A Right Royal Weekend & A Little Bit of Crafting

I have well and truly felt very very proud to be British this week with all the Diamond Jubilee celebrations going on around the country. Everywhere you look everyone seems to be participating and playing a part in the celebrations. Every day this week one of the local villages has been holding their own street parties and the children have all been presented with their own jubilee mugs as a momento of the occasion.

As I watched the Queen on the royal barge with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing I felt a small tear well up that we come from such a wonderful country and that only the British can do such a wonderful display of pageantry.

The local town looked stunning with every shop and street displaying its bunting.

Karen from the local pub painted her nails for the occasion, goodness only knows how she did this all by herself!

Here on the hill we have played our own small part with the decorations

Some I made to decorate the kitchen

These are actually always in my bathroom. The flags were found in the attic of my great aunt's house when we were clearing it out and I think they are from V.E. day and although they are very fragile and a little faded I think they are perfect!

My lovely friend Helen made this bunting to fly across her courtyard. She has made hundreds of double sided little flags in florals and stripes and these will look wonderful displayed for any occasion. As you can see from the picture it was a little dull on the day she put them up and definitely a little blustery!

I have also been doing a little Jubilee baking for our local party

and a little crocheting.

Well what outfit isn't just made complete with a little handmade brooch. Isn't it cute, I lovely the versatility of Rowan handknit cotton for these little projects.

This lovely little vintage brooch was a 50 pence bargain from my weekly visit to the local collectors market

I was given by one of the stallholders two vintage coronation medals to go in my memory cabinet

Here is a little red oil lamp I found to match the blue one I bought a few weeks ago, both are now sitting in my kitchen window.

And our real extravagance this weekend was an antique french clock that my husband and I (ohh that sounds rather regal ) saw and thought that it would be a good investment along with looking stunning here at The Castle.

Apart from my crochet Jubilee brooch and a little bit of bunting I have made this week the only other thing I have done is yet another tea cosy!

This week I took inspiration from my new Poppy Treffry book.

It has been lined and wadded to keep the pot warm, and although I don't think that Poppy Treffry has anything to worry about at the moment, this is quite a good attempt for my very first go at freestyle machine embroidery.

I must say that the bit I am most proud of is my name, I had one attempt on a scrap piece of fabric before launching into my lovely linen and hoping that I didn't go wrong and spoil the fabric, but here it is a real Ta-Dah, it looks great and just finishes it off to show that it is all my own work :)

Although I can see that I do need more practice on the machine, I did actually really love doing this project and in the words of Kirstie Allsopp machine embroidery is the cocaine of the crafting world!

Have a lovely time off work and enjoy your own Diamond Jubilee Celebrations!

Claire xx