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There were some really beautiful things on our recent trip to Italy so I thought I would do a post just about all the pretty textiles.
First of all some lace and stitched household items in a little shop in the very pretty village of Bellagio.Some of this lace comes from Venice, from the island of Burano.
Then we went to the town of Como which had a wonderful market and there was this stall with so many beautiful Swiss textiles, the Italian Lakes are very near the Swiss border and there was all sorts of beautiful table linen and little curtains for hanging at your chalet window.
I spent ages trying to decide what to buy (Jake got very bored at this point!) but ended up getting this beautiful table runner which I will use at Xmas.
I have a number of stitched red and white Xmas ornies with similar themes such as this one below so I thought the runner would look good on the lounge coffee table.
We visited a few (!) churches during the week and since it was Easter there were some icons on display including this one from a church in Mennagio with some gorgeous goldwork.
We also bought some lovely pasta, polenta and spices from a little deli in the same village – on the walls there were these large-scale kitchen cross stitch motifs which were beautifully framed.
Apologies that the picture is not very good, the light and the glare made it difficult to take nice pics but there were about 10 of these collections in the shop which must have taken such a long time.
On our day trip to Milan I came across a fab shop full of cross stitch and embroidery supplies and bought 3 sets of embroidery transfers, there are lots of different designs here including about 20 alphabets and very good value at only 3 euros per pack.
And from a little gift shop in Como not textiles but this cute display of table napkins which are another little addiction of mine, I was very good and didn’t buy any (have a few in stock already) but aren’t they so cute!
I do hope you are having a lovely weekend. I was supposed to be at a re-enactment event this weekend but have got a poorly back again so instead I am having a very nice relaxing weekend stitching and knitting and watching DVDs. Very blissful and the weather is sunny which is so nice to see after all our torrential rain.
I am currently working on the large cross stitch of the Chinese Emperor but am going to start another Spring ornie for me in the meantime as that is a long haul project and I want a quick finish inbetween.
Thanks for visiting and do have a very good week ahead.
As might have been expected I found some lovely things in China! I thought I would put these in a post rather than with the other pics I have been working on for a separate page so that they will appear in the tags at the side.
China is of course famous for silk and while in Guangzhou (which was formerly known as Canton) I went to the old 19th century area for a visit and found this beautiful piece of embroidery on silk in an antique shop there. There were many pieces to choose from but I bought the lion as that is a very traditional Chinese symbol. I love the bright colours and the detailed stitching. There were so many lovely things in the shop (that I could not afford) like caps and gowns and stitched shoes.
I also came across some lovely cross stitch kits – these were being sold by a street vendor on one of the bridges near the hotel I stayed at in Guangzhou and worked out at about £1 per kit so were a real bargain. I have just started stitching the Emperor one to remind me of the dressing up with Mo that I posted about last time.
The first group of people I worked with in the city of Shantou gave me a gift to say thanks at the end of the week which was very kind of them. I was thrilled when they gave me this beautiful set of local lace.There are about 12 of these in the set they gave me. They told me that lace making was brought to the area by missionaries in the 19th century so they thought the present was appropriate as it was a blend of West and East which was so lovely. They didn’t even realise when they chose this gift what a textile addict I am so it was perfect!
I was lucky enough to be taken out on a brilliant day’s tour of cultural sites when I was in Shantou. I spent most of my time in China teaching but had 3 rest days while I was there and the school I was working at took me to a historic house nearby where they had museum displays. This is part of a wedding carriage and is appliqued embroidery on silk.
Puppet theatre has a long tradition in Chinese culture and in the same museum there was a puppet theatre display with beautiful goldwork side panels.
I am still working on the rest of the pics to choose some for my page – I took so many so am spending a lot of time editing them and hope to post that at the weekend.
Thank you for visting and see you all soon.
Hello
I hope that you are all having a nice week. I have been taking some pictures at our recent re-enactment events and thought I would share them with you today. The last two events have been a little wet in places (lovely British weather!) but we have had a good time despite the rain.
We were at Ashby de La Zouche Castle in Leicestershire at the end of May – the castle ruins are really imposing and I took these shots on the Saturday evening when all the public had gone home, the first ones are of the tower and the latter ones what is left of the chapel, I love the ironwork on these pics. In the middle is Lord Percy’s tent with its pennants flying in the evening breeze.
