WOYWW 424

IT DON'T MATTER IF YOU'RE BLACK OR WHITE...

We've had two sets of visitors in the past week which has been wonderful but busy so not that much crafting has taken place. I did get out all all the things that I've made for the RNLI Open Day (22nd July) in order to box them up to take to the relevant people.

There are tote bags, drawstring bags, zippy bags, doggy bandannas, hearts, tissue holders, sunglasses cases and carrier bag tubes - I hope they're useful for raising some cash.

The sunglasses pattern and tutorial came off Pinterest!

The doggy bandannas are folded and labelled....

This was for Son No 2 however, he wanted a doorstop to stop his bedroom door from creaking in the breeze. It's basic but functional...bit like me really :-D

My nephew Matt came to stay with his wife Kim and her mum, also Kim, who are from New York. They had a good couple of days exploring the area. I'd shown Mama Kim my crochet blanket-in-progress and, bless her, she insisted on finding a wool shop when the three of them were out and bought me these:

Posh wool!! It's Merino and incredibly soft. Mama Kim said she hoped I'd make a shawl or scarf for myself. That'll be my Autumn project for sure. How thoughtful a gift was that? As fast as I'm trying to clear my stash, more appears - it's the yarny equivalent of the Magic Porridge Pot, lol!!!

A couple of pics to finish with - Mr LLJ belongs to a local photography society who arrange some interesting trips out - this was last Wednesday's to a National Trust Property.

There were lots of deer enjoying the cool of the evening but the main intention was to see...........

Badgers!! This little one was muscling in to get its fair share of peanuts....

The one on the right was using its paw to shovel in as much food as it could...there were jays and wood mice helping themselves to the feast while 10 photographers sat in a hide. Better than tv huh?!

This is my favourite shot - G really enjoyed the evening and can't wait for the next one!

Have a great week xxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 423

I DIDN'T COME HERE TO PARTY...

I ONLY CAME FOR THE CAKE.

It's a photo heavy blog today folks, so desk first and then feel free to bail out if you want! But first, May, I did try to comment on your blog last week but your link kept taking me away to online advert sites. I hope you realised and have managed to sort it.

Desk 1:

When rootling around in my furnishing fabric box last week, I came across a remnant of this adorable fabric - I love it so much, those little elephants...so cute!!  I had just enough to make two more drawstring bags, one for my charity projects but the second will go to my great-niece Edith. She's a bit little for a PE bag yet but it can be put by and maybe used for other things before that!

The red gingham lining looks pretty good too but you'll just have to take my word for it!

Desk 2:

Two days later, things looked like this! I have an exploding scraps box too, just like Angela and Julia - mine's just fabric instead of paper. I'm continuing on my stash busting mission and wanted to make a pretty zipped bag for a teenager in band who is off on a major school trip soon...

A bit of ribbon, trim and one yoyo flower later and Bob's your uncle :-D  I hope she'll like the surprise...

Last week, my boys, future DiL and G went for a road trip up over the western Brecon Beacons, ending up in Llandeilo (home of the amazing Ginhaus). We found another shop, Heavenly (for details see here) which was a fab find on a very hot day as it sold the most amazing ice cream. The shop/cafe is laid out in a very luxurious manner:

Sinful chocolates, sweets and ice cream at every turn....temptation on a stick!  But there was more, they make OTT wedding cakes too. I asked permission to take some pics which they were happy to let me do. 

This one's for Shaz and Doug Silverwolf!

The detail is incredible..I love the dragon!

Son No 1 and his fiancee were very taken with this one!!

How lovely would this be for a vintage tea party themed wedding?!

I thought this was my favourite seaside one but....

The mermaid clinched it - fine figure of a woman there, lol!!  It was a great shop with lovely folk running it - I'll definitely be taking Julia there when she next visits :-D

And FINALLY (thank goodness for that, you're all thinking!) my niece Clare emailed me this pic from her day at Wimbledon:

My goodness - is that a JanBag she's carrying?! Yes it is and one I made quite a few years ago. It's good to see that it's still going strong, thanks for sending the pic Clare, you look very patriotic - hope you indulged in some Pimms and Strawberries and cream too :-D

I met up with Lynne (Lynnecrafts) in London  last Saturday as well. we went to the Hokusai exhibition at the British Museum, it was wonderful and very inspiring. We had a great day but no pics were taken, we were having too much of a good time. It has made me think a lot about drawing again though and when the next three lots of visitors have departed, I'm going to take it up again!

