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.
I hope that you are all having a nice week. I have been taking some pictures at our recent re-enactment events and thought I would share them with you today. The last two events have been a little wet in places (lovely British weather!) but we have had a good time despite the rain.
We were at Ashby de La Zouche Castle in Leicestershire at the end of May – the castle ruins are really imposing and I took these shots on the Saturday evening when all the public had gone home, the first ones are of the tower and the latter ones what is left of the chapel, I love the ironwork on these pics. In the middle is Lord Percy’s tent with its pennants flying in the evening breeze.
We spent last weekend at Tatton Park in Cheshire at an event, the person who plays the king at other events was there. I have previously posted pictures of his goldwork surcoat and heraldry and was able to take some pictures of the goldwork banners outside his tent on the way to the beer tent on Saturday night – isn’t this wonderful work!
I have previously posted pics of Lord and Lady Bardolph from our group in all their finery but this weekend they were going on to the field as archers so here they are looking very stylish in their padded jacks and helms!
Lord Bardolph’s jack is the one he wears under his armour which excuses its rather mucky state and both jacks are fine examples of quilting as a utilitarian craft – all the combatants wear some form of quilted armour on body, legs of head when fighting, either under armour or on its own.
Lastly a pic of what keeps us warm when it is wet and windy in a field , one of my favourite bits of re-enactment, the fire we sit round at night. I love watching the way the logs burn, it really is magic!
I will return at the weekend with crafting pics, both myself and Ellie have been busy so will catch up with you all then.
By that I mean the large amount of fabric I am about to show you which was purchased at the Malvern Quilt Festival is destined to be used for lots of different gifts and sales items for my Xmas craft fairs so I do not in any way consider that I spent too much money, bought too much fabric or overindulged at all 🙂 I actually think I was very restrained as there was so much more I could have bought had I gone wild and just bought fabric with gay abandon rather than for the specific purposes I had on my list. In fact there was virtually no impulse buying at all apart from some very good bargains.
I am planning to make quilts as presents for the youngest family members this summer, play/cuddle quilts are what I had in mind made with two really lovely ranges from Makower. Firstly the very cute farm animals prints.
Then the Makower pirate range – and I found some fab pirate and sea creature buttons to go on the quilt as well!
Both of these fabric sets were on my shopping list and we had already been round all the traders once without seeing them as I was looking for bolts of the fabric when we went round again and found them at the very helpful Cookes Quilting Supplies stall. I have looked on their website before but wanted to actually see the fabric and they were very good at searching out missing coordinating fabrics for me.
I also got some really nice new Xmas patterns for making ornies – look at all these lovelies – all from Goose Chase Quilting who I had not come across before.
Along with some very cute Xmas buttons – there are little cookie cutters and gingerbread men in these packs! All these and previous pirate buttons are from Out of Africa suppliers.
Ellie also bought some lovely things – some flannel to make a lap quilt and jelly roll to make a duvet cover so she is going to have a busy summer sewing!
As well as the planned stuff there were a couple of impulse bargains –
These cute dinosaur labels £1 for 10 which I thought would make a lovely charity quilt for the hospice so I bought 3 packs.
And a lovely Robert Kaufman fat quarter – I think this is called Holiday Flourish with some more of the fabric I have just used up in my throw.
I finished the border on the throw last weekend and made the spare panel and another set I cut out into cushions covers, you can see them in the pictures below – now I have the batting I can put these together and I have also bought a darning foot for my machine so I will be trying out some free motion quilting on these!
I took lots of pics of the wonderful quilts at the show so will have to sort out some of my favourite to post here later. I thought I would just leave you with a few shots of Malvern railway station – again like Hebden Bridge last week a lovely old station with some fantastic ironwork.
I will try to post again mid-week as we will be away all next weekend – we have a Bank Holiday re-enactment show at Ashby de La Zouche Castle in Leicestershire so if you are in the area on Sunday or Monday do come along, it would be lovely to see you.
I hope you all have a lovely week ahead and thanks as always for visiting.
Well we had a very lovely time this Bank Holiday weekend – very hot weather on Saturday (thankfully cooler on Sunday and Monday as the boys were really melting in their armour!). About 3,000 people came to see us over the three days – thanks if you were one of them. I was doing my head-dress and embroidery talk again – this time in Lady Percy’s tent (as she is being the cook this season in the mornings) assisted by Lady Alice.
Here are some pics for you – starting off in the early morning when we are all getting ready for the public to arrive.
