WOYWW 859

 HI HO SILVER LINING!

It's been another really busy week, with crafts fairs, making, volunteering in the RNLI shop at the last minute on Sunday morning as well as doing side hustles with my makes! Just call me Del Boy, lol.....

Last week's evening craft fair was an odd one, I'd expected it to be much busier (and glitzier) than it actually was but we made £306 so I was pleased.

And of course I chose my outfit on purpose just so I could blend in with my surroundings!! This is my mate Sue who came to help for the whole time, thank you so much lovely gal xx  A couple of other RNLI ladies came as well so it was nice to have a chat as well as sell.  The next fair is this Saturday, in aid of SSAFA, an armed forced services charity - it's in a hotel less than a mile away so that's handy.

As a lot of cross body bags have sold, I thought I'd make some more in the stylish camo inspired fabric I got recently:

So hopefully these will sell on Saturday, fingers crossed.

I've been making smaller snowmen for the Christmas at the Boathouse event on 7th December. First of all, I made this:

The yellow wellies worked fine but I didn't like the hat or scarf so I took them off and tried a nice French Navy yarn instead:

That's better! The crew wear navy jumpers when on marches etc so it sort of fits in.

They're quick to knit and I've embroidered a carrot nose rather than faffing with a knitted one, seems to work ok.

I got fed up with my patterns being everywhere so bought a couple of new folders yesterday and am having a really good sort out....

I'll end up with separate folders for Christmas, Easter/toys and garments. Having discovered how easy it is to buy digital patterns from Etsy, I may need supplementary ones in the future lol!!

Hope you're having a wonderful week - our Neet is having ups and downs in hospital, things aren't improving quite like we thought last week. I'm sure that cards/messages would be welcome, contact me if you need info.

Love to you all xxxx

WOYWW 858

 HOLIDAY....CELEBRATE....

Well, that was a packed few days! Making last minute items for tomorrow's craft fair (think of me and the gals 5-9pm!) but also we managed to get away for a couple of days, of which more later.

I sent a few Christmas bits and bobs to an old friend, she'd asked if I could make her a snowman toy. I found an old Jean Greenhow pattern and had a go - I've never actually knitted one before. After making all the chocolate orange/FR covers, it was just on a larger scale really!

I used sparkly yarn for his boots, mittens and hat and it came out really nicely, he looks a friendly chap!

I knitted a few things whilst away and finished them off yesterday:

The pink yarn is sparkly too, so pretty. I'd run out of little bows so found a peasy YouTube tutorial using ribbon and a fork, it worked ever so well...

Cute huh?

It's not just me that's been making for the stall, other ladies have been busily crafting and my mate Sue made these fun felt pigs in blankets:

They're fab and made me smile!

That's it for crafting as we were away for four days. We went to St Davids in Pembrokeshire as it's been years since we were last there. A nice little cottage in the centre meant we could leave the car and walk everywhere. We even managed a stretch of the Welsh coastal path:

The old RNLI lifeboat station at St Justinian's with Ramsey Island behind - boat trips leave from there in the summer which is a fun thing to do.

St David's Cathedral is small but perfectly formed, I'd forgotten how beautiful it is.

There are some amazing ceilings...

and some brilliant and bonkers misericords. This dragon definitely ate all the pies lol!! There were green men galore, the medieval wood carvers had obviously enjoyed themselves!

My son Rhys is 6'3 and we have a series of photos of him standing in small doors/castle fireplaces etc, we've done it for years:

It just makes us laugh, he's a good sport and willingly does this. It takes very little to entertain my simple mind!!

And of course, my yarn/fabric shop senses didn't let me down:

Well, it would have been rude not to!!  I may have bought some Yarnsmiths DK....

I heard from Neet yesterday, she's Covid and Pneumonia free and the oedema is going down. I think she's going to be kept in for another couple of weeks just to make sure but that's great news to hear she's better. Hugs to you Neet, we're all thinking about you xxxxx

Hope you have a great week! xxxx

WOYWW 857

 SUNNY, THANK YOU FOR THE SUNSHINE BOUQUET

Hi everyone, welcome to another WOYWW linking up at Sarah's, a real sunny high spot in what's been a dark and dreary week here in Wales!

