Like mother.......

Daughter M came over for a crafting day on Saturday.
She wanted to make two "new home" cards for her two friends who were moving house this weekend.
She had seen my free-machined fabric collages that I have been making recently and she fancied having a go herself. We are very alike in some ways!!

So - I set her up with all the fabrics, threads and machine and hovered nearby - in case she needed me!
Ha! - Like a duck to water.
She had her little pics cut out and bondawebbed down in no time.
I don't suppose she has done free machining for a year or so, but I guess its like riding a bike - once you can do it you never forget.
Her finished pics were lovely and, with a little advice on mounting them, she had two lovely cards to take away.

BUT - not satisfied with that, and with the rest of the day to play, she set to and made 5 more little pics which she is hoping to frame and sell.

She remarked how brilliant crafting is as a stress buster and I can only agree. Once you get your head down creating - the stress disappears and you focus on the sheer pleasure of indulging yourself in something you love. I can recommend it. In fact M. and I think we might run courses  -

 " De-stress not distress!" lol

I guess they will go in the blog shop or maybe to a craft fair in the next few months.

We have such a lot of lovely things to sell at the moment so I think we need to get out and about and show folk what we have got!!

Have a great Bank Holiday Monday - its wet and miserable here so I am having a crafting day.

WOYWW - 103

Only one week to go until the 2nd anniversary of WOYWW. The two years have flown by since Julia our "Queen of Snoop" had the brilliant idea to link up fellow crafters by suggesting we all blog a photo of our Wednesday work desk. Since then, I am sure you agree, we have all made some fab friends and enjoyed our weekly snoop into other folks' workrooms. So next week we will celebrate by adding a * to our name when we sign onto Mr Linky to show that we are joining in the Pass it Forward. My little parcel is all ready to post!!!

Today I have a desk  full of cloths that I am making for daughter M. She wants them for display tables for her Community Council so, I have printed off the logo and now need to stitch them in place on the poly cotton sheeting. A quick job but I have 6 more to do.

My little fabric collage was a pressie for a special friend. A little joke really cos she has re-vamped her shed to make a fab little summer house. I thought she needed a special picture to hang in it.
I was inspired by MarmaladeRose who has made some wonderful shed pictures with fabric collage.
I used to make lots like this many years ago and I have enjoyed re-discovering my skills.

Short and sweet today as I am going out for lunch with old school friends and then on to garden for M.
Have a great day everyone - see you next week for celebrations!!!

WOYWW 102

Good morning all - Happy WOYW Wednesday!

Just a quick pic n dash.
I am at the dentist this morning.

Lots of lovely crochet flowers on the go for another cot blanket (so many new babies expected - I can't keep up!) Thought I had lost my crochet hooks till I remembered I had put them in the bright check crochet hook roll that I made for the blog shop.
Lovely bits and bobs at the ready for another special collage picture - a gift for a special friend. Will show you more next time - you can just see my sketch peeking out.

That's about it - short and sweet but dentist calls.

Have a great week - oh and here is just one more pic - we had a great time when the men dragged us down to Torquay for Shrewsbury Town to lose again!

This was our view, as we crossed the Dartmouth ferry, on the way home.

Now I MUST pop over and see what Julia has been up to.

Argh! Little seedlings just up and this happens!

I suppose it's just a typical British summer.
All my little seedlings are just about 2 cms above the ground - fresh, green and tender.
They have sprouted quickly in this warm, wet weather.
And then we had this hailstorm last night.
It rattled on the roof and clattered on the windows - I just had to take a look!
Chilly - very chilly.
However, the thundery sky cleared and I noticed there was still a bit of light around 10 o'clock.
This morning they look fine - I needn't have worried. That's nature for you.

We are hoping for a warm dry weekend and good luck for Shrewsbury Town playing in the playoffs in Torquay!!
Happy weekend everyone - I hope Blogger is behaving itself today.

WOYWW - 101 - looking for inspiration!

Rain has stopped play with the gardening, so I have been looking for a crafty activity.
I finished my WOYWW Pass it Forward, last week. (See post below for a sneaky peep - just a tiny corner - of course we won't reveal the full Monty until after week 104).