Have fun all - and thanks for making it to the end of this post ;-D xxxxxx

WOYWW 422

WHEN A KNIGHT WON HIS SPURS IN THE STORIES OF OLD....

Another week has whizzed by! I've got both sons and future DiL at home, which is really fabulous but expensive when it comes to bread, cereal and milk!! :;-)  Only joking, it's lovely being surrounded by my very tall sons..honestly, if they stand either side of me, it's like looking up at skyscrapers and I'm not exactly short!

I'm also pleased that Julia is home safe and sound - it was good to chat and have a bit of a catch up..yay xx

Some crafting has been done...

I found the ditsy flower print when I was looking for something else and thought that it needed using up! So I matched it with the pink gingham and a purple spot in order to make a craft bag.

Mix and Match but the colours go quite well!

It's got pockets inside and out and a recessed zipped top. Hope someone will like it at the RNLI open day craft stall :-)

And then my hubby asked if I could knock something up for him that he'd seen on a camera website - a sort of bean bag thing to rest the camera/lens on. I had a quick suss out of some photos online and had a play:

I'd forgotten all about this fabric! I just made a boxed corner bag, filled it with stuffing and slip stitched it shut - took all of 15 mins....

...and does the trick! Now G can use the shutter release on his camera without it tipping over. 

It was the carnival in our small seaside town last Saturday - the posters had mentioned a Medieval theme and they weren't joking!

We really enjoyed the jousting performance - the guys in yellow and black were the baddies with the others being the Good Guys. We had a lot of fun booing the baddies and cheering the heroes! They were excellent and put on a great show with lots of hammy acting...the jousting and tilting bit was really exciting:

This guy in particular really went for it - he'd put his head low, urge his horse into a gallop and charge down the course. It was quite stirring watching men in full flow, so to speak!!!!

Take care and have a great week!!

WOYWW 421

I SEE SKIES OF BLUE AND CLOUDS OF WHITE....

It's been a fun week with family visits, lovely meals and lots of fab walks - this early retirement lark isn't half bad :-D

Thanks for all the great comments and entries for my giveaway last week...the winner of the little zippy bag is:

CRAFTYANI (Anickoana)

If you could email me your address, I'll get it off to you ASAP! Hope you find it useful :-D

I haven't done that much sewing this week as there have been other priorities but I did get my scraps box out to see if I could find odds and sods to make lavender sachets with. I found where the stuffing was hidden too, so all is good! The only problem is that my dried lavender needs replacing, the pong has gone...my neighbour has a few lavender bushes in full flower at the moment, I might have to beg some off her to dry.

I would love to tell you that this is the sum total of my scraps but I'd be a naughty little fibber if I did!!  

The reason for my title lyric this week is this:

This is Worm's Head right at the end of the Gower Peninsula, we walked there on Monday and from an overcast sky at the start, it turned into this. What a great morning we all had.

Worm's Head from the other side - it's got nothing to do with earthworms but comes from the Viking word 'Wyrm' meaning Dragon and was named by Sweyn the Viking, so the story goes!

It's just round the headland from this beach, Rhossili, which often features in the Top 10 Best Beaches of Wales/UK/World. If you look just to the left of the hill, you can see land in the distance, that's where I live, so I get to look across at this scene every day. Tough huh?!

As we walked along, we saw this:

Odd little plastic shelters, each of which had a table, chair and artists easel. There was also an Outside Broadcast Unit set up and a notice that said The Landscape Painter of the Year series on Sky TV was being filmed Tues/Wed. We were just a day too early!

And they'll be facing the famous view - I wish we could see the programme when it airs, but we don't have SKY. I hope the contestants have fun painting that gorgeous view!

Take care all and have a fab week. I know Julia's been having a wonderful time in the US but I'm looking forward to catching up with her :-)

xxxxxxx

WOYWW 420

PLANT HAS FLOWERED IN THE SAND

SHELL AND PEBBLE SUNNING....

