WOYWW 446

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS....

Before you know it, we're nearly there! Such a lot has happened in the past three weeks what with visitors, playing with three different bands etc etc that things have rather snuck up on me. I'm looking forward to the two weeks break between Christmas Day and resumption of life, the universe and everything on January 7th :-D

My desk:
It's a combination of craft and wrapping station!  The Christmassy fabrics are out because someone asked for a last minute doggy bandanna and I haven't put them back on the shelves yet. There's a big box of wrapping paper that will shortly be put to good use. Just behind that is a my big butch stapler that I needed to fix cellophane onto a hamper - the gold metal tube behind that is my Irish Penny Whistle, which was in the same box as the stapler!! Don't ask me why, things must have got flung in when we were packing up our old house last August!

Other things that appeared out of boxes are these little Christmas trees that I made a few years ago - simple idea but they do make me smile and they're on the sideboard in the hall now.

Julia bought us a new glass bauble when she was here two weeks ago - it's in the middle near the bottom. And I made a beaded decoration at WI last month, it's the bright green tree top right. I love my decorations - these are the old friends that resurface each December whereas these...

.. are new. Not only did we 'downsize' to a bigger house and have to buy more furniture (!!) but we had to get some extra decorations too. Crazy but we've loved it!!

Lots of you mentioned the jigsaw last week - it seemed to strike a chord with many. I'm quite proud to tell you that hardly any dinners were burned over the course of the week and yet the jigsaw got completed without too much hassle :-D

A perfect picture to finish with - Happy Christmas to all you lovely deskers. Have a wonderful time with your family and friends. Thank you for all the amazing support and lovely comments over the year and may 2018 be happy, healthy and fun filled xxxxxxx

WOYWW 445

STITCH BY STITCH, HOUR BY HOUR....

Thanks for all the great comments last week - I'd like to welcome Laurie and Pam as two new followers. Thanks ladies. hope you enjoy the nonsense that is my blog!

I've given up making excuses for my lack of anything remotely resembling sewing! But there has been some action in the JanCave this week - woohoo! My son and future DiL are staying for a few days and some holey coat pockets needed mending:

It's hard to tell what I've been doing really, which is probably a good thing as the mend wasn't terribly pretty! However, it means that a perfectly good old winter coat now has functional pockets again, which can only be a good thing and took all of five minutes to do.

There's something else on the desk though:
Some purchases from The Flying Goose quilt shop in Llandeilo! The fabric is for a table runner which I'm determined to get done in the next couple of days - the interfacing and Bondaweb are for an applique project to be done in the new year. I'm on the Banner team in the Womens' Institute - a new one has to be made and I got 'volunteered' to help. Story of my life :-D  More on that in a few weeks' time.

I've been knitting for some little ones in our family - I have loved using this Cherish yarn, it's so lovely to knit with and the resulting pattern is like Fairisle without the grief of intarsia! Twiglet gave me that top-down cardi pattern ages ago, it's brilliant because it's knitted all in one and therefore requires no sewing up at all!! My sort of pattern :-D The piece on the left is the back of a jumper (the sides have curled in which makes it look a bit weird!)
I made that table runner a couple of years ago - in fact, I bought the fabric from Janet Fairythoughts in C&H Fabrics, so I think of her so much when I bring it out of the Christmas box each year.

It's been fun deciding where our old favourite decorations are going to go for the first Christmas in our new house - I may have bought a couple more to fill up the space (so much for downsizing....)

I love the trees - they brighten up our hall very nicely indeed!

But some family traditions remain the same no matter where we happen to be living and this is one - the Christmas Jigsaw!

Here's Lexy, my DiL-to be, doing a grand job of sorting through the pieces. It's a snowy street scene, of which there have been many this past week, but fortunately not here in Wales. As much as I love snow, it would have severely hampered the band's carolling. I can't leave a jigsaw alone once it's out however, so I foresee a few burnt dinners over the next few days!!

Have a great week xxxx

WOYWW 444

SHE'S A ...BAD INFLUENCE...

Well, dear WOYWWers, there's been no desk action again this week but there is something new in the craft room!

Aha, yes it is she who must be obeyed! Julia's been staying for a couple of days, needless to say, there hasn't been many awkward silences, we're making up for lost time :-D

A recently picked up flyer had mentioned Art in the Hall, which was in a very small village not far from Llandeilo. We didn't know what to expect really, would it be the sort of crochet toilet roll cover sort of fair? Oh no, it was really high end and in the most magnificent building. The Aberglasney Estate is nearby, where there have been recently restored gardens, so I guess it was all part of it. There were lots of beautiful crafts to admire:

I loved that chunk of elm which had been coloured - it wasn't lacquered as such but glowed in the sunshine.

There was any amount of glorious ceramics....

And a few hares never go amiss :-D  There was gorgeous (and expensive) furniture and textiles. What an unexpected pleasure and it had all been started off by two friends, one of whom attended the same grammar school as me, so there was quite a bit of reminiscing!

And then we carried on to Llandeilo. Gin tasting had to be done.

Mine (on the right) was rhubarb gin and Julia's was an Eccentric - I rest my case, M'Lud.

*Grin*

We had a seat at a bench overlooking the open kitchen and learned a lot from the very calm lady chef. I don't think she got fed up with our questions :-)

Then we went to Deb's Wool Shop and I remembered to take a pic of all of us this time! There had been a party held by the Knit and Natter Group who were still there, chatting away. Any shop that has crisps and chocolate cake on the counter has to be good right?! Deb and Chrissie are lovely people and so helpful too. I strongly recommend you visit this amazing shop - I know a good B&B in Burry Port!!

And finally, I forgot to put this pic up last week - Erna, the Dutch friend who cleaned my Janome, is a quilter par excellence. This is the last quilt she made. I am in awe......

It is gobsmacking! I wouldn't even know where to begin - or even have the patience to complete such a project. Absolutely wonderful!!

The Carolling has started big time with band, so the only crafting I'll be doing is yarn related. Hope you're having more success than me, lol!

Have a great week xxxxxxx

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...