Bunting & banter

I am not sure if it was the wet winter months that caused a flurry of bunting making parties or whether people are still in the party mood following the Royal Wedding and the Diamond Jubilee but there is definitely a need for jolly flags around. 

With a suitcase full of red and purple I went to a lovely 10 year old who was very keen to do a sewing party for her birthday. The "Little Miss Sew & So" package can be tailored to any age (even to those who cannot handle a needle) and a popular activity is bunting making. 

The girls at this party were fortunate enough to have a sewing circle at their primary school. Not many schools have that luxury and I believe it is crucial to keep these skills alive, I have come across too many girls in their 20's and 30's who literally cannot sew on a button.

There are of course many ways to make bunting but this jolly troupe went for the traditional triangular flags.

     


Some of them had not done any sewing before but got the hang of it really quickly and decorated their flags beautifully with hearts and flowers. I did bring some felt stickers, so I suppose I made them cheat a little but we are pretended they were put on using Bondaweb and I promised not to tell anyone!

Afterwards the party girl's mum sent me a lovely letter:


"Thank you for a lovely party on Saturday. Some of the girls who had very limited experience of sewing were really inspired by the party and their parents have come up to me in the playground and said how they haven’t stopped talking about it and they have been sewing and finishing their bunting at home. So it inspired some girls and my daughter loved it, showing her friends her talents."

Thank you, this cheered up my day! 

Last week of term!

We were all very tired in Busy Betsy's home. The last week of term is always a little trying. What with all the plays, concerts and parties. This week two of my friends turned 40 (there were 3 this month, help!) and we had a fabulous evening organised by the wonderful Innerglo ladies. But most of my time was taken up with this : 

Sewing curtains! I know, it is not a very attractive picture but it somehow sums up the challenge. It felt like I was decorating a castle, these curtains were so heavy and voluminous. Thank goodness my friend told me they are hanging fantastic!

What else did I do this week? Knit one of my birthday friends a scarf. I made it from grey blue and burgundy wool, various colours and patterned strips of cotton fabric and blue satin that gave a very nice fringe like texture. It looks quite short here but in fact it was quite a long scarf.

Then of course I had the toddlers round for arts and crafts class. I did show them some Hans Arp mobiles but as it is the season to be jolly we made Christmas tree mobiles rather than find a deeper meaning of a blob. 

And then I was lucky at one of the school fairs where I had a stall. They were selling raffle tickets with the main prize Take That tickets. Now I have always been a fan of this band but recently I have developed deeper feelings for these guys and their music (one of them still single and living around the corner!). Call it mid-life crisis, but whatever keeps the girl happy, right? Anyway didn't win the tickets but got this gorgeous set from Moth, a lovely boutique in West Didsbury, Manchester. Green is one of my favourite colours so this will go so nicely with my outfits. 

Sew sew

A number of weeks ago Mr Betsy chose this fabulous sewing machine for me. My first electronic one (yep I had a few antique ones before that) was about 20 years old and gave up on me just after I finished some theatre costumes. Now it has taken me a while to open that box for various reasons (knitting, embroidery, domestic dramas) but today I got it out and sewn my first little pillow case on my new machine!! I was thrilled to bits, I've got a long list of things to do, amongst others sewing a lovely silk Christmas dress for girl monkey, and I can't wait to get going. 

I bought some lovely ribbons at the Contemporary Craft fair at Manchester Grammar School last week at the Selvedge stand and I will now be able to sew myself some long needed linen pillow cases.