Stitchers' Forum
Christine Berrett
Administrator
I could not finish so much as a handkerchief under the times rules imposed on the Sewing Bee. It's like sitting 3 exams in 2 days, week after week - I would have been like the chap, some time ago in an earlier series, who quit in the middle of the first challenge 'cos he couldn't cope...
Anyone else remember him (I think it was a chap?) - or have I just invented a memory???
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
Brenda, I think Therese is a very good needlewoman, just not quick enough for the time constraints of the show. Mick & I think it will be Matt out this week, then Liz leaving Clare, Nicole & Mark for the final
Jean, good luck with the extension. I'm waiting for a few final bits to be done by the building company, but until they contact me they're not getting the last of their money. They left skirting boards off the contract & then said it would be £450 to supply & fit them - we've spent less than £100 doing it ourselves. In the meantime Mick is busy decorating.
Jean Strange
Member
Thanks Helen hoping our extension will go OK. Overall contractor Is someone we have used before they did all our guttering and soffits and a window in a garden shed. They were the best quote and the sub contracted builder is very local lives on same estate as us. Looks like they will have foundations more or less finished by end of today!! Think now they can work again eager to earn money!!
Just ordered a set of two reclining “garden” chairs and a coffee table from Robert Dyas like lounge chairs but in Rattan. Might have to be stored in garage for a couple of weeks. Ordered as I got the last one in stock!!!!!
Barbara Stone
Member
I am so glad that somebody else thought that Clare's jacket was the better one. I hope that eventually, she'll be the winner, but having put that in print, I've probably put the kybosh on it. Like others, I think that Matt will go next.
Jean, good luck with the extension. When we had ours done, it was a complete nightmare, as they didn't speak any English, only Polish, couldn't understand what we were saying at all, and they didn't have any specialities, just general building work. We now have cracks around the top of the walls, the floors creak every time you tread on them, and the ceilings need to be replastered, but done properly this time. And we only had the extension done 3 years ago! Good luck, but as your building lives on the same estate, you should have better luck than we did.
brenda midgley
Member
Oh crumbs - Jean Strange thinks Therese should have gone as well. Poor ol' Therese - you've got to laugh......I'm beginning to think I'm the only friend she's got......
Feel sure your extension will be fine Jean, despite Barbara's experience sounding a bit of a nightmare. I agree with your comments though about your builders being eager to earn some money. Who can blame them. We've had some paving work done recently (I've bored everybody rigid on that) and as soon as Boris said construction workers could start up again, our chaps were on the phone to us all eager to start. They too I feel sure were thinking of it in terms of at last they had the chance to earn some cash...... Must've be a dreadful time for all these businesses to keep going.
Been working in the garden today - everything looks so green and delicious after all the rain we've had over the last couple of days. Despite that though you dig a trowel into the earth and you don't go down very far before you hit dry stuff again. At least though the water butts are all full again
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
Brenda, I liked Therese, she just wasn't quite fast enough. Is Liz or Matt for the chop tonight.
I'm going to have to fight for the controller next week - football is coming back.
Mick watches a lot of sport & it has been so strange to have 3 months without any at all.
We have a few finishing bits to be done on the extension but I'm waiting for them to contact us now. They will when they realise the bill hasn't been finalised - in the meantime the money is staying in our accounts.
It's rainy today, but like Brenda I'm sure the soil is bone dry not too far down.
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
Well that was a surprise last night wasn't it?
Didn't see it coming, but Mark had such a disaster & then his flamenco skirt didn't really fit the brief.
Christine Berrett
Administrator
I'm sure it was the fact that Mark's skirt did not fit the brief (even if it fitted the model) that gave Mark his Marching Orders. Plus the way that the 'waterfall' front was not faced and showed the wrong side of the fabric.
Also, I felt that Clare's blouse was more worthy of "Garment of the Week" than the item that actually won it, but that's just my opinion and I'm no judge!
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
True Christine, but they rarely pick anything from the earlier rounds to be Garment of the Week or maybe they didn't feel Clare could have a clean sweep !! Mark did have a disaster with his blouse at the start as well - sleeves not standing up & trouble with buttons/holes
Christine Berrett
Administrator
They have picked the transformation challenge as GotW earlier in this series, so why not pattern challenge garment?
Barbara Stone
Member
Quite agree - Clare’s blouse was much better than that skirt they picked. I am loath to say it, but I think that Patrick and Esme want Nicole to win the whole thing - in fact when I was talking to my sister before yesterday’s episode, she predicted that Nicole would win garment of the week, and then said she thought she would be the eventual winner! Hope not, because I think that Clare is a better sewer than her. She gets everything finished (nearly) normally uses the right kind of fabric (apart from last nights curtains) and doesn’t make a fuss at all. However if you saw the advert for next weeks episode, you’ll see that Nicole could have a disaster!
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
Christine, no reason why they shouldn't pick the the pattern challenge, just saying they nearly always go for the garment from the last round.
Barbara, I agree that I think Clare is the better sewer, but then she will have to make a lot of her own stuff for her 40's weekends. It's close to call between her & Nicole. Nicole seems to have disasters & still scrape through - has Clare had any real disasters yet?