Thanks for all the sympathetic comments about HarrytheCat last week, it's still weird without him but you all helped xxx

I'm showing a pic from a couple of days ago - I was determined to get my money's worth out of that jelly roll and wanted to make something out of the last few leftovers. Add a zip and a bit of gingham ribbon and what do you get?

A little zippy bag, that's what! This is the prize for my giveaway this week (as a thank you for just being there). If you'd like to win it, just mention it in your comment. The winner shall be revealed next week :-D  I'm happy to post overseas if any non-UK gals would like to join in!

My desk yesterday.....

I've been in a fabric stash using-up frame of mind recently but saw these on sale last week, the spot came from Dunelm (£5 per metre) and the pink gingham from Laura Ashley (£8 per metre) As they're furnishing fabrics, they are really wide and I can cut out loads of things from them. More tote bags for my projects:

Good combo huh? The sturdy fabric makes a good strong bag. You'll no doubt see a lot of this over the next few weeks while I use it all up :-D

And the reason for this week's lyric?

G and I escaped on a road trip last week and went to an NT garden and walk in Pembrokeshire. We'd walked all the way down a valley to the seaside and came upon someone's impromptu artwork. It made us smile!

I could live with this picture on the wall! Very Zen, doncha think?!

I see that Julia is having a high old time in the US, she's been threatening to bring me back all sorts of 'lovely' souvenirs....hmmmm.

Have a great week :-D xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 419

CRYIN' OVER YOU...

Thank you to everyone who asked after Harry the Cat last week - unfortunately, it wasn't a good outcome. Under sedation for an x-ray, we found out that he had a massive tumour and it was kindest to let him slip away in his sleep. Poor old puss cat, we miss him so much. He was a very big personality and has left a moggy shaped hole in our lives...

He had a fab life (16 years) and is hopefully chasing mice up there in the clouds :-)

Crafting helped fill the void. I'm still making items for various projects:

This is the aftermath of a big cutting out session.....

I'm taking a leaf out of Wipso's book and making PE bags for the charity stalls. I'd forgotten I'd got that hearts fabric, there wasn't much left, hence pairing it up with the lilac spot.

And I managed to make three tote bags and a grown-up drawstring bag out of the jelly roll strips. They came together really well and I'm pleased with how they turned out.

G and I went out on a road trip the other day to cheer ourselves up after Harry's demise and found this tiny little wool shop, which doubled up as the main reception office for a caravan park. My dear hubby insisted we stop (no, honest, he really did!) which earned him lots of brownie points :-D I had to buzz an intercom to speak to someone to come and open up - that's a first!

Unfortunately there was nothing that caught my eye, but Emily the owner was lovely and she had a neon sign in her door!  Hopefully she gets lots of custom from the holidaymakers on the site :-D

I hope that Julia is behaving herself stateside - what am I saying?? There's no chance of that ;-D

Have a great week xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 418

TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPIN'..SLIPPIN'...INTO THE FUTURE...

I seem to be repeating myself each week saying that's been a full-on time, but it's true! More sorting out of the house, dealing with a poorly puss cat, band, walking etc etc - it has just flown past.

But some crafting has also taken place!

You find me making different items for various projects - doggy bandannas, pretty hearts amongst them. There are scissors, templates and wadding in use but these will be cleared away before the next project. My mate Helen came over and cut out the hearts and bandannas while I sewed 'em up - what a great help she was, it's amazing how much quicker things got made when they were already cut out. It was like a production line, lol! Thanks Helen, same again soon?

Just little things but hopefully will help raise some cash :-D

The hippy bag came out ok - I thought it could be called a Boho Beach Bag! Still loving the colours.

And some more ATCs found their way to Wales - I do love it when the envelopes drop through the letterbox.

Pretty gorgeous huh? Thank you Sandra D, Sharon K, Cardarian, Christine Bishopsmate and ArtyAndrea, I love them so much - especially the sentiment on Sharon's card (bottom left) after the further sadness in London this week. Thank you for thinking of me, lovely gals, I appreciate it so much xxx

Take care everyone, sending you much love xxxxx