Wherever you go you can always find stitching!

August 3, 2009September 9, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

As you know on my travels I like to look for textile arts of all forms and the recent trip to Berkeley Castle for the re-enactment event was no exception and there were some excellent examples there.

We arrrived on Thursday for a very, very wet pitch – soaked to the skin by the time we got the tent up but we dried off and had a lovely if a little damp weekend as it also rained heavily on Sun as we were packing up. It is a fantastic castle which has been in the same family for over 900 years and we were lucky enough to be camped in the meadows with this view.

It is always a real shame when wet weather happens as the organisers of the events (in this case the lovely Plantagenet Events people) put such an effort into doing this and without paying members of the public turning up they will not happen. I know that it is not the same coming to an event when the weather is not good but can I make a plea to all you out there to not let a bit of rain put you off coming to something – you will still have a great time .

We pull out all the stops to make sure that things go ahead as planned and things will only be cancelled as a last resort if it is really unsafe to go ahead.The people that run these events do not do it to make a vast profit and a couple of bad events can bankrupt them, they do it for the love of keeping our history alive. As participants we do it all for free, we receive no expenses at all for the bigger events and fund all our own costumes, travel and kit (hence the need for the day job!). So please come along – you may be a bit damp but you’ll still have a good time and if you stay indoors every time it rains in England you’d never get out!

We had intended to go round the castle on Fri but it was shut so instead went to the Edward Jenner museum which is located in Berkeley Village right next to the castle in the doctor’s old house. It was a very interesting museum indeed – I knew the story of how he experimented with inoculation having learnt it at school but there were lots of original exhibits relating to his life and family including these two touching examples of stitching.

The whitework detail on the Jenner Family christening robes

The needlepoint cushion on Edward Jenner's garden chair - in the middle are his intials — The needlepoint cushion on Edward Jenner's garden chair - in the middle are his initials

This is what I love about stitching – it is everywhere from the most ordinary places to the biggest palaces and it still absolutely fascinating me that so much work has been done by so many people that we will never know anything about. I would love to know more about the people (women?) who made these items but sadly nothing is usually recorded.

We then visited the 13th century St Mary’s Church which is between Edward Jenner’s house and the castle. There was some lovely goldwork on the altar frontal and banner.

There was also a very lovely effigy on the tomb of Thomas 8th Lord of Berkeley and his Lady Katherine dated 1361.

Ellie and I were admiring the headress and discussing what type it was ( a nebule or goffered headdress ) and I remarked that my friend Kat had made one similar which was on her web site. When we came out of the church who should we bump into but Kat, Richard and Isabella who had come to look at the same effigy before going to the event!

We had a very good tour round the castle itself on Saturday – the grounds were really lovely and I took lots of flower pics which I intend to use as the basis for some embroidery projects later on.

My friends Carl (Geoffrey of Woodstock) and Denise (Matilda de Monfichet) in the castle gardens

The view of the medieval tent enacmpment from the castle

Sadly you couldn’t take any photos inside the castle as there was the most amazing embroidered bedspread and pillow slips made for Elizabeth 1st on display. Couldn’t find any pics of it on the web either so you will just have to go and see for yourself!

We have just come back from another event at Ashby de la Zouche Castle – a mixed weekend in terms of weather with rain all day on Sat (big thanks to the 120 people who came to see us in that!) and glorious sunshine all day Sunday so we got to pack the tents away dry!

I will leave you with a lovely picture from Tewkesbury this year with yet more embroidery and lots of shiny armour. This is us on the battlefield under the very fine goldwork banner of the Duke of Gloucester (aka Rob).

You can just see my head and hand on the right of the pic giving water to Dave . This pic was taken by someone called fac man who has a Flickr site with more pics if you want to see more of the event and the armour!

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

July 29, 2009January 12, 2010 stitchesoftime3 Comments

Not here as we are now back to the lovely Yorkshire rain ! However Spain was very, very hot so we did little but read and swim during the day but had some lovely evenings out as the sun went down.

We went over to the local town of Guardamar one evening for their Moors and Christians’ parade – a couple of years ago we went to the biggest one in Spain at Alcoy – this was a lot smaller but still very, very loud – even the kids who are used to cannon going off had to retreat when the gunners started!

There were some lovely lights and the costumes were excellent – no close up pics unfortunately as it was very crowded.

The Christian King and Queen - rear view!

It was my grandmother’s 97th birthday the day before we got to Spain so we went out for a meal with family and friends to celebrate – here she is with Jake and Ellie at her favourite Chinese in Guardamar which does an excellent 3 course meal with half bottle of wine for around 4 euros!

Ellie has discovered she likes sangria – especially when it is served looking like a proper holiday drink with the requisite decorations – here she is with a very large glass!

We are off to Asby de la Zouche Castle in Leicestershire for another show this weekend so will post pics from Berkeley when I can. That was a lovely event – bit wet but we had a great time at a stunning location.

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!

Art Show

June 25, 2009January 12, 2010 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Yesterday we went to Ellie’s college for the Fashion Show and Art, Textiles and Graphics Shows. Ellie has just finished her A levels – she did Art, Medieval History and Classics so now eagerly awaits her results in August!

The standard of work was fantastic – much of it at the same standard as the degree shows I have been to at the University here – there are some very talented kids out there!

These pics are of two of Ellie’s final pieces – they do not photograph that well being 3D pieces but hopefully you can get a flavour of what she has done.

This is a collage piece with images representing the seven deadly sins – there are matchboxes on the piece for each sin with small artifacts in that represent lust, gluttony, envy etc.

