Stripes and Embroidery

Hello Folks.

I hope that you are well.  

Life here carries on much the same as usual, Mr Clicky goes into the office two days a week, I still look after Baby Needles who is now two and a half ~ where has that time gone? ~ a day and a half a week.  The very exciting news is that she has a new baby sister arriving in the New Year.  She has said she doesn't want to share her knitted car blanket I made her back in March, and, why should she? 

This time I decided to go for a crochet ripple, I still have some more to do, but it's going well so far.

I'm really loving embroidery right now and I've completed two more hoops.

Firstly I finished off the last few hearts.

I got the printed fabric from The Embroidery Cart on Etsy and used threads from my stash.  As this hoop is so bright and cheerful I think I will put it in my craft room.

The Autumn Craftpod is also finished.  Another enjoyable project. 

The community project that I have been working on with four others was finished in October.  This was for The Nelson Trust a local charity that supports women with addiction and are in contact with the criminal justice system.  It was to celebrate coming out of lockdown.  The wall hanging was embellished with flowers, bees, butterflies and bugs made by the local community.  

The group met on Saturday mornings starting in July.  With the embellishments already made we had to make everything else.  The bricks were printed on calico and then quilted.  For the background we took a section each, I had the river, and built up the picture using scraps of fabric which were again sewn onto calico.

We then sewed the bricks onto the background and added the bugs and creatures.

The words on the bricks were supplied by the users of the centre.

The bricks with negative words on were tumbling away.

I got good at making bullrushes with wire, felt and thread!

It was a real privilege to be involved in the project.

That's me for now, I'm of to ripple a bit more.

Bye for now.............Clicky Needles. 

A Visit to the Museum

Hello folks.

I heard through the grapevine that there was a textile exhibition on at our local museum in Stroud so I needed to take a look.  It was a joint exhibition by Ruth Issett and Dorothy Tucker.  It is also touring with the Knitting and Stitching Shows.

When I walked into the room I was assaulted by colour.

I really loved this Nine Block Quilt by Dorothy Tucker.

I spent some time getting inspired and lost in colour  and then went for a wander in the museum itself.  It's only small and the curation is a bit mad; when our children were small they would often ask to go there during the holidays.  

Without doubt, their best thing to look at was the Budding lawnmower.  Edward Beard Budding was a local lad who in 1830, invented the cylinder lawnmower after seeing a cutter removing the nap from woollen cloth in a local woollen mill, he thought he might be able to make a machine for mowing grass.  In 1842 he also invented the screw for and adjustable spanner.

My favourite exhibit, and next to the lawnmower is the red Stroud Scarlet uniform.  This is made from Stroud Broadcloth which was produced all over the district.

Look at this beautiful gold work. 

Notebook used by Charles Hooper and Sons dye house with their notes it is pre 1890.

This is a sample book from Strachan & Co from the 1867 Paris Exhibition.

Today there is only one mill left, they are still manufacturing wool felt cloth for snooker and pool tables, and tennis balls.

That's me for now, some finished things in my next post. 

See you soon.................Clicky Needles.