WOYWW - THE BIG 8.0.0.!!

 CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS!

    

*EDIT* I missed the suggestion of showing our first blog, sorry, you’ve got the following instead! Trust me to be awkward! 😂😂

Well, who'd have thunk it eh? An idea from our lovely Julia to see what other folks were doing every Wednesday and here it is, 800 episodes later. Surely a candidate for the longest running blog, crafty or not! There are many reasons for its success but surely the foundation stone of it all is friendship. Virtual friends became real ones and it's been wonderful (and occasionally very sad) to be part of your lives.

Sarah thought it would be nice to share memories for the 800th Bloggyversary so I've had a trawl through the archives and this is the journey through my eyes. Buckle up, it's a long one! You may need a large coffee, tea or gin to see you through.......

LLJ STATS:    671 posts -163 followers - 23,048 comments

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many things I've made but it's a lot and there's so much that I'd forgotten about too.

I officially joined the Deskers in July 2011, having resisted Julia's blandishments for a while! The one thing I'm proud of is persuading Julia to meet up with WOYWWers in real life, what could possibly go wrong, lol!

The first  crop was in October 2012:

When we discovered that meeting strangers off the Internet wasn't that scary! It was lovely to put faces to names and we had fun:

Helen still has the sign I believe, lol!

Other meet ups followed, another Crop happened in 2013 by popular demand.

Some faces who are still around and others who aren't - the flip side of the joy of having all these friends is the sadness when they pass away. We’ve had to say goodbye to Deskers, their partners and sadly a son.

That's how I remember Shaz Silverwolf - what a wonderful woman.

And Janet Fairythoughts was the first desker we ever met - we ambushed her in the haberdashery shop she worked in!

Of course, if it wasn't for this gal, we'd all never have met:

And I even offered bed and board to folks who'd travelled a fair old way:

Here's Sam (Hettie) with her beautiful lace - we met up only last week in Abergavenny for a coffee and catch up, she's not changed one bit!

Another year 2014 and another Crop, more people started attending from far and wide:

There's some familiar faces there! Mary Anne always stood at the back as she's so tall and Debbie Rock attended for the first time. Such a shy person, it was a big achievement for her to attend in person - another gal who passed away too soon.

Pear shaped Chris (her blog name!) Debbie and Helen.

A nice pic of Cindy in action!

Our Lisa-Jane (still as bonkers!) and Fiona, who is now deputy mayor of Gillingham, Dorset (I think.)

Enough said!!

Another year passes and Crop 2015 brought a few more folk along:

A slightly smaller gathering but just as loud!

Lovely to see Dolores (Cardarian).

This pic of Kyla makes me laugh!!

And Mary Anne was knitting mightily even then!

A great photo of some fab friends - Doug and Shaz Silverwolf and Morti and David Bromilow.

In 2016 Julia had her big op so I stepped in and ran WOYWW for a few months whilst she recovered. It was good fun and I enjoyed it very much. 

I also went up to Shrewsbury to meet with those naughty sisters Twiglet and Wipso aka Jo and Annie. We get on like a house on fire and I'm proud to be their Honorary Little Sister!

We've had some fun over the years and these gals have been so generous in sharing their expertise, fabrics, yarns, patterns and love xx

Crop 2016:

Margaret Glitter and Glue joined us for the first time.

And had a ball meeting everyone in person.

I know Christine (Bishopsmate) hasn't joined in for a while as her health isn't great but this is how I think of her, always smiling and of course the pink hair!

And here's a pic of when LynneCrafts came to stay in May 2017 - we've been friends since 1982 and Lynne has crafted all her life so I was very happy when she joined in WOYWW a couple of years ago:

The Crop was organised by Margaret that year and we all went up to Llandudno:

Where I met Neet for the first time and what a rock chick she was, it was fab to say Hi in person.

And the first time of meeting Sarah too who was accompanied by Eva.

I think this was Elizabeth's first Crop too.

It was lovely to meet Anne Copperbeech and Chris (Mrs D) as well. This next pic is one of my favourites - I'd love to know what they were gossiping about.

Another year moved on and the Crop moved to Shrewsbury, organised by Jo and Annie:

I love this pic, lol!

We saw some old faces:

Lolol!! And also some new folks, having 'known' Caro for years, it was wonderful to meet in person:

And Catriona, who posts her crafts on Facebook:

Another fab day that went past too quickly.

Lol, twits!  I couldn't have done all this without my wonderful Gordon, who is very good at taking pics for my blog, almost as good as me ;-D

I haven't shared much of my crafting even though that's the raison d'etre of WOYWW. What has become most important has been the many many wonderful people I've met, I'd never have crossed their paths otherwise and my life would have been poorer for it - may it continue for many more years under the guidance of Sarah. I love being part of the whole Desky Shenanigans from all over the Globe. 

Sending my love to all current deskers and remembering those wonderful people who brought joy into our lives before they were taken too soon.

I've tried to feature as many friends as possible but if I've missed anyone out then I sincerely apologise. Hope you've enjoyed sharing a few of my memories of a wonderful, mad, loving, joyous and craft-filled 15 years xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx