Handmade Monday 88 – Plethora of Pumpkins

Welcome to this week’s Handmade Monday, if you’d like to take part or spend your Monday evening relaxing and reading lots of beautiful crafty blogs, then pop over to Handmade Harbour and find out more!

Yesterday fortunately dawned bright and sunny, as I was going to the last outdoor event of the season – The Annual Pumpkin Festival, which raises funds for the fantastic Jubilee Sailing Trust.They have 2 beautiful tall ships, the only ones in the world fully adapted to that anyone can crew them, regardless of ability or disability. I’d love to do this one day myself as it would really challenge me to overcome some fears that I know sometimes hold me back from doing new things! Although I think I’d need to be sure I could pschologically cope with being hoisted onto the ship in my wheelchair first!

Its a great day out for the whole family and celebrates the skill of growers of enormous pumpkins and the creative flair of the scarecrow makers. My mini scarecrow sold before I’d got a chance to get a quick snap – in fact I was still setting up the table – so although I designed a pattern to share with you today I now need to whip up another so you can see what the finished make will look like….

Ready to Go

To say the day was a “Comedy of Errors” is pretty accurate though! I’d left my daughter to pack the car whilst I sorted out a few last minute bits and pieces and we set off, picking up her boyfriend enroute to help her put up the gazebo – poor lad had no idea what he was letting himself in for as she is somewhat bossy and her slight aspergers means that things have to be done her way! What I’d overlooked was her associated memory issues and not checked with her that everything was in the car – hence her first sentence – when I’d safely driven over some lovely mud, arrived at my pitch and they’d started unloading-  was “Mum, did you pick up the covering for the gazebo?” – I should know better really as I’m well aware that she often thinks something and then assumes she’s told me and there is no way I can lift let alone carry the gazebo cover without ending up in a heap on the floor so I definitely would have responded to such a request :-)!

Rolled Roses

 

Going home wasn’t an option as there was no way I could get back and set up the stall in time. But with Tesco being nearby we got their number off the internet and rung to see if they might have one gathering dust in a clearance zone but no such luck. So after sending up a quick prayer I remembered there was a camping shop about 6 miles away, next door to HobbyCraft. So having left the poor boyfriend guarding the space and unpacked stock, we set off and fortunately got the last one in the shop! When we got back all the nearby parking was gone and I could see from the mud that I would need to at least attempt walking and pushing the wheelchair like a walking frame to avoid getting totally bogged down, so we chatted up a parking attendant and got a spot off to the side of the site, just about in walking distance to the stand space. The gazebo was soon up and the stall was set up and we were ready to go!

The rest of the day was lovely, and a huge deluge of rain and hail at lunchtime, meant I had about 15 people crowded into my gazebo and had a lovely time chatting to a little boy who was amazed by ice from the skies! As the old gazebo had a tendency to be a touch leaky, I was quite relieved that I’d got a new one!

I got to chat to lots of people, made some sales, gave out some fliers for events and helped a couple of fellow yarn addicts work out how to finish off projects they were working on. Its made me think that I need to spend some time early in the New Year getting my patterns written up properly and popping them in my online shop – currently empty and in need of revamp – and also having some printed off and available for sale at fairs.

My daughter also went walkabout around the stalls and handed out leaflets to promote the next Craft Fair on Nov 3rd – I’ve been busy creating a page for it and Rozi, a very talented volunteer at 3AC has also made a fab video of the last fair which you can have a peek at on Facebook.

I’d spent most of last week experimenting with orange yarn and crochet hooks to create a variety of little pumpkins. I mounted the majority on keyrings, used one for the Scarecrow’s head and also used one for a pumpkin pin cushion. I’d also made a little headband but managed to leave it at home on my craft table, but as I’m not 100% happy with the finish that’s probably no bad thing. And as you see from the pic on the right, I also had “pumpkin breaks” and made up a batch of rolled roses.

But I’m digressing again….. The day finished pretty well until the gazebo took off when being taken down and snapped through a joint, but the good news is that its fixable! We had lots of fun getting me back to the car though as the mud was worse by then and had been churned up by the cars. My legs had got to the point of industrial action and my balance was just about gone, so walking wasn’t an option. But fortunately a lovely chap came along and pulled whilst Lucy pushed until we got me onto drier ground. I’ve got a lovely pile of very muddy laundry – including cardigan as everytime I tried to help by wheeling myself, the wheelrims were also covered and so I had mud all over my hands and lower arms-  to do plus a wheelchair to hose down today but it was definitely worth it to support such a worthwhile organisation and have a lovely, fun day! And I felt like I’d had a micro experience of Glastonbury courtesy of the mud lol!