WOYWW 369

I PICK MYSELF UP, DUST MYSELF OFF
AND START ALL OVER AGAIN....

It's not been the easiest week really. Not only did the country seem to explode last Friday after the referendum, the rhetoric and vitriol got worse over the weekend. I have unfriended people on Facebook in the past couple of days because I did not like what I was reading. 

It's more important than ever to foster respect and kindness.  I wish we could bottle the generosity of spirit, the support, love and friendship that WOYWW engenders.  This has been brought home to me by the wonderful comments and beautiful sympathy cards I've received from deskers over the past two weeks.

My first desk:
A hotel table in Wales, where my niece Emma and I created the floral spray for Dad's funeral. We both gained comfort from just sharing in the creation of something for someone we loved.
The music came from a very old book of Welsh hymns that I bought from Oxfam, where I volunteer and was perfect for a man who loved music. The Male Voice Choir he used to sing with came to the funeral - I can't tell you how sublime the singing was. Dad was there in spirit, belting out in the bass section :-)

So, we got home yesterday and this was the craft desk how I left it at the weekend:
I bought a sewing pattern for soft toys last week - it's simple but that's ok for me at the moment. I also bought a Moda charm pack in the sale, the colours were too lovely to resist! And on the machine is a small zipped bag I'm making for myself in which to store my tape measure, stitch markers, small scissors etc etc in my knitting basket downstairs.
I was top stitching the zip here before sewing the bag up. I love this mad cat fabric, it was a present from Julia a while back!

Last week, we had no Linky issues at all - hoo-blooming-ray!! Fingers crossed it stays clear today as well.....


WOYWW 368

THANK YOU FOR THE DAYS.
THOSE ENDLESS DAYS, THOSE SACRED DAYS YOU GAVE ME...

First of all, may I say a huge thank you to all those who left supportive comments and sent me emails and cards expressing sympathy about the death of my Dad - I simply can't tell you what they meant to me.  It's been a funny old week, thinking about funeral details while ordinary life continues but I am ok.
*Edit* An article about my dad has appeared in the local paper today. Here's the link

There's some unfinished business from two weeks ago - the Guess How Much Cord I Bought competition. Four people guessed 20 metres, which was the nearest to the 21m I actually bought - they were Twiglet, Jackie Mackay, Carmen and Cara. The names went into a hat and CARA won! Can you email me your addy Cara and I'll get a little something off to you in the post :-)

I have actually got some fabric out on the desk to show you....
I've cut out two hearts from my precious hare fabric and took five minutes to make this:

(This is the little something, Cara!!)

I didn't get the chance to show the rest of the ATCs last week, so here they are now - still filling my heart with joy!
A huge thank you to Cardarian, Lynne Mizera, Elizabeth Silverscrapper, Lisa Davolt, Sylvia Little treasures and Anne L - all unique and all wonderful (and the ATCs aren't bad either, lol!)

And just to make you happy, a little bird told me that Julia might be linking up with us today - fingers crossed that she feels well enough to join. That would be amazing :-)

Have a wonderful week wherever you are in the world xxx

WOYWW 367

MY HEART BELONGS TO WALES.....


It's a short post today - my beloved Dad passed away last Saturday and so I have no desk picture to show you. What I've chosen instead is a picture of 'my' beach, Cefn Sidan, in Wales. In the 1960's, the Ministry of Defence had chosen this site to be a gunnery range, shooting at targets out at sea.  My dad headed up a group of locals and became Chairman of the Save Our Sands campaign. I remember TV cameras in our lounge and marching through Cardiff in a protest. And Dad and his group stopped the range coming...the area is now the Pembrey Country Park - a fitting epitaph to a man who loved his family and life.

I am ok, don't worry but won't be visiting many desks today - I'll keep an eye out for linking issues. Mention it in the comments and either myself or Neet will help.

Have a good day and give out lots of hugs xx

WOYWW 366

LAVENDER'S BLUE, DILLY DILLY,
LAVENDER'S GREEN....

I'm hoping for third time lucky this week! Fingers crossed that Mr Linky has had enough of testing the New Girl and will play nicely for me today :-D  Apologies to anyone who had difficulties linking up last week, let me know if you have problems today in my comments and I'll link you if possible.

