WOYWW 346

TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT ONE MORE TIME.....

(RIP Glenn Frey)

Short and snappy, that's me today! 

I've finally been sewing again! Thought I'd better get my a*&e in gear and actually make the things promised for the Greyhound Charity. And have come to the end of that Scotty fabric. Blimey, that's the end of another era. So, there's a patchwork tote, a Bag for Life that can be folded up and shoved in a handbag and I'm using the final scraps to make a couple of make up bags :-)  

Sewing the handles on - I do a square of stitches then a cross through the centre. It reinforces the handles and makes it surprisingly sturdy.

The finished patchwork tote. It turned out quite well. You can see that I shove lots of things under my desk out of the way, wadding, stuffing, cushion pads. Out of sight, out of mind!

It's funny how things happen, isn't it? Julia and I were reminiscing about Janet Fairythoughts over coffee on Monday. And then on Tuesday, an email from Anne, Janet's friend came through:

Dear Jan

I hope you don't mind me contacting you.  I am an old friend of Janet's.  I will be doing a Tandem SkyDive on 16th April with Janet's daughter Lucy and Jane, another of Janet's friends. We are using our jump as an opportunity to try to raise some money in Janet's memory for the Countess Mountbatten Hospice, who looked after her so well in the last few weeks of her life.

Janet had told me about her lovely blog friends and WOYWW, Were you one of the two ladies who came to her funeral as well? The words read out from her blogging friends were a wonderful tribute.   I wondered if you would be willing to circulate our JustGiving Page link to some of Janet's circle of blogging friends?

http://www.justgiving.com/owner-email/thankyou/Anne-Bell2

Forgive me if you think this is in any way intrusive!

very kind regards

Anne Bell

I emailed back and told Anne that I'd be very happy to post the link and mentioned that Janet was a huge part of our lives too - meeting her (virtually) every week for a few years and in person too. We haven't forgotten her.  Donate if you can/want to - the Hospice cared for Janet for the last few weeks of her life.

We don't always say it but I cherish the friendships made through WOYWW. Thank you for being such a lovely and supportive bunch :-)

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WOYWW 345

REBEL REBEL, YOU'VE TORN YOUR DRESS,

REBEL REBEL, YOUR FACE IS A MESS.

REBEL REBEL, HOW COULD THEY KNOW?

HOT TRAMP, I LOVE YOU SO.....

(In memory of the late, great David Bowie - this is a stand out track for me, partly cos I was such a rebel in my younger days. Still am, really!)

I missed last week as there was zilch to see craftwise and I wasn't well :-(  Still feeling pretty rough, but am getting there slowly.

But there is something to see on my desk today! Huzzah....

Weird, freaky baby dolls...that's what!  Someone in band asked if I could make some clothes for them. Now, I don't normally do small, finicky, pernicketty sewing - no patience, you see - but I knew two gals who do!  Wipso and Twiglet were my knights in shining armour and rode to my rescue bearing knitting and sewing patterns! Plus instructions....most important ;-) Thank you girls, you really did save my bacon.  I had to furtle the pattern quite a lot as the dolls are very small...

The boy doll got some smart trousers and a jacket....

...the girlie ended up in a frock and bloomers. These dolls freak me out completely...look at their scary eyes. Evil, huh? I was glad to hand them back to the owner.....shivers.....bbbrrrrrr

I've promised to make a couple of items for the greyhound charity that our Sue supports and was putting together some scraps with which to make a tote bag...

Apart from the Scotty Dog and floral fabrics, all the rest are completely used up...down to the last centimetre. Yeah, careful cutting and parsimony rule :-D

It's a bit of fun!  Hope the charity will like the end result.

And my downstairs crafting box (snigger) looks like this:

Oooh, I do like a nice bit of crochet of an evening. Those colours are guaranteed to cheer anyone up!

Have a great week, y'all :-D xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 343

WE'LL TAKE A CUP OF KINDNESS YET

FOR AULD LANG SYNE....

I'd like to send all who read this blog my very best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful 2016.  Let's keep this love and friendship whizzing around the world :-)

I'm starting off with the riot of colour that was one of my Christmas prezzies! A bag of yarns from my fav local wool shop, Miss Lemon's. Perfect for my charity makes - I was chuffed with these!

But feast your eyes on this little lot, my present from Gordon:

Oooooooh....squeeeeee.....aren't they gorgeous. I'm just lost in the glorious colourificity of it all. And it goes without saying that I'll have to keep them in the correct order (yes, I AM that sad.....)

Julia gave me a selection of fab prezzies but one in particular made me hoot:

It's one of those foldaway bags you keep in your handbag (herself calls them my Granny bags....)  This one fails on two important matters: (1) It's too large to actually put in my handbag (2) when you unfold it, the bag itself is miniscule so you can't use it to actually put anything in!!  Epicness abounds :-D

My son's future MiL Lesley gave us these fab boxes filled with nibbles. I've already put my knitting projects in one and the other is destined to hold my fabric scraps. I love 'em!

And finally, the last band engagement I played in was in a Tesco's Supermarket ( I know, it'll be the Royal Albert Hall next!) and thought I'd like to share this pic:

Don't you think that's very cheap for a bass player?  Remarkably good value. You can tell that Suzie (far right) is the class act out of the three of us....grin :-D

And on that happy note, I'd like to wish you all much love and big squishies for the year ahead. 

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WOYWW 342

Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.

Ring out those bells.

Ring out, ring solstice bells.

Wishing all you lovely WOYWWers a very

Merry Christmas and a happy & healthy 2016.

