Heads And Tails!

 IMPORTANT - the cross stitch parcel arrived safely with Kirsten yesterday. Much rejoicing all round!

Moving swiftly on- the other exciting news of the day [a cheery item, much needed as the world is so full of sadness right now] The Royal Mint has just revealed the designs for the new King Charles Coinage. Reflecting the King's love of the natural world, there will be wildlife with heads - and tails - on our coinage.[btw heads is properly called obverse, tails is reverse]

1p: A hazel dormouse, which has seen its population halve since 2007

2p: A red squirrel, which is expected to blend into the colour of the copper coin

5p: An oak tree leaf, signifying its role as a rich habitat for biodiversity in woodland areas and an association with monarchy of the past

10p: The capercaillie - the world's largest grouse - found in a small part of Scotland and threatened with extinction again!

20p: A puffin

50p: The Atlantic salmon, which is at threat from river pollution and habitat loss

£1: Bees

£2: National flowers - a rose for England, a daffodil for Wales, a thistle for Scotland and a shamrock for Northern Ireland

My thoughts

Apart from loving the idea of nature on the coinage, these seem great choices to me.

The dormouse is a beloved character from Alice in Wonderland

I was privileged to see red squirrels on Brownsea Island, when I visited with my dear friends Peter and Jenny a few years ago.

King Charles II hid in the Royal Oak in 1651

Capercaillies are a favourite of the King [he mentions them in his children's book The Old Man of Lochnagar] - the name means 'horse of the woods'

Puffins are just so cute!

Atlantic salmon have such an amazing life journey

---and bees are definitely a favourite insect for me [pollinators, symbol of Manchester, all those biblical references to bees and honey]

And the multinational bouquet is fitting for our largest coin.

Three interlocking Cs feature on the coins, representing the third King Charles, and taking its inspiration from the cypher of Charles IIl
Round the edge of the new £2 is inscribed "In servitio omnium", which means: "In the service of all". This phrase was chosen by the new King Charles - part of his speech in September last year, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth .
These coins will come into circulation at the end of the year.

Rebecca Morgan, director at the Royal Mint says that although use of coinage has declined in recent years "We know a large proportion of the population is heavily dependent on coinage. And it is tradition to mark the coming to the throne of a new monarch with new coinage"

I'm old enough to remember pre decimal currency - and my grandad, [who was a Church Treasurer at one point ] talking to me about the two 'natural' things on the coinage then

We had the wonderful twelve sided 3d - threepence [or 'thrupence] with the thrift plant growing upon it. I was taught the word dodecahedron, and the virtue of thrift 

And the little Jenny Wren on the ¼d farthing [fourthing] Luke chapter 12 v 6. "Five sparrows sold for two farthings - but not one is forgotten before God. Fear not, for you are of more value than many sparrows"

I can think of four little children who are going to get a lot of lessons about our natural world from Grandma when they are given holiday spending money next year! 

What do you think of these designs? 

Do you have a favourite?

How and when do you use coinage these days?

House Work

For the May Cross-Country-Collaboration with Kirsten, I was not sure what to stitch. I felt that perhaps I should mark the Coronation, but I did the No Cross No Crown last month and didn't feel like another crown. 

The House of Windsor began in 1917 with our King's great-grandfather, surely I could find something I'd enjoy stitching. Looking in the loft for something else, I found an A4 envelope containing some X- Stitch pattern books from the late 80s when I was making lots of cards.

Let's be honest, the Royal family is pretty dysfunctional at the moment, in one way or another. So prayers are not just God Bless The King, but God Bless The Lot Of Them. And then I found this at the back of the book. I tweaked the border a little.

Bless This House  was written by an English woman a century ago, with music written by an Australian. 
It seemed a good sentiment. 

But as I stitched I realised there was a second meaning... In the year and a half that Kirsten and I have been sewing in collaboration, our friendship has grown. We send each otyer messages and prayer requests and pray for each other and our families. The piece I was working on will end up in Kirsten's house. 

Bless this house, oh Lord we pray   applies to the house of my stitching buddy as well that of the sovereign. 

Why, Oh Y?

 I had all these plans for the week just gone

• Monday - do nothing, just recover from the busy coronation weekend
• Tuesday - morning at Craft Group, afternoon visiting a friend, evening putting away coronation stuff. And Bob would put up the new bedroom blinds.
• Wednesday - making two memory bears, sorting out packing
• Thursday - generally getting the house straight, ready to leave - and maybe going into Norwich when Bob went to the Hospice, to choose more library books.
• Friday - off to Scotland after an early breakfast

This did not work out quite as planned.

Monday - late, lazy breakfast, and as the sun was shining I washed the coronation robes, and got them [plus a second washload] outside to dry. Then we heard from Bob's sister- she and her husband were in Norfolk visiting her MIL, could we meet up. That was lovely - we drove across the county and had a great time, tea, cakes and family catch up. It was a great way of relaxing. But the blinds did not get put up.

Tuesday - the old vertical blind had come down the week before, and made very successful crowns. But we felt a bit exposed when we opened the curtains and everyone could see straight into the bedroom. Just before the weekend I'd blu-tacked a spare flag across the large window. It was translucent, so we got the light but also privacy. But I had to take that down after the celebrations. Bob was not feeling brilliant, and spent the day resting. Covid test negative. While I was out, he realised the mat in the Futility Room was rather wet. The dishwasher and washing machine were moved out from under the worktop. The wall was really wet - but we could not see where the leak was coming from. We turned everything off.

