WOYWW 191

IT'S GOOD TO TOUCH
THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME....

What a difference a week makes...
What's that weird colour?? Oh, yes.....green! Haven't seen that for a while. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the moles who seem to have made a fairy ring!

What has been on my workdesk this week then?





I made a couple of bags in which to put the quilts for the LillyBo appeal. 





I LOVE making tote bags and hadn't done any for ages, so I really enjoyed doing this! Incidentally, thanks for all the info regarding 'to bias or not to bias' and the noble art of quilting to secure the batting..it all helped! I machined around the animals..which was quite easy in the end. I know it's not as 'pure' as hand quilting but that ain't never gonna happen.....NEVAAAAAAR *grin*








Mary-Anne gave me the heads up on an iPad beanbag which was simple to make - I used some of the new Sale fabric!
Thanks, Mary Anne - great idea :)




I also got some of my stash out to have a look for the next quilts - this one WILL be patchwork!




Greens and pinks...I'm really looking forward to summer after playing with these beauties :)





Other bits of fat quarters and scraps...not sure about this lot together but I'll change a bit of this and swap a bit of that...bit like my cooking really! Recipes?? Pah.....




And finally, three things to make you smile!


1. My tea light glass globes. I spotted these the other day..a storm had just passed over and the sun peeked through and it just lit the globes up!

2. I spotted these in a shop and snapped up two for the WOYWW Crop raffle!
3. No matter how small the knee/cubby hole, a cat will always find a way....
Have a GREAT week.....see ya!! xx

WOYWW 190

OH THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL,
BUT THE FIRE IS SO DELIGHTFUL.
AND SINCE WE'VE NO PLACE TO GO,
LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

Good Morning from a wintry, white Wiltshire! This is what my garden has looked like for the past few days, about 6 inches of lying snow..the white blob to the right of the steps is a little stone ornament of an otter (Oscar, in fact), you can just see his little nose poking out from his snowy blanket!
This a sedum plant in my front garden - I didn't dead head it in the autumn and so the flat plate-like flowers were the perfect 'catchers' of the fluffy stuff....
They look like mad mushrooms, lol!! in fact, all this gorgeousness would be perfect, if only it wasn't for the fact that our central heating boiler has turned up its toes...great timing, huh? 

Anyway, back to the desk....
As we've been confined to barracks for a few days now, I've done quite a bit of sewing and sorting out of items to send off to folk for their charity projects. All I need now is for the Post Office to be open :)



My friend wanted a pretty drawstring bag to keep her medical bits and pieces in and she's a Pink Gal, so I used some scraps from the wedding bunting I made last October and some ribbon for the drawstring.


Using some of the bunts from that big box featured last week. An ex-colleague had a baby girl recently (Thea, isn't that a pretty name?) so hopefully she'll like some bunting with which to decorate the nursery!



Then I made some covers for little packs of tissues to send off with the charity stuff...it uses up scraps, they're handy and people tend to buy stuff that doesn't cost too much!!

Of course, you do realise that I could have spent all this extra time indoors doing all the house work that has been neglected for a while....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....!!!
Oh, I crack myself up sometimes....sighs happily....

But the single item of which I am most proud is my first comforter/quilt for Jo's LillyBo appeal. 



On top is the Bargain £3 a metre fabric (yay!), underneath is a soft royal blue fleece with some batting sandwiched in between...



I made some border edging from scraps, choosing the brightest I had to co-ordinate with the animals. 

Serious question to all you proper quilters out there..is it better to use bias binding for the edging?? And if so, why??
So, this has been a learning curve for me. I feel as if I've cheated by not making patchwork from scratch but........here it is.....




Lol - that's probably the only photo I like of me!! So, I hope it's ok, Jo - I'm in the process of doing another and will get them sent off to you, snow permitting, as soon as I can :)

Hope you have a great week wherever you are and whatever the weather is!!

WOYWW 189

DON'T YOUR FEET GET COLD IN THE WINTERTIME?
THE SKY WON'T SNOW AND THE SUN WON'T SHINE,
IT'S HARD TO TELL THE NIGHT TIME FROM THE DAY.
YOU'RE LOSIN' ALL YOUR HIGHS AND LOWS
AIN'T IT FUNNY HOW THE FEELING GOES AWAY?

What's on my desk this week? Quite a lot as it happens, but I open with a conundrum. When I was sorting out Mum's stuff last June, I came across this in her sewing basket. Do any of you know what it is cos I haven't a clue!





It's about 4" wide and 2.5" high. Please put me out of my misery if you can, thank you!






I have done the mother of all sort outs (or is it sortS out??) this week. In order to ascertain what I have:
(a) already made (b) cut out but awaiting sewing (c) good fabric of a reasonable size (d) largish scraps (e) scraps to go in the stuffing bag
It needed everything pulling out of boxes and wardrobes...




The fabric is mostly sorted out into heavier and lighter weight cottons.





All the ribbons, ricrac, piping cords, elastic and bling embellishments are together in one box....







In another lies the wherewithal for making bunting -  a veritable box of bunts!! I'll start running some lengths up in order to send off to folk for their charities.








And I know I said I wasn't going to buy any more fabric...you know what's coming here.....but I was in Salisbury last week with Julia and we nipped into one of our fav fabric shops and they had a sale rack with all these gorgeous heavy cottons at £3 per metre instead of £10-12!!! I couldn't let that pass especially as I'm going to be making fleecy backed quilts for a project that JoZart has thought of.....
Aren't they fab? I made myself be restrained cos I could have bought an awful lot more. £60 worth of fabric for £15, not bad eh??





Then I found these fleece remnants for 90p in my local wool/fabric shop in Pewsey...
There's enough to make about 4 little beanie hats, I reckon. Isn't it pretty?
So. that's enough to keep me busy for a while - if not quiet!!!

Thank you to all the folks who entered my '99 Not Out Giveaway'. Here are the winners....



Hooray and congrats! If you lovely 
ladies would like to send me your snail mail addresses, I will get your prizes off to you forthwith. Morti, I'll pop around for a coffee and bring you yours, shall I?? Lol Thanks to my random answer generator (G3, my son) for picking the winners for me :)




And finally, we had a rare day of blue skies and sunshine on Sunday. We wrapped up for a bracing walk and enjoyed a good old stamp around the village. It was glorious...
and even in this freezing weather are signs of burgeoning life. These pussy willow buds were glowing in the sunlight, just starting to burst out of their shiny black carapaces. Beautiful :)

WOYWW 188

WE SIGN OUR CARDS AND LETTERS BFF
YOU'VE GOT A MILLION WAYS TO MAKE ME LAUGH,
YOU'RE LOOKING OUT FOR ME, YOU'VE GOT MY BACK,
IT'S SO GOOD TO HAVE YOU AROUND.

Apologies, Julia, but I really couldn't resist it.... this was on my workdesk earlier....
*Snigger*  Honestly, I don't know why she's still friends with me!!
These have also been on my desk..
A pile of my stash that I've been having a sort through for a charity project suggested by the lovely Jozart. Hettie, are you sitting down??? The project involves P.A.T.C.H.W.O.R.K..... heavens to Betsy, what is the world coming to??
I've also been cutting out fabric for another tea cosy for my mate Sue.
She came around and picked out these two fabrics for her kitchen. Good choice!

I don't know about you but when I log on to my blog, I tend to scroll down and check out the comments straight away. Well, earlier on, my eyes flicked to the sidebar and Stap Me, I noticed that my followers had gone up to 99!! When did that happen...?  I am seriously amazed and my gob has never been so smacked. Now call me crazy but I prefer odd numbers to even, don't ask me why, I just do and 99 has got much more of a pleasing feel to it than a boring old round century. So I'm having a


LLJ'S '99 Not Out' GIVEAWAY!!

There are no rules, you don't have to be a follower to enter, just check out the items featured below and stick the word KNIT or CROCHET or COLOUR or CHARM next to your name/WOYYW number. Please feel free to enter more than one category if you would like.
Books on Crochet, Colouring and Knitting!
One of my handbag charms (or keyring if you prefer!)

I shall pick out 4 winners using my random generator, i.e. my son.
Thanks for cheering me up with your fab comments. I still find it amazing that folk read my drivellous witterings every week....but I love it!!

And finally, last Friday I helped a dear friend clear out 20 years' worth of detritus from cupboards prior to her moving. She gave me this....honestly, what DO people think of me, LOL!! Bye for now :)

WOYWW 187


My dear acquaintance, it's so good to know you

For strength of your hand 
That is loving and giving
And a happy new year 
With love overflowing
With joy in our hearts 
For the blessed new year

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all WOYWWers
May 2013 be a happy, healthy and peaceful year!
Before I show what's on my desk, I have a few thank you's to give out. Cards that arrived at various points from lovely folk that I haven't shown. From L-R, Vickie (Okienurse), Dolores (Cardarian), Di (PIxie) and Brenda (Butlers Abroad) Thank you girls, they have brightened up my home this Christmas.



Vickie also sent me this little lot, which was very unexpected and much appreciated! Some fat quarters, ribbon, a great ideas leaflet and a funky green angel. I live next to a huge forest and she really is The Angel of the Woods for me. Thank you so much, Vickie, your thoughtfulness has really touched me. How lucky am I? :D

Julia was right when she said that if we could bottle the WOYWW bonhomie, it would make the world a better place. I am going to try, in my own little way, but more of that later.....

OK, the desk is a bit weird this week (I know, I know, it's always weird...but this week, it's a games related gift for my son, The Big O)
It's an upside down Creeper from Minecraft!! If you don't know what I'm referring to, lucky you :) It would take too long to explain..... This is the front piece of a cushion cover....
The finished cushion!
I think he likes it - yay!!

Other things to show you are the two cocktail rings I received as presents.
Both blingy and gorgeous yet quite different..I love them both!!
And two beautiful glass hangings (they are coaster sized) that my boys gave to me.
They're made from layers of glass with two of the White Horses of Wiltshire carved into them. They shine in the sun and appear to be 3D, I adore them not only because they're beautiful, but because they just sum up Wiltshire for me. I'm so lucky to live in this amazing place. (For folk who may not know, Wiltshire has 6 gigantic white horses cut into the turf on the Downs to reveal the white chalk underneath. The first was the Uffington White Horse, pictured left, which was done thousands of years ago. Sir Terry Pratchett, my favourite author EVER, says 'It's not what a horse looks like, it's what a horse be')

So here are a few reasons why I consider myself to be a fortunate and lucky girl - my gorgeous husband and boys, my family and my friends. This year, I'm going to change the angle of what I do slightly. I'm still going to craft, but what I make is all going to be for charity this year. So, if you have a favourite one, let me know and I shall see what I can come up with.

What goes around, comes around......


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...