Claire October 30th, 2013

As per usual I fall off the blogging waggon despite my best intentions (and a lot of IT issues) but he’s to having another go!

There’s been a few changes round here since the last time I blogged.  I’m no longer teaching craft evening classes – a combination of time and energy mainly, and restrictions on how many people need to be enrolled to make a course viable have made it harder to teach.  This is combined with the college needing me to update my teaching qualification, which kind of made the decision for me.  I do miss it, and have done a couple of private crochet workshops since then, which made me realise how much I missed it, and want to organise more of these in the new year.

Private crochet workshop at The Pretty Dandy Flea

I’ve been trying to take more photographs, and have been on 2 day courses in how to use my digital SLR camera, with Line and Light (who I would highly recommend), as well as playing a bit more with the vintage cameras I have from my parents.  I’m far from being an expert, but I am certainly a lot more confident at knowing what the camera does!

Stereo camera – my dad’s pride and joy

We have new (fluffy) additions to the family in the shape of 3 lovely, cheeky chickens.  More about them another time (and there will be another time this time as I’ve already got the post written and ready to publish!)

And last, but certainly not the least, we’ve started a new branch of the Women’s Institute in Sherwood.  There used to be a branch in Sherwood years ago but it closed, I think because it’s members were ageing and there weren’t many new members coming along.  I spoke to Linda, our WI adviser about setting one up last November.  There were lots of people interested in going to the WI, but who wanted something that they could ideally walk to, particularly important if you have children or other commitments that restrict the time you are available.  Once our County WI had approved it, we had 3 meetings arranged to see if there was enough  interest in the group to make it viable, and on the first, very manic night in January we had 60 people there!

The room I had booked at the United Reformed Church had a capacity of 50 – plenty,we assumed.  We ended up borrowing extra chairs and pretty much shoe-horning them in.  I knew it was busy as I was making teas for everyone, when my lovely neighbour popped her head in to the kitchen and told me people were queueing out of the door!  It was quite overwhelming that so many people wanted to find out more.  We have so far 42 members, and have had a lot of visitors too.  I was honoured to be elected as President and I’m immensely proud of being part of a diverse, lively and fun group that’s grown so quickly.  I have a fantastic committee along with me too, and although we are “talking shop” even our committee meetings are fun and go on for probably far too long!

Here’s an delightfully unflattering picture of me signing the official constitution and rules making us a WI:

In fact the amount of pictures taken that night is the only thing that’s really taken me out of my comfort zone as I much, much prefer being the other side of the lens!

We made it into the local paper too -

It’s been a busy year so far, and I’ve met and made friends with some amazing people.   Work has sometimes(often) got in the way, especially when it comes to having a holiday – the only time I have been away this year so far was in late May/ early June we had a lovely week with everyone over in Northern Ireland, and I’ve been ready for another break for months, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.  Next year I intend to change that and get out more!

Thanks for stopping by – will be back again soon x

• furry things , nottingham , stuff , teaching , Womens Institute
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Claire June 21st, 2012

Hi, my name is Claire and I am a member of the Women’s Institute.   Very proud member in fact; so much so I volunteer on the committee too.  Our WI is one of the newer generation of WIs where most of our members are in their 20′s/30′s, most work full time or are studying but all have an interest in cooking, crafting, gardening and generally meeting other interesting people.  I think that the perception of the WI is changing, mainly thanks to some of the other, newer WIs springing up all over the place, and popular media is helping too with films, TV shows and documentaries.

I probably had one of the best introductions to being in a WI as the first meeting I went to was a baking taster evening in Oct 2010 – the range of baked goods that evening was amazing and I met loads of other new people who were also new to the WI.  I’m actually quite reserved (I hesitate to use the word shy) with people that I don’t know, and wondered if this would be somewhere that people would be friendly (I can feel quite panicky in new social situations) but I need not have worried.  I even got chatting to a lady from Ballymoney where David’s family live, really proving that it is a genuinely small world!   One of the nicest things about our WI (and the other couple of WIs I have visited) is that they are really friendly, so you never really feel on your own as there’s usually a bunch of people that introduce themselves to you before you’ve had a chance to get a cuppa!

So, what do we do, apart from eat cake?  Well cake clearly does feature significantly in most of the things we are associated with, but there’s more to us than that.  Each month we have a guest speaker on a topic that is of interest to the group – last month we had a talk on organic gardening from Ecoworks.  We have also had talks on vintage fashion, eating seasonably, and the work of the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.  Sometimes we book guest speakers, other times we have really fascinating talks from within the membership, such as our January meeting where one of our members spoke about her experiences of volunteering to help clear up the damage left by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Next month we are having Robin Hood guide us on a walk around Nottingham.

