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. 

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.  

Second Rowntree Park Butterflies & Bees Workshop

Workshop Participants

 
Today was International Yarnbombing Day which was quite appropriate as we were making butterflies and bees for the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm that's going up in Rowntree Park, York!  Although the weather wasn't quite as good as at our last workshop it was still warm.  Butterflies and Bees were being stitched, knitted and pompommed...

Stitched Bees & a Pompom Bee

Stitched & Knitted Butterflies

Some flew off to be finished at home.  Gina brought the butterflies she'd been knitting at home to add to the swarm...

Gina's Knitted Butterflies

A group of friends popped by...

Di, Beth, Anne & Monica

to deliver their makes...

Flowers, Butterflies & Bees

and after the workshop, Deborah & I went for a lovely coffee & pastry at Rowntree Park Cafe and collected a few more makes...

Crochet & Pompom Bees and a Fab Felt Butterfly

All in all it was an excellent day for increasing the swarm of butterflies & bees.  Thank you so much to everyone who has made some!

Want to find out more about the Butterflies and Bees Yarnstorm? Take a look here for details, workshops and patterns. If you can't make a 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.  Saturday is World Wide Knit in Public Day - so there's an opportunity to dust off your needles and get knitting - in public!

First Rowntree Park Butterflies & Bees Workshop

Workshop Participants

We had our first Butterflies & Bees workshop in Rowntree Park on Saturday.  It was lovely to have an in person workshop.  The weather was glorious and there was plenty of room to spread out.  We had knitting, stitching, pompom making, crocheting, some garden fork weaving and finger knitting going on!

Plentiful supplies were available...

Plentiful Supplies

And lots of fab things were made.  This lovely garden fork butterfly was a team effort by Charlotte, her step-mum Mandi and her dad, Martin...

Garden Fork Butterfly

Candi, Alice, India and Louise stitched some fab bees...

Stitched Bees

Sara crocheted and Louise knitted some super cute bees...

Crochet & Knitted Bees

Val, Iris, Cara & Agnes stitched some beautiful butterflies...

Stitched Butterflies

Cara & Iris, Vicki & Heidi & Charlotte made pompom bees...

Pompom Bees

Heidi also knitted a tiny purple and blue bee which is sitting on a lovely leaf that Muna crocheted...

Knitted Bee Perching on Crochet Leaf

It was a very productive afternoon!

We have another workshop in Rowntree Park on Friday 11 June 2021 - International Yarnbombing Day (how appropriate!).  There are still some places available.  You can book here.  Let's hope for more lovely weather.  If you can't make the workshop you can still 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.  More project details are here.

Garden Fork Weaving & a Butterfly

Garden Fork Woven Butterfly

I've been scaling up and being a bit creative with some fork weaving that I watched on YouTube.  On that video (which you can watch here) by Nakshi Kantha World, it shows you how to weave a flower petal on an ordinary, everyday fork and then combine the petals to make a flower.  I thought the petal could be adapted to become a butterfly wing and if done on a larger scale would make a great big butterfly. 

Where, I thought, am I going to find a large fork though?  After a trip to the garden shed however, I had my answer!

So, first wash your garden fork...

Luckily the fork fitted in the bucket!

Washing the garden fork

Find some big yarn.  I had some brightly coloured selvedge edge ribbon that I got from the Cone Exchange (which is a completely amazing place and well worth a visit - at the moment you have to book an appointment).  Alternatively you can make some yourself from old textiles or T shirts - try about 2.5 cm/1 inch wide.  

Start weaving in and out of the fork tines - this is one round

Next, begin weaving round your garden fork.  Don't forget to count how many rounds you do as you have to produce two the same size and then two more but a little smaller! These will be the butterfly's fore and hindwings.  I used orange for the hindwings and pink for the forewings with 15 full rounds for the hindwings and 20 for the forewings.

Continue weaving

You may have to push your yarn down the fork in order to fit on all the rounds you need. When you have done enough rounds, finish with your yarn at the same end you started at.  You will have to cut your yarn off now if it's on a roll.  Make sure you leave enough to feed up and down all the tines and knot the ends.  Err on the side of caution! Next, feed the yarn down between the yarn strands by the end tine.  Turn your fork round and knot your yarn to the end you started with.

Knot the ends together

Then continue threading your yarn up the next tine and down the following one and up the final tine.

Feed your yarn up and down the tines

Then take the yarn down the side of your weaving on the outside and take it up the final tine again.

Ready to take the weaving off the fork

You are now ready to take the weaving off your fork, after which you can pull on this final end and it will gather up one side of the wing.  You can use the yarn tails to attach the wings to the body.

Butterfly wings

I finger knitted a body on four fingers and tied the wings on.  I used the remaining yarn ends to plait some antennae with I attached by threading through the centre of the head. Et voilà...

Finished butterfly

My butterfly is about 46 cm (18 inches) - antennae to tail by 40 cm (15.75 inches) - wingspan.  He's going to be part of the Butterflies and Bees & a Happy 100th Birthday Yarnstorm in Rowntree Park York.  I'll be bringing my garden fork to the two outdoor Butterflies & Bees workshops in Rowntree Park if you fancy having a go.  Don't forget to book you place though!  You can book here. Full Yarnstorm project details here.