Lord Bardolph (aka Paul) setting up in the arenaLady Bardolph (aka (Lynn) ready for calligraphyLady Percy (aka Tracy) and Ellen and Jake in the kitchenThe Despenser's tentCameron (aka Keith) and Paddy setting up for the armour talkEsme tidying up the flags round the displaysLord De Bohun (aka Paul) putting on his armourLord Zouche (aka Luke) in his padded jack and coifMore of Lady Bardolph's embroidery on Lord Despencer's shirt
These pics from the afternoon show are all taken by my lovely friend Jan from her Facebook page (hope you don’t mind me using them Jan) – as I am not allowed a camera while in kit I have to ‘borrow’ other people’s pics to show you the action.
Lady Despencer (aka Bev) in her heraldic dressEllie giving water to Zouche during the tournament
Everyone wanted me to post this one as well as they loved the crazy look on my face – I am just happy that the season has started again and I am camping!
Me (as the nun) Ellie and Zouche
Virtually no crafting has gone on this week – at the weekend we were too busy with medieval stuff to do anything apart from me doing a bit of hand sewing of a coif during the day. I will have to crack on this week as my Spring Exchange piece needs to be mailed by the 1st May. I have had mine from my partner and it is lovely so will take some pics and post that at the weekend.
I am looking forward to the Royal Wedding on Friday – some friends are coming over for cupcakes and cava and then I am hoping for a nice weekend so I can be out in the garden, there may even be a bbq or two!
Hope that you have a nice week and thank you very much again for visiting.
As you know I have very, very many talented friends and I just wanted to share with you some recent pics of their work that they have posted courtesy of their Facebook profiles – I do hope they don’t mind me sharing their skills with my blog readers.
The first is my lovely friend Kat who as you know does medieval re-enactment and I have posted before about her costumes and her business Kat’s Hats . Well she also does Tudor re-enactment and these costumes are even more wonderful than her others due to the level of detail and complexity in them. This pic was taken recently at an event at Buckland Abbey with her Tudor group.
Kat, her beautiful daughter Isabella and her granny
What amazes me about this pic is that it looks like a scene from the Tudors (love those series – have all on DVD) but all of these costumes were made by Kat.
I have also mentioned Bucket before but have never had any really close up pics of his embroidery to show you. Bucket is one of the rare men who embroider and he along with Kat does many different periods of re-enactment. Bucket’s partner (also called Cat!) recently posted this on Facebook which is his work in progress on an 18th century waistcoat – up to the moment the work has taken 245 hours and counting!
Bucket's embroidery
And here is the man himself with his work.
Here he is with a well earned beer
Fantastic work both of you – I am honoured to know you.
I have had a very busy week at work and while I have been able to do some stitching I’m afraid I can’t reveal anything as the next two projects are for exchanges. I have joined another exchange group in addition to the All Seasons Ornament Exchange which is called the Seasonal Exchange so being the clever people that you are I bet you can guess that the theme of both pieces is Autumn! I am stitching on evenweave which I do find more challenging than Aida due to the smallness of the fabric gauge so I have resorted to both my glasses and my neck hung magnifier to see what I am doing! Have also recently completed another reindeer ornie – only 5 more to go!
In lieu of pretty pics of stitching then here are my completed wrist warmers – I had a lot of trouble with these as you may remember trying to match up the variegated wool but made it work on about the 3rd attempt! Please excuse slightly fuzzy pic as the light is not good – it has been raining hard all day and is a bit miserable – was tempted to keep the wristwarmers on as it is a bit cold in the conservatory! These are from a free pattern called Waffle Stitch Wristwarmers that I got from Ravelry.
Lovely and warm!
Term has started so that is why I have been so busy – we have another lovely group of trainee teachers this year and I am really looking forward to working with them all. I am lucky to have a job that I really enjoy and look forward to going into work – though a large Lottery win that would enable me to retire and devote my life to stitching and knitting would be fine as well!
I am also going to be busy this week with helping organise the Marsden Jazz Festival – I recently joined the committee for this event which will be held in a village near me on the 2nd weekend of October. See this link for details if you are in the Yorkshire area. As the name suggests there are lots of live music events on in all of the pubs and clubs across the village as well as a parade on the Saturday. This week we have a meeting of all the volunteers who will be helping over the weekend, a t-shirt folding and packing evening and then I will be helping out in the festival shop selling said t-shirts next weekend.
Just thought I would leave you with another couple of pics from re-enactment events – courtesy of my friends on Facebook. The first pic was taken at our recent August Bank Holiday event at Bolsover Castle and shows Paul (in the helmet) and Luke – with the sword – demonstrating during the weapons’ talk.
