WOYWW

 Christmas is creeping up on us.

It's a low key affair in our house but I do enjoy making my cards and a few gifts and also try to get out and about to enjoy the festive decorations in the locality.

So, each year we visit Attingham Park to see the beautiful Christmas trees throughout the mansion.

This year was even more lovely than last year. The details in the way each tree has been individually decorated and themed to suit each room.....

Hand made tiny leather boots, dusters and Cherry blossom polish tins in the boot room...

A wonderful creation with a Victorian theme in the dining room....

The stairway was really stunning with a tumble of parcels cascading down the stairs ...

We followed it up with mulled wine and a shortbread - perfect!

My crafty activity has involved stuffing and rice. No, not cookery (not my forte!)

I spotted an idea for a phone stand and thought they would make a useful little gift. I made one for myself to pop my phone on when I'm busy in my sewing room....

As you see, I am a messy rice stuffer! I loved the result and it holds my phone nicely, though I think I shall be vaccing up rice for a while 🤣

So, that's me for this week .

My cards are done and I've even posted some of them!

Have a good week all.

Love and all good wishes to Neet. 

x x Jo 🌈 

WOYWW

 Welcome to my WOYWW opportunity to share my crafty activities with anyone who pops in to see what I'm up to.

This week I decided to make another Masterboard although I think I prefer to call mine a Motherboard even though I know that's something completely different 🤣

Here's my bag of green bits and bobs that I use for collage....

I snip strips of various fabrics and lay them onto a plain fabric - white poly cotton in this case.

Gradually, I build up an entire background.

Then I overlay a piece of very fine net and finally run several rows of leafy machine embroidery over the whole piece.

Here we are.. all ready to cut up into smaller pieces so that I can add detail with hand embroidery and more collage .

The little embroidery piece I showed you last week now looks like this..

I hope you enjoyed your V E day celebrations if you had any. G ran his model railway as a V E Day special and invited folks to pop in and see it. Just a bit of fun.

We had a walk through the park at Attingham. The azaleas and bluebells were pretty and the birdsong was lovely.

So that's me for this week.

x x Jo 🌈 

WOYWW

 

Good morning all.

It's a flower fest for you today.

The stunning roses were given to me by my little sis.  I've never had such beautiful roses. They have opened slowly and are jewel-like in colours.  So far they have lasted nearly a week and look just as fresh and lovely.

On Sunday we went for a long walk around Attingham Park so that we could see the snowdrops. They were wonderful, stretching over acres of wooded ground. The blue sky and warm sunshine made it a perfect trip out 

And then, look! I have daffs in full bloom in my garden as well as some primroses. It seems early but I suppose we haven't had a a very cold winter.

Lastly, this is the last little, fluffy sheep creme egg cover that I made last night..

I now have about 60 covers in two baskets ready for the charity..

So that's it for this week 

I hope you are all well and looking forward to Springtime just around the corner.

 x x Jo 🌈 

WOYWW

 A busy WOYWWeek!

Tilly Tea Dance has 3 workshops this week so that's a lot of packs for me to create.

And lots of little fibre packs.   

Then I answered a request for Santa!

The local hospital needed cushions for their Santa sleigh to be used at the Christmas tree light up event. It pays to have cupboards full of stash. I made these with a recycled satin sheet and stuffed them with a poly duvet.

I made them on Sunday as they need them for today! All good fun.😀

Then we went off to Attingham Park to see the Christmas trees. I think this year was better than ever. They were designed around the theme of Greek myths and legends......

A travel themed tree linked to the picture of Mercury on the wall in the entrance hall. The baubles were made from globes or just decorated with old maps.

The volcano was of course linked to Vesuvius.

The Lord of the manor had visited Pompei.

In the dining room was a clever tree made from wine bottles celebrating Bacchus.

This beautiful floral one was, of course linked to Flora.

This one was below stairs and a reminder of how well the health of the staff was looked after. It was decorated with herbs, spices of a medicinal nature, tiny medicine bottles and info to do with leaches etc.

This is one for Jan, linked to the muses of music.

So there we go.

I hope you have enjoyed the lightening trip round my week.

Have a great week all.

x x Jo 🌈 

WOYWW

 Good morning all.

If you are hoping to see a busy work desk today then I am sorry to disappoint you. I have been busy with admin for Tilly Tea Dance which included framing puffin pictures and putting together packs for her next pansy picture workshop.

If you would like to see her work you can follow the link to her website.. . .Tilly Tea Dance.

So, today I am sharing some of the lovely colours that I noticed, on a gloomy wet day in my garden, yesterday.

