WOYWW 300

CONGRATULATIONS AND JUBILATIONS,

I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW I'M HAPPY AS CAN BE!!

Congratulations, Julia, on reaching the 300th WOYWW - what an achievement!  

Thank you for enabling us all to link up around the world and share the crafty madness. Long may it continue :-)

I'm just so glad that Julia 'persuaded' me into joining in with the WOYWWers each Wednesday; apart from really enjoying writing this blog, I would have missed so much caring, sharing of friendship and ideas, meeting like-minded nutters.... It has truly enriched my life xxx

This week, you'll be relieved to know, the post is significantly shorter!  I think I wore out the keyboard last time, though the reaction was fun to the various photos.  The description by one friend of me as an 'axewielding, lopping maniac' really appealed...I'm going to have that as my epitaph  :-)

Anyway, today's desk:

I've got the Botanicals out again (you can get arrested for that, you know.....)  Gail would like a bag in this - I've run out of brown spotty fabric for the lining though, so I hope this black and white mini spot will do. 

I think it's ok......

As everyone had apoplexy when I revealed that no fabric purchase took place in that Brighton shop, I'll show you what Julia forced me to buy in the sale of a local quilting place....

Chocolate brown and pink make surprisingly good partners. These are not what I normally go for at all and I have no idea what I'll use them for either. Summat'll turn up, probably when I least expect it :-)

This is Princess Judy's finished zipped tote, en route to Tucson very soon. I love the colour combination, it's fun, isn't it?

And finally, the outdoor project got finished two days ago....

There, that's better.  Even the flowers in the bank are coming out too, adorning the scene. Celandines, daffodils and even some daisies....Spring might be on the way, fingers crossed!!

xxxxx

WOYWW 299

LET ME TAKE YOU FAR AWAY,

YOU'D LIKE A HOLIDAY....

(The Scorpions)

You find me, mid bag making (again!)  Princess Judy fancied one and specified 'greens, blues and browns....no pastels' so I think this fabric fits the bill perfectly!  I found this fresh, apple green spotty fabric in a shop when I was away two weekends ago...it's a gorgeous colour, really springlike - which is why I was attracted to it in the first place.  After this, there'll be another bag to make for a lady who emailed me, she reads my blog and some of the other WOYWW desks but doesn't join in herself. So hello Gail * waves madly*, hope you manage to take part in the general weekly mayhem at some point!!

Two more Hooters for Zoe's fundraising, one for a neighbour of mine, the purple one is for Lynda B. I'll be posting him soon, Lynda...hope you like the colour :-)

But I haven't actually been crafting indoors that much...outdoors is a whole different matter though! We have a long hazel hedge down the side of our property, which is on top of an ancient bank/hedgeline. It grows up to 7' every year which we cut down in the autumn with the help of our boys. But I decided it was time to really hack it back and re-lay it properly. My husband is poorly with the flu at the moment, so I went out armed with a bow saw, axe, long handled loppers and secateurs.......

You can see the difference in height between the uncut/laid parts of the hedge...

It's like knitting with twigs and boughs :-)  It's tough but very satisfying!

Rhys helped with the removal of the trimmings. I really enjoyed doing this and only have a couple more yards to finish. I'm proud of my handiwork!

Right, feel free to bail out at this point as I'm going to post a couple of pics from our weekend away  :-) We were invited to go to Eastbourne by our friends in the Accordion orchestra, as a thank you for helping them out last year...it was a whole weekend of all things accordion-y, so while workshops etc were taking place, Gordon and I went sightseeing!  First we went to Bexhill-on-Sea, because I wanted to visit the De La Warr Pavilion, a beautiful Art Deco exhibition centre on the seafront...

She was like an ocean liner in a 30's poster...good cafe too!

Gordon took this amazing shot looking up the beautiful sweeping staircase. I love spirals, so this is fantastic.....

I had fun being a human sundial on the promenade....

A photo of the two of us  - the self timer on the camera did a great job, I really love this pic!

The next day, we went to Brighton on the bus. And had a wonderful time mooching around the alleys and lanes, enjoying the very trendy right-on vibe of the place.

The Royal Pavilion is just bonkers! Fun though.....

What?? It's a fabric shop, isn't it? I had to go in, just for research purposes, you know...cough....

It was stacked high with piles of wonderful fabrics...I particularly liked this selection. 

But the shop was so crammed, it was difficult to move around, so consequently I didn't buy!

We passed an amazing cake shop (NOT Choccywoccydoodah, which was cheap and tacky in my opinion...can't understand why people make such a fuss about it!) where this Steampunk cake caught my attention. 

