WOYWW 830

 WHEN YOU COME HOME AGAIN TO WALES..

Hello everyone, hope you've had a good week whatever you've been up to! Hasn't the weather been amazing - there's been gardening, fence painting, lawn mowing and lots of washing going on as well as a bit of crafting!

I've booked up a fair in June that's in an area of predominantly Welsh language speakers so thought I'd make a few more things in the flag fabric:

And had a big old cutting out session.

Totes, bags, glasses case all ready for putting together.

Putting a zip pocket in a cross body bag - I used pins! Don't faint lol

It has a zipped top as well. Think the next version will have red zips, I think they'll look better. Ah well, it's all trial and error....mostly error in my case!!

I found a bag of zips that I'd got cheap off EBay a while back and never used because they weren't very sturdy:

Like a tangle of snakes! I sorted them out and they're going back on Ebay tomorrow, might as well get rid of them rather than them cluttering up the storage boxes.

And I started another baby blanket, this is a pretty variegated yarn, Cherish by King Cole:

Like Fairisle but without the work! And no ends to sew in either, woohoo! It's the simple things that mean the most eh?

Thanks for reading another week of nonsense, I'd better pull my finger out and think of something to do for the Virtual ATC, talk about leaving it til the last minute....

Have a good week!

WOYWW 829

 WILL YOU SEARCH THROUGH THE LOAMY EARTH FOR ME?

Hello lovely Deskers, hope you all had a nice Easter weekend - the weather was mostly good here and we got out for some nice local walks.

This was the desk yesterday, left after I'd been doing a bit of sewing and sorting on Easter Monday.

As well as being halfway through the bags, I ironed and trimmed all the quilt blocks that I've done so far. I think I'll have to put sashing between the blocks, it'll be too busy for the eyes otherwise.

I finished another baby blanket:

Lovely fresh colours! Now for sewing in the ends but there's not too many (yay!)  I know I could weave the ends in whilst knitting but I never seem to get as good a finish as when they get sewn in. Hey ho, I did it while watching University Challenge and it was soon done.

The Glynn Vivian gallery in Swansea has had an exhibition running called Come As You Really Are - it's a feast of all things that are made by crafters from steampunk Nerf Guns to sewing to Warcraft. This sewn hanging was rather beautiful:

Created by Dian Smith, she's called 'Blodeuwedd' or The Lady of the Flowers. The detail was amazing, it must have taken hundreds of hours....

Stunning. And then you go to the other extreme and visit the Mini Detectorists layouts!

Every single detail of the BBC series is correct! G and I are massive fans and treat ourselves to a yearly rewatch, it's honestly one of our favourite programmes ever.

These were created by Duncan Willis and were titled 'Duncan's Mini Detectorists Club' (DMDC, it's an in-joke!)

They had Simon and Garfunkel too:

And the naughty Mayor and Russell:

Just brilliant. Sorry if all this is Double Dutch to you but even if you don't know the characters, the model making skills can still be appreciated!

Have a great week and may your crafting run smoothly!
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WOYWW 828 - MY 700TH POST!

 GOT A GOOD THING GOING ON...

Hi there lovely Deskers and welcome to another week of crafty shenanigans! Today is my 700th post, how did that happen then? It only seems like yesterday that I was 'encouraged' to have a go and here we are, all these years later...I still can't believe that people read my witterings about what I get up to but I do really appreciate every comment and view xxxx

I have to apologise for not getting back to you last week, I didn't have a great few days but am feeling a bit better now. A little bit of crafting has been done so there is something to share for this special post!

View from the machine - I got one bag and 2 x cases and purses out of the free remnant from Pili Pala Fabrics and just had enough of that purple spot for the lining.

I also finished off the new waterlily and dragonfly, it's made for a gorgeous set, I'm sorely tempted to keep one for myself.

I was getting very low on a few colourways of the spot so:

What a pleasing parcel!

My mate Kim came over yesterday afternoon and we made a few more string blocks, she chose fabric and pinned, I sewed, great combo. I didn't take a pic though...doh... so here's the aftermath:

We must have made a dozen, it really speeded up the process having Kim do the choosing.

A couple of days ago this was the sight that greeted me on opening the curtains first thing:

Now that's not something you see everyday!!  It was attracting quite a bit of interest from the locals:

There was no note or anything and I couldn't bear the thought of it getting 'christened' by a dog so I put it on our front wall where it reclined in sunny splendour for a while!

I found out that a neighbour had put it there for someone to help themselves - I put the word out to some friends with grandkids and it was snapped up for an 9 year old girl who adores it, yay! 

I guess this blog has been an example of my usual style, a bit of crafting and then some random nonsense! Thank you for the friendship and caring community, I couldn't imagine my week without it. Hugs to you all!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 827

 GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNIN'

It's a very short and sweet one today as I've not been feeling too good for the past couple of days so forgive me if I'm late commenting too xx

It had been such a good week up until Monday as well! I'd made some trios with the new fabric:

I like this mosaic a lot and chose different colours as the contrast.  I might have bought a bit more fabric from Pili Pala as well.....

