WOYWW 254

YES, YOU COULD SAY WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN

RED, WHITE AND BLUE...

(Lynyrd Skynyrd...shows I'm an ageing hippie!!)

A very patriotic desk this week.

Julia's ScrapLady compadre, Ally, asked me if I could make one of those mini totes for her in the Union Jack fabric I had stashed away. It was a close thing but I JUST had enough fabric to squeeze one out!  I gave her the choice of three different linings and she chose the taupe.

Top stitching the side pockets. I topstitch everything - looks neater to me!

Et voila! Just the right size in which to cart a few crafty things if you don't want to lug the massive tote around :-)

These totes plus a few other things sold really well at Julia's card workshop last Saturday, raising £110 for Guide Dogs for the Blind.  Thanks for the support, I was really pleased :-)

And finally....another landscape pic for Elizabeth. It's Barbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort (400 - 50 BC), part of a chain of forts all along the Ridgeway (a 5,000 year old trackway through Wiltshire.)  Listen carefully - maybe you'll hear the skylarks too, singing away as they soar up into the blue.

*Happy Dance*

Have a great week!

WOYWW 253

TICKING AWAY THE MOMENTS THAT MAKE UP A DULL DAY

FRITTER AND WASTE THE HOURS IN AN OFFHAND WAY

(Pink Floyd)

NOT!  I haven't frittered anything this week...certainly not time. In fact, it's gone by so fast, I'm still spinning!

The desk...

I'm making a few bits to sell at Julia's card Marathon this coming Saturday..all proceeds going to Guide Dogs for the Blind.  Some mini totes,a couple of knitting bags, doorstops and I'm just cutting out the pieces to make some desk tidies! Hopefully, a few more little lavender hearts and pillows too.

There's a couple of babies on the way amongst friends and family, so I thought I'd start a blanket - I lurrrrve these colours :-)

I made this blanket for a chemo comforter charity - I think rainbows bring a sense of cheer and happiness. Hopefully it'll help raise someone's spirits....

Right, that's it craft wise. Proceed at your own risk....

My outside desk - lots of transplanting to do and more seed sowing!

My gorgeous tree is in full bloom again...*happy dance* Can you hear the drone of the bees?

Son No 1 was 21 last Saturday - he's a hippie, nerdy, geeky student!!

I made him a Portal Cake (no, I don't know the relevance of this either...it's a geeky computer game and I found the idea on Pinterest. He loved it, nuff said!)

And finally - you know other people have crows or pigeons sitting on their rooftops??

Well, my street has Herons!! LOL :-)  He's obviously sussing out the goldfish in my neighbour's pond!! Canny bird. Bet he made a thump when he landed!!

See, the usual concoction of frivolity - sewing, crocheting, geeks and herons. Where else except WOYWW could this happen?   :-)

xxxx

WOYWW 252

WHITE LACE AND PROMISES....
(listen here - Karen Carpenter had the best voice...)

You find me mid-furtle! I've been getting some fabrics together to quickly run up some more little cosmetics bags for a band fundraiser and I was just deciding what to add where.....

Gingham, lace and roses - Pretty x 3!

The three finished bags plus a craft tote for my friend Helen in Wales whose old one had fallen apart - so that was good timing!!

I dragged Julia to Salisbury last week - I needed some more fusible fleece for the make up bags and Fabricland exerted its magic spell on me...oh yes, it did. I don't remember picking up these things..it's like it was all a dream... ;-)

Fleece for quilt backing, 3 gorgeous spotty polycottons that are useful for linings, some daisy laces, longer zips for more craft bags, iron-on interfacing (firm!!) and rigilene. I'm not planning on using it for corsetry - nope, I'm going to make some desk tidies and this will go around the top of the bin part.
And guess what? There wasn't any fusible fleece so I'll have to go back...snigger....

Spotty dotty daisy happiness - have your eyes gone funny looking at this??

And finally, the friend whom I made the owl crafty tote for had great difficulty prising it away from her small daughter ('MY bag, Mummy....!!) so I made little Chloe one of her very own to carry 'important stuff' around in. After all, a girl can never have too many bags, eh?? 

Start off as you mean to go on, that's what I say :-D

Have a great week!

WOYWW 251

AND ALL THE NIGHT'S MAGIC SEEMS TO WHISPER AND HUSH,

AND ALL THE SOFT MOONLIGHT SEEMS TO SHINE IN YOUR BLUSH

Good old Van Morrison - listen here

Here's one version of the desk....

Last Friday, in fact! What, or rather WHO, you can't see is Julia who is out of shot on the left.  Perhaps if we call her name loudly enough, she'll lean into the picture and say hello, lol!!  Actually, maybe you don't want to hear what she was saying cos she was giving me earache for getting a nervous twitch over the skewed patchwork pieces!  My OCD struck again...I would be SO much happier if they were straight but I was a brave girl and strayed out of my comfort zone!

Anyway, this is what they ended up as....a cosmetics bag for a 16th birthday present. This is from a Debbie Shore tutorial...very easy to follow!

I busted some scrappy stash by making these lavender pillows and hearts for fundraising for my band....

and this mini craft tote is a present for a friend. She has received it by now so it's safe to share :-)  I couldn't find a pattern I liked so made one up myself, it's ok for a desk tidy that you could just pick up and carry elsewhere. Recognise the fabric Kay?? 

