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Category Archives: craft

Pink, Purple and Moominmama

Lots of potting on of various brassicas at Community Roots today. The chives are flowering well.

The poppies in one of the poly tunnels are remarkable.

Today, on Facebook, I saw a delightful postbox topper honouring Moominmama and I asked the maker, Lewis Delderfield, if I could share it here. Many of you will remember Ti, our dear friend with whom we used to share poetry and who died last year aged 105! She loved the Moomins and as soon as I saw this, I thought of her and how much she would have loved it and probably would have known that it’s the 80th anniversary of the Moomins. Thank you so much to the maker for allowing me to share Moominmama knitting on here. .

“I have just put Moominmama out on my local postbox. She is knitting herself something nice to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of The Moomins!” Lewis Delderfield

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 13, 2025 in art, community, Cornwall, craft, crochet, environment, knitting, nature, Postaday2025, Uncategorized

Tags: community roots, postbox toppers, Yarn Bombing

The Opening of the Big Shed

10 May

What a joyful day we have had along with everyone else who turned up for the official opening of the Big Shed at Community Roots. There was cake, there was music, there were plant sales, there was a garden tour and a barefoot seed-bomb making session. There was an amazing plant based lunch and then of course, the Ceremony of the Cutting of the Ribbon. Only it wasn’t a ribbon, the bow and ‘ribbon’ had been braided during the day out of reeds and daffodil leaves and it was very beautiful. There were speeches, the most moving of all, one based on the daily thanksgiving of the Onondaga Nation. And, the sun shone all day! Please enjoy the gallery and click on any for a bigger version and the caption.

The Big Shed

Nasturtium flowers being used to decorate lunch

Musician talking to the crowd

Ready for the Ceremony to begin

The braided bow and ‘ribbon’

Brazilian Carrot Cake

Victoria Sponge

Wild flower seed bombs

About to cut the ribbon

The ribbon is cut

Jaclarabag, the band

For all the joy, times are hard. Along with the invitation came this ‘ask.’ I thought you might like to know the bigger story.

The Ask
Looks can be deceptive, and behind our beautiful new building, we find ourselves in a very precarious financial position. Growing food and community in planet positive ways just isn’t financially sustainable, and with the Hungry Gap this year (when we have very few crops ready to sell) we are struggling to make ends meet. Also, while the new building will eventually help us diversify our income, before it does that it is costing us money, and we don’t have the time to organise all the great things we know could be happening in it. To help us through this tricky period we really need an injection of money, so we’ve launched a Crowdfunder and we’ve secured match funding, so that every pound donated is doubled by Aviva, with an additional £5,000 of match funding being added from Cornwall Council’s Climate and Nature fund. If you’re able to support us at all, we would be incredibly grateful, and if you aren’t able to donate, sharing our Crowdfunder with others is also incredibly helpful. If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, liking, commenting and sharing posts makes a huge difference to how visible things are.

To see the Crowdfunder, to donate or to share it, please click here.

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Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 10, 2025 in Celebration, community, Cornwall, craft, environment, friendship, growing, Happiness, nature, Postaday2025, Uncategorized

Tags: community roots, Jaclarabag

Sheep, Planter and Knitting

07 May

This lovely little knitted sheep was on the table in our local bakery as we picked up our ordered loaves this morning.

In our Fore Street are some amazing planters put there by Redruth’s Incredible Edibles group. Everything planted is available for people to help themselves to a bit of edible greenery.

I knitted up the lovely bright yarn I showed you on April 9th. It’s a baby cardigan that will be going to Ukraine on the next lorry going. When I bought the new yarn on Monday and was chatting to the owner of our lovely local wool shop, she said I was not alone in wanting to start knitting the next project before sewing up the one I now have all the pieces for! Like many others, sewing up the piece is our least favourite part of knitting any garment. I love the pattern being created by the new yarn.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 7, 2025 in Cornwall, craft, environment, Food, knitting, nature, Postaday2025, Redruth

Another PostBox Topper

28 Apr

Knowing how I love the postbox toppers, a friend sent me a photo of a delightful one of a seagull stealing chips on Southend Pier.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 28, 2025 in crochet, nature, Postaday2025, Uncategorized

Furry Babies

20 Apr

I thought you’d like to see the most recent kitten photos.

