Heat Wave

It must be the heat because both Jane (big sister) and myself have gone a little off doing any tatting at the moment.  I am concentrating on altering some clothes, a job that I hate, but it does mean that I get back to wearing them, especially as they are for the Summer weather, which may not last for much longer.

This is my latest tatting project which has taken a week so far!  It could become an edging or even a necklace!

Thought you would like to see some real creativity this is a piece of wood we found in this place.

If you look closely at the left hand side you can see the shape of a deer's head its eye and  nose in particular.  It did not fair too well outside in the winter as some of it split but this is what it was finally turned into.  The flat pieces are made out of beech and came from a huge log that was cut with a chain saw.

Somebody took a fancy to it straight away and it was sold at the exhibition

Exhibitions

Over the last few weeks I have been involved in organising and setting up two exhibitions in two different churches, one traditional and one quite modern.  I mentioned the Art and Craft Exhibition in my previous post and last weekend another church was transformed into a History and Heritage Exhibition.   It included artifacts from a  famous Victorian Artist who lived in the village and is buried in the churchyard. Items and history relating to a family who had and still have connections with the area.  Also a brief history of the men who  went to fight in the two World Wars.

May I introduce the Goddess Flora, she is made from wax and as the temperatures in England are extremely high at the moment, she was transported to church in a box surrounded by frozen peas!  

She is rather lovely and I just had to introduce her to some tatting

Flora was so easy to photograph too as she never moved an inch,  she was the star attraction of the exhibition and she knew it!

Tatting and a lot more!

At the weekend we held an Art and Craft Exhibition in one of the churches. It was an extremely successful event with a lot of items on show, many of which were for sale and  a good many were actually sold.   Here is a table with some tatting and other craft items on.

You  will see a bag on the table, I have now made two more of them,  but this one was actually sold at the weekend.

Here are the others

The one on the far right is in the process of being made.  Notice the many buttons  sewn on the bags! 

And talking of buttons this is what I also made for the exhibition. Someone who lives in the village was very interested in the items which included buttons as she makes wedding bouquets with them.  She also wants to learn to tat, but first I have some buttons to give her that are no use to me, looks like we are heading for a 'button afternoon' before the year is out!

I am hoping to get back to some serious tatting soon as there is a lot I want to make.

70yrs ago today

As you will see from this post  a memorial was erected to five USA pilots whose aircraft crashed into woodland 70 years ago today.  This morning as the sun shone brightly over this beautiful wood,  a short service was held to remember these men, with the pupils from the near by village school in attendance.  We sang the National Anthem and then The Stars and Stripes (rather hesitantly as the words and music were unfamiliar to us) but we managed with out any music to accompany us.

In the picture is the Vicar standing by the memorial and beside him is the mother of the boy who, when he was only 16 years of age, found a small piece of green painted aluminium sheet lying in the wood. Over the next few weeks his search continued and he found an identification bracelet bearing a set of wings on the front with the name and serial number on the reverse. Also recovered was a pilot's whistle and the remains of three wrist watches,  this was 35 years after the accident.  The memorial was dedicated on 2nd July 1998.


The pilots we remembered today were:
Capt Billy Bryan                   313th Fighter Squadron
2nd Lt Dale C. Francis        81st    Fighter Squadron
1st Lt Walter Hayes             81st    Fighter Squadron
Capt Norman H Nelson      313th  Fighter Squadron
2nd Lt Duran F. Quinn         313th  Fighter Squadron

They shall grow not old, as e that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

Hundreds of beads!

I have been making Jane's Starry Button Bracelets  and each one literally uses over 300 beads!  Incredible but the effect is always stunning.  So here are some pictures.

For this bracelet I used slightly larger buttons and increased the stitch count

And this is a banner that I have made for the forthcoming exhibition, hopefully it will hang outside the church to attract people to come inside and view the exhibits.

The pictures you see above it are Batik from Indonesia and I cut the letters out using material from Africa and Indonesia as well as England.   Actually it looks rather fun hanging in my home!

Summer Solstice

The Summer solstice occurs when Earth's northern hemisphere (where the UK lies) faces towards the sun most directly, therefore today is the longest day of the year.  With that in mind I plan to do quite a bit of craft work - starting of course with tatting!  Only 30 miles away from where I live many gathered at the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge to mark the occasion last night in order to see the dawn come up, needless to say I stayed at home!

So to mark Spring and Summer here are Renulek's Doily finished, although I prefer the first one which I completed which you can see here.

And just a glimpse of some flat shuttles which are just about to arrange at Jane's house any minute now

Off to create.....................

Diamond necklaces

I am very pleased with the way these necklaces have turned out and now would like to make some earrings to match, but not sure about using the same pattern as they would come out fairly large and not everyone prefers them like that.  Using finer thread would not help because of the size of the beads, so the pattern needs a bit of adaption. 

I wore a tatted necklace today, not one of these though, and the check out girl at the supermarket recognised it as tatting, sort of amazed because not many people can identify the craft. 

This is the plant that the blossom is from in the previous post it is a Sambucus nigra - Black Lace. This is what it says about the plant "With exotic dark foliage, reminiscent of a Japanese Acer and gorgeous pink flower clusters, this is a truly outstanding elderflower and, with the added bonus of autumn berries, is suitable for wine-making." Obviously I did not read about the 'wine-making bit at the time of planting but have subsequently found out that you can make a cordial with the flowers, it is too late for this year, but will have a go next time it flowers. 

Have also finished Renulek's Spring and Summer doilies which I will photograph and let you see soon.