WOYWW 569

KEEP ON MOVIN'

First, an apology for the appalling lack of comments last week, it just didn't happen for one reason or another. I shall do better today!

I genuinely don't know where the time is going, you turn around and it's 10pm and I haven't exactly been twiddling my thumbs. Some strange confusion in space and time, it's gotta be.....

Anyway, the desk:

 More duvet covers, pillowcases and sheets have been arriving daily - we'd run out of fabric, so an SOS was put out to my RNLI shop buddies and they turned up trumps. It has been a true fabric frenzy in the JanCave!

I seem to have been sat in this position for most of the week!

The boys continue to be stars helping with the scrubs bags construction. Here Gordon is ironing the umpteenth bag, closely supervised by Betty!

If we haven't been sewing, we've been out on our permitted walk. making the most of the gorgeous weather. I know it's changed yesterday, you can almost hear the plants sighing with relief as they drink up the rainfall.

This is the entry to the west beach, the tide was nearly in (7.9m that day)

The mini dredger was puttering about in the entrance to the harbour - trying to keep the channel clear is a losing battle,

Gordon did manage to break free from the ironing board, lol. This is looking back from the tip of the harbour north to the town. Hard to believe that this was a busy industrial port in the 19th century, coal trains ran on rails all the way down to fill up ships that sailed all around the world.

And in these crazy times flour is a scarce commodity - however our friend Helen is a Cash&Carry member and got us this:

12.5kg!! That'll take some getting through, I think I'll check if any mates want any. Perhaps I can barter some for eggs!!

Enough nonsense for now, hope you're all keeping safe and well. Elizabeth, I'm so glad that you and Alan are improving. xx

See you all next week xxxx

WOYWW 568

SILENCE IS GOLDEN....

I don't live in a particularly busy place but the lack of noise has been amazing - you can hear so much more birdsong without the drone of traffic! The fantastic weather has meant that I've enjoyed some slow time in the garden just watching the butterflies and bees, it's good for the soul to stop and stare.

Anyway, tis a quick one this week. I have been very busy sewing more scrubs bags after having a request from someone who works for the Welsh Ambulance service.

An appeal for more duvet covers to my friends resulted in a good haul and there's loads more that arrived yesterday.

The reels of cotton twill tape have come in so handy for the drawstrings!

And the mask making has begun, again for friends. Thanks Annie for the pattern, it's been invaluable xx

I look like a police mug shot!!! 

And the grand total up til yesterday was 60 bags. I couldn't have done it without my wonderful menfolk, who have ironed, pinked, threaded and parcelled up. They are stars!

Thanks lads! It's Rhys' 24th birthday today so I may not get round to commenting much or will be later at least. I managed to score some flour and sugar yesterday so at least I can make him a cake!!

Have a good week everyone xxxxx  and stay safe xxxx

WOYWW 567

AND I THINK TO MYSELF WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

Being in these weird times is certainly challenging how we view what's important or necessary - the basics of life and our dear ones are the only focus it seems now. We always knew that really but when all the extraneous stuff is jettisoned, these remain.

My desk is from a couple of days ago when I decided to make some scrubs bags for a local nurse to use - there was a call out on the town's FB page so I decided to do something to help. I was given a couple of duvet covers after putting out a plea for some fabric but started off by using the cotton sheets from my mum's linen cupboard that I've just hung onto since she passed away (she'd have approved!)

I've used some of the cotton twill tape bought for the WI bunting as it's also 100% cotton and will withstand the 90C hot wash.

The final few things to share on my bookcase shelves are these:

A chatelaine that my mate Lynne made for me (three years ago now, blimey) which features all sorts of little charms that each have significance for our life and friendship. It is very dear to me.

And on the other side:

A little sewn musical tag made by Helen, a mate from my old band and a crafter extraordinaire, the details are so lovely! The little bear is by our Wipso, he came with a poem at a Crop - I love his tartan scarf!  And of course a WOYWW badge from Herself, no explanation needed :-)

So the days roll by - it's not just me who's doing different things to keep busy, G has been happily pottering doing all sorts of jobs but he is missing his Photography Society. They're making efforts to meet virtually and do some digital photo competitions. This week was Macro, so this is what I found in the kitchen yesterday:

I really do wonder what the neighbours must think sometimes, lol!!! That huge lens is G's Bird Scaring lens by the way - if he sees something interesting, by the time he's attached that thing, the bird in question has long since scarpered!  As you can see there was quite a selection pilfered from the JanCave to have a play with. 

