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Category Archives: craft

Redruth International Mining and Pasty Festival

That was a cracker of a day at the festival!
Our town was buzzing – live music, delicious cakes and excellent coffee, some wonderful outfits, meet ups with friends, bubbles in the park and, in the afternoon, two fascinating talks.

Beautiful cloak in Cornish tartan

Bubble fun for the youngsters in St Rumon’s Gardens

Redruth Town Band with the yellow trombone

Bubble fun for the youngsters in St Rumon’s Gardens

Three Daft Monkeys

Busy Bond Street

The first talk, by Sharron Schwartz, was about the Cornish miners who went to work in Mexico and Wisconsin in the 1820s. Cornishman were experts in hard rock mining and their skills were called for all over the world. The other talk, by Dr Lesley Trotter, was about the women who were ‘left behind,’ The Married Widows of Cornwall.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 12, 2026 in America, community, Cornwall, embroidery, festival, History, Postaday 2026, Redruth, Tin mining history

Tags: Dr Lesley Trotter, Sharron P Schwartz

Shop Window, Cow Parsley and A Feather

09 Sep

The set of The Choir of Man, yesterday’s post, was a pub and at the start, lots of audience members were among the cast enjoying a drink. If you are local, there are still some tickets left this week at The Hall for Cornwall, Truro.

I liked the paper flowers in the shop window as we collected our bread this morning.

Walking back along Lovers’ Lane, there was lots of Cow parsley, more prettily known as Queen Anne’s Lace.

Along the way there was a delicate white feather on the path.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 9, 2026 in Cornwall, craft, environment, nature, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Painting, Bath and Soup

06 Sep

Yesterday, after buying the wonderful pastries at Redruth’s monthly market, we called in at our favourite gallery in town, 89 Redruth. The room was full of very interesting work but my eye was immediately drawn to a small painting, We went in saying, we mustn’t buy another piece and came out later to have a short chat about whether to buy. Happily, my lovely Mr S loved as much as I did so we were back within minutes and today called in to collect it. It was so lovely to meet the artist and to see her reaction to my loving her work.

Sunset at Elmscott by Michelle Rudd

We went to a birthday do at recently refurbished Rose Cottage today. We just had our lunch but the guests were encouraged to make use of the spa in the delightful back garden of the pub. After cooking themselves in the sauna, they had the option of three ‘plunge pools’ – one warmed by the sun in a lovely white bath, next a cooler metal bath and lastly, for the truly hardy, a refrigerated tub!

Today we have harvested the last of our sweetcorn cobs and I have made a big batch of Corn Chowder. We had some tonight and the rest will go in the freezer to enjoy some summer sunshine on a grey winter day.

P.S. There was one more piece in 89 Redruth that I fell for and might have bought today but it had gained a red spot overnight…..

Specimen no 2 by Anita Pryor

It was good too to learn the story of this collective:

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 6, 2026 in art, Celebration, Cornwall, craft, friendship, painting, Postaday 2026, Redruth, Uncategorized

Tags: Anita Pryor, Michelle Rudd, The Wuther Collective

Exhibition at Truro Cathedral

03 Sep

After a delicious breakfast with delightful company in the Mylor Cafe, we headed to Truro to do some banking business and to visit the cathedral for a new large-scale textile exhibition Threads Through Revelation by artist Jacqui Parkinson. It’s only there for a few days from September 3 to 5 so if you are local you have a chance to see this remarkably beautiful work.
Regular readers may remember the exhibition of Jacqui Parkinson’s other work which I posted about here. It’s worth going back to. https://mybeautfulthings.com/2025/07/09/exhibition-at-truro-cathedral/

Here is today’s gallery with the information on the right hand side. Click on any photo to see the exquisite detail and read the information.

This one is for sale……..

