Buns & Roses WI

September Book Club - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Monday, 16 September 2013 § 0

5 of us met on Sunday to discuss Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. As the wind picked up outside we sat cosily inside the Tiled Hall discussing how much we had enjoyed reading it - the scores ranged from 7 to 9 out of 10. Scores like that are high praise indeed.

We each agreed how vivid the voice of each character was, the delight of the excerpts from The Weems Weekly, Whistle Stop Alabama's Weekly Bulletin by Dot Weems, the delightful love story of Ruth and Idgie, the differences between the book and the film adapatation, our favourite bits - we all loved the trial scene and the part in which Evelyn takes her revenge upon parking spot stealers and which of the recipes at the end of the book we would try. We all wanted to be able to go the the Whistle Stop Cafe and to try their Fried Green Tomatoes.

The Washington Post describes it as a 'funny and macabre novel' and we all agreed it was exactly that but it isn't just that - it is also a heartwarming tale of love, loss, friendship, cooking, understandable murder, outwitting of the Ku Klux Klan and the judicial system. It's an easy friendly read that doesn't insult your intelligence and it has made us want to read her other books.

We also talked about how to develop book club in the future - one thing we might do is instead of picking individual books is pick a genre, each read a book from that genre and then discuss the genre as a whole but for the meantime we decided we would again write names of books on pieces of paper and then pick one out of the bag. The book chosen this time was Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and honestly I did not fix the choice - even though this is the second time on the trot it's been my suggestion that was picked.

We'll be meeting to discuss it at 2.30pm (a slight later start as that should give us time to recover from the Buns and Roses Party the night before) on Sunday November 10th at the Tiled Hall Cafe. They do lovely cake. It's the most comic of Jane Austen's novels and is a parody of gothic fiction. Come along and tell us what you think about it - even if you haven't read it and just seen the film or the Wikipedia entry about it.

September Workshop - Sew Macho - English Patchwork Workshop

Monday, 9 September 2013 § 0

Founder member and former Buns & Roses Treasurer Hayley Mills-Styles taught us English Patchwork for our September workshop - Sew Macho. Hayley showed us how to create a decorative panel to applique onto a cushion cover, which will be perfect for adorning sofa or giving as a fantastic homemade gifts.

English Patchwork skills are quite straightforward to learn (well when you have a good tutor it helps!) and once mastered can then be used to make and / or decorate bags, more cushions and even a quilt.

The first stage is to make a cardboard template - it needs to be any shape that will tessellate - our members made hexagons and diamonds and can be seen here cutting out their cardboard templates.

The next stage is to draw around the template and cut out lots of small paper pieces exactly the same size. Once this has been done you use a slightly larger template or just by free hand draw and cut out your fabric pieces - Hayley recommends using a cotton or poly-cotton fabric. Then the fabric is pinned to the paper piece and tacked using cotton around the paper - you actually sew through the paper and the fabric.

You will then end up with shapes looking a bit like this which you can iron to make them easier to work with.

When you have your shapes ready, they are then sewn together with tiny stitches along the edges and again ironed to make the shape more definite. The paper can then be removed or left in depending on how you feel and whether you plan on washing the item!

Here are some of the results from the Workshop - they'll look even more lovely when they're finished! Please upload your pictures to Facebook or Twitter we want to see your creations!

August meeting - She's Got the Book

Tuesday, 27 August 2013 § 0

August's meeting gave the Roses a chance to get all literary with the help of Jess from the Travelling suitcase library.

The Travelling Suitcase Library run by library worker and advocate Jess Haigh (@bookelfleeds). Jess loves to talk reading and books, and can help with recommendations from the Travelling Suitcase Library if you are a bit stumped. Jess was amazing and gave us a talk about why she set up the library as well as answering some questions from the Roses. After that everyone at the meeting had a good old fashioned book swap before heading home with some fab reading material.

August workshop- Build me up Buttercream

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For our August workshop we were joined by the lovely ladies from the Harrogate and District Branch of the British Sugarcraft Guild. They took the time to show the Roses how to make a duck and a dog out of marzipan.

These adorable animals taught the group the basics of modelling with marzipan and gave the Roses a chance to take home some great creations (or just eat them but most took there's home to treasure).

As ever the Roses took the opportunity to show off their creativity by taking the basic technique and creating their own unique designs.

July meeting - George and the Giant (Tinned) Peach

Wednesday, 31 July 2013 § 0

In our July meeting we were very pleased to have guest speaker Martin Patterson from St George’s Crypt, a facility for homeless people in Leeds.

Martin gave us an overview of the Crypt and how the building they use had been transformed from a working Crypt with bodies in to the facilities they have today including bedrooms, showers and hot meals.

We also learned about some of the current initiatives the Crypt is undertaking to expand it’s services to reach an ever wider audience as with the current day climate and tough times the Crypt is being used by more and more people from different backgrounds. We also crucially learned that becoming homeless is something that can happen to anyone in a swift change of circumstances.

The Roses bought lot s of raffle tickets in support of the Crypt and its work. We were also very impressed by a new idea, ‘Give me some credit’ vouchers. These vouchers can be bought in small books and instead of giving homeless people money when begging the voucher entitles them to a shower and 3 course meal at the Crypt. – for more information please click on the following link: (http://www.stgeorgescrypt.org.uk/charity/index.php/component/k2/item/333-our-voucher-scheme-partnership-with-leeds-building-society)

The Roses also showed their generosity by donating lots of food for the crypt and the food bank they have set up with and we even got a fab thank you email from Martin:

"Thanks so much to all the lovely ladies at Buns'n'Roses for a really lively welcome, a fantastic response to the food drive and also the real support and interest you all showed in listening to my talk and for the support in buying vouchers and raffles tickets. It was a real pleasure to be with you."

It was a very engaging evening run by Martin and we’d like to thank him for his time and also wish the Crypt the best of luck with their up and coming fundraisers.

Just a tiny selection of all the food donated!

July workshop - Frock of Ages

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For this workshop we were joined by Harriet Walsh. Harriet has over 40 years of dressmaking experience and also happens to be the mother of our vice president! The aim for this workshop was to understand a little more about fabric and reading patterns. By the end of the workshop we were aiming to have cut out our pattern and fabric... at least that was the plan.

It was lovely to see the different fabric that everyone had chosen and consider how different one pattern can look with fabric choices.

We learnt a bit about fabric and how to identify warp and weft

After coming to terms with dressmaking sizes vs ready to wear (ready to wear sizing is generally much more generous!)

and then the cutting began

patterns have lots of information to look out for including dots, notches and lines!

Pattern cutting takes time and our roses were working industriously to complete their cutting in time

We are looking forward to seeing everyone's finished creations.

July Book Club - The Great Gatsby

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 § 0

Last Book Club we read The Great Gatsby and the consensus was it was both a good and (mercifully) short read. Talking about it amongst the fine environs of the Tiled Hall Café we mulled over what it must be like to be so rich you can hire a hotel suite on a whim and then decide equally on a whim to leave it and what Prohibtion and the Depression must have been like to live through.

We talked about whether or not we trusted the narrator - not much but maybe more than the rest of the characters in the book and decided that Gatsby wasn’t the kind of man you’d want as a boyfriend. Daisy would be a fine short term friend that you’d see a lot of when she didn’t have a boyfriend but she wouldn’t be reliable in the long term. Not that she was reliable in the short term either – given the way she treats Gatsby. His love for her was more about the ideal of her and the reality of her rather let him down. Tom might have a lot of money and superficial charm but in reality he was thoroughly unpleasant and best avoided.

We split into camps when we divided the main characters into the following categories – marry, have a brief fling with, or shove off a cliff. Some of us would have had a fling with Gatsby. Some with Tom given this description of him '…the enormous power of that body, he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat’. But as he is also arrogant, racist and rude we decided that actually the best bet was to take all of their considerable wealth off them and then throw them all off of a high cliff.

We also wrote names of books we fancied reading on slips of paper and then whichever one was drawn out of the bag would be the next read. Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg was the one pulled out and we will be discussing that on Sunday September 15^th at 2pm. Venue to be confirmed.

It’d be great if you came along to discuss it too – don’t mind if you haven’t finished it. Only seen the film version, only read a Wikipedia entry about it, just come along and share your two-pennorth’s worth.