Ouch!
The second one is a much older pic, probably taken about 6 years ago and shows my lovely friends Kat and Richard all dressed up in their costumes – doesn’t he look the epitome of chivalry!
Edward and Lady Joan
If you want to see more of Kat’s wonderful headdresses and costume you can visit her Kats Hat website.
I hope that you are having a nice weekend – thanks very much for visiting.
Well we have just finished the season with a fantastic event at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire. Not only did we have good weather, being mainly sunny, we also had a wonderful crowd – 800 on Sunday and 1700 on Monday . Monday’s crowd were also the most enthusiastic we have had all year and had a great time during the tournament! Thanks to everyone who came to see us and thanks for all the great comments , we really enjoy what we do and it is nice to know that you do too!
I have some pics to share with you of the event – the first is lovely daughter Ellie in the apron she has made herself for her role as the kitchen maid. She has been assisting Jane the cook this season and has really enjoyed herself cooking over an open fire. An interesting and very useful role as we all really look forward to our banquet at lunch!
See how lovely and sunny it was on Sunday!
The apron is completely hand stitched and made of linen and Ellie has even done some very neat stitching at the corners to give it a bit of decoration. She plans to add some embroidery to the hem for next season.
The next pic is of the boys on Sunday morning showing a variety of styles of medieval dress.
What a handsome bunch!
From left to right they are –
John Neville (Mark) wearing a black felt bicocket hat and a black linen tunic with layered sleeves.
Sir Hugh Despencer (Dave) wearing a green wool full length tunic with dagged chaperon (hood) and a white line coif on his head.
Sir Henry Percy (Pete) in a blue wool tunic, very fetching red wool hose and a linen coif.
Sir Hugh Bardolph (Paul) in a blue linen tunic with layered sleeves and matching chaperon, white linen coif and blue felt bicocket.
In the mornings of our shows we do various displays and activities so the boys are dressed ready for those. They run the joust and knight’s training for the children, the stocks, the weapons and armour talk and the children’s quiz. The women in the group do talks on headdresses and embroidery, cooking (live action here as they prepare lunch!) and calligraphy where the children can get their certificates signed after they have been knighted and practise calligraphy by making a bookmark. This show we also had a new talk which was done by Lady Bardolph on the use of herbs – here is the lovely display she had outside her tent.
The table with a tray of lavenderShowing how herbs were used in cooking and medicine
A sneak peek inside their beautiful tent
Lady Bardolph is an excellent embroiderer and had brought the finished goldwork and beadwork piece she started at our needlework day earlier in the year – unfortunately I did not have chance to take a picture of it!
After the banquet lunch we have the manorial court where medieval justice is dispensed, then the archery display and talk, the children’s re-enactment (strictly non – contact, just a chance for them to shout and throw pretend spears!) At the end we have the best bit which is the tournament. The children like this as it is a chance to see the knights hit each other round the head but I like it as everyone looks so wonderful in their costumes!
I mentioned in an earlier post that the knights have all made themselves mantles to decorate the top of their helmets which look very impressive when they come out of the tent into the tournament arena. Most of the knights wear great helms which have a flat top to them – ideal for displaying your heraldry! I have not been able to take close up pics but thanks to my friend Jan here are the boys at the start of Monday’s tournament looking splendid.
Hugh Despencer on the left in red and white, William de la Zouche in the centre in red and William de Bohun in the front in blueDespencer and de Bohun fighting - Despencer won as usual but William did very wellA closer pic of de Bohun's mantle with Percy in yellow on the right
I think de Bohun’s (another Paul) outfit is definitely my favourite one – he made it all himself – the surcoat is painted and the little crown of stars on the helm is made of wood. Paul is an incredibly talented graphic artist and he has been working on some images of all of the knights that we can use as publicity for the group. You can go and see his work at his web site and admire all our heraldry.
Well apart from tidying away kit (and making a mental list of all the things I need to make for next season!) I have been starting on my Xmas ornies for this year. Have finished stitching on the first JBW reindeer so will post a pic of that soon. Also have two Autumn exchanges to make as I have now signed up to another exchanging blog as well as the All Seasons one. I will be starting one of those tonight.
Am a bit sad that the season is over but am looking forward to all the nice winter evenings sitting in stitching with my candles lit. I am buying myself a new sewing machine as well – with some birthday money from my Mum and lovely kids – which is good as the old one has now packed up. I have also signed up for a Stitched and Painted Textiles Day School in November at my local Adult Education centre and have booked my ticket for the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show as well – lots of stitchy loveliness to look forward to!
