Mum and I were chatting about Lady Lily one January day. She has been dressed in the strangest garb for almost a year. We had put her into some sort of hot pink onesie with strange horns (something I had found at the charity shop (I liked the colour)) and a face mask.
We made ‘it’ during lockdown 2.0 and it seemed appropriate at the time! It was named ‘Covid’…
When Mum suggested that it was time to re-visit Covid’s outfit, I whole heartedly agreed! We were both keen to see the back of the pink monster!
Mum has ‘form’ as a scarecrow maker and over the years each one has been more advanced than the last… so the pressure was on – the question was what to do next?
“Well”, said mum, “it‘s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year and I did a scarecrow for the Golden Jubilee…”
Decided then. It would be HRH The Queen of the allotment.
Mum and I decided to make the Queen scarecrow as a joint project which we threw ourselves into enthusiastically. A great way to cheer up grey January and February days! Mum, it seemed, was quite adept at finding/imagining things to make the scarecrow whilst my forte emerged in the field of construction – so our skills complemented each other!
We went shopping in charity shops – delighted to find a 50p basket with not one but two silver sparkly gowns.. one with long sleeves which was a total bonus as it covered her bubble wrap stuffed arms nicely. One of the dresses came with a large amount of sparkly detail which we wrapped around her bubble wrap neck. Along with some 50p pearls.
We settled on stuffed latex gloves for hands – Mum applied a lick of nail varnish to the finger tips. The crown, made out of gold card decorated with jewels (a bit of a worry as she won’t be weather proof… ) the purple bin liner worked well though. It sits on a Father Christmas beard for her hair (epic idea Mum!)
We decided the Sceptre could use a little artistic license so it‘s made from a flower pot stuck to a tree branch (covered in some sparkly dress cut offs) and filled with plastic flowers (… it is an allotment after-all!)
The Orb is made out of a dog toy and covered in more dress scraps and gold card. We had fun trying to get the Queen to hold the Orb!
She sits on a throne which has been specially adapted to hold her upright and upholstered from a garden chair.
The Queen will preside over the allotment during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations (and beyond if she stays presentable!) … I am in awe of how our joint effort turned out.. and totally intrigued to see how Mum will top this one!!
