WOYWW 4 - HAPPY BLOGGAVERSARY EVERYONE!!

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES,
COME ON!
IT'S A CELEBRATION....

To boogie on down and party, listen here

Thank you, Julia!
What for?
Fun, friendship, sharing, creativity, deskery
sticky-beakinessideas, laughing, empathy, 
jokes, improving geographical knowledge,
(I now know a lot more about where you WOYWWers are around the world!)

The list could go on...and as much as you are self effacing, Julia, it really is all down to you. Not just the initial concept, but the management of the blog, week in week out. We all owe you a big Thank You and Mahoosive Hugs :-)

This week's desk is a bit sparse again, because I've had quite a bit to do for the upcoming Crop!! However, for what it's worth, here's my meagre offering!




We had our allotted two days of summer last weekend, so I took my crochet outside....






Yummy, ice cream colours....





The Hungry Caterpillar fabric has been used....







To make this! Now if those colours aren't 
cheerful, well, I'll eat my hat!!






And a little stack of gorgeousness for the Crop ;-)


And that's it! I'm looking forward to seeing who my fellow swappers are going to be! They (poor things) will be the recipients of my first ever attempt at stamping - thanks, Julia, for guiding me through!!

Enjoy the fun today, everyone!!

WOYWW 207

IF THEY COULD SEE ME NOW,
THAT LITTLE GANG OF MINE,
I'M EATING FANCY CHOW AND DRINKING FANCY WINE.
I'D LIKE THOSE STUMBLE BUMS TO SEE FOR A FACT
THE KIND OF TOP DRAWER, FIRST RATE CHUMS I ATTRACT.
(Sweet Charity...wonderful film!)
You'll find the reason for this lyric later!

I have done very little crafting this week, having been madly busy with family stuff, band stuff, Crop stuff, stuff stuff, stuffy stuff and stuffy noses..you get the picture??  *grin*
But lots of planning has been taking place (well, 30 minutes anyway!)







These are destined to be included in the Crop goody bags...but what are they?? 



These are two little linear quarters of fabric purchased recently for specific items..... the one on the left is from The Hungry Caterpillar range! Love it :)

I'm still plugging away with the quilting around the flowers when the mood takes me...which isn't that often, I freely admit. I'm definitely not a Natural Born Quilter, that's for sure......

And that's it crafting wise.
However, as several commenters told me last week, I got my Raptors all in a twist. It wasn't a falcon but a Sparrowhawk. Well, slap my wrists and send me to Aberystwyth...look, I've been making an effort.....
The brass band that I play in had its 20th Anniversary Dinner and Awards ceremony on Saturday night...it was a fun evening that held a big surprise for me....



As I've only been playing for 7 years, being awarded the Musician of the Year was really pleasing, albeit unexpected!! I'd better practise a bit now :-)







And finally, after this mad weather of ours still shows no sign of becoming a normal Spring, this has been the sight near  my village.....
The combination of the mauvey blue and zingy lime green is a combo that is balm for the soul. I've had to stop and stare and just drink in the colour.

And that's it...short(ish) and sweet this week. I'm looking forward to the Anniversary swap of the ATCs - Julia let me play in her craft room so I'm a stamping virgin no longer!!!  See you around :-)

WOYWW 206

THERE'S A HOLE IN MY BUCKET, DEAR LIZA, DEAR LIZA,
THERE'S A HOLE IN MY BUCKET, DEAR LIZA,
A HOLE......

Many of the lovely folks who commented on last week's post, said 'Fabric what?? Bucket??'



Well, here it is - in the process of having its corners reinforced...and let me tell you, at the grand old age of 51 and 3/4, there's a lot that needs reinforcing in my life!




Et Voila... the finished bucket/bin/receptacle...the reinforcement gives it extra rigidididititity...sorry, couldn't quite finish the spelling there.....



This project has been kicking around for a while...I started off quilting around each flower on this quilt and got bored. So, calling to mind this year's mantra of Just Do It, I thought if I just do a couple at a time, it'll soon get finished...I ran lines of stitching between the rows of flowers using a dotted zig zag, it's really effective!

I have been admiring Julia's skill with the crochet hook recently and thought to myself that I really should try again. So, after watching a couple of Youtube tutorials..and also from a wonderful blog called Sandra's Cherry Hearts, here are my first attempts...





Just an ever increasing Granny square...
And the start of a baby blanket...the yarns are mostly Sirdar Crofter Baby DK, leftovers from the knitted squares that I started a few weeks back...but I like the effect of the crochet so much, the knitting is going to be unravelled!  I cannot get over how quick the crochet grows - it's a good thing to just do a couple of rows too without mucking up the tension. I am really enjoying it!

