple of weeks, so I can be mulling over some ideas for them while I'm rub-a-dub-dubbing at the sink with those cosies.   Don't worry, there's sure to be some photos in due course!

If you want to brighten up a grey day, click on the link on the right to go to Emma's Silverpebble Splash of Colour page - lots to cheer there!

Lots of love

            Chrissie                                             

....and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I'm sorry that I haven't been here lately.   We've had some bad news about the health of two close relatives and have been concentrating on that for now.    Hope to be back blogging again in the New Year.

Also (and I know not remotely in the same league) a fox stole our little Hilda Hen and thereby removed a simple source of joy from our lives.   Poor little Hilda who did no-one any harm and laid us lovely wee brown eggs nearly every day.   

But I wish you all a very joyful Christmas and hope that 2011 is a happy and peaceful year for you.    Thank you all for your friendship, your comments and kindness.

gathering

Before you go jumping to any conclusions, I need to say straight away that I did not create these to-die-for fabrics.   That was Lesley from Printed Material, who is so adventurous and artistic and generous all in one person that it's hard to believe she's real.   

You have to be so careful about saying you like something she's done, or the next thing you know, there's a postman ringing the doorbell because he can't make a big Welsh parcel fit through the letter box.   

I've wanted to show you these lovely pieces for ages, but what with the C*******s fair production-line in full swing, I haven't had time to work with them in a way that I hoped would do them justice.   And they deserved a better fate than to be 'put away for best'.

I love the way these sage leaves remind me of the stands of rustling poplars we see on holidays in France.   And, oooh, who doesn't love indigo-and-rust.  

Please address any questions about the methods employed to produce wonderful cyanotypes to the lady herself - it's all waaaaaay beyond my ken!  

I really wanted to make Lesley something using her fabrics and decided that what she needed was a gathering bag.   I know she's already taken the first timid steps towards being the kind of person for whom such an item is indispensable.  She has flirted with having a 'collections tray' when (allegedly) working in the garden and she lives on the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast, so opportunities a-plenty for gathering.

What size to make it?   No good if it's too small and squashes your precious leaves and feathers treasure.   But if it's too big you won't want to be bothered taking it out with you and on top of that there's the danger that you might be tempted to 'gather' heavy things.  

Heavy things are fine if you're out strolling with a new beau, who, in his adoration of you, is only too eager to fill his pockets with sandy pebbles, skulls of small rodents, hag stones, acorn cups, razor clam shells, wool that caught on the barbed wire, interesting bits of broken blue-and-white china, sea-glass, useful rusty pieces of broken farm implement, pheasant tail-feathers etc. etc.   However, big mistake when the honeymoon's over and you are made to carry your own stuff....   

So, though I have no reason to doubt that Lesley's husband is still in that, "oh sweetie,  let me carry that heavy feather for you" phase, I made a tactfully average-size linen bag in case the girl has to make her own arrangements.   It has a calico lining, a handle made from that hessian-y kind of tape which I think is something to do with carpet binding and a weeny free-machined tag held on with a wooden button.

 

A hand-shape appealed to me and I chose a piece of Lesley's fabric that suggested there were pebbles resting in the palm.  I appliqued it on to some sandy-coloured fabric with beautiful bold leaf/seed pod shapes printed on it.  

Thank you Lesley.   Hope you enjoy gathering!

Chrissie

Jim

A few weeks ago I attended the funeral in the village of an old man whom I had met only a very few times, a man who once astonished me by telling me that he remembered me in his prayers each night.   Jim was born in this village and lived here for over 90 years.   His family has long associations with the area.   Deep roots and spreading branches.  

His funeral was held in the Baptist Meeting, an early 18th century stone chapel at the top of the hill, where Jim had worshipped all his life.   I've always loved this building.   It stands four-square though quite small, full of soft pine pews polished for nearly three hundred years by the seats of woollen trousers.   Like many non-conformist places of worship, it has an upper balconied storey, keeping the congregation close and cosy.   When the minister stretched up his arm from the pulpit below, I could almost have touched his hand.  

