Kirstie's Handmade Britain

Did anyone see this last night? What did you think?

Need to catch up with it on 4OD before I can answer that.

Did you like it?

I think it was quite fun really. The idea of making something for a local show is not something I would have the slightest interest in and having been to a few think they're quite bonkers:lol: But it was fun to watch. Dan half watched it too and was urging Kirstie to drink the vodka rather than put it on her cake as she was sweating and worrying far too much about her cake!

I watched it last night. Hmmmmmmm.

I love Kirstie. She may not live in the real world but I just love her enthusiasm for all things crafty. Just not sure what the aim of the show really is. It's Kirties Home Made but it seems all about country shows and competitions - which is great if you're in the country but here in the 'burbs outside Brum it's little more hard to come by I suppose with it being called Home Made I expected something slightly different (I suppose a little more like her previous series) whereas I think this is more emphasis about being HAND made.
Still I shall enjoy watching next weeks as it's about papercrafting

Sorry if that all sounds like a lame ramble......finding the coffee hasn't kicked in enough to make me put my words more eloquently LOL

I just look at is as being lovely tv wallpaper. Just something to enjoy and that's that. I see as posh bonkers woman goes and stands in a tent with other slightly bonkers people with plenty of time on their hands. and in that regard it's delightful but in terms of having anything to do with how my own life is - it's about as relevant as Star Trek

I hadn't been to a country show until a few years ago and mainly went to see the ferrets and donkeys. I'm from an industrial town and like it that way. I'm not a fan of the countryside - I like the fact that it exists and it's nice to see it from a safe distance but I have no real desire to experience it and the thought of living in the country rather than the town is not a happy thought for me.

But a glowing lady swearing about marzipan is fun!

damnit! missed it!

It's on 4OD Flibsey if you can watch it via Virgin TV or on the computer.

Alec I am a wanna be country bumpkin. Give me acres of space, trees, green fields etc and I am one happy bunny. I hate living in a town. It's grown exponentially since I was born here and it's nothing more than a rat race. Too many cars, too many people, too many darn houses - land grabbing on old gardens is a speciality round here. I'd kill to live where Kirstie lives although not sure I want an Aga LOL

Well you don't want a oil fired aga Bitsy they cost a fortune to run.

Bitsy Beans wrote:It's on 4OD Flibsey if you can watch it via Virgin TV or on the computer.

Alec I am a wanna be country bumpkin. Give me acres of space, trees, green fields etc and I am one happy bunny. I hate living in a town. It's grown exponentially since I was born here and it's nothing more than a rat race. Too many cars, too many people, too many darn houses - land grabbing on old gardens is a speciality round here. I'd kill to live where Kirstie lives although not sure I want an Aga LOL

Not that I'm saying you sound like an old person but that sounds lie my father. When he was growing up the town was a town but where he lives was still kind of semi-rural with a few tanneries and things like that in the main bit of the town. Then in the 1960's a New Town was tacked onto it and lots of people moved there from Liverpool then the chemical industry emerged and the town grew lots.

He'd be perfectly happy in the middle of a field with no-one to bother him at all. But me, I embraced brutalist architecture, noise, smell, pollution and ugly beauty in all its forms. The country life would kill me off.

ok, watched on 4od earlier (and yeah, I knew... I use it far too much!) and loved it, but then i am a kirsty fan.

LOL Alec I fear I do have an old head on my 36 year old shoulders.
Don't get me wrong towns are great for shopping and go out but what makes my heart sing is open spaces, the sea, nature and all it's sounds and smells. My mums best friend lives on the side of the Quantocks in Somerset with no close neighbours and a heavenly cottage and fields all around. That's really what I want. Not a large mansion or even foreign holidays but a house in a field somewhere.

Sound really antisocial dont I LOL

Bitsy Beans wrote:LOL Alec I fear I do have an old head on my 36 year old shoulders.
Don't get me wrong towns are great for shopping and go out but what makes my heart sing is open spaces, the sea, nature and all it's sounds and smells. My mums best friend lives on the side of the Quantocks in Somerset with no close neighbours and a heavenly cottage and fields all around. That's really what I want. Not a large mansion or even foreign holidays but a house in a field somewhere.

Sound really antisocial dont I LOL

The sea is different! I have always wanted to live by the sea. It hold the lovely melancholy and makes you realise how insignificant everything is and that there are insurmountable opportunities out there. It's good space because it seems endless to me. The countryside feels very isolated and as though there is no change. I know I'm in the minority but it seems very small and detached whereas the water is always connecting you with another place. I think I would feel closed in in the countryside like there are fewer options - especially when it's snowy and hard to get out and about, the town always has loads of options and the sea is always beautiful whether it's calm as it comes or crashing around with that ugly beauty it can have.

But that's just me and my brain.

I love the sea too.

are you still watching it?

Yeah I'm still watching it, Dan finds it highly hilarious that anyone would care about being judged by a couple of self appointed expert busy bodies and other than one thing has declared everything to be "rubbish" or "unimaginative". So I have come to the conclusion he simply finds Kirstie delicious which is why he reminds me it's on! It's all about flower arranging this week, which is something I have no skills in at all but it could be fun.

I'm still watching it. I understand the work that went into it, and it was pretty but I couldn't believe her cushion last week won best in show!

flibsey wrote:I'm still watching it. I understand the work that went into it, and it was pretty but I couldn't believe her cushion last week won best in show!

I felt the same. The only thing I could think of was that she earned loads of points for using a number of different techniques. The week before the feedback said she only used one stitch on her bird card and on the cushion she used patchwork, applique, hand embroidery the machine embroidered flower etc. I did find it pretty hard to believe that such a big show had such a small craft competition though.

it's all making me want to take part, but I'd be terrified. I took part in a sewing competition through my favorite fabric store this year and won a highly commended prize for a handbag made from an old book, but nothing for my cushion.
I'm worried I'm not enough of a perfectionist. I don't care if my seams line up so long as it looks pretty etc.

Yeah, I think they'd be overly keen on straight seams!

I won't be rushing to enter any competitions, I enjoy watching people in the way I might watch something under a microscope - fascinating but as far removed from my life as it gets. I think my stuff is more arty than crafty, it's veers towards the abstract and is just decorative rather than making "things".

I had no idea these shows were so competitive! when I were knee high to a grasshopper, the shows I use to go to were more friendly, happier events. Dont think I will be entering anytime soon!

We had it on tonight. Nice programme.

There is a special Christmas one on soon.

marciared wrote:There is a special Christmas one on soon.

Ohh are they repeating her Christmas one from the other year? We really enjoyed it.

found this

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/programme-information/kirsties-handmade-christmas

ohhhh it's a new one for channel 4. The other one was a bbc2 programme and she made a teddy for her son, a patchwork christmas stocking and went to a hop farm to gather in a length of hops for a christmas garland.