Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan in 1955

Elizabeth Allan was a well known British actress and film star of the 1940's who made the transition to TV, becoming a popular panellist on the biggest hit of 1950's British TV, 'What's My Line'. She was beautiful, elegant, witty and known for wearing remarkable jewellery. She was also voted Top Female TV Personality of 1952 - the year before I was born - an era when there were not that many people who even had a TV!

This is another great film from the free films available on the British Film Institute's (BFI) National Archive on You Tube. There are hundreds from all eras and well worth having a scroll through. I picked this one to accompany yesterday's offering becuse it's still about tea... my favourite, favourite drink. I drink far too much of it but even I am not as frugal as Elizabeth. She looks like such a class act but she'll tell you that one tea bag can produce between 4 - 6 cups of tea. Now, I like it weak, but I don't want to be No 6 in the queue!

Everything stops for tea

I just found this. I am still laughing. It is priceless. You'll never dunk that tea bag in a mug ever again without a pang of guilt. Make a cup, put your feet up for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Bee prepared

It's my husband's birthday in a couple of weeks and I bought his present this week. I got him a stethoscope. Now, he's not a doctor and before you ask, no, I did not get the nurse's outfit to go with it.... he wanted one for his bees! He is not intending to check their health individually but it is going to be put to use to check on their collective wellbeing.

In the coming weeks he will need to check they are all OK without disturbing them and the stethoscope, put to the hive, will let him hear the encouraging thrum of lots of honey bees keeping each other warm inside. This is an idea we picked up from Mustard Plaster, a wonderful blog I've been reading regularly for over a year now. It's an eclectic mix of bees, chickens and vegetable gardening and a fascinating read. I often can't resist watching this video of the vegetables and bees of summer 2007. It always makes me smile. I defy you not to do the same.

Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend

This weekend is the annual date for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. All you have to do is count the birds in your garden or park or wherever you are for just one hour on either Saturday 30th or Sunday 31st. Even if you see nothing, that is still valuable information. The data will help spot trends in the increase or decline of our native and migrant birds.

We've been completing it for a number of years and sadly, this year we will record a big decline in yellowhammers. We've been lucky to see lots in recent winters but to date, I've seen just one. Mind you, I've also seen only one wren this winter as well and they are now Britain's commonest bird according to an article I read the other day, so any data will obviously be useful.

Go here to find out more and download a recording sheet. If you have a spare hour, please give it a thought.

Nuno - part two!

I enjoyed myself so much yesterday I decided to make inroads into that horde of scarves I've got. I remember paying about 50p for this viscose scarf, thinking it was a bit twee for me but I liked the pale blue and cream colour combination. So, this morning, in a very cold shed, I got the circulation going by setting it out as before and then making lots of circles of white fleece to lay on the top.

This can be quite a contemplative process as it takes about an hour to do enough to cover a 6 foot scarf. In the freezing cold of my shed it was a tedious process and my hands were nearly blue with the cold but I knew the finished result could be well worth it.

After fully wetting it out as before I rolled the scarf complete with bubblewrap around a piece of foam tubing. Some people use the things to aid swimming. I use the pipe lagging from the DIY store. Same difference. It's firm yet pliable.

After many, many rolls I was very warm. It's great for getting the circulation going on a cold day. Folllowed by a lot of throwing and chucking about to shock the felt and hey presto, I had another scarf. This one is lovely and I am very pleased with it but I'm going to give the nuno a rest for a few days as my shoulders are feeling the brunt of all that physical activity!

Going to go back and finish a few sewing projects that are crying out for completion. Must stop jumping into one thing whilst there are still things outstanding - like these little purses that I neglected for a few days because I couldn't get the buttonholes right.

I found the tutorial for this on the lovely blog, Mackville Road. Scroll down the sidebar on the right and it's easy to find . Diane's looks a lot better than mine and she adds a piece of felt to the front for needles as the tutorial is for a sewing bag. I used both lightweight and curtain weight fabric and think it might have been easier with two lightweight cottons.