We spent last weekend at Tatton Park in Cheshire at an event, the person who plays the king at other events was there. I have previously posted pictures of his goldwork surcoat and heraldry and was able to take some pictures of the goldwork banners outside his tent on the way to the beer tent on Saturday night – isn’t this wonderful work!
I have previously posted pics of Lord and Lady Bardolph from our group in all their finery but this weekend they were going on to the field as archers so here they are looking very stylish in their padded jacks and helms!
Lord Bardolph’s jack is the one he wears under his armour which excuses its rather mucky state and both jacks are fine examples of quilting as a utilitarian craft – all the combatants wear some form of quilted armour on body, legs of head when fighting, either under armour or on its own.
Lastly a pic of what keeps us warm when it is wet and windy in a field , one of my favourite bits of re-enactment, the fire we sit round at night. I love watching the way the logs burn, it really is magic!
I will return at the weekend with crafting pics, both myself and Ellie have been busy so will catch up with you all then.
Thanks for visiting and have a nice week.
On one of my recent travels round the internet I was following a link from Constance’s lovely ‘Born in the Wrong Age’ blog (do go and visit she is an re-enactor in Australia who does fab needlework) and found this wonderful site full of members’ needlework projects from the West Kingdom of the Society of Creative Anachronism. The society operates worldwide though they seem to be most active in the US and their members produce the most wonderful examples of historical needlework.
To whet your appetite I hope they don’t mine but I have borrowed a few pics to show you the standard of work which is amazing. There are loads more on the site as well as lots of really good info and articles (click on the Articles link on the right hand menu on their site ) so do go and have a look.
Part of a goldwork collar by Letitia
A gorgeous whitework coif by Ella
Blackwork by Juliana
Couched goldwork by Katherine
Embroidery and silverwork by Letitia
All very,very talented ladies I’m sure you will agree.
I am having a quiet week at home doing lots of marking and listening to the rain! We are off this weekend to the wonderful Berkeley Castle where we have this as our view.
Not a bad view for a campsite!
If you are near South Glos do come and visit – this link gives you details of the event. That is my lovely friend Keith in the pic on the top right of the web site, he only looks like that on the battlefield (or if someone pinches his mead round the campfire!)
Even if you are not coming pray for fine weather for us please – last year this was our wettest pitch and even though we don’t mind a bit of damp as we are hardy campers it puts off the paying public and that is a real shame for us and all the people who give up all their time and effort to organise these events. As I have mentioned before most of the events rely on unpaid volunteers for the organising and the hard work of providing facilities and without paying visitors they will not happen (someone has to pay for the portaloos!) . So here’s hoping for very good weather this year!
After that event we are off for a week camping in the Forest of Dean with my sister Jacky (did I mention that I love camping!) and then it is straight on to Ashby de La Zouche castle in Leicestershire for another weekend of camping (I love, love, love camping!!!) where our group are doing another show.
So the blog will be very quiet for a bit while I paddle in mud (no hopefully bask in the sun!) in a field somewhere and enjoy some lovely campfires and BBQs ( I also love BBQs!).
Thanks very much for visiting – see you all soon!
Well here I am listening to the Yorkshire rain (again) ready to post pics of our gloriously hot weekend at the Battle of Tewkesbury event. I am starting to think I only come home to get wet (and wonder at the speed the hedge is growing while I am away – must cut that this weekend!)
We had a fantastic weekend – one of the very best Tewkesbury events ever – very well organised (thanks to all the hard work of the crew), lovely weather – was very hot Sat morning for our trip round the market but did cool down for both battles. However our water giving services were much appreciated.Great fun both round the camp fire and in the beer tent – altogether fab!
As promised here are some pics from the market – we have medieval markets at most events but as Tewkesbury is the biggest event it also has the biggest and best market where you can purchase anything you want for your medieval lifestyle. There are lots of clothes sellers, fabric sellers (I was very good and didn’t get tempted!), armour, weapons etc but also some amazing craftspeople selling their wares.
You can buy buckets…
.... of all shapes and sizes
Mugs and jugs a plenty..
Jim the potter (he's been on Time Team!)
Beautiful glasses (not got any of these yet – not very safe taking these on the train!)
Pretty pretty things
And of course lovely food and drink – this German wine and spirit seller was new this year – I passed on the 80% proof chilli vodka but did try the bilberry wine in the long-necked bottles here – very nice!
