WOYWW 521

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS.....

I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed last week's celebration of all things craft and friend-wise! My PiF was Kyla (hope you got the parcel ok?) and I have been on the receiving end too! Most of my swaps will be done at the Crop, others will have to be sent off when I get back, so there may be a slight delay.

And the photo film competition was indeed Some Like it Hot! Out of the many who guessed correctly, I drew Sue's name out of the hat...a little something will be posted soon!

Not much crafting as gone on this week, only a little crocheting in the evenings that I have actually been at home - it's been a busy few days!

I bought this yarn ages ago and am making another blanket for the hospice - it's going to look like the sea and beach. The Caron yarn is odd, it's acrylic so useful for charity projects. but it does split quite easily. So I'm using a half size bigger hook and am having to crochet more loosely than I normally would. I'll probably bring this to the Crop, but whether any hooking gets done remains to be seen, lol!!

Diana Taylor (Velvetmoth) sent this utterly gorgeous ATC, envelope and die cuts:

When I grow up, I want to craft like you Diana - I truly love your style. Thank you for the beautiful ATC, I love the greens xx

Other events that have happened this week:

The Community Wind Band played in the National Botanic Gardens of Wales again - here we are in the Dome, it was blooming hot!!! I'm hidden behind my tuba, next to the French Horn :-D

I did my first proper shift in the RNLI shop on Sunday - here are some views from the inside, as it were!

There is a beautiful stained glass panel above the door, made by a local artist.

The nicely laid out interior - makes a change from old trestle tables out in the cold!

I was there on Sunday morning and come rain or shine, there is a training session for the rescue volunteers. The tractor is just going to pick the boat up from the harbour - that's the old boat house in the background. You wouldn't believe that it was brilliant sunshine an hour later!

Burry Port is a place where chatting is a national sport - you just have to go with the flow. So it didn't surprise me when this chap turned up:

Bryn is an amazing chap who has some fantastic stories to tell about flying all over the world - these days his travels are on his boat in the harbour. He bought along his squeezebox and entertained us and the shoppers with some sea shanties and folk songs. The box was fascinating, built in 1902 - I didn't know that if you press down a button, you get two different notes on the push in and pull out of the bellows. Live and learn, eh?

And to prove I was there:

Me and Helen (a friend and neighbour) - we did ok, didn't make too many mistakes - it'll all get easier the more we do it!

Right then, have a good week everyone - the next blog will be about the Crop. I'll warn you so you can prepare the tea/coffee/alcohol of choice before you start to read ;-)

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WOYWW 520 - THE DECADE STRIKES BACK

THERE ARE FRIENDS THAT WE NEVER FORGET
THERE ARE HEARTS THAT WE HOLD EVER DEAR.

Well then..here we are, we made it to the BIG 520 of WOYWW. I bet that Julia never thought in a month of Sundays that her initial idea would still be going strong a decade later! What an incredible achievement, my dear old mucker - so many ideas, friendships and desks have been shared over the years from folks all around the globe - in fact I think Antarctica may be the only Continent that we've never had a posting from!

People have come and gone - remembering Janet Fairythoughts and Eliza (Yoda's mum) especially - the joy of WOYWW is that it has no agenda or crazy rules, just the ability to share the crafting ups and downs of the lives of people who we'd otherwise never have met. I'm very grateful for that opportunity.

So, from me to you, here's a celebratory bouquet:

Thanks for the support and love over the years!!

I don't have a desk today but am going to share the shelves in the JanCave as these hold reminders of generous crafting friends too...

Items that have a story of friendship behind each one - small tokens that make me happy to be a WOYWWer - things that make me smile and others that bring a tear to my eye. I swap the ATCs over, here are the current selection - I'm looking forward to some new additions soon!

I'm really looking forward to the Crop - only a few days away now - renewing old acquaintances and meeting some new faces too. Woohoo!!

Apart from ATC swaps, I thought I'd run a small competition for fun. G and I made up another Still Life for his 52 week photo challenge. It represents one of our all time favourite movies - but which one?!

