After writing about my Mum's embroidery last time, I remembered another picture from the 1950s to show you. I found this one in an antique shop and, as you can see, it commemorates the Festival of Britain of 1951.
It's an interesting design. On the left are pictures representing 1851 when the Great Exhibition was held, the modern equivalents are on the right. Of course, things that would have seemed very modern in 1951 now look dated to modern eyes.
Near the top right is Battersea Power Station which was certainly a great advance on the windmill. I remember the power station still working but now Battersea is a shopping centre. I also like the horses ploughing on the left and what is now a very old tractor to the right. My Dad was a tractor driver in the 1950s and 60s; I remember watching the harvest and thinking how nice it was they'd put his name on his tractor ... how was I to know that 'David Brown' was also a make of tractor?
The embroidery is a bit stained and has been damp at some point. I must clean it and find it a frame; it deserves to be on display.
I also wanted to tell you about a couple of Christmas patterns that I've managed to finish recently. The first one is a crochet version of paper chains where each chain buttons on to the next so that the colours can be swapped round. I've put this together as an advent calendar for myself and thought others might like to make one too.
I wound 24 little balls of yarn, each with a matching button in the middle and wrapped them all in tissue paper. Then I added numbered tags so that I can make one chain a day during advent. If you'd like the pattern, it's available free on ravelry - Advent Chain. There aren't any photos of the finished chain as I've only made one so far to work out the pattern. I'll show you how it's coming along next month.
As you can see, I also crocheted a drawstring bag to hold all those balls of yarn. Needless to say, this was much more complicated than the chains and took a while to make. I learnt how to crochet a nice cord though so that was fun. I think my favourite bit of this bag is probably the little crocheted snowballs on the ends of the cords. The pattern for the bag is published separately and would make a nice gift or project bag if you don't happen to have 24 tiny balls of yarn in need of a home.
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| Advent Chain Bag |
My other festive pattern is yet another wreath. I think this might be the fifth one I've designed and it's the smallest of the lot, being only about 20 cm / 8" wide. Despite that, it took me more than two years to design this one, my Long Covid kept getting in the way. So it's a great relief to have finally finished it.
The decorations on Christmas Cheer are all inspired by festive food and drink. Well, apart from the fairy lights. I needed something to fill in the background and they added some colour to the design. The pattern for covering the wreath is available now; the six sets of decorations will be published on alternate days, starting on 1st December with those fairy lights. If I can get them written, there will also be a short blog post to accompany each pattern, talking about my inspiration for each of them.
There's not much progress to report on my new bedroom as I'm now waiting for my bed and mattress to be made. They should be ready in a few weeks so I'm hoping to move in before Christmas. In the meantime, I've finished re-vamping the floor and have moved my desk and chair back in.
It's actually my daughter's desk (an old double school desk I bought her years ago) but she says I can keep it for the time being. I also found some tiebacks for my new curtains. Did you know you can get magnetic ones now? Well, I didn't. What a clever idea.
The other thing I've done is to work on the bedroom door which was chipped, dirty and battered from years of furniture moving and general living. Doesn't it look nice now?
Would you believe, all I did was fill in the chips with a dark wood stain felt pen and then give it a polish with a dark beeswax? A bit of Brasso on the door knob and it looks beautiful. I'm very pleased with my 'new' door.
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