Firstly, my little Tete a Tete....

The blooms opening on the Camelia...

And the lovely peachy red of the Chaenomelese Japonica

And finally - not in my garden but at Attingham Park. NT.. snowdrops!.

So that's it for today.

I hope the Spring colours provide a bit of cheer for you all. It's been a very sad time for some of our group so I am sending love and all our good wishes to Elizabeth and also to Zoe who lost her son this week. It makes me think we must make the best of every day.

x x Jo 

WOYWW

 Good morning all.

Well, here we are in December, so I am busy with all kinds of crafty activity. I have just packed my latest Christmas twiddlers ready for the hospital. I hope they will bring a bit of cheer to the patients who need them. (No photo!)

This is my latest with all the bits and bobs ready for me to stitch on.

Last week I needed ribbon and was horrified by the tangle that greeted me in my ribbon box. So on rainy day, what better job than to sort through a rainbow of ribbons. This is what it looks like now...

And finally, this is one of the many wonderful trees at Attingham Park this year. 

They themed them all - so many I lost count. The theme was linked to trades used within the hall over the years. It really is worth booking in for a visit if you can. (Free to Nat. Trust members)

So that's it for this week. I must plod on with my cards. I think I will limit them to local recipients from now on as I very much doubt if the Royal Mail will deliver in time for Christmas this year. 

You lovely WOYWWers may just have to share the Christmas greeting that I post here in Christmas week. Let's hope the strikes get sorted for all soon.

Enjoy your crafting.

xxx Jo

WOYWW

 

I chuckled at how many folk said they were looking forward to seeing the cake last week.

Well here it is - Minecraft is Ben's favourite thing at the moment. I cheated and bought the toppers on line but nevertheless he was delighted with it. It was value for money because after his party with his best buddy the week before, I then re used the toppers for his own little cake/candles event on his actual birthday.

This week I made a little card for a friend's niece...

It's just a little fabric collage with some free machined detail and her name in free machining too.

It's been cold and wet this week but we did mange a lovely walk at Attingham Park on Monday. There were definite signs of Autumn - trees almost on the turn and lots of sweet chestnut and conkers.

It's a lovely spot for a walk.

Well that's it for this week.

Enjoy your week.

xx Jo

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

Good morning all!

Look what came in the post at the end of last week!

Jan sent me this most pretty little jewellery roll.

It is beautifully made with neat little poppers to match that gorgeous "Japanese" fabric.

I love it and I have decided to keep my family heirlooms in it.  (Don't get excited - I don't have much but did inherit a few treasured items from Mum and one or two of Grandma's little brooches).

Their value is mostly sentimental so I thought my little roll would be the perfect place to keep them and then I will always know where to look for them when I want to wear them. Seems obvious, but I have been known to search frantically for them - only to find that I had put them in a "safe place"!!

Thanks Jan - I will treasure it. You have a talent for putting colours/fabrics together so nicely.

Below is my latest twiddler - I thought it reminded me of Shropshire hills with rocky hill tops, heather and, of course - sheep.

Short and sweet today as I am going to Attingham Park with Maxine for a walk - let's hope it keeps dry.

We can have a "Tilly Tea Dance" staff meeting as we walk along!

Have a good week all.

Stay safe.

x Jo

WOYWW

Here we are again - another week another Wednesday!

Good morning to all who care to take a peek at what's going on here this week.

Max wanted some silky threads for her bookmarks so I found some lovely Madeira threads in my drawer and then I dipped into my big box that Annie gave me. These are from China and NOT Madeira thread but they work into collages etc very well. I've used quite a few of these but they do last for ages.

My desk hasn't seen much action this week. I made a couple of masks for family and then mended a jacket seam but that's not very exciting!

I need a new project to get going on!!!

We have managed a couple of walks at Attingham Park and I took this photo of the foxgloves. 

It was a delight to walk amongst the trees and listen to amazing birdsong.

So, that's it for this week. I hope to have more to show you next time.

Before I go... Quote for the week from Ben at bedtime...

"Mum, I wasn't born so that you could love me. I was born so that I could love you"

What a thinker!

Have a great week.

xx Jo

WOYWW - Merry Christmas everyone!

My table is empty, no work to be seen.

So my photos just show you this festive scene....

These are the trees, decked at Attingham Park

(No flash allowed and it was really quite dark!)

But all looked so splendid and trimmed up so neat

I thought I would share them - a Christmas time treat.

Merry Christmas everyone - I hope you have a lovely weekend!

x Jo