talking textiles

Life does throw some funny little curve balls at you. A few months ago I arranged to go to a trade fair in Birmingham, and ended up spending a night in a convent-which I will admit was (1) not something I was expecting or  (2) looking forward to....but I do like surprises...it only turns out that we were in the company of some of the original midwives that 'Call the Midwife' was based on.

From this encounter my friend Jacqui and I agreed to help in the conversion of  an unused bakery in the convent to a community room. At this point I need to digress...for those of you conjuring up images of  dark rooms, long habits and silence....you could not be further from the truth......it was like going round my mates house only without the cocktails and wine!! So a few months later I find myself in the convent again-much to the amusement of my friends and this is what we did!

 This is what we walked into! Sister Ruth's daughter-Christina Willets - had the vision and the knowledge to get it this far (along with a lot of help from the nuns and volunteers). Jacqui and I were so surprised at the colours-it was a designers dream! So we got the table outs and decamped-with kettle and biscuits!
The sewing room... this is what it looked like when we started.....funny I don't have any 'photies' of what it looked like after a couple of hours....we were of course extremely tidy!!

 So the first drapes and yes Jacqui being very glamorous in doing so!!! And one of Jacqui's creations...(there are more pictures but my camera died!)
 So after 3 whole days of stitching, eating and sleeping...(oh and yes half a days window shopping on Sunday in one of the most amazing shopping streets I have been too - I felt like I was in another country-the colours-the fabrics-the smells.....totally amazing!) We completed the room...and once Jacqui works out how to use her new camera I will have more photographs to share!