WOYWW 334

CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS.....

Hello, lovely peeps - hope you've had a good week, filled to the brim with crafty goodness! Thank you to all those who made me laugh by calling me an Old Bag last week... the winner was....drum roll......
Yay, well done Lisa!  I still have your snail mail addy, so will get the bag off to you Toot Sweet :-)

I apologise for what's on my desk...but really, it's for a good cause so I hope you'll forgive me.

Christmas bunting. Yes, I know....it's still October and all things festive shouldn't appear for a while yet. But all the Christmas goods are now on the shelves in Oxfam where I volunteer and the window will be changed this week and I offered to make some bunting to help with the decorations. I'm frantically justifying myself here, can you tell?! 

I still had quite a few triangles already cut out so the process was quite speedy...
I made one length of larger and two of smaller flags - hope they'll fit the bill :-)

I'm determined to make a dent in the stash of double knitting yarn I have, so have started to make large granny squares bordered in white, which I'll join to make a blanket or bedspread. This one is about 15" across - it doesn't look much at the moment, but I got the idea off Pinterest and the overall effect when the squares are joined was really funky. We'll see....but if it reduces my stash and keeps me out of mischief then it's worth doing!

Someone asked to see the other bag I made from the Bicycle fabric last week....
I put deep pockets across both sides...you could get a water bottle in there, for example. As much as I liked the fabric, the pattern repeat was bl*%$y awkward - I just couldn't get a decent layout of two or more bikes. They were too far apart to be completely satisfying.

I made a doorstop with the leftovers and the problem was the same, except the image was too big now:
Ah well, the recipient can always give it away if she doesn't like it!  Two large bags and a doorstop out of a metre and a half of fabric. I'm so mean when it come to cutting carefully, lol :-)

And finally, some Happy Mail arrived from Kim Young as a thank you for something I'd made for her....
Some funky cards to use and a pretty butterfly one from Kim...that made me smile and do a Happy Dance!!  I'm still doing it...look....... :-D

Right, now I've finished this post, I'm off to do the food shopping for this weekend's Crop. I may be some time......

xxxx

WOYWW 333

BAGS, BAGS, BAGS. BAGS,
BAGGITY BAGGITY BAGS......
(not a song, just a comment!)

Hold onto your hats - I've done some more crafting this week. Woohoo!!

It started off last week when a friend presented me with this fun fabric and asked if a bag could be made out of it. I had a furtle in my stash and found this mad green multi spot cotton. It must have been serendipity because there was only about 6 cm square left over at the end. Careful cutting and surreptitious seaming was needed to get it to work out ok! I showed some of this on Facebook as it apparently was Sew Saturday at the weekend......

The things I've found about making bags is that the longest time has to be spent on things like pockets, the zip section etc. The actual sewing-the-bag-together bit is the very last action.

But hopefully it's worth it :-)  There's so much fabric left over, I'm going to make a beach bag sized tote but it'll have to have a different lining.

And then I remembered last week's rash promise of a giveaway! This was yesterday......

This is the ugly part of the process!! You know, the bit where you do actually wonder if everything's going to turn out ok :-)

I used a selection of fabrics from my stash, some old, some new and had fun with trims and stitches from the Dark Side......

Just a basic tote....you can use it to take to the supermarket, it's surprisingly strong. This is Side A.......

...and Side B.  I forgot to take a pic of the rather sexy raspberry and chocolate stripe lining, doh!  You can just see a hint peeking out of the top :-)

So, if you'd like to enter my Giveaway for the Patchwork Tote, then just include the words 'OLD BAG' in your comment. It'll make me happy!

Finally, that wonderful gal, Shaz Silverwolf, finally made The Great Escape from Hospital last week. What fab news is that?! I think we've all been through the wringer following her progress through her hubby's blog. Hopefully she'll mend quickly now she's back home.
Happy Dance :-)

Have a great week! xxxx

WOYWW 332

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER OR FALL,
ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS CALL....

Heavens to Betsy, it's THAT day again!!  Hope everyone has had a good week and been busy crafting. A friend posted on Facebook that there were only 10 Fridays until Christmas and that was last week, so there's only 9 now :-/  Oooer, better start making a list....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...yeah, like that's gonna happen. Oh, I crack myself up sometimes :-)

I managed to get some use out of my craft room this week....
An overdue present for the now seven-week old baby boy of a friend in band. I can only apologise...it's been chaos with the bathroom renovations going on!

What an arty farty shot....I do apologise...I just couldn't resist that blue sky!  The glorious weather has been another reason why I've spent more time outdoors than in. Here's why:

There's been logs to stack......

...Garlic Chives to split and transplant. Aren't these flowers gorgeous?? Would you have guessed they were chive flowers if I hadn't have told you?

The tomatoes are still fruiting like crazy. but I've made a start on taking the plants down now, as the night temps will be dropping like a stone this week and my greenhouse is unheated....

Likewise the chilli plants!  I grew a few plants from the seeds that I saved from a chilli I was cooking with back in the spring...they did really well :-)

...and simply admiring the gloriousness of my Kaffir Lilies, saved from my parent's garden.  My mum adored these and I think of her every time :-)

There you go....hopefully I'll have more sewing time this weekend. I think I'll have a giveaway next week....it'll be WOYWW 333 and that number needs celebrating!!

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WOYWW 331

IF I KNEW YOU WERE COMING, I'D HAVE BAKED A CAKE.....

Don't faint....I know you won't be able to believe your eyes...

BUT....

....some actual crafting has taken place this week. WOOHOO!!

A friend of a friend wanted a knitting bag for her mum who's facing an extended stay in hospital...it musn't be too large so as to fit into the hospital lockers. These fabrics were picked by taking pics of them and emailing them to see if they were ok!

And they were! A fun combo, don't you think?

Attaching one of three pockets...I even used up one of my button stash. Steady now, almost had a rush of blood to my head...... ;-)

And two hours later, a little bag emerges. I put some of my knitting in to test it for size and the needles can lie flat. The pocket on this side is bigger than normal so that the lady can put in circular and double ended cable needles if necessary.  Hope she likes it!

My Facebook friends will already have seen this!  It was a grim day on Monday, when the rain didn't stop falling all day, so I just had the urge to make our Christmas cake. I plumped up the raisins in the last of my hubby's brandy (in the microwave. It works well!) and spent a happy couple of hours getting covered in flour. I'm a messy baker!  Now I have to go and buy another bottle of brandy or Calvados to feed the cake at regular intervals....and my hubby too!!!

Just to let you know, Shaz is still in hospital. She's had some issues with infections and was kept in. I know she'll be champing at the bit to get home. which I think may be happening within the week. Let's keep her in our thoughts.......

xxxxxxx

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...