A Grand Day Out with Mrs Bertimus

 

Way, way back at the start of April I heard a rumour (I think it was on Facebook) that a couple of last minute spaces had appeared on a day workshop with the lovely Mrs Bertimus, at Hope and Elvis.  I mentioned it to my sister, who said "why not?"  And so, one Saturday morning in April we headed up the Motorway to take part in a day of "Stitchery Pokery".

Mrs Bertimus welcomed us all with a teacup of gorgeousness, there's mine, up above.  Then she gave us a little introduction to herself, her art and what we were to do that day.  We heard about image transfers, and machine stitchery and general stitchery pokery stuff.

 

 

Then we were free.

Free to delve into the boxes and cases and baskets of goodness that Louise has around the edges of her fabulous studio.  

 

 

Free to mooch around Louise's personal studio space.  

 

Free to look at the work of previous tutors, Jessie Chorley, Julie Arkell ... 

 

...and Mr Finch.  To name but three.

 

We could look at and be inspired by Mrs Bertimus' own work.  

 And we could chat to and learn from the lovely lady herself. 

 

One of the themes of the day were Mrs Bertimus' Nanas.  Some lovely ladies of a previous era, all dressed up to the nines, probably for a grand dav out.  They made an appearance on our name badges and on lots of the pieces that we all made.  I think some snuck into my bag and came home with me.  Naughty Nanas!

 

These are the pieces I made on the day.  Using image transfers, on blocks, and hand stitching and machine embroidery fabric pieces.  So many new skills and techniques.  I love a good workshop!! 

 

There is a little bit of a corner shop set up at Hope and Elvis.  And this dusty, spider webby, complete with dead spider and a broken handle, little brown case had to come home with me.  Under my self-imposed thrifting rule - "I'll regret it if I don't buy it" rule, it was a must buy.  Helen and I also had to buy a few pieces of blanket to continue our stitchery pokery.  Mine is heading towards being a needle case, with the machine embroidered bird adorning the front. 

 

And there you can see the replacement handle that I made for my little case - and the case is just the right size to hold my fabric scraps for the stitchery pokery yet to come.

 

At the end of the day Mrs Bertimus had us all put our pieces on one big table so we could look at all of the pieces that had been made.  Helen and I put ours out together, her two are at the top, and my four below.

And there we have it, a grand day out with Mrs Bertimus.   If you get the chance to play at Hope and Elvis - take it.  And if Mrs Bertimus is there?  All the better. 

And a last word for Mrs B herself - If you find yourself wanting to go thrifting in Birmingham.  The kettle will be on, and the biscuits will be out!

Technical hiccup

I´ve been having a few technical hiccups around here with my poor old blog. But I'm persevering. And should be back soon with plenty of pics and the story behind  that pretty teacup up there.

A stroke of genius

Just found this languishing in the draft post area of my blog.  A card I made for my brother last September. 

The background was made using dylusions sprays and stamps, some Tim Holtz tape and stamp, and some found words from an old book. The book is one of the best 30 pences I´ve spent in years. The words pop up everywhere, on cards, on tags, in journals, everywhere.

The day I met Tim

 

Ready for the second installment of this year's crafty adventures?

At the end of the summer, my sister, Helen, and I were lucky enough to spend a morning with the very lovely Tim Holtz, (and a few dozen others!) making this tag book.   It really was a dream come true!  I mean, Tim Holtz! Showing us how to ink, and distress and assemble.  And he really is as nice and friendly and smiley as you've ever heard.  

As well as leaving with this gorgeous little book and a head full of ideas and inspiration, each delegate left with a stencil (from his new range), a distress stain and paint, a distress marker, a book of his fragment word stickers and a mini stamp set.  All of which we had used and shared around our table during the class.  Tim also gave us some extra "things that money can't buy" - as he described them.  Which were a Tim Holtz messenger bag, a signed copy of his second book and an apron - which we also got signed!

As I mentioned in my last post, we met up with Kaz Hall again, as she was also there, helping Tim with his class. And in another installment of Helen and I living in "a small world", we ended up sharing a table with a couple of ladies who we had previously met at our local crop.  One of whom will make an appearance when I tell you about another of our adventures! Till next time.......

Tag, you're it

 

Back  in the summer, I went with my sister on a day of workshops organised by a local stationery and craft shop.  Helen sold it to me as soon as she said that Kaz Hall of The Little Shabby Shed was going to be there, teaching with Dylusions.  

This is the tag that Kaz taught us, using Dylusions and Perfect Pearls for the background, and some of Dyan Reaveley's stamps.  

I'm not sure I entirely agree with the words.  I'm usually ready for an adventure.  Which is what Helen and I had when we met Kaz for the second time this summer.  But, that's another story, for another time!

Finally Finished Something

 

It's time to get stuff finished.  I've so very nearly finished the daisy field blanket for Luu to take to university.  I shall gloss over the fact that she has been at uni for the last year, and focus on the fact that her degree starts this year.  Yes.  A big tick for me, the daisy field blanket shall be finished for when Luu starts her degree.  And I shall show you, when it's done.

Now, back to the finished something.

I needed a small project to take with me when I went on holiday last month, and decided to make the Teddy Bear hat that Phoebe had asked for.  I made a Rabbit version of this hat for Luu earlier this year, but the only photos I have of that are too bad to see the light of day in this post. 

The pattern is a freebie I found on the internet sometime before Pinterest - so I'm afraid I have no idea where it came from to link to.  But, what I can now remember, is that it is an American pattern.  So, when I started this second version, it took a little while to realise this.  And the top of the hat looked like a mangled mess, before I remembered that the doubles in the pattern are actually my trebles - doh!  Start again, and it all went swimmingly.  Note to self - write on the top of the pattern - work in trebles.

The pattern that I used had no ear  directions on it.  I know, how inconvenient!  So, for both the Rabbit and the Teddy Bear version, I had to freestyle it.  For the Teddy Bear version, I repeated the first bit of the hat pattern for about three rows, folded the circle in half, and joined it together with a row of single crochet.  Ears stitched on, and there we have it - a Finally Finished Something! 

I've just had a quick look back through my archives, and I haven't introduced Luu's Daisy Field Blanket to you on my blog.  It's made plenty of appearances on my Instagram, and with bloggers in real life, but not here.  Ooh, you're in for a treat! And in that previous sentence, I see at least two further blog posts.  Meeting bloggers in real life, and Instagram.

See you soon!

Time to play

 

Yummy new paints. Definitely time to play!