WOYWW

 Well folks - back to square one!

As soon as I linked my phone to my Wifi I was denied access to Julia's blog again.

So do you think if I run down the street and try it from there, I might be able to link up!!

This week I have been mostly working for Tilly by sorting out all her stock for her exhibition at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre in Craven Arms.

It is a slow process as each piece needs pricing and numbering and then, for the larger pieces, I have to dream up an appropriate name label. Winter Morning, Stretton Hills, Foxglove Hedgerow etc... 

She has some lovely pictures in her display so, hopefully they will sell well.

This is one of my favourites...

When I have finished them, I will take a photo and share it.

My evenings have been taken up with finishing off a few more twiddlers.

I just need to add a few more bits and bobs to some of them.

I thought I would make a few elvish faces for the Christmas ones.

Well. that's it for this week.

I hope you are all well and managing to keep cosy as the temperatures drop.

It's a nasty wet day here today so I am happy to spend it crafting.

xx Jo

WOYWW

The world looks a grim place - floods, fire, plagues of locusts, wars and now this virus.

Hopefully we can all keep clear of most of it.
It's definitely a case of "Keep calm and carry on" here!

So this is what Tilly and I have been doing....

My table is loaded with beautiful needle felted pictures that I helped her to frame and mount.

She is has decided to sell some of the gorgeous sample pieces that she makes during her workshop demonstrations. She has added extra detail with hand embroidery and beading. I love them!
They are mounted on card and framed in a 20cm x 20cm white frame.

I think they will be going on her Tilly Tea Dance website this week so if you want to see them in greater detail follow the link.....
https://www.tillyteadance.co.uk/

I remember teaching Max how to needle felt years ago. She has always loved it and her talent far outstrips mine. Maybe I should sign up to one of her workshops!!
I do occasionally have a play with the rovings and my little dumfer but really I just love to see an expert at work. Today she is working with a local WI group. They must like working with her as this is the second workshop she has done with the same group.

Well that's it for my WOYWW this week.

Keep safe and take care.

xx Jo

WOYWW

WOYWW 7th anniversary ATC swap.
I know we only need to make one ATC to pass on to the person with a* after their name on Mr Linky BUT...
Annie and I love to swap with anyone who wants to swap with us, so we usually make about 20 or so.
I already have a dozen or so folks who have asked to swap so don't forget to leave a comment, if you haven't already done so, telling me you want to swap with me. Annie and I will be posting ours out together and we are happy for you to return yours to either of us and we will pass them on.

OK - so what have I got to show and tell this week...
A little cardi and "new baby" card for my friend's new grandaughter...

AND you might see a picture like this on Tilly Tea Dance's blog. Here are just some of her beautiful pictures on my dining table, ready to load into the car for delivery! I have been helping her to get her work mounted and framed. I love the little ones in tiny box frames don't you?

Well that's it for this week.
Thanks for calling by.
Don't forget to let me know if you want to swap ATCs.
x Jo

WOYWW

Happy Wednesday all!
I have to take my car into the garage this morning so I am quickly posting a few pics to share with my WOYWW buddies (and anyone else who pops in to see what is keeping me out of mischief this week!)

I finished off my little chick/chicken finger bobs for Ben and then hid them ready for him to find them when he called yesterday. He kept two here and took two home to play with.













In my crafting time, when I have my sewing room to myself, I have been busy with a little project that is nearly finished but I will be sharing it a bit later in the year! Or maybe just a taster pic for you....

At other times Tilly Tea Dance has been beetling away on my table making and mounting more of her gorgeous dumfling pics. Apparently the shops that she has placed them in, are rapidly selling out!

Of course with the dumfing (needle felting) comes the need to restock our rovings.
Just look at this heap of fluffy gorgeousness that I ordered from Sara's Textures.

Sara is brilliant - she created just what we wanted by dyeing or blending yarn specially for us.
It is a blend of wool and silk and will dumf most beautifully I am sure.

And lastly here are my latest Twiddlemuffs - all finished and ready to go to Shrewsbury hospital.

Well that's all I have time for. I hope you enjoyed a peek at all my crafty bits and bobs!

I hope I can get round a few desks this week for a good snoop.
Meanwhile, thanks for calling.
See you soon.

x Jo

WOYWW - dumfing!

Good morning fellow WOYWWers!
AND how are we all today? Well, I hope.

Today I am in the mood for dumfing.
I dipped into my bags of gorgeous wool rovings and set out the "fluff" for a piece of wet felting.
This will become the background to one of our needle felted (dumfed) pictures.
It's a wet job so I should really be doing it in the kitchen but the bright sunshine was beaming through my sewing room window so I thought I would tackle it here where all my bags of rovings are stored.

The two little poppy pictures are ones that Maxine made earlier using another of my dumfed background pieces. She is hoping to get a good stock of pictures finished ready for the Christmas rush!!

You will have to pop back next week and see what has become of the latest wet felted piece as I doubt I will have time to do it and take a photo for this post.

Just in case you have no idea what I am talking about - here are a few we made earlier....

Well that's it for this week.
No doubt Maxine will be blogging (Tilly Tea Dance) about our happy birthday party for Ben who is now one. It was a really lovely "sunny day in the garden" sort of party - we were so lucky with the weather.

Have a great week.
Thanks for calling by.

x Jo

Friday smile - My little dumflings.

A cheery little photo of my dumflings!

Or for the uninitiated... hand embroidered needle felted creations.

They are about 10cm x7cm and worked on recycled woollen blanket.

I just thought they might make you smile this morning.

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend.

Join Annie for more smiles and a giggle or two over on her "A stitch in time" blog.

x Jo

WOYWW

Well that's another week that has just flown by.
My WOYWW table has a few projects on the go this week. I am knitting a little cap sleeve cardi with some pretty peachy wool that I discovered as I was clearing cupboards. Knitting is the best way of stopping me falling asleep in front of the TV these days!
In front of that you can see the fabrics that I chose to make Ben a playmat for my new house. He will be just about 5 minutes away by car so I am sure he will want to come and play at Nanny's now and again.
In the bottom corner is the pretty patchwork covered  address book that Annie made for me - again ready for my new house. She is a treasure isn't she.

This little picture is the one that I made whilst helping Maxine with her fab workshop on Saturday.
We had a lovely time with some of the ladies from Craven Arms Embroiderers Guild.
They were so enthusiatic and created some lovely needle felted pictures.
Maxine is going to blog about them but it may take a while. When she has, I will leave a link here so you can see what we all got up to. Link to Tilly Tea Dance blog.

Lastly, and apologies for an out of focus photo, here are a few outfits for a teddy bear that I made last week.
I am a real butterfly and flit from one crafty activity to another!!

So that's it for this week - hope you are enjoying the sunshine and the breath of Springtime.
Have a great week.
x Jo

WOYWW- a bit late!

Just a bit late this week but better than last week when I never managed to show you my WOYWW!
Life has just beeen a bit busy with a few crafting tasks and a few days helping Maxine with her crafty workshop.
Today my desk is loaded with up cycled frames ready to put little needle-felted pictures into.
Then you might spot a box of bits and bobs with a few little "dumfed" samples on the top.
You can also see little Katie Morag on my window sill. I found a half finished one in a drawer so decided that I would complete her before she got lost once I start packing boxes.
Just beside her is a shirt for a teddy - I have to make a couple of teddies outfits this week so will be using that as a pattern.

And lastly, here I am modelling the latest little hooded poncho I have made as a snuggly wrap for Ben.

The towelling ones worked perfectly and M thought a fleecy one would be useful too so I used half of a fleece blanket and added just a dinosaur or two!!
I think I will link this post to Annie's Friday smile as I am sure you will all be grinning and thinking what a twit I look!!!

Have a great week.
Sorry for not being round much recently but thanks for dropping by.

x Jo

WOYWW

I thought I would share two desks with you today.
Above is the table Maxine and I spent all last week working at whilst lots of folk drifted in and out of our exhibition. We had a totally brilliant week. It was just a most perfect chill out week, spent chatting, chilling and "dumfing".
The little gallery at the Old Bell Museum in Montgomery was just right for us, allowing plenty of room for us to work yet still enable folks to peruse the pictures and other artwork which decorated the walls and tabletops. (See here if you want to see what we had on display!)

The next picture shows my tidy table today with just a few vintage bargains, my bookmarks that I made last week and a "dumfed" oyster catcher which just needs some machine embroidery to finish it off.

Thanks to all who popped into my blog last week and apologies for not visiting your WOYWW blog.
I will manage it this week I am sure. Well, that is unless Annie decides she needs me to help her with her move! Still got fingers crossed here! I am sure she will have news and fab pics on her blog "A stitch in time" so pop over and see what she is up to.

Have a great week.
Thanks for calling.
x Jo

WOYWW

Just a few pics of Maxine's exhibition.
I might add a photo of our workdesk in the gallery later today.
So far we have had a brilliant time.
It's a lovely place to be and we have met so many friendly folk!
We are open until 4pm Thursday 31st if you fancy popping over to see us in the Old Bell Museum gallery Montgomery.

Click to enlarge the pics.

I might not have time to visit many desks until the weekend.
I hope you are enjoying your week as much as me!

Thanks for calling.
x Jo

WOYWW -vintage haberdashery

 Just look at all these goodies I found at the car boot sale!

