Gifted Gorgeousness in May

 

The 15th of each month means it's Gifted Gorgeousness time, the time each month when we share our latest gifts. These can be gifts given or received, or any item made using fabric, threads, buttons, ribbon, chart, backing fabric that has been gifted.

This great idea is hosted each month by the lovely Jo at Serendipitous Stitching,  if you visit her blog you'll find the links to everyone's Gifted Gorgeousness posts. Thank you Jo for hosting another year of GG, it's great fun posting and reading.

My GG items were also in my Fully Finished Objects post, there's a few extra photos there too. 

My first GG is the small wedding sampler for our nephew and his bride whose wedding was in April. The Sampler is a Lizzie Kate design.

Their daughter is two, she looked lovely in her little bridesmaid dress. I stitched her a name plaque so she had a gift too. I used the same design idea as I did for our other Great Niece. The Alphabet is from an old magazine and I swapped some of the characters to balance the letters. 

I'm busy stitching on a large project but I hope to be back in blogland soon. 

Fully Finished Objects in May

 

Rachel, Ten Hour Stitcher, hosts Fully Finished Objects, a super chance for us to show and tell about the crafty items we have completely finished. Thanks Rachel, it's a great way to see everyone's stitching. I am a slow blogger this year as I only really have one project to do and it's taking all my time. 

This month I have three finishes; one you've seen in my Smalls post last month and two you will see again in my GG post in May. 

My small FFO is a hardanger heart I made as a trial for the extra ones I'm doing for this year's tree. I'm putting up the White Tree again using my previous hardanger ornaments but hopefully adding a few new hearts as our daughter gets married this year. This one is a little small but not bad as I did it without a chart. 

My next fully finished item is a small wedding sampler for our nephew and his bride. Their wedding was in April, it was strange to see Mr and Mrs Hearnden on the top of their wedding but nice to have another Mrs H in the family. 

We had a lovely day, it was so nice for us all to be together, and dressed up. Left to right; Michael (daughter's fiance), our daughter Philippa, me, my Hubby Nick, our son Michael and his girlfriend Mel. We took some group photos with our kids (sounds wrong as they are grown ups) and one of us that wasn't the usual holiday selfie, it's not often we get the chance.

The Sampler is a Lizzie Kate design which I framed, they were very pleased with it and commented on the time it must have taken which was lovely of them to realise that about our craft. 

Their daughter is two, she looked lovely in her little bridesmaid dress. I stitched her a name plaque so she had a gift too. I had stitched one a while ago for our other Great Niece who lives in America so I thought I'd use the same design idea. The Alphabet is from an old magazine and I do swap some of the characters to balance the letters. 

Like I said you'll see these again soon but as I've had to wait until after the wedding it's nice to share twice. 

May Day, Calan mai and Fete du Muguet

🙂 Happy May Day 🙂

Dancing around a pole began centuries ago, possibly in Ronan times. A sapling would be cut down and danced around to celebrate spring and the coming of summer.

In Victorian times domestic staff were given the day off. There would be plenty of partying and it is thought the ribboned May pole dancing began at this time. 

There are still a few places in England and Europe that celebrate May Day.

We're in Wales where the 1st May is known as 'Calan Mai' or 'Calan Haf'. The Welsh tradition is to decorate your doors and windows with blossom (often hawthorn), and build bonfires on the last day of April to bless the animals and their herders.

On the first of May in 1561, France’s King Charles IX was given a muguet flower, or lily of the valley in English, as a lucky charm and liked it so much that he decided to offer them each year to the ladies of the court.

These days, the flowers are sold in bouquets on the street around France and people offer them to friends or family members for good luck.

"Je porte bonheur" bonne Fête du Muguet a toutes mes amis

'"I give you happiness" happy May Day to all my friends