Answers in the comments please - the winner will receive a small handmade something!!

Have a fun day celebrating with everyone!

And don't forget the ASTERISK, lol!!!!

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WOYWW 519

WHEN THE INK MEETS QUILL
WITH LOVE MY LETTERS ARE FILLED

( I admit, I had to look this lyric up...though I'm talking about a different sort of quilling on the blog today!)

It has been another busy and fun filled week! I don't have an actual desk to share today simply because I haven't made it over the threshold of the JanCave!  My band came third in the contest (missing out on second by a couple of points...doh) and I had a house full of family on Sunday.

So yesterday's WI Craft Club came as a blessing in disguise as I can show you what we did - quilling! I've never done it before so it was interesting to hear how Jo, the teacher does it.

Basically you wrap thin strips of paper around a tool, glue the ends, take it off and squish it into various shapes. Then you do something with it. There were three of us on the table so we made a card together!

Helen and Judith - we were at school together, so we've known each other a looonnnnng time! It was quite meditative doing the strip winding and we were chatting away while doing it.

The girls in the kitchen were much better than us, lol!! 

It was a really fun morning and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but it's another hobby that I won't be taking up!


We've been down the harbour a lot over the weekend, combination of high tides and gorgeous weather. Unfortunately it means the lifeboat carried out its 29th callout of the year on Sunday. I am doing training on the electronic till in the new shop this afternoon so I may be late leaving comments.

Have a lovely few days and I'll see you next Wednesday :-D


WOYWW 518

WHO PUT THE COLOURS IN THE RAINBOW?

Hello everyone - another week has shot by and here we are at Whizzday again! There's been more plotting and planning about the Crop, so it's exciting times, especially when you realise that it's less than four weeks now - woohoo! 

You find me mid-make with some more glasses cases.
The scrap squares turned out to fit the template very well - you can see a finished one in the background. It's just as well, because I've got a few more to make, along with the little popper purses - I popped into the harbour cafe and there's only two of each left, they've nearly sold out! I'm very pleased about that as it's all for a good cause. There may be a bit more to show you next week!

I've also just finished another scrap yarn crochet blanket:

It still amazes me that you can turn all that yarn into something useful with just a bent stick!! I've got two now, ready to be taken to the local hospice. It makes me happy to see the rainbow colours - I get great pleasure out of making these, it's quite meditative, zipping back and fore along the rows. See, us crafters have been doing Mindfulness for years, way before it became a buzzword!

More colour in the garden to share:

These alliums have taken over a week to open, it's been really interesting watching the progress. The bees have been taking an interest but not as much as this:

The Perennial Wallflower.  This has flowered for three weeks solid now and when it's done, I'll cut it hard back and it'll probably repeat the process..what value for money this was - I should run a Spot the Bee competition for this picture cos there is one in there, having a good furtle around!!

Hope you have a lovely and productive week - I've got a band contest in Cardiff on Saturday, fingers crossed!

WOYWW 517

GOT A SECRET, CAN YOU KEEP IT?

It's a weird one this week, I've done a fair bit of crafting but can't show any of it as it's for the 10th Anniversary and Crop!

So this is what's on the desk now, after all the Secret Items have been removed, lol!  The white stuff is 4 metres of fusible fleece, I do use it a lot and can only find it online at Fabricland - as their postage is pricey, I tend to order in bulk.

After thinking hard about the patchwork, I decided to make sunglasses cases out of them as they will sell and cushion covers probably won't.

And the squares were almost exactly the right size for the template - woohoo!

I'm also using up lots of other scraps that were cut out a couple of weeks ago!

And that's it! Incredibly short and sweet today. But I'll leave you with one of G's images that lots of people in the Photography Society admired but didn't vote for in the competition - work that one out!

It's all about tones and shapes - I love it! The beach is Newport on the Cardigan Bay. It would make a fabulously tricky jigsaw, don't you think?!

I hope to be a better responder to comments than I was last week - forgive me if I didn't get back to you, life just took over!

Hope you have a cracking week xxxxxx

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...