They all pre-date 1967 and most of them are priced at less than a shilling in old pennies.
(One shilling was the same as 5p when we converted to decimal currency)

Annie and I shared them out on Monday as there were fastenings etc that she might use in her sewing business. I am sure the rest will come in handy for something.

Below is the state of my desk today.
There is a little needlefelted collage and a pink canvas that I made down at Annie's this week.
Also you can see a part finished katie Morag. I thought we would have some of our old favourites on a table at Maxine's exhibition
(Old Bell Museum, Montgomery, POWYS. 25th -31st July 10 -4 pm.)

Come along if you are in the area - we would love to see you.

Click to see close-up.

 

Today I am busy finishing my curtains (Argh!!) for my newly decorated bedroom.

So I will leave you to snoop my WOYWW desk.

Have a great week.

Thanks for calling.

x Jo

WOYWW

 Good morning all.
This week we have mostly been needle felting!
On my desk is the big bag of wool rovings that I use for wet felted backgrounds and needle felting.
Maxine came over for a "dumfing" day on Monday. (Dumfing is our name for needle felting because it's the noise the embellishing machine makes as it dumfs through the rovings into the background piece).
We had a lovely day - chatting, dumfing and oo-ing and ah-ing over the scan pics of my grandchild to be!
As usual Maxine did most of the dumfing and I was the "facilitator" ie made the lunch, the drinks, set out the crafts and packed it all away again. I don't mind. It is so lovely to watch her being crafty and chilling out.
Now here is the question....

Sunflowers?

 Or.....

Poppies?

I love both but wondered which you like - just a bit of market research. We are going to do an exhibition of our textile work in Montgomery at the end of July and I think we need to stock up on a few different designs.

So please tell me which you prefer - in fact any comments would be appreciated.
I know you will be honest and say what you think and we love to hear from you.

Don't forget to let me know if you want to swap ATCs this time too.
It will soon be our 5 year anniversary of this wonderful blog sharing WOYWW and a good time to share some of our crafts around the globe!

Have a good week.
Thanks for calling.
x Jo

WOYWW

I am a bit late posting my WOYWW  today.

This is what my table looked like at 9am this morning - a mess - with a few of my little dumfling cards left out for Maxine to see. We decided to have a crafty day together.
I quickly tidied up so that she could enjoy a day dumfing and free machining her pictures.
This is what it looked like later....

This is Max just adding a few final details to her little viola needle-felted and machine stitched collage.
Don't you just love all those yummy colours of wool rovings?!

Short post today as I am enjoying a day with Max and hope to manage a bit of crafty activity myself.
Have a great day - I will be over to check out your desks later.

x Jo

WOYWW

Well here we are half way through January already!
I hope you are all managing to keep clear of coughs, colds and the nasty weather.

My table hasn't been used for nearly a week.
I have been busy with little knitting projects but my machines have been idle.
I need to get a creative boost!
I have tried Pinterest but I seem to end up wasting time looking at other folks lovely crafty ideas but not doing any of my own!
Maxine decided she wanted to exhibit her needle felted pictures at the Montgomery Old Bell Museum Gallery so that will be an exciting little project for me to help with this year. I think she will probably be there at the end of July so I will keep you updated - just in case anyone feels the urge to visit the quaint little town of Montgomery.
So ... today you can see some of the little mounted needle felted pictures and a few of my little "dumflings" on the right. The two knitted items are just a tiny shrug and a cardi made from some of my wool left overs. I will probably send them to charity. I had fun with a bit of hand stitching on the pink cardi. I just need to find 3 pink buttons to finish it off.

That's it for today.
Join in with the WOYWW blog hop over at Julia's Stamping Ground.
It's amazing what crafty folks get up to out there!
Have a good week.

x Jo

WOYWW and a "500th post" celebration give away.!!

 Well, believe it or not, this is my 500th blog post!
I decided a little celebration giveaway would be a good idea, so above are a few of my latest makes which will be parcelled up and sent to whoever wins it.
If you want to enter then just leave a comment telling me..........

 what you would fill the little desk tidy/gift holder with if you were going to give it to someone.

 

The little item on the left is a tissue holder for your handbag and of course on the right is one of my little woolly lavender hearts.

If you want a better look at the desk tidy then just scroll down to yesterday's post below.

My desk is covered with some of Maxine's needle-felted pictures that I have brought home to mount and frame ready to sell. We are doing a craft fair before Christmas.
Also, my fabric stash is still waiting for me to get going with!!

I will try to leave a quick message on as many desks as possible so you get a chance at the giveaway.
Popping over to Julia's Stamping Ground now to add my name to Mr Linky.
Have a great week

Thanks for calling.
x Jo

Finished by Friday and a smile

 

Another Friday rolls around and here we are again with a few things to share with you all.

Firstly, one of Maxine's little needle felted and embroidered pictures.

