Well worth the twenty year wait!

stitchesoftime2 Comments

I am very pleased to tell you that I did get to view the Marian Hangings at Oxburgh Hall, later on in the month that I was in Norfolk. You may recall that I took a trip with my friend from Spain, Linda, when I was camping at Sandringham, only to find a notice at the entrance to the hall saying that they had gone for conservation.

No-one knew at the time when the hangings would be available, as they were waiting to hear from the textile conservation team at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The hangings are in their care, but are loaned to Oxburgh.

Later in the month, when I had moved on round the coast, my lovely friends Allison and Alistair, who were one of the reasons that I went to Sandringham, as they are working on the neighbouring site as wardens during the summer, visited the hall, and sent me a photo of the hangings. They were back! Or so I thought. I was able to fit in another visit to Oxburgh on the way back to Huddersfield for my reunion.

When I arrived at the hall, the volunteer greeting me asked if I had been before and told her about how sad I had been about not seeing the hangings the previous visit. It turns out that they had not been removed from the property. There had been an infestation of wasps, who had built a nest inside the glass casing that houses the hangings! The team from the V and A were going to take the hangings away at a later date, but were very busy, and as the damage was thankfully minor, the house staff had been able to open the room again.

It was a very lucky escape for the hangings, and I am so grateful to be able to see them. These are one of the most significant pieces of needlework in the UK, not only because of their age, but because of their provenance.

That they were stitched by Mary Queen of Scots is interesting enough, but that they were stitched during her captivity in England, designed by her and Bess of Hardwick, and that we know so much about these two women, their needlework, and their inspiration for the designs, is hugely significant. Because of their importance, a lot of research has been done about them.

The hangings at Oxburgh are the companion set of embroideries to the needlework at Hardwick. Those at Hardwick are not attached to background fabric. Many of them are framed in screens, and this work was done by Evelyn Cavendish, the last owner of the house before it was given to the Trust. In total there are over 100 embroidered pieces between the two locations, and it is thought that they were originally meant to be assembled on one piece of cloth.

There may have been other people stitching these pieces as well as Mary and Beth, it is known that Mary had embroiders with her, and Bess employed embroiders as well. What is certain is that the overall project is very much about the two women, their lives and experiences. Thus it forms a very significant record of, not only their skills, but their challenges and inspirations.

So many of the pieces are symbolic, and portray both icons that we would recognise, such as animals from illustrations, and tales such as those from Aesop’s Fables. Others are more complex, and textile historians have been left to try and unpick their meaning. Many of the pieces have mottos, or have been designed to portray something specific, particularly in Mary’s work, where recurring themes of imprisonment and loss are evident.

It is thought that this choice of a dolphin or delphin is linked to her marriage to the Dauphin of France, as the words are similar. In the piece she has ‘signed’ herself as MR with a crown, even though at that point she had lost her crown in both France and Scotland.

While she was working on these needleworks during the early years of her guardianship by Bess and her husband, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Mary was clearly reflecting on the traumas that had brought her to her current situation, and how she could maybe get back to Scotland, her son, and her throne. Sadly that was never to happen, and after many years imprisoned in England, she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

I love this quote from the book.

‘In the sixteenth century, women’s writing and embroidery were seen as interchangeable, each a medium of female thought and emotion, each carrying the ‘hand’ of their author’.

I think that is true of women’s textile work in any era, the pieces we make are chosen to express ourselves in different ways, to convey our favourite colours and designs, to celebrate and to commemorate, and to pass on our love to the recipients.

It is thought that Bess’s granddaughter, Aletha Talbot, stitched the pieces to the bed hangings. This means that they are not in the order that the original stitchers intended them to be in, and does mean some of the cruciform pieces have been cut off to fit the hangings, as you can see here.

The hangings arrived at Oxburgh in 1761, when Mary Browne married Richard Bedingfield, but no-one knows how she got them. It is fascinating to think where they might have been in the years since Mary’s death, and how easily they could have been lost forever. They were used as bed hangings until the sale of the house in 1950.

