WOYWW 564

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

I think we're all going to remark on what strange times we find ourselves in at the moment - there are so many folk who are finding life tricky with no easy answers. I'm grateful that we have good and varied forms of communication so keeping in touch with family and friends is easy. Let's hope that the majority of the population obey the new advice so the social distancing is kept to a minimum.

And we have our crafting mates to keep us company (and possibly sane.......)

So, like me, the desk is a mixed bag this week!

I haven't shown a wide shot of the JanCave for a while. There's bags waiting to be made on the desk, together with a shirt that needs mending. The mannequin and dress was for a WI competition but I don't know if it'll take place now (it's in July). Anyway, she's called Betty and I'm rather fond of her!

This was an old duvet from a friend in the WI, I cut it up whilst chatting with Margaret (Glitter & Glue) on speakerphone!  It's nice to have ongoing projects - here's what I've made in the past week:

I'll roll them up ready for when the local shops open again. And Diana, the little WI tag is the right way up for you this week, lolol!!

And with the lovely weather forecast, I'll be tackling the garden, though having a coffee waylaid me ;-)

And after featuring one tall son last week, here's the other!

We have a table tennis table set up in the garage, it's good fun and is better exercise than you might think!

Other random things to share:
The sun streaming through my beautiful blue glass bowl stopped me in my tracks - gorgeous!

And whilst we're admiring greeny blues, here are a couple of pics that G took in Sussex:

I like coots, so ungainly on dry land, so effortless on water..

And the ripples please me in this pic!

There you go, a miscellany of random things to hopefully amuse you. 

Have a great week, take care and keep as cheerful as you can - your desking friends are always here for you xxxxxx

WOYWW 563

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS....

Hiya everyone - this will be a fairly lengthy post today. I'm working on the fact that since most of us have cut back on outdoor trips (unless you're at work) then perhaps we'll have more time today to visit desks and generally have an extended snoop around! We've got to look for the positives eh?

Gordon and I visited Wiltshire last week and then carried onto Sussex, of which more later. But first, the desk:

I'm going to make the most of this enforced time at home by getting through my stash. I've cut out 7 bags worth and am gradually making more for the WI to distribute amongst the shops in our home town, which they then give out to customers for free.

I've rolled them up and tied them with stash ribbon so they'll take up less space in the shops.

All this fabric was donated by WI members and friends so apart from thread and time, these are free to make and give away.

I bought this yarn whilst away and am making preemie blankets and hats with it for a local special care baby unit. It's lovely soft yarn to knit!

Ok - desk stuff over, onto our trip so proceed at your own risk :-)

We stayed with Julia and Mr D for a couple of days and had a good catching up session but forgot to take any pics - doh! We went to Salisbury and found Franklins where I indulged in a little retail therapy:
Fun huh?! It's for a craft competition so I can't show you what I'm making with this for a while yet!

We then went to Sussex where we'd rented a cottage for a couple of days and met up with Eldest Son:

We were based between Chichester and Arundel - both lovely places to walk around. There were lots of interesting lanes and snickets around Chichester cathedral...

And a good Mexican place for a scrummy lunch!

I loved Arundel, it had a great vibe again with really ancient streets and lanes to wander around.

I loved the patterns of the flint courses in this wall with the bricks and trees providing interesting shapes (though the passers by did look askance at me taking pics of a wall!!)

Unfortunately Arundel Castle wasn't open until April so we couldn't go in - it is very impressive, though it and the cathedral were perched so high lording it above the town, my peasant rebel tendencies made me want to run amok with a pitchfork, lol!!

Although I'm 5'7, I feel very short when I'm around my sons these days!

And the reason we were in the area? Owen had bid for an hour's training in a professional Airbus A320 simulator at his work's Christmas do. G has always wanted to get a pilot's licence but it's just never happened but he loves flying - anyway, they both went in and had a ball!!
They both did exceptionally well - G got a round of applause from the pilot and co pilot trainers as he landed at Heathrow, putting the plane down smoothly right on the central line. That's my boy!! Needless to say, they now both want to build a flight deck at home....I suppose we've got space in the garage, lol.

Back at home we're lucky in that we have loads of beaches on our doorstep to walk freely without risk of getting too close to people. There has been so much erosion on the town beach that these have been exposed from the sand/ash cliff face:

The remnants of a coal fired power station that was levelled in the 90s, they've been buried for years but no longer - like our very own glacial erratic!

And this isn't a UFO:
But the base of an experimental wind turbine that I remember when I lived here years ago, again revealed by the sand erosion. There's no photo jiggerypokery here, that's just how it came out of my phone camera - very sci-fi :-)

Hope you've enjoyed my fortnight's break, it'll be more mundane next week probably!
xxxxx

WOYWW 561

WE WILL PAINT WITH MANY COLOURS...

It has been another whizzy week, that's for sure - extra rehearsals, being out at the contest, WI craft club...good fun but can someone slow down time please?

I took some more glasses cases down to the Harbour Lights cafe and found the box there was nearly empty so it's just as well that I had a good stock to replenish - so far, I've raised £340 for the RNLI *happy dance*

Not that much action in the JanCave this week but there was lots in the kitchen and dining room yesterday....

The WI Craft Club Gals were in town!! We had a really good time painting our terracotta pots...

Trust you to have mucky hands Helen!!

And the lovely thing is how differently the pots turned out:
Shabby chic...

A bit of fun - Kath had brought a pot of herbs so it looked like her pot lady had green hair!

The metallic paints were rather gorgeous....

and Marie did these very smart pots.

I went down the monochrome line!

So there you go, cheap pots and paint testers, amazing what fun you can have for not much dosh, lol!

My band played soooo well in the Regionals but not enough for the adjudicators, we came 8th out of 11. It was such a strong section, everyone played out of their socks but that's the great thing about banding, no matter what the result, you still have fun in the pub afterwards!!
The singing on the bus home was marvellous, lol!!

I don't know if I'll be posting next week so if not, see you in a fortnight :-)
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...