More activities....

As you will have read in your WI emails, a few of us are making scrubs and bags for Douglas House in Brixham. Here is a link to the Sewing Scrubs blog we have set up to share information and to ensure that our scrubs and bags are all well made to a high standard and able to withstand the rigours which will be placed upon them!
https://sewingscrubs.blogspot.com/

On another note, during a video meeting this week, the members of your committee each decided to knit a toy cow! (No comments about Mad Cows, please!) would any members care to join in with the madness? Knit - or crochet, or sew - a cow! Send me photos and we will spotlight our herd of cows! The question is, will Brixham WI have a small, hobby farm sized herd? Or will it be a Mega Farm herd?
Photos to follow soon, I hope?

A spot of gardening....

Margaret Canham and her daughter, Jo, take Biggles for a walk everyday. One of the neighbours was selling some plants so they bought some garlic, wild garlic, sweet corn, rocket and strawberries.  Here are some pictures of the newly planted things, taken by Jo.  

In addition to gardening Jo has been busy - She has just finished a quilt for a friend’s little girl’s first birthday. What a lucky little girl! She will keep that her whole life! 

Zoom, anyone?

Several of us got together for a zoom chat today!
Can you download zoom to your computer, tablet or phone? If yes, let me know and we will invite you as well! Next Wednesday at 11 am! I already have a list of some more members to invite!

A very special gift

for a friend. Made by Mary. They will make someone very happy!

Mary is making progress....

...with her quilt. It is looking amazing!

Here is a poem sent to me by Pat!

Pam Ayres' Poem
Time for us girls 

I'm normally a social girl
I love to meet my mates
But lately with the virus here
We can't go out the gates.
You see, we are the 'oldies' now
We need to stay inside
If they haven't seen us for a while
They'll think we've upped and died.
They'll never know the things we did
Before we got this old
There wasn't any Facebook
So not everything was told.
We may seem sweet old ladies 
Who would never be uncouth
But we grew up in the 60s -
If you only knew the truth!
There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll
The pill and miniskirts
We smoked, we drank, we partied
And were quite outrageous flirts.
Then we settled down, got married
And turned into someone's mum,
Somebody's wife, then nana,
Who on earth did we become?
We didn't mind the change of pace
Because our lives were full 
But to bury us before we're dead
Is like a red rag to a bull!
So here you find me stuck inside
For 4 weeks, maybe more
I finally found myself again
Then I had to close the door!
It didnt really bother me
I'd while away the hour
I'd bake for all the family
But I've got no flaming  flour!
Now Netflix is just wonderful
I like a gutsy thriller
I'm swooning over Idris
Or some random sexy killer.
At least I've got a stash of booze
For when I'm being idle
There's wine and whiskey,  even gin
If I'm feeling suicidal!
So let's all drink to lockdown
To recovery and health
And hope this awful virus
Doesn't decimate our wealth.
We'll all get through the crisis
And be back to join our mates
Just hoping I'm not far too wide

To fit through the flaming gates!

It has been a bit quiet here lately...

So, here is what I have been doing! I recently found a site called textile artist.org and have been following their weekly challenges.
The instructions are clear and very easy to follow, so anyone can have a go, regardless of their experience. They have a Facebook page as well, and there, you can see how each person has followed the instructions and produced things which are very varied indeed.
Here are my efforts at the first two challenges:

Four sample squares, using one stitch only.

This one was to make a collage, using paper and other items to depict an object from your home. 

And now for something completely different:

Jan Wellens is worried that her dogs will soon resemble this one!

And Mary is longing for a Japanese garden! Although it looks as if she doesn’t have too much to do in order to have one! It looks so peaceful!

Mary’s Quilt - 2

After pinning two squares together back to back (or, right sides together)

Draw a pencil line diagonally across the square

Machine the distance of the right hand side of your machine foot along the line on both sides.

