WOYWW 230

Well this is going to be short cos I don't have the energy to write a lot, not been 100% today.
Desktop is full of Christmas cards,  a production run, more or less all the same. I knew that if I tried to continue to make lots of different ones. I'd never get 100 done. So I got out the stamps and did several alike and varied the embellishments, so I managed 12 in the time it had taken to do 2 previously.
With luck I will have another go with different colour ink later in the week and get another dozen sorted.

These are the last of the hats too, they have to be in the offices of Innocent drinks  by Thursday so they went in the post today.

If anyone is wondering what I am rambling on about, pop over to Julia's where she will explain it all and you can peek at lots of other worktops.
All for now.
Chris

WOYWW 229

Hello All and welcome to my blog. If anyone has just arrived and is wondering what WOYWW is all about, pop over to Julia's and you can see what is on the worktops of over 100 crafters.
It is supposed to our worktop on Wednesday but as most of us write our posts on Tuesday, our pics will be taken on Tuesday. And Tuesday here in North Wales has been grey and dark and I have had to take 20 pics before I got anything useful of my worktop.

So my worktop is full of Christmas cards, I try to make at least 100, some of which will be as simple as the stamped one on the mat, and some will be more elaborate like those on the window sill. What I aim to do with all my cards is to ensure that they reflect my faith and are not just robins and reindeer and snow.

The other thing I have been doing is the hats for the Big Knit and I have done another 13 plus the two green and purple ones that my daughter did.












This clearly is not my worktop but the bedroom window sill so that you can see the autumn colours outside.

And I have taken a bigger pic showing the whole vista from the window. Isn't creation wonderful!

 (Which is more than can be said for Blogger which won't let me do what I want with these pics.)

And as I walked into the bedroom with the camera I just envied the complete relaxation demonstrated by a lazy Max so i thought I would share it with you.

Hope you all have a great day and enjoyed having a peek into my creative life.

Chris

WOYWW 228

What's on your worktop Wednesday is an opportunity for crafters to open up their private worktop to the scrutiny of other crafters and it is all hosted by the wonderful Mrs Dunnit.
My worktop

is complete chaos and has been for four days as I was making Christmas cards before I came away.  I am currently over at my daughter's in Doncaster, while hubby is in hospital in Sheffield having lots of tests and checks following his major surgery in June.
So I am having a rest, NOT!
She has just had a new kitchen so I am helping her to put things back. Utterly exhausted both of us.
However in the few minutes break I have been allowed I have managed to get some knitting done.  Just a few hats forthe big knit. This is not all of them but

the first ones I got pictures of..
Well that's all for now or I won't get this on display at Julia's.
Happy WOYWW to you all.
Chris

WOYWW 227

Good morning all.
Well for once you really are seeing my worktop on Wednesday.
I woke up and it wasn't until I was in the bathroom that it dawned on me that I hadn't done a WOYWW.
So hasty pic, quick comment, post it and rush out.

So what you are seeing is the mess of now having put everything away from after our holidays and a very quick card for a birthday tomorrow. 

I have a feeling that this is not going to be a beautiful blog page but at least it will be there. 

That's all for now. 

Happy WOYWW 

Chris

WOYWW 226

Well my worktop today has something a little bit different. This is a blanket for our bed . My daughter made all the squares and then made rather a poor effort of  assembling them so I am now reassembling them.

Unfortunately they are 3 1/2 to 4 inches square so there are an awful lot of them to put together. Those on the table are just a very few of them, there is also a bag full of them and a few more still at home.
If anyone has arrived at this page wondering what WOYWW is all about, just pop of the wonderful Julia's
and find out all about it and have a snoop at other people's workdesks.

 There was also a more familiar thing on my worktop earlier yesterday. Trying to get a card done in a hurry for my brother in law and I had some furry assistance. In the foreground you can see the card I made for my grandson who loves puffins.
Well this is going to be short I have had a very busy few days and exhaustion is rapidly approaching.
Happy Woyww everyone
Chris

WOYWW 225

So what is on my worktop this Tuesday evening as I prepare for WOYWW.

What you see are the only two cards I managed to complete this week. You also see two of the reasons why I have been unable to get much done. On the right, the blue Dahle cutter packed up on me after I had cut the glitter card for the tree card and OH has had it apart 4 times over the past week and couldn't make it work. Eventually he got it working yesterday evening but I have been too busy today with locks, baking cakes for a friend and sorting out all my craft stuff.
On the left, the red Fingerguard cutter is a brilliant piece of kit. It takes cutter discs and can cut all kinds of wavy edges. It relies on a replaceable self heal cutting mat strip to make it cut properly. Guess where my three replacement strips are? At home in the cupboard, so I had so couldn't use  the Fingerguard either. Making cards without a reliable cutter is very slow!
We have tried to find a craft shop selling them and have come to conclusion that Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Birmingham are completely devoid of craft shops. Searching on the internet gives me lots of names of  craft shops and when we try to contact them, to see if they stock Woodware, rather than making a long trek to find them and being disappointed, we discover that they no longer exist. Please can I ask other WOYWW'ers to support their local shops when ever possible rather than resorting to buying on the internet all the time, otherwise they will all disappear and there will no shops for those without internet access or a permanent address for delivery..
There are other demands on my time on the canal too, ten minutes picking yielded two bowls of these

which needed de-stoning and freezing and we also have a carrier bagful of apples to deal with and lots of blackberries as well. And they are all free so I can't possibly leave them unpicked.
I have also knitted another 10 Innocent hats for the big knit, so am not idling!! my time away.

Well that is all for today
Happy WOYWW everyone.
Chris

WOYWW 224

First of all can I thank all those lovely peeps who left comments on my WOYWW last week and I am sorry I wasn't able to visit you all.  If any of you looked at our boating progress on Saturday you will notice that I commented then that I had had no internet for several days and by the time Saturday had arrived it was a bit late for visiting then.
Well on my worktop today, yesterday, is the tally of cards I have made so far, since we left home, 16 of them which is not bad considering that we have also travelled 145 miles and opened and closed 100 locks.
(For those who don't know what is involved with operating a lock,  go to YouTube and look for How to get through a narrow lock. Sorry I can't give a URL, can't work out how to do it on my tablet,  but there are plenty to choose from.)
Then add in some rain,  some wind, an absence of lubrication on the lock gear making it stiff, and you might get some idea about why I have only managed 16 cards.

I have also made some hats for Innocent's Big knit. If you are interested look at the website. They give money to Age Uk for every hat sold.

I have actually knitted a couple more but not got them in the picture yet.

We are now plodding up the Stratford canal and I will post some more piccies later in the week but it has been so wet I couldn't take any of the canal today.

For anyone who wants to know more about the trip and the boat, I have some previous postings with pictures of our trip.



Anyway Happy WOYWW
Chris