Really gorgeous bottles of fruit wine
Normally I don’t get many pics of me on the battlefield but was looking on Facebook when I got back and was very excited to find a few of me. Here I am in the thick of the battle in my usual blue dress.Pictures taken by Helen Harris Beaumont.
An interlude to take on water
I spotted this lovely pic of the King in his heraldic surcoat (look at the goldwork on that!)…
The King and his retinue
And was very excited to find the next pic has me and Ellie in the background!
There we are - me in blue and Ellie in front of me in turquoise
It really is so wonderfully atmospheric with all the different colours of the heraldry and flags flying – especially at the end on Sunday where we all knelt on the battlefield before the King – brings a lump to your throat!
At the end of the battle the King fights the young Prince of Wales who is trying to take his throne…
The fight - pictures taken by Michelle Jackson
…. and of course he wins – Hurrah for the House of York!
Take that you young upstart!
We stayed with my sister for a couple of days after the event and helped Ellen move into her new student house. I bought her some BBQ stuff as a house-warming pressie so she has promised to send me a pic of them in their lovely garden – hoping they are having better weather than we are!
Undaunted I have today refilled the freezer with Tesco’s finest BBQ wares so hopefully at some point this weekend – after the hedges have been cut – we will be out again enjoying the sunshine.
Hope you are having better weather – thanks for visiting.
Hello everyone
I have just got back from the very first re-enactment event of the season hence the post title. We were at the very beautiful Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire for our St George’s Day show. I was only able to make the event from last night due to having to teach yesterday but at least I got my first fix of canvas and woodsmoke for the year!
We had a very lovely time – last night it was great fun sitting round the camp fire and catching up with everyone and today was very lovely and sunny with lots of very interested people visiting us and I got to tell them all about the headdresses and embroidery. The weather was really good up until 10 mins before the end when the heavens opened and we all got soaked! However we managed to finish the show.
I have a couple of pics from the event to share with you. In Jan this year we had an embroidery day here for the girls from the group and Kerry started a goldwork flower – well this her completed piece which is really brilliant – especially as it is her first ever goldwork.
A borage flower in gold and silk thread
Also took some more costume pics – the first two are of Lady Anne (aka Leanne) who normally dresses as a peasant but was dressed as a lady for most of this weekend in this gorgeous dress.
Lady Anne in brocade dress with veil and crispinettes
A close up showing the headdress in more detail
I had a busy week finishing all of the new costume as well as a very hectic work schedule but finally got everything done at 10.30 pm on Fri. As well as Jake’s clothes I am also making a few things for some of the guys in the group. This week I made a coif for Lord Bardolph (aka Paul).
Here is the original coif that I cut round to use as a pattern.
This one I bought from one of the medieval traders last year - you can never have too many coifs as they tend to wander!
I then cut a number out and ended up handsewing this one due to the temperamental machine.
A bit of a coif production line here
Lord Bardolph wearing his coif under his bicocket (felted hat)
A side view so that you can fully admire the coif and hat
Have come back with an order for some brais for some of the other men in the group so will be cutting those out soon. Our next event is next weekend in South Wales at Cosmeston Medieval Village which I am really looking forward to as it such an amazing place.
We are planning a trip to Barry Island (to pay homage to the wonderful sitcom Gavin and Stacy) while we are there we will go to the funfair and have fish and chips and a paddle of course!
I will try and post again during the week as I have made good progress on the lacy purple scarf – just need to take some pics of the progress.
Hope you have all had a nice weekend and have a great week ahead.
Thanks for visiting.
Wonderful daughter Ellie’s birthday pressie to me this year was a trip out of my choice. I chose to go to York to visit the Minster and we were also hoping to go to the Quilt Museum as well but sadly it was closed so I will have to go back another time to do that.
The Minster and the famous Rose window
We had a fab day out – it was great weather and we had a really nice train ride and lovely lunch in a little old pub and a good wander round the lovely shops in York after we went to the Minster – they have a Cath Kidston shop which was full of such cute things!
The painted ceiling of the Chapter House
The Minster was amazing as I had expected with the usual abundance of embroidery! This piece was one of the first we saw – one of the finest and most detailed pieces I have ever seen.
Goldwork banner
There was no info with it but it depicts the Minster on the bottom right and two figures one of whom is being given a key detailed below.
The key - look at the detail on the hands!
The piece was an amazing mix of appliqued brocade for the gowns the figures are wearing, silk shading and goldwork.
One of the heads at the bottom of the piece - so realistic!
