Happy Samba New Year and Dancing Nuns!!

Happy New Year from Chickpea and Samba Celtica.  We had a wonderful night playing at St. Ives, the conga line of dancing nuns circling us was a first for me!  Heres a little clip of us doing our thing.

I would like to thank all you lovely people who read and comment on my blog.  I can't believe 100 of you follow my ramblings.  As a thank you I will be giving a little something away soon.

Chickpea xx

Truro City of Lights Festival

Last night was the Annual City of Lights parade through the City.  Our Samba band took part again  this year,  it was huge fun and a lovely community atmosphere.  Thousands attend each year,  we were lucky that the rain had cleared and it was reasonably warm, these events are so weather dependant.  Last year was dry but absolutely freezing, I had so many layers on I could hardly move, let alone feel my hands to play.   A huge amount of work goes into this and the children of the local schools make their own lanterns to carry.  I caught the bus into town standing next to a little girl with her lantern who was just so excited to be taking part she could not stop talking and was whacking everyone on the head with her lantern!  Her mother had to tell her to calm down or she wouldn't even make it to the parade.  When you are in the parade you don't actually see anything but watching the videos after I think my favourite is the wonderful horse.  Obviously this is not my video, I hope they don't mind me sharing it, and yes I am on there banging away on my drum.  I just watched the parade on the news and we drowned out the news presenter.  I bet he could have cursed us.

The theme was heroes, the 1st World War played a prominent part with a bear representing the Polish Army, the friends group who volunteered, the carrier pigeons and the horses.

After the parade the samba bands got together and had a 'mass samba play' and of course we then had to recuperate at a local pub.  I am absolutely exhausted this morning and mainlining coffee, so I hope you will excuse the short and lets face it pretty lazy on my part post.

Enjoy the video.

Chickpea xx

Welcome to Leanne :) a fellow blogger living in beautiful Cornwall

Samba!!!!

I don't have to work until this afternoon.  Am I running around catching up with all the washing, ironing dishes etc.? Am I heck!

I am hoping to go to Samba practice tonight after a couple of months recovering from my operation.  I have missed it desperately.  I get so much joy from banging away on my little tam making a HUGE amount of noise.  I have forgotten a lot of the tunes so will be practicing this morning, I don't want to look a complete numpty :)

If you are not familiar with Samba, the video is an example of how much fun it is.  We don't have as many members, and don't jump around as much as them unfortunately, but we all love playing.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you like what you see, find out if you have a local Samba band and go along!

Chickpea xx

Welcome to Rosemary :)

Samba, Sea and St Michaels Mount

 I am absolutely shattered after a busy Samba weekend.  On Saturday evening we played in the Perranporth Carnival and today we played in the Marazion Carnival.  Yes folks it's Carnival season.



It was lovely to see so many people turn out for Perranporth Carnaval.  The town suffered badly in  storms with huge seas washing into the town.  There is a bar on the beach which has been there for years, we have been in there many times, usually in winter after a walk on the beach.  During the storms the bar was in danger of disappearing as the huge storm washed away thousands of tons of sand.  What was once a gentle slope up to the bar was turned into a cliff of sand within a few feet of the bar.  It is unbelievable how much sand just disappeared leaving the landscape completely changed.  After every high tide we were all asking 'is The Watering Hole was still there?'


I took these photos the morning after a particularly stormy night.  As you can see it was extremely lucky to survive.

This afternoon we were playing in the beautiful village of Marazion which overlooks St Michaels Mount.  Locals and visitors gathered for a wonderful afternoon of music and dance.  I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful County.

I have lots of housework to catch up on after all the fun and games, so I'd better get on with it!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend,

Chickpea xx

Welcome to thrift deluxe and Kate :)

Samba and Horses

Our band Samba Celtica waiting to start the parade

I said goodbye to my dear friend this morning, I will miss her so much, but she went out with a bang!!  As a former member of our Samba band, she couldn't miss the opportunity to join us for a bit of Samba fun.  We took part in the Truro Carnival last night, which I have to say didn't have many people attending. Are Carnivals losing their popularity?  As usual I couldn't really see the rest of the parade but there were some beautiful horses, which we obviously stayed well away from, we didn't want to spook them.  We were following them in the parade so had to keep dodging the horse poo left on the road.  I had visions of me slipping over and landing in it, poo covered white trousers for the rest of the parade!