Anyway it's Thursday which means my weekend starts this evening, so the real question is are we going to get the thunder storms & rain that the BBC web site says are due or can we take the bike out without getting wet?
brenda midgley
Member
Ooooh - I've been out all this morning, then sorted lunch, then popped into the garden for a bit....and now I'm on the Forum and can see you've all been busy debating last night without me.....
Yes, I too was initially a bit surprised Mark was the one to go, but there again apart from his flamenco skirt not quite what they were looking for and his sleeves on the blouse top were a bit droopy......I recall his comments when first choosing his fabric - that he liked it because it was 'drapey' and Patrick seemed to me to raise his eyebrows slightly - when not too many moments earlier we'd heard him comment to Esme that that was exactly the type of material it shouldn't be made with.
As an aside - I was also a bit surprised P and E didn't comment on the see-through fabric chosen by - er... two of the other contenders - can't remember which two now. purely because you couldn't have worn them unless they had been lined. On a mannequin of course it didn't matter.....
Anyway, all in all I too wasn't really impressed with Garment of the Week as being the winner, but it all makes for such riveting viewing which is the main objective of the programe. It's certainly kept us all entertained whilst lockdown has been going on!
As for your thunder storms and rain Helen; when our (north west) chap was doing his detailing of the weather last night - the rain on your side of the country was a very dark blue so it does look as if something 'intense' is coming your way. Hope your 'girls' will be okay in those conditions - I'm getting pictures in my head of them leaping in the air and squawking as egg laying and thunder coincide! Wish I could draw I think it would made a lovely little cartoon scenario.....
I think Clare might end up winning - she has a cetain consistency to everything she does. As Barbara says - next week should be interesting........ I can foresee we shall all be furiously pounding the keys next Thursday as we exchange our views!!
Barbara Stone
Member
If you read next weeks radio times, apparently they have to do a Marilyn Monroe dress as the garment of the week! Halter neck and pleated skirt. Now that should prove very interesting!
Barbara Stone
Member
sorry. that should have read the Marilyn Monroe dress as the pattern challenge. Whoops!
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
Well the thunderstorms never arrived.
Friday was rather wet. Got wet doing the shopping, but at least I didn't have to queue this week.
Saturday turned out to be rather a nice day with plenty of sunshine. When i saw the evening forecast it looked as if the storms had gone through the North Sea & missed the land.
Sunday we took the bike out for a run round Heartbeat country (North York Moors). 183 miles in 9 hours. A long day, but so good to get out.
As for the Sewing Bee. Mick is convinced the P&E want Nicole to win, which why she gets wins that we might not give her - although we think Clare is the one who should win. I think the sheer blouses were meant to be worn over a camisole top rather than being lined.
Still might be competing with football on Wednesday.
The chickens are OK Brenda, but I can see your cartoon in my head.
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
I forgot to tell you about the baby frogs
I was talking to Mick when i saw something move near our little pond. I thought it was something like a cricket but when I looked at it properly it was a tiny little frog. It was so newly turned from a tadpole to a frog that it still had some of it's tail on it.
Then I saw another one last night so they are starting to finish their development & emerge. Will need to be careful where I tread in the garden.
brenda midgley
Member
Oh Helen - how delightful with the little frogs! and yes, you certainly will need to be careful where you tread .........
Heartbeat country - yes, know it well - Goathland especially - Pickering to Grosmont - North York Moors steam heritage line. Geoff has worked the signal box many a time at Grosmont. It has two huge wheels which have to be turned to open the gates - he always complained you nearly had your arms pulled out of their sockets doing it! At the Severn Valley Railway you see we had a reciprocal arrangement of summer swaps at working on the two railways. Goathland was our base when staying there for a week. I had read all of Nicholas Rhea's books of his time as a policeman there - long befoe I actually went there so of course when Heartbeat hit our t.v. screens I instantly recognised the locality. In fact one summer whilst there they were actually filming Heartbeat and it was very interesting.....particularly in respect of the fact that all the actors were dressed as for the 50's/6's era and looked 'just right' for the area, whereas for peple like me who were just standing watching all this in our modern day clothing, we looked weirdly out of place somehow.....
My gosh though - 183 miles .... did you have pressure sores on your poor bum by the time you got home? Respect as they say.......
Helen Hawkins-Ainsley
Member
No pressure sores.
We didn't actually go in to Grosmont or Goathland.
We went out via Helmsley and wriggle around a lot of the very small roads on the map. We found the ford from the opening sequences & could see Whitby Abbey trying to hide in a sea mist in the distance. We then wriggled around a bit more to come home via Sutton Bank. We stopped to look at the view & really is spectacular, even with the Pennines hiding in the mist. It's quite easy to do a large distance when you get on the country roads and the views make it all worthwhile
brenda midgley
Member
Sutton Bank! - long time since I've been there - but as you say spectacular. There is no way you could ever stand at the top looking down at that wide panoramic view without feeling that you were in the presence of something almost 'other earthly' Spell binding - you'd never be able to capture the absolute gloriousness of it in a photo.....lucky you to have been there and enjoying it with your lovely Mick.
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