Detail from one of the gowns
Detail of the Minster
At the back of one of the chapels was this more modern piece composed of a series of goldwork crowns – I couldn’t get any nearer to take close ups but it is really stunning.
A goldwork hanging of crowns
The Minster Broderer’s Guild had done a series of panels based on animals found in the church – this is a detail of one of the many Lamb of God pictures to be found there.
One of the exhibition pieces by the Guild
The pic below shows some 13th century chests used for storing priests’ copes – note how they are shaped like the robes so they could be stored with the minimum of folds.
Two cope chests each 1/8th of a circle
We also spotted this fab fruit basket in one of the gift shops near the Minster which we loved!
The fruit basket to end all fruit baskets - look at those little individual baskets!
Thank you Ellie for such a fab pressie! I had a wonderful day and I am very lucky to have such lovely kids who give me such thoughtful pressies all the time.
We are away this weekend in South Wales for the last show of the season at Caldicot Castle – please keep your fingers crossed for good weather for us last year this event got cancelled at the very last minute due to the site being flooded which was not good news for anyone!
Term starts on Monday with a new group of students to welcome to the wonderful world of teaching and then Ellie is off to University next Friday!
She has had all her joining info re the course and the modules she will be doing and yesterday got details of all of the entertainment planned for the first week of term so is busy working out her new social calendar. We will be going down with her on Friday so I will post next week when I can as it is likely to be a very busy one!
As you know on my travels I like to look for textile arts of all forms and the recent trip to Berkeley Castle for the re-enactment event was no exception and there were some excellent examples there.
We arrrived on Thursday for a very, very wet pitch – soaked to the skin by the time we got the tent up but we dried off and had a lovely if a little damp weekend as it also rained heavily on Sun as we were packing up. It is a fantastic castle which has been in the same family for over 900 years and we were lucky enough to be camped in the meadows with this view.
Berkeley castle on an overcast July day
It is always a real shame when wet weather happens as the organisers of the events (in this case the lovely Plantagenet Events people) put such an effort into doing this and without paying members of the public turning up they will not happen. I know that it is not the same coming to an event when the weather is not good but can I make a plea to all you out there to not let a bit of rain put you off coming to something – you will still have a great time .
We pull out all the stops to make sure that things go ahead as planned and things will only be cancelled as a last resort if it is really unsafe to go ahead.The people that run these events do not do it to make a vast profit and a couple of bad events can bankrupt them, they do it for the love of keeping our history alive. As participants we do it all for free, we receive no expenses at all for the bigger events and fund all our own costumes, travel and kit (hence the need for the day job!). So please come along – you may be a bit damp but you’ll still have a good time and if you stay indoors every time it rains in England you’d never get out!
We had intended to go round the castle on Fri but it was shut so instead went to the Edward Jenner museum which is located in Berkeley Village right next to the castle in the doctor’s old house. It was a very interesting museum indeed – I knew the story of how he experimented with inoculation having learnt it at school but there were lots of original exhibits relating to his life and family including these two touching examples of stitching.
The whitework detail on the Jenner Family christening robes
The needlepoint cushion on Edward Jenner's garden chair - in the middle are his initials
This is what I love about stitching – it is everywhere from the most ordinary places to the biggest palaces and it still absolutely fascinating me that so much work has been done by so many people that we will never know anything about. I would love to know more about the people (women?) who made these items but sadly nothing is usually recorded.
We then visited the 13th century St Mary’s Church which is between Edward Jenner’s house and the castle. There was some lovely goldwork on the altar frontal and banner.
St Mary's Church
Painted screen inside the church
A tudor rose motif on an altar frontal
The same motif on a beautiful banner
There was also a very lovely effigy on the tomb of Thomas 8th Lord of Berkeley and his Lady Katherine dated 1361.
The effigy
Ellie and I were admiring the headress and discussing what type it was ( a nebule or goffered headdress ) and I remarked that my friend Kat had made one similar which was on her web site. When we came out of the church who should we bump into but Kat, Richard and Isabella who had come to look at the same effigy before going to the event!
Lady Katherine's nebule headdress
We had a very good tour round the castle itself on Saturday – the grounds were really lovely and I took lots of flower pics which I intend to use as the basis for some embroidery projects later on.
My friends Carl (Geoffrey of Woodstock) and Denise (Matilda de Monfichet) in the castle gardens
One of the paths leading to the castle
The view of the medieval tent enacmpment from the castle
Sadly you couldn’t take any photos inside the castle as there was the most amazing embroidered bedspread and pillow slips made for Elizabeth 1st on display. Couldn’t find any pics of it on the web either so you will just have to go and see for yourself!
