Embellished Needle Felting workshop

Hi here are details of my new workshops which I am holding at Random Makes in Penwortham.
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Learn how to make unique jewellery, boxes or a small hanging using the simple technique of hand needle felting.

Suitable for beginners or the more experienced. Great for Christmas presents!

The course will run over 3 consecutive Thursdays from 15th October to 29th October. You can attend a Morning Session 10.00am to Noon or an Evening Session 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

The cost is £45.00 for a block of three 2 hourly sessions.

Please contact Sally or Janet at 'Random Makes' 69 Liverpool Road, Penwortham, Preston PR1 9XD Tel 01772 452907 or email sally@randommakes.com  to book and obtain a requirement list.

Norwich or bust!

Hi quite a long while since I last blogged. I have been away in Norfolk- staying in a beautiful hotel in Norwich with my friend Chris. We go away somewhere different in Great Britain once a year.and this time thought we would head to East Anglia.

What a wonderful part of the country, rather flat compared to Lancashire, but with lovely scenery and quirkiness.

Norwich was not what we expected, as we thought there would not be a lot to do, and we would take a trip to Cromer one of the days.

However we did not manage to fit everything in. We went down by train, rather a long 4 1/2 hours, but better than me driving all that way. The hotel was great & was walking distance to the city centre.

We decided to have dinner at the Hotel on the first night, which was excellent.

On the Wednesday, we looked around the shops, as you do, and I found a Tiger which is a great shop selling Ikea type stationary, craft stuff etc etc- I was well pleased! We went to the castle for an hour bite size ticket £2.00 & spent all that time looking at The Iron Age /Icene gallery. We had run out of time & not seen a fraction of what it had to offer- so planned a further visit on the Thursday. We then went to Strangers Hall, which is a Jacobean house, wonderfully laid out in different periods.

We had already booked to see a play at the Theatre Royal on the Wednesday night- 'Rebecca', which proved to be funny, well acted and sad all at the same time.

Thursday, more shops, a trip on the tourist bus (which we should have done on the Wednesday) Another visit to the castle and loads on walking. We had also booked to see A walk in the Woods at the cinema- which is brilliant, followed by a  great meal in one of Norwich's side streets.

I have never seen so many listed and old buildings in one place, and would recommend everyone to visit the place.

Below are some photos to wet your appetite.

 part of our hotel where our room was

main part of the hotel

the castle

strangers hall

knot garden outside strangers hall

castle keep

beautiful archway in castle 

I think I need to pay another visit to this city.

Naturally Dyed workshop

  Hi All here is my new workshop-

 The aim of this workshop is to experiment with natural dyes, which can include onion skins, leaves,
 fruits eg raspberries, tea & coffee. We will also use logwood, madder etc. These dyes work better    on natural fabrics such as cotton, wool, linen and silk- but it will be good fun to use different  textured fabrics. The dyed fabrics can then be used to make bags, wall hangings, book covers etc.
 This method of dyeing produces lovely soft colours and sometimes quite unexpected effects and  tones. We will also try tie dyeing to add variety to the pieces.

 The workshop will include the use of all the dyes/mordants on the day.

                                          JUST COME WITH AN OPEN MIND AND PLAY!!!! 

Tuesday 6th October 10.00am to 6.00pm at Avant Garden Centre, Wigan Road, Leyland Lancs
 PR25 5XW tel 01772 433777- £40.00 which includes tuition, lunch and refreshments during the day.

Telephone Avant to book and obtain the requirement list.

my sample hanging

Close up

Ribchester Roman Museum

John and I decided to visit the Roman Museum at Ribchester in the Ribble Valley last Sunday. What a lovely day, beautiful scenery and quaint cottages. You can see why there have always been settlements here.

The purpose of the visit was to see the Iron Age display which was held upstairs in the Museum. We were met with a very strange smell, not unlike The Jorvik Centre in York. I assume it was the furs & fabrics!!!

We were shown the types of foods Iron Age man would have eaten, grain, nettles, blackberries etc also 2 primitive grinding stones (quorns). The young man who's hair was plastered in lime powder, perhaps that was the smell? showed us the fighting tools, swords, knives and spears. Also some very energetic parries  & thrusts- quite terrifying.

I spoke at great length to the main  man, who is an archeologist, about how they spun & wove the fabrics, which he was fairly knowledgeable about. However I think he got his warps & wefts confused!!!

All in all a good afternoon spent, and the Roman remains where pretty interesting also.

roman pot

roman pots

Photos of Iron Age display

drop spindles and fleece

copper mirror, torques and general bits

selection of typical woven fabrics

leather shoes

foods

grinding stones

Photos of scenery around Ribchester

River Ribble

River Ribble

Roman Museum

trip to Knutsford

A little late with this post as I have been very busy. However here goes - I spent a couple of  days with my friend Chris who lives in Eccles, I decided I wanted to go to Fred Auldous to get some aqua film which they used to sell by the metre- of course they do not now stock this, but did it deter me???

Of course not, as I just had to stroll around, and subsequently I had to buy other things which I could not go without!!! Hence spent around £50.00 -like you do.

The next day we decided to go to Knutsford in Cheshire. I think I have been before, but that would be a long time ago. What a beautiful, interesting town. Well laid out with tons of flowers & very historic buildings.

However their signage is not great, and we had difficulties in finding the Heritage Centre. After asking a local couple (the man said there was no heritage in Knutsford!!!!!) His wife was flabbergasted -we eventually asked in a bank, and only one person knew where it was!!!!???

It was worth the effort though.

We had come to see the Three panelled Knutsford Tapestry, which was fantastic.

Beautifully designed for the Millennium by Sue Newhouse and stitched by numerous people- I believe locals were asking for their houses to be included, and were told yes, but either you or a friend must stitch it. It was designed to be made in small pieces and then skillfully stitched  together. Therefore at least 3000 people had a hand in the making.

The building in which the Heritage Centre was housed, is extremely old and the small courtyards were stunning, a little haven.

The photos below show the tapestry and some of the actual town-can you tell the difference???

part of the courtyard

Green Man in the courtyard by the King Street entrance 

random courtyard off of King Street

The Gaskell Tower

Old court house built 1819- now a pub

Non Skirmish Craft Fair

Well the two days of art & craft fair at Samlesbury Hall is over- it was a partial success as we did manage to sell some items. The footfall was not particularly great as although Samlesbury Hall had asked Henry VIII to attend, a witch and a Maid servant, they did not draw in the crowds as they would have done if the Skirmish had not been cancelled.

We were slightly tucked away in a room upstairs, but despite quite a lot of signage and prompting from the staff, a lot of people just walked by. In all fairness most were families and the children were hell bent on finding clues from their treasure hunt game. Unfortunately no clues in our room!!! Just a couple of wallies.


However we did dress up on both days, and sat there knitting pulse warmers (which are very popular)
also on the 2nd day we bought large hangings in to decorate the bare walls.

Below are some photos of the day, and you can see the variety and richness of our work.

ignore the boiler

Caroline as a Jacobite

Me as a english supporter

2nd day with hangings on the wall

 On the 2nd day we had a visit from two of our textile group, Barbara and Anne, along with our tutor from Preston College, Christine, who we had not seen for going on 7 years- what a surprise!!!