Monday 17 November 2014

2 recent events & an obligatory craft pic!


First Event - A few weeks ago, OH and I went to lunch at the 'big house'. It belongs to The National Trust and is where OH's boss, and owner of the estate, lives. It was a lunch to thank employees, past and present, for their support and help over the years, attended by around 40 colleagues, friends and family.


They rang a gong when lunch was ready, and afterwards someone played a grand piano in the drawing room before we headed outside for a walk in the gardens. This is near the walled kitchen garden where OH is hoping to have his veg plot now that our garden is no more.


My crafty picture is of a patchwork cushion I started making as a raffle prize (but didn't finish in time and gave something else instead).  It is now one of the items for sale in the room above the little flower shop. It's made from a combination of: a monsoon dress and homemade cotton tunic from a charity shop, a blue sheet and a couple of other fabric samples - all left over from a quilt project that is not yet finished.


Second Event. As part of our church's 'Raise the Roof' campaign to raise enough money for a new roof and other bits and pieces, we held a Wedding Dress Exhibition over a weekend in October. As well as the dresses, there was a buttonhole making class and refreshments. It was a great success and raised over £650 towards the fund. The aim was to reach £10,000 in 2014 and, with one event left, we have reached it! We now have to do the same for 2015.


We had dresses from the 1930s right through to this year. This is my dress from the 80s.


This is my daughter's dress from this year. It was a lovely event with lots more people offering their dresses if we do a similar event in the future. You can see more photos of the exhibition here on flickr, along with other old photos of local weddings.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Friday 7 November 2014

November Update!



This is not the sort of beautiful garden photo you normally see on blog posts, admittedly. But this is my 'before' picture: before the builders moved in (and after it was cleared of plants, rocks and my shed). This was a couple of weeks ago, and it already looks very different again. Basically, it is now a giant mud hole.
 

Despite all the chaos that is going on outside, I have been getting on with some crafting. After the successful sale of my previous larger, quilted, zippy bag I have made a few more. I had fun making these - all very different - which is what I like to do. I couldn't bare to make dozens of things all the same.


I thought I ought to get into the swing of things and make a few Christmas themed things. The purse is upcycled from a tea cosy I made before but never used. The 2 bundles are sets of 4 coasters.


Oh, and what's this?  I do believe those bags are mine - in a real bricks-and-mortar shop!!!! It's actually a small flower shop that has opened the upper floor as a Vintage and Craft Emporium, and the owner thought my crafts fitted with the style she was aiming for. A lovely Facebook friend alerted me to the request for local craftspeople, and the rest is history.

I hope all of you, my fellow bloggers, are well. I've been keeping up with blog reading but have missed a couple of you lately that I like to follow. I can't complain, though, because I am finding it more difficult, these days, to make time to blog myself.

Bye for now
Teresa x