Sometimes my ideas just dry up and I need a boost. Who doesn't?
So my table today is ready for a browsing session later.

A rich source of inspiration are my Stitch and Cloth, Paper, Scissors mags.
Lots of clever folk in here including Tina Gilmore (Indigo Moon), who has an article or two in the issue at the top of my pic. Don't you love the little heart-shaped brooch that she made for me too! Tina sells them in her shop if you are interested.

I love delving into these mags to see what these clever artists are up to.
Mostly I choose to work in fabric but having seen Tina's work I am tempted to have a go at mixed media. Wipso and I are hoping Tina will organise a workshop so that we can see her in action and she can give us a few tips and point us in the right direction.

Lastly - a little pic taken through my kitchen window - hence the fog and raindrops.

Each evening, a pair of robins take it in turn to have their "wash and brush up" in my bird bath.

My favourite little bird!

OK folks - I will be over to check up on you all later. Well I say all - I never get to see more than half of you these days. I love dropping in and seeing what you are up to.
If anyone is reading this and wondering what I am talking about, then do check out Stamping Ground - Julia's blog. She is the kind soul who set WOYWW in motion and now links up over 150 crafty bloggers! Thanks Julia - you are a treasure.

Sneaky peek and a walk in the forest.

Just a tiny part of my WOYWW 2 year anniversary celebration Pass it Forward item.
I have frosted it up so that you can't really tell what it is - what a tease!!!
I thought I should get going on it as we only have a few weeks to go.

Also I thought I would post a couple of snaps from our forest walk. It was a lovely day and really great to spend time with old friends.

A big pool used for private fishing - strangely, a shoal of large golden carp (goldfish) were swimming near the edge.

Bluebells in a clearing and lots of different sorts of conifer trees in this part of the forest.

And, believe it or not, this is the Poultry House.

It was built in 1861 as a Victorian aviary with nesting boxes and coops for all kinds of fowl including a swimming pool for the ducks and geese.


Collecting fowl was the fashion of the time, favoured by Queen Victoria, and John Naylor gave this Poultry House to his talented fourth daughter Georgina to keep her collection in.

In the 1989 The Landmark Trust purchased the Poultry House and fully restored it, along with the adjoining cottage now used by the Landmark Trust as a holiday let.

Here is one of MY favourite little birds.

A little swallow - she was trying to choose a mate from several of the males trying to attract her attention under the eaves of Coed-y-Dinas garden centre.

WOYWW - week 100

Good morning and a happy Wednesday!
I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather and that you are all well and happy.
I have had a busy few weeks gardening in the sunshine - I have never had such a good tan in April before!!
I  helped Wipso & Mr Wipso to plant the veg patch and helped daughter M and my other half, transform her garden into a more manageable plot with seating area, raised veg bed, flower beds and gravelled area. So, apart from a few aches and pains all is well.
I might show you a few photos when things start to grow.

Not much crafting gone on for a few weeks so my desk has been very tidy and very quiet.
Today I went for funday Tuesday at Wipso's.
We had a great day.

She dumfed a fab bluebell picture and I worked on this one with free machine/collage.

It is similar to the one I made for M's birthday card. You can see the remnants mounted in a little card on the right.

Today I worked in purple/yellow but basically the same design.

I have mounted it on matching fabric stretched over a canvas.

The other photo was taken when we went for a walk in our local Redwood forest.

The trees are huge and really beautiful.

This one fascinated me.
It had been planted in 1863 but blew down in 1936, leaving some of the root in tact and still growing.
The branches on the top continued to grow upwards. There seems to be about 5 tall trees growing out of the tree trunk lying on the ground - weird!







Today I will be out and about in the locality as we are going walking and having lunch out - got to make the most of the sunshine.
Have a great day all.
I hope I can get round to visiting a few more desks this week. Thanks to all who popped in here and left lovely comments. You are such a nice bunch!
Join in the WOYWW fun by checking out our friend Julia's desk and following Mr linky!!