Burwell Bash 2013

Fiddle Class Burwell 2013. Front left is Tola Custy, missing presumed otherwise engaged - Jock Tildsley, our other fiddle tutor. However, Clive managed to find a way to include him in the next shot.............

Now from the expression on my face, he is either laying very heavily on my foot, or I am overcome by the very gorgeousness of Jock.  Nice one, Clive!

Now then, I am having a great deal of difficulty writing this post. Partly from sheer exhaustion - I am getting past existing on 2 hours sleep two nights running, and only managing about 4-5 the other nights. Also there are just so many photographs, I can't begin to tag them all. (Jim has just walked past and said it is unlike me to be short of words! How right he is!)

Also I am well aware that this is not going to appeal to many folks who weren't there. SO with apologies, and promises that what passes for normal service will be resumed at a later date, here are a bunch of photographs and a few names. You'll just have to work it out for yourself! Oh, you might like to check my archive for ...oooh, around the end of August 2012, where I have blogged about last year's Burwell Bash in a bit more detail, so if anyone wants to find out more about the set-up, you will find it here, and a link I think to Burwell webpage.

          Alison, Debs and me, towards the beginning of the week, we look quite lively, I think!

                                                Hmmmmm, a bit too lively, obviously .....

          Resident Love-Birds, Ellie and Dave, who met at Burwell last year - still going strong.

Tuesday evening, at Jane's, waiting to go out for her Birthday Dinner. Lovely food. Lotsa laughs!

                       I swear my eyebrows are getting more like Angela Rippon's every day!

                          Jean looking gorgeous - and see, her glass is just as large as mine!

               Haha! Gotcha! While you were gotcha-ing me! Happy Birthday Jane!

             Pretty well lit up by now .... time to get back to Burwell for Games Night........

                  Eddie, the Sound Man making a none-too subtle statement with his mic!

                          Jude and I, in harmony, during our One Night Stand Band performance.

                        Me, waiting pensively to come in. Seen behind - the list of Acts waiting to come on.

Later that evening. No, Eddie is not trying to wake me up, I am singing, not being sick into his saxaphone, as someone has suggested!

My goodness! I'm really on a roll now! Clive on fiddle, not sure who it was on guitar - Joseph? Joe?

Ah, Wednesday, surprise appearance of Burwell "old Girl" Nell (Mrs) Bailey who came to give us a master class. I am coming in from my One -to-One with Tola. The tune we played, was For the Joy of It by Blazin Fiddles and I cried nearly all the way through when the harmony began. It was just so beautiful.

                                      Yep, it was obviously too much for Tola as well .......

Here I am, with, as someone has said, my biggest fan! This was after the Tutors Concert, it was very late. I am seriously sleep deprived. Oh, you couldn't tell???

And the next morning. Or was the the morning before the night before..yes it must have been, I am in the same top. Very, very, very tired. Two hours sleep again last night. Not good.

See, even Jock is needing some therapy, care of Debs and Ellie...and I think Cathy is offering her services...a glass of wine maybe........

                                A serene Brian Finnegan whistling peacefully in the garden.

Now I'm afraid who ever took this may have got themselves outside of a glass or two, or maybe it's the camera ...... late, very late after the Tutors' concert, an Irish session going on in the lounge, and a breakaway english session erupted in the bar (where else?) You can just make out me at far end on melodeon, Jean on my left on flute,Matt next to her also on box, and Eddie the sound man on box also.With her back to us, Emily on flute and just hiding is Jayne on fiddle. People came in, formed lines, and we had us a ceilidh. They danced, and danced, and danced, til we played them the waltz they had been clamouring for, and they all went outside to cool down! Huh! Fans, eh?

Lovely guitar tutor Ed Boyd in his alter ego as Tola Custy. You'll have noticed that wigs figure prominently at Burwell.
.

Every year I try and get a photo of jenny and every year she thinks she has escaped! Seen with Joe, also bewigged.

                Matt, guitar, whistle, box and banjo player and probably lots of other things too.

                                    Brian as......some one with long black hair.

This nice chap is Alan, his first time at Burwell. After we all had a laugh about the meerkats 'alan alan alan" we found out he lives very close to where we are going to site our caravan and there is a folk club nearby. What a small world!!

              Usual gratuitous photo of Jude and John...they do get everywhere....often with beer...

                                                                    see what I mean?

                    Stephen, Mr Burwell Bash, in his usual head covering and T-shirt.

       Jock, wearing the wig, pretending to be Stephen, falling asleep. A grand Burwell Tradition.

                         Jock/Stephen in the arms of Morpheus. Toy melodeon in the arms of Ellie.

          Clive (with obligatory wig) being Elvis being interviewed. Debs on maracas at the back.

                                                                 Tola giving it some stick.

       No idea. Well, it's Tola and ........ ah, sorry, I have forgotten your name, please forgive.