As you know if you are a regular reader here, I am working on my first novel, which is set around Hardwick Hall and one of Bess’s companion needleworks. So I am particularly interested in these pieces. I have read many articles about them, as well as biographies of Bess, and done some other study online, such as this excellent free course from Future Learn, The Life and Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots. I can recommend this as being a really good exploration of Mary’s life, if you are interested.

My latest read, which I am absolutely loving for its detail about Mary’s textiles, is by Clare Hunter and is called Embroidering her Truth: Mary Queen of Scots and the language of Power. This is an excellent read, with a wealth of detail about Mary’s life, clothing and needlework.

I also have Clare’s other book, Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle which I am looking forward to reading next.

There is also another book about Mary’s embroidery by Michael Bath, called Emblems for a Queen, but at £167 on Amazon, I will have to try and find a library copy somewhere!

We have had a very lovely couple of workshops at my sewing group, I posted about the ribbon flower one last time, and this week I led one using fabric applique before embroidery, based on the wonderful designs by Jenny of Elefantz. It was brilliant to see everyone enjoying themselves, and sharing our skills, I am so lucky to have met this very talented group of women. We have more workshops planned before Christmas as well so I will have to slot in a catch up post with all of the textile happenings in Spain in between the summer catch ups.

I hope that you have all a good week, and are not too cold where you are. Friends are posting snowy pictures from Yorkshire and I am glad not be trying to negotiate getting out of the village to get to work, as I used to have to do at this time of year! See you all again soon, meanwhile have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

More Jacobean splendour, and a crafting update

stitchesoftime1 Comment

There are many houses that I have visited that look very similar to each other. Sometimes, as with Hardwick and Wollaton Hall, as well as Gawthorpe, it is because they were designed by the same architect, Smythson. Others are similar as they were built in a style that was fashionable at the time.

To me, Felbrigg Hall, near Norwich, looks very similar to Hardwick, particularly the top of the original façade.

You may notice, if you are familiar with Latin, that the carving on the top of the hall reads differently to how you might expect it to. We are familiar with, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’, partly from the hymn of that name. The phrase means, ‘Glory to God in the highest’. The carving at the top of the house reads, ‘Gloria Deo in Excelsis’. I am not sure why this is, and neither was the guide. it may be that was a more familiar phrase when the house was built.

The hall was extended, so it has a very different feel at the rear, far more Baroque in style. The original part of the hall was my favourite, partly due to the stunning ceilings again. I am not sure if this one was originally Jacobean, or from the remodel they had later but it it very beautiful.

The hall was full of books, and beautiful works of art, collected by the family on their travels, and they had remodelled rooms to display their collections of stained glass and art, as in this room, specifically decorated to look like an art gallery.

The last squire of Felbrigg, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer was a keen historian, and I thought that one of the loveliest things in the house was his desk.

I particularly love that book with the beautiful cover. I have visited so many fantastic places this summer, but have had to stop myself from buying notebooks at every one, I already have too many unused, but I do love a gorgeous notebook. I can just imaging him sitting in his sunny study writing using that gorgeous inkwell.

I love the human touches in these houses. More than the grand paintings, or the splendid architecture, the thought of someone sitting in the rooms, and appreciating them, is wonderful. As Robert had no heirs, and his younger brother died in WW2, he made sure that the house was safe by passing it on to the Trust in 1941. There are also gorgeous gardens, including a very colourful kitchen garden.

As for textile treasures, I think the prize has to go to these two lovely fire screens in one of the library areas, now sadly faded, but what hours of work must have gone into these.

They look like the sort of thing that would have been bought in kit form, possibly late 1800s, but I am guessing as there was no provenance. They have a look of the kind of paintings people saw on their Grand Tours, then replicated for use in their houses.