We also have the start of term to look forward to and this one is particularly exciting one as Jake is going to sixth form! He did really well in his GCSEs (only didn’t pass French) and has enrolled onto a Diploma in Art, Media and Games Design which I am sure he will love. He starts college tomorrow and all my new teacher trainee students will be with me the week after next.
Thank you very much again for visiting and I hope that you have a good weekend ahead.
Just thought I would share some pics with you of the last re-enactment event we did at the gorgeous Berkeley Castle in South Glos. The weather was brilliant and we had a fab weekend as always – thanks to Plantagenet Events and all the people who made it possible.
The boys all enjoyed themselves as usual – here they are marching on to the field –
They sound very clanky - pity we don't have surround sound on this blog!
The battle had a new script with some pyrotechnics to start with where a load of carts in the middle of the battlefield were set on fire by burning arrows which gave a lovely (if smoky) start to the battle.
With that, the cannons and the hand gunners there was lots to go boom!
None of the fighters from our group could make the event this time so Ellie and I were looking after our friend Andy from the Knights and Freemen group and any other thirsty boys we could see.
Andy having a good fight - pic by Clive Emerson
On Sunday morning I had a little wander round to take pics – I love looking at tents of any kind, modern or medieval but the ones at the big events are just so lovely – the amount of time and effort people put into their kit and equipment is amazing.
The medieval encampment below the castle
Below is a pic of one of my faves from the event – I don’t know the owner’s name to give him credit but what a wonderful tent – you can just see his armour on a stand inside the tent.
Glamping 15th century style
Here is my friend Jamie’s tent – it takes about 3 hours to set this all up – no quick pitch festival tents here!
More glamping - complete with double bed and hangings
Here is Jamie in the tent and outside with friends Kat and Richard. Kat is the amazing costume maker who makes fantastic Medieval and Tudor clothes and headdresses – please visit her website Kats Hats.
Jamie with his heraldry - handpainted by another talented friend Jamie, his wife Andrea, Kat, Richard and their adorable daughter Izzy - pic by Allen Williams
Also had a quick look around the market – one of my favourite stalls was there belonging to Excalibur Artifacts – they sell all types of hand weaving equipment and had the most amazing selection of hand-woven braids. I bought a loom a couple of years ago – just need to find more time in my life so that I can practise!
The braids on display outside the tent
I had a lovely chat with Mike the owner – they do not have a web site but can be contacted on 01252 661533 and by e-mail at excaliburartifacts@ntlworld.com
Hope you have enjoyed the little tour round the event – thanks for visiting and see you soon.
On one of my recent travels round the internet I was following a link from Constance’s lovely ‘Born in the Wrong Age’ blog (do go and visit she is an re-enactor in Australia who does fab needlework) and found this wonderful site full of members’ needlework projects from the West Kingdom of the Society of Creative Anachronism. The society operates worldwide though they seem to be most active in the US and their members produce the most wonderful examples of historical needlework.
To whet your appetite I hope they don’t mine but I have borrowed a few pics to show you the standard of work which is amazing. There are loads more on the site as well as lots of really good info and articles (click on the Articles link on the right hand menu on their site ) so do go and have a look.
Part of a goldwork collar by LetitiaA gorgeous whitework coif by EllaBlackwork by JulianaCouched goldwork by KatherineEmbroidery and silverwork by Letitia
All very,very talented ladies I’m sure you will agree.
I am having a quiet week at home doing lots of marking and listening to the rain! We are off this weekend to the wonderful Berkeley Castle where we have this as our view.
Not a bad view for a campsite!
If you are near South Glos do come and visit – this link gives you details of the event. That is my lovely friend Keith in the pic on the top right of the web site, he only looks like that on the battlefield (or if someone pinches his mead round the campfire!)
Even if you are not coming pray for fine weather for us please – last year this was our wettest pitch and even though we don’t mind a bit of damp as we are hardy campers it puts off the paying public and that is a real shame for us and all the people who give up all their time and effort to organise these events. As I have mentioned before most of the events rely on unpaid volunteers for the organising and the hard work of providing facilities and without paying visitors they will not happen (someone has to pay for the portaloos!) . So here’s hoping for very good weather this year!
After that event we are off for a week camping in the Forest of Dean with my sister Jacky (did I mention that I love camping!) and then it is straight on to Ashby de La Zouche castle in Leicestershire for another weekend of camping (I love, love, love camping!!!) where our group are doing another show.