The WI also have a long history of (and a fearsome reputation for) campaigning on a variety of issues, from environmental campaigns such as helping save the bumblebee, to reducing packaging on foods (I love that some WIs took back all of their excess packaging to the supermarket and dumped it on the manager for them to deal with).  The current resolution (what members vote on and what will be campaigned on in the following year) is to call for more midwives, and for more midwife training.   The resolutions are proposed by members, and voted on so whatever causes are close to people’s hearts they have a chance to submit proposals each year to be (hopefully) selected and voted on – I like the democracy of the process, which seems to make a refreshing change in the current climate!

One of the things we do really well in Nottingham City WI is our fetes – this year will be the third fete we have held, and the second one that I have been involved in.  This is one of the main ways we raise money for charity – this year’s nominated charity is The Friary Drop In, an organisation I work with closely in my day job and who do some pretty phenomenal work with really disadvantaged people, on next to no money.  We raise money for this by selling cakes – have a look at the cake table from last year:

(Excuse the rubbish picture – these were taken on my phone as I had sensibly left the camera at home…!) and by having a raffle, which last year was epic and covered the bar upstairs completely.

Speaking personally it’s the only place pretty much I sell my Pinky and Boo bits and bobs now, and there are lots of other really talented crafters out there who also sell their work too.

This was my stall last year: 

This year our fete is on 7th July at Cape Bar in Hockley, Nottingham from 11-3.  I know I could be accused of being biased, but you really aught to come down and have a look.  Not only is there the amazing cake stall and raffle (which lets face it is actually reason enough) but you can get hold of some lovely crafts, clothing, home grown plants, pottery, even get your nails manicured!  And meet some lovely people in the process of it all too.  Who knows, you may even end up joining us too!

If you don’t live in Nottingham, find out where your nearest WI is – I thoroughly recommend you find out what they’re up to, you may be surprised! xoxo

P.S.  We don’t sing Jerusalem either!

• craft fairs , crafts , nottingham , pinky and boo , stuff I made , Womens Institute
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Claire June 25th, 2009

One….

Two – my first ripe strawberries…

Three…

Well I think I found more than one, two, three yesterday afternoon. Was feeling a bit out of sorts with myself, annoyed at a certain staff member making bitchy nasty comments about me, to me and behind my back (don’t worry – I have started keeping a diary of them so I can take out a grievance on her – just biding my time, or as my parents would have said, given them enough rope to hang themselves with!) and just MEH! Anyway, after being whisked out of the office and given a lift home by Vicky and Jez I decided to sit out in the garden and sort myself out.
My garden is a source of both delight and frustration for me. Delight that I have a secluded and pretty large outdoor space, frustration that the snails and slugs seem to devour anything pretty I plant within hours, that the weeds triple overnight (they never seem to get eaten by the snails though…) and a huge mess of a pile of chipped slate tiles. Goodness knows who decided it would be a good idea, but over time this blob shape has had foxes having a good old root round and pulling up the membrane underneath, and it’s covered in weeds. Planning to get rid of the slate (if anyone in the Nottinghamshire area would like some please feel free to email me and collect it!) and spread what I can’t get rid of around some of the rest of the garden, and then get some turf so it goes back to being grass again.
For all the frustration though, doing a bit of digging, putting some alpines I bought in the rockery around the pond, putting some more (so far slug un- munched) sweet peas in, was just he tonic. That and finding the first ripe strawberries, and my first (odd shaped) tomato on my plants.I then pulled one of the patio chairs under my Laburnum and enjoyed the sunshine. So a garden, the company of 2 cute (and slightly deranged) kitties did me rightly x

• furry things , home , nottingham
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Claire June 10th, 2009

Hello!

Long time no see as my Dad would have said…. Reasons for absence range from being locked out of my email address and therefore all other sites that use the same login and password to changing computers, work and general “meh” feeling that I think I moaned about earlier.

Anyhoo, I thought I would pass on details of the courses I am teaching over the summer. The courses are all based at the Textile Workshop in Sherwood (a couple of miles out of Nottingham City Centre with tons of parking, and surrounded by charity shops….) and are organised by South Nottingham College. The 2 day courses all cost £32 for the two days, with most materials already provided for you, although some of them may ask you to contribute a couple of pounds if you need extra. All courses run from 10 til 4, with a lunch break.