I had an amazing time in Cordoba last week, so many things to show you, but I must stick with the timeline and finish the UK posts before I even get to the wonders of France and Spain. It is now probably only little day trips in Katy until end of Jan, so I will have plenty of time for updates on a more regular basis. Katy is loving being in the sunshine, and driving around La Marina, and I am loving the freedom to travel to all those places that are too far for my bike.

I have been busy with some finishes. I have finally put together a set of reindeer for a friend who really loved the ones I did for the fundraiser last year. These I have named Rudy and Ruby.

This year’s fundraiser will be a knitted mouse, I have been knitting dresses while I have been away, so just some shoes to finish and the making up to do.

It has been great to be back at my knitting and sewing groups and catching up with everyone, and practising my Spanish again! We have had the first of a few workshops that we are having this ‘term’, a ribbon embroidery one led by Vivien. I didn’t get it finished, but am pleased with what I did.

I am running another embroidery workshop next week, this time with added bits of fabric applique. The lovely thing is that a couple of people who have never embroidered before the last one really enjoyed it, and have been doing lots more over the summer. These are Lynne’s mandala designs which are fantastic, especially as she had never stitched before. She has used children’s colouring books and traced the designs, as they are a great source of inspiration.

It is still sunny and warm here as well, unseasonably so as it has been around 24 degrees this week. Apologies to all my UK friends and family who are freezing, damp and cold!

I had a very nice, and unexpected visitor last week before going to Cordoba, a fellow van owner, and solo traveller, Debbie, who I met in the summer at a festival in Worcester. She was in my area, on her way to Morocco, so she spent a few days parked up at my house, enjoying, and hiding from, the 29 degrees we had that week. It was brilliant to see her, and I am following her adventures now, as she has just arrived in Morocco. That has been one of the very best things about my travels this summer, meeting so many other people who enjoy van life as I do. Being at home is great, but I still have very itchy feet 😉

I need to stay in one place for a while though, if only to have time to plan the next trips! I will be back soon with more of my textile related adventures in Norfolk. Hope you are all having a good time, wherever you are. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Blickling, a paradise of plasterwork

stitchesoftime2 Comments

I have long wanted to visit Blickling Hall in Norfolk. Ellen visited many years ago, as part of her role at the Trust, a their textile conservation studio is based there. It was a brilliant day out, the drive there was beautiful and the hall looked stunning.

It was built in the early 1600s, and the house that it replaced was believed to be where Anne Bolyen was born. It is the most stunning piece of Jacobean architecture, and the ceilings are amazing. I have rarely seen such ornate ones in any of the Trust houses that I have visited, of particular note were the very large finials on the designs, the ones in the lounge were huge.

The library, in the bottom two photos, was one of the most ornate ceilings that I have ever seen, this was originally the Long Gallery, until the 1740s when it was remodelled.

Because of the royal connection there were some gorgeous portraits, again with such stunning lace details. There were portraits of Henry 8th and Elizabeth 1st, as well as some other Elizabethan nobles.

I was very interested in this one, of Anne of Denmark, many years ago Mum and I visited the castle where she was brought up when we went to Copenhagen. The castle was a very beautiful place but in quite a remote coastal location, and I remember wondering at the time what she felt about her marriage and moving to Scotland and England. She was the wife of King James 1st of England and mother of Charles 1st, and by all accounts led a very tumultuous life.

One of the things that I love about visiting historic places is how it allows me to fill in the gaps in my historical knowledge, and make connections between people and places. Anne appears to have no direct connection to Blickling, but no doubt the portrait was acquired for its own sake, as it is beautiful.

There were some lovely beds on display, this first one dates from the Jacobean period and is in beautiful condition, with the colours on the crewel work so vibrant.

This was a very unusual set of bed hangings, on a bed in the fashionable Chinese bedroom. It has a mixture of heraldry and embroidered flowers, and looks as if it may have been pieced together from separate components.

There was also a very impressive state bed, which has recently been extensively restored. It dates from the late 1700s, and has the heraldries of King George 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

There is no information that I can find about whether any of the kings ever slept in it, but I loved the information about where the component parts came from, taken from this link at The National Trust collections site.