Wednesday -  Bob shone a torch into the damp space - and saw the tiniest jet of water was coming from the top of the Y-connector which supplies water to the the two machines whenever either was switched on. He dismantled everything and removed the Y-piece. There was a hole, but it was microscopic - but when the water was under pressure, it squirted up the wall and then over the floor. The extra laundry and dishwashing had meant there was more water than usual. Everything had to be moved, and dried off, and the Y-piece replaced [a metal one this time!].The bears got cut out, but not sewn up. 

Thursday -  Other urgent household tasks cropped up needing immediate attention. The mobile library van came at 10.10 and I dashed up the road to change books, encountering a very chatty friend.  I didn't sit down at the sewing machine till 11am. By 5pm I had finished my sewing tasks, the bears are ready to go with us [and be delivered to Steph in Manchester to pass on to her friend]   Bob had cancelled his Hospice visit and spent most of the day on admin. I fetched the cases from the loft - and at 8pm I finally started packing. 

Why Oh Why is it so often like this? I get to midnight the night before the holiday and wonder if it is worth it! But I am grateful for an opportunity to get away, rest and recharge. 

The King and Queen have come up to Norfolk for some R&R at Sandringham this week. I hope the weather improves for them. We've had a lot of flooding round here. .....

However I typed all that on Thursday night. It is now 7pm Friday and we are settling in at our beautiful cottage after a long and interesting journey. We passed a field of camels 🐪 near Penrith

We had lunch in The Ancient Unicorn at Bowes. This is where Dickens stayed whilst writing Nicholas Nickleby.

I am hesitant to give a negative review, but let us just say our dining experience was very disappointing on many counts! 

But this hideaway is fabulous, very "country living" in style. I feel rather spoilt... Thankyou all for the brilliant suggestions for places to go. I may just stay in the cottage with my knitting!!

Screen Test

The Coronation Ceremony  includes a very special moment when the Monarch is anointed as a servant of God. This is a special rite which is both sacred and personal - therefore a screen is placed around the King or Queen for a few minutes. In 1953, Elizabeth was anointed under the canopy made for her great-grandfather, half a century before.

A new screen was designed and created for King Charles.

Designed by Aidan Hart, and construction organised by Nick Gutfreund, this is a beautiful piece of embroidery full of symbolism.

The central motif is a tree, using the text from Revelation 22 about the tree of life, and "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations"  The central trunk and branches are machine stitched, but the 56 leaves were individually handstitched, by workers from the royal School of Needlework and also embroiderers in Australia. The woollen cloth came from Australia and New Zealand.

Here are all the Commonwealth nations - Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and all the rest, and of course, the United Kingdom.

The four support posts are turned from a windblown oak in Windsor Great Park. Two Bronze Eagles, symbolising the Divine are atop the front posts. Above the tree fly angels, and a dove representing the Holy Spirit.

At the base of the tree is the Royal Cypher and below that a banner with the words

All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well

This is a quote from the mystic, Julian of Norwich . 

As you can guess, I was pleased to see something from Norfolk so prominent in the ceremony. It is J's 650th anniversary this year. 

It took four months to complete the screen, with all its intricate detail- the two side panels are of much simpler design in red, blue and gold.

There's a helpful YouTube piece here explaining it all

 I really did want to say somyething about all the stitching that went into the day. Do check out "Fit for A King" on BBC i-Player if you can, to find out about the making of the uniforms. But this will probably be my last post about the coronation.

What a day...I am still in awe of the way Penny Mordaunt held that heavy sword aloft for an hour without flinching or wobbling, and the way the drummers steered their horses with their feet. 

Thank you for all the comments yesterday about the poem - so often all these details of an event get overlooked, and it did sum things up so effectively. 

I think my word of the year collaboration has definitely been in evidence over the past week or so!

UPDATE as Sandra has mentioned them below, I've added a picture of the Queen's dress, showing Beth and Bluebell, her rescue dogs

King Of Kings

As a child, I was taken to the Tower of London, and saw the Crown Jewels. Amazing, glittering, beautifully made- gold and silver and precious stones. It was a breathtaking sight. Most of these items remain in their untouchable, bullet-proof, burglar-proof cases ...until some are removed for the Coronation. I understood about crowns, but the Orb fascinated me. My Dad explained it was a symbol of Godly power. A cross above a globe, it represents ‘Christ’s dominion over the world’, and the Monarch is God’s representative on Earth.

The bands of jewels dividing it up into three sections represent the three continents known in medieval times. Mounted with clusters of emeralds, rubies and sapphires surrounded by rose-cut diamonds, and single rows of pearls.  

A cross on the top is set with with rose-cut diamonds, with a sapphire in the centre on one side and an emerald on the other, and with pearls at the angles and at the end of each arm. This piece of the regalia was designed and made by Sir Robert Vyner for King Charles II in 1661, and cost over £1000 [the whole collection, commissioned by the King cost £12K] 

During the coronation service, the Orb is placed in the right hand of the monarch as he is invested with the symbols of sovereignty. The Archbishop of Canterbury will say : “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.” It is then placed on the altar before the moment of crowning.

The coronation is essentially a religious ceremony - a reminder to the new monarch that he too is subject to the Sovereignty of Almighty God, before whom all are equal.