After the parade, we joined the other Samba band from the parade for mass Samba playing, accompanied by some Irish dancers, and followed this with members of the bands joining in with some mass Zumba. I have a dreadful feeling that a photographer from the local paper took some photos, so yours truly will be seen trying to Zumba.  Strange combination of things but good fun.

Later in the evening both bands congregated in a local pub (as you do) and were joined by a third Samba band who had been in another carnival and a couple of their dancers.  It was not planned but as we were all there we joined them to entertain the patrons.  Tho to be honest I think they were more interested in the dancers, who stopped traffic as we spilled out into the streets.  There are a few Samba bands in Cornwall and it is wonderful when we all get together and play.  We can always manage to find a tune we all know, or we soon pick up the other bands tunes.

Dancers from the Truro School of Samba

Sorry they are not great photos, but it is difficult to take photos and bang my drum :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Things will be getting back to normal now for me.

Chickpea xx

Samba and a Chip Thief

Last night was a special night, one that brings a smile to my face just thinking about it.

The band was booked to play on the last night of Mevagissey Feast Week, which they have been celebrating since 1754.  Mevagissey is a typical Cornish fishing village with narrow little streets thronged with visitors in the summer.  Their Feast week is a chance for the community to get together culminating in a carnival in which half the village donned fancy dress and joined in, while the other half cheered and clapped them on.  There was a brass band, a New Orleans jazz band complete with coffin and second line twirling parasols, Spanish dancers and many more magnificent participants.  Sorry no photos, too difficult to play and take snaps.  Everyone made a huge effort for such a little village, it was a wonderful turnout.  We played along near the back our drums booming out in the narrow little streets.

We were also asked to play on the harbour side later in the evening, the rest of the band were given pasties which was agony for me not being able to eat pastry!  So I treated myself to a bag of chips (yes I know, not very healthy), but you can't beat sitting on a harbour wall eating chips, 'ansome as we say in Cornwall.

What a beautiful sight I thought, I'll take some photos for my blog.  There I am snapping away when a huge seagull (yes they are huge down here) sneaks up and steals some of my chips!  They are renowned in Cornwall for literally snatching food out of your hands.  They have a special liking for pasties and ice-cream . But MY chips, after I had gone to so much effort to save one of their babies just two night before.  How ungrateful!  A samba beater comes in very handy to swat away seagulls.

The chip thief trying to look nonchalant 

Our set on the harbour followed the jazz band that had us all jigging away to 'oh when the saints, come marching in'  I had a few butterflies before starting as usual, but soon everyone was cheering and dancing to the sound of samba.  Two encores and they still wanted more, however we thought we had better not disturb the peace too late into the evening.  If you have ever heard a samba band you will realise how loud we can be.

 I went home exhausted but happy.

Are there any local celebrations that you enjoy, or take part in?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend,

Chickpea xx

Samba at Polperro

What a glorious day it has been in Cornwall, I hope the weather has been nice for you where ever you  are.

Today our Samba band were playing at  Polperro Festival, what an absolutely beautiful village.  We were joined in the parade by little children from the village who made their own instruments, it was delightful.

I'm pretty worn out from the heat and banging away at the Tam, so I will leave you with some photo's.  They were taken on my phone so are not the greatest quality, but I hope you enjoy a little look around the village.  If you are ever in the area, pay a visit, it's worth the trip.

Some of the band taking a break

 One of the drums showing the padding at the back to protect your knees, with my tam on the top, the big drums are far too heavy for me!

