WOYWW - festive special

 Just a quick one today.

I am posting my snowman card to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Things might get a bit busy before our Christmas Day WOYWW so just in case I don't make it, I wanted to send you all my good wishes and hope you have a wonderful time.

The little poinsettia below is so bright and cheery it surely will make everyone smile!

I hope you are all well and life is not too hectic.
Take time to enjoy the moment.

Thanks for calling and for your lovely comments.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Good morning to all my WOYWW buddies and anyone else who pops in to see what I have been busy with. My sewing room has actually had a bit of stitchy action over the last week...

Ben is hoping Santa will bring him a knight's outfit for Christmas so I have been busy delving into my fabric stash. I made a tabard, hood and cloak - all from fabric tucked away in drawers and cupboards! I hope he likes it.

Then, I had a request from a special friend.

She needed 5 little brooches - they were to be worn to celebrate the life of a special lady at her husband's funeral. A lovely idea.

Out came the lilac/lavender wool rovings. The colour was chosen and 5 little brooches duly needle-felted and a tiny scattering of beads to add a bit of sparkle. I think they will be just right for the occasion.

And lastly.. a little hospital tabard to go with Dr/nurses set for a little one in the family.

Never a dull moment here!

I hope you are all well and not too busy with the build up to Christmas.

Have a great week - thanks for dropping by.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Good morning to all our WOYWW friends around the globe and anyone else who drops in to see what I am up to.
Mostly I have been chief packing elf for Tilly. She has had lots of pre- Christmas sales, which is wonderful, so I have had to lend a hand at getting them ready to post.

I have a new little friend in my work room today - maybe he will get the feather duster out and flick it round whilst he is here!

He is called Slim the Sloth.

Ben decided he would like one to go with his menagerie of soft toys.

So Slim will be carefully gift wrapped and popped in Ben's stocking on Christmas Eve.

I knitted him with a free pattern that I found on Lovecrafts.

I did have a bit of a battle with him though.

His head and body are knitted in one piece and then all the other bits are stitched on.

Foolishly, I was knitting late into the evening and managed to stitch his "bits" on upside down. I had to unpick and start sewing all over again.
 (You see that his head is bigger than his body - and I picked it up and started sewing with the small part for the head - quite logical as that is how it would be in real life. Then I looked at the picture and realised, to make it look more sloth-like, it was the other way round!)

Note to self - slow but sure wins the race.

I hope you are all well and keeping busy!!

Have a good week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Happy Wednesday everyone!

This week I have made an attempt at a few Christmas cards.

I sorted through my fabrics to find snippets for tiny collages and made about 12 before I ran out of steam.

Today I am going to start again and make a few more - if time allows.

I have been busy parcelling and delivering stock for Tilly Tea Dance and today of course it's my day to pick up Ben from school. 

No doubt we will have playtime fun and chill out story time. Last week we created an entire wildlife area on my lounge coffee table and he made up stories about all the soft toy animals that were roaming the "North Mountain" and "Bushland". (He has a great imagination and is good at directing others to join in!!)

So, have a great week.

I will be round to see what you are up to later.

xx Jo

Friday smile - on Saturday!!

Just wanted to share this beauty!

It's the orchid that Annie bought for my birthday in 2018.

It flowered, died and now has another gorgeous spray of blooms.

That's a first for me as I am usually hopeless with orchids.

Thanks Annie - it makes me smile - how about you?

WOYWW

Just a quickie today.

Here are my little fairies in their basket - all ready to go on their travels.....

I love this little wicker picnic basket that Max bought me years ago. It has a cheery tartan lining and is perfect for displaying tiny items. I am sure the Shropshire Rural Community Charity will love having these little sweeties on their stall.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Good morning all!

Welcome to my WOYWW  for today.

I have been busy adding tiny crystal beads to some snowdrop pictures for Tilly.

It's about the closest I get to working on the actual piece of artwork. 

Mostly I just get to mount and frame them, so I am very honoured to be able to add just a few tiny little crystals that twinkle in the "snow".

Note the reading glasses - I don't actually need them for reading but do need them when threading a beading needle and to find the holes in these tiny beads!

