WOYWW - last days of 2020!

 

Well, here we are in the last few days of 2020.

Let's hope 2021 is full of good cheer!

Maxine gave me this lovely little collage kit - "Bluebell Garden".

I made a start on it. It has all the bits and bobs I need - plus I do have a fair stash of my own in case I want a few extras- lol!

I read the instructions thoroughly and cut out all the bits ready but, as yet, I haven't made a start.

The finished piece could be "framed" in an embroidery hoop but I fancy making it into a mounted, framed picture so need to think how I adapt it.

So, that will be keeping me busy into the new Year.

I wonder what the rest of my lovely WOYWW friends will be doing.

We have snow here so I shall be keeping warm and cosy indoors.

We walked around Attingham yesterday just before the worst of the snow arrived. There are floods way out across the fields but that is normal at this time of year.

Have a Happy New year everyone. Take care and stay safe.

xx Jo

WOYWW - Christmas 2020

 

Happy Christmas to all my WOYWW friends around the globe and anyone else who drops in to see what I am up to!

Rudolf and Rosy are two little reindeer chocolate orange covers that I knitted this week.

I saw similar ones on Pinterest but couldn't find a pattern so I invented one. I think they will be well loved - well at least the chocolate orange will!

Below are some of the beautiful handmade cards that I have received this year. Thanks lots to everyone who sent them - I love them and really appreciate all the effort that goes into their making.

And lastly - I had a request for a Santa sack. 

It was a bit last minute so I had to delve into my fabric stash and make the best of what I found.

I think it's fine and will be just right for baby Evie.

Well that's it for this week.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas - however you are able to celebrate it.

I always think that life is what you make it.

It may not be the Christmas we would choose but we are fit and well and have a roof over our heads. We will see our family, if only for a short Santa sack swap. We will have a Christmas lunch - just the two of us. Our thoughts should be with those who are not so lucky.

Keep safe and stay well.

Best wishes.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Lots of cheery little bears here today!

I sent some of the others to the food bank for their gift boxes and that's probably where these will be going later this week.

My room was a mess this week as I finished off and wrote cards to post before the rush.

I always leave card making till late November early December so it does get a bit hectic. I am not a great paper crafter but enjoy the fabric, stitchy, dumfy side of things. The "putting together" is always more problematic but of course it's the thought that counts!!!

Here are a few that I finished this week...

Thanks for popping by.

I still can't link up with Julia so Annie has been adding me to Mr Linky's list.

I try to get round a good few desks but it's trickier without access to Mr Linky so apologies if I miss you.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW 601

 

Good morning all. It was so lovely to "see" everyone on Saturday.

What a lovely bunch you all are. Thanks to Julia  - and Jan for holding us all together for the last 600 blog weeks. 

Last week our Sewing for Shropshire NHS dropped off some fabric for me to make into child size tote bags which are to be sold to raise money for local settings.

I had enough fabric ready cut out for 15 bags. The fabric was lovely and they went together well - especially with the rainbow tape for handles.

My little huddle of snowmen are going off to our local food bank to go out in the gift bags they will be distributing before Christmas. I have named them all and will be popping each one in a cello bag with a pack of Choc buttons or Maltesers.

So that's my lot for this week.

Have a great week everyone - stay safe!

xx Jo

WOYWW 600

 

Well here we are then - WOYWW for the 600th time!

I thought I would make a celebratory badge to wear for our "meet-up" on Saturday.  

It's quite big so I don't think you will miss me!

I am sure Julia never imagined all those weeks ago that we would still be here sharing our desks, our crafty activity and our friendship after all that time.

Well Julia... we are all still here and I know we all feel so thankful that you have been such a treasure and kept us all together for such a long time. Long may it last and thank you so much for all that you do. Let's hope that before too long we will be all together again in real life and can laugh away the misery of the last year.

So, just to keep the tradition going, here's my desk.

My needle felting machine has had a little bit of use this week. I made some trees using a felted wool jumper which I needle felted onto a piece of background felt.

I used the same background for the little wintry scenes below....

I am looking forward to joining up with our event on Saturday.

Let's hope technology plays the game and we can all have some WOYWW fun.

See you then!

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Good morning all!

Just a happy, little group of bears to share with you today.

I've no idea what I will do with them so if you have any ideas, then do let me know.

They are about 5 inches tall and would pop in a Christmas stocking, I suppose.

I have also been attempting to make more Christmas cards.

I felt inspired to get my needle felting machine out and had a play with scraps of felted woolly jumper and silk fabrics.

I might be brave enough to show the results next week but I am at the "Mmm, not too sure about that" stage with them.

I am looking forward to coming out of lockdown next week but mostly because I missed my haircut, the day after we went into lockdown, and I feel a bit tatty! 

I hope you are all well.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday Dec 5th.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Good morning all!