It's been another busy old week, I haven't done that much sewing but did have a request for some bunting, which I've not made for ages so that was nice.

The pivot function on my machine makes putting on the letters a breeze!

For a neighbour's new grand-daughter and yes, the name is spelled correctly!! They wanted pink and girly so that's what they've got.

I was searching for something in the Christmas box, everything got dragged out:

I'm going to make a robin and angel with a bit of free machining so of course, I needed some new stash...cough....

I was quite restrained don't you think? Some pristine white felt and some sparkly tulle, we'll see how my idea pans out - it might be one of those projects that's only great in my head!

I've been making more bits for the Christmas fairs:

A box of reindeer bits!

That's a bit clearer eh? I have to sew the white ear inners onto the fawn ear outers and then we can start assembling.  The things you do eh?

And my dear friends are still making some fab items too:

Sue made these fab tree decorations. What's the collective noun for Father Christmasses then.....a Ho Ho Ho? I'm sure you'll have better suggestions lol!

I've messaged Neet a couple of times but haven't heard anything back. I do hope she's ok - if you're reading this Neet, then we're all sending you hugs and lots of love. Get better soon xxx

Have a great week everyone!

WOYWW 856

 YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS...

Hi everyone, welcome to another week of desky nonsense and goings on. Link up over at Sarah's if you want to see what all the other Deskers are getting up to as well. Talking of which, Neet is in Cardiology in hospital where they're trying to reduce the oedema in her legs, poor thing has had Covid as well. If you're reading this Neet, we send you huge hugs and hope you're home very very soon xx

It's been all go this week. I've been using up some fabric to get stuff made and ready for fairs:

The chickens are on the rampage again!

This fabric makes me smile, it's always popular so hopefully this lot won't hang around for long!  

I had to take some publicity shots of my crafts for the upcoming big fair on 13th November, so I set up the JanCave like a mini studio:

And set to....I did enjoy making the photos fun!

Those gnomes look like a gang of heavies don't they? And as for the rest, well frankly there's been too much Gluhwein swilling around lol! Thanks to all the fab RNLI crafters who have been working so hard, they've been stalwarts.

My mate Sue bought a few things around yesterday to add to the pile:

Animals made from face cloths, they're sooo cute!

Baubles made from fabric...

And the most beautiful and delicate macrame angels. Thanks Sue, you're so clever, these will look amazing on the stall at the next few fairs xxxx

I send items off to a Ukraine Charity, some are used to make bags of toiletries or shoe boxes to be sent out in humanitarian convoys, others are sold to buy necessary goods to fill those bags and boxes. Yesterday I found that some items had been bought and sent away....to the Falkland Islands!! My stuff has gone round the world but this is a first. Thanks to Ali, the UK Co-ordinator for letting me know this has happened, it made my day!

Hope you all have a great week xxxx

WOYWW 855

 COME BACK AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED...

Hi there lovely Deskers, another week has whizzed past and quite a lot has been achieved! I last heard from Neet a couple of days ago, she was waiting to be transferred to Cardiology, I hope that has happened and she’s feeling better. Fingers crossed.

So a quick run through my finishing up of projects which stemmed from a tidy up of the JanCave.

I put all those lovely quilt squares together and am in the process of quilting, just stitch in the ditch. I put a pink backing and grey border, it looked really sweet.

I've had this fabric cut out for ages but it kept getting pushed to the back of the queue. This is all done and dusted now, I like it very much!

And then I saw a YouTube tutorial on a simple way to make bowl cosies that didn't involve templates so thought I'd have a go. It was easy and quick to make:

One side....

...and the other! It's completely reversible but I think I'd quilt the fabrics next time to give a bit of rigidity.

There's been more knitting of Father Christmas Choc orange covers and here I'm putting in some red shirring elastic so the orange doesn't fall out of his bottom!!