 Heading off for refreshments after a lovely fun day.  I love playing in Samba Celtica, 

Chickpea xx  

      and welcome to Trudy :)

Craft Fun with Pizza Packaging and a Kebab Stick

I spent a wonderful morning at a print workshop playing and getting mucky.  It was huge fun and I came away pleased with what I achieved and full of ideas for further projects  (as if I didn't have enough projects planned!)

It was so easy everyone came away with lovely prints, whether they had any arty skills or not,  in my case not.  It didn't require any expensive printing blocks we just made our own.  We were shown several printing techniques but my favourite involved cutting out shapes with the bases that pizzas come on from supermarkets ( polystyrene?) and kebabs sticks to make holes in them.

Printing on different paper,  unfortunately it doesn't show up very well in this photo.

We mixed the water based printing ink on a piece of glass (a glass table matt could be used) to achieve the colour we wanted, then used a roller to put the ink onto the print block

We made the blocks by drawing onto the pizza packaging, then cutting it out and making patterns on it with a kebab stick

First practice

Press the block onto paper, putting more paint on the block when needed.

Using different colours on the same block

 The fish block

I like the uneven look, faded in some places.  I would like to use fabric paint and try printing on some fabric next.

It is lots of fun, have a go at home.   If you contact me I can give you contact details of the workshops.

Chickpea xx

Rainy days and quilts

The weather has turned miserable again in Cornwall, one minute we have blue skies, the next torrential rain.  Although I really need to get on with cutting down and pulling out things in my garden, frankly it's too flipping cold.  Yes, I am a fair weather gardener.  I was also hoping to get out for a walk on the beach, but again rain stops play, so indoor pursuits it is.

Like many quilters, crafters, dressmakers, ragruggers etc. I have a room full of UFO's - unfinished objects.  So many in fact I can't decide which one to get on with, the picnic quilt I'm making out of my sons old jeans, the Australian fabric quilt/bag/or something else that I can't make up my mind about.  None of them are floating my boat at the moment, but I really can't start something new.......can I?

I have come very late in life to anything that involves sewing.  My mother was a tailor and dressmaker and made beautiful clothes, she tried to get me interested but I was having none of it.  I was a tomboy and didn't want to wear the beautiful dresses she made for me.  I never even learnt  to sew on a button as I would just get my mum to do it for me.

A few years ago however I decided to join a quilting group, I don't know why as I didn't know a quilt from a tablecloth, but I went along a loved it.  I'm not one for straight lines and perfect cutting, I admire people who are, but I don't have the patience, if I had to rip something out to do it again, I would lose interest.  I also want to make things that are going to be used everyday and not just looked at.  My quilts include new fabric, but I try to use as much recycled fabric as possible, especially clothing from my family.  I look at the quilts and remember my boys wearing those shirts or shorts that have been cut up and included. They are a mixture of hand/machine pieced and quilted.

I thought I would share some of my favourite quilts I have made over the last few years.  Perhaps it will inspire more people to join the world of patchwork and quilting.  If I can do it anyone can.

                                    This cot quilt was made for our granddaughter

I started making this for my son when he lived at home. It took me so long he moved out before I finished it.  So it became a house warming present, he uses it as a throw over a chair he doesn't like the colour of.

                           I wanted a little hand stitching project I could take out and about, I really enjoyed                    
                                                                 making this.

This quilt is very special to me.  When my dad died I had the difficult task of clearing his house.  I kept one of his shirts to include in a quilt.  I also included my partners, sons and one of my shirts, it is my memory quilt.  When I'm poorly I wrap this around me and its like having their arms around me.

The first big quilt I made for our bed, we then changed the colour of the room and bought a bigger          bed!

The King size quilt for our new bed, I wanted it to have a 'retro' feel to it.  When I cleared my parents house I found fabric left over from my mums dressmaking so have included it in this quilt.

A dear friend was moving away, far away!! so I wanted to make something to remind her of Cornwall, and guess what her favourite colour is.  I having quilted things that are personal to her and Cornwall, so have included a samba drum and a Cornish pasty

The cot quilt I made for our grandson

Any quilters, patchworkers out there?  

                               Chickpea xx