WOYWW 705

 TELL ME NOW, DON'T IT REMIND YOU

OF A BLANKET ON THE GROUND.

Short and sweet today as G and I are heading off for lunch, so I might be late in returning visits!

Blimey but it's parky today, I love the name that has been given to the winds from the North, The Troll of Trondheim. We've definitely been making good use of the woodburner!

I spent some time in the JanCave making a few items before it's cleared in order for Son No 1 to make it his office when he's staying with us (and working from home) over the next couple of weeks:

The view from my chair. That fabric is all I've got left . I love looking at the ATCs and cards on the corkboard. I made the decision to not send Christmas cards this year because the strikes mean that postage is going to be very hit and miss.

Bye bye old friend, I'll see you after Christmas!!

I've been crocheting more squares in order to make another blanket for the Food Bank/Community shop in town:

I was sewing up whilst having a coffee and waiting for my mate Kim to arrive for a catch up. The Christmas centrepiece indicates that we put the decorations up at the weekend, it's a bit early for us but we all thought we'd like a bit of festive cheer.

The blanket turned out well, I was pleased with it considering it was using up odds and ends of yarn. I was tempted to keep it for a moment as the colours toned so well but it has gone to be of use to someone who needs it more.  Onto the next blanket which will be a stripey one so I don't have to do all that sewing up!!

Hope you are all keeping well and happy, enjoy your crafting whatever you're doing xx

WOYWW 704

 BUT YOU KNOW, LOVE GROWS BEST IN LITTLE HOUSES....

I swear that November has been stolen by someone! How can it be the last day today - suppose I'd better start getting a few festive things on the go *grin*

My first desk is the kitchen table! I made a start on some Christmas cards, dusted off my Arteza pens and had fun colouring whilst listening to an audio book - two hours just whizzed by.

Desk No 2 was the dining room where I dug out all my acrylic paints, tester pots and brushes as Kim was coming over to decorate the little houses...

Neither of us were tidy painters!! But we did have fun and got some colours on, Kim went for a Copenhagen bright houses vibe, I went for chalky tones. They need to dry properly before putting details on though. We had a really good natter too!

I finished off some sewing for my restocking and went with the darker pink lining for the Folk hearts fabric - I also rediscovered the funky red hearts below, it was lurking under the bottom of a pile. So it got cut up as well!

Rhys had a week away and bought me this gorgeous piece of glass from Winchester arts market:

It's hanging in the JanCave window which is west facing so gets lots of light through, I absolutely love it, it's like our family tree. My menfolk are awesome at presents, I'm a lucky gal!

Hope you have a great week in this run up through Advent to Christmas xx

WOYWW 703

 LET'S WORK TOGETHER, 

COME ON, LET'S WORK TOGETHER...

After six weeks, I think I'm finally getting the bounce back, hurrah, it's been a long time coming. I had a go at short mat bowls last Thursday and enjoyed it very much, though I was tired afterwards. I'm just trying to do a bit more every day.

I've still been making items to get ahead though:

Stuff nearly finished and some new fabric.

I do love the red spot with the poppy fabric, such a bright happy combination. The Welsh flag is a doorstop which I use to hold long lengths of slippery fabric in place on my desk - it's perfect! The chutney is from the RNLI shop, I'm addicted to it, Spiced Tomato, it came up stairs in a bag by mistake!

And here's some new fabric:

I absolutely love this folk art heart print and am definitely keeping one of the four bags! I had to get some more linings and they all tone well with the main print - which would you choose?

G's Men's Shed have been busy installing their Gingerbread House in the main Town Gardens - this is for the Christmas fair on Friday:

Nice to see my 'windows' and bunting in situ! I did some designs to help the chaps and think they've done a grand job! I do love the Elf stuck in the chimney.

The old brass candlesticks, weighing scales etc were found in someone's shed, they polished up a treat!  Santa is in here for the Carnival night, then there are various children's activities like Gingerbread decorating on other weekends and evenings.

I hope everyone has fun ( I know the Men's Shed did, lol!!)

Have a great week everyone and enjoy your crafting xxxx

WOYWW 702

 THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND...

Another seven days has shot past, filled with catching up with friends, getting flu and Covid jabs, a bit of gardening at the weekend and some crafting of course!