Day 1 we will be having a play with various techniques for transferring designs to fabric, including crayons, transfer dyes, pens, photocopies, as well as shoving random bits and bobs through an ink jet printer like printable cotton, Aida and Vilene. A fun day that is a bit like playing, and getting messy!
Day 2 we will spend making an item or items out of your creations from the day before, whether an embellished picture, bag, purse…. the limit is your imagination! If this course fills up I will be offering more dates as it’s a popular course and we can’t have more than 6 or 7 in a group.

If you want to take part and have pictures/ photos you want to print, please bring these along with you on CD or USB stick.

A chance to refashion some of your/ your childrens’/ your partners’ clothes into something new – we all have plain tops, skirts, cardi’s etc that are perfectly fine, but maybe you are a tad bored with. Learn techniques such as applique, embroidery (hand and machine) as well as basic alterations to help fit. If you are a bit scissor happy then this is a constructive way of having some credit- crunch fashion help!

2 days of making yourself a handbag (or handbags if you are a super fast sewer!) and co-ordinating zip purse from a variety of patterns. Patterns will be copied at full size a available for you to take away. Materials such as interfacing, lining, zips and fasteners will be available for use, as well as some fabric, although we would strongly suggest you bring along your own fabric for the outer (some of the donated fabric we have is a bit dated rather than vintage…) – 1 metre would be sufficient. The Textile Workshop also stocks Moda and Amy Butler fabrics so you could treat yourself to some yummy fabric whilst you are there!

A 2 day course to help familiarise yourself with the basic functions of your sewing machine, including setting your machine up, selecting threads, feet and needles as appropriate, different stitches for different uses, putting in a zip (they really aren’t scary!), making a button hole as well as having a play with free machine embroidery. At the end of the 2 days you will have made either a cushion or a purse as well as an embroidered corsage. If you have your own machine and would like to bring it with you so you can learn on it, please feel free.

Day 1 we will be covering a variety of hand embroidery stitches, as well as covering all you need to know to get started – if you have ever tried a stitch and not “got” it, then this course is ideal for you, as well as being an ideal start to those considering my 20 week course in and embroidery starting in September! All materials will be provided for you including threads, hoops, and a variety f materials to embroider onto.
Day 2 we will be covering the basics of free machine embroidery, including using different threads for different effects, and how to combine both hand and machine embroidery. If you have your own machine and would like to learn on this feel free to bring it along with you.

In september I will be teaching more courses, either 15 or 20 week accredited courses – more details about these in the summer!

If you like the sound of the courses and want to book on to any of them, please contact Karen Taylor (course co-ordinator) at the Textile workshop on 07809 158606, or at the shop on 0115 9603337 and she will be happy to help. If any of you do book on, please let me know so I can put a face to the name! x

• clothing , crafts , embroidery , nottingham , sewing and crafting , teaching
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Claire February 2nd, 2009

In case you hadn’t noticed…. It always amuses me that in the UK we grind to a halt at the few flakes we have, yet other countries that regularly have now, just deal with it. I did feel excited though when I opened the curtains in the front bedroom to see this.

Certainly makes the dull routine of a Monday morning getting ready for work a it more exciting. I love the light, and how everything glows.

All was hushed this morning as people negotiated with the steep sloped streets around here. My other favourite thing about snow is the crepe-y crunch you get when you tread on new snow. We’ve just been out to top up our gas and electric (damn meters!!!) and it’s started to rain, so no more snow tomorrow I fear.

I have several finished projects as well as WIPs to show you, once I have photographed them. Until I get round to that, enjoy the weather you have wherever you are xoxo

• nottingham
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Claire November 4th, 2008

Last time I knew I was blogging about a dog show….. sorry weeks have slipped past. I do know that most of my time has been taken up by work (yes, I am supposed to be working 3 days a week and 2 on Pinky and Boo, but that all seems like theory and not much reality…) and doing , well, stuff for craft fairs. Feeling more than a tad frustrated that work (the day job’s added extras I have been roped into for my “old” project) is taking over and I haven’t done as much as I wanted to have done by now. I am at a 3 day event in Nottingham (Beeston, if you know it and are around) on 13th, 14th and 15th November, and another one in Nottingham again on 15th. I have managed to rope David in to manning the stall on 15th in Beeston whilst I do the one in Sherwood. Goodness knows how it will pan out, so we shall see…. I have another fair in West Bridgford on 5th and 6th December but that gives me a bit more time to make stuff.
I think if I do shorter, less rambly posts, I may have a better chance of updating by blog…

Also, here’s a shout out to Hannah, new blogger on the block. If Hannah hadn’t fitted my wedding dress for me I would not have had a dress quite simply – pop over and say Hi if you get the chance.
‘Til next time, adieu x

• craft fairs , nottingham , pinky and boo
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