WOYWW 409

OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY....

Brace yourselves...craft is featured this week. Good huh? Pity it's not mine :-D  All will be revealed in a minute.

First things first - I had a wonderful trip back to Wiltshire last week. Julia and I simply took up where we left off our conversation. We kept looking at our watches wondering just how another couple of hours had zipped past without us noticing. We went to Salisbury for a little light retail therapy...here we are outside Fabricland!

I love this pic!  I bought a few things like zips, fusible fleece and thread, nothing earth shattering but useful nevertheless! Our time went too quickly - I'm already looking forward to the return visit.  

We are entertaining our friend Kate, who is over from New Zealand. We went to the National Botanic Gardens of Wales...I wasn't expecting this....

It was like an alien had landed in the depths of the Carmarthenshire landscape!  This held the desert and temperate plants, there was a double walled garden, wonderful water features, a folly and a butterfly house. Incidentally, it may amuse you to learn that the Welsh for butterfly is Pilipala!

There were exhibits of sculpture dotted around the grounds as well. Seven massive tree stumps were arranged on the ground - they were fallen trees from the Gabon, representing the deforestation there and have been sited in Trafalgar Square, Oxford University, the Earth Summit at Copenhagen before coming to their final resting place here.  They were enormous and very poignant..

There was also a gallery featuring a textiles exhibition - here comes someone else's crafting!!

This piece was against a window and was made from layers of voile with lace and machine embroidery..gorgeous.

This water feature is in the gardens and the embroidery caught it just right..the fountain sprays were made of silvery beads.

I loved this blue felt applique work...I could live with this on my wall...

The Botanical Stitchers had created panels featuring many of the plants found in the gardens....

...and they, together with the Carmarthenshire Embroiderers Guild, made this very large piece (6 x 8 foot) about the plants of South Africa - the detail was quite stunning. 

We really enjoyed our visit there and intend to join for a year as it'll be a constantly changing environment - I can't wait to see the herbaceous borders in full glory.

Life continues to be rather busy, let's see if I manage to make anything this week, lol!

WOYWW 408

ALL KINDS OF EVERYTHING REMIND ME OF YOU...

I did apologise a couple of weeks back for my random pics and lack of crafting, which is when I didn't post. Many of the folk who commented that week said they didn't care and quite enjoyed seeing what nonsense appears in this space.

So...you have been warned. This is what the past seven days has contained:

The removal of several very overgrown palm trees from our garden. Mr LLJ and my brother Steve did an amazing job and were very careful not to accidentally demolish next door's fence!

My niece (Steve's daughter) wanted some driftwood to make interesting sculptures for her wedding later this year...we got many curly pieces but this was the piece de resistance! What would YOU do with it?

She also wanted pebbles so these are a random selection!

Mother's Day saw me receive some gorgeous flowers off my boys...I love the bright Bollywood colours :-D

I did a LOT of walking - 35 miles in a week :-)  The beach is just too good to ignore, especially during the gorgeous weather we had over the weekend. The beaches in the area face straight onto the Gulf Stream coming across the Atlantic. it's always interesting to see what gets carried ashore on the tide. Today's surprise was:

A big jellyfish - 12" across, 24" long. It looks so alien, don't you think?

I hope you've enjoyed a taster of my life but honestly, I really do think I have to not post while I'm not crafting. It's not really in the spirit of WOYWW is it?  

Hope you all have fun making something while my mojo is absent!! xxx

WOYWW 407

I SEE YOUR TRUE COLOURS SHINING THROUGH...

I didn't join in last week because there was nothing to share with you craftwise and I couldn't get away with random pics....

...so what's changed?  Well nothing much!

I'm still doing much of my reading, crafting and general day to day stuff at my kitchen table!

I'm using up a spare ball of variegated yarn to make a preemie blanket for the local hospital (as organised by the Knit & Natter group)  I quite like the yarn but it seems to have taken AGES! Think I'll crochet the next one using the lavender yarn that Wipso gave me when she was down..it'll have to be a close stitch as they don't like lacy blankets - the kiddlywinks get their fingers trapped in the holes.  That funky card is from Neet...here's a close up:

It's funky huh?! I love the bright colours which are even more day-glo in reality...thanks Neet, we love it!

The other things to share are these gorgeous table mats and coasters which were a house warming present from my brother and SiL. It's a print of a hare from an old book which has been transferred to tiles made of Travertine marble - they're really heavy and I LOVE them!  I like the way the coasters come in pairs of a front and back...if ever you're at my house, don't take offence if you get a back end to put your brew on!!

The other work table is this:

We've done so much painting, we should have taken out shares in Dulux!  Between decorating, being in Band contests and other stuff, the weeks are just zipping past.

A couple of pics to finish with which were taken on 'my' beach. The tide was far out and exposed the wreck which has been there for over a hundred years.  It was one of those atmospheric silvery grey days....there's any amount of interesting things growing on the timbers..barnacles, seaweed that looks like hair etc

It lends itself to some weird pics!

You can either see 3 Nessy monsters or standing stones or whatever takes your fancy. Great pic Mr LLJ!

Thanks for dropping by and putting up with my craftless state...I'm not promising any different for next week!!

xxxx

WOYWW 405

THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND....

(This blog is a craft-free zone - again!)

Whizz, whizzy whizz whizz - that's what this past seven days has been like! But not all decorating related (hooray!) it's mostly been about seeing wonderful friends (double hooray!!) and playing music (thrice hooray!!!)

That wonderful Wipso and her DH came to visit, so we walked and looked at boats and had lunch and walked on the beach and talked...a lot :-D  Annie bought me some beautiful daffs in pots so they immediately went by the front door:

Goodness, it was so great to see this lovely lady again!! Not only were the daffs beautiful but Annie brought me some new stash too...