Another icon has gone – RIP Gloria Steinem, feminist, activist and journalist.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on September 3, 2026 in art, Cornwall, craft, embroidery, embroidery, friendship, Postaday 2026, sewing, Truro, Uncategorized

Tags: Jacqui Parkinson, Threads Through Revelation

Lunch, Dessert and Post Box Topper

14 Aug

I met M for lunch today at The Olive Grove and we enjoyed a long natter and some delicious food in the most amenable environment

Tempura King Prawns
Served with salad garnish and sweet chilli dipping sauce. We shared a bowl of crunchy chips.

We shared a beautifully presented serving of White Chocolate Tiffin

There’s a new summer topper on our local post box.

Charming topper on our street

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 14, 2026 in art, Cornwall, crochet, Eating out, friendship, knitting, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Camera, Cloud and A New Book

13 Aug

We made a pinhole camera for the eclipse yesterday and it worked well to see the changing shape of the sun but it was a very small image. Blue Peter skills came in handy here. We were glad of the colander!

Such a strange cloud a day or two ago, not a vapour trail and unlike any we had spotted before.

Perhaps there is a nephophile out there who can explain.

I’ve just started a new book, the new ShelterBox bookclub choice that arrived in the post on Monday. It’s a very powerful read that I am finding hard to put down.

It’s less of a story that a collective diary, written by twenty-one women who are each recording their experiences in Kabul as the Taliban take over again in August 2021. I’ll tell you more when I’m done. I’m just 80 some pages in.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 13, 2026 in Cornwall, craft, environment, nature, Postaday 2026, ShelterBox, sky

Tags: My Dear Kabul, nephophile, ShelterBox book club

Exhibition, View and Bunting

05 Aug

We went to Falmouth today to see an exhibition of paintings by a local artist, Julian Christophers. I first met him when I was part of the art collective Fannie and Fox where I used to sell my stained glass work. I always found Julian’s paintings to be full of joy, full of colour and always smile inducing. I especially love his portraits. Today’s exhibition met all expectations.

Here are two of his pieces for you to enjoy but for those of my readers who are local, go and see them for yourself. You’ll come away smiling!

Loula’s Meadow – mixed media showing flowers from a dog’s viewpoint

Afterwards we went into another local gallery where the view from their window is another beautiful piece of art.

View from the window of the Beside the Wave gallery.

Falmouth Week is coming up and the streets are full of bunting.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on August 5, 2026 in art, collage, Cornwall, Falmouth, friendship, painting, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Tags: Julian Christophers

Reflections, Lit Fest and Icecream

09 Jul

The air was so still, likewise the water that the reflections of the masts and the trees was just lovely.

From the car park by Muddy Beach Cafe, with the Zed Shed above where we rehearse.

We went to Penzance for one of the events of their week long Literary Festival this afternoon. We heard Christopher Brookmyre talking about his writing and his new. book, Quite Ugly One Evening. We read and loved his first novel written 30 years ago, Quite Ugly One Morning which was absolutely hilarious, a thriller full of wit and black humour. We are looking forward to reading his latest featuring Jack Parlablane. There’s a really good review of his earlier work here..

On the back wall inside The Acorn Theatre in Penzance

Afterwards we stopped in Marazion to look out over the sea to St Michael’s Mount and to have some of the best ice-creams available hereabouts.

Ice cream dripping in the heatwave

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on July 9, 2026 in collage, Cornwall, craft, embroidery, environment, nature, Penzance, Postaday 2026, sewing

Tags: Chris Brookmyre, Penzance Literary Festival

Craftivism to Build a Better World Together

06 Jun

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.”

Twiddle muffs for dementia patients

Traffic light baby beanies for premature babies

Colourful baby beanies for new-borns

Snoods for refugees in Calais

Many meteres of knitting for Wool Against Weapons.

Tiny jumpers and hats for babies in Tanzania, all bagged up and ready to go

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

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on June 6, 2026 in art, charity, community, craft, Dementia UK, Kindness, knitting, KniTZTanzania, Peace, Postaday 2026, Uncategorized

Tags: craftivism manifesto, craftivism.com, Gaza, Palestine, Stolen Futures, Stolen Lives

Quirky Bits in Amsterdam

21 May

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