Team Yarntastic

We hope you are enjoying all the artworks on the streets of Brandwood neighbourhoods in the lead up to and during the Commonwealth Games!

Phase One. Schools showcase!

We installed artworks at Woodthorpe Junior and Infant School, Colmore Junior and Infant School and Allens Croft Primary School on 20th July. We wanted children and families to see their contributions before they broke up for holidays.

Suze from Our Scene CIC with Mrs Mallard (Assistant Head Teacher) from Colmore Junior School. 

The children made over 1000 flowers during their Commonwealth Games-themed week. Suze made these into three installations around the school perimeter. 

Some of the wool and all the other components (including the wire fixings, blinds and felt) were sourced at The Scrapstore Birmingham and were diverted from landfill to make these artworks. 

During the May half term holidays, craft packs were sent home with the children from Woodthorpe Infant and Junior School to make flowers with their families. Suze here pictured with Ms McGrath (Head Teacher) in front of the artworks created from their work.

It’s incredible what you can do with material. The artwork bases were made from part of a sheet and a fabric sample book found at ScrapStore Birmingham and were diverted from landfill to make these artworks.

The sun was contributed from a member of the Sew Marvellous volunteer team.

What a lovely welcome as the gates open at Allens Croft Primary School! Over 600 flowers were made by the children. Miss Priddle (featured) coordinated all the classes to take part. Year five just kept making and passed on another bag of flowers after the artworks were installed – these will be used to make artworks for other streets in the area.

 

Again, we used what we could get from ScrapStore Birmingham to make art and not impact on the environment – apart from in a positive way!

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Phase Two. 'Topper Take Over'!

Team Yarntastic did a ‘topper takeover’  24th-25th July – scroll down to see the artists behind the post box topper art,

We have had so much fun over the last couple of months crafting together in the evenings. Our Scene CIC joined forces with the team at Sew Marvellous Charity Makes to put on some workshops. The skill sharing was epic! Thank you Valerie, Kirsty and Marcie for helping people get started with crochet, and to Sue, Topsy and Hannah for teaching people how to sew fabric flowers. 

Most of the toppers include collaborations, including flowers from loads of people, Hannah’s lovely bees and caterpillars and Valerie’s gardening tools!

 

Why not download the Topper Trail and explore the area during the summer?

Valerie

Lou

Kirsty

Jackie

Heather

Kim

Judith

Valerie

Anne

Lucy

Mystery Knitter

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Phase Three. Collaborative artworks!

Collaborative artworks will be out on display! (From 26 July) 

We have enjoyed working with our local uniformed Girlguiding groups to make artworks. These are on display from 26 July outside Hub Hazelwell and St Bedes Church where the girls meet. Well done girls!!

Backgrounds made from duvet covers, we picked up from ScrapStore Birmingham. A much better use than the tip.

202nd (St Mary Magdalen) Guides

202nd (St Mary Magdalen) Brownies

199st Bede’s Brownies

2nd Highbury Rainbows

Brandwood's Metre Meadows

From late afternoon on 26th July there will be nine collaborative artworks on display around the area.

The embroidery wildflowers have been stitched by local people as part of a sixth month project run by Woolly Mammoth Stitch Works CIC to ‘sew’ and ‘sow’ wildflower meadows across Brandwood & Billesley neighbourhoods.

As well as creating artworks together, the team has planted wildflower seeds with The Patchwork Meadow to make colourful meadows and ‘pit stops’ for bees within the area.

A huge thank you to the stitch team for sharing their skills and giving their time to create metre meadows for us all to enjoy.

Artists contributing to the metre meadows include:

Karen, Chris, Anne, Lucy, Kim, Jean, Denise, Beth, Anne, Beverly, Sandra, Linda, Hilde, Valerie, Pat, Lynne, Angela, Brenda and Suze.

 

The Daisy Chain!

We also invited more people to join in the fun to create a daisy chain. Artists include:

Hannah, Skye, Naheed, Lucy, Valerie, Jenny, Haych, Haleema, Gill, Judith and Heather.

Calvary Church, Allens Croft Road

The JK Kids youth group and members of the congregation at Elim Pentecostal Church got busy and crafted the flowers in Lucy’s lovely display.

 

Nice work everyone!

Thank you to Janet at The Brandwood Centre’s Art Club for contributing her beautiful flower artwork for a window display at the centre.

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Phase four - flower bombs across Brandwood!

We hope seeing blooms of creativity brightens your day!

Who is Team Yarntastic!?

As part of the Brighten Up Brandwood campaign we held events at Hub Hazelwell, Colmore Junior School and in Dawberry Fields Park and loads of people made flowers to contribute to the yarn bomb. 

Our Scene CIC in collaboration with the fabulous team at Sew Marvellous (Charity Makes) brought together a team of crafters to make flowers and postbox toppers and we met on an evening six times over 2 months. There was huge amounts of skill sharing! Thank you especially to Kirsty and Valerie for crochet-teaching expertise!  

It wasn’t just about the making – we all enjoyed a good natter and learning from each other too. Thank you for everyone’s contribution to these lovely sessions (little or lots!) including:

Hannah, Lucy, Anne, Kim, Judith, Heather, Lou, Marcie, Gemma,  Tospy, Sue, Haych, Valerie, Kirsty, Jackie, Anne, Janet, Anne, Jenny, Lorraine,  Chris, Susan, Dana, Haleema, Patsy, Trisha, Naheed, Gill, Sharon, Vix, Leslie, Clare, Esme and Suze.

Huge thank you also to Jean and Penny for making at home and creating such beautiful blooms to add to the mix. Flowers from previous projects from the Sew Marvellous team were also added to the ‘stash’ for the flower bombing – we didn’t count, but there were HUNDREDS!

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON THE BRIGHTEN UP BRANDWOOD PROJECT HERE!

8 thoughts on “team-yarntastic

  1. Thank you for the lovely postbox toppers – always looking forward seeing them when walking around brandwood. Absolutely love them all.

  2. Love being surprised by all the creations around Brandwood. Thank you for brightening up my days. My granddaughter Emily loves them too

  3. Love all the crocheted flowers they certainly my me smile and make my day keep up the good work 👍🏻😊

  4. I am really enjoying seeing all the toppers and flowers around the area. Thank you to everyone involved.

  5. How wonderful are you! These have thoroughly brightened my day as I turn corners in the area to be surprised with your marvellous creations. Well done everyone involved, your hard work is really appreciated

  6. My wife and I love seeing your work on the postboxes. Keep going please

    B14 6PN

  7. Well done everyone, it’s a very positive example for the public, perhaps a laminated description could also be displayed, ( if you haven’t already done one), to help get the message across. Could it also become a craft trail for the area?, with local craft groups libraries and community centres etc getting involved, especially for the school holidays. Beautiful work🤗🙌

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