Apologies for not visiting many desks last week. We had a few days in Yorkshire to catch up with old friends. Luckily we missed the floods but met up with lots of snow in North Shropshire on our way back. 

Today I will be helping Tilly get ready for her workshop and packing stuff to take to a Craft Fair in a few weeks. 

I hope you are all keeping cosy and well.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Do you know this man?

Annie's birthday treat was a trip to the theatre to hear Gruffydd Wyn sing.

We had a fab night and, as it was a charity do, we bought raffle tickets.

I won a basket with a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine.

On my way out - my dear Brother in law met the said singer and offered to give him a bottle of my wine!! We had a good giggle and I was snapped handing over a bottle of Tanner's best white to Gruff - he certainly deserved it - a lovely voice and a great evening of music - including the lovely Libby Gliksman who also sang so beautifully.

Message to self - don't let BIL near my raffle prizes!!

Here's my desk today.

Just a few snowmen covers for chocolate oranges. They will be going off to charity soon.

I have a few more fairies to knit in the next few weeks. They too will be winging their way around the town for charity.

So that's it for this week.

Another busy week ahead.

Have fun!

xx Jo

WOYWW

A very quick post this week..... this little flock of fairies is all ready to set off on their journey to North Wales.
I packed a boxful of crafty bits and bobs for an outreach group who have a Christmas Fair up there.
I am sure someone will love a little fairy in a box.

I am still knitting them so there will be a few more out and about quite soon!

It's school half term here so I have lots of Halloween fun and games to play this week.
Yesterday we decorated Ben's tent with spooky fabric so that it was nice and dark inside.
Today we will be making pumpkin bunting and dancing ghosties!

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Last week I was informed that I was making a "mummy" costume ready for Ben for a Halloween party!
So, out came the old T shirts and a bag of sheeting remnants.
I used his PJs as a pattern and cut out a top and trousers.
I stitched strips of sheeting across all pieces, before making up the garment.
Then I added a hood and some extra bits and bobs to make it look well worn.

The result was one very happy little boy who wore the outfit for the entire evening.
Success!

This week I am making little gift pouches from card for the tiny fairies.
You will know that card/papercraft is not really my thing but I was quite pleased with the result.

I think his little friends will love having a fairy in a packet don't you?

That's it for this week.

See you around the WOYWW desks later.

xx  Jo

WOYWW

My little fairies are all dressed up and ready to go!

I gave them all a little pair of bead shoes. I thought some might be used as Christmas tree decorations and the extra weight will help them to hang nicely.

I will let Ben choose which ones he wants for his little friends.
If any are left over I will sell them and donate the pennies to Children in Need.

AND.....

This is the result of my hard work yesterday.
Max wanted some yarns dyeing so that she could wet felt them into her landscapes.
She is keeping very busy with her Tilly Tea Dance workshops and also trying to get a collection together for a little art exhibition in Oswestry at the end of the month.

So I boiled up a green set and a warm wine set.
I like the results and they should be useful.
I can add some to the next round of Inspiration packs too - although having made 78 last week we might not need any more before Christmas!

Today, I think we will be felting together and then it will be fun time later when Ben comes for tea.

Have a great week and thanks for calling by - it's lovely to connect with so many crafty WOYWW friends around the globe.

xx Jo

WOYWW

This week I have been mostly knitting little fairies.

I always say that I won't order more wool - I am sure I have plenty of scraps for little fairies.

Then, I decide a bit of something sparkly would be good - so now I am waiting for some bright glittery yarns to arrive!

The pattern is by Wendy Phillips - I ordered mine on Lovecrafts - "Ten tiny fairies"

I think Ben's little friends will love them.

I'm not sure how much knitting I shall do this week.
I think I pulled a muscle in my back today (I blame a heavy vacuum cleaner).
So I might just have to chill out with my feet up - ha ha - like that's likely.

Hope you are all well.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

It's a brighter Autumn day here today.
Yesterday was wet and windy so you can imagine how lovely it was to receive a little bit of Australian sunshine through the post!...….

Thanks Shaz for my lovely little parcel!

Ben will be here later to open his little gift and I am sure he will love the Aussie wrapping paper too.

The little card is beautiful and my handy shopper will come in very useful.

I have Tilly coming to wet felt today so she will love to know how much you enjoyed her little sheepy picture etc. It's fun to see her artwork spreading across the globe!

Well, I must dash. I am sitting here with wet hair so must get organised before she arrives.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Well, we had one happy little birthday boy over the weekend.
He loved his Robot Wars cake which I placed on a large foiled tray surrounded by his extra robot models.
Below is the one metre tall robot box model that I made for a bean bag game at his party.
As you can imagine, the little ones loved it and spent ages throwing bean bags into his basket and seeing who could score the most.

 In my free time (lol - and not much of that last week) I finished two twiddle mitts - my farm mitt and a Shrewsbury Town football mitt.

So that's it for this week.

NOW - just a little heads up on a date for your diary in case you missed seeing it on Annie's blog last week.....
Due to popular request, Annie and I have booked our local community hall again for the 2020 crop.

So...Saturday June 6th is the date - we hope you can make it. We had such a lovely day for CROP10 so I hope we can get lots of happy WOYWWers together for another great day.
More details nearer the time!

Thanks for calling by - see you round the desks later.

xx Jo

WOYWW

This week I shall be mostly baking and decorating a certain little boy's birthday cake.
He says he wants a  "Robot Wars" cake so that should be fun!
We did the preliminary sketches together.....

His idea

My idea

I think Ben has a bit more creativity in his ideas and I'm the one trying to put it into icing and decorating! I'm hoping some of his little robots will fit on top of it as it's not going to be the size of a table top as Ben has planned it!!

My only crafty activity other than cake planning has been finishing off my latest seaside twiddle mitt.

My next one has a farming theme...

I think I have a big robot model to make this week so I won't have much spare crafty time for my own stuff (nothing new there then!)

Have a great week.
Thanks for calling by.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Tilly is busy wet felting in my kitchen today.

I love her fluff creations - gorgeous colours and textures all laid out ready to felt.

I have been sorting pictures ready to photograph for her website and Etsy shops.

She is also hoping she might get a cancellation table at Shropshire Leisure Christmas craft fair so will need lots more stock if she manages that!

My little job this morning was using some left over bunting flags to make a quick string to hang across the front of a little outdoor playhouse for my friend's Granddaughters. I think they will love this pinky bunting don't you?

Short and sweet today. I thought life might be quieter now Ben is at school but I seem to get busier!!

Thanks for calling by.
Have a good week.
xx Jo

WOYWW

Well, according to Max, Ben went off to school looking smart and feeling happy!

So that's another milestone passed successfully.

I hope he is just as happy next week when he will be there all day, 5 days a week!

I guess once Max gets her routines sorted out we will be back to a few Tilly Tea Dance crafting/organising sessions.

I will look forward to that - this week I am catching up on the necessary jobs - cleaning windows, sorting and dusting. ( Don't worry - this urge doesn't last long!)

I had a really busy week last week.

I took down Tilly's exhibition and got all the left overs sorted and ready for their new homes.

She did really well and had some lovely feedback from folk so it was well worth the effort.

I did manage to finish off a little twiddle mitt.

And, a kind friend gave me all these little items to trim up some more twiddle mitts so I will get going again now that the weather is a bit cooler for knitting!

Have a great week.

Thanks for calling by and leaving lovely comments too.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Yes, back to school time for Nanny!

This week I have been busy with all sorts of necessary little jobs like shortening trousers and making 2 bags for Ben. The left hand one is made from a T shirt collected by Max after doing a 10K run. Quite appropriate little logo for his PE bag I thought.

The other bag is for his out door wear for forest school etc.

All good fun!

I am late posting today - I just seem to be a bit busy.

I spent most of yesterday taking down the Tilly Tea Dance exhibition and sorting all the pictures etc into the right places ready for their next purpose. I am sure she will be pleased at the result when she returns from her hols.

So, short and sweet today.

It's cooler and raining at the moment so I will catch up with a few jobs before meeting up with friends in Ruthin tomorrow.

Have a good week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

How can this be possible....