We have just come back from another event at Ashby de la Zouche Castle – a mixed weekend in terms of weather with rain all day on Sat (big thanks to the 120 people who came to see us in that!) and glorious sunshine all day Sunday so we got to pack the tents away dry!
I will leave you with a lovely picture from Tewkesbury this year with yet more embroidery and lots of shiny armour. This is us on the battlefield under the very fine goldwork banner of the Duke of Gloucester (aka Rob).
Lots of men in shiny armour!
You can just see my head and hand on the right of the pic giving water to Dave . This pic was taken by someone called fac man who has a Flickr site with more pics if you want to see more of the event and the armour!
Am posting this from my sister’s house (by the miracles of modern technology if I can get to grips with her picture editing software!) We are having some very nice R and R in between Tewkesbury and our next event at Berkeley Castle this coming weekend. Ellen hopes to go to University here in Worcester in Sept (fingers crossed if A level grades are ok which they should be) so today we are going for another look round the Uni.
We had a fab weekend again at the event which re-enacts the 1471 War of the Roses battle. As usual some of the guys had new armour and kit. This is Luke with his very shiny new 15th century helm (bought from E-bay with brass decorations added by him).
- Luke in his shiny new helmet
Paul was fighting for the first time at Tewkesbury and he had painted a new surcoat. He is a very talented graphic artist and he has painted our new group banners as well.
William de Bohun in his new surcoat
Ellie was on the battlefield as usual but this time as a banner bearer which meant on the Sunday she got to go and stand with all the banners during the King’s parlay with the Prince. Here she is with the guys before they went on to battle and with our group flag.
At muster before the battle
Ellie with the Order of Fighting Knights' banner
She is wearing her new turquoise dress that I recently finished. On Saturday night we went to a friend’s camp and as it was raining heavily ended up all being in Andrea and Mick’s tent sheltering.
Andrea does a demonstration of medieval surgery and was showing us some of her props. Having just watched a couple of episodes of Casualty 1909 things had not moved on that far by then!
Andrea with her bag of surgical instruments
Andrea's amputation saw!
I also managed to get some pics of the King’s (Edward IV) goldwork on his surcoat and cloak before the battle on Sunday. This is Simon de Montfort of the Sun in Splendour group in his wonderful outfit.
Love the sun glinting off the helmet in this pic!
A close up of the fleur de lys on the surcoat
The Order of the Garter emblem on his cloak
A brill weekend – we were all very glad to get to Jackie’s on Monday for some rest before we head off to Berkeley Castle this Thursday. Here is Jake playing the littlest hobo resting on the bags at the train station.
Jake resting!
Will post again in a couple of weeks – after Berkeley am straight off to Spain.
While we were in Paris last week we made a trip to the flea market at St Ouen. This was always on Ellie’s to do list and due to the Versailles Palace being unfortunately shut on the Monday we made it and it was a little piece of textile heaven!
It was a very interesting experience generally- it is a huge market with lots of modern stalls and a big second hand market with everything from very expensive antique furniture to people sitting by the road with what looks like piles of the most random junk.
The textiles are wonderful! There were lots of costume dealers and three or four who specialised in antique textiles which were amazing. The first stall had the most amazing collection of whitework and lace goods including loads of baby clothes obviously late Victorian and early 20th century.
The whitework stall
She did have some pieces of cross stitch as you can see in the red pile of stitching near the middle of the pic but most was work like the two pics below.
A lace collar
Whitework on a baby's dress
There were a couple of other stalls which made me want to win the lottery immediately – this one below had literally stacks of goldwork and huge embroideries everywhere – lots of Ottoman garments and ecclesiastical vestments.
Stacks of lovely stuff!
And more!
A priest's robe
I really wanted to rescue all these poor things and give them a loving home but sadly did not have the funds!
These were some more pices outside one of the other stalls – just sitting there. The thing that makes me sad is that I know just how long it takes to make pieces like this and is is tragic to see them being unloved and unwanted. At least the people reading this will appreciate them!
Silk shading on a priest's robe
A goldwork panel
An embroidered collar
If you ever want to go the nearest Metro stop is Porte de Clignancourt and there is a map at the Metro stop and signs once you get outside – look for Marche aux Puces.
