Tewkesbury and the King’s goldwork !

July 15, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Am posting this from my sister’s house (by the miracles of modern technology if I can get to grips with her picture editing software!) We are having some very nice R and R in between Tewkesbury and our next event at Berkeley Castle this coming weekend. Ellen hopes to go to University here in Worcester in Sept (fingers crossed if A level grades are ok which they should be) so today we are going for another look round the Uni.

We had a fab weekend again at the event which re-enacts the 1471 War of the Roses battle. As usual some of the guys had new armour and kit. This is Luke with his very shiny new 15th century helm (bought from E-bay with brass decorations added by him).

: Luke in his shiny new helmet

Paul was fighting for the first time at Tewkesbury and he had painted a new surcoat. He is a very talented graphic artist and he has painted our new group banners as well.

Ellie was on the battlefield as usual but this time as a banner bearer which meant on the Sunday she got to go and stand with all the banners during the King’s parlay with the Prince. Here she is with the guys before they went on to battle and with our group flag.

Ellie with the Order of Fighting Knights banner — Ellie with the Order of Fighting Knights' banner

She is wearing her new turquoise dress that I recently finished. On Saturday night we went to a friend’s camp and as it was raining heavily ended up all being in Andrea and Mick’s tent sheltering.

Andrea does a demonstration of medieval surgery and was showing us some of her props. Having just watched a couple of episodes of Casualty 1909 things had not moved on that far by then!

Andrea with her bag of surgical instruments

I also managed to get some pics of the King’s (Edward IV) goldwork on his surcoat and cloak before the battle on Sunday. This is Simon de Montfort of the Sun in Splendour group in his wonderful outfit.

LOve the sun glinting off the helmet in this pic! — Love the sun glinting off the helmet in this pic!

A close up of the fleur de lys on the surcoat

The Order of the Garter emblem on his cloak

A brill weekend – we were all very glad to get to Jackie’s on Monday for some rest before we head off to Berkeley Castle this Thursday. Here is Jake playing the littlest hobo resting on the bags at the train station.

Will post again in a couple of weeks – after Berkeley am straight off to Spain.

More Tatton pics – this time with stitching!

June 28, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftime1 Comment

I ahve some more pics of the stitching at Tatton to share with you. There are also some more pics of the armour and battle.

Stitching first! The Old Hall was occupied continuously from the 15th Century so the display reflect this as various rooms are decorated in period style. Upstairs all the earlier rooms have been restored and this room is typical of the Jacobean period complete with reproduction crewel work bed curtains.

This is a typical tree of life design and is beautifully worked. The volunteer looking after the room didn’t know anything about crewel work so I was telling him about various aspects of the design – hopefully he found it useful!

Downstairs there were Victorian rooms with some beautiful whitework laid out on one of the beds.

I find it incredible that such fine work was done on everyday garments – one of the items on display was a child’s pinafore which had obviously been well used judging by the stains on it!

We also watched the firearms and cannon display by The Company of Ordnance, there are usually these weapons on the battlefield but we are the other side of the field from them for safety reasons during the battle so it is nice to see them close up.

This is Bucket lighting the cannon – pity we don’t have sound cos it’s very loud! Bucket is a very talented embroiderer as well as making things go bang – you can just see the blue bag hanging from his belt with a heraldic horse on it.

Esme, one the kids, was taking pics on the Sun so we got some really good photos. Here is one of the guys all ready for battle.

I think this is a great shot – very atmospheric!

And finally a pic that sums up what I love about reenactment – sitting round the camp fire late at night just mellowing!

Hope you all have a good week!

Tatton Hall and a birthday

June 22, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

We always really look forward to June as we have two family birthdays – Jake’s first followed by one of our favourite events then my birthday at the end of June.

Jake was fifteen last week – luckily the scanner is not connected to this PC since I had my switch round so he is spared the embarrassment of a baby photo ( he was very cute!) but here he is looking very grown up with some of his pressies.

My very gown up (and very tall!) son — My very lovely (and very tall!) son

We went to Tatton Hall near Manchester this last weekend – this is a really good venue for an event, there is a very nice 15th C Old Hall and we camp near a copse of trees in the deer park with beautiful views of the parkland. It is also the nearest event we do which is a bonus!

It was a little bit wet on Sat and for our pack up – tent hanging in the garage drying again – but not too bad and it stayed fine for the battle both days. Here are the boys in our camp all ready for battle on the Sat.

The boys from OFK and Team Falchion ready for battle

These are our friends Stan, Denise and Carl from Companions of the Crow looking very scary.

Lady Bardolph was again looking very lovely in a cream and blue outfit.

Me and the kids stayed over till Monday and had a nice evening on Sun relaxing in the camp, playing cards and watching the sun go down…

Another brill weekend!

Sunny weather!