So the blog will be very quiet for a bit while I paddle in mud (no hopefully bask in the sun!) in a field somewhere and enjoy some lovely campfires and BBQs ( I also love BBQs!).
Well here I am listening to the Yorkshire rain (again) ready to post pics of our gloriously hot weekend at the Battle of Tewkesbury event. I am starting to think I only come home to get wet (and wonder at the speed the hedge is growing while I am away – must cut that this weekend!)
We had a fantastic weekend – one of the very best Tewkesbury events ever – very well organised (thanks to all the hard work of the crew), lovely weather – was very hot Sat morning for our trip round the market but did cool down for both battles. However our water giving services were much appreciated.Great fun both round the camp fire and in the beer tent – altogether fab!
As promised here are some pics from the market – we have medieval markets at most events but as Tewkesbury is the biggest event it also has the biggest and best market where you can purchase anything you want for your medieval lifestyle. There are lots of clothes sellers, fabric sellers (I was very good and didn’t get tempted!), armour, weapons etc but also some amazing craftspeople selling their wares.
You can buy buckets…
.... of all shapes and sizes
Mugs and jugs a plenty..
Jim the potter (he's been on Time Team!)
Beautiful glasses (not got any of these yet – not very safe taking these on the train!)
Pretty pretty things
And of course lovely food and drink – this German wine and spirit seller was new this year – I passed on the 80% proof chilli vodka but did try the bilberry wine in the long-necked bottles here – very nice!
Really gorgeous bottles of fruit wine
Normally I don’t get many pics of me on the battlefield but was looking on Facebook when I got back and was very excited to find a few of me. Here I am in the thick of the battle in my usual blue dress.Pictures taken by Helen Harris Beaumont.
An interlude to take on water
I spotted this lovely pic of the King in his heraldic surcoat (look at the goldwork on that!)…
The King and his retinue
And was very excited to find the next pic has me and Ellie in the background!
There we are - me in blue and Ellie in front of me in turquoise
It really is so wonderfully atmospheric with all the different colours of the heraldry and flags flying – especially at the end on Sunday where we all knelt on the battlefield before the King – brings a lump to your throat!
At the end of the battle the King fights the young Prince of Wales who is trying to take his throne…
The fight - pictures taken by Michelle Jackson
…. and of course he wins – Hurrah for the House of York!
Take that you young upstart!
We stayed with my sister for a couple of days after the event and helped Ellen move into her new student house. I bought her some BBQ stuff as a house-warming pressie so she has promised to send me a pic of them in their lovely garden – hoping they are having better weather than we are!
Undaunted I have today refilled the freezer with Tesco’s finest BBQ wares so hopefully at some point this weekend – after the hedges have been cut – we will be out again enjoying the sunshine.
Hope you are having better weather – thanks for visiting.
Lake Garda was as stunning as I hoped it would be – my pics do not do justice to the gorgeous mountains all around – it was very hazy as it was so hot but one night it rained and in the early morning they looked amazing – all rolling back in shades of blue.
Our beach on the lake
I was looking on Flickr for some good pics of Lake Garda and found an amazing set of pics of Italy – check this link .
We spent a lot of time on the lake hiring pedalos and swimming – here are the kids trying to not to show how cold the water was!
The camp site also had 5 very nice swimming pools with added aquarobics that Ellie and I enjoyed (Jake tried it once but was not keen!) and they made good use of their water guns.
It was too hot to do much sightseeing but one evening we went into the nearby town of Peschiera Del Garda for a wander round and a meal (I tried some of the local Grappa liqueur – very strong, Ellie was not keen!). It is a very pretty little town most of which is built on a walled fort so there are moats everywhere.
The view of the moat from the restaurant in Peschiera
I also went on the ferry up the lake to the town of Sirmione which had a lovely church with frescos on the walls dated 1508 which were stunning and a very lovely and heavily fortified castle in the middle of town.
This is my favourite pic from the whole holiday - picture postcard beautiful from outside the churchSirmione Castle
I also did get a bit of knitting done – it was very lovely lounging outside the tent with the lake views and I also took it to the pool once – just to embarrass the kids of course! I have cast on for another baby cardigan in the same pattern that I have just finished (now I know what to do with the border it should be a quicker finish!). Same wool as well – the Sublime – this time in a beautiful turquoise colour – this will be an Xmas pressie for another family member.
We are off to our biggest event this weekend – the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival – I can’t wait – I love this show best of all – the smell of the gunpowder, the flags and the biggest medieval market. If you are in the area it is well worth a visit (in Gloucestershire just off the M5) . Will take some pics of all the nice things for you.
Stitches of Time 