Local craft-and-coffee

A few months ago, Mr Namasi and I moved from a town with an estimated population of 50,000 (75,000, if you include the rest of the borough) to a village with a population of fewer than 900. There is no shop, no post office, and only one pub in the village. 

And I love it. I'd like to see out my days here.

We have made an effort to engage with the community: attending the various functions at the local church, eating in the local pub, joining the FB group, etc. I started a chapter of nextdoor, a UK based online community site, which automatically connects members within close proximity to each other.

I also started a monthly craft-and-coffee. Although I offer 1:1 and small group sessions, for which I charge, I also wanted to have some sessions which were just about engaging and sharing.

So far, we've had three get-togethers. For the first one, we each brought our own projects and talked about what crafts we like to do. One of the ladies brought along a beautiful mixed media wall hanging she'd made. 

So, for the next session, we explored that. Here are the two pieces I made (I should point out that I continued the work at home - I didn't manage all that in two hours!)

Mixed media cushion cover

'Garden' (now framed and for sale)

Yesterday was our third session, and we made Madonna-and-child models out of reclaimed materials (and polyfilla). I had made one of these some years ago, so I was able to concentrate on guiding the rest of the group through the process. It was wonderfully messy, and the results are now drying in my studio, where they will be collected when ready to be transported.

Have a look at these photos and see if you can identify where and how each of the following items has been used:

• piece of MDF or stiff card
• 2l plastic bottle
• newspaper
• plastic shopping bags
• dowel stick or length of bamboo
• old cotton bed sheet
• wire coathanger

Not looking like much, yet

Getting there

And here they are, drying in my studio.

Next time, we'll be making needle felted robins, like this one. Because I don't have the equipment to facilitate this one myself, I have enlisted the aid of Eve Louise Newman (Eve's Gifted Paradise). 

If you're local to the Wellingborough/Kettering area, and would like to join in, please contact me to find out more.