A Fanciful Flock

There were some extra visitors at The Wednesday Group's get together last week. 

It would appear that everyone was so inspired by the birds we made during our recent stint at Blue Ginger gallery, that many of the group haven't been able to stop making birds ever since!

 There was many an "oooo" and "aaaah" as we admired everyone's handiwork!

 Lois has not only been making more feathery friends, she's also gone wild with making birdy legs! She loves working and experimenting with wire and made us all some more legs we can make bodies for. Hoorah!

In fact their were many "oooo"s and "aaaah"s as exciting stitched treasures were pulled out of bags for 'show and tell'. Here's a tantilising box of delights from Kathleen. She'd been busily stitching hearts for her next workshop (have a look at her blog for all the exciting details).

Lois became the group's official brooch modeller for the day. Here she is with an array of stitchery wonders made by Anni, Ann and Kathleen.

 

There was great excitement as Ann unveiled the finished quilt that we've made for this year's Festival of Quilts. We've all worked on different bits of it and Judy and Ann had the task of putting it all toegether. This was first time we saw the finished result.

 

We all whooped and clapped when we saw it! We're rather pleased with it. It's called 'Jolly Good Company' and is all about what the group means to us. Keep your eyes peeled for it at the Festival of Quilts if you're playing a visit.

 

Lindsay, Anni and Alison look on at the quilt unveiling. Now the quilt's finished, it's time for another group challnge!

Stitching for Royalty

With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this year and me being rather a fan of the Queen, I couldn't resist making a card for Her Majesty and sending it to her at Buckingham Palace.

I love putting images on to fabric and then embellishing them with stitch, so I thought I'd use this idea to make my card. I used a photograph from the Queen's Coronation (such a fabulous one) and then added tiny stitches and a small pearl bead. It was quite tricky knowing when to stop embellishing, so I went for the not too over the top approach!

Here's the finished result. I added a piece of calico under the main design that said "Happy and glorious" (I typed it on a vintage...and slightly wonky!...typewriter). So off it went to London, with me thinking no more about it, but hoping that the Queen would approve of handiwork.

Imagine my sheer delight when an envelope arrived on our doormat with a rather exciting insignia on it...yes, from Buckingham Palace! A reply from the Queen herself (well, sort of). Needless to say I'm rather proud of my post from the Queen and will certainly be showing Little Treasure when she's old enough to understand!

Stitchers in Residence

Last week The Wednesday Group de-camped to the summer house at Blue Ginger near Malvern for 5 days of laughter, stitch and, of course...cake! Here are some photos of all our jolly japes on the Thursday - our designated 'Group Challenge Day'.

Here's the summer house, complete with bunting inside and a very pretty tree by its doors.

After last year's Group exhibition we thought it would be fun to have a banner with our name on it, so over the last few months we've each been busily creating letters. This was the first time they'd all been put together and we were rather thrilled with the result!

There's a great deal of concentration during the letter hanging stage...

 ...before a few last minute tweaks!

Wednesday Groupers provide letter hanging support from the sidelines! (I've just had a thought...should everyone who came to see us at Blue Ginger be called 'Wednesday Groupies'?!)

All set up and ready to go...

Creations from the Applewood workshop of the fabulous Murgatroyd and Bean (aka The Wednesday Group's very own Kathleen!)

On the shelf are the results of last year's Group Challenge at Blue Ginger...the Consequential Critters. Underneath is Lindsay's rather excellent stitched creation, all about a group of her friends.

More from Murgatroyd and Bean.

Here's the hub of our Group Challenge Day...it wasn't too bad until the rain started!

 This year's Group Challenge was to make birds from all sorts of fabric scraps and bits and bobs...

 ...but before we started, we all thought it was a good idea to skip off for slice of cake. Lindsay was particularly excited at the prospect!

Cake eaten, it was time to get down to work. Once templates were chosen, we were off!

 Kathleen definitely wins the prize for the most impressive bundle of threads (which she calls 'The Beast'!)

With the wet weather came the slight hazard of 'chair sinkage'. Unfortunately, Lindsay was affected the most by this...

 ...and by the end of the day she was on a most haphazard angle!

Lois hard at work on her first feathery creation.

 It's heads down for Ann and Judi as they work away...

 ...and also for Lois, Alison and Lindsay.

 The seriousness couldn't last for long and it was soon giggles and tomfoolery all round!

Here's my little feathered creation, which I just managed to finish before the downpour that saw us all heading inside for a warming cuppa!

A Trip to Snowshill Manor

The Treasures had a lovely day out for Father's Day today. After a very yummy lunch in Broadway, we went up the hill to Snowshill Manor. It's owned by The National Trust and we love going there. There's lots to explore in the house (which was owned by Charles Paget Wade and is home to his extraordinary collections) and beautiful gardens to wander about in. As afternoon tea was high up on our agenda we didn't go into the house today, instead opting for a pootle about in the garden. Here are a few snapshots I took along the way...

I hope you all had a lovely Father's Day too, whatever you were up to...and that the rain kept away for just a little while at least!