Aren't these lush? I love them both so much, the blue background of the bottom one glows in real life, they're both stunning.

Plus some more Luna and a remnant of puffins! That should keep me going for a while.

As some may have seen on FB, I did a craft fair on Saturday, having picked up a cancellation spot on the Friday morning. It was a smashing morning, lovely hall with a great vibe - I hope to be invited back at some point.

There was even a handy notice board behind me to pin up the remaining quilt! We did really well there and were finished by 12.30, even better.

There's always one troublemaker though!

What a cheeky chick and for once we're not talking about me, lol!

Hope you're doing well and enjoying your crafting, have a good week xxxxx

WOYWW 826

 I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD...

What a gorgeous week it's been, another few days of socialising, fund raising and walking...oh and a bit of crafting too! Otherwise this would be a very short post, lol!

I might have accidentally bought some new fabric last week! It was from Pili Pala Fabrics based near Tenby, the owner Sinead happened to be in my town on business and she dropped it off for me, now that's good customer service eh?! What a nice lady she is, I had paid for postage so instead she gave me half a metre of a fabric I've bought off her previously. This daffodils fabric is one of hers:

Pretty huh? It should go well round these parts.

I bought the mosaic and the rainbow leopard was my freebie, both will come in useful.

I finished the last baby blanket so started another:

I only bought two balls of that variegated blue/grey so am eking it out with white DK, I quite like the effect!

Last Saturday was the first of the Pembrey markets as some of you may have seen on FB:

It was a successful couple of hours - I took £208 and sold the quilt that's behind my head to the lovely beekeepers who run another stall. I'm nearly a third of the way to my 2025 target of £1500, if I do that then that'll take my fundraising to over £10k. There are two more stalls in April so we'll see how they go!

The tides here have been at their highest in recent days (9.32m yesterday) so when the sea goes out, it goes far far out. Hence our beach walk looked like this:

Where's all the water gone?! Isn't it amazing to think that if you walked straight ahead and kept going for a very long way, the next land you'd see would be Virginia or North Carolina. That's why, when the tide returns, there's a lot of Atlantic to come up this estuary. It was glorious to be out blowing the cobwebs off.

Hope you're all keeping well and have had a good week - may your crafting be stress free! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 825

 SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Short and sweet today! It's been a beautiful week here in South West Wales and we've had a busy sociable few days in the lovely weather.  

I've been making a few last items for next Saturday's market:

I discovered these ready cut squares at the bottom of a box and thought they could make little bags in which to put mini eggs.

Making the pouches is quick, it's the ribbon threading that seems to take ages! I use the gas lighter to seal the ends of the ribbon so they don't fray.

Ta Daaa:

Perfect for Mother's Day or Easter!

I got everything together ready for Saturday:

I've got the packing down to a fine art now, a suitcase, two IKEA bags and two sets of shelves, not too much to lug around!

I'm on a use-it-up kick with my yarn too:

This is a yarn cake that I rewound after a failed project but it's knitting up into a pretty baby blanket for the special care baby unit. It's all garter stitch so I don't have to look at what I'm doing but can watch the telly instead!

I was sorry to hear that the Crop has been cancelled but Sarah made the right decision as numbers were low and we had time to cancel accommodation. Maybe we can do something online another time xx

Have a great week everyone! xxx

WOYWW 824

 WHO PUT THE COLOURS IN THE RAINBOW?

Another week has whizzed past and it's been full of crafting, selling, playing keyboards and enjoying the beautiful weather, how lucky am I?

The desk looks like this today:

I'm sorting out the leftover strips and scraps into colour families having seen a rainbow quilt tutorial on YouTube:

They're organised into groups of similar tones (to my eye anyway!) and I'll sew them onto 6 inch strips of white cotton and then decide what to do! I've got two strip quilts already made so will try something else.

I had to make a quick card and thought I'd use those stencils I bought recently, not with watercolours but a ready made background:

The flowers are metallic which stands out against the grey background, it was a pleasant twenty minutes of playing!

Some of you will have seen on FB that the craft fair went well on Sunday though it was quieter than anticipated:

After a couple of extra donations, the total stands at £162 so I'm happy with that! The creme egg creatures went well, the chickens and Peter Rabbit were especially popular:

The ladies doing the refreshments must all have been chicken keepers because they cleaned me out - I think that putting the egg inside makes them look all plump and happy! Some sheep and chicks went too.

So I've been making more chickens since then for the next fair on 29th March:

Having a gossip...... *grin*  I ought to make a couple more Peter Rabbits as well but they're a faff to make and I don't know if I've got enough time, we'll see,

There you go, another post of random nonsense from South West Wales - it'll be my 700th post in four weeks, how did that happen?!  Hope you have a great week xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx