WOYWW 823

 BAAA BAAA BAAA, BAAARBAR BAAARANN

What a gorgeous week it's been weather wise, sunny and warm with a real feel of Spring in the air!  It's been another busy one with the delivery of my new piano (OMG the organ sound is fantastic, I'm shaking the spiders out of the rafters!), gardening, walking and catching up with friends. How lucky am I?

Here's the JanCave desk:

I'm cutting out the dog fabric that arrived last week but the main reason for taking this shot was to show you my RNLI certificate is now up on the wall, yay!

I enjoyed sewing this lovely bee fabric with a fresh green contrast, makes me happy....

I did the navy version with two different contrast as I was using up stash, very pleasing.

I used some last bits of the Luna fabric to make two little bags for gaming dice, the navy ribboned version is for my son Owen and the white ribbon is for the owner of a board game cafe he attends every week - the beads are from stash too.

And the reason for the daft lyric this week?

A tray full of sheepy nonsense - my friend knitted the bodies but ran out of time so I'm sewing them up and adding details. I didn't like the embroidered eyes (thought they looked creepy!) so am going for the bonkers look instead. Again, all made from stash so no expenses incurred this week lol. These will be stuffed with a creme egg and be ready for sale at my first craft fair next Sunday. Don't worry, I won't fleece the public or pull wool over their eyes, they'd be baaarking mad not to buy anything *grin*

Have a great week everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 822

 CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES!

It's been a bit of a week! In a nice way, I hasten to add. So there has been a bit of crafting done but not very much, feel free to bail out now if you want to see more inspiration on others' desks, lol!

I did sort out my crochet squares:

All ready to make a throw or blanket.  My RNLI friend Denise and her 90 year old mum Betty helped with some Easter knitting for the upcoming craft fair:

And presented me with this box of creme egg filled knitty goodness, aren't they fun?! They'll go well in Laugharne, I'm sure.

I might have succumbed to some fabric.....

Pretty, aren't they? 

And that's it craftwise - after I linked up last Wednesday, I headed for my regular shift in the RNLI shop. Little did I know that people had been conniving and planning! After we'd cashed up the till, I was hoodwinked into going up to the offices above the boathouse. I was gobsmacked to see that many of the shop volunteers had gathered to see me being presented with a Special Commendation for my fundraising...I was a bit stunned!

With Trev, the station chairman.

Gordon and Rhys were there too (they'd been part of the secret as well!), it really was very special, I was very touched.

 I got this engraved glass trophy as well.

This is a panoramic pic taken from the look out room at the front of the station, you can see for miles. The crew has already been out three times this year and there's the reason why I do what I do xx

But it wasn't just me who got honoured:

Laura (holding the shield) and Richard (on right) who are the owners of the Harbour Lights Cafe where my stuff is for sale, also got an award for being supporters of the RNLI. The girls who run the Collection Boxes were also there, it was a lovely morning. Many well deserved congratulations all round!

Still with me? I'm off down another path now! I've played the piano since I was small and taught many others to play on my upright, but it was coming to the end of its days and would have cost too much to repair. G suggested we look at electronic pianos and found a place in Swansea, a drab red brick building which I have driven past countless times without noticing. Inside was a bit of a surprise:

Wall to wall grand pianos, Steinways, Bechsteins etc etc. I was amazed!  We found a perfect one for us (Yamaha Clavinova) but I could have been tempted by this:

A see through baby grand built for Michael Jackson and played by many famous folk and appeared on tv many times!  But I don't have room for it in the house so it had to stay there. Never judge a book by its cover eh?

So that's been my week, definitely a change from the normal routine but it's been a lot of fun!

WOYWW 821

 I AM THE LITTLE RED ROOSTER.....

Another chicken lyric today, or could that be subterfuge? You'll see why later...

It's been another busy week, there's been a lot more sunshine (Yay!) and a bit more warmth (Double Yay!) and spring flowers are appearing everywhere (Triple Yay!)

The strip quilt for the lad was finished:

The camo backing worked well and he was really thrilled with it, which is lovely! I had some other blocks made up so thought I might as well get another made and see if it goes at one of the craft fairs in March:

It's my aim to use up every little last piece of the fabric I buy! I bought a dove grey cotton double duvet cover from the Bargain Bin in Dunelm for £6, so got two quilt backs out of that, woohoo!

I turned my machine sideways on the cleared desk in the JanCave which spread the weight of the quilt more evenly:

I have enough blocks for one more quilt and then that's it for a while.

I saw great tutorial on YouTube by a watercolour artist called Krista Robertson, where she splodged a background and then used flower stencils to take the paint off and leave a negative image, the stencils were very cheap so:

Aren't they pretty? I think these will get a lot of use.

As well as crafting, there's been walking:

A panorama from the Gower round to the RNLI station. Funny to think that if you headed out straight out in front of you, then the next land you'd hit would be the mid to south east coast of America. No wonder the storms come barrelling across the Atlantic and we have huge tides too!

And today's lyric? A postbox topper appeared in a nearby village featuring that arch villain Feathers McGraw:

Absolute genius! Kudos to whoever crafted him, it's marvellous. So there's the Little Red Rooster....or not....

Have a wonderful week everyone, the weather is set fair apart from today, so there's more walking and crafting in store, can't be bad eh?