This week I am sharing a few more twiddle muffs with my WOYWW friends and anyone else who pops in to see what I am up to.

The very lovely LLJ gave me a big bagful of chunky yarn which I have been putting to good use in making some Christmas/Winter themed Twiddlers.

I shall pop them up to the hospital once, or should I say "if" lockdown ends.

I thought they might cheer someone over the festive period - especially if they have to stay in hospital with few visitors.

And then, I found a lovely pattern...

https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/busy-little-bears-knitting-pattern-by-dollytime

I made one of the little bears - she is about 5 inches tall and has been standing guard by my sewing machine. 

Admittedly it hasn't seen much action. My latest attempt at making a Christmas card was a near failure when I managed to stitch a little collage to the front of a CLOSED card, rendering card and almost the collage useless!! Brain fade due to lack of real creativity in lockdown, I think.

I won't give up! I keep dabbling and one day I WILL come up with some worthwhile cards but I may be at it for some time. lol.

I hope you are all keeping safe and well. There still seems to be far too much Covid going round.

All we can do is follow the rules.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Just a quick post today.

I wanted to show you the little cardi now that it is finished.

The colour is "Melon" and I think it's about the right name for it.

It's bright and cosy looking and now you can see the little picot edge which sets it off nicely.

I have been trying to make a few Christmas cards this week but I don't seem to be in the right frame of mind to be creative in that way. Sometimes creativity just flows but this is not the time!

So, keep well and stay safe all.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Here we are again.......

Back sharing our desks on the eve of another lockdown.

I am thinking positive thoughts and looking to happier times!

So, my masks are festive - well these are child size and cheery enough to brighten the day.

I have also been busy knitting a little baby cardi. It's a nice pattern and I like the little picot edge which the holey pattern at the bottom will make eventually.

Ben and I baked buns for Halloween when he was with me last week.

He loved making the scary faces.

His Mum made him a zombie outfit and made a brilliant job of his face paints.

I think they had a fun weekend.

Well that's it for today.

I still can't link up with Julia so I am hoping Annie will do it for me. I just don't know how to get round the problem.

Have a good week. Keep busy and keep in touch.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Good morning all.

We have had mixed weather over the last few days so I have had time in my sewing room on wet days and lovely Autumn walks on drier days.

Ben wanted a shaped cushion to go in his book corner so that he can snuggle under his new fleece, whilst reading. He has really enjoyed his rapidly developing skills and loves all sorts of books.

He is into Horrid Henry and the Roald Dahl books.

I had lots of left over fabric from making his roman blind so I quickly ran up a zipped cushion cover to match his room. I hope he likes it.

He made this lovely card for my birthday at the beginning of the month....

Just a quick one today.

I hope I can get past the BT warning page this time and link up to Julia's blog.

Have a good week all.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Last week I promised you some of my knitting - well these little snowmen are waiting to go off to a friend's charity donation. 

I think she is filling them with sweets and a poem and handing them out as little gifts to folk in hospital over Christmas. A lovely idea as I am sure there will be many who can't even have visitors over Christmas and these might give them a smile.

Below is the fuchsia fest that is in my garden at the moment.

They will all be gone with the first frosts but just now they are glorious.

This one below is  "Tom Thumb" - still going strong Jan!

And lastly just a little bit of crafty activity from the craft room....

I made a few more lavender bags (still trying to use up that 500g bag of lavender!)

And..... having found a nice piece of navy fleece in my stash, I decided to make a snuggly throw to go on the end of Ben's bed. I trimmed it with lime green fleece to match his feature wall and cut out a few motifs from his left over blind fabric. He was thrilled with it.

Never a dull moment here.

I just wish I could get together with my crafty buddies a bit more but we are all trying to be so careful as the virus is slowly picking up - even here in rural Shropshire.

Well that's it for this week

I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Good morning all. I hope you are all well and managing to stay clear of the virus.

My sewing room has seen a bit of action this week. 

I had a lovely day making the playmat.

My fabric arrived. I imagined that myfabrics.co.uk would stock fabrics in the UK but this fabric came from Germany and hence took longer than I expected. I use lots of different sources for fabric but couldn't find what I wanted elsewhere so tried this one.

So, I made 8 green and 8 animal puffs to go with last week's pink ones.

Here they are all set out in the design that I wanted them in, ready to join together.

The row on the left have been sewn together. I join each row to the last one so that I don't confuse the pattern.

My little beaker is sitting on the stand that came from Julia at our 2019 crop. It comes in very handy in my sewing room.

Once I had joined the 25 puffs in the centre I added the fleecy strips around the edge.

Next I chose some twiddly bits to go around the fleecy edge. I like to put silk and velvet ribbons, ricrac, stretchy bits etc so that the little ones have some textures to feel and explore. Also they are handy for clipping small toys to.

