Our Final Butterflies & Bees Sale

Lots for sale!

We had our second sale of the butterflies & bees from the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York today.  

Sales poster

Our enthusiastic customers were ready to buy as soon as we had all the beautiful creations out on the table!  It was so lovely to hear how much people had enjoyed seeing the display but even those who hadn't seen it were happy to rummage for a special souvenir!

Rosemary helping out

Rosemary from the Friends of Rowntree Park (FoRP) was staffing the stall with me.  It was a lovely morning - thanks so much to everyone who came to support us and to all those who made all the lovely butterflies, bees and flowers.  We can't do any of it without you!

Butterfly garlands for sale

In total, from both our sales and from donations, we raised £485 for the FoRP who help maintain & improve the park and run events for the community.  We sold almost 400 butterflies, bees and flowers (including 2 snails, 2 caterpillars and the hive with all its bees).  Any remaining butterflies, bees and flowers are going to the FoRP for them to sell or reuse in other projects. Whilst all the items were popular, the knitted and crochet bees were particularly quick to fly off! 

Butterflies & Bees Buzz Off To New Homes

Pompom Bees for sale

Today was the first sale of the butterflies and bees from the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park, York.  The sun was shining and we had lots of lovely things for sale, all made by the community of knitters, stitchers, crocheters and felters most of whom were local!

Deborah New & I with our stall

We were delighted with the response.  There were so many lovely customers who came along to say how much they had enjoyed the display and were keen to take home a souvenir and in doing so, support the Friends of Rowntree Park.  The Friends help maintain, improve and promote the park for everyone's enjoyment and were the charity our sale was supporting.

Treasures

Here are just a few snaps of some of the fab butterflies and bees that we had to temp people and happily they were tempted.  The beehive and bees found a new home too!

Beehive & Bees and a Basket of Stitched Bees

Beautiful Butterflies

A  Basket of Bees

                                                        

Cool Crochet Butterflies

Fantastic Flowers

Novel Knitted Butterflies

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to buy today and, of course, to everyone who made them which made the sale possible.  Thanks to to Rosemary and Jan who helped us set up and take down our stall.  (I'm keeping how much we raised a secret until after our second sale!)

If you missed out on the sale today you've got another chance because we're doing it all again next Saturday:

Saturday 16 October 2021 10:30 - 12:30

Find us in Rowntree Park, just below the cafe!

If you want to find out more about this project click here.

Butterflies and Bees (Yarn)Swarm into Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & bees strung ready to be hung up

Today's the day that all the butterflies and bees swarmed into Rowntree Park, York to form a yarnstorm or perhaps more accurately a yarnswarm! This installation is part of the celebrations for Rowntree Park's 100th birthday.  We have had over 725 butterflies and bees fly in to join the display. There are almost twice as many butterflies as bees and a handful of caterpillars and snails, not to mention a whole host of lovely flowers.  People have knitted, crocheted, stitched, pompommed, felted, origamied (is that a word?) and funky foamed a fabulous swarm for us to display. 

Deborah hanging up the butterflies & bees

Here I am doing the same

Deborah New (& Polly - thanks, Polly!) and I have strung them together and hung them in the arbour at Rowntree Park, York for you to enjoy.  We hope you like them and that you have fun spotting your favourites or the ones you've made.  Why not take your own pictures of the Butterflies & Bees yarnstorm and post them on social media using #butterfliesandbees and tag me in  - @hippystitch - to be sure I get to see them!

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm - Rowntree Park, York

There's an information sign if you want to find out more about the project - or you can take a look here.

Information Sign

And don't forget to look carefully so you don't miss anything...

Don't miss spotting all the bees!

The butterflies and bees will be in place until the end of September 2021 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.  Sales will take place below the cafe on these dates:

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

If you have enjoyed seeing this installation and want to make a donation to the Friends of Rowntree Park, pop into Rowntree Park Café where there is a tin for your donation.  Alternatively, you can donate directly by visiting the Friends of Rowntree Park website here.

If you want to read more about this project and the Happy 100th Birthday Banner then take a look here.

Happy 100th Birthday Banner

Looking forward to seeing your pictures and to seeing you at the sales!

Installing the Rowntree Park 100th Birthday Banner

Happy 100th Birthday Banner with Butterflies & Bees

The Happy 100th Birthday Banner and some ginormous butterflies & bees went up in Rowntree Park, York yesterday! The car was loaded with everything we needed for the installation...

Loaded up & ready to go

Once we got organised at the park, Deborah & I installed it with the much appreciated help of Geoff, who we stole from the volunteer gardeners...

Geoff hard at work with those cable ties

and here are Deborah and I doing some finishing touches - thanks to Mary Whitehouse (@yorkstitcher) for the pic...

Deborah & I installing the birthday banner
Photo credit: Mary Whitehouse - @yorkstitcher on Instagram

Here are a few close ups of the finished piece...

Giant crochet butterfly

A trio of giant stitched bees

Slightly smaller giant crochet butterfly

Flowers, butterflies & bees

Info sign

To find out more about the making of the banner (thanks go to Edna Shilleto for all the crochet squares - what a star!) look here or for the making of the giant bees, look here.

