Abit of this and that.

So that naughty Sian has been leading me astray, if you've been to her blog today you'll see a very cute guinea pig. Now this is not your usual breed, no not for Sian she has to pick the most rare breed of all, the knitted pig!!!!! So off I trot to have a looksy and there I spy this adorable young lady

and all her rather adorable knitted friends. They're all made by Debi Birkin who lives on a barge like Rosie and Jim, and jolly nice it looks too. Anyway, the reason I was so struck by Miss Florence is because she's wearing a 1914 nurses uniform and I kid you not it's exactly what I wore as a student. Now here's the proof.
All our uniform were handmade in Irish linen and were double layered so were very hot in the summer. We had proper bibbed starched aprons and all the buttons on our dresses had to be pinned on with safety pins individually. We had collar studs and I still have mine.

Now the ladies above are wearing the traditional versions from Edwardian times which are in blue as they are sisters and above. Ours were in lilac.

Our hats came flat packed literally. We had to have a special lesson in how to make it up. We were told to come into that lesson with some water and our tooth brush..............what the heck I hear you say. Read on.
So these lovely hats came ready starched and we had to make them up into frilled caps like little pillar box hats of old. Running around the semi-circular fabric was a thread, in order to pull the hat up we needed the brush and water to scrub the staqrch from this thread. Making the hat then involved some folding, pleating and pulling and from that starched bit of fabric the London Hospital came to life. They don't have any of the uniform left anymore as it was so expensive I suppose and not really very sensible. But I loved that uniform.
Anyway other matters. Tomorrow, there is a special event happening here starting from about 4pm. A bloghop. Here are a couple of sneak peeks at my artwork!!!!




Now for this one you may need some of these.............



and you might see some of this.



This then, take care and keep warm.