WOYWW 178

SO, COME AND TELL ME SOMETHING THAT YOU'VE ALREADY TOLD ME,
CAUSE EVERYBODY'S HEARD OUR LOVELY STORIES,
I HOPE THAT SOME OF THEM ARE TRUE,
I'VE BEEN LOSING LOTS OF KEYS LATELY,
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS......

I've got a sorry tale to tell, but it can wait to the end of the post - desk first!

Nan G thought my piles of pennants looked like G strings last week, lol!! They did rather..but here they are in the finished state. 4 lots of 3.5m lengths of bunting for the wedding....errmmm, I have quite a few flags left over, my cutting out was rather enthusiastic (!!) so if anyone would like some bunting as featured below, please get in touch :D
I have been trying very hard not to buy more fabric, but when you see these beauties sitting on the shelf in Dunelm Mill, well it's like the call of the Sirens...'LLJ...buy us...go on..you know you want to............'
I already had the gingham but knew that this gorgeous Christmassy fabric would go so well...so table runners and place mats for the Christmas table are in order I think, plus a festive pinny, and make the leftovers into gift bags. 
A detail of the fabric...it's so gorgeous, I love it!!

I haven't done that much this week because a few days were spent down at my dad's in Wales. On Saturday evening, DH and I went for a walk down the harbour. All was tranquil...
Homage to Julia's Shadow Photos she does so well!!

All was happy.

Late Sunday morning, we're just about to take Dad out for lunch when we realise that the car keys are nowhere to be found. Panic ensues. The bungalow is turned upside down..the previous evening's walk is retraced, the police station is phoned...nothing, nada, zip, zilch. The absence of keys is overpowering. So there we are in Wales with a locked car on a Sunday. Sigh........

DH decides to go back to Wiltshire on the train that afternoon, my brother Steve picks him up and drives him back to our village (no buses run at that time of night, so many thanks, Steve!!) Thankfully he finds the spare key..phew. 
The following morning sees him back on the train to Wales, checking every 5 minutes that he has the key safe in his pocket. This key doesn't have the remote locking blipper, so will it open the car and start the engine anyway???
It does.....
We return to Wiltshire somewhat frazzled, out of pocket and mightily cross. Then we hear on the news what's happened on the East coast of the US which puts our problem into perspective somewhat. I sincerely hope that all our many friends across the pond are safe and well.

So the moral of the story is:
ALWAYS TAKE YOUR SPARE KEY ON HOLIDAY!!!! We will...............





WOYWW 177

IT'S THE LIFESTYLE THAT I LIKE,
I'LL GIVE YOU YOURS, YOU'LL GIVE ME MINE,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO WRAP THEM UP
IN PRETTY, PRETTY RIBBONS.

(Heavens to Betsy, a lyric from that eccentric chanteuse, Lady Gaga. Ooh, get me, featuring a song of the Modern Day Era!!)

A short(ish) blog today - just cos of life, shtuff...you know...!

Julia answered my clarion call the other day - I needed some odds and ends of ribbon for a sewing project and asked if I could have a furtle through her infamous Ribbon Jar - the star of many a desk photo :)
Kind friend that she is, she promptly responded and brought it over to my house (with a seat belt on in her car!!) in return for a smoking hot mug of Java. And the best way to pick over what choice there is?

TIP IT ALL OUT!!! (OCD sufferers, look away now......)
I rather like that sexy, spotty bias binding but that was too nice to take so it lives to see another day in the RJ! As you can imagine, we had a grand old hour chatting, slurping and sorting out. I think Julia rediscovered some little beauties that she'd forgotten about :)  And I was rewarded with a few lovely little snippets - thank you, Julia, that was much appreciated!

So, that was my downstairs desk, now to return to the upstairs workroom - perhaps I'll call it my Atelier - oooh, get her, gone all posh *grin*

3 aprons, cut out, waiting for stitching - I seemed to have a run on aprons recently and needed to make some more. I just picked random fabrics but the colours go together quite well, don't they? I'll have to remember that combo  for the future.

 The makings of a beading mat, as requested by Kate at the crop - fabric, quilting batting and a suede-ish fabric, perfect for stopping the little beady b*****s from rolling off. Can you tell that's happened to me a few times?? Grrr....
 And what's that in the carrier bag in the background? 

What I Did At The Boring Craft Fair by Lunch Lady Jan, aged 6 (in hexadecimal)
The punters weren't flocking on Sunday, not to any of the crafters - ah well, you can't win them all.... So I made the best of the day and cut out all the bunting pennants I need to make the decorations for my mate Sue's wedding in a couple of weeks (she of awesome Crop cupcake fame!) Black, white and pink are the theme colours, so I raided my stash and bought some half metres from Fabricland. It'll look fab (I hope!) strung around the village hall!!