Some lavender coloured yarn and six fat quarters which I will definitely put to good use when the JanCave Mk2 is up and running. Annie also gave me one of her patterns - generous crafting buddy that she is...thank you!! I also received a card and fun present from Kelly in the US and another gorgeous card and wonderful canvas from Lisa Mellor:

I love the colours, the beach huts and the sentiment too - that is going on a wall soon, for sure. I'm a very lucky girl to have such thoughtful and generous friends - thank you all xx

I took Annie down the harbour for a mooch - it was really calm that day...

and we walked on golden sands in the afternoon and chatted about anything and everything! Lovely people, I hope we meet up again very very soon ( have already found a direct train between our two towns..)

G and I went down the harbour again on Sunday when the tide and wind were both high...it was a very different place to Annie's visit. The local lifeboat crew were practising...

Getting ready to set off...

It was a LOT choppier out in the estuary...

They sped out over the sea, turned on a sixpence and came back in again - I'd have loved to have been on the boat. Going fast is one of my favourite things :-D

The jet skiers were out too but their journey looked a lot more hazardous when they were out at sea, I was glad they got into harbour safely.

Getting the boats out again was interesting. A brand new boathouse is going to be built for this very busy lifeboat station, starting in August. There'll be a lot more opportunities for volunteering so I'll be putting my name down to help in the future. The crews saved 93 people last year - that's something worth supporting.

Sorry there's not been much crafting (again) but I hope you enjoyed seeing the pics!

Have a great week :-D

WOYWW 404

MAMMA'S GOT A SQUEEZEBOX SHE WEARS ON HER CHEST
AND WHEN DADDY COMES HOME, HE NEVER GETS NO REST.....

It's short and sweet this week, mostly because I haven't got anything much to show you! The week has flitted past and I just don't know where the days have gone. There's been lots of painting, leaks in the plumbing, washing machine breaking - all I've managed to do is a bit of baby hat knitting of an evening...

And my desk this week is at my new kitchen table - we're so happy with it, I could spend all day in there!

The little hats are there, plus an empty mug of tea, my phone and a membership form to join the WI (Women's Institute for the non UK readers!). I've wanted to join for ages but never had the opportunity and one has just started so I went along yesterday with my mate Helen. There was a good number of ladies there and we enjoyed a very funny talk on the history of underwear!  This was pertinent as Helen had sent me this pic of what she has been knitting the past week:

Boobs!  Helen is a community midwife and was asked by a breastfeeding counsellor if she could help - they are used in feeding demonstrations to new and expectant mums :-D  I think they're fantastic and well...very perky!!! I'm quite envious......

I'm very excited because Annie (Wipso) and her DH are coming to visit tomorrow! Woohoo, I'm looking forward to seeing them very much, hopefully you'll see some pics next week!

WOYWW 403

WE GONNA USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT....

Greetings you fine body of crafters!  Hope you've had a good week..mine's been busy (all the wallpaper has gone - woohoo!) with lots of decorating. It's amazing how many coats of white paint it takes to cover up purple :-D

Consequently, my crafting has been all about knitting - the JanCave is way down the list of what needs to be done I'm afraid - and I'm on a mission to stash bust at least two bags of wool before I start on the stripey blanket with the yarns featured last week.

The view from the sofa! I'm making either adult beanies with chunky yarn or baby beanies in DK or 4 ply.

I always think that rib beanies look better on the head - at least they stretch to fit most sizes. The little moss stitch beanies are sweet, I think I'll make more of those (for the local Special baby care unit) in an ivory colour yarn that needs using up.

I took a quick pic of the local knit and natter group - well, there's only two as this was before most people arrived (!) - but the view from the venue's not bad, eh?

Lovely ladies with a fine line in crafting and humour!

We've got out for walks too - this reminded me of the Giant's Causeway :-D

and Spring is definitely on the way now....

I love pussy willow, it's bonkers!  When you really look at it closely it's like some mad mutant alien life form. Amazing bright colours on a drab old grey day though, it made me smile.

Have a fun week!

WOYWW 402

MAE HEN WLAD FY NHADAU

(Welsh National Anthem)

I've chosen the Welsh national anthem as my song lyric this week because I took part in a very special occasion this week...more later!

Well, the stash is sorted and packed away in the Jan Cave wardrobe..the worktable is clearer and my sewing machine is out of its box - so a start has been made!

I had an online voucher for the Wool Warehouse, so finally got round to spending it and got this very soft Caron cotton, enough to crochet a beach-inspired throw. I like the way the balls are wound up, very different.

But there's been an awful lot of this going on! We hired the wallpaper steamer stripper and it's been worth every penny.  Bye bye, barcode wallpaper - hooray :-D

However, the thing that took up most of my time this weekend was something rather different (apologies to friends who have seen all this already on FB). I was invited to be part of the all female brass band playing at Cardiff before the Women's Six Nations rugby match. It was absolutely freezing on the day but a great experience.

Arriving at the stadium, waiting for the other players to turn up.

I think this may be the largest venue at which I've played!!

We rehearsed with the 100 strong choir in the tunnel under the stands...my teeth are chattering because it was so cold!

Can you tell where I am? Lolol!  After the teams lined up, we played both national anthems....

You can listen here - it's just someone's phone recording, but it gives you a sense of what it was like to be there. It was an amazing feeling listening to a whole stand of people singing at you!

You can just see me peeking through at the back!  These players were seriously good, it was a privilege to play with them. I'll never forget it.

Thanks for staying to the end - I'll try and show some crafting next week, honest!