: The history of film

This piece has lots of tiny slides that she has decorated and themed to represent important moments in film history. They are difficult to see but she has lots of lovely detail – my favourite is the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ one which has a surround made of film wrapped with barbed wire.

The following are some pics of other students’ work from Textiles and Graphics. Well done to all of you and every success for your future careers!

Fabulous machine stiching on an evening dress — Fabulous machine stitching on an evening dress

Corsets were very popular - this is a really pretty one

A development piece with machine stitching and applique

A beautiful development piece with a variety of textures

The last two pics are work from Ellie’s incredibly talented friend Sarah who quite rightly was awarded best in show for her work making toys for seriously and terminally ill children. Not only did she make the toys but extra clothes for them and little books with illustrated stories about them – wonderful stuff. She is going on to University to do a degree in illustration and I am sure she will be very successful. Her work reminded me very much of one of my favourite blogs, Little Cotton Rabbits.

Am having a quiet weekend after a very busy week which will be nice – have done no stitching this week due to late nights for various reasons so am looking forward to getting back to normal next 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!

A lovely weekend

June 14, 2009November 24, 2009 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

This weekend we were camping again but here in Yorkshire. Some friends, Jane and Patch, who live locally have a beautiful barn conversion which used to be an old mill complete with large mill pond – see pic below.

They host a little gathering every year where we all go and camp, bbq, have a bit of a sing song round the campfire etc. in the field attached to their house. This year we were entertained as well by friends who have band called Stringfellows.

We had a really lovely time and it was nice to catch up with a few people I have not seen recently.

Last year I downsized a bit and bought a smaller tent that I could take more easily on the train – the pic above shows us in it this weekend. It is a Vango 500 and is a great tent for a couple of nights away with plenty of space for sleeping, kit storage and cooking if the weather is not good. It has its first outing in on a clifftop in Cornwall last year when we did the Tintagel event and survived a very windy pitching and a few heavy rainstorms which is a very good test of any tent.

We still have the very large tunnel tent (nicknamed the aircraft hangar) which I will use again when I get a car, two small two man tents (one of which is Ellie’s) and a medieval tent. I love tents – could quite happily own loads and loads and love spending time when camping going round and looking at other people’s tents!

The weather was fab – apart from a short but heavy shower about 10pm Sat night there was sunshine all round. It has been really hot today as well so after we got home and cleaned, sorted and re-packed the tent ready for the event next weekend (hurrah more camping!!!) I did a bit of a garden tidy up.

I have also finally put together the new bike I bought myself a while ago – it was a winter sale bargain but it has been in its box waiting to be fettled. Being a well trained girlie I was able to put it together with a bit of help from Ellie keeping it steady as I sorted the brake calipers. Just need to get a new bike pump and I can be off!

Had another bbq for tea tonight – must be the 7th one so far which is a bit of a record for this time of year – weather has just been so nice we need to make the most of it and I love cooking outdoors.

Have had a busy week costume making – have completed a new peasant dress for Ellie and three pairs of brais (trousers) for Jake and two of the boys in the group. Am off tomorrow to a goldwork day workshop at my Embroiderers’ Guild so am really looking forward to that. Will post some pics of what I do later.

Saturday was my very last day of teaching for this year and Ellie has now finished all her A level exams so we are looking forward to a very mellow summer of camping, stitching and generally chilling out. Life is very good!!!

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!!!

Project Nepal Update

May 22, 2009June 2, 2010 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I went to the official dedication of the new building that we built at the scout campsite as part of the Project Nepal experience. It was really lovely to see everyone again and I will post some further pics of the building on my Project Nepal web page. The main structure is finished but it still needs work on the interior and landscaping.

This is a pic of me next to the stone in the building that I carved my initials on. You can’t see them but they are there honest!

We had a lovely evening with a fab meal and talk by Doug Scott, the mountaineer who set up Community Action Nepal the charity we worked with , who showed us some of his pics of mountains. We also saw the videos that were made of both the build in the UK – over the 12 months of the project- and the build in Nepal – over the 2 weeks we were in the village. That was just brilliant to see and brought back so many memories. It was a very emotional moment. I am very glad that I was able to go given all that happened last summer and it was such an amazing experience. It was so good in so many ways – re-affirming my faith in myself and my restored health, the fact that I managed all the very hard physical work given the state of my mobility a few years ago, and just brilliant fun as well.

There is another project planned which will start later this year – I would love to be involved in some way but don’t know if I would be able to go to Nepal with them again. Lots of things are still very up in the air with job and future plans so can’t really make any definite arrangements for Oct 2010 at this point but hopefully I can help with the project anyway.

As well as the success of the project in terms of the building we did there were some lovely outcomes that no-one expected. We were saying at the evening that there definitely must have been something in the water out there in Nepal as three romances came out of the project , two between project participants and one between one of the project members and one of the Nepalese team who looked after us out there. Kim went back to Nepal in Feb and married Bijou and she is now waiting for his visa to be sorted so he can come to the UK.

There were also two weddings, one just before and one soon after (and that couple now have a baby on the way!) I think that the reason why all of this happened is that when you are halfway round the world away from all the people you love you realise what is important in your life and what you want to hang on to. It is lovely that there was so much happiness from the project.

Things have been busy at work but my full time students have finished – they bought me some lovely presents which was very kind of them.

They know me very well and bought me some very nice wine and the most enormous glasses to drink it from.

We are away this weekend at Ashby de La Zouche Castle with the re-enactment group – I am nearly done with the packing for this and we will be there till Monday evening. Hopefully we will have some good weather as it has rained really badly most of the week here!

Hope you all have a fun Bank Holiday!

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

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.