The minister knew Jim and his family well and conducted the service with great affection.   There was a bit of a muddle with the order of the hymns and he graciously suffered a fairly robust reprimand from the organist - herself 90 years old, deaf as a post and clearly not one to stand any nonsense.  

Although I was only in Jim's company on a handful of occasions, he unfailingly told me the same old story.   His wife would roll her eyes, affectionately.  But I cherish the story and he always held my hand during the telling.  Hold my hand.   Here's the story.

Jim was the youngest of a large family and on the day that he was born his father had been out toiling in the fields all day.   When he arrived home he bounded upstairs to their cottage bedroom to greet his wife and asked, "Well, girl, what have you given me this time?"  "I've given you a little cherub", she replied.  

Birds of a feather

linen robin

Well, thank goodness, I think, that the craft tables are pretty much done and dusted.   Sales weren't brilliant, but then I wasn't really at the right kind of venues to ensure they would be.   One was our local church bazaar, competing with White Elephant stall, home-made cakes and bowling for the pig.   What chance do you stand?!   Lots of people were very complimentary about my stuff, some even bought things, but there was the inevitable "£3! Just for that!"   It was the end of a long day, and with hindsight my reply was perhaps a bit snappy.... She did go and purchase a revolting glittery plastic poinsettia at the next stall, so I was glad she didn't want one of my cinnamon sacks.   I only want them to go to good homes.   Since I was trying to do two of these events on the same day, my dear husband offered to act as gofer and lovely Anne spent her afternoon manning my second table - she's a treasure and a much better saleswoman than I'll ever be!   To say (an inadequate) thank you I made her some owl bunting from an online tutorial I saw.   Actually, the one I saw said 'Merry Christmas', but time constraints dictated that Anne's version only said 'NOEL' .... not even a 'JOYEUX' ....

Moonstitches owl pennant tutorial.

Star Strings

I love making these and they're usually popular.   The picture just shows the middle section of the 'string' which is over 4' long: there's more bobbles and circles of hand-made felt with a big star with a wooden star button on it at the top, and a big silver jingle-bell at the bottom.   I took a few orders for these at the weekend, as I'd only had time to make 4 for the fair. 

A few weekends ago I drove over to a craft fair in a village near Cambridge and had the privilege of meeting artist Celia Hart and seeing her work at first hand.  (Celia's blog is Purple Podded Peas).   I absolutely love her nature-themed lino cut prints and treated myself to a bundle of bird notecards ....

... and a large card print of a Buff Orpington hen - (it just reminded me of Fanny and Hilda Hen, who are both moulting at the moment - I have told them that snow is forecast - and have lost their tails) ...  

 ... and a collection of tree ornaments, a hen, a reindeer, an angel, a bear and a comet. 

 Can't wait to see them hanging on the Christmas Tree.

Celia has also recently started a collaborative venture with Rachel Simpson and together they have produced some beautiful jewellery - see it here.

These sweet little tags below from Pearl Crafted are taken from an old Rupert Annual.   I remember reading Rupert stories to myself when I was little and being slighty uncomfortable about the rhyming couplet captions, although there were ordinary prose bits of story too.   Oh, did that sound as if I would have known at the age of 7 what a rhyming couplet was?   Though that does bring to mind a conversation at the tea-table on the day that we had our school photograph taken, when I must have been about 6 years old.    Dad asking, "And did the photographer have his camera on a stand with three legs?"  Me - "Oh, do you mean a tripod?"   Precocious, moi?  

Butternut squash with black rice, pine-nuts and raisins - made for veggie friends - there was Bakewell tart too, but, strange to say, nothing left to photograph today .....  (sorry about the buttery smudge on the page, but then all my favourite recipes seem to have remnants of ingredients and greasy thumbprints over them).   The squash was sooooo delicious  that we'll be having it again very soon.

Did I mention that I've got a nasty cough and cold?  Which is why I've managed at last to get a new entry here on my blog - I don't feel too guilty about being snuggled up with my laptop as I've been instructed (at least twice) to take it easy today.   I did plump some cushions and vacuum the landing carpet, which was covered in little threads and scraps of fabric which had been walked out of my workroom stuck to my socks.   That's enough drudgery for one day!

         See you again soon!

           Chrissie