Here is the finished playmat. It is just over a metre square.

I like the animal fabric - lots of little animals to spot and count.

Well, that's it for this week.

I am busy knitting when I have a spare minute but will show you those next week.

Take care all and stay safe!

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Just a quickie today.....

These are the pink puffs for the centre of my latest play mat.

 I am waiting for the other fabric to arrive so I decided to make the ones that I had fabric for. 

They will mix and match with 16 more in the other fabric/colour ways and then I join them together by machine before setting them into the quilt.

Thanks to all who sent me lovely birthday messages.

I had a quiet day - I just didn't fancy going out into what appears to be a Covid increasing local life.

We had a socially distanced coffee with friends and family here - 3 different events on 3 days!!

I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Well my creative juices have been flowing this week as I have designed and made my latest twiddlers.

My theme this week is Autumn so I have included pumpkins, conkers, berries, hedgehogs, corn and scarecrows! Can you spot them all?

My next project is a play mat for the latest little one - a sister for my God daughter.

I have been sorting through my fabric stash and, although I have some suitable pieces, of course, I need to buy more! I will have fun choosing a theme for this one. 

This is the one I made for her sister in 2016

The little puffs in the middle make it comfy and cosy to sit on and the feature band has a farm theme.

I might make an animal theme for the next one. It's good to have a pattern that is a "conversation" piece.

I hope your week has been fun and creative.

We have had a couple of glorious Autumn days so, time has been spent tidying the garden (note - I didn't say I'd been doing it!!) I am the chief advisor - he doesn't always take any notice but at least I feel I have helped - lol 

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

It won't win prizes but I know a six year old who will love it!

I decided if I popped the candles onto the rowing boat then we could lift it off in order to blow out the candles (Thinking Covid safety here!)

Update: yes he loved it and we had a socially distanced "cake and candles" get together so we could sing "Happy Birthday" and give him his pressies. Not what normally happens but then times are not the same as last year. He quite enjoyed several little celebration events so I don't think it mattered too much.

Well, that's it for this week's WOYWW.

It's a wet day here and very Autumnal but we have had wonderful weather over the last few weeks and I guess the garden needs the rain.

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 

Good morning all! 

Nothing really crafty to show on my desk today so I have uploaded two photos from our weekend in Anglesey.

On Sunday we went over to the west side of the island and walked along the beach to Llanddwyn Island. Then we drove up to see the lighthouse at South Stack in the north. It was warm but overcast and very windy. I am surprised that my photo is as clear really because I just couldn't hold my camera still as I was being buffeted around.

And then by complete contrast, Sunday was calm and really hot. We went to the opposite end in the south east and looked out towards Puffin Island. 

I can recommend Anglesey - such a beautiful coastline.

Below are the tiny pebbles and 2 bits of glass washed by the sea into heart shapes.

I picked them up on the beach at  Llanddwyn Island, which has a a legend about Saint Dwynwen - the patron saint of lovers - coincidence or what?!

I might make a little picture with them as a memento of our weekend.

I hope you have enjoyed the lovely weather too.

I will pop round to see your desks later.

Have a good week.

xx Jo

WOYWW

 Good morning to all my lovely WOYWW buddies and anyone else who drops in to see what I have been up to this week.

It seems to have been quite a busy crafty week with one thing and another.

I will whizz through my photos so you can see what has been keeping me busy.

Max wanted some beige cashmere scraps dyeing so that she can use them to add to her felted artwork.

So, I brewed up a panful of green dye for the largest amount and then had a light bulb moment for the small amounts. I popped them in a small microwave pot with water/dye and gave them a quick 3 minute blast in the microwave. Perfect! Quick, easy and little mess. I shall be doing that again.

I made the little net bags to pop them in so that I could fluff them up with the hair drier and then leave them to dry overnight in the  airing cupboard. That way I didn't  end up with multi-coloured fluff scattered everywhere!

Here are the results...

Next, I had to make a new baby girl card  and a boy's birthday card .....

The designs are fabric. The dinosaur is just cut out from a piece of printed fabric and each piece is Bondawebbed onto the background. The elephant is my own design with a hand embroidered name.

And lastly my latest twiddlemuffs. Just in case you don't know about them. I make them for patients suffering from dementia up at our local hospital. They are good for keeping hands busy and to hopefully stimulate a conversation. They are easy to knit and I like to create colourful ones with a theme - hence this week we have seascapes, a flower garden and Shrewsbury Town Football club.

If anyone has a friend or family member who would like one let me know.

AND last but not least, the lovely LLJ sent me a huge bagful of chunky yarn to use up for twiddler making.

It's totally brilliant and will keep me going for months! Thanks lots Jan - you are a treasure.

Well that's it for this week.

Keep well and stay safe.

xx Jo