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Category Archives: craft

Craftivism to Build a Better World Together

Over the years I have knitted, crocheted and sewn for all sorts of causes / charities.  The following is taken from the Craftivism Manifesto which you can see in full at the end.
“Your craft is your voice. Craftivism is about raising consciousness, creating a better world stitch by stitch, and things made by hand, by a person. Craftivism is about creating wider conversations about uncomfortable social issues. A craftivist is anyone who uses their craft to help the greater good or in resistance to a greater societal ill. A single individual crafting can make a difference. Or they can craft together and benefit from the fellowship of other crafters.”

At the moment I am knitting 5″ squares in red, green and white for Fariha whose words follow:

“We are looking for people to sew, crochet, knit or embroider squares for a project called Stolen lives, Stolen Futures. Gaza’s children remembered. Each square represents 10 children murdered by Israel. We are looking for 5” squares in black, red, white, green or a combination of these colours. Each square is precious like the children it represents. Please DM for details of where to post squares.

Fariha has kindly given me permission to share her photo and words. If you would like to make a square, I can pass you the address.

My squares so far

 

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Quirky Bits in Amsterdam

There were shops all over Amsterdam selling plastic ducks. After passing several , I went in to one to ask ‘Why?” It seems they are simply a retail opportunity to attract tourists!

One of the Duck shops

Information re ducks

I loved the decoration outside a shop selling children’s clothes, the decoration comprising of painted bicycle parts and enormous knitted strawberries!

On the corner of the street near our hotel, Roemers Hotel, was a house beautifully decorated with blue and white tiles near the top of the building. Lower down was a plaque to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher. She is described by her friends mentioned below as  “attractive, musically talented, and a skilled translator and commentator from French and Italian.They also praised her skill at singing, painting, carving, glass engraving and tapestry work.” From Wikipedia.  

Here’s a translation for you:

If Tesselschade is unfamiliar to you, then you may know
That she was a friend of Roemer Visscher,

That she sat in the circle of singers
And with her stylus wrote wittily on the glass
And if you wish to find more merit and gifts
Speak to Huygens, Hooft and Vondel, her friends

PIETER HUISINGA BAKKER
Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher 1594 – 1649 poet

 

Waves, Topper and A Planter

There were waves on the Penryn River driven by the wild winds we have at the moment. We have lovely sunshine and beautiful blue skies and gusts of wind up to 40mph. I tried to make a video to capture the singing of the masts as the wind played them but sadly the wind was too noisy.

The newest topper on our local post box is a beauty, a family of hedgehogs.

Nearby there’s an unusual planter full of brightly coloured  pansies.

For Ark:
Thought you’d like to know – from the Wildlife Trust post: “We’re delighted that Cornwall Council has voted to delay the planned reintroduction of glyphosate based weedkillers.
Councillors voted 61 to seven to challenge the decision, following public protests, concerns raised by organisations including Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and more than 13,000 petition signatures from Cornish residents.
We’re hopeful this extended timeframe will now allow for proper public engagement and exploration of safer alternatives.”
Good news indeed! 🙂

 

A Night at the Museum

Tonight was the opening of the exhibition, Cornish Myths and Legends, at the Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery.

Arghans by Sue Hill and Pete Hill (with a little input from me!)

The hair and little creatures

Discussing the creation

Sue and L, in a very beautiful coat, talking about the exhibition

On the ride home

 

 

Automata, Blue Sky and A Song

Playing with automata yesterday was great fun, such intricate work.

What a glorious blue sky today. This weather vane is at Burncoose Nursery where I called in after singing to see the magnolia blooms  (nearly over) and the rhododendrons.

A good friend sent me a video of us singing this morning., Pachabel’s Canon. This is one of my favourites and one I brought to choir 13 years ago after we went to WOMAD and I learned this piece there at a workshop. I love all the parts and start with the basses, moving round all the parts and coming back to the tenors to finish. If you watch carefully , you can watch my progress!

 

Sewing, Secret and Sea

There are now 30 little creatures on the long fabric strands.

I’m being allowed to show you a little more of the project. The whole piece remains secret until the exhibition starting on March 31st.  I wonder if you can work out what it is.

After sewing and my lovely Mr S working in the garden in sunshine, we decided to go out for lunch at the Falmouth Hotel and have  a walk by the sea. It really does my soul good to see, smell and hear the sea. The blues were so beautiful today.

Out for lumch

Our next treat was a trip to Falmouth Art Gallery for a wonderful exhibition of automata which I’ll show you tomorrow.

 

 

Clay, Sewing and Solidarity

I’ve done a bit more work on next door’s project, sewing the little clay creatures onto long strands of coloured fabric while Sue worked on the head. I thoroughly enjoyed my self. The opening night will be March 31st at Truro Museum and Art Gallery.

It’s only a few weeks since I shared the song, “Hold On’ which we sang in solidarity with the people  of Minneapolis. Life is still very difficult for them and we sang again for them today.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17nRsPprFT/

 

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Shop Window, Clay and Tulips

I may have been at this workshop if I hadnt already made plans to be creative this afternoon.

Yesterday I helped make some little clay creatures for a new project being created by my lovely neighbour and today I coloured the ones that were dry enough,  ready for tomorrow.

All our lovely white tulips are now blooming.

 

St Piran’s Day Celebrations in Redruth

It’s been a fun packed day in sunshine today, the parade, markets, daffodils, live music, flowers everywhere and so many happy, smiley people. Enjoy the gallery.

For those who wonder about the lamb:

Redruth Town Council uses The Lamb and Flag as its emblem building on a heritage of use in the town for hundreds of years though its origin remains widely debated. Historians believe the symbol first appeared in the wool trade during the Middle Ages. By the 19th century, people associated a lamb with purity due to its Christian connotations and used it in the mining trade to indicate the purity of the metal they were producing – the smelters stamped each ingot with the sign of the lamb and the St Piran flag was added to indicate its Cornish origin. Both copper and tin were very important in Cornwall, with various mines in the Redruth, Pool and Camborne area being the largest in the world for each of these minerals.

 

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Spaceman, Flowers and Cathedral

We loved the Spaceman in the Lemon Street Market in Truro today.

In one of the shops were these lovely felt flowers.

I love Truro Cathedral in all weathers but on a beautiful sunny Spring day like today, it’s even more lovely.

Today is our last official day  with an allotment. From tomorrow it will be cared for by a lovely young family.