WOYWW 269

                                          WHO LET THE DOGS OUT....WHO, WHO, WHO, WHO?

I had the strangest request this week.....someone contacted me to see if I would make a bag, cushion and quilt as a present for a little girl who has a chihuahua and dotes on it. So this is why pink things are on my desk!
Luckily, I had strips of joined up squares already made up...oh yeah!

Making a cushion fit for a puppy princess!

I'm making the bag from this recently bought fabric. It's sturdy cotton so will be fine for lugging a small dog about in.  Well, I've made doggy bandannas before so knew that could LEAD onto bigger things. I sank my CANINES into the project, though it was a bit RUFF at first. But you know me, I like to COLLAR new ideas. Ok, don't HOWL at these puns, I'm stopping now as my voice is HUSKY....... Feel free to continue this thread in the comments if you wish!!!

My train obsessed menfolk had a treat last week (belated birthday prezzy). They thought they were going to learn to drive a small steam shunter train. This is what turned up instead....
They had a fab day and ended up dirty, covered in coal dust and grease and couldn't have been happier. I love this picture :-)

Have a great week!


WOYWW 268

THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL......

Thanks to all you lovely lot who made me laugh with your inventive ways of getting Tootie Fruitie into your comments......but there can only be one winner and that is.....

*drum roll*

ANNE of COPPER BEECH CRAFTS!

Congrats Anne...please could you email your snail mail address to me and it'll be winging its way to you ASAP :-)

Right then, the desk....

You find me mid-bag, so to speak.....a tote for a teacher's present.  Hopefully the recipient will like the fabric...included is a tissue holder in the same fabric for the inevitable last day tears :-)

Top stitching...oh yeah.....it's gotta be done.

Julia surprised me with these little beauties - tiny metal hands with 'hand made' stamped on them. She knows I have a dislike of fabric tags/labels on my stuff, so found these to sew on to my bags etc. I've sewed one onto the bag above and it looks great. Cheers mate! 


My brass band had a really busy weekend - this pic was taken of me by my hubby. I quite like it as you can only see half of me!! I'm not asleep, honest!  Just concentrating very hard on the music *grin*

Short and sweet this week....wonder if I'll get brownie points?!

WOYWW 267

YOU'RE ONCE, TWICE...THREE TIMES A LADY......
(The Commodores)

 Me? A Lady? pahahahahahahaha...the only reason I chose that lyric was for the '3', because it is my third bloggy birthday. Hooray!
I am still incredibly grateful to Julia for dragging me, kicking and screaming, into the WOYWW madness. The global friendships and support continue to be amazing. :-)

OK -  shmaltzy bit over!  I have a giveaway to celebrate this momentous occasion.
One of my zipped totes, with pockets inside and out.  If you'd like to enter, just include the words 'Tootie Fruitie' in your comment......for no other reason than it makes me laugh!!!

Right, the desk......
I got my jelly rolls out (and my fabric strips as well.....fnar fnar) for a bit of sewing inspiration. And while I was thinking about what to do, my son asked me to make something for him.  So what exactly is that grey fabric thing on my desk?  Soft numchuks?






No, a both-sides-of-the-doorstop! 

With every window open upstairs because of the heat, his door was creaking away. 

So, this is the result.... a bit like a draught excluder with an unstuffed middle. LOL!  Looks daft but it works a treat :-)

The outside desk has seen a fair bit of action too, especially in the evenings when the heat of the day has gone down.  I have started making random granny squares, using up all my little woolly odds and ends. This is for the SIBOL blanket initiative I found online and mentioned in last week's post if you're interested.  I think I'm going to make what I fancy as I go along and put the colours together properly at the end.  The throw over the chair back is the first crochet I did and it still gets used a lot.  The only thing that's missing is a cold cider........

And finally, we're still very excited in the Appleton household about Owen and Jen's engagement! As neither of them are mainstream, I knew I needed an alternative, Goth type card to give them and there was one person who sprang to mind to ask for help.....Shaz Silverwolf!!  I asked if she could use blacks and reds with some silver.....No Problem came the answer.....and this was the result....



Isn't it just GORGEOUS?! We all got a bit teary when they opened it. They just couldn't get over it, Shaz..it was just perfect for them (as was the card from you and Doug too!)  
Thank You xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have to go now....getting emotional again.....where's my tissue?!

Have a great week, everyone!













Have a great week!!

WOYWW 266

CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS.....

...are in order today as we came back from our holidays last weekend and my son and his girlfriend announced their engagement!  *Happy Dance*  So excited for them both at the start of this next chapter in their lives. Congrats Owen and Jen, we love you loads  :-)

Because of all the excitement, my desk looks like this:
Boring, huh?

I bought half a metre of this fun owl fabric on holiday - dunno what I'm going to do with it yet.  Plus I got 2 metres of fat ric rac, which I use on the personalised bunting!

While we were away I did a heap of crochet. Little teeny tiny blankets (for premature babies) that Christine (Cardius Bloggus) is gathering to give to a local hospital.
Some stashbusting blues and greens.....
I don't know if you can see but the pink has got a silvery thread running through it. It's pretty!!
The blankets are sooooo small (approx 30cm square) but I guess so are the prem babies.  The blankets were sent in yesterday's post, Christine :-)

Now onto another crochet project that I found on the UK Handknitting Association's website. It's crocheting or knitting blankets to cheer up elderly people in old folks' homes. Check out this website if you fancy having a go too: www.sibolchallenges.blogspot.com  It'll be good for busting your yarn stash!

That's the end of the crafting...now some holiday snaps, so feel free to jump ship at this point!








Now then...where do you think this photo was taken? Crete? Cypress? Malta even.....

Nope - Dorset!!  

It's the Tout Quarry Sculpture Park on Portland near Weymouth. It was sooo hot, we all caught the sun. But it was amazing!









There are loads of sculptures just lying around the place! 


 Some small, some medium sized, like this ol' bear here....
...and some were very large indeed. This one's for Shaz and Doug, lol!!

The weather continued like this ALL WEEK! Yay :-)  These beach huts were at Charmouth....

We went out on a fishing trip from West Bay.  Look at that Geology-in-Action shot!  The sea was really choppy but we're good sailors so it was fun!

And finally, the loves of my life.......my boys.....
The co-ordinating shirts were a fluke!  This pic means everything to me :-)

Hopefully there'll be a little more crafting to share in next week's post!!  Bear with me............

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...