Butterflies & Bees Fly Off

Un-Happy

 

Saturday was take down day for the Butterflies & Bees and Happy 100th Birthday yarnstorms in Rowntree Park, York.  We were sad to see them go but pleased to have been able to add to the Park's 100th birthday celebrations.  Some people made a special visit to say goodbye.

Deborah hard at work

Finally it was all down...

Taking down the last butterflies

and lots of creatures were bagged up...

The park went from this...

Yarnstorms

to this...

Empty arbour

Empty tennis court fence

We were lucky because the rain held off till it was all down and Deborah and I were safely in Rowntree Park Cafe warming up with a hot drink and a pastry.

A bee wash

Back at HQ, the butterflies and bees were destrung (is that a word?) and popped in the wash.  Some, like the pompom bees, had a gentle hand wash.  And some enjoyed basking on a teatowel while the underfloor heating dried them out...

Drying butterflies and bees

Don't be too sad though because you get a chance to come and buy your favourite butterflies and bees in the forthcoming sales:

Sunday 10 October 2021 - 10:30 to 12:30

Saturday 16 October 2021 - 10:30 to 12:30

Come and find us below the cafe.  We are fundraising for the Friends of Rowntree Park who work hard to help maintain, improve and promote the park for everyone's enjoyment.  Go on, you know you want to!

Hope to see you at the sales (please bring cash if you can!).

If you want to read more about this project then click here.

Crafting a Birthday Banner

Happy 100th Birthday Banner

It's Rowntree Park's 100th Birthday this year.  To celebrate, with the help of the local community and anyone who wants to join in, Deborah New and I are making a Butterflies & Bees and Happy 100th Birthday Yarnstorm.  Part of that involves crafting a Happy 100th Birthday banner which will go on the tennis court fence in the park in York.

Edna Shilleto and her crochet

We have been very much helped in this endeavour by Edna Shilleto who gave us myriads of her lovely colourful crochet squares in two sizes.  Edna is a member of the Fairfax Court Yarnstormers and has been a stalwart of our yarnstorming projects over the years so it has been great to have her squares for this project!

Edna's crochet squares in 2 sizes

Putting these together to make the birthday banner has proved quite a task involving roughly 15m of plastic fencing which acts as the backing onto which the crochet squares are fixed.

Plastic fencing

Here I am attaching the squares...

Making the banner

There were even enough crochet squares to make a large butterfly too...

Large crochet butterfly

and a second smaller one!

Smaller crochet butterfly

It looks like the banner is going to be almost 11m long and about 1.2m tall.  The large butterfly is about 1.45m by 1.35m (including antennae) and the small one approx. 1.20m by 1.07m.  And so far it's used 49 large crochet squares and 205 small ones - thank you, Edna!

Birthday Banner with Butterflies & Bees

It has taken about 75 hours to put together (not including the giant stitched bees which you can read about here).  And that doesn't include all the time Edna spent crocheting the squares in the first place or the time spent planning out the design and choosing the colours and working out the layout.  

Here's the information sign that will accompany the banner...

Info sign to accompany the banner

The banner goes up on 13 July weather permitting - in time for the park's birthday on 16 July 2021.  Do take a visit to the park and check it out.  

You've still time to join in with the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  All the details are here and the patterns are here or use your own patterns if you prefer.  All makes have to be in by the end of July 2021.  You can leave them in the collection basket at Rowntree Park Cafe.  

Collection Basket in Rowntree Park Cafe

The butterflies and bees will go on display in time for the August Bank holiday and will be in place till the end of September after which they will be sold to raise money for the Friends of Rowntree Park, who work hard to help maintain, improve and promote the park for everyone's enjoyment. 

So, as well as the Happy 100th Birthday banner, keep a lookout for the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm at the end of August 2021 and for the sale dates in October 2021.