Happiness is a new tent and a sunny weekend to use it!

June 24, 2014 stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello everyone

Hope that you have been enjoying the fantastic weather we have had this week in the UK, I was very glad that the high temperatures we had last week during the working part continued for the fun bit that was Tatton Medieval Festival.

I love this show, it is one of my all time faves for so many reasons, the venue is beautiful and only one hour from home and it is small enough to be friendly and be able to see everyone to say hello but large enough to have a nice market and beer tent and battle – essentials for a good re-enactment weekend 😉

I bought some new mugs from Jim the potter, am saving the rest of my spends for the big market at Tewkesbury where a new belt and pouch are on the list.

We took my latest tent for its first outing, this is a new (bargain) that I bought at the end of last season.

I seem to buy new tents in response to extreme weather, the first (new to me) tent last year was after the icy hail storm at Rufford so we had somewhere to all shelter and this one was in response to the 38 degrees at Tewkesbury so we have some shade!

It worked very well, it is a great size tent for just me and Ellie as there is plenty of space for kit and room to stand up and get dressed in. And at only £40 almost brand new it was a great find – it had to be repaired due to a broken zip after it was first bought so Outdoor World were selling it cheap.

It was a really lovely weekend and not only that thanks to Jamie and Sam I have lots of photos to show you as Jamie very kindly posed for some costume pictures and Sam took lots of the battle.

Jamie is wearing his very smart tunic showing the dagging on the sleeves, dagging was extra material to show how rich you were and was often lobed like this or oak leaf-shaped. He is also wearing his black hood or chaperon over the topic of the tunic and a bicocket hat. The tunic was made by Jackie from Cloak’d and Dagger’d.

As we were taking these pictures along came another very well dressed gent in later period costume (don’t know his real name but he was playing De Massey in the battle).

He is wearing a more fitted doublet with puffed sleeves and the later version of the chaperon when it evolved into a hat, complete with dagging and liripipe or tail. This style of outfit is around mid 1400s whereas Jamie’s is mid 1300s.

Here are the battle pics, love the one of Ellie in the smoke and the last couple that Jamie has put some filters on.

We are off to Spain this weekend – yippee more sun! Have loads more photos to post from various things which I may get chance to do before I go if not will have to have a serious blog update when I get back!

Have fun and thanks for visiting.

Kingston Lacy – the upstairs views

June 15, 2014 stitchesoftime1 Comment

The first house on our recent tour was the very impressive Kingston Lacy. The house dates from the 1600s but was remodelled in the Palladian style later.

It boasts the first plate-glass windows ever to be used in a public house and its owner used them to good effect to give the Italian style he was looking for.

These views reminded me of our trip to villas on Lake Como a couple of years ago.

In the drawing-room was this beautiful embroidered piano cover with a little sewing box on display at the other side of the room. I don’t know what the date was for this piece or who worked it, as is often sadly the case no information was known about it.

The owners enjoyed collecting pieces and architecture from their travels, a pair of doors had come from the Vatican and this ceiling had been brought from Spain.

There was another beautiful painted ceiling in another vaulted room.

All very stunning and well worth a visit. I think the National Trust is fantastic value for money (I am not just saying that as Ellie works for them as I have been a member for years).

It only costs £58 for a year and not only do I get the pleasure of seeing all this amazing art and architecture I feel happy that I am helping in a small way to preserve and protect it.

Thanks for visiting and see you soon for more Trust loveliness!

Meet Eva my first elephant

June 11, 2014 stitchesoftime4 Comments

Hello there

I am very excited to have just finished the first of many of Julie’s fabulous elephants, available from her web site along with all the bunnies and the fox pattern (will have to knit one of those next).

She is a very lucky girl as she has 3 pretty dresses and the cutest little tail.

Eva has gone to live with my cousin’s daughter where she will meet up with my first ever bunny Florence who is very much loved by her elder sister so hopefully they can play together.

Now on to my second elephant – one day I might knit something else but these are too cute to stop!

Thanks for visiting.

A glimpse of life in the laundry

June 8, 2014 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello again

One of the parts of our visit to Kingston Lacy that I most enjoyed was seeing the laundry which they had furnished not only with the equipment used but also examples of the textiles as well, very exciting for me!

The house dates from the 1600s but the display was of the Victorian machines and textiles.

I love this huge roller mangle, I remember my Mum and Nana having washing machines with mangles on top when I was little and really loved having a go, would not have been so exciting to be a full-time laundry maid though.

The drying cupboard was very interesting as well, I assume many large houses might have had something similar but have not seen one before, these racks slid into the cupboard which had heated pipes on the floor.

I also found some lovely textiles in the main house – what a surprise! Will save that and pictures of the house for the next post.

Thanks for visiting.

Beautiful gardens

June 6, 2014 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

One of the things I really enjoy is seeing beautiful gardens and taking pictures of flowers.

I am waiting for my lilies to bloom here (and hoping that the sheep don’t eat them) and though I only have a small garden don’t miss the work involved in having more space and am quite happy to visit other gardens or just admire those all around me.

This is such a gorgeous time of year as all my favourite rhododendrons are in flower here in Marsden and all the gardens of the properties we visited this week were looking lovely.

These pictures were taken at Kingston Lacey in Somerset.

They also had some very cute pigs to feed in the kitchen garden!

And these were at Knightshayes in Devon.

I love those water lilies, they just look so perfect they don’t look real.

Have spent part of the morning sorting out the 285 photos I took (don’t worry I won’t post them all!) and will have some lovely textiles to show you later in the weekend.

Thanks for visiting and hope the sun is shining where you are 🙂

A sunny weekend in Somerset

June 5, 2014 stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello there

Hope you are all well and happy. I am having a lovely time, having just got back from our week away of National Trust properties. More of that to come, saw some fab stuff as always and had a great time with my very brilliant friend Kerry.

I am very lucky to have someone who I have so much in common with, we have had a wonderful week of camping, mini pyjama parties in the Travelodges and seeing some beautiful stuff.

We started our trip with the Templecombe Medieval Pageant – way down South in a very lovely little village in Somerset. The eight hour journey was worth it as the event was excellent. I have not been to this one for 10 years but will be going again.

The sun shone all weekend (a miracle) and our water and cold flannels were much appreciated by the boys on the field.

For this event there is a mini fort that the boys attack and defend, we were inside on Saturday and outside on Sunday and it was great fun hiding behind the walls listening to the guys with the battering ram trying to get in.

Cooling the boys down before the battle.

Waiting inside the fort.

The battering ram.

At the end of the battle – me in the blue dress looking for survivors!

All these photos are courtesy of the brilliant Pat Patrick who comes along to events and takes so many lovely shots. It is great to have a record of the events like this and we all really appreciate it.

I also got to meet Maria, my friend Kat from re-enactment’s, beautiful new baby and give her this bunny – who I have named Lavender.

I did some finishing while I was away and am very excited to have made my first elephant – again from Little Cotton Rabbits. Photos of her to follow.

Thanks for visiting and see you soon.

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Stitches of Time

I have created this blog to share my interest in all forms of stitching, quilting, sewing, knitting, medieval re-enactment and costume making – particularly my love of historical embroidery. I also love travelling,especially when it also involves any of my other interests.

Month: June 2014