Cogges

While most of the country was siting down to watch some tennis on Sunday afternoon, we decided to use our free 1 day ticket to Cogges.

I hadn't been this year and the kids and Granny had very excitedly won their competition last week to make the best scarecrow! The prize for which was a day ticket.

The investment in making it more fun for kids is very evident, out the front is a fabulous new wooden tractor and slide area which the 1 year old loved!

Out the back behind the house, in the old moat area is now the most fantastic wooden castle/fort, with zip wire, slides, another climbing frame, a wobbly bridge and a swing.

The construction is beautiful, very sturdy and lots of possibilities for fun, the eldest liked the zip wire, I liked the climbing and the 7 year old liked the balancing beams (old tree trunks!)

The weather was absolutely scorching but the shade in the orchard was welcome for our lunch-time picnic. Owing to the tennis and the heat, it was blissfully quiet!

As always the walled garden is stunning and we enjoyed the biscuits, courgette cake and griddle cakes in the kitchen!

On the front lawn is a croquet set, which all the girls (and Daddy!) enjoyed. In the stables is also a new, small soft play area which the youngest enjoyed.

We'll definitely be back, a season ticket for the summer holidays is going to be good value and well used!

Fibreworks and the Festival

Last Saturday I had a trip out to Chipping Norton for their Fibre Festival.

This was a new event organised by the Fibreworks shop in town and held in the town hall.

We arrived early in the morning and already the hall was buzzing, there were lots of stalls, varying from wool to other creative crafts.  Lots of demonstrations running through the day, all of which are offered as classes at Fibreworks.

The stalls were mostly run by the tutors of the courses and they were all lovely and welcoming, eager to talk and to explain their craft.

There was patchwork and quilting, which I'd love to do, sewing children's clothes, kanzashi flowers, flower arranging, millinery and fabric printing.

All the stalls were beautifully laid out, it wasn't too crowded and I wanted to sign up to all the courses offered by Fibreworks!

The demonstration on when my mum and I arrived was rag-rugging so we were eagerly watching as we were signed up to do this on the following Tuesday! It really got us excited and gave us a chance to think about what materials/colours/shapes we'd like to produce!
The venue was a lovely space, I'd never been before but it was just the right size, it even had room for some tea tables and they have fabulous large portraits on the walls, very grand!
I really hope it is the first of many, it was easy to get to, easy to park and there are plenty of places to go after for a bite to eat or shop! We had a good mooch around all the charity shops, which were full of lovely things - pity I couldn't afford the £85 for the Poole pottery set I spied in one! 

I did manage to get an early birthday present from my mum at the fair though, a, lovely Liberty and bead bracelet, I'm afraid I've mislaid the makers card, do let me know if you can help credit this.

So after a very hectic weekend, which included mine and my daughters birthdays and a party, on Tuesday we were ready for our turn at rag-rugging! Even though I was shattered, I was definitely ready for some 'me' time!

We arrived at the Fibreworks shop at 10am and were warmly greeted and sent upstairs to the craft room.

There were 5 of us on the course and our tutor Claire quickly talked about the history of rag-rugs, about how they used to be made from fabric scraps, worn out clothes and how they would be rotated through the house, a new one made for best at Christmas for the parlour, and then each rooms rug would be demoted down the hierarchy of rooms, to the lowly back door rug which when worn out would be composted!

I love this make do and mend philosophy!

Then we got stuck in (with tea and biscuits) to having a go with some scraps, the technique is very simple, with the latch hook you go through the hessian from front to back, then bring the hook out a few strands away, then push the hook shaft all the way through through both holes (this opens the latch), then you place your rag piece on the hook end and as you pull through both holes, the latch closes and holds onto the rag.

I found the process very calming and methodical without having to be too worried about neatness or perfection, the charm is the handmade-ness, it doesn't have to be perfect!

So then we had a think about what we wanted to produce and we were able to get a piece of hessian cut to our liking and think about a layout or design. I had taken some t-shirts with me but the shop does have a stash for you to use as well. Claire recommended using old t-shirts/tights/ socks as the jersey doesn't fray and usually rolls up into nice coils, if using cottons its best to cut up with pinking shears and that gives a more shaggy look.

Mine is hopefully going to be mainly blues and greens in blocks/squares/triangles, I'm not sure how long it will take to complete though!

Before we knew it, it was 1pm and we were done for the day, I think the timescale was spot on, enough to get started without being too long. We all headed home with plenty of fabric, our piece of hessian and our free latch hook, which was great value I felt for the course fee.

I definitely think we'll be back for more courses!
If you want to have a go, they have two more rag-rug courses coming up:
Tuesday 17 September, 10am - 1pm
Wednesday 6th November  10am - 1pm
http://www.thefibreworks.co.uk/classes.html

The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show

On Sunday while it was snowing heavily (!) I headed down to London to visit the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show by Twisted Thread at Olympia.

It was surprisingly easy to get to, my sister drove us down and parked at the Westfield Shopping Centre nr Shepherds Bush (£8 all day parking), it's then a very short hop on the overground to Kensington Olympia, ( or apparently it's just an 18min walk, which I was going to do as I still don't like trains but actually I did get on it, Yay!) it wasn't packed and the journey took about a minute!