‘The tester and headboard (which bear the Royal Arms as used 1714 – 1800) are said to have been made out of a canopy of state given to John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire in 1762 on the occasion of his embassy to St. Petersburg whilst serving as envoy to the Russian Court, a post he held between 1762 and 1765. Throughout the eighteenth century, every British ambassador representing the monarch abroad was supplied by the government with a state canopy, a chair of state, a pair of portraits of the king and queen as well as an allowance for ambassadorial silver.‘

I love the idea of this textile travelling to Russia and back again and ending up in Norfolk!

As well as the very impressive beds there were many gorgeous pieces of hand worked textiles, such as this cushion, and the fire screen in the photo below. As always when I see pieces like this I think of the hours of work by someone in the house to make these items.

There was some active conservation work happening at the time with the cushions in the lounge. I do like the way that the Trust are making this work more explicit now, rather than closing houses for deep cleaning. I know it must make it more difficult to do all the necessary work, but I really love to see all this in action.

I have been doing a lot of deep cleaning myself, it’s amazing how dirty the house gets even when I’m not here. The cockroaches are partly to blame for that, did you know that they poo? It’s like little mouse droppings, so I have to have a good clean out of all of the cupboards whenever I return. Luckily I don’t have any precious textiles here that are at risk.

Mum and I have been out, making the most of having Katy here so we went for lunch at the beach, and then an exciting trip to the DIY shop to buy new taps for the bathroom sink 🙂 We are off out again to some of the gorgeous coastline today, then off to Cordoba next week for a little city visit as it is so long since I have been in a historic Spanish city 😉 I will back as soon as I can with more of Norfolk, until then, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Back in the land of sun and palm trees!

stitchesoftime2 Comments

I have arrived back in La Marina after my epic adventures. I have had an excellent time in France and Spain, it took two and half weeks to get here, and there were many brilliant stops along the way. I am not quite sure how many miles it was, but possibly about 1800. As everyone who had been previously advised me, driving in Europe is very straightforward, and in most cases was an absolute pleasure. We won’t talk about the first trip on French motorways, where I inadvertently caught the tail end of Storm Babet !

This is screen shot of my route. I am so grateful to have Google maps, as although I had a route planned and stops identified, I did change a lot of them, so it was invaluable for the planning on the road as well.

I will do more detailed posts about the last couple of weeks, as well as finish off telling you all about the adventures in Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent. I have seen, to paraphrase Carter on his discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, ‘many wonderful things’, and am so lucky to have done this journey. It really was a trip of a lifetime.

Katy is very happy here as well, she had to have a couple of rest days as the last day of driving was about five and a half hours, but she is enjoying the early morning sunsets from her park up across from the house.

I have had lots of house and van sorting to do as well, the usual replanting all of the pots on the terrace and re-establishing dominance of the house over the cockroaches 🙂 We have had a couple of little trips out though, one to the beach for lunch and today I went to the mountains nearest our house. I had promised myself that my first bigger trip would be to get closer to these lovely mountains that I see every day, and always cycle towards.

So this afternoon I went to the Palmeral, in the town of Orihuela, which is at the foot of the mountains, and spent a lovely hour having a picnic and a wander around, It is 25 degrees here still, and the sky was beautiful. I do love the contrast of the palms and the clouds.

I have lots more trips planned, again Google maps has been brilliant for that and these green pins are the places I am planning to drive to over the next couple of months.

I am looking forward to catching up with all my friends here as well, and generally enjoying a slighter quieter pace of life than the last four months. I have to say that having a bed, and a double one at that, and your own bathroom, is a luxury much appreciated after 4 months living in Katy 😉

I will return as soon as possible. Meanwhile have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Norfolk coastal beauty

stitchesoftime4 Comments

As you will know, I love the sea. I was told that the beaches in Norfolk were lovely, and they have been. One of the things that I have especially liked are the pebbles.