I finally got my machine to play ball with making the buttonholes but the first one I did was too long and the second one was too short, making the button look off centre. This is why I positioned it a bit behind the other in the photo! Somehow I don't think I'll make any more. They are lovely to have and to use but if I have to get the buttonhole foot out again I shall scream. In our head to head the machine is winning at the moment but if I finish some of my outstanding projects I'll feel like I'm getting a little bit even with it.

Time to nuno

When I was in town doing my shopping chores this morning I popped into the charity shop and found this lovely silk scarf for £1.95. It sort of reminded me of a 1950's textile pattern and black and red is a favourite combination of mine too. Now, I am always buying either silk or viscose scarves when I see them, never paying more than a couple of pounds for them and keeping them in a box planning one day to felt into them. This is a technique known as nuno felt and it is supposedly an advanced technique but I have run workshops where beginners have dyed a scarf and then nuno felted it at their first attempt. So, having established that I have quite a few of these scarves, why buy another? Good question. Can't answer it. Just wanted to do some felting after having a clear out yesterday and realising just how much fibre I still have to use up. Thought I'd document the process in case anyone would like to try it. As you can see the scarf is laid out on bubble wrap (bubble side up) with a towel underneath it. My table in the shed is 6 foot long so you will be able to calculate the shrinkage later. Silk works best but any fabric that you can blow through and feel your breath will take this technique.

I decided to lay the fibre just down the centre and laid out two fine, thin layers at right angles to each other, on one side only. The next step is to wet the fibre. I use a milk bottle with holes punched in the top and sprinkle the water on. In contrast to traditional wet felting you don't want the water too hot. If it is, the wool will felt too quickly and you need time to encourage the fibres to migrate through the warp and weft of the scarf, so lukewarm to cool is the best option, plus a dash of washing up liquid. A lot of felters use olive oil soap but I am not worried about the archival issues and have never had a problem.

Once the fibre is wet I fold the other half of the bubble wrap over on top and use my hands to make sure everything is well wetted.I spent a few minutes doing this and then rolled the whole thing around a foam tube and rolled it back and forth. I forgot to photograph this bit as I was engrossed in the rolling process. You have to count as you do it and I rolled about 300 times - feltmaking is not for the weak and wimpy. No wonder I have biceps like Popeye! After testing to see if the fibre has started to adhere to the scarf you fold it and start throwing it on the table. First you fold it fibre side inwards. Then you change it all around. The knack is to keep folding and throwing and it is the shock of this process that causes the wool to felt. In truth I also have a secret weapon which is a converted sander. I used that a little bit today because I made three scarves on the trot but it is mainly brute strength that gets the job done.

It's a good idea at the sandwich stage to refresh the felt in alternating baths of hot and cold water. This also adds to the shock factor and gets the process going. I often whack it on the table from a great height because I love the noise but the spray does tend to get everywhere and you're up to your knees in water if you're not careful. Anyway, I made three scarves today and felt physically tired (no pun intended) so decided to 'finish' them off in the washing machine. After a fast wash cycle at 60 degrees here is my finished scarf.

Remembering that I started off with a 6 foot scarf I have achieved about 25% shrinkage but I love the way the fabric puckers and crinkles with the felt coming through it.

This green scarf was a polyester/viscose one. I put it on the sewing machine and stitched the long sides together loosely. When I laid it out I put the seam uppermost in the middle and made lots of circles of fibre, laying them out on both sides down the centre. I felted this until it was just holding together and then threw it in the machine with the other two.

The circles have felted together in a lovely organic way and again, it has shrunk by about 25% . I am happy with both of them but the third scarf was a disaster. Par for the course with me these days. This one I felted completely on one side and I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, the washing machine was a step too far and it has shrunk so much it won't fit round a doll's neck even. As I never pay much for the scarves I shall chalk it up to experience but I've been doing this for so long I should know better.

I might do a few more tomorrow but I found an old project while I was up the shed and it has taken my interest again.... and I still have those buttonholes to try to do to finish sewing my little remnant purses. Might do that now while I'm in the mood. After being caught out by the washing machine, I'm going to show the sewing machine who's boss!

Alma

Found via Articles and Texticles. This is dark, dark, dark. I loved it but don't show it to children-especially if they're called Alma.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.