The Chelsea Flower Show was amazing

Yesterday I went for my first every trip to the Chelsea Flower Show it was amazing. I loved every minute, it was so exciting. 

The secret sewing I've been working on over the last few weeks can now be revealed. I made this jacket using a cacti print for my friend Vicky. We found the fabric in February and thought it would be perfect for her Chelsea outfit this year. She is co owner of Craig House Cacti with Stan her partner, who are exhibiting at the show. 

Their display was awarded another Gold Medal, their fifth at Chelsea.  It was a great display, as usual.  They were very busy while I was there with a lot of people stopping to admire their stand and to buy cacti and seeds from them.

  
Stan has a waistcoat in the same fabric.  It was a challenge to work on because the pattern repeat was so big, getting all the pattern pieces from the fabric we bought was difficult.  But I think they both look very grand and complimented their beautiful plants very well. 

The rest of the show

There was so much to see, all the show gardens were wonderful.  Here are some of my photos, I took over 50, so I will just show a few.

The Massachusetts Garden caught my eye because of the leather appliqué, it was beautiful, such a great combination of artistry in this garden, it is very inspiring.

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The garden I liked the most was the RBC Blue Water Roof Garden. Which is a vision for an urban rooftop garden.  It was full of good ideas and biodiversity.

I just loved the living wall and the clever use of shapes in the design.

As well as the way the circular shapes for the natural habitat feature was constructed.

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Finally the photo I took which I liked the most was this one of the M & G Centenary Garden, there is something about this picture that makes me pleased it is my photo.

A day out at Rockingham Castle

Our friend is visiting us from Germany, yesterday we went for a day trip to Rockingham Castle. It was a great day out.

Rockingham is a wonderful castle, still lived in by the family who owns it, but is open to the public.  It's well worth a visit.  The castle if full of amazing things, there are beautiful glass chandeliers and wall lights in one room that are stunning.

The local Embroider's Guild have restored some exquisite embroideries in another room, they look beautiful now they are complete.  The wood work is outstanding, carved pieces and lots of marquetry  It was a pity photography was not allowed inside the castle. I would have liked to photograph the embroideries in particular.  But outside I make up for it.

A view from the castle grounds.

We climbed to the top of this tower to enjoy the panorama.

At the top we could see for miles

 During my visit I found lots of inspiration for my sewing work, designs and ideas from the natural environment at the castle inspired me. I could not resist taking the following pictures.

Growing on the walls the moss and ivy looked lovely in the sunshine.

The textures in this photo just want to be transformed into an embroidery! 

The patterns, shapes and colours of the bricks are so varied here. More inspiration.

I can't help but be amazed at nature, roots above ground make a wonderful pattern.

Even when nature takes over, this branch still looks good, what an amazing texture the tree now has. 

Oh! yes, I have been sewing, a lot recently, but I could not blog about it as what I've been doing is a secret at the moment still.   Over the last three weeks I have been making an outfit for a lady who is going to a wedding, a lovely green dress and jacket.  And also I've made something special for my friends to wear to the Chelsea Flower Show, but the photos of that will be in my next blog

A great day out at the Quilt & Stitch Show in Uttoxeter

On Sunday I travelled to Uttoxeter to attend my first Quilt and Stitch show, it was excellent.   There were lots of great store holders, who all had some good products for sale.

I stopped and spoke to lots of lovely ladies and their husbands, who complimented me on my patchwork jacket.  It was good to meet you all and to learn about what you are sewing.  It quite made my day meeting so many really great people who just loved to talk about sewing.  I can't wait until  the next Quilt show to meet some of you again. The Quilts on display were amazing so much hard work goes into them, it's a pity everyone can't win a prize!

This is the African Fabric Shop stand, where I'd previously bought the blue fabric for my waistcoat last year.  I stopped by to show Magie my finished waistcoat and to enquire about getting some fabric to make a matching pair of trousers.  www.africanfabrics.co.uk   for details of the wonderful fabrics  they sell.

These two enthusiastic ladies are from ZigZags a company offering workshops and courses for Creative Textiles, their web site is well worth a visit, they supply all kinds of lovely art items as well are running courses. www.zigzagonline.co.uk 

This is Hany AbdelKader, he came over from Cairo, Egypt especially to demonstrate his skills at the show.  The quality of his work is excellent, the applique wall-hangings he stitches are wonderful. 

He has just opened his own shop and is now developing his own personal designs.  The tiny stitches he does are almost invisible and the speed he sews at, is quite remarkable.  For more information about his work explore www.khayamiya.com 

Yes, I did buy something, I have just designed a new patchwork jacket, that I want to work on over the summer months. The fabric I found to make the jacket is perfect, just what I was looking for.

This came from Castle Court Quilters in Oswestry. 

Finally the  two books I bought are wonderful, really pleased with them from Kaleidoscope Books, full of interesting projects and ideas to develop over the coming months.  www.kalquilts.com

         The Complete Photo Guilde to Textile Art by Susan Stein
          The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff

I think I might be very busy for a while now!