Sounds daft but it works well!
And I'll leave you with a pic of the flowers G bought me two weeks ago (from the Co op), they have been absolutely glorious:

Luscious colours, they've been getting more lovely as they develop. I have really enjoyed them!

Short and sweet today, hope you have a cracking week!

WOYWW 854

 BITS AND PIECES

Hi there all you lovely folks who turn up to read my dose of weekly nonsense, hope you're all keeping well and happy! These weeks are whizzing by aren't they? This one has been full of another craft fair, dealing in chocolate (don't ask) and knitting furiously. Before I go any further, for those of you who don't know, Neet is in hospital and will be in for a fortnight. Obviously we can't do flowers as they don't allow them in wards anymore but I'm sure that messages and cards will help cheer her up.

No pic of the JanCave as the only thing I've done is pin that baby quilt front to the backing fabric. But there's been lots of other stuff going on:

Our guest room has more Christmas than The Range! I haven't knitted all these myself but after last Saturday's craft fair (£125) I needed to take stock for the next ones which are the biggies. My RNLI Craft Whatsapp was red hot when one lady found that Terry's Chocolate Oranges had gone down in price to £1 each, a substantial saving on the precious prices. So she got me 20! I'm trying not to look at them lol!

Every part of the house seems to be covered in yarn - I have very understanding menfolk!

I'd made 10 of these, wonder if you could work out what they were?

You're dreadful you lot......

They're Gnome Gnoses of course!! I'm making a few more for an order but already had some made up:

They just make me smile and are brilliant for using up scraps of yarn.

Bald gnomes and Father Christmases and it's not every day you type a sentence like that....

Plus Polar Bears, someone ordered five:

Cute huh? I changed the Santa Hat to a beanie, I liked it better!

I'd ordered some more sparkly red yarn but clicked on the wrong weight, so ended up with Chunky instead of DK. I found a simple crochet hat pattern on YouTube and have enjoyed starting this:

A few rows of increase then just keep going round and round, it's making a nice change from knitting small items. The hat won't be big enough for me ( I have a HUGE head!) but it might make a nice thing to send off to the Gift of Warmth charity.

Sorry if some of you were hoping to buy some yarn soon, I think I might have cornered the market.....

Have a great week!

WOYWW 853

 GIMME SOME OF THAT CHOCOLATE!

Hi there lovely Deskers, hope you've had a good week! Here we are again linking up over at Sarah's for another round of Desky snooping. While I remember, Eva and Robyn, your messages about wanting to contribute to Julia's fund was so very lovely of you but it would have been a bit tricky coordinating payments from abroad. I included your wishes in with the gifts and I know Julia and Mr D were so appreciative. Thank you again xx

Another busy week has rolled by, this is what was on my desk last Friday:

There's been a lot of Ferrero Rocher stuffing going on lol! Hats, gnomes, bears, snowmen, robins, penguins, you name it they've had a FR stuffed up 'em *grin*  

I was trying to explain to Lynne about my quick and dirty method of cutting holly leaves out of felt, here's a pic, hope it makes sense!

I cut out triangles and then each point gets snipped to form three leaves. I know they're not exactly holly leaves but they're good enough for a decoration on the Christmas Pud FR covers!

We rolled out the stall on Saturday:

The first craft market of the season. It was a lovely sociable morning and we had a brisk trade.

And it definitely wasn't too early for Christmas! We sold a lot of everything and made £182.50 which took us over the £11k mark, hooray! Everything else is just a bonus now - I've got another fair this Saturday and some of the RNLI ladies who helped me knit a lot of the items are coming to help, so that should be fun.

In the JanCave, I fancied doing something different so found the fabrics that G's sister donated to me (brand new FQs she found in a charity shop)

I put a couple of stash fabrics in there as well and am doing a simple baby quilt of squares.

It turned out ok, now for the backing and border but goodness knows when that's going to be done!

Have a good week, enjoy the autumn weather and may your crafting be stress free xxx