There's a pile of loveliness on the desk - 2 metres worth of a butterflies print polycotton made into 4 foldable tote bags, 4 purses and 4 glasses cases.

Butterflies aren't really my thing but I think this fabric is really pretty and all for £3.99 a metre!

I've done the same thing with the other new fabrics as well - I'm getting ahead because the JanCave will be taken over by my older son working from home for most of December.

And that's it, craftwise, but I thought I'd share some photos taken by a friend of G's from the Photography Society. Graham takes amazing pictures of old abandoned buildings over the world but particularly in Wales. He came across an old deserted woollen mill - I can't tell you where because the location is secret. Graham kindly gave me permission to share his work today:

It's like the weavers just left one day and never went back! Yarns, machinery, everything is still like it was all those years ago.

I wonder why it was abandoned like this? The mill is completely surrounded by woods, hidden away - it's like something out of a Frances Hodgson Burnett novel.

Faded glory and extremely poignant too - there used to be hundreds of woollen mills in Wales and there's possibly only a handful left. We have to support our local businesses!

Many thanks to Graham for letting me use his photos, I'm sure you'll agree they're amazing.

Have a great week everyone, enjoy your crafting whatever it is! xxxx

WOYWW 701

 SOME SUNGLASSES TO HIDE BEHIND..

I enjoyed last week's desk hunt very much and it was especially lovely that a few long lost gals took the time to catch up with me! I've been gradually doing more this week especially in the JanCave:

I've had a fabric splurge as I was getting very low - no really! The Scotty dogs are always a popular choice.

These are the others I bought, thought the sunglasses one was fun! I went through a pile of fabric odds and sods that was passed onto me recently and cut out what I could from the bits I liked:

Fun huh? I would never have picked the unicorns for example, but someone might like them down in the cafe. I have to do a big restock when Laura comes back from holiday so have been making a pile of these.

But when I run out of steam there's still the crocheting to do - the scraps blanket is big enough now, just the border to edge it and then it'll be for used for snuggling on our sofa:

I could have made the stripes narrower or mixed it up a bit more but couldn't be bothered sewing in all the ends *grin*

And that's it for this week, hope you're enjoying your crafting and keeping well. See you soon xx

WOYWW - THE BIG 7.0.0.

 CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Hello to all you lovely Deskers on this momentous occasion, it doesn't seem any time at all since it was 600! Congrats to Julia on keeping this all going, through the joys and triumphs, ups and downs, it's still an amazing achievement. And the friends made have been wonderful thanks to WOYWW xx

For me personally, that's 165 followers, 585 posts, 21606 comments and 401749 views - that's a lot of numbers! I hope that it continues because I for one never get tired of seeing what everyone is up to, desky snooping is a simple pleasure, lol.

You may not have seen Phil Rock’s post on FB, it’s a link to a page for Debbie where, if you want to, you can donate something in her memory, in aid of the RSPB, it’s here

I still haven't got my oomph back yet but have been doing a bit more in the JanCave.

Having come across a YouTube tutorial for a scraps quilt, I got all my bits and pieces together and made a start on sorting them out. 

There's some old favourites there! I also made a few bits for the cafe from an Ebay fabric purchase:

Fun huh? I've also continued to knit and crochet:

Using what was in my stash in tones that go together - nothing complicated, my brain won't cope with that!

Hope you have a marvellous week, enjoy today's celebrations xxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 699

 GOODBYE OLD FRIEND...

Short and sweet today, I'm still recovering from  Covid and am not doing very much at the moment. Whilst resting a lot, there's been knitting and crochet, the only thing I feel like doing!

Ribbed beanie hats and a scraps blanket for the Food Bank in town, hope they'll help someone.

One of the Men's Shed took this pic which pleased me:

They're just starting to get the gingerbread house put together, there'll be a stove plus chimney, bunting, large candy canes and all sorts to go in yet. But the window look ok, I'm pleased with that!

It has been a tough couple of weeks finished off by the fact that we had to have our old cat Ron put to sleep last Friday, he had started fading fast so it was the right thing to do but it was still so sad:

He was a truly sweet cat and goodness we're missing him, he may have been little but he's left a big hole.

I am really looking forward to WOYWW 700 next week, it'll be good to celebrate with you all. Hugs xxx