Rightio, that's it for now, am off to have a stroll around your desks. Can you get the kettle on, pretty please??  :D

WOYWW 176

SOMETIMES PEOPLE COME INTO YOUR LIFE
LIKE THEY'RE MEANT TO BE.
AND SUDDENLY YOU'VE FOUND SOMEONE
WHO SEES THE WORLD LIKE YOU SEE...

AND YOU LAUGH LIKE CRAZY
AT ALL THE CRAZY THINGS,
THAT NO-ONE THINKS ARE FUNNY BUT YOU
THAT'S WHEN I KNEW
THAT I HAD FRIENDS SO TRUE.

Well, I can't say it any better than that! It was like we'd known each other for ever!
WOYWWers - fab people united by craft :D
(for a LOT more pics, see here)

So it's been quite hard to come back down to earth after all the planning, panic, cooking, welcoming, serving, chatting, laughing, eating etc etc! I had some lovely things given to me...
A gorgeous album and mini bunting from Donna, a pretty heart from Janet, Slovenian sweets from Dolores, a lovely card from Kate and two squares of crochet from Jozart for me to extend and practise on. Thank you, girls, that was so kind of you!!
This awesome bag bling from JoZart - I love it!!

So, I'm getting in the All Saints Eve mood...something wicked this way comes...
Love the skull fabric, it goes really well with the polka dots!
And this is something I made for my friend Sue's birthday recently (she of special WOYWW cupcake fame!)
She's a Pink Person too - watch out, Di... :D

And the odd one out from last week WAS  the ammonite!! I hadn't spotted it until I posted the photo - I'd brought it out to take to school to show a couple of kids, fabric got put on top of it and I completely forgot all about it until I saw it on the pic! The brain cells have put up a white flag and are retreating extremely quickly...Run Away, Run Away (my favourite scene from Monty Python & the Holy Grail...)
Cut out the waffling, LLJ and get to the point!! So a few folk got it right and a little prizelet will be winging its way to

HELEN  of THE CRAFT PROJECT

Please could you email your snail mail address to me and I'll send you a little something *grin*

Bye for now, I'm off for a snooze........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz








WOYWW CROP!!

What fun we had - so many laughs, giggles, shared ideas, astonishment at the amount of mess that can be created in a very short time (yes, Hettie and Donna.... !!) and general loveliness. So without further ado, here's the day as seen from the perspective of LLJ. Enjoy :)

 Julia welcoming everyone and outlining how the day was roughly going to run
 You may notice she's standing in a square!! This was the reason...
Reserved for Helen (Stamping by H) who prefers crafting on the floor!! LOL
 Julia doing the Macarena...Mary Anne and me waiting for the music to start...
 The group - Take 1  Seated L-R Kate, Cindy, Lisa, Zoe
Standing L-R JoZart, LLJ, Morti, Janet (Fairy Thoughts), Mary-Anne, Kyla (L'il Pidge), Julia, Pam, Di (Pixie!), Helen, Sam (Hettiecraft), Donna (A Doone Thing) and Dolores (Cardarian).

The group Take 2
With the addition of Kirsty A (far right!)
Getting down to work....

Jo very kindly spent some time teaching me to crochet and then gave me some samples to carry on working with..thanks, Jo, it was so much easier learning from you than watching a Youtube video!!

Kirsty, Kate, Cindy, Lisa and Zoe - all crafting hard and working up an appetite for cake!!

Sam and Helen - Sam's desk is quite tidy at this point!! It didn't last...
 Jo and Kyla sharing some tips
 The girls, deep in crafty thought!!
 Morti waiting for her Altered Dominos class to begin...
Cindy and Morti...
 Kyla and Donna
 Donna's desk 


 Janet held a Beaded tassel class after lunch - more folk joined in afterwards
 Pretty stuff, love it!!
 Fergus, keeping the corner of the desk tidy..lol!!
 There was some gorgeous things being sprayed, cut, stamped, embellished ....

 Pam was creating this beautiful canvas with multi coloured butterflies on it. I could have walked away with that!!   Kyla (below) drying her work...

Cindy's gorgeous creating!!
I've got an ATG and I'm not afraid to use it!! Mary-Anne and her yellow treasure :)
Kirsty did some beautiful beading...
Jo's desk - many people had multi-coloured hands by the end of the day. Those spray inks get everywhere!!!
Di - Pink Princess of the Playground!!

Phew, I'm worn out now! I've realised that I hardly have any photos of Dolores (Cardarian)...sorry. So if anyone who was there has any pics of her, pleaaase could you email them to me. Sorry, Dolores, didn't mean for that to happen..
Thanks also to Morti, who made some gorgeous flapjacks and tiffin and Sue who made the awesome cupcakes.
And thank you to the ladies on the day for helping me to raise £120 from the raffle and monies left after hall/food costs, the proceeds of which are going to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance, an amazing charity.


WOYWW 769

 WE'LL MEET AGAIN.... I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while - please don't worry, all is ok! - think I just need a...