Derby and the Comic Relief Ice-Off

Yesterday evening members of the Derby Makers group who are based at the Silk Mill Museum held an Ice-Off Competition for Comic Relief!

Contestants were given four cupcakes to ice and also asked to make a box to hold them.

Participants were given basic equipment and asked to bring along extra items to decorate the cakes on a theme of their choice.

Two eager icers Hannah and Andrea choose to sit on the other side of the room, a cynical person might assume this was to allow for secret finger licking 😛

It was wonderful to see just how enthusiastic everyone was to take part.

The contestants had forty five minutes to compete the task.  This allowed those of us who were observing to enjoy tea and homemade cakes 🙂

There were plenty of yummy treats to choose from and they were all being sold in aid of Comic Relief which is celebrating  25 years since it started.

The evening was about more than just cake with people winding wool ready for our next yarn bombing and others grappling with the 3D printer.

We even had a local newspaper turn up and insist we try out some unusual photographic poses. Here Britta is icing a lid and the photographer is taking the picture from below as I hold the flash.

He took plenty of other pictures and here are some more contestants holding their cakes up to him.

I think one person may have had some extra help with her icing! Teddy has many talents.

Once the cakes were finished everyone was asked to vote for their first, second and third choices.

These cakes were a clear winner.

These were second and the next picture shows number seven who came third.

It was not an easy choice as there were so many good ideas such as the fastest cakes on earth.

Easter cakes.

Under the sea.

And so many more.

 

The three winners were presented with knitted rosettes to remember their success.

The evening itself raised £90 and we are waiting for some more money to come in as cakes that were left over are still being sold.

Thank you to everyone who baked and took part in the evening.

 

 

 

Race Against Hunger Jigsaw Project Update

You may recall that we recently organised a group sewing session to make some Jigsaw pieces for the installation organised by the Craftivists-collective in support of Save the Children’s Race Against Hunger Campaign. Today I thought I would just post a little update.

I am about to send off the first twenty pieces which have been embroidered by people in Derby. The majority by members of the Derby Makers group who meet in the Silk Mill Museum .

I am hoping there may be a few more yet to be finished, but as time is running out this first batch will soon be on their way. All pieces are being put up at the Peoples History Museum, Manchester on March 1st. I tried to take some photos of the jigsaws on my kitchen table but it was difficult to fit all twenty in to the picture!

Everyone chose their own words to embroider but several have also included the hash tag #imapiece which makes conversations about the project easy to follow on twitter.

CCjigsaw013-101

This picture shows some pieces made by others. Crafters from all over the country have been joining in.