Harmony Hill Craft Group Outing.

The Linen Green, Moygashel.

We all enjoyed the Costume Collection and the gardens at Springhill, time was moving on though and we had to leave.

Springhill.   The back of the house.

clematis

Next stop was the Linen Green for lunch and shopping.

pedal power....

.......or luxury coach?

lunch at Greens

apple pie and custard

icecream

Lunch was delicious, but service was slow and left us short of shopping time.

I managed to spend some money in the Farm Shop though!

shopping list

 Time to go home and..... guess what?

                                                   
Even our coach was Titanic themed!

Harmony Hill Craft Group Outing.

Springhill Costume Collection.

Titanic themed.
Everywhere you go lately, it's all about Titanic.
My attention drifted from our tour girl as she was talking about the history of the house but I did hear her say that a grand-daughter of the family had travelled to Cherbourg on the Titanic.

That was a good enough reason to base the latest exhibition of costumes around the world-famous ship.

                                                                             

                                                                           

Hats off to Springhill for a lovely exhibition.

Then it was on to lunch and shopping!

Harmony Hill Craft Group Outing, 2012.

Springhill.

A mix of photos from our outing.

springhill

dining room

in the tearoom

We decided to visit Springhill for our outing this year.
On arrival we were more than ready for 'elevenses'. Tea, coffee scones, butter, jam and cream. Not much left by the time we'd finished!
Then it was on to a tour of the house and here we are in the dining room.









                                                       


                                                   

The spring gardens were looking lovely despite the cold and blowy weather and the tulips were perfect.

tulip

tatting bobbins

bedspread                              

the head of a walking stick

the sitting room





         

   





There was a collection of walking sticks in the hall stand. I liked this bird's head.

View from the staircase at the back of the house

painting

                                                                                               

reflections

We had a lovely time looking at Springhill House and our tour wasn't over yet. 

There was still the Costume Collection to see.

Finishing off...

I am always leaving the fiddly bits to the end as I don't like finishing off. When I was making Father bird I could see him with a knapsack tucked under his wing. I've re-cycled a tyvek seed pod and changed it into a natural looking knapsack. It's filled it with a mix of PVA glue and seed. After all, a bird family has to eat!

seed pod knapsack

Father bird

PVA and bird seed








When I made these dolls I wasn't thinking about standing them up, or that I would be putting them into the exhibition. Hindsight is a great thing! It would have been so much easier to put stands into the bodies of the dolls when I was stitching them together. My handy man husband has made little stands for them now and I've glued them to their bodies,  under their clothes. They are a bit wobbly but I think they'll do.

'Shall We Dance'

                          I'm going to attach these two together now but there's a look in the eyes of that man doll like he's begging me not to!      

Annual Exhibition 2012.

Last year I was having a bit of a rant, you can read it here.

The advertising for our 2011 exhibition was a paltry few lines in the IAC's Seasons Programme.

We were annoyed because we felt other exhibitors were getting better coverage than us.

We are a local group who, every year, put on a good and varied exhibition of craft that consistently brings at least 300 people through the doors of the IAC. 

Our group decided to do something about it!

Yvonne, in particular,worked hard at this, writing a letter and chatting to the Centre staff and consequently we were asked to bring in some of our work and have it photographed.

This year advertising seems to have changed and I picked up this leaflet for May/June when I went to my group yesterday.

This is a great improvement and nice for some of our ladies to have their work pictured.



Thanks to Yvonne and the IAC.



At the moment I'm working on this for the exhibition. It's a sign for the front of the 'cat on the bicycle.'





I've machine embroidered on pelmet vilene, added a cord to give it a raised edge, and backed it with felt.
Then I added some paint and metallic 'rub ons' and used my heat tool to pierce the holes. I wrapped a wire to hang it on the bike.  In other words, Mixed Media!
It's turned out o.k. but, as usual, not exactly how you would like it. I hope it is clear to people what it says.






 Not long to go now before this cat picks up it's passengers and they set off for their 'Dream Destination'.



Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made too!

Paper I Pad App.

I really like playing with this.

Easter Monday, nest-building and eggs.

I'm knitting a rag nest from my Little Birds book. I'm following the pattern but somehow I've ended up with more stitches than it says. It looks o.k. though.

The tiny birds look happy enough with their nest, maybe because it's full of eggs!





This nest is made from a re-cycled egg box.

I've turned it into paper pulp and added some coconut fibre to it and some dried leaves, seed pods, sycamore and PVA glue. I pressed it over a bowl so I guess it's more of a bowl than a nest.




I've also made an egg from the paper pulp and added some strips of tissue paper to it, hoping it would make it smoother. I even rubbed it over with sandpaper but it's still bumpy.




I painted it with a bronze Lumiere paint. The writing is already printed on the tissue paper I glued on.

Then I added the spots of blue Lumiere using a cotton bud.




Do you think Mother bird will like her surprise egg?!

Easter Day.

Easter and there's a bit of thieving going on.


Red tulips I picked from the garden of a house waiting for demolition.
I felt sorry for them and thought I would appreciate them more than the car drivers whizzing by that don't see them. Then I felt bad for taking them and my Mum said she used to pinch a carrot from the farmer's field when she was a little girl and then feel guilty! We are no good at crime.



I made a Rice Krispie cake for Easter and there must be a thief around as the mini eggs keep disappearing!



Have to keep an eye on this Easter bonnet......



Happy Easter!

Postcard from Hampton Court Palace.

Finished at last!


You can read a bit about how long it's taken me here!


I've painted a piece of Pelmet Vilene with acrylics, mounted my embroidery onto it and satin stitched around. It's not exactly square but it'll have to do.

Count the knots!