Cakes and Lace

Tuesday was a great day. In the first instance the lovely Alanna (Banana) had made some yummy scrummy Butterfly Cakes and even John (who doesn't normally have much of a sweet tooth) said that they were delicious. Alanna had been especially generous and made enough little cakes for us all to have one each with both our elevenses and our 3.00 cup of tea. We do love our tea and cakes at Sumptuosity Towers!

The big event of the day involved John and I driving down to Nottingham as I had received an invitation to attend the Opening of the Nottingham Trent University Lace Archive. In what now seems another life ago I worked on this collection (making an initial catalogue and writing a thesis) for my Ph.D. It has been a number of years since I have even been in the centre of Nottingham let alone back to the University and so it was with some trepidation that I accepted the invitation. The collection had gone back into storage after I completed my studies but now thanks to the hard work of devoted members of staff in the Faculty of Art and Design (particularly Dr Amanda Briggs-Goode), funding has been found and there is now a designated area for the collection with proper archival movable shelving, digital cataloguing of the collection etc and even two Ph.D students working with it! I was absolutely delighted to say the least. What was especially nice (and here I blush a little) was the fact that so many people shook my hand and thanked me for all my hard work in making the initial catalogue of the collection and how this had proved invaluable in aiding the application for funding. All those long hours (so long ago!) now seem worth it. In fact one of the Ph.D. students asked me how on earth I had managed to create a catalogue and write a thesis - I had to reply that I am not sure either! The reception was held in the main foyer of the Bonnington Building, and on a number of tables were glass topped boxes with key items from the collection. I had a real 'blast from the past' when I saw many of my original hand written labels - some of which were dated 1998 on individual pieces of lace and again when we went down into the Archive, I realised that I was looking at boxes with my writing on them. My lovely husband rather wryly commented that my handwriting hadn't improved - you can always trust a Yorkshireman to bring you down to earth! It was a great evening and I am really happy that this collection is again seeing the light of day and being put into active use.

This morning (Wednesday) we were back in the Studio early and my first job was to sweep the floor - just call me Cinderella! It was nice to see so many of my colleagues from my ol' Ph.D. student days and to be back in such a wonderful university as Nottingham Trent but I still wouldn't swap being at Sumptuosity Towers - even when I am doing the sweeping up...

3 B.T.'s

1: Alanna (Banana)'s Butterfly Cakes - the butter icing was out of this world it was so delicious.

2: The Snowdrops are coming out in the church yard of St.Denys. There are large swathes of them and they are lovely.

3: The official opening of the Nottingham Trent University Lace Archive, it was great to see so many friendly faces!

Bye for now,

Love Ruth x