This is the final result:

Now THAT  would make a b&*^%r of a jigsaw :-D  Pretty though.

Have a good week everyone, stay safe and well xxxx

WOYWW 566

TIS THE GIFT TO BE SIMPLE, TIS THE GIFT TO BE FREE....

The Shaker Song sprang straight to mind when thinking of a lyric today - because it is the simple things that are making me happy at the moment and hoping that the time when we can be free to do what we want isn't too far away. Hope you're all keeping well and safe.

The JanCave:

I have been in and out of here crafting when the mood takes me...

I've actually finished some UFOs - woohoo! *happy dance*  Betty was wearing this red silk scarf when I came in this morning, she's a bit of a floozy I've decided......

A couple of days ago I finished some more personalised bunting.

I saw on Attic24's blog that she's coloured in the centre of white crochet daisies to save time and I wondered if I could do the same with this trim, it worked really well!

This is all packed up and ready to send to Tilly, the new Granddaughter of an old friend and colleague.

Then I thought I'd face my fears and have a go at some patchwork - lol! It's for the WI competition that will be held later this year but it's good to be in hand. These are the fabrics that stood out:

They're probably a bit samey tone wise, I'll see if I can find one lighter, one darker to help.

It surprised me how many of you enjoyed the tour around my top shelf last week (oo-er missus) Anyway, as promised, here's the one below!

My best ever trophy, when I won Musician of the Year at my old band, the little dragon is from Twiglet, the box and WOYWW 10 pieces are by the lovely Debbie Rock, the butterfly and music in the box frame was made by a dear friend Helen from Hungerford. The WOYWW 10 bookmark at the back was given out at the Crop but I'm ashamed to say that I've forgotten who the maker was. But I love it and that's why it's there!

Pan right and here we find a small piece of Diana Taylor's collage magic (on the easel), the friendship frame with the pic of herself and me is by Debbie Rock, the trophy is for winning the WI Craft competition with most points last year and the gorgeous stitch markers are from my dear old mate Lynne.  All things that make me happy!

There's still the sides to see so that'll be next week's thrilling installment, lol!

And I'll finish by raising a glass to you all - gin with pink grapefruit tonic, it was delicious. Just the thing to do after a hard day's gardening :-D

CHEERS!

Keep well, safe and happy all you lovely crafters around the world. xxxx

WOYWW 565

ALL KINDS OF EVERYTHING REMIND ME OF YOU....

Do you find that the time is whooshing past? It was going quickly before the lockdown but now it seems to have speeded up. We do have a daily routine, are doing jobs, having solo time etc etc but no sooner am I getting up in the morning than it's time to go back to bed again! Weird.

There has been some crafting done this week but this post is going to be a pick n mix again:

There has been a bit of bunting making....

I've tried to post something every day on Neet's #Cheers on FB, sharing things to be happy about. These buttons made me smile!

But my ribbons didn't! What a tip - I still haven't sorted them out either...tut tut....

Betty was feeling a bit frivolous....naughty girl, she's such a bad example to everyone...

The top two shelves of the bookcase in the JanCave is filled with things that mean a lot. The canvas and big letter J are both from Julia, the little silver cup is one that my dad won for football, the wooden mushroom was a present years ago and I found the little teapot thimble in my mum's sewing box after she passed away.

Pan left a bit...

There's a little sewn card from Twiglet, the chimney sweep I made for a WI competition, the beach huts canvas was made by Lisa Mellor, our lovely WOYWWer, the cup and saucer with the Welsh ladies on are from Mum's possessions, I dug the horseshoe up in my garden in Wiltshire and the Piggy Bank was a gift from my friend Isabel when I helped her clear out her house before moving. An eclectic mix huh?

Shelf 2 comes next week, bet you can hardly bear the anticipation!!

And finally, Rhys and I escaped for our one permitted walk from the house yesterday, luckily we can get to here:

It really does bring it home how lucky we are.

Keep smiling you lovely crafters even though we are living in such peculiar times. Sending you a big old hug.

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