June 8, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

It has cooled down a bit in the last few days sadly but we have been having some really fab weather here recently! Apologies for the lack of posts but what with work and general busyness have not had time to do much. However today was the last teaching session of the year so apart from the huge piles of marking I have to do things will be a little quieter from now till Sept!

We had a wonderful show at Ashby de La Zouche Castle the last May Bank Holiday. Traditionally this is a very wet event which we packed lots of warm gear for but it was so sunny that lots of us got burnt on the Sunday (it was actually a little bit warm for being in armour but can’t complain!). A brill weekend and I have some pics to share with you of the event.

Our little medieval tent in the evening sunshine

Round the fire with our lovely friend Keith

I finally managed to give the girls their scissor keeps which they were all very pleased with – this is a pic of them displaying their gifts!

Over the years I have made them various blackwork and needlepoint gifts for them and Tracy and Bev had some of theirs with them so I got a chance to take some pics as pre-blogging I didn’t keep a record of my stitching.

Decorated initial in needlepoint as a pin box made for Tracy in one of her earlier medieval roles

Bev also had the blackwork pin box I had made for her as the start of the set – last year I made needlebooks – of which there are pictures in the Finishes 2007 link above if you are interested. Bev’s motif is an oak leaf so I have used this or acorns in all her gifts.

Bev;s blackwork pin box — Bev's blackwork pin box

We have had wonderful weather here at home – last weekend was gorgeous which was lucky as I have had miles of hedges to cut and lawn and general garden stuff to do. We had 3 barbecues in four days which was lovely and ate outside for all our other meals as well – it was fab!

Jake waiting for his sausages to be cooked

There now follows a whole string of event and holiday weekends, only got a couple where we are not busy between now and September so lets hope for more lovely weather! Are off camping at a friends’ place this weekend so more prawns on the barbie and beers in the cooler – it is a very nice life indeed!!!

Cosmeston part 3 – the one with armour!

May 12, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

The battles at this event took place on Sunday and Monday and were fairly small by event standards as this is not a large venue – only probably about 100 people on the battlefield including some very fine archers who did a great job of firing at the English. We were on the Welsh side and Ellie and I water carried on the Sunday (she did that alone on Monday while I packed up the tent so that we could get the early train home!).

Before the battle - lining up with the flags

This picture shows the Welsh troops just before the battle began – our lot are at the back of that somewhere!

Since it was not a recreation of a particular battle but a scripted event there were lots of different weapons – these are pikes on the left with a bardiche (large silver blade) on the right of the picture with some swords in the background.

So lots of shiny armour everywhere and as it was one of the very first events of the season there were lots of people with very new kit. This man Gaius ,of the Medieval Combat Society , was camped opposite us and he kindly let me take some pics of his very new and very shiny armour!

These are his shiny new arms …..

and shiny new legs!

It was great to catch up with all our friends, have a drink or two.

Richard was there with his partner, my good friend Kat who is the very talented costume and headdress maker that I have mentioned in earlier posts. They were out for the day with Isabella their daughter who has just turned 1 years old. Look at this for an adorable re-enactment family!

Edward and Lady Joan aka Kat and Richard

Cosmeston – Part 2

May 11, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

The main events of the weekend took place on Sunday and Monday with a mix of fight displays, archery, manorial court and a battle each day – Welsh against English of course!

We were camped in an ordinary tent in the field out of the way of the public but there was a large display of tents in the Living History section where the rest of Team Falchion were.

This pic shows us in camp ready to have lunch on Sunday.

I am in the middle of this pic in a blue dress and pale blue coif (headgear) and my daughter Ellie and son Jake are next to me in dark cloaks.

I did spend part of the day dressed as a lady but it was a bit cold!

Me in my gold dress and torque headdress

We took a wander round the Living History camp and came across the Knights of Longshanks who had a lovely display of weaving of all different forms. One of the group – Alice Fitton – was creating a sampler of tablet weaving patterns as shown in the pics below.

This is what I love about re-enactment. As well as the general fun and the beer tent and the friends there are so many people who are into all of the stuff that I am and I am constantly meeting people who are interested in stitching and costume. I could have stayed talking to Alice for ages but the rest of the family were getting a bit bored!

The day ended with a beautiful sunny evening. Thanks to Shirley , our camp cook, for an excellent beef and ale stew and then Darryl ,the group’s minstrel, did a bit of musical improvisation with the kids round the campfire before we all headed off for the beer barn again! It’s a hard life …….

Smoke gets in your eyes .... Darryl with his lute and Ellie on tambourine

Cosmeston weekend part 1

May 10, 2009June 2, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

I have so many pics that I want to post from our recent event at Cosmeston Medieval Village in South Wales that I have split it into a few posts. Apologies for not posting these sooner – we did not get back till 11pm on Bank Holiday Monday evening and what with working all week and being away at Stefon’s all weekend have had no time at all.