As you can see, this photo isn’t from Mary’s quilt, but it shows how to use the foot to follow accurately a line of stitching.  Following Mary’s quilt, use the foot to follow the pencil line you have drawn. 

Cut along the pencil line

Now open up the two sides and you will have a square of two triangles

You can arrange these into many different designs.

Here are a couple 😊

More talent on the block....!

Thank you to Margaret, who  despite being laid up with a very poorly leg since before Christmas, has been busy on the most painstaking, detailed work. I am in awe of her skills and her patience.

A Wolf in cross stitch - no design printed on the cloth, Margaret is counting the threads in order to place each stitch! 

Here is Miranda’s gorgeous quilts, demonstrating her technical skills, too! Also, wow! 

And last but not least - You may  remember an earlier post of the cute little jackets Mary has knitted for her next great grandchild? (No. 6, due in June!) Here are the bootees to go with them!

Other activities are also available ....

Ann has been very busy creating the most fabulous haven in her back garden! Oh my goodness! Peace and tranquility! This is gorgeous!

Ann’s mosaic work is beautiful! 

A lovely spot for reading, sewing, crafting or just chillin’! 

A spot of sewing!

This is what I have been doing over a period of some weeks! Mary’s idea of making quilts to donate to hospital or refuge or wherever, seems like a very good one! So, I have been using up various pieces of material which have been stored here just waiting for a project!

It’s a technique called quilt as you go, and involves sewing the pieces together on both sides around the inside wadding all at the same time. The beauty of the process is that you can make large quilts without having the struggle of trying to push a huge quilt through the sewing machine whilst attempting the decorative stitching, which is usually the final process. 

This might be appealing to a few more people...

Sue and Virginia have been busy in the kitchen...

When I asked if Sue does home deliveries, she said no! 

It does look good! 

Here are Virginia’s Easter biscuits, a Mary Berry recipe with added nutmeg! 

Mary is making a quilt!

When I have all pieces cut and sewn ready to put together I’ll do pictures of different arrangements of squares and triangles to show  what you can do very easily

These are the other materials to be incorporated 

Watch this space,  unfortunately the lovely weather is going to take me away but as I have no plants as yet I’ll make do with my flowery material I expect! 💐😄
Just thought, I’ll add one more to these when I have sewn the triangle showing how it’s done.   

A contribution from Lorna

This is a song, to the tune of Jerusalem, Lorna found amongst her papers!


And there are those who wonder why
We flock once a month to village halls
We go to enjoy our W.I.
And get away from Homes’ four walls
We learn our crafts and have a chat,
Hear speakers talk on this or that
We scout the countryside near or far
for fruit for one or two pound jar.

Bring us a store of ripened plums 
In our kitchens we will toil
We’ll stir the lot til evening comes,
Until we get a rolling boil.
And what if turmoil rule the World
Here in our kitchens we will stand
An we will sing Jerusalem
And make some green  and pleasant jam.

More activity....

Barbara and Karl have unwelcome visitors in their garden, and their craft activity on Tuesday, was to build this intricate design over their prized lawn. So far, so good. No sign of any badgers!

That achieved, Barbara moved in to her craft studio and created a gorgeous card! How fab is this!

Mouth watering... and a request....

I have been asking for photos of the different activities we have all been getting involved with! Would you look at what Tina has made! This should come with a warning! Can I hear the rumbling sound of hungry tummies? Or is it just mine!

The request is this: does anyone know where to buy some strong flour for bread making, please? There is no flour in Brixham - I went to every (open) shop in town yesterday! Oddly, there was a lot of bread marked down, near the sell by date! Everybody must be baking bread! I was looking for flour to make some scones for a virtual cream tea with friends this afternoon. In the end I bought some scones! Probably better, as I shan’t be able to eat as many!

Here is another idea ....

Rather a delicious one, this time! It comes from our WI college, Denman. If you have been there, you will have eaten these gorgeous biscuits!