WOYWW 303

I SAW THE SIGN AND IT OPENED UP MY EYES,
I SAW THE SIGN
(Ace of Base)

I know we all ponder on the swift passage of time...how Wednesdays come around at an alarming rate of knots, for example...but this past week has been positively supersonic. Such a lot has happened, some wonderful, some good and some...well, meh.

As the weather has been glorious here in Wiltshire, a great deal of my spare time has been taken up by the garden....very few hours spent in the craftroom. But I did make something small...
I needed to make a covered notebook for a new friend and as I wasn't sure what her favourite colours were, went for the whole gamut!  This was a good chance to use the fab cat fabric that Julia got me a while ago.  But stupid me forgot to take a pic of the finished article (doh) so I had to ask Becky to take a pic and email it...
It was fun and fast to make and the colours made me happy :-)

I got a surprise parcel last week too...couldn't work out what was in it. This beauty, that's what!!
The most gorgeous heart which is now hanging in my craftroom :-)  The lovely Debbie Rock made it for me as part of a Facebook Pay-it-Forward thing that we took part in. I really love it, Debbie..the colours, the sentiment, the twine. Just fab. Thank you so much!!  I am a lucky gal.....

Something else that made me smile was the yarn bombing that we found on a visit to Winchester University last Saturday...Rhys was there for an applicant open day..there was quite a few bits displayed around the campus..


Julia and I hit the sunny streets of Marlborough last week and outside the cafe where we had lunch was this.....
...and the other side...
Well, it made us laugh...all the way along the street....and made me feel a lot better! 

Have a great week and may your crafting be happy and prolific :-) 
xxxx

WOYWW 302 - THE 200th Edition!

OH YOU BEAUTIFUL DOLL, 
YOU GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL DOLL...

It is my 200th post today - I can't believe it!  Sharing the crafty madness and goings on at LLJ Towers is a lot of fun....it's amazing that there are folk still willing to read my weekly bout of codswallop. Long may it continue :-)


More squares on my desk today...I've completed a few quilt-as-you-go nine blocks and am having fun choosing the fabric combos. The towers of crochet are ready to go back downstairs to be my project whilst watching the TV.....I can't just sit there and do nothing :-)

But a couple of days ago...it was slightly different....
What a tip....see, I can be messy at times!  I'd bought a craft mag and there was a pattern for a topsy turvey Cinders/Cinderella doll....you know, the ones that are well, not reversible exactly, but a bit like a Pushme-Pullyou.


Now, as this was a present for a young lady who's just turned three, plus the fact that I've never made a doll before, I was a Good Girl and used a pattern AND pins!!  It's just a one-off though, don't panic ;-)  My hubby asked me why I was making a bone, lol......
Sorting out the fabrics for both dresses...the Cinders version and the princess one...










Here's the bodies sorted out before attaching the skirts....it looks as if Frankenstein has been at work in the sewing room at this point...*grin*















And here are both 'sides' of Cinderella. I've made her with dark hair as Chloe's is too. The pattern went from dark Cinders to a blonde Cinderella....why?  Does being brown haired inevitably cast you as one of life's servants? I didn't agree with that one bit, so she's a brunette for both sides!

I had fun making her but wouldn't rush to do another. There was a huge amount of hand sewing and the pattern was scanty to say the least. But it kept my little brain happy for a few hours. I only hope that Chloe likes it too :-)

Have a happy crafty week!

WOYWW 301

IT'S HIP TO BE SQUARE
(Huey Lewis and the News)

Back to the humdrum after last week's tricentennial celebrations!  It was fun though and great to share Julia's amazing achievement with everyone :-)

I seem to have made nothing but bags recently, which is fab but I needed something else to do...something easy and unchallenging.  I'd bought a cheapo book off Amazon, Quilt as you Go, which I know is something that Mary Anne has done in the past.  I like doing patchwork very much, but the quilting bores me to tears, so doing it in bite sized chunks appealed.

I took the charm packs bought with my Christmas fabric voucher and started to lay them out randomly.....
Lovely fabrics...but it just didn't do it for me. I've said it before, I don't enjoy 'random'...at all!  So, I had a quick rethink....
And it was just better (for me, anyway!). The intention is to do different blocks of nine, some with darker colours at the corners and others with light....
...and then you quilt each block before joining them up. I like this technique a lot!! So much better than having to manhandle an enormous amount of wadding. It'll also give me a chance to play with the order of the completed blocks.  This should keep me happy for a while :-)

Other squares featured today are:
I'm going to start blocking this little lot. I'm glad this project is nearing the end...it has been useful to use up ends of yarn, but again, I prefer it when there's a pattern and logic to the colours....very left brained of me!  I'll make a blanket but don't know what I'll do with it; maybe there's a charity that needs one.

This was Gail's finished tote (she's received it, so it's safe to share)...
Apparently it's already full up with yarns and hooks...yay...happy dance!

And finally, Queenie Jeannie bought a Hooter off me (for Zoe's fundraising) and sent this Thank you card in return:
What a gorgeous, happy card...just perfect for Springtime. The sentiment made me laugh too. Thanks Jeannie, it's adorning my mantelpiece right now!

Have a great week xxxx

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 769

 WE'LL MEET AGAIN.... I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while - please don't worry, all is ok! - think I just need a...