We had really good weather all weekend – it rained a bit when we arrived on Fri while we were pitching the tent (typical!) but then was really nice Sat and Sun with cooler weather on Monday.

Saturday we did not have a show so went for a walk on the beach – walked about 3 miles on an amazing rocky beach at Lavernock Point then ended up at a very nice pub for lunch.

Here are me and the kids in a very album cover type shot.

Got back to camp about 4pm and then later into the beer tent (or beer barn in this case as the Tithe Barn in the village is used for events!) for a few more ciders and some mead. Ellie was able to buy her first pint at an event!

Darryl, Shirley and Darren at the beer barn!

I have included some pics of the village so that you can see what it is like – it is a wonderful place – a recreation of a 14th century village that died out in the plague. For a re-enactor this is heaven – authentic dark, smoky cottages, chickens running around, pigs in the piggery and lots of mud when it rains. It has an amazing atmosphere and I love going there.

Part of the village with the archers' encampment

A weaving loom inside one of the cottages

The Cosmeston pigs asleep - they are huge!

Will post some more pics of the actual event later in the week.

The first show of the year!

April 29, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

As I mentioned in my last post we had our first show at Bolsover last weekend so I thought I would share some pics of that with you.

Here is Bev looking very lovely all dressed up for her morning role as a peasant – in this role she does calligraphy and takes part in the manorial court and the archery display – involving being ‘rescued’ by Robin Hood!

This is wonderful daughter Ellie all dressed up as Lady Rose – this pic was taken early in the morning by the kitchen awning where we cook and eat – you can see what a lovely day it was, really bright and sunny.

John Neville (in real life Mark) is one of our newest fighters and here he is in his lovely new surcoat and mantle (covering on top of the helmet).

This photo shows on the left our other new fighter William de Bouen (in real life Paul Martin) who has done a great job of painting the heraldry on his surcoat.

I managed to finish a new outfit just in time for the show – nothing radical but the old one was very faded and had shrunk – I was showing my ankles which is very frowned upon for a C14 nun!

The very scary dragon being shot by Pete and Bev

Since it was a St George’s Day show we had the dragon – very well played by Luke who is being shot here during the archery display – he is very well padded!

My role during the tournament, which is the last part of the show is to make sure that all the knights have water, to keep an eye on the crowd in general to be alert for any issues and to make sure they all shout very loudly for their favourite knight!

We have another event coming up this weekend in South Wales at the Cosmeston Medieval Village which I am very excited about – check the Events 2009 page for details of that.

Tomorrow evening I am going to Bradley Wood Scout Camp site for the official opening of the building that I helped build as part of Project Nepal. Have not been able to get down to the site in recent months due to work and general family stuff so I am really looking forward to seeing everyone I went to Nepal with again.

Will post pics of both events some time next week.

Season is over – sad! But hello new me……

August 31, 2008September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Well here I am posting on a Sunday night again – this means that things are back to normal (or what passes for normal around here!!) with the last event of the year. I was originally going to an event next weekend in South Wales but unfortunately finances are not going to allow that now so I have just done the last outside event yesterday – very sad, no camping, no campfires, no clothes smelling of woodsmoke, no fun in the beer tent , no great battles and shows … until next April.

I really hate not being out of doors camping but at least this year I have Nepal to look forward to – two weeks in a tent and the most amazing mountains in the world yippee – it is getting very close now and I am getting very excited – we have another building training event coming up in three weeks which will be our last one before we all go off – we fly out on 10th October.

This pics were taken at the show last weekend at Bolsover Castle.

The pic comes from the part of our show the Manorial Court where the King dispenses justice – this is very funny part of the show – the person in the stocks is our arch villain John de Greilley who has stolen the tournament money – a part wonderfully played by the very funny Lee who is a natural comedian. In the background seated you can see my lovely daughter Ellie in a dark blue dress looking every inch the beautiful medieval lady.

It has been a really quick season this year – for various reasons we have not been to as many events as usual. But I am looking forward to the off season and the chance to spend more time on textiles!

It’s all go here!

August 10, 2008April 14, 2012 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Right – have just got back from the Bodelwyddan event in North Wales and am packing up to go to Spain tomorrow. We had a wonderful time in Cornwall with the Tintagel event – a bit wet unfortunately and so not much beach visiting but three good battles and lots of visiting the beer tent and sitting round the campfire. North Wales was somewhat drier – today being very sunny indeed and good battles and again more beer tent and campfire activity. Did not get any good battle pics but friends did so will hopefully be able to include one or two later. Am having a little bit of IT trouble at the moment as the drive that all my pics are stored on is not being recognised by the computer so cannot even post any old pics.

Thnak again to all my fab friends and special very big hugs to Bev, Tracey, Carl and Denise for being so brilliant – life is wonderful!

Now off to get hot and make full use of Mum’s jacuzzi!

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.

Category: re-enactment