WOYWW 790

 WHO PUT THE COLOURS IN THE RAINBOW?

Once again it's time for joining in with all the lovely deskers on What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, now hosted by Sarah over at her Craft Shed. It's always inspirational to see what everyone is up to!

I've had a finishing off sort of week. After catching up with those naughty Shrewsbury sisters Wipso and Twiglet, seeing Annie's string quilt squares reminded me that I had a nearly finished project that I'd put to one side. 

The quilt top was already done and pinned to the backing, so I made 7m of border and set to. I liked the soft grey, it went well with the myriad colours.

Ta da! A bit of fun and all made from scraps, that pleases my parsimonious crafty nature.

Up in the JanCave, I made a present for a friend who is approaching her 70th birthday. I didn't know what to get her but she does travel a lot so I thought I'd make her a little jewellery wallet. I haven't made one of these for a long time and had lost the details so made it up!

The finished interior with a little zippy pocket, lace strip to hook your earrings onto, a ring keeper and a little open pocket at the bottom. It folds up into this:

About 6" wide by 5" tall. It takes up less room than a jewellery roll. I hope she likes it.

And back to finishing off projects, I'd done some more little watercolours last week and got round to making them into cards:

Three cards using the same four paints. I outlined the paler of the top two but thought the darker version could do without. The bottom one was very quick and dirty, five circles of watercolour and pen doodles.

Choosing the backgrounds - the graduated paper is very sparkly and the pad was only £3 from The Works. I shall have to get some more, it's great fun and I do like the ombre effect.

I had a fabric delivery from ebay, one I shall keep for projects but the pattern of the other was much bigger than I'd realised so not so good. However, it'll make an awesome tablecloth for our very wide table!

I'll have to hem and iron it but isn't it fab? It makes me happy every time I walk through the room. Love, love, love it!

Well, I hope you have a marvellous week - look forward to seeing what you're all up to today xxxxxx

WOYWW 789!

 COME BACK AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED

Week 789 - that's a pleasing number eh? And amazing that the desky sharing is still as fun as ever hosted by the lovely Sarah over at her Craft Shed.

It has been a week of two halves - fabric and cards!

I started off last week by getting out all the fabric that I no longer needed or had been donated:

And had a sewing frenzy making up lots of tote bags to send out for the Ukraine charity convoy that's leaving at the end of July. There was a lot to do so I roped in a helper!

G did a fab job of ironing the handles, top hems and the finished bags too, he really helped speed up the process - we made 30 bags in total.

You can just see them on the table where I'm doing some card making to get them sent off too:

I scanned in last week's watercolour and printed them off on canvas type paper, it worked well!

Back in the JanCave, I made some bunting out of the Welsh Dragon flag fabric, just a change for the next stall:

It needs turning the right way out and ironing but is looking good already!

Back to the dining table and card making!

I had a card making session with a camera shy friend and got out the die cuts that Diana Taylor was kind enough to send. We had fun and got a bit messy (me and glue aren't a marriage made in heaven, put it that way!)

Hope you have a good week and may your glue dispenser remain unbunged!! xxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 788

 FLOWERS IN THE FIELD...

Hi there all you lovely deskers! Another week of crafty sharing hosted by the lovely Sarah in her Craft Shed.

It's a short and sweet offering from me today! I have done some sewing but it's all either been passed on or put in storage for the next craft fair (ie I forgot to take any pics, doh...)

There was a heap of stuff on the desk yesterday as I sorted out items to go on a Ukraine Convoy courtesy of The Gift of Warmth charity:

A few cardis and jumpers, plus a bag of hats and some tote bags for them to make up parcels of toiletries etc. They had to go yesterday as the convoy is leaving in a couple of weeks' time.

I realised that I'm bad at making time for other things too so I sat down with a YouTube tutorial and my paints, having been inspired by Lynnecrafts.

The tutorial was by Andrew Geeson, he's a bit of an acquired taste but does some simple yet effective lessons! I added some ink outlines not featured in the tutorial:

Rough and ready but it'll make a nice card!

And that's it - hope you all have a wonderful week and may your paints never dry up xxxx

WOYWW 787

 FLEE TO ME REMOTE ELF

(A palindromic song title for WOYWW 787, lol!!)

It's Wednesday and time to join in with the lovely deskers on WOYWW over at Sarah's Craft Shed. It's always a pleasure to see what marvellous makes are on show and say Hi to friends around the world xx

There has been a bit more action in the JanCave this week:

In the foreground and back right are the wherewithals to make some more bags, purses and cases (is it wherewithals? Or whereswithal? Or even wherewithal for plurals? I dunno.....)

Also on the desk are two small knit-from-the-top-down cardis that need buttons sewing on.

After sewing! I love making this pattern, it takes me two evenings and one ball of yarn to make a cardi, perfect for charity items.

I also found these offcuts of the Welsh dragon fabric that I'd put somewhere 'safe' ....cough....  I love making these fabric keyrings, they're so quick and easy and it's hard to lose them!!

All different shapes and sizes and it's something else to have on the stall.

Talking of which:

The craft fair last Saturday, I raised £130 which wasn't bad as it was a quiet day, there was a lot going on in the area so footfall wasn't high. But I did sell a tote bag in the Welsh Dragon fabric to our local MP Dame Nia Griffith!!

She already had a glasses case in that fabric bought from the Harbour Lights cafe so I was thrilled twice over. She's a good constituency MP, I like her very much and wished her well for tomorrow!

I'll finish with a peek at the corkboard in the JanCave, I had a very happy half hour swapping ATCs and cards around:

There's a good few memories up there and I look at them often. It's what desking is all about xx

Have a wonderful week and may your embroidery threads never tangle xx

WOYWW 786

 WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?

It's been fun joining in the desky snooping again and was really fab to see Julia in the link last week! Sharing today's desk with the WOYWW crowd over at Sarah's Craft Shed

The desk looks pretty much the same from last week, I have made up the glasses cases and purses but have only just started on the folding shopping bags:

It's been quite a busy week and there hasn't been much sewing action in the JanCave....

Looking at this pic has made me wonder if I'll pick white, black or red poppers...hmmm...

While I'm relatively neat when sewing, when it comes to card making it's always messier:

I had to make a few birthday cards so out came everything including the die cuts that Diana sent me a while back. I didn't use them this time funnily enough but have had an idea for more collages whilst sorting through.

And I made a start on the yarn featured last week:

A boy's jumper finished and a little girl's cardi just started. I love this Stylecraft variegated yarn, like Fairisle but without the grief, lol!!

And a thank you to finish with: Caro was very kind and thoughtful and sent me an ATC and badge and then some happy mail turned up from Kelly as well! I'm so grateful to you both, as well as all the other lovely deskers who included me in the anniversary, even though I wasn't blogging at the time. I truly appreciate it xx

Thank you dear friends, it means a lot xx

Well, that's it for this week, short and sweet. I don't know how much crafting will get done here as we have family staying and then a craft fair on Saturday. My photos may be a bit random next week!!

Have a great week and may your stencils never smudge xx

WOYWW 785

 THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME....

Hi there, another week of desky snooping arrives, yay! Joining in with the link up at Sarah's Craft Shed

Thanks for all the lovely comments last week, so kind of you when I was unable to return many because of being away. We did have a really lovely time and I found crafting all over the place:

I'll just share a couple - this was a post box topper of Criccieth in Criccieth! Complete with the castle (love the Welsh flags!), boats and swimmers, there was so much detail from some very talented crafters.

Also in Criccieth was a curtain of flowers leading up to the Memorial Hall:

The colours just made me smile, so happy!

I might have bought some fabric....

All from the sale rack in a little shop in Machynlleth. I always look out for something a little different to what I've already got.

The doggy fabric has already been cut out, interfaced and sewing started:

I thought a red spotty lining would be fun - I'm doing a craft fair on the 29th June and thought they might go well.

The red lining picks up on the dog collars!

I also bought some yarn on holiday ( I like supporting small independent shops if possible)  I didn't buy all this but was having a sort out of what I had to make some small jumpers for The Gift of Warmth charity:

That should keep me quiet for a while! The white stand is for my iPad, I was having a chat with Lynnecrafts and doing some knitting whilst we nattered away.

My menfolk had a lot of fun taking different panoramas on holiday, I shall leave you with three:

The seagull show off made me laugh!

Whoever balanced those rocks was very clever....

and this shot started with G, panned around the Criccieth Bay and ended with me!

Fun huh?!

Hope you're keeping well and happy - may your crafting be ink splot free and without yarny snarlups xxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 784

 WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY!

Only a short one today, just to keep in touch with everyone - we’re away up in North Wales with the family! (I may not be able to return comments until the weekend)

Portmeirion is absolutely mental but fascinating, we had a very happy time marvelling at the bonkers buildings which look like an Italian town on the Welsh coast!

It’s on the side of an estuary with the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) in the background. An amazing spot.

I’ll be back with you next week xxxxxx,