WI Seascape Workshops

I had a sudden rush on seascape Stitchscape workshops in April and was mass making up packs of seaside themed fabrics. Amazingly, through word of mouth and the fantastic network of ladies who participate in multiple groups, I had been asked to run two workshops for the East Sussex Federation of the Women's Institute, after speaking to the Ringmer WI last year. 

The first of the workshops was at their Hailsham HQ and we had six lovely ladies attending, plus two extra as supports and to make the tea and hand out biscuits! It was interesting as these workshops were a mixture of WI groups from East Sussex, and it had been advertised at a big AGM and also in a WI publication of some sort (Ashdown WI showed it to me when I visited them for a talk beforehand - it's a small world). 

A couple of the ladies were champions of textiles and had had their work showed in events or won awards in various competitions so for me it was more of a case of getting them to try something a little bit different or to think in a Stitchscape kind of way rather than demonstrating stitches. As none of the ladies who were there stitching had ever been to a talk or anything it was their first introduction to it really - I don't know if that makes a difference or not. 

A couple of them had brought their own bits to stitch down, like some fun shells - or even some real starfish! The starfish turned out to be very delicate though so she did have to be careful when stitching them on not to snap the legs (always awkward). One did break off at the end but we managed to cover that with some netting so it just looked like it was tangled up in something rather than bandaged. 

For this piece we were discussing moss stitch to add texture (the stitches that you don't pull all of the way through to make loops on the surface - harder than you'd think!), french knots and blanket stitch waves which I have used on one of my own Stitchscapes as a technique. This is the first row going on here and then I think the plan was to build up and add other rows which overlapped over the top to make it look like the waves were rolling on the top of one another. 

The red in this piece worked really nicely. I had included the kind of stripy botanical print in because it reminded me of coral - it didn't get used in many other Stitchscapes as the ladies didn't particularly like it so it was often the one that got swapped for a different fabric, but in this case it was embraced and red/brown moss stitches (one strand of each colour in the needle at once) were added over the top to give it some additional texture. 

Some shell shapes don't lend themselves to being stitched down. I avoid the conical shaped shells, or anything that is too smooth because the threads just slip off of it, and the cones can wiggle their way out unless there is a hole somewhere in the middle to anchor it more like a bead. 

This shell in particular caused a lot of problems because it did just that, wiggled its way out! Eventually we sort of got around it by trapping it within a trimming and stitching the trimming down instead rather than the shell. I'm not 100% sure that it will stay there as really the part that needs anchoring is the largest part, but I hope that it does because a lot of time was spent trying to get it to stay there! I love all of the flotsam and jetsam that has been created around it with all of the fancy yarns and trimmings, it looks really lovely. 

I hope you'll agree though, that these ladies produced some truly beautiful hoops - look at their smiling faces. These workshops are just such positive days and I hope that everyone else has as much fun as me having a go at things and just seeing what it looks like. For me it's wonderful to see the students grow in confidence and have their own lightbulb moments when a stitch works for them or they tried something on their own and it worked better than they thought it would. Sometimes you just have to trust yourself and the process. 

The second WI workshop was in Pett, a tiny little place we'd never been to before near to Hastings. It was a little bit like stepping back in time driving through the village, lots of quaint thatched houses everywhere but their village hall was rather impressive! We were in a little side room and managed to squeeze 9 people in just about. Each workshop often ends up with its own little mini theme, and for this one we had, what can only be described as, "beach hut mania". One person wanted to put in a beach hut and the next thing there were beach huts being cut out and considered all around the room! Not all got put into the final hoops but for a while we had a seaside village being made. 

Shells within shells!

I think this one is rather clever with the use of perspective in creating the groynes (a bit like bit wooden fences set at intervals along a beach to help keep stones and shingle from migrating down the coast so much). The creator of this hoop was worried that the sequin tape would be too sparkly but I really think it rather sets off the hoop and makes them look like they are covered in shells or salt crystals from the drying sea water. She's also used the pattern of that botanical fabric underneath which you can just about see to help her space out the groynes and I love where it peeks out from underneath the tape like it's growing there. 

A stitched starfish this time.

There is something rather wild and wondrous about this piece. There was great care in making sure that the wild thread waves stayed in the flowing tangle rather than looking neat - it does give a real sense of movement and the water crashing and blowing around. A rather blustery day to be on the shore!

I had a great review emailed to me after this workshop which I would like to share with you; 

I'd like to get a message to Beth who held the course today. Please send her my thanks, and let her know I really enjoyed the day and had a lovely time stitching and creating my seascape scene. Now I've got it home, I'm over the moon with it and have loads of ideas for it. I forgot to say that I'm new to sewing and your craft day has really inspired me. 

Liz

I think all of the WI ladies in today's post have excelled themselves. Wouldn't it be fabulous to have an exhibition of them all when they are finished? Truly marvellous and it was an honour to be asked in to run these workshops so thank you. 

