Swaps and Shows

Before I get on to anything else I must 

show you my swap goodies from 

LissyLou in the Free for all Swap

organised by Bekimarie.

Post cards from Dots and Spots which I love,

seeds for lovely sweet peas, Hot chocolate drink

buttons, seed packet magnet, lavender packets,

thimble, a lovely hanging heart and a sweet heart shaped dish.

Thank you Lissy Lou they are super.

Hers one of the things I sent her

a little envelope needle case.

Sorry forgot to photograph the rest.

My main make this month has been something for the W.I.

Craft competition at the Royal Norfolk Show which was this week.

The theme for the Competition was "Fit for a Queen"

and you had to have

One item of jewellery, one item textile and one a

craft of your choice. We decided to do a brooch,

a handbag and a fan for a command performance.

I did the fan which started life like this,

and ended up like this

The front is a silver organza over a turquoise satin which I then

machine embroidered.

The back  was just the satin embroidered the same way,

then attaching it onto the bones of the fan which I had sprayed silver.

It was added to a hand made handbag with 

machine embroidered lace and a horseshoe beaded brooch.

This was how it looked at the show and I'm glad to say

I think it held it's own with the other entrants but I haven't heard 

who won as yet.

My favourite item out of all the entrants was this 

 posy of buttons, isn't it gorgeous.

The show itself was great fun. Mr T and I went on Thursday

and saw the RAF drop in which in the brisk wind 

couldn't have been easy.

Heres some other pictures of the show. 

Hundreds of little glass animals which remind me of my childhood.

I was tempted to get this for the garden 

even though we don't have chickens.

It really was a fun day and the sun came out

to make it even better.

Now just have to wait for our new

garden furniture to arrive which we got on a special show offer,

always good.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Gillx

Monthly Makes-so far.

I can't believe it's only Wednesday

I've been so busy this week.

Someone we knew lost their long battle with cancer on Monday

and it brought it home to us that you have to make the most of life.

Monday was also Mr Ts birthday which we weren't going to do much about

but when we discovered that the takeaway was closed we decided to take own advice 

and splash out on a posh meal.

 I'm so glad we did, it was wonderful.

I had mentioned the birthday when talking to the owner

 and an embarrassed Mr T got a mini birthday cake with 

a sparkling flare (sorry about the photo but you get the idea)

I just had to show you this light which 

was beside our table. It really looked amazing..

I said in my last post that I had come back from Somerset raring to go

So I started with this years Elderflower cordial. 

2 1/2 bottles that should last the summer. Their should have been a small bottle in there

but, like a fool, I didn't realise the the stopper on that bottle was plastic

so when I laid it in the oven to sterilise it, the stopper melted.

Hence the wine bottle in the back.

This is so easy to make , it is just 

15-20 Elderflower heads( rinsed in cold water

1 kg sugar

2 lemons

1 ltr boiling water

all stirred together

and 24hrs later you have a  lovely cordial 

which when you add

sparkling water is great 

for a long drink in the hot weather.

I strain mine through a muslin before bottling.

I'm still seem to be making bunting.

This time it is for little

family friends and great nieces.

Two Ellies

 and one Imogen.

They looked lovely in the garden

might have to make myself some.

Maybe in the colours of my two favourite roses

which have just come into flower.

I also decided this morning to have another go at wet felting.

I did a days course a while ago and loved it

But

I haven't done it for months as I got a bit disheartened when it 

wasn't working properly

but I have been inspired by Fiona at Marmalade rose 

and her fabulous felt I thought I'd try again.  

 It didn't start well as my original pattern above didn't work

and I was left with a piece of plain pink felt but I had a few bits of 

left overs from my previous attempts that were only half completed

so I cut out some peals and added these.

This was one of the techniques we did on the course

and it seems to have worked this time. 

more practice needed though.

The last thing I've done this week is finish 

the little pin cushion for my sewing machine.

which is an idea I got from Pinterest.

When I went shopping in Frome I went into Mille Moons and

bought one of their £1 scrap bags 

then I sat in the evening at my brothers and 

did a little hand embroidery on a piece of the fabric

before making it up  when I got back to my machine.

I've been meaning to make myself one of these for ages

so thats one of the things of my list of things to make---

only about 100 left.

Better get back to it then.

Gillxx

How is everyone doing?

I have just been down to Somerset for a week to see 

my family so I am feeling full of energy

having totally relaxed down there.

I love living in Norfolk but I do miss the rest of my family

especially as 2 out of my 3 children have also moved 

West.

Anyway I always stay with my oldest brother and his wonderful wife

( Hi Annme, I know your reading this)

in Frome

and I love wandering around their garden.

It's one of those places where your never sure what your going to find.

So I thought you might like to see some of the things hidden

among the numerous Clematis and geraniums.

So off to my workroom for some sewing I think.

See you soon.

Gillx

Crafts and Gardens.

Well what a weekend that was.

I have to say I have never been so proud to be British after watching 

the pageant and the concert in London. 

Absolutely amazing.

I hope you all enjoyed your Jubilee weekend as much as I did.

For those of you that don't live in Britain I'm sure you will 

have heard about the celebrations going here this weekend.

For obvious reasons London was the focus of the media but 

everywhere has been having all sorts of events over the 4 day holiday

all we had to do was chose what to do.

Day 1

  We started here where they had a craft fair in the gardens

which are full of Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

 and a craft exhibition by these people both of which we 

really enjoyed and of course had coffee and cake

between the two.

Day 2

Norfolk  is also running it artists open studios at the moment

which Mr T and I always enjoy.

This year we went to the Worstead guild of weavers, spinners and dyers

to watch them at work and chat( which they really like to do)

They had loads of different sorts of looms this one is making a wool rug

in Herringbone pattern.

We then went onto a couple of other studios and ended

up buying picture from one of the printmakers

but have left it there until the exhibition finishes.

The local pub was having a beer festival 

so the rest of the day was spent there competing in the Quiz

and listening to the live music.

Day 3

Mr T and I donned our wellies and headed to the local village of Dilham

where in the early 1800's the local landowner turned 

25 acres of marsh land in to a collection of 8 man made

islands which were apparently his pleasure gardens.

Over the years they have been forgotten about so have 

become very over grown but recently the canals running along side the old

islands has been dug out 

so the present land owners has cleared some of the islands and for only the 2nd time this century opened the islands to the public.

These two panels were part of the railing on one of the little bridges

between the islands.

Beautiful Rhododendrons every where.

This was the old summer house

With a floor of locally made tiles.

This is what it used to look like.

Day 4

Finally yesterday another local village 

had an open gardens so off I went with my friend 

as Mr T had a boys day out on the Broads.

This Gunnera is one plant and is fabulous.

Running along side the open gardens was a scarecrow competition

Cheese Grommit?

A wonderful end to a historic weekend.

Gillx