This is the first stage of the Butterflies & Bees and a Happy 100th Birthday Yarnstorm.  You've still time to join in with the Butterflies and 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, go take a look at 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. 

Donation tin in Rowntree Park Cafe

Donations to the Friends of Rowntree Park

The Friends of Rowntree Park have sponsored this yarnstorm.  So, if you've enjoyed this project and would like to make a donation to the Friends of Rowntree Park, click here or pop into Rowntree Park Cafe (which is now open until 6pm for the summer) and leave a donation in the Friends of Rowntree Park tin.

Final Butterflies & Bees Workshop at the Trafalgar Bay, York

Trafalgar Bay Workshop

We held our final  workshop for the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm for Rowntree Park, York at the Trafalgar Bay pub on Nunnery Lane in York.  We were made most welcome and had a whole room to ourselves.  There was some terrific making going on and a great atmosphere...

Workshop Butterflies & Bees

Some flew home to be finished off and some flew in to join the growing swarm.  Check out Val's gorgeous makes...

Val's butterflies, bees & flowers

and Janet's..

Janet's butterflies, bees & flowers

not to mention enough bees to form a pyramid - all made by Linda...

Linda's knitted bee pyramid

Thank you to everyone who came along and thanks also for the extra makes that flew in - we love them!  Thanks too, to Sarah & Elizabeth at the Trafalgar Bay for making us so welcome.

There's still time to join in with the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  If you want to find out more, take a look here for details and patterns. You can join in by making at home or with friends.  You've got till the end of July 2021 to get your makes to Rowntree Park Cafe.  All the patterns are online here or use your own.  

Giant Bees Swarm in Fabric & Stitch

 

This week, as part of the Butterflies & Bees & Happy 100th Birthday Yarnstorm, I have been making giant bees!  In fact I have been stitching them. They are part of the Happy 100th Birthday display for the tennis court fence which goes up on 13 July 2021 (weather permitting) in Rowntree Park, York as part of park's 100th birthday celebrations.  (The Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm goes up at the end of August 2021 so you still have until 31st July 2021 to keep making butterflies and bees for that! See here for patterns or use your own.)

Fabrics used for the bees

I made my bees using a variety of yellow, black & shiny white, mixed fibre fabrics, heavy weight vilene (both sew in and iron on), bondaweb and some ribbon tape.  Ideally I would have used iron on vilene for all the bees but the largest bee used vilene that I only had in the sew in variety as it was over 90cm wide.  With this vilene, I used bondaweb (a paper backed fusible fabric glue) to bond the yellow fabric to the vilene which made it like the iron on sort.  I used bondaweb to stick the black stripes and eyes onto all the bees and used bondaweb for the largest bees wings with the sew in vilene and iron on vilene for the smaller bees.  Here's Maxi Bee all bonded together and laid out ready to stitch...

Maxi Bee ready to stitch

Once Maxi Bee had been stitched together I added some ribbon tape loops along some of the seams so that the bee could be attached to the fence on installation. (Hope it works - I haven't tested it - fingers crossed!)

Back of Maxi Bee showing ribbon tape loops

Then I made Midi Bee and Mini Bee.  In the picture below you can see a 2 metre ruler to give you an idea of scale.  Here are the approximate sizes:

Maxi Bee - 134cm x 90cm
Midi Bee - 104cm x 68cm
Mini Bee -  70cm x 46cm

Giant Bee Swarm - Mini Bee, Midi Bee & Maxi Bee

Not long now till you'll see them in the park.  Find out all about the project here.

Butterflies & Bees Workshop at Rowntree Park Cafe

Workshop at Rowntree Park Cafe

Today was our first indoor workshop, making creatures for the Rowntree Park Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  It took place at the fab Rowntree Park Cafe (my tea and scone were yummy!).  We had plenty of tables and so were able to spread out.  Lots of beautiful things were made and brought. Nicky made some lovely crochet butterflies...

Nicky's Crochet Butterflies

Janet & Christine went wild on pompom bees and Janet also made some knitted and stitched butterflies and flowers...

Janet & Christine's Makes

Heather's fab stitched butterflies are pictured here having a natter and sunbathing...

Heather's Stitched Butterflies

Linda was busy knitting cute little bees...

Linda's Knitted Bees

And Judy had already made quite a swarm of super butterflies...

Judy's Knitted Butterflies

We also had delivery of...

Pie's Knitted & French Knitted Butterflies

Chris' Crochet Butterflies

Sally's Crochet Butterflies

A Vibrant Stitched Butterfly

and there was treasure to collect from the basket too...

Collection Basket in Rowntree Park Cafe

Thanks to everyone who came and those who brought or sent their makes along - we love them all!  Thanks too, to Marcin and the team at Rowntree Park Cafe for making us so welcome.

There's still time to join in with the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  Our final workshop is next week at the Trafalgar Bay Pub on Nunnery Lane, York - book here. If you want to find out more, take a look here for details, and patterns. If you can't make our final workshop, you can join in by making at home or with friends.  You've got till the end of July 2021 to get your makes to Rowntree Park Cafe.  All the patterns are online here or use your own.