They don’t make for a good sandcastle building holiday but I love the variety of them, and the way that are used in all of the buildings. I have driven through so many villages full of these gorgeous flint and brick houses and churches.

I visited Snettisham RSPB reserve one very hot day, and met more Canada Geese than I have ever seen before.

I also went to Sheringham Park for a meet up with Jules, who I met last year at Hayfield. She has an identical van to mine, with a full conversion, and is still travelling full time, having extended her gap year. We had a brilliant time sharing the joys of van life.

I enjoyed my trips to Cromer and the Sheringham 1940s weekend as well. Loved the vintage adverts for Cromer and the pictures along the beach at Sheringham of the Victorian bathing tents.

Had a brilliant 40th anniversary of starting at Huddersfield Polytechnic weekend back in Yorkshire last weekend and then conquered three more motorways, so feeling very happy with all the driving so far.

Here am I with two lovely friends, Ange and Carol. It has been so good to meet up with people this summer, hadn’t seen Carol for about 25 years!

This will probably be the last update on the blog for a while. I am in the final week of the UK part of the adventure, and am now in Kent. Off to France and Spain next Saturday and I will be on the move so much then I will probably wait until I get back. I will post as much as possible on my Instagram @katykangoo, if you want to follow me there.

Many thanks as always for following my adventures. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Bridgerton settings and the case of the missing hangings

stitchesoftime1 Comment

I had planned to visit Belton House anyway en route to Norfolk, but was even more keen after Ellen told me it was used in the recent Bridgerton prequel about Queen Charlotte and King George.

I loved that series, not only for the costumes, which are always fabulous, but also loved the sets. I am one of those people who always wants to know where things are filmed. Thank God for Google so I can find things and add them to my list of places to visit.

Ellen’s friend, Nancy, was actually there while they were filming as she used to work there. The location they used was the beautiful conservatory, which became George’s observatory.

This is located at the back of the gorgeous Italian garden behind the house.

Inside there were some beautiful examples of furniture, including my favourite, needlepoint chairs, and as is common with these era houses, a Chinese bedroom.

One of the main reasons for visiting Norfolk apart from a reunion with some former work colleagues, was to visit Oxburgh Hall. I have wanted to go for about 20 years, ever since first visiting Hardwick, as this is where the companion stitching to the ones there by Bess and Mary Queen of Scots are. Except ….

I had met up with my friend Linda from Spain, who was staying nearby with relatives. We did have a very lovely day out, despite the lack of hangings! It is a stunning moated property and it has been beautifully restored.

There were some very gorgeous Elizabethan era portraits, I love the lace in these. The whole house was so ornate with painted ceilings and leather wallpaper.

I will have to try and organise another visit to see the hangings, hopefully before another 20 years is up!

The rest of the week at Sandringham was very peaceful, I spent a lot of time with my friends which was lovely and quite emotional. Sadly the School of Education, where I worked for 20 years, has been closed and many people have lost their jobs. I feel so sad for my colleagues, who have always worked so hard and wish them all the best for the future.

I will be back soon with more of lovely Norfolk, it has been so nice to have time to explore and I have been lucky to have mainly very good weather. Until next time have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Steampunk, 7 years on.

stitchesoftime1 Comment

This Lincoln Asylum event was, as Facebook helpfully reminded us, 7 years since we first attended, although due to the missing Covid years, it was the 5th time of being in Lincoln.

We loved the new activities such as the trinket swap and the 30 blue plaques to find, celebrating those who have contributed to the events.

As always we had an excellent time. We participated in the Fashion Show on the Friday night at the Assembly Rooms, which are a gorgeous reminder of Lincoln’s Georgian past.

I wore my Glories of Bombay jacket, and Ellen her House of Worth dress. She had a new tiara for the event which made her look very regal.

She also had a completely new outfit for the weekend, her Monster Hunter one, complete with Stitch in chains and Grogu in a net!