I took this pic for research purposes for my son and his fiance :-)

And finally....Gordon made me do this! He said it would be a good blog piccy...hmmmmm. Totty maybe, but Posh? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha........ I don't think so, lol.

We had such a great time away...pity that since then, poor G has been struck down hard by flu. He's been really, properly poorly...

If you've read all the down down to the bottom, then you must be mad! But thank you :-) 
Have a great week!

WOYWW 297

AND MORE, MUCH MORE THAN THIS,

I DID IT MY WAY.........

Well, let's have a little peek at the results of last week's tidying up!! I managed to get it down to four well packed boxes....plus a cardboard one full of fat quarters and another full of ribbons/ricrac etc. not bad huh!

After I showed Julia's tote last week, I ended up making another couple for friends of her sister! It's tricky when you don't know someone's personal taste, having never met them. So I opted for the Scottie and Botanicals fabric, both of which have done really well in the past.

A hand selfie! Just placing a button before sewing on...

Et voila. Hope they've arrived by now (and the ladies like them!). 

And as much as I'm trying to have a fabric buying embargo, I saw this pretty floral fabric in the sale at my favourite local shop in Marlborough. I had to have some, it's so pretty and Springlike :-). I'm not usually a floral/pastel lover, but this just spoke to me, so a metre found its way into my bag.......Dunno what I'm going to make with it yet!

And here are the latest Hooters and Hedgies, all with good homes to go to! Another £25 for Zoe's fundraising, yay :-)  I've got one more to make and then I think I'll do some crochet for a change.......

Have a great crafting week everyone!

WOYWW 296

HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY,

HELP, NOT JUST ANYBODY,

HELP, YOU KNOW I NEED SOMEONE...HELP!

(The Beatles)

The state of my fabric stash was terrible. When I was going to put my new stuff away, I couldn't even make my way through the disaster zone of my desk. So a Grand Sort Out was definitely in order....

And that's just a small fraction of the linings and fat quarters, there's the furnishing weight fabrics to be sorted as well. It's quite ...um..'surprising' quite how much fabric I've amassed over the past four years...cough...

I've been doing a bit more stash busting as Julia lost her craft tote to her sister over Christmas and asked if I could make her a new one. So, to The Stash, James and don't spare the horses.....

I know that Julia's got this Union Jack fabric on a chair at her house, so thought I'd make her a bag that would be camouflaged when she put it down!! ( I do love her really...honest!)

And last week, I had a request from a family friend if I could have a sewing day with her as she's just bought herself a machine and hadn't sewn since school days. So I bought my sewing table downstairs and we set to.  It's hard work concentrating on keeping your seam allowance straight!

Ellen's sewing started off decidedly wobbly, but her seams were really straight and even by the end of the day!  She'd bought a load of Marvel Comics fabric which was very funky but extremely slippery nylon...we persevered though and made a cushion cover. But I thought that she should make something out of better quality fabric so helped her make a simple tote.

Ellen also learned how important ironing is to make a good product. Cos she's like me and hardly irons anything, lol!!  But you did really well, Ellen - keep practising. You'll be fab :-)

The gold hedgehog I showed last week went off to live with Queenie Jeannie in Germany!  I made another, this silver one...she's definitely a girlie, don't you think?

Anyway, a friend bought her when she visited yesterday and ordered another in red!  It's amazing how popular these patterns are, but honestly, the wool is lovely, soft and squidgy and even I, a confirmed soft toy hater, have been converted!

So, that's another £15 raised for Zoe, which takes it to £55. If anyone else would like a tote or Hooter/Hedgie, let me know, it's for a great cause :-)

Have a great week!

WOYWW 295

HOLLY THE HEDGEHOG SLEPT IN THE BACK SHED

THE BROOMS AND THE BRUSHES, THEY DIDN'T COMPLAIN,

WRAPPED IN A POUND NOTE, LIKE A PAPER OVERCOAT,

OUT OF THE WAY OF THE WIND AND THE RAIN.

(Ralph McTell)

There has been a great response to the fundraising items I showed last week, so I'm in the process of cutting out another vintage bag with another one to follow!

I ran out of the spotted fabric so am having to make do and mend!  The spotty is a linen finish and came from Fabricland in Salisbury - brilliant value at £3.99 a metre. I bought it last year though so it's probably all gone now. Wish I'd bought double......

I'm just lining up the completed zip section with the top of the lining. It always looks wrong at this point but you just have to trust yourself, lol!

This one is slightly shorter, height wise - it's going to be a knitting bag for my brother's partner, Ros. I'm making a bigger one for Annie C as we speak. And thank you to Anne for buying the original from last week. All profits are going to Crafty Gashead Zoe's fundraiser. 