So I have previously been to the quilt show and the Ally Pally show, all run by Twisted Thread, so I was curious to see how it would compare.

The show was held upstairs in the west hall, so was quite a small venue, like a conference centre, it was quite quiet, not packed and also there wasn't a buzz when you walked in.

I was later annoyed at spending £4 on the show guide which only had about 2 pages of things to read, the rest was a list of all the days workshops and the exhibitors, oh and a map but seeing as this was largely displayed at the front of the hall, I wished I hadn't bothered!

Speaking of annoyance, the venue was hot and stuffy (as they usually are) so as I'd left my water in the car (oops), I literally HAD to have a cuppa to keep going half-way! I treated myself to a cookie and was horrified to find the total was £4.20, I hate that venues do this.

Afterwards we had a bite to eat at the M&S cafe in Westfield - much better value!

Anyway, so there were quite a lot of stalls, I looked at the Folksy pop-up stalls first, these were changing daily and on Sunday, it was a real mixed bag, some lovely artisan pieces and then also some slightly naff looking 'handmade' 'craft' items!

The above photo and the ones below are from the Stitch, Craft, Create stall, again they were having different daily sellers (I was sad to miss on Friday Alice and Ginny with their new book 'Sewing for Kids') Sunday's was Laura Long - who I follow on Twitter with her new book 'Knitted Toy Travels'.

The stall looked lovely, lots of lovely handknit items and most of the animals from the book, the giraffe was fantastic and I would be tempted to investigate this book further when I get my knitting mojo back.

At the Felt Makers stall there was a good demonstration of felt making which even I thought looked easy and gave me some ideas to try.

Lots of lovely fabric about, mostly home or quilting.

There were a few quilts on display from the Quilters Guild.

Colourwash Goes Red by Angela Rodda

Star Struck by Angela Browning

Silver Sword Hawaiian by Pippa Moss

Blame Jean by Margaret Smith

There was a display stand for Liberty fabrics but it's only now having seen pictures online and studying the map that I know I missed some more display bits!
There was a knitted garden and knitted bedroom which for reasons unknown was tucked back in the second hall, facing towards the back!
This would have been much better placed at the entrance to the halls to greet you as you arrived to help give a Wow factor.

The first hall seemed empty and spacious compared to the second hall at the back and it definately wasn't like Ally Pally which although was crammed it means conversely it's full of people and energy.

It didn't have lots of great yarn or fabric stalls either, definately not as much knitting and there seemed to be lots of spaces on the day's workshops but not many stall demonstrations.
But seeing as it's new it just needs to find it's feet and identity, I guess it may not have helped that the Sewing for Pleasure show is on at the NEC this weekend too.
I would be happy to go again, it's easier to get to for me than Ally Pally and I did manage to get a cheaper ticket due to being a Mollie Makes subscriber!

So....just as importantly what did I buy?!?!!

Well a lovely comfy bag from the Aid for Burma (KSDP Charity)_stand...I know it looks a bit hippy but it fits on your shoulder really well without falling off and is even reversible, for a tenner it was a bargain.

And finally, I managed to get hold of Bungle Jungle! 

I saw this ages ago and loved it but didn't get it and then I've struggled to find it online ever since. The moral of these charm packs/jelly rolls is that they don't hang around forever, the Moda range seems to have a high turnover, so if you like it, get it!!

Of course I think one of the reasons that I ummed and ahhhed previously is not knowing what exactly to do with it, which I'm still not settled on, but I did get a free book from Puddleducks for spending over a certain amount (don't ask!) which has a few nice quilt patterns in, which may work.

So from Puddleducks I also got another Moda pack - AppleJack, a small charm pack with lots of vibrant colours and prints.

and then after more umming and ahhing I decided to treat (!) myself to a quilt kit - the ABC 123 quilt, which I loved! There's a picture further up from the Puddleducks stall of the quilt made up and I'm hoping that by having it as a kit I won't need to query how to start or what to do, I can just jump straight in!

What I really wanted was some dressmaking weight fabrics, I didn't find anything I liked for myself - it's so hard to visualise a) whats a good fabric for the pattern and b) what would look good on me.

But from Fabrics Galore, I found this lovely soft jersey cotton for toddler clothes, only £6m so I got a couple and hope to get some leggings and a top out of it, hopefully using my Sew Liberated for Kids book.

I got some red felt and large buttons for possible badge ideas I have and then some washi tape, Mod Podge and Heat n' Bond to try, as I've seen them all used on Pinterest and I have a few ideas for them.

Now I'd just like some time to use them!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the show too, or if you have any shop recommendations for dressmaking fabrics!

Blenheim Palace

Last weekend we visited Blenheim Palace again, it's just up the road from us yet somehow we never go as much as I feel we should, considering we have annual passes!

For the beginning of November the weather was absolutely glorious, deep blue skies, autumnal colours and not too cold, just how autumn should be.

I made the effort to take my SLR with me so I could get some decent snaps as the OH could push the buggy!

We did the maze, the kids did the Halloween quiz and the train ride and I enjoyed the new gift shop!

The only gripe was getting the buggy out to the water terrace, you have to go through the cafe (cramped) and then there are several steps between the gardens before you get onto the circular walk, it would be a chore if I come back on my own and we couldn't access the disabled route via a gate as it had a keypad on.