How much fun

can a person have in church? I have just spent a really great weekend on my knees in the chancel of Barrowby Church doing brass rubbings (well, not quite all weekend). Some kind soul gave me a hassock to kneel on and off I went. I had never done any brass rubbing before but it is really therapeutic, especially when accompanied by Josh Grogan on a CD, followed by an assortment of relaxing classics. Lovely.

I think these 3 figures on the right are angels.

This first rubbing that I did was unfortunately a bit pale as I didn't realise how hard I needed to "rub".

This lady's name is Margaret Deen.

These particular brasses lie under a carpet in the chancel of the church and are rarely seen as they are quite worn and have suffered considerable damage over the years. The more I've looked at these brasses the more detail I have seen. It seemed extremely strange to be looking so closely into the face of people who had lived and died centuries ago. I found the hands of the effigies particularly beautiful, the fingers all so slender. The hands in the top picture belong to the lady above and her cloak is held on by a thick cord. I made a larger rubbing today and I will blog that when I have scanned or photographed it. The gentleman above is probably looking so forlorn because this is not his lady.....I "rubbed" her today and will post her tomorrow. She wears a simple ermine trimmed gown so must have been a person of some standing.

The Art & Craft Fair was quite well attended and DH did well with his photos.

The children had been busy with their own crafts and had also, previously, painted a beautiful altar cloth.

These butterflies are wonderful. They are so colourful and so exhuberant, they really lifted my mood.

Something for the patchworkers.

No time for my own artwork today except for some stitching on the weaving. More of that later.

Ann and I had a very enjoyable day today at the Craft4crafters show at the Newark Showground. As you might expect having an enjoyable day involved a little shopping - well more than a little actually! Oops VBG! Lol. I was very good, well, I tried to be. I went with a shopping list that I was going to stick to but somehow......yes, you've guessed, I went off list. Well, was it my fault I couldn't find any of the things on my list and there were so many other tempting things? Ok, ok, I'll show you my haul.......... I should have taken things out of their bags for the photo but I was trying to be quick.

In my defence Ann gave me the organza and I'm sharing the sari ribbon with her. You might be able to see we got some hand felting needles which I plan to have a play with tomorrow. The beautiful little piece of lace was from the Unique Scrapstore at Newark - they are great for cheap materials for mixed media art and have an online store.

The show itself was better than I expected. This is the first time it's been held in the Midlands. There were just under 100 stands and, although quite a lot were for cardmaking there were enough fibre and mixed media type stands to keep Ann and I busy for 3 hours or so. I was very tempted by the new Sherrill Kahn book on the Sew Good Books stand but succumbed to Maggie Grey's "Paper, Metal & Stitch". (Don't tell DH!) I shall have to save my pennies again for the Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate. If you live in the Midlands the show continues till Sunday.

Tomorrow (and Sunday) sees DH at a local church at an Arts and Crafts Festival selling his photo cards so I am going along for moral support and hope to have a go at Brass Rubbing. Who knows? I may be able to incorporate it into some ATCs sometime. If I get the chance I shall sit and do a bit of stitching too. Some time ago I did a pen and wash drawing of Barrowby Church where the Festival is being held tomorrow:

I exercised a little artistic licence so that I could include the lychgate and the view through it.

The church has the most beautiful stained glass window:

Yet again blogger won't enlarge my photos, sorry.