It's a tiny dumfling mounted on linen in a small re-cycled frame. The photo doesn't really do it justice as it was a bit gloomy when I took the picture on the patio table today. I really love the colours and textures she has used. I now need to find or buy frames for the other dozen or so that she has created. Any ideas on inexpensive framing?

 

 

I have lost count of how many little hoodies I have made over the last 5 years. They are just an easy little knitting project that I can do whilst watching tv so I am happy to keep busy with them. This one is for my neighbours little grandson.

 And here is my Friday smile.....

Every cloud has a silver lining. We had wild winds and torrential rain yesterday. It completely flattened these gorgeous little blooms so I decided just to cut them all and bring them indoors. What a beautiful cheery colour they are! (Some kind of Schizostylis - common name Kaffir Lily, I think).

Follow my link here to Annie's blog for more Friday smiles.

Have a great weekend.

x Jo

WOYWW

 Good morning all.
Nice to be back blogging.
I have had a hectic couple of weeks but things are back on track now.

Just a few things to show and tell.
Don't you love my bargain buttons and my yummy piece of soft grey check wool cloth that I found at the car boot sale? Not sure what I will do with them just yet but know I will find a use for them.

Also on my table is that lovely little "dumfed" (needle-felted) picture that Maxine made.
I think it looks good framed up.
We will probably do a craft fair nearer Christmas so hopefully will have a few more finished by then.

Below are two "shades of grey - and turquoise" draught excluders all ready for stuffing.
They seem quite popular at the moment so I am making a few more in a variety of shades.

 Maxine made the little hearts for me to stitch on this one - I love the colours.

Well that's it - back to the sewing machine for me.

I hope I can find time to visit a few WOYWW desks this week but I might be a bit late as I am helping Annie with the twins today - another fun filled day for "Aunty Jo-shie" as they call me!

Have a good week.

Thanks for dropping in.
x Jo

WOYWW

 

Just a few little items on my work table today.

I am about to start making a few more draught excluders so I thought I would just let you see a tidy space before the mayhem begins!

Top left are the beautiful cards of MarmaladeRose's lovely felting work. If you are interested then pop over to her blog and have a look at the fantastic work she does.

 

On the top right are Maxine's little felted collages which are all ready for me to put in the upcycled chalk painted frames.

 

The three little pictures at the bottom are the little collages that I have made for my three great nephews/niece who are all 2 in the next few weeks. I haven't revealed all in case their mums are looking!

 

Below are the remnants of fabric that I bought to mix and match with our existing stash for our draught excluders. Such gorgeous stuff - I will enjoy using it.

 

 

OK folks - that's it for this week.
Hopefully I will have more time for blogging this week.
Last week was a bit hectic.
Join in with our fun blog hop by linking up at Julia's Stamping Ground.

Thanks for calling by and leaving lovely comments. Have a great week.
x Jo

WOYWW

Good morning all.
Just a little "dumfed" (needle-felted) picture that Maxine made to show you today.
I mounted it in a re-cycled frame that I painted with chalk paint and then rubbed down and waxed.
I have loads more to do but think I will try a few other colours for mounts and frame colours.

I have been on a spending spree this week so I thought I would show you my crafty goodies.

Annie and I have purchased a big cutting mat, a plastic ruler and a rotary cutter. So we are all set up now to get into quilting mode!
We used all the proper gear when we went on our bag making workshop and we were so impressed we decided it would be a good investment.

Also I had a litle trip to Dunelm and treated myself to some nice buttons.
(All prices and receipts are well hidden!!!!!)

Lastly I thought I would add a lovely pic of Jo (Jozart) with the fab boards that she made for each of us. I have the blue one in my sewing room and I am thrilled with it - thanks lots Jo.

 

 

Another short post this week but at least you have some nice pics to look at!

Have a great week - see you on the mad WOYWW desk hop.

 

x Jo

Finished by Friday and smile!

 

Good morning all - a snowy blizzardy day here but OK as I am inside looking out!!

Just a couple of things to share today.

Above is the  needle felted picture that I made on fun day Monday.

It is hand "dumfed" and then embellished with hand embroidery and beads.

It has a sort of Monet feel to it, I think.

 This little woolly heart is made with re-cycled wool and a Molly Makes "vintage" button. I added a few hand stitches and french knots.

I am putting it on the Valentine shelf in our Sisters Crafty Creations blog shop.

AND lastly - I am linking this post to Annie's Friday Smile.
Follow this link if you want to join in!

I thought my little woolly owl, enjoying a bit of fresh air in his snowy fir tree, might raise a smile this morning.
I won't tell you what my hubby said as I dashed out in a blizzard to take a pic!!!

Have a great day and a fun - if snowy - weekend!!

x Jo