Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Dandies and ballerinas - woyww 726


We’ve been out and about again (it’s what us retired folk do), this week to Manchester
Art Gallery to see the Dandy Style exhibition.  250 years of Men’s Fashion.



It’s so quick and cheap for us to get into the city centre, £10 for
the two of us and we can jump on the trams for that as well.


Here’s a few of the outfits we saw.




My own Dandy was the smartest visitor there.





As a treat we had lunch in Waterstones on Deansgate


And then I spent a happy hour browsing the shelves while
Philip roamed round the shops.



On Monday night we visited a local church that has been
converted into an events venue and restaurant. Freddy who
bought the redundant building has brought life back to this
beautiful old place of worship. He is very community minded and
opens the doors for lots of local groups to enjoy.









The event we attended was a Candlelight concert with beautiful
classic music played by Mercury String and two very talented
young ballerinas performed parts of Swan Lake.


With the atmosphere of the church it was very moving.


No crafting or stitching this week as we’ve been out walking
and working in the garden.


There’s a planning meeting about whether we go to the
caravan for the Coronation Day celebrations or stay home
and deck the house with bunting.  It’ll be the weather that
decides where we will be.  Either venue it’ll be spent with
friends and there’ll be lots of good food and a tipple or two.

Enjoy the weekend all
Lynn 
X

Wednesday, 26 April 2023

All aboard there’s lots to see - woyww725


All aboard its full steam ahead


We spent a lovely day aboard the Northern Belle Train being entertained
and eating the most delicious five course meal while the train trundled
along from Manchester Victoria, picking us up in Rochdale then heading
upto Yorkshire and completing the loop back via Cumbria. I even went so
far as having a little tipple of champagne. It would have been rude not to.

There’s a great series on the telly on Monday nights on More 4 about
the worlds most luxurious trains.  Watch it, you’ll get a real feel of
the trip we had.  It’s an amazing experience.


On Sunday we attended the fabulous annual Manchester
Antique & Vintage Textile Fair, hosted by The Textile Society.


Met up with the very talented ceramic artist Karen Shapley, who
is also a textile vintage trader.
Oh yes I may just have taken home this lovely vintage petticoat.

Karen Shapley Ceramics Link


Now if you are not into textiles or Japanese culture you may not
understand why I am so drawn to this amazing piece of Boro.
It is over a hundred years old and is the result of the Japanese
belief in repair and reuse.

Pieces of fabric, recycled from damaged textiles are reused
again and again. Nothing is ever thrown away. I spent ages
talking to the most interesting lady whose stall it was on.

And yes, I had to bring it home. To me it’s like looking
at a painting. Every aspect of it fascinates me.
The rips, the frays, the stitches, the repairs, the front, the back.
It’s better than any Monet, Pollock or Rembrandt.

I know not everyone will get it but if you do you are welcome
to come and see it anytime.


Craft wise I attended a workshop in Brighouse recently where
we worked on vintage postcards.

First we made stamps by Lino cutting into rubber erasers and
Linosheets. Next up we died threads with Kohi-Nor dyes, then
we stitched and stamped the postcard before building up the
piece with buttons and trim.


Well I think I’ve left you with enough to go at today.
Hope to catch you all next time. There’s more adventures on
the horizon this week with a visit to Dandy Style Exhibition
in Manchester. Looking at 250 years of Men’s Fashion.



Take care 
Lynn
x

Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Hares, ballerinas and a cat called Tango - WOYWW


Postman Sid brought me a mystery parcel this week


It was a box full of fabulous things from friend Tina in Montgomery,
Wales. 


I don’t know what I swooned over most, the paper hares made by Tina.
The beautiful books or the stunning piece of textile art she has handstitched.


Everything is enchanting and I can’t stop looking and appreciating it all.
What a very heartfelt, thoughtful thing to do


There’s been zoom meetings with my textile group the
No Rules Textile Society, where we meet once a week, talk
about the latest prompt and look at what members have been doing.


On the home front after 15 years my sister is returning home from Oxford.
She’s bought a house and this is the style she is hoping to replicate 
in her front room.  She is even adopting a cat like the one in this
picture. She’s seen one at the local animal rescue centre. It’s called
Tango and is a three year old house cat.


Telly wise we are enjoying the three part series on BBC 2
about the life of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. I’ll admit I’ve
being a fan for the past 25 years since doing my HND in
Textile Design at college and studying her work.

Sara Cox BBC 2 programme Between The Covers book programme
has returned for another series and is another favourite in our house,
even though the wandering welder never reads anything other than
the Saturday paper and the covers on his cd’s.


I’ve just finished reading this book I picked at random off the shelf
in my local library.  It was a really good read and I can recommend it.


We had a trip out to Manchester with my goddaughter Amy,
who gave us tickets for the Nutcracker Suite by candle light,
accompanied by a string quartet. 


I’ll never bother taking the car into Manchester again, we were there in
12 minutes by train and it cost us just over £5 each return on the train.


As March draws to a close we will be spending the last
week with friends holidaying in and around Stratford upon Avon.
There’s a trip to a butterfly farm and Blenheim Palace planned, as
well as Burford and Warwick Castle.

See you on the other side.
Take care
Lynn
xxx


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Wednesday, 22 February 2023

In and out of the garden - WOYWW


There’s snowdrops in the garden 


daffodils on the table


and pancakes for tea


I’ll have to do two rounds of the reservoir to get rid of this sugar laden load of calories.




Craft wise I’ve watched a fabulous zoom talk by Ceramic Patchwork artist Zoe Hillyard



Zoe takes charity shop find vases and pots, smashes them into pieces then rebuilds them by wrapping the pieces in fabric with stitch, no glue. Then she stitches the pieces back together into the original shape.


She was commissioned to do this series using these images from a fashion shoot.




I’m having a little go but it’s proving a lot harder than it looks.


It’s been a busy start to the year getting Mum’s finances sorted, along with the completion of the sale of her house. Add to that I’ve been house hunting for my sister who is coming back up north after 15 years in Oxford.


In the meantime I’m going to straighten out my fabric stash ready for the new prompt with the No Rules Textile Society. Hope everyone is well and still busily engrossed in their chosen creative craft.

Take care, catch you again soon
Lynn
X


Here’s a bit of trivia before I go. On my birthday in 1994 the largest pancake ever made was in Rochdale near to where we live.