Tuesday 22 September 2015

WOYWW - It's Starting To Look A Lot Like ....

Well with the Equinox passed yesterday - in my view always a tipping point of the year - I have admitted defeat in clinging onto Summer and am embracing Winter !

And Winter means Christmas of course !

So on my desk tonight is a new stack of Nordic style fabrics in red, cream & neutral.

I am planning a Christmas quilt topper to go with a Nordic fleece throw I have for my bed.

I will start playing about with coming up with a design and set to cutting & stitching over the coming weeks !


Some of the fabrics are from my local quilt shop in the village - I do like to try to support these local family businesses if I can, but also what will be an Advent calender of Christmas stockings, cushion prints & some neutrals fabrics from John Lewis.








On Sunday, after a lovely Tapas lunch, whilst the menfolk headed to the Millennium Stadium to watch the rugby, Lynda & I were very content to be Rugby Widows in the shopping centre !

We had a happy three hours mooching round the shops - stroking lots of goodies in Paperchase, trying on some clothes and buying Christmas fabric in John Lewis !







Also on the desk are some other Christmas stash items - both freebies with magazines - looking forward to playing with them !

Hope you have a great crafty week !
Ali xx

Tuesday 15 September 2015

WOYWW - Back From Summer To Winter !

Well I had a very happy time despite missing all your blogs last week !
We had a wonderfully "chilling by the pool "week in Portugal.

Actually at times it was more chilling IN the pool as although it looked tropical & lovely lined with palm trees, the water wasn't heated & the cold took your breath away !!

By the end of my 30 laps a day every extremity was numb with cold !!

But I felt at least I was burning off some of the calories from the delicious food at the restaurant - oh and the cocktails, sangria & Portuguese wine that it would have been positively rude not to sample !
We did bestir ourselves from the charms of the pool enough to venture down to the local harbour as I was on a mission to buy a cataplana dish so I can cook this at home.
Cataplana  is a Portuguese Fish Stew named after the dish it is prepared in - you cook it in a special domed metal dish that has a clip down lid to seal the steam in ...you can see me outside the kitchen ware