Julia introduced me to this blog. The colours that Sandra uses are just gorgeous and I like the photography too. I spent a good couple of hours trawling through all the beautiful things......

And finally....I was musing what to use as my closing shot...when who should fly into my garden on Monday evening but this fine fellow....



He's obviously just caught something..he wasn't bothered by Mr LLJ leaning out of the window to catch him on camera....




'Have you got my best profile?'   *grin*
We were really pleased to have seen this beautiful Peregrine Falcon..when he finally left, he was like greased lightning...amazing!





Have a great week!

WOYWW 205

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN,
THE SKIES ABOVE ARE CLEAR AGAIN,
SO LET'S SING A SONG OF CHEER AGAIN,
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!
Well, what a fab weekend it was weather wise! I played out with my band, gardened and had family over for a meal...good times :-)  Consequently not much crafting got done......




I had a request for a fabric bucket...so here's the makings of it. I found these lovely boys down the bottom of one of my stash boxes!


Someone in band wants a traditionally shaped peg bag but with across body straps..so I'm taking one I made earlier and adapting it. Anything for an easy life, eh?? 
And that's it, as far as crafting is concerned!

But of course, I've got more to show you... grin!!




There's DH at his workdesk! Prepping the garden furniture for a new season. A man at peace there, I think :-)  Look at my tree..he popped his blossom this week! And we got the table tennis out for the first time this year...yay.
I lay on the grass for quite a while...just looking...and listening to the bees...
Sometimes it's just good to stop chasing your tail for a while and appreciate the moment.
My baby apple tree is sprouting forth.....all is fine and dandy...

Hang on....what's that creature marmalising my daffodillies??
It's my tiger! Not content with sunning his top half.....
The derriere obviously needed a little warmth too....don't we all, eh?? Lol

And my final pic was taken at our family meal. I have a similar photo taken a few years back when these lads were considerably smaller.....
Two sons and a nephew! All now well over 6' (even without the help of the tree!!).  It just goes to show eh? Men are just Larger Little Boys at heart :-)

Have a great week!

WOYWW 204

I COME HOME IN THE MORNING LIGHT,
MY MOTHER SAYS 'WHEN YOU GONNA LIVE YOUR LIFE RIGHT?'
OH MOTHER DEAR, WE'RE NOT THE FORTUNATE ONES,
AND GIRLS, THEY WANNA HAVE FUN,
OH GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!


Happy Wednesday, you lovely lot :)  The weather has taken a definite upturn and made me happy!  Lots to see today......
I've been making more zipped make up bags... for presents to give to some friends..more on that later! I found the floral fabric at the bottom of one of my storage boxes. 



D'you know, I'd forgotten all about it....and how much I liked it in the first place!  It made this:






This was the other version. The fabric was a fat quarter bought a few weeks back and the lining in both bags are from a FQ from Deb in the US:

The opening looks a bit odd but I've just pulled it open to show more of the lining! As I said, these were for prezzies but I shall be rolling out a few more, using up scraps and those bargain zips, to make bags for the charity The Salisbury Women's Refuge.

I've been knitting squares to make a small throw - it keeps me out of mischief  when the telly is on or I've got nothing else to do ;-)  Anyhow, I decided to sort out what I've done so far...

I've got some plain yarns as well as I don't want all the squares to be variegated. There'll be darker and lighter squares too as it's all a bit samey at the moment. There won't be two stripey pieces together, it doesn't look right.......




Harry decided some quality control testing was in order. Oi, get off, you daft moggy.....

Do you remember the teaser shot last week? Well, this is what it was....
Another knitting needle roll! Brenda (Butlers Abroad) had asked me to make one and said she'd pick it up in person while back in the UK! So. today we met up in Salisbury....Julia, Di (Pixie), Brenda and Yours Truly...with the delightful additions of Brenda's DH and Mum! We were quite a posse hauling through town....I don't know if Salisbury has recovered yet :-)

Di and I bought this fabric together..it's going to be a surprise for someone.  Isn't it fab??? I put the rotary cutter in shot to give you an idea of the size of the owls...

It's a hoot...... :-)

The two little zipped bags were a prezzy for Di and Brenda...and in return, we UK gals got bags from Michaels with very lovely presents in..stamps for Julia and Di and pretty painted pegs and Diva Buttons for me.









It was such fun giving and receiving..thank you Brenda, very much!!  Of course, a meeting of WOYWWers has to be recorded for posterity.....
                                           (L-R:  Julia, LLJ, Brenda and Di)
I hasten to add that it's Brenda's arm around Di, not mine..otherwise I'd have a 5' long left arm!!! It was really lovely to meet you and yours, Brenda....enjoy the rest of your trip :)
That's it for now...enjoy your week everyone!

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...