WOYWW 872

 A COAT OF MANY COLOURS...

Hope you've all had a good week! It's another Wednesday, how on earth do they come around so fast? Blog Day and Bin Day are the two constants eh?!

I had a brief email from Neet, she's home and doing ok, if still tired. Let's hope her recovery speeds up now that Spring is on the way, the evenings are getting lighter and the daffs staring to bloom xx

A brief post today after last week's marathon! Saturday saw me at the new town market, there were about 28 stalls, pretty good footfall and we did ok - I'd do another. 

I sold three pegbags after months of not selling any - must be a sign of Spring!  The next craft fair is on 14th March so a nice break before that.

This fabric is fun eh? I thought it would go well down in the Harbour tearooms.

What a state of the bed in the JanCave....a little bit of everything. The box on the right contains my Christmassy yarns which G did on the machine featured last week. I've been using some of the rewound cakes and they are fantastic, they don't move about, the yarn pulls smoothly from the middle and it doesn't tangle towards the end of the ball. Win win win!

I got some cheap chunky yarn (Yarnsmiths brand from Wool Warehouse) and have been crocheting up some simple treble blankets, aimed for the Cats Protection League. Mindless stuff but good while watching the Olympics!

Hope you're all well and happy - may your crafting be stress free. I'm off to this new craft group this morning so some comments may be later.

Byeeeeeee xxxx

WOYWW 871

 THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS.....

Hi there, hope you're all ok and keeping well! Great news that Neet is home, sending you hugs lovely gal xx

It has been a whoosh of a week! After I posted last Wednesday, I went to a new craft group in town. This one was led by an affiliate art lecturer from the Glynn Vivian gallery in Swansea - I wasn't expecting this, just thought it was an ordinary crafting session but it was very enjoyable!

We were given a print to copy by Alfred Janes, a friend of Dylan Thomas, we had to paint the background and constituent parts separately then cut them out and collage them.

Now I like painting a lot but collage is out of my comfort zone..

But I really enjoyed doing this and was happy with the result - it was nice to get out my set of acrylics as well. I'm looking forward to going back though I think next session is a bring your own craft.

I did my first fair on Saturday:

I was given a corner spot with two tables, so that was helpful, it meant I could spread stuff out a bit.

I had thought it was too early to put out the Creme eggs, how wrong was I? Lots went, the hedgehogs were very popular! We made £188, I was pleased with that.

The JanCave has seen some action too, I've been building up stocks for the fairs but also for the Harbour Lights cafe - in fact, I'm going down this morning to restock the baskets and shelves.

The hearts will be ready for the Burry Port Market next Saturday, perfect for Valentine's Day!

It's pretty fabric, I enjoyed making these. I also decided to tackle my ribbon stash, it was a mess:

Here's the before...I forgot to take the 'after' but it's a lot neater!!

And I received a late Christmas prezzy from G:

One of those things that you never thought you needed but it's really useful (hope this video works!)

The wool cakes that are wound on it mean that they sit flat and the yarn pulls from the middle which is so much easier. They sit better in my storage basket too! Lynne gave me a nostepinne which is so handy for smaller amounts, this gadget is a lot easier with larger amounts.

And before you know it, you have double stacked yarn cakes all ready to be used. G has been doing this for me, he enjoys the gadgety aspect of it. All I need to do is knuckle down and get it used up lol!!!

Sorry about the long post today, there was quite a bit to share. Thank you for staying to the end!

Have a great week! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 870

.... AND THE SKIES ARE GREY....

Well, that was a busy week! It involved: visits, crafting and roofers, now there's a mix of things. All was good though and the days have whizzed by!

I used up all this bright fabric and really love it, so cheerful and funky.  It's eye catching anyway, definitely not a shrinking violet lol.

After thinking about what else could go on the craft fair stall, the jewellery wallets I've made in the past came to mind. I'd forgotten what the dimensions were so made it up....what's new I hear you say!

It's about 18cm wide and 15 cm tall when folded up like this but it opens out to:

A zipped pocket at the top, an open pocket at the bottom and a lace strip on which to hang your earrings. There's quite a lot of space and it folds up nice and flat - we'll see if anyone's interested at the next few fairs! I made five altogether:

It's quite handy for using up ends of fabric and doesn't take that long really. 

The RNLI gals have been knitting away:

Chris and Lesley have supplied me with a few each of these Creme Egg characters! The blonde hedgehog far left looks like me on a bad hair day lolol!! I'm so grateful that the ladies have saved me having to make these, let's hope we don't have any left in a few weeks' time.

My bro and SiL came for lunch last Saturday and we decided to blow the cobwebs off with a walk on the beach, the rain held off (amazingly) and the beach was very dramatic:

My nose and eyes streamed all the way round but it was worth it!

Neet is back in hospital again after cutting her hand quite badly, poor lass, she's not having much luck...big hugs to you Neet if you're reading this, I wish we could help in some way.