Cambridge Getaway :: Wicken Fen

After the delights of Anglesey Abbey, we had a little bit of time left in the afternoon to pop a few minutes down the road to Wicken Fen Nature Reserve (in a quest to gain more National Trust badges you see). Baby F fell asleep in the car and, as he'd missed his nap earlier, we ended up sitting in the carpark for about 40 minutes to let him recharge. Of course I rarely go anywhere without a stitching project so I had my Cherry Blossom ATCs for the April Stitchscape swap with me and spent the time happily sewing on my pink branches with the car door open to let the sunshine and sweet smelling air in. 

We ended up walking around the Fen on our own as the rest of our family group had split up - some had walked round whilst we were in the car, and others had taken their small people back to the holiday home for their nap. It was nearing the end of the day but the sun was still shining a beautiful golden glow and it felt almost like we had the place to ourselves. 

Wicken Fen is a huge wetland, supposedly with thousands of different species of creatures living there - not that we actually saw much except some little brown lizards warming their tummies on the boardwalk. You could hear the birds all around you with their different calls, and the sound of the rustle of grasses in the wind was very peaceful. Apparently this site was the National Trust's first ever nature reserve to be taken into their care, and they've been looking after it for 125 years! 

There were some activities you could do whilst on your wander around the boardwalk, I particularly enjoyed making my own poem from pre-worded pebbles. I hope you enjoy my efforts. 

The little one quite liked walking along the pathway, although we were holding onto him fairly tightly!  

The wind pump cuts a striking figure, standing out proud among the flat marshy land around it. I believe it was moved to Wicken Fen from somewhere else and restored by the National Trust in the 1950s and is now the last remaining wooden wind pump in the fens. 

This was our last Cambridge getaway visit I can show you really. On our way home we stopped off in Bishop Stortford to have lunch with my aunt and then to the IKEA at Lakeside to have a mooch round, neither of which have blog-worthy photos, but I hope that you've enjoyed my posts about our holiday!

Cambridge Getaway :: Anglesey Abbey

We were back on the National Trust property hunt for the third day of our Cambridge birthday getaway. Wandering around Cambridge itself hadn't thrown up anything that would particularly suit a party of 11 with 3 boys under 4 years old so we resorted to our tried and tested theory that a National Trust garden works for everyone. 

Anglesey Abbey did not disappoint - what a beautiful garden it has!! It is simply stunning, and enormous. You almost felt like you were walking into different gardens each time as different walkways had different sort of themes to them. Our first area was quite windy (as in winding around not windy like the weather) and the path kept disappearing in different directions around corners, the Daffodils were wonderful and there were amazing Silver Birch trees.

But this copse of trees - I have never seen anything like it! And the photos do not do it justice. The bright purples, vivid greens and light blues were incredible against the pale silvery bark of the Birches. What amazing underplanting this was! Amazingly I managed to get photos without lots of people standing in the background (we were there fairly early) but it was possibly one of the most pictured parts I saw, everyone was gasping as they came around the last bend and saw this in front of them. I really must try and get this down into a Stitchscape somehow. 

Such delicate little Tulips - I think they were some kind of dwarf variety if I remember correctly so they were really quite short and diddy. 

Round another bend and this was equally beautiful and perhaps even more delicate! The colour of these flowers (I can't remember what they're called, some kind of Anemone maybe?) is sort of a light lilac/blue but they shone like stars on the floor of the little wood. 

The Lode Mill I believe is a functioning corn mill, having been restored to good condition by Lord Fairhaven in 1936, then restored into full working order by the Cambridgeshire Wind & Watermill Society (who knew there was such a thing?) in 1978/82. It wasn't working when we visited as I think it's under restoration again but it's always impressive to see the inner workings of mills. More interestingly for me, it seemed that the areas of the garden around it had been planted with white flowering plants so, combined with the white wood exterior of the mill, it was a wonderfully soothing and calming area to walk through just with a white and green colour scheme. I don't know if that was intentional but I was rather struck with it and the way the mill then blended so peacefully into the garden landscape. 

The Abbey itself is a very fine building, and again there are rooms open to walk through - although the upstairs wasn't available when we went as they were working on the bedrooms. It's quite a dark and almost moody or mysterious one with lots of dark heavy furniture and stone walls. I'm not sure Jacobean is my favourite style, but I thought this floral trellis decoration was really interesting! Remarkably fine details to the flowers and a lot of work in the twisty metal bits (technical term). 

In contrast to the much wilder, more free flowing gardens further away from the house, the ornate gardens close to the building were very rigid, with tight little square boxes for the plants to grow in and rigid topiary hedges. 

We'd just missed a would-have-been-spectacular Hyacinth garden as the flowers had all gone over but I can see that it would have been amazing if we'd only been a week earlier (what it looked like when we went is shown in the last image). I often wonder how close to what the gardens looked like in the building's hey day they are now, would those who lived there recognise the garden as theirs? What would they think if they saw it now? Would they approve? Possibly not with all of us wandering around out there!

Heading back toward the cafe and the exit, we decided to picnic on one of the wide areas of lawn (not the posh clipped lawns, this was a wild one) and the boys shuffled or ran around with other kids all doing the same thing. The sun was out and it was just really nice to see them playing together outside. We would definitely recommend Anglesey Abbey to anyone passing through Cambridgeshire.