I have jars and jars of buttons - thousands, I am sure.

AND yet, I only need 4 that would either match or look good together on this 6 month size chunky jacket that I have just finished.

Guess what.....

I am going to have to buy 4 more to complete my task!

It's not a problem but ridiculous all the same.

I was hoping to find a blue, red, yellow and green to match the flecks in the wool or 4 matching denim blue ones.

So, that's what's on my table today.

Now I will visit my WOYWW friends and see what's on theirs.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Well … not exactly my desk but I know Shaz in Oz will be so glad to see my post this week!

This little package arrived in the post today... check out the post date...23rd May!!

I think maybe it's flown by it's own power from Australia as it has taken two and a half months to arrive.

So, better late than never Shaz. I will be forwarding them on this week. Your little card is gorgeous and the message inside so very thoughtful. Thanks lots.

Apologies for not managing to show my desk last week - time flew by and I had a very busy week helping Tilly with mounting and finishing.

This week will be much the same so I have written this post today, Monday, ready for Wednesday - I hope that makes sense!

Thanks for calling by.

See you at your desks later.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Just a quick post before I take up my Nanny duties today.
We had a busy day yesterday too, finishing off an order for North Yorkshire and while Max beetled away, Ben and I made pizza!

On my table today is a little card that I made on Saturday - YES - I actually found time for a crafty session in my sewing room. It is for my friend's new grandson. It's just a little collage with some free machined lettering for the name.

So, that's it short and sweet.
Hope all is well with our WOYWW friends around the globe.
Thanks for calling by.

xx Jo

WOYWW

Well, what a lovely day we had yesterday!
Margaret (glitterandglue) and Annie(Wipso) called here. We had coffee and cakes followed by a quick trip over to Dobbies for lunch. Wow was it hot - Margaret's car said 36 degrees!

It was lovely to catch up with her and weather permitting we are going on a little drive over to Powis Castle on Saturday.
I just wish we had asked our "family photographer" to take a snap of the three of us.

My table has been loaded up with Ben's school uniform as I have been sewing in name labels.
BUT today it looks like this as I have a day out, so nothing will be happening here today.

I hope you are keeping cool but enjoying the Summer nevertheless.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

This is the reason that I am not at my workdesk today.....

In just over a week, I have mounted, labelled, numbered and catalogued over a hundred items.
There are pictures large and small, cards, pendants, bookmarks, coasters and prints.

Today Max will be taking it all down to Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre at Craven Arms and displaying it in their gallery.

Of course, mine is a fun day as Ben will be here to entertain me!

Have a great week everyone.

xx Jo

Friday Smile

Just one for you Annie!
This is my Happy Birthday Clematis that you gave me.
Isn't it gorgeous.
Thanks lots.

The others are a delight for the bees at the moment. Hebe and lavender.

xx Jo

WOYWW

It is that time again!
I have been busy putting together little inspiration packs for Max to give out on her Tilly Tea Dance workshops. They are very popular so this time I have made 60.

I love sorting through all the lovely bags of "fluff" and yarns to coordinate these little gifts.

It does tend to take over my sewing space until I eventually get them into little cellophane bags.

AND then, I even had time for a bit of yarn dyeing this week.
These worked well and will be useful for some of Tilly's backgrounds.

She has an exhibition starting next week at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre in Craven Arms so, we will be busy putting a collection of her pictures together this week.

So, that's my craftiness for this week - see you for another trip around the WOYWW desks next week!

xx Jo

WOYWW

Guess who has been busy on my work table.

Tilly Tea Dance will be here with Ben later to finish off these little pieces.

I love the colours in her little sheep pictures.

We are busy sorting stock for all her local outlets and today she will be working in my kitchen wet felting more background pieces.

I will take a few photos to show you next week - I love what she does with just an array of coloured fluff!

Needless to say, I haven't had much crafty time at my work desk but I enjoy helping out with the "chores". and better still, Ben will be here today so we will have a bit of outdoor fun if the weather holds.

Well that's it for this week. I hope I manage to get around a few more desks this time. Apologies for not visiting many last week - I don't know where the time goes!

Have a great week.

xx Jo