Thank you for all the support, fun & friendship!

Well, it's been a busy week..playing with band, seeing friends, doing all those last minute things that you forgot about...cough.....

Not much crafting around here but I did pull out all the scraps I had of the furnishing weight cottons in order to make some patchwork totes. That's as far as I got though :-)

I'm making some stuff for the Greyhound charity that WOYWWer Sue supports - it'll give me something to do after Christmas!!

There are some old friends here :-) I'm determined not to waste anything!

Other festive things going on in LLJ Towers are:

The Christmas jigsaw has begun - 's gotta be done!

I stuck together the little church that Neet so kindly sent me and Julia. It's so cute - thank you very much Neet. I enjoyed doing it!! xx

The tree is up and decorated. I love my baubles...some happy memories there :-)

Debbie Rock made me this beautiful picture with a photo of The Terrible Two from the Crop. I love it Debbie, thank you so much...it's so sparkly!! You know me so well....grin!  The beautiful little tree on the right was from Diana Taylor last year and the crochet Korknisse and tree was from Famfa a couple of years ago....I miss Famfa on the desks but these remind me of her.

And that's what I love about WOYWW....the friendship and support should be bottled. It could solve many of the issues facing the world, that's for sure.  Sending hugs and love to everyone - especially thinking about Eliza and Janet Fairythoughts as well. Great friends who were taken too soon.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 341

WHAT A WAY TO LIVE, WHAT A PLACE TO START,

BLESS US PLEASE WITH A CHRISTMAS HEART.

What do you do when you need a couple of 'thank you's' quickly? Raid the scraps box, that's what!

I wanted to say thanks to a couple of mates and as we don't do Christmas presents, thought a couple of decorations might be acceptable.

You can't go wrong with a bit of lace and gingham...

...and some green felt leaves together with a red button!

There you go..quick to make and easy to give :-)

This was the scrappy bag that I couldn't show last week as it was for a birthday prezzy...it looks very lop sided in this pic but everything was straight - honest!

This is the window of a charity shop in Pewsey..an advent calendar made out of cardboard boxes and decorated prettily. There are gifts inside each and you can buy a ticket and win the whole lot. What a great idea and it looks really festive and lovely. There are some clever people in the world!

Shortish today because I've got a raging sore throat and am fighting off a cold. I can't have one now. there's too much to do! Maybe brandy will help :-D

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WOYWW 340

SNOW IS FALLING ALL AROUND ME

CHILDREN PLAYING, HAVING FUN....

Well, I don't know about children having fun...I certainly was a couple of days ago!  A birthday present needed making and that kind mate of mine let me use her scraps box again :-)

Yes, that is me with distress inks in my grubby mitts!! Don't faint.......I was making a picture in a box frame (from the Range) and need a couple of bits and pieces to tart it up.  So Julia came to my rescue - she's a good pal. I've worked out what it is about papercrafting that I like: it's all about the paper and what you can do quickly with it. Stamping is ok but doesn't fill my heart with joy. It's all about the instant gratification for me!

Back at LLJ Towers, I dug out those scraps I was looking at a week ago, in order to make a birthday present for someone....

The green ricrac matched exactly!  I haven't got much further than this to be honest..better get a move on. But there's cards to write (haven't started yet) and Mr LLJ's birthday to celebrate (today in fact...Love you loads G!!) and making Father Christmas' Grotto - yep, you read that right.  It was for the Christmas Fair at the school where I used to work:

The naked room...

Covering it all with white sheets - the window wouldn't be seen after the light had gone...

Covering the bookshelves and learning posters....

Paint some snowy trees, add some silvery icicles and cotton wool snow.....

...and now all that's needed is for Father Christmas to sit on his seat and welcome the children.  Can you tell I had fun?   :-D 

Oh and I've also been out a few times with the band...our schedule is chocka until 23rd:

We busked on Marlborough High St last Saturday..it was windy but we had a successful day. I was tucked away at the back so wasn't too bad!  We'll all have lips of steel by the time we've finished the season :-)

Have a wonderful week - sending love and good wishes around the world xxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW 339

THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF CHRISTMAS IN THE AIR.
(for the video, which was shot in Marlborough, click here)

A really sweet video which sums up what a fun evening it was - good to have been a small part of it!

I think we've been lucky down here in the South...you poor folk up North have been bearing the brunt of the storms.... But it's been cold enough to light the woodburner and so I've been knitting in the evenings rather than being in my craftroom....

I was making pompoms yesterday to put on my Happy Hats..the Clover Pompom tool makes it very easy indeed.  I had some music on while I was pompomming - good old Ruby Turner, wish I could belt out a tune like her!

And don't faint...but....I did some stamping at Julia's recently...Christmas tags, to be precise and I coloured them in today. Nothing earth shattering but I enjoyed doing them!

Plain and simple...just like me :-)  It still doesn't make my heart go pitter pat like fabrics and yarn do so don't hold your breath for more papercraft here!

I was down in Salisbury on Saturday and a trip to Franklins was a must. The displays made me smile!

I love that letter box!

And just for Shaz Silverwolf, who's a Penguin-a-holic.....

A flotilla of penguins in the shop, all slightly different. The woman in the shop thought I was bonkers taking a pic as I was teetering on the stairs holding my phone one handed. See what I go through for you Shaz??! Lol

That's it for this week - there's been nae sewing at all. I'd like to apologise to those lovely peeps who commented on my last blog - life got in the way and I didn't manage to get back to all of you..sorry. 

Have a lovely crafty. warm, happy week ahead. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx