I’m so lucky to have good friends such as Sheila who has donated three flags to the cause. They’re gorgeous on both sides I don’t know how I’ll choose which side to use. Sheila has also recycled some materials.
There’s a little heart with musical notes on it at the bottom of the pink flag and this is the detail my daughter loves best – she is quite musical. Sheila has given us sparkles, sequins and crochet for texture. The flag collection is going to be so good. Thank you Sheila.
I’ve received another flag delivery and this time it’s pictoral. The lovely flag below came from Lynne another Yorkshire girl. I’ve been focussing on pattern and colour so was very pleasantly surprised to receive one with a picture on it. Thank you Lynne.
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before but yesterday I went through my stash of felt to see if anything was suitable to use for the bunting. Luckily I found a few but there wasn’t any bling so I sat and sewed some sequins on.
I really like this last one and it pushes my bunting total to 34.
We’re at the half way stage, thirty flags! The excitement level raises each time the postman calls and today has been no exception. First up are the two flags from Heather in America. Heather has included angelina fibres in the purple one and glued crystals on the pink one for extra bling. As a mum of four girls Heather well remembers the 13th birthdays.
I was also delighted to receive the flag below from Els in the Netherlands. It’s beautiful colours and has loads of texture with the use of quite chunky pre-felts.
They’re fantastic – thank you both. It’s wonderful having different people involved in this project as each flag is so different. You’re all putting such effort in that I’m ashamed to say I was in donkey mode doing mine – head down, plodding away. But I feel rejuvenated and am definitely going to try harder to make mine more interesting.
It was so exciting to get the post and receive my first few frlags. The one below is from Trudis in Spain and has been stitched with a sparkly thread and outlined with yellow gold glass beads which really sing against the lovely orange flag. Not only that but Trudis has beaded both sides of the flag and included a little something extra which will stay a secret for now.
Next up are flags from Lucie. Not content with one Lucie from the Netherlands has made four! They’re a beautiful bright orange with wool pebbles, Arjen art yarn and firestar for sparkle. I’ve not come across firestar before but I’m glad I have now, it’s got loads of shine. I must remember that for future projects.
The flags are gorgeous, thank you both so much. My flag total now stands at 27
I promised to show you a picture of the bunting flag I was kniting and here it is.
I don’t know what was going on but I did undo it several times and yet this was still the best I could do. It’s lurex and it was awful stuff to work with. It slips around all over the place and somehow I didn’t notice dropping a stitch so I think I’ll not use it as is but will put it into a felt flag. It has all the appeal of a dishrag. I nearly gave up with knitting at this point but my next yarn was more successful.
Even though I thought crocheting might be easier I didn’t see how I could do it with this fancy yarn, you can’t see the stitches so I stuck with knitting. It’s worked out well, so well I made another one.
They might not look it in the photos but this fancy yarn is slightly sparkly and it feels lovely to stroke as well. That now brings my total of completed flags to twenty two. I’ll keep you updated as more come along.
People are being so generous with their time and resources making bunting for my daughter’s birthday, it makes me feel quite humble and very grateful to know such lovely people and count them as friends. Heather was the first to weigh in with a promise for two pieces which are now on their way to me. However, if you’d like a sneak preview of what’s in store then do visit Heather’s blog where you’ll be sure of a warm welcome.
Well, what a great week. Your response to my plea for help with bunting for my daughter’s birthday is wonderful. It’s heart warming to realise what a lot of helpful, co-operative and generous people exist out there and I’m so lucky because some of them actually read my blog!
So far there are flags coming from three continents and with each pledge of a flag my daughter’s grin gets ever wider. To know that the bunting now has more chance of being finished on time and each time we use it we’ll remember friends across the world is an amazing thought.
Heather has jumped in feet first with a promise of two, Kate was quick to offer loans of bunting, Reduce Footprints has really helped to get the message out, Mary Anne gave me an idea for quick sparkles (spray paint and glitter), Florcita is very busy but is determined to help if she can , Tiffane has promised two and Trudis a dutch feltmaker living in Spain has offered to make one.
Trudis is so quick she’s already made her flag and blogged about it too but she’s not the only one who’s been busy. Lucie promised one, has made four which are already making their way to me and has sent me a photo. Here they are.
Aren’t they great! I never realised so many different people were reading my blog and it’s taken me to visit some really lovely blogs too, a benefit of this project that I hadn’t foreseen. I’ll keep updating you as new flags arrive or are promised and I’ll show you my pathetic attempt at crocheting a flag. It’s really not going well.
I have quite enough to do so why do I do it? My daughter will be thirteen next birthday and wants to have a party in the garden with bunting and lots of candles. Candles – easy, I’m just saving all my jam jars of course. Although she;d really like them to be all different colours so there will be more work involved. I’m already wondering if I should paint them or just wrap them in tissue paper. Undoubtedly if I paint them I’ll end up doing designs rather than just colours because I always create more work for myself. Why do I do it?
There are lots of places to buy bunting and she’d be delighted with it but oh no, I have to decide that I will make the bunting and that if I’m doing it there’ll have to be lots of it. So I’ve worked out that I need a minimum of 60 flags to make the bunting. Easy you might think and it would be if I got out my sewing machine, but of course, I haven’t. I am a feltmaker so obviously I’ve chosen to make them from hand rolled felt. Again, it wouldn’t be so bad if I made large pieces and cut them up, I’d have the requisite sixty quite quickly.
No, in my wisdom I’ve decided that each flag must be different (like who’s looking that closely?) and they will be in colour only, no neutrals (even harder for myself). Did I stop there? No, I went on to decide that as they’d be used at night I’d like some sparkle on each one to reflect all these flickering candles I’ve yet to make holders for. Why do I do it? I have realised that if I put the sparkle in during felting then I won’t be sat there sewing on sequins later which would be another task on the list. I’ve used sparkly yarns, sparkly fabrics and angelina fibres where I can.
As soon as I had the idea I began to make a flag whenever I had a few minutes to spare and I now have twenty flags. It felt good to reach the one third stage but now, I’m still busy with other things and the two thirds yet to do seem to be looming larger every day. Here’s the ones I’ve done already.
Not brillinat photos but the light’s not good today, there’s a very brisk breeze and the cats kept helping so it’s the best I can mange for now.
I’m beginning to crack, maybe I should include knitting and crochet in the production methods as I could use some sparkly yarns and they would still be wool. So okay I’ve cracked, knitting and crochet are included and that will increase my potential working hours as I could crochet whilst watching TV in an evening. The bunting doesn’t have to be ready until early October but the school holidays are rapidly approaching and I have a show coming up next month for which I need to do work, so time may be in shorter supply than I’d like. Plus of course we will go away on holiday and if I try to take my feltmaking kit with me I’m sure words will be had. Reckon I can sneak in some crochet though 
If any of you lovely people would like to: donate oddments of sparkly yarns; knit or crochet a flag or make a felt flag for inclusion then I would be absolutely chuffed and delighted to accept it. Not because it’s less for me to do but because I love the idea of including flags from different people and I’ll be reminded of those people each time the bunting is used. In return, you’ll go on a roll of honour on my blog and I promise faithfully to contribute to a project of yours whenever the madness seizes you and you’re sat with your head in your hands saying Why do I do it?
I know of course why I do it – I’m a besotted Mum and despite the extra work I think it’ll be fun. If you’d like to jon in and I hope some of you do, the flag should be approximately 8″ (20cm) wide at the top and 8″ from the top to the tip of the point. Any suggestions on other ways of including sparkle are also welcome.
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