This is the same pattern she has used before and the bolero jacket and skirt look great with leggings and her Nu Rock boots. She embroidered the arm patch herself and bought the monster alert device and the hat cogs at a previous event. She even has Grogu earrings!

I wore the tablecloth jacket again on Saturday, but with the seamstress hat.

Sunday there was a Steam Trek meet up so I wore my Captain Jane way outfit and hat. Forgot to get any close up pictures though. There were some brilliant costumes at the meet up.

This trio were my favourite, so cool!

I will leave you with some of the other amazing outfits, as always such creativity. I am definitely tempted by a Slyvanian families one in the future!

There was definitely a bookworm theme going on and one lady had the, ‘What Katy Did ‘ books on her hat!

Love the Wonka family above, they always have amazing outfits.

I am currently staying on a site with no WiFi, so things may be a bit quiet here for a while.

I have lots of lovely more Trust property visits planned this week and next, and then am on to Suffolk for a week where I am looking forward to more pretty villages and coastline.

Until then have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Stops along the way

stitchesoftime1 Comment

I like to plan some Trust properties or other sites of interest to break up my journeys so here are a few I have visited recently.

Ellen’s best friend from University, Becky, now manages the Droitwich Spa Heritage Centre, a lovely little museum about the salt industry. The town has lots of left over industrial heritage from those days and some beautiful Tudor buildings.

They had a special exhibition a while ago that I just had to go and see, Lisa- Jayne Smith, a retired theatre costume designer, had decided to make 85 Barbie costumes, representing fashion from 1066 to the 1980s.

Such beautiful details on all of the costumes and such a lot of work!

As you can imagine I was thrilled and the costumes are amazing. I must get on with the Tudor one for my dolls that I have been meaning to make since lockdown.

I managed to make a quick visit to Wollaton Hall in Nottingham the same day. If it looks familiar it is because it was designed by Smythson, who also designed Hardwick Hall. It is now the Natural History Museum so the interior is very different.

I also met my friend Lynne from Spain, at Gainsborough Old Hall, a beautiful building with a very unique kitchen complete with serving hatches.

Apologies for the abrupt ending to the last post, whatever I did I could not get it to save anything, so after a week just gave up. As always I hope you are all well and happy. Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.

Lincolnshire skies

stitchesoftime2 Comments

After the Slumber on the Humber festival I went to stay at Mablethorpe for 10 days. I had a really lovely relaxing time here on the coast and was joined for the weekend by my friend Sharon, from Marsden. She is thinking of buying a campervan so had rented one for the week to get an idea of what type she would like.

The weather was really good and I spent most of the time along the coast, and looking at the clouds. Lincolnshire is very flat and the campsite was next to fields, so apart from the windmills in the distance, all you could see was sky and there were some brilliant sunsets.

I went for a few walks to local beach nature reserves, there are lots of salt marsh reserves here and there were amazing clouds over the beaches.

I particularly love this last picture where it looks like there is a fight between the good and bad clouds with the evil.darkness about the envelop the fluffy white one.

We loved the patterns that the water made flowing through the sand and found shells that had worn away to form beautiful patterns of holes.

We did do a little bit of National Trust visiting, to Gunby Hall, which had the most gorgeous gardens and orchard.

The family that lived in the house in the Victorian era had lots of links with the famous writers artists and thinkers of the era. One of the daughters, Emily Massingberd founded The Pioneer Club in 1892 to support women’s suffrage.

Another daughter, Sybil, was friends with Gertrude Bell, the traveller and Middle Eastern specialist who I have blogged about before.

I really enjoy learning about links between all of these inspirational women. It sets all of their lives into context.

We had a lovely time and Sharon enjoyed her cute little campervan. Hopefully she can find one of her own and we can have more adventures together.

I am very much enjoying my time here in Norfolk, after a busy weekend at the Steampunk Festival in Lincoln after my stay in Mablethorpe and then a week at Ellen’s decorating.