Have a great week everyone, may your crafting be enjoyable and stress free xxxx

WOYWW 869

 FOR THOSE IN PERIL ON THE SEA

Hi there folks, hope you've had a great week! The best news is that Neet is now home from hospital, hooray! If you're reading this Neet, I'm so glad you're home, it must be wonderful to be in your own space again xx

As the weather has been a bit chopsy this week, I've been in the JanCave quite a bit getting through a lot of makes ready for the upcoming fairs. A recent total from the Harbour Light cafe was another couple of hundred quid so we start the year on £13,011 which I'm so pleased about!

The JanCave has had a lot of this:

I LOVE this fabric, so bright and breezy! I've used both linings (at top of the pic) as they both work well.

This daffodil fabric is popular around here as you can imagine:

and I channelled my inner Bet Lynch with a bit of animal print!

It's quite classy rather than Corrie IMO!

Last Sunday saw me doing a fill in shift at the RNLI shop, it happened to coincide with the training that the crews do every week. The wind was blowing hard and the sea state was very rough:

The boats were launched off this slipway, they'd already gone out by the time I got there but they absolutely bounce over those waves as the tide is ferocious from right to left in this pic.

I managed to catch them on their return though:

They came back into the harbour where the tractor goes down the inner slip with the trailer:

The tractor crew have to be brave too as they often go into the water with the levels halfway up the driver's door.

It's nice to see what the fundraising money goes toward!

Love to you all, hope your week goes well xxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 868

 WHEN YOU COME HOME AGAIN TO WALES...

G and I celebrated nine years of being back in Wales last weekend and we genuinely can't tell you where that time has gone! It was the right move for us and we love being back by the sea again - the weather was very much like nine years ago:

Sunshine and showers! And a lovely rainbow to mark the occasion xx There has been more rain than sun this past week so I've spent a fair bit of time in the JanCave getting stock ready for the upcoming fairs.

I had two metres of this pretty hearts fabric and have cut out various bits and bobs.

Everything gets lobbed onto the bed!

Strips and Zips....

Things waiting to have plastic snaps put on...

and zipped bags waiting to be ironed. Those piggies still make me smile!

I've learned how to put fabric tags on the zips for the bags, it doesn't half make a difference to the overall appearance, makes the top lie flatter with no unsightly bulges at the ends (if only I could do that for myself, lol!!)  It takes a little more time but is definitely worth it.

And here's my mindless crafting for the evenings, it's a cute little pattern called the Babbity hat and is really simple - it's effective in the variegated yarn.

I'm out at a craft group this morning so comments may be delayed. Hope you're all keeping well and enjoying your makes.

Have a great week!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 867

 RED AND YELLOW AND PINK AND GREEN

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good week! Before we launch into desk stuff I had a very brief conversation with Neet last week, she's likely to be in hospital for a while yet, is keeping reasonably ok but couldn't say when she might be home. I think a card or email might be a nice thing to keep her spirits up xx

Here it's been all go on the knitting and sewing front as my first fair will be on 7th Feb with two after that so I've got to get organised!

I've knitted some samples of creme egg covers and two more little bunnies. I don't like the daffodil very much, it looks like a triffid! But the others are fun and will be knitted by a couple of the RNLI gals.

There's been a lot of cutting out ready for sewing:

Some new and some donated fabrics have been for the chop!

The cat fabric made into the trio sets that sell well...

I managed to eke out a few bits from a metre remnant of this lovely peacock material...

This donated piggy fabric makes me smile! I'm going to make some zippy bags out of this as well, it's one of those designs that will either appeal or not!  

Hope you have a great week!! xxxxx

 

WOYWW 866

 RING OUT THOSE BELLS...

It's officially Happy New Year now and what a first week it's been! We've had a fair bit of snow here, enough to stop us getting out and about, it wasn't that deep but so cold it was treacherously slippy!

Big fat flakes fell, it got a fair bit worse than this!

Consequently I've spent a lot of time in the warm crafting away and not feeling guilty about it!  I finished the blanket and bunny combo and they've now been sent off to my great niece:

I enjoyed making the bunny so much I've made the parts for another two but haven't yet got round to sewing them up:

I also found this pretty variegated yarn in the stash and I thought I'd knit a little cardi/hat as a bit of mindless tv crafting ( I have to concentrate and follow the pattern - mostly - for the bunnies)

This is the scene in the JanCave at the moment:

Some more sunflowers WiPs and, oh look, there's some new fabric, it's part of the Sewing Rules to start the New Year with some fresh stash! Isn't it? Or did I make that up...possibly... *snigger*  Anyway, I struck gold in the Doughty's Sale:

You so rarely see a decent cat print that I just had to get a couple of metres of each of these, I know they'll go well!

As it's forecast for more snow at the end of the week, I may make a start on cutting some of these out. My days of going sledging are over!

Sending big hugs to Neet who is still in hospital, we miss you so much lovely gal and can't wait until your name is on the list again  xx

Have a great week xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx