Ukulele group identity

Our ukulele group is coming along quite nicely, not that we are much improved from when we first met just before Christmas but we do try!

I think at the last meeting we decided it might be a good idea to have a name and thus establishing ourselves as actually existing. I said I would have a go with a few ideas for a logo and I've scribbled down a few of the more obvious names like:

Bridlington Ukulele Group
Bridlington Ukulele Gang
Brid Ukes
Bridlington Strummers
Yorkshire Coast Ukes

And even a far out name like The Clambake Ukes. If you think this is odd, I looked in a thesaurus for a group or collective and the word "clambake" was there, it is an Americanism loosely meaning any social gathering (often by the sea), especially a noisy gathering...... hmmm, quite appropriate I thought for the racket we make!

Anyway we meet tonight so I will present the group with a selection and see what they think, here are a few

The Garden Room opens at RHS Harlow Carr Harrogate this weekend

Firstly I must apologise for the amount of photos I plan to attach but it is really to document my recent jewellery creations.

The weekend has finally arrived when a new exhibition blasts off featuring lots of new work from local artists and makers.

My friend, the uber talented textile artist Corinne Young, has devised and is curating this fabulous garden inspired exhibition which runs until the end of March. All the details about the exhibition and artists involved are featured on Corinne's blog.

http://stitchedgarden.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/the-garden-room-opens-this-weekend/

I've been busying myself making things in the windows of opportunity between a busy schedule of graphic design work and as well as the embroidered gloves and birds you may have seen on here recently I have a new range of tweed & felted Old Masters brooches.

Some of the jewellery has turned into necklaces and here they are packaged and ready to go.

Next we have the Old Masters range of flower vases and these are needle felted designs onto Harris Tweed.

The layers are built up and I only had one finger pricking incident!

I enjoyed slapping lots of different colours into these and here they are almost finished before turning into brooches or pendants.

I want to wish Corinne all the best as she's in for a busy and exciting fortnight. Hope the weather is kind too.

Thanks for sticking it out to the end if you made it and have a good weekend.

Rhubarb and a couple of other makes

Oddly enough we continue a bit of a pink theme here!

I had a nice surprise in the post the other day, a packet of pretty fat quarters as a prize for having a letter published in SEW magazine. You can never have too many fat quarters!

Over the weekend I made a few things. I bought my first packet of rhubarb this year and it's nice to try something different so I blasted off the rhubarb season with a recipe from Anne's blog at Marmalade and Catmint.  It's roasted rhubarb cupcakes and you can find all the details on this link to Anne's post rather than me copy it here.

http://anne-marmaladeandcatmint.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/return-from-oz-and-rhubarb-rhubarb.html

Here are my pictures of the cake making and I have to say they turned out lovely so thank you Anne for sharing something new.

Recently I've had a thing about wanting to make peg dolls, I used to enjoy making them as a kid and there are some wonderful examples on Pinterest of very sophisticated creations.

I really struggled to find some traditional pegs, and ended up with the peg doll kit for starters where you get a base to attach it onto. So I used that whilst I searched all my local shops and I did eventually find the proper dolly pegs so after this first attempt I will be having another go with a proper peg.

I've made her in pastel colours as a little Easter decoration.

I have also finished this pencil holder which is for my mum as a Mother's Day gift. I found the letter 'D' in a plain, pine state in a charity shop. I give it a lick of lilac paint and then decorated with felt bits.
I took inspiration from a napkin ring holder in an old copy of Making magazine which you can see here.

A pink post of purchases

It's March, brilliant, it's starting to feel a bit more spring like, and I feel a bit more positive.

I wouldn't say I'm a 'pink' girlie sort of person as purple and black is my favourite colour combination but every now and again a splash of pink is a lovely tonic.

In recent months I have gathered a few pink things, I'm sure it's nothing to get worried about and I will return to the gloom of black and purple soon! But just to show that I can be a bit more colourful I will show you my finds,

2 charity shop bargains, a pink shirt and a lovely soft, mohair jumper, both M&S so quite nice quality.
The pink fawn brooch was from a vintage shop in Bridlington called Behind The Times on Bridge St and well worth a look for some snazzy little vintage gifts and a pile of vintage fabric too.

Then we have this groovy pink plastic retro look Ikea chair, also a charity shop find for a fiver. It will look lovely one day when I have a nice new studio to set up in.

The cushion was from a cheapy shop in Brid and it's one of those cushions without a zip so no cleaning it, I might have to cut into it and add buttons or something so that I can wash it when needed.

From the same shop, I can't remember the name but it's in the Promenades shopping centre, are these fabulous storage boxes in the style of vintage books. Very much my type of thing with a collaged effect design, and cheap too from 1.99.

I'm all pinked out!
Have a good weekend everyone, hope you are in the fine weather zone :)