Other things are on the desk now but I can't show you today...must remember to take a couple of pics for next week.....

A goldfinch enjoying himself on the feeder. He's saying 'Oi, do you mind. no photos while I'm eating, please'.......

Isn't this amazing?  I was coming home from band practice last week and noticed an aeroplane con trail was being highlighted by the full moon.  It looked like the most beautiful, celestial feather. Kudos to Mr LLJ for such a fab pic :-)

Have a great week, crafty or otherwise!

WOYWW 250

LAVENDER'S BLUE, DILLY DILLY,

LAVENDER'S GREEN,

WHEN YOU ARE KING, DILLY DILLY,

I SHALL BE QUEEN.

(Old English Verse)

Phew, what a week I've had with my revitalised, oiled, speed machine - I'm exhausted ;-)

Remember the patchwork from last week? Well, I took the scraps and put them together to decorate a tote bag for the quilt to go in..

The finished bag in an arty farty shot!  As you can see, I succumbed to the orange :-)

I'm glad you all persuaded me!

I'm mooching through my scraps here in order to make more lavender bags as a fundraiser for my band...the whole room smells of lavender at the moment, hence the verse at the beginning!

This was the present I couldn't show you last week, but it's safe to do so now!  A little gypsy top for a lovely little girl :-)  Hope she likes it!

Right, crafting over...feel free to duck out at this point...

Elizabeth (of Bleubeard fame) has often remarked on the countryside or historical pics I sometimes share, so these are for her:

Just a country lane, nothing extraordinary...except it's probably been a trackway for hundreds of years. They're often called green lanes, or hollow lanes or sometimes dark lanes. This one is Smithy's Lane, leading up to where the village blacksmiths used to be.  As the track gets worn down, so the banks rise up higher each side. In a couple of weeks, this one will be filled with wild garlic and wood anemones - both signs of ancient woodland. A hollow lane in the next village follows the line of a Roman Road...it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge walking down there!

I love my village...it's so interesting!

Have a great week :-)

WOYWW 249

NEEDLE AND THREAD

KEEP ME TOGETHER......

No words necessary.....

He's back!! Wahoo :-) And my desk is once more a heap of fabric. Can't tell you how happy that makes me feel.  And yes, he is oiled, smooth and ready for action.....what?? You lot have dirty minds....grin!

I sewed up the rows of squares to make a small patchwork quilt and am just going to back it with that spotty blue fleece. I'm looking for fabric to bind it with ...I want a zingy orange to frame all the colours but I haven't got one. Do you think buying half a metre of fabric will break my Stash Busting resolution?

You can just see an upside down bag of dried English Lavender in the background - I just felt like making lavender bags to put in my bedlinen cupboard....

This blue and white quilting cotton was bought two years ago and I've never got around to using it. But I made something for a present which I can't show this week and these were made from the leftovers. The fabric is so soft, beautiful to work with - it reminds me of tiles from Izmir. 

This may well be the shortest post I've ever written, lol!  Do I get Brownie Points, Julia??

Have a great week everyone :-)  

xx

WOYWW 248

I MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY, I MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY,

EVER SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY...

I've made many things for many people, but this has to be the best Thank You pic I've ever had....

I think Chloe liked her little waistcoat - bless her! That's her best cheesy grin :-)

I don't have a pic of my workdesk...nothing has changed there - but I get my machine back from servicing today. Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I'll have lots to show you next week cos I've got two weeks' worth of stitching to catch up on......

But I have been crocheting away merrily so I present to you:

WOYWW - The Hampton Court Palace edition *drum roll*

AKA a cafe table with my mate, Lynne! We'd met up there as Hampton Court is halfway between where we live. We're creating items that are going to be used for yarnbombing later in the year. That bright bubblegum pink is not my usual choice of colour but oh boy, have I enjoyed the gloriously bonkers tone - it really lifts the spirits!

That's it for crafting so feel free to escape now......otherwise you'll be forced to share some of the pics from the day!

I hadn't been to Hampton Court since I was 8, so not THAT long ago...cough..

It was a fab day, we all really enjoyed ourselves. 

I was amazed by how many trees were covered in mistletoe!

Loads of it, everywhere!

This is the William and Mary extension to the Tudor palace - the back entrance!!  Wonder how long it takes to trim those bushes then ;-)

Very pointy topiary....looks like witches hats! D'ya see that very white statue in the background? 

All wrapped up snuggy warm against the frosts and winter weather...awwwww.

I loved the fantastic patterns in these brick chimneys...not bad for nearly 500 years old, eh?

This one's for you, Sandy L-J!

The Tudor kitchens were brilliant, filled with guys re-enacting what went on. These chickens were roasting beautifully on the spit...

This chap (a dead ringer for Terry Pratchett btw!) was applying gold leaf to the sugar paste crown, which would be used as a table decoration. He stuck it on with egg white.

Another bloke was making quills and helping people write with it in a handmade paper book...

...of course I had to have a go! And I managed it without sticking out my tongue!!

As we were leaving, Mr LLJ pointed out my transport for the home journey....

Hmmmm what CAN he be implying??  I'll get him back, don't you worry :-)

Hope I haven't bored you rigid with my Grand Day Out!  There'll be proper crafting next week, promise!