Happy Easter to all my readers.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 20, 2025 in knitting, nature, Postaday2025

Tags: Maine Coon cats, Maine Coon kittens

River, Easter Topper and A Hitchhiker

17 Apr

Penryn River

Spotted this hitchhiker as we parked up

Beautiful crocheted topper in Lanner

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 17, 2025 in Cornwall, craft, crochet, environment, nature, Penryn, Postaday2025

Two Gifts and A Poem

15 Apr

Our daughter and LiveWire 4 left this afternoon after a brief and lively visit. Behind were left two special gifts made for us – a bracelet in Suffragette colours and a colourful Happy Easter card.

A Facebook friend posted the following poem yesterday and gave me permission to share. I found it very touching and love her play with words, ‘unsocial media,’ the ‘humane humans’ and especially her thanks to all creatives and activists. The last two lines are a call to us all to remind us that we all rely on each other. Nourish each other, people, nourish! Thanks to Deasy Bamford for this.

Most days i resist

Unsocial media.

Wishing a more humane human made system

Had manifested.

And then, by chance

Here i am

Seeing the posts

Of the remarkable humans

I have connected with

Over the years.

And I am inspired

Intrigued,

Informed,

Still connected

Through ideas and ideals

Visions for a just world

Achievements and insights.

Thank you all, poets, musicians

Activists, builders, critics, political wranglers, seekers of justice, seekers of wonder,

Like the trees in the forest,

We nourish each other.

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 15, 2025 in art, craft, Grandchildren, poetry, Postaday2025, Uncategorized

Jigsaw, Topper and New Yarn

09 Apr

We’ve just finished our latest jigsaw. It’s been really good fun.

There’s a new post box topper in our street, an Easter Bonnet!

I decided I needed a new knitting project. I read about some research into the benefits of knitting and thought that sounds as if it’ll do me good.

“Knitting has been cited as a therapeutic technique known to reduce anxiety (Anderson et al, 2016) and historically has been shown to “reduce chronic pain, boost mood, reduce stress, treat panic attacks, combat loneliness, boost confidence, curtail caregiver burnout and more” (Medaris Miller, 2016)

Off I went to my local wool shop and bought some rainbow baby wool to make a little cardigan. You can read more about the research by clicking on the red link.

Knitted Dress, Planter and Tea Pot

04 Apr

The teddy bear is nearly 50 years old and belongs to Daughter no 2. The knitted dress that the Teddy, called Souchka, is wearing, was knitted for me by my Grandmother, the lovely Granny who taught me to knit, crochet and play cards, she of the beautiful wooly jacket that I gave away last week. She made this for me when I was a baby so it is about 79 years old and is in truly beautiful condition. My Mum treasured it, so did I and now it lives on as the best dress of the Teddy.

The scent from these Primulas in a planter in town is as wonderful as their striking colours.

I had tea in a cafe this afternoon, in a most elegant pot (but with no lid!) It poured beautifully.

4 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 4, 2025 in environment, knitting, nature, Postaday2025

Water, Plastic Squirrel and Postbox Topper

22 Mar

Today is another special day – World Water Day – an annual United Nations observance day held on 22 March that highlights the importance of fresh water. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. When I was teaching GCSE English some years ago, the following poem came up on the syllabus. I loved it then and thought it just the right poem for today.

Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker

The skin cracks like a pod.
There never is enough water.

Imagine the drip of it,
the small splash, echo
in a tin mug,
the voice of a kindly god.

Sometimes, the sudden rush
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,
silver crashes to the ground
and the flow has found
a roar of tongues. From the huts,
a congregation: every man woman
child for streets around
butts in, with pots,
brass, copper, aluminium,
plastic buckets,
frantic hands,

and naked children
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
flashing light,
as the blessing sings
over their small bones.

The water situation in Gaza makes me weep; indeed the whole situation in Gaza. I just wish life were better for those children and that they could feel ‘the blessing.’

For some reason that I haven’t yet fathomed, our town is celebrating the red squirrel. This delightful piece made by a local artist, Flotsam Flo, is in the window of our greengrocery and butcher’s shop. If you use Facebook, do look her up. Her work is so important.