The doggy bag (!!) is still free if anyone would like it :-)

I have been a good girl and busting my stash but my lovely hubby had given me a Christmas voucher for an online company, Fabric Rehab, and this is what I got with it. So, it's not like spending proper money, is it? You know what I mean!  All the fabric was from the sale section, so I really got my money's worth. The ricrac will come in handy for all sorts of projects......

All the Hooters I made went off to Zoe's this week. this was how I found them one morning (Rhys had been creative!)

I made one more, for a birthday prezzy but can't show you it for a while.  But I decided to have a change and make the other pattern I got......

Meet Herbie the Hedgehog! Isn't he sweet?  He needs a home too, so if you're interested, drop me an email (again, for Zoe)  I really enjoyed making him, the pattern runs up really easily and there were less bits to sew on than for the Hooters!  I think this gold colour tinsel yarn is really effective for his Hedgie Spikes :-)

And lastly, you know how it is. Something arrives out of the blue and just makes you happy...

A gorgeous little handmade notebook and a pretty, sparkly card from WOYWWer Lisa M (Lisa's Craft Garden). I love them, they just cheered me up on a down day. Thank you Lisa, it was a really lovely surprise!!

If only we could bottle the sharing and caring that runs through Julia's blog...we'd make a fortune!  Have a great week :-)

WOYWW 294

THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA HA,

THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY, HO HO, HE HE, HA HA..........

Well, maybe not me but my menfolk.....you'll see why later!

The desk is back in full swing....

I wasn't fishing for compliments last week when I mentioned my inability to marry scraps of fabric together, honestly.  I can do it but the imprecise-osity irritates my inner OCD!!   

But, as someone said, the only way to improve is to practise, so here I am, attempting to further bust my stash with a vintage selection.

The soft tones work well together, I think and look, Janet Fairythoughts, I'm using those buttons you made me!  The script on them matches that on the fabric - me likee!!

And here's the finished tote bag together with the doggy one from last week!  I'm selling these to help our lovely WOYWWer Crafty Gashead Zo raise funds for her charity. She suffers from Hypermobility EDS/BJHMS and never complains, even though she is in pain. Her fundraising page is here if you are interested. The totes are slightly smaller than my usual size (44 cms wide, 30cms tall) so I'm asking £15 (plus P+P)  I asked Julia if I could do this and she was happy as it's for charity. Email me if you're interested...all proceeds will go to Zoe's fundraising.

And how do you like my lovely hooters?!

These are what all those owly constituent parts turned into! Aren't they fun?  I'm selling these for the charity too....Mummy Hooter (8") is £7 and Baby (6") is £5. You know you want a cheeky Hooter to be your crafting companion, lol!  Right, that's it, advertising stops now, Thank you for your patience :-)

I had a commission from a mate to make one as a prezzy...so off I toddled to get some more tinsel yarn and I made the bodies. Fine, all well and dandy. Then my menfolk decided that they could be multi tasked......

Honestly, it's like living in The Goon Show in our house sometimes....sigh.....   ;-) 

I think I need to run a caption competition here. My favourite one will win a sewn prize of some description (yet to be made!)     Have a great week!

WOYWW 293

I MAKE IT UP AS I GO,

I MAKE IT UP AS I GO.

DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'VE GOT EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL?

(Sam Tsui)

I've got a stash busting desk to share today!

I got these fabrics out a while back and they've been sitting on my desk for the past two weeks....my sewing machine had a layer of dust on it too (well, why should it be different from all the other furniture in my house?!)  But I kicked my butt into gear and got going....

I'm exploring the dark side of the stitch selection wheel  :-)  Just to add a little subtle detail....

But I've come to the conclusion that I'm rubbish at doing this - it bain't be nat'ral, I tell 'ee! Some folk (Twiglet, Wipso, Kyla) just have the knack of throwing odds and ends together and making something special. It just seems that I try too hard....it's the same with crocheting or knitting with tag ends of wool. I really do not find it satisfying - it's not that I plan my projects either....ideas usually hit me round the back of my head.  Inspiration/Mojo is an odd thing, isn't it? Thank goodness we're all different :-)

Take this, for example - a prezzy from a friend:

the prettiest little lavender bag...I know that I will never make anything like this. I have no patience, simple as that!!  The very thought of paper piecing makes my eye twitch ;-)

I have had more success with the crazy, sparkly, tinsel yarn this week...no beards were harmed in the making of the following:

Owl bodies, eyes, beak and claws...all ready to stuff n' sew. But would you believe that out of all the black buttons I possess, there are no pairs?  So I have to go and buy some...drat!  But OCD LLJ just couldn't put mismatched eyes on, it just wouldn't be right!  Does that mean I have to go to the wool shop? Awwww. what a shame......... ;-)

Have a great week everyone!