For those of you who didn't see my previous post, Julia came out of hospital last Saturday - her post op brain scan was clear so it's a case of slowly recovering. I'm sure she'd love to hear from you but don't expect a quick response, she's sleeping a lot at the moment. But she's home (phew). I've went to see her yesterday and was surprised to find her downstairs rather than in bed. I asked how much I could tell the deskers and she said she doesn't mind, she wants to raise awareness of the condition. Julia's face has dropped on her right side because of palsy caused by the op. She has a sheaf of exercises to do in order to make the nerves and muscles work again. Her stay in hospital was good with excellent treatment and care, it really is a case of slowly slowly now, it may take up to a year for nerves to grow back. We had a good laugh and caught up on all the gossip - she says hello to you all 💖💖

My desk looks like a gale has swept through:
I've been busy making a few items for this weekend's craft fair - for a friend's stall, I'm out playing both days. There's a zipped tote at the back and a fair few lavender hearts.

I spent a happy half hour yesterday making lavender 'teabags', it's easier to put these into the hearts than just trying to spoon it in - that way lies madness because more ends up on the floor than where it's supposed to be. Also if the fabric is thin, you don't see dark specks through it either. The room smelt lovely!

I've also been making drawstring PE backpacks out of various fabrics. I had to buy some more cord for the strings, hence this next pic:

Just for a bit of fun, how much did I buy?  Answers can be in metres or yards - the closest will win a small prize. Just guess and put it in your comment - you can also see the mass of cord in the desk pic at the top :-D

Some more beautiful ATCs arrived, together with lovely cards: thank you Lisa, Nikki C, Ros A and Andrea - I can't say enough how much I appreciate the thought and kindness behind these little works of art. Hopefully you will be receiving your swaps too and so the sharing and friendship of WOYWW continues for another year!

PS:  for those of you who sponsored a skydive in memory of Janet Fairythoughts (and who are not on Facebook), the jump was postponed from last weekend to early August, due to weather conditions. This was a big disappointment to Janet's daughter and friends as they'd geared themselves up to do it...but it will happen soon.  They have raised £1885 for the hospice in memory of Janet, so a massive thank you to those who supported such a great cause.


News of Julia.....

Julia is now back home after her operation. The post op scan showed everything was clear, which is brilliant news. She is very tired, sore and still poorly, so I would respectfully suggest that anyone wanting to email/message her could wait for a couple of days. I'm happy to receive emails and will pass messages on if that helps.
LLJ xxxx

WOYWW 365

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE......

Thank you all for joining in the WOYWW anniversary last week, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed reading the comments!  Apologies if you were one of the 7 out of 68 deskers who had problems linking up - I have no idea why that was. I know that other folk managed to link you up so you could join in the swap, grateful thanks goes to them. Also to Nikki C who gave good advice on how to overcome the problem and made those awesome WOYWW7 badges - thank you, lovely gal!

Julia is in the High Dependency Unit, recovering from the very long operation yesterday to remove the acoustic neuroma that has made her life so difficult over the past 9 months. Mr Dunnit texted me last night saying that the surgeon was pleased with how everything went.  If I hear anymore through the the day, I'll update this post with the news.

She really appreciates the fact that the weekly desking madness is continuing, so a big thank you from me for all your support.

My desk is somewhat chaotic:
I've been dragging out various fabrics to make lavender hearts, little zipped bags and totes. A friend in my band is having a craft stall at the Rainscombe Steam Fair on June 11/12th and asked if I'd make a few things to fill her table up. I don't have many things made at the moment, so as the weather today (Tuesday) is looking iffy, I foresee an afternoon of sewing. Yippee!!
I'm not going to go crazy, just make a couple of each item. It'll be fun!  This does mean that the giveaway planned for this week is going to be postponed.....

A huge thank you for the gorgeous ATCs, I've received so far!  Hopefully everybody who wanted to join in had some fun on the day - can I congratulate you for remembering the asterisk by your names?!  Lol, I'm the world's worst for forgetting and was muttering to myself when linking up Julia's post '...do not forget star, do not forget star....' I'm sure Mr LLJ thought I was losing it.....
A photo full of loveliness, huh?! Beautiful work from Wipso, Twiglet, SandraDe, Kim Young, Bishopsmate, Annie C, Shaz Silverwolf, Debbie TatteredRocks, Diana VelvetMoth and Cindy Plantslist. Thanks, lovely gals, they made me smile - and thank you AnnieC for the crafting ribbon and cat buttons!!

So, relatively short today - let's hope Mr Linky is feeling fit and lets us link up without any drama!

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...