Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty six

 Week twenty six complete and additional band added for the start of Tour de Fleece on Saturday. As you can see I'm nearly ready to start a new band which will be attached at some point in the future.

Final TDF prep 2026

 Here we are, poised to start spinning on Saturday morning. Most of my bobbins are empty, just one on the Victoria that I need to finish and ply but I will be ready.

My fibre choices are  a little different this year, I have the usual selection of Ryeland, Jacob, texel, Shetland etc all combed and ready to go.

I also have some more commercial fibres ( I know, so not like me ! ) including this selection from world of wool as I couldn't resist the colours. 50gm of each to be spun as a 4ply weight for some fair isle knitting.

I also have a selection from Petes Fibre Studio on facebook just because I love how his dyeing has progressed over the years. These may end up as a holiday spin later in the year if I don't get round to them during TDF

Usually we end up with a couple of festivals in July but this year they are later in the year so I will be looking at local locations to spin. I will be getting my senior bus pass halfway through so I may be heading out a little further around Nottingham.

As usual posts will be either daily or 2/3 days depending on how busy I am, wish me luck :-)

Nottingham Puppet Festival

 We may have been experiencing a heatwave here in the UK but the temperature dropped slightly on Saturday making it more tolerable for wandering round with my camera. I must admit that my camera is now over eight years old and at some point will need replacing but its survived being dropped multiple times, being shoved into any old bag, pocket etc regardless of whatever else is in there and is showing some battle wounds these days. 

I've been looking for a replacement but most of the cameras that I like are really to heavy for me to carry or even hold steady so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one keeps on going. The local camera shop has recommended that I repair rather than replace as these sort of compact cameras with multiple features are now longer around having been superseded by camera phones. I don't want something that does all the work for me, sometimes I like to play with shutter speed, Fstop etc.

Anyway, back to the puppets. May I introduce the Worker Bee and Queen Bee by Global Groves

The amazing Queen Bee

Icarus Wings by Laura Mathews Art

a wandering dragon , I think by Keep Drawing Charlie

Wild Beasts of Silly by Made by Raccoons

The Hare by Global Grooves

Now, I'm really not sure who these guys are but the fish was entertaining, I even got to pat his/her head.

Free Flying Giant Puppet Birds by City Arts, The silk feathers were hand painted in workshops led by Jessica and celebrate community collaboration.

not to forget Kantaben the Roller Bird by Global Grooves

My apologises to all the other wonderful puppets that were around, I didn't get to see them all and eventually gave up due to needing coffee haha

I did make a new friend though whilst enjoying the green space near the library.

 

Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty five

 

 

Week 25, halfway there !! I've been busy and have just about finished the hemming on the next fabric strip. I think I may get a couple more bands on this one but I'm going to try and chart a band to represent the tour de fleece starting so that may take up a bit more space.

This has been fun and I've found it much easier to keep up with than the monthly SAL's as inspite of getting patterns more often they do feel a lot more doable in the time given.

Exploring the Cumbria coast - Silloth , a walk around the town and I find some stitching (eventually)

 We had booked ourselves into a holiday park for three nights at Silloth, yep the full works, cafe, swimming pool, bar, entertainment etc although the only part that we really used was the cafe. The touring section was quiet and to be honest the facilities were a little dated but very clean. The confusing thing was that in the ladies section there were just two showers ( one with the light not working ), a disabled wet room then five bathrooms with baths !! We've seen the occasional family room with a bath on new campsites but this was an interesting set up given that most people would ( I assume ) opt for a shower these days.

The touring section, fortunately, wasn't busy so we didn't have to queue for a shower.

All the facilities in the entertainment block were modern and clean, the staff were amazingly friendly and we would go back again if we were in the area. It was just the bathrooms haha, reminded us of a campsite in Scotland where the sinks etc seemed to be from the 50's

As ever, campsite location is the important thing for us and on this trip there were eight campsite and seven of them were within an easy walk of the nearest town. The other was a walk in but a bus back which isn't so bad.

Silloth was developed from the 1850,s when the new docks and railway were built.  The Port of Silloth's main cargoes are wheat, fertiliser, molasses and general cargo so the air has a different fragrance as you walk by depending on which cargo is being unloaded.

The large building by the dockside is a Victorian flour mill built in 1887, Carr's flour mill supplies flour to many bakeries and confectioners including United Biscuits and Warburtons.

You can just see part of the original mill building now surrounded by more recent additions.

The town still retains the cobble streets (we could hear the HGV's heading to and from the port from our van) and buildings.

this was formerly the Majestic Cinema

There are a few cafes, the one in the Post office buildings was very good and this one pictured below was quirky, you had to ring a small 'fairy bell' at your table to order.

On the green at the sea front there was a solitary amusement arcade where we took time to waste a few small coins and watch the storm clouds gather over Scotland  which is on the other side of the estuary.

Also on the green were the millennium mosaic, fascinating to try and spot local buildings and businesses.

A sculpture of a Lockheed Hudson bomber stands on the green as a memorial to a number of these planes had sadly crashed into the bay during WW11 giving the bay the local name of Hudson Bay. The sculpture was erected in 2018 to celebrate the 100t birthday of the RAF and to remember the towns former airfield that was used for the training of air crews and the maintenance and repair of aircraft during the war.

Meanwhile, back in town, doorway mosaics catch my eye and the church appears to be open.

As I approached the church I realised that a service had just finished and was about to leave when the vicar spotted me and insisted that I join the congregation for coffee !

Finding it hard to hard to resist and I'm so glad that I did as the inside of the building was different to most of the churches that I pop into on my travels.

It almost reminds me of a railway station and I found stitching in the form of hassocks and cross stitch or tapestry.

I do recognise the style of some of these designs but many have been designed to show local buildings etc.

I also apologise for the poor quality of the photos due to reflections.

many thanks to the parishioners of Christ Church Silloth for making me feel so welcome.