                                                 Best not to ask. Tom, Jenny and Emma.

       Ed and Emily, Clive's granddaughter at her first Burwell. Lovely voice, she did herself proud.

                                        Jayne and Blanche enjoying a little late night snack.

Now you know that normally my blog is a smutt-free zone, but I couldn't resist this one. Ellie and Dave getting all tired and emotional.

Visit from lovely Kate Locksley, Burwell Old Girl currently studying for her degree in Folk Music at `Newcastle University. Voice of an angel. And just released her first cd with her band The Teacups. Check them out!

                Yup, the Old Timey Old Timers themselves, Jayne and me, hangin' on in there.

Emma, middle one of the famous Millman sisters, and vocals and fiddle in The Teds band. Oh and look who's lurking in the background............

                Ooooh Jenny! Gotcha twice! And by gum, look who else snuck in the frame!

                            And here is Tola, and Matt, behind my biggest fan.

Well, that's it, folks. If you are exhausted looking at all these snaps think about me uploading the damn things. Seriously, I had the best time, as always, with some of the nicest people you could meet.  And some others...... I hope if your photo is on here and I have neglected to ask you first you will be quicker at getting out of the way next time. Bye all til next year, see you on Facebook. And the next post will be more or less back to normal. I am so tired now I can't be bothered to put labels and check for typos, so what you see is....er...what you see.((???)) Okay, time for bed. Night night!

"well, my bags are packed......"

Yes, it's that time of year again - I'm off to the Burwell Bash later today. My instruments are all ready - including the lost shoulder - rest so I can breath again! Here's one instrument which won't be coming with me - not this year anyway.

Yes, the dulcimer will remain hanging on the wall for the time being, I've had no time to do more than try out a few chords and right-hand strum rhythms so it will just be excess baggage. This is my 7th (or is it my 8th?) Burwell and I have slowly and painfully learned not to take too much stuff - keep it simple!

The weather promises to be mixed, but that never seems to matter at Burwell, and many of us believe it exists in its own little time-and-space zone, so the outside weather doesn't apply. Here in West Norfolk it is very overcast and very very warm this morning, despite the rain we had last night the heavy oppressive feeling hasn't gone so perhaps another storm is in the pipeline.

Yesterday was lovely though, despite prognostications to the reverse; hot as anything here, and Jim, who was at the Holkham Game Fair all day said it was even hotter there - I know what it's like to be marooned in the middle of a large field on a blisteringly hot day! At least they had some shade. I was in the garden all afternoon.

                                                                  Mandatory floral shot.

This beautifully coloured hollyhock is a stray, left over from goodness knows when, we haven't had hollyhocks in the garden for years. In fact there would have been a couple more had Jim not been so quick to weed out these mysteriously huge-leaved plants which arrived from no-where! Hopefully it will set lots of seed.

I'd like to say I was weeding and tidying, and doing all that green-fingered kinda stuff - but I wasn't.

After perusing the paper, and filling in most of the cross-word - sorry, Jim! ........

I settled down in the comfy wicker chair, with a good dollop of sun-protection cream all over me ......

....and set to work with this pile of delicious loveliness. Aren't those cottons beautiful? I have collected them over a few years from various quilt shows and the Knitting and Stitching Show. My absolute favourites are from Jean Oliver who hand-dyes her cotton and trades under Oliver Twists, I'm sure many of you have come across them. And they are such a nice firm as well, you never see them get hot under the collar at shows, unlike some other people I could name. (but shan't!) My problem is these days you don't seem to be able to find their variegated medium soft cotton thread, it is lovely to work with. All they seem to have on the website are the textured bundles of "one -offs" and "two-offs" which I don't want. I've contacted Rainbow Silks and Caroline says they don't stock anything else, and their own website doesn't have them either. So if you are off to a show this summer and see Oliver Twist, ask them to put their medium soft cottons back on sale!!

Anyway, this is what I was stitching. I finished the pin-cushion.

I'm quite chuffed with it, actually, it was such a nice little thing to work on and quick to make up. More of these in my head for later execution!

I also got onto the embroidery of the new cushion, it was a little warm at times, stitching away at this large piece of felted blanket, but well worth it.

For most of my wool applique I use a simple straight stitch, as I don't like the heavy effect that all-over blanket stitch gives. However, for the 'grassy edge' here, I thought I would use it in order to give the scallops a hard edge, and I really like it. I particularly like the variegated perle cotton I've used here.

I used perle no. 5 for the french knots, it has a slightly shinier look compared to the softer medium cotton.

So there you have it, a lovely afternoon of stitching and browsing the papers. I should, of course, have been doing my ironing in preparation for packing but hey, I've got all morning today ......

I'm not taking my lap-top with me, so I won't be blogging from Burwell, but I will be taking lots of photographs and I'll tell you all about it next time. So for now, have a good week ...ooooh school holidays, you lucky people.... and I will catch up with you next week.