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WOYWW 820

 CHICK CHICK CHICK CHICK CHICKEN,

LAY A LITTLE EGG FOR ME.......

Another week has whizzed past, a cold one too here in South Wales. The wind has been very keen indeed so I'm afraid I've been doing lots of things indoors!

I've got two craft fairs lined up in March so have been knitting more of the little chickens - bok bok! They're a good size to hold a Cadbury's Creme Egg, so hopefully they'll sell well in the run up to Easter. The eggs are safe from me, bleurgh, definitely not my thing at all!

I cut and sewed more syringe driver bags from the second duvet cover:

I liked both fabrics equally so used them both for outers and inners plus a bit from stash fabric for some handles. I got fifteen bags from each duvet cover, woohoo!

I've also been commissioned to do another string quilt for a boy, tricky one really as what patterns are suitable now won't be in five years time when the teenage grots start. So I offered to do some patterned and some bright primary colours in the hope that it'll stand the test of time.

I've used that navy space fabric as the middle strip on each square to give it a sense of cohesiveness.

I was spoiled on Valentines Day:

I love the colours in this bouquet, my absolute favs! I did a quick little painted card for G:

Which he loved! He said the look on 'his' owl's face sums up our relationship, he's forever wondering what mad thing I'm going to do next, lol!!

Hope you've had a marvellous week, the days are getting lighter, Spring is creeping up slowly.....wonderful xx

WOYWW 819

 IT AIN'T WHAT YOU DO, IT'S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you've had a good week and are raring to do some desky snooping over at Sarah's Craft Shed - it's fun, free and a great place for friendship and inspiration xx

I've been up to all sorts this week!

A big old cutting out session and tidying up of the strips again for the next lot of squares. Fun colours huh?

And some trios got packed up and beribboned.

My beloved apron got slightly ripped....

So a reinforced pocket will protect the area a little!

Lynnecrafts commissioned a small bag for a her projects:

It worked well, that fabric is so lush - this was the first buttonhole with the new machine as well, I had to read the manual! Wonders will never cease.....

And I had a proper bargain from a Dunelm sale bin, getting 100% cotton duvet cover sets for £6, there's a huge amount of fabric there, less than £1 a metre when you work it out.

And you automatically get contrasting outer and inner fabric for the syringe driver bags - I got 15 sets out of this duvet cover, woohoo!

It seems as if I haven't left the JanCave, I just cram a lot into the couple of hours I spend there. The downstairs crafting has been a little bit of knitting, creme egg covers for the first craft fair in March:

Chicken! Bok Bok. A noble friend has offered to do the far more complicated Peter Rabbit pattern, for which I'm very grateful.

Another busy week lies ahead, I'm doing a regular slot in the RNLI shop on a Wednesday afternoon so if I don't get to you today, I will be there tomorrow xx

Have a great week!

WOYWW 818

 NOW IT'S THE SAME OLD SONG...

Hello all you lovely Deskers, hope all is well with you this week! It's been a case of the same old-same old here in the JanCave, sewing up a storm when it's grey and rainy outside. However we've had some lovely bright weather as well so we've been out walking on the beach too, gotta be done!

This sums up what I've been doing:

Using up stash fabric to make tote bags, string quilt squares and syringe driver bags (not shown cos I passed them on without taking a pic, doh. I did 22 in all)

I find it impossible to do completely random choices with the string quilts - I simply can't put two colours together if they don't look right, sad but true.

Each square ends up having a certain tone or colourway!

I made some bunting for the new grandson of a friend of mine who lives up in the Cairngorms:

And the spelling is right, I double checked!

Even though I stabilised the tartan fabric, it still frayed quite a bit but it looks good though. The pivot function on my machine makes sewing around the letters a breeze, so much quicker than before.

I found an YouTube artist called Hu Art, he does watercolour/zentangle mash-ups which I really like so I blew the dust off my paints etc and had a go:

I had fun and soon went off piste when following the tutorial...

Ok for a first attempt, I'd do another! 

That's it for this week, hope your crafting goes smoothly and you have fun! xxxxxxx

WOYWW 817

 GONNA USE IT UP...

Happy Wednesday everyone! I do like this mid week catch-up, it's the one day of the week that I actually know what date it is!

Goodness but this one has raced by, how can we be nearly at the end of January already? It has been a lovely sociable week when the weather has been kind and a crafting one when it's been grey and windy.

A long shot of the desk today! I was determined to really crack on with sorting out all those strips and scraps..

It was a long old job but here they are ready for making a scrappy quilt!

Chain piecing them through the machine, the whole process is so much quicker with the pivot function and auto thread cutting. It's also nice remembering all the fabrics I've worked with over the past year or so!

The moment of magic! I love trimming the blocks up, what looks messy immediately becomes neater. I do ten blocks at a time, just find it easier...

But I think I'm going to need a fair few more to make a cover for the bed in the JanCave!

I've also been using up some fabric that has been in the stash for a while, I really love it especially with the bright plastic snaps.

Last week I went for a reunion with some friends from grammar school days, we had loads of fun catching up:

There weren't many long awkward silences.....*grin* My friend had fantastic taste in art, right up my alley. I could have stolen this stained glass panel:

But my backpack wasn't quite big enough, lol! The maker does courses in Llandysul near Cardigan, I'm very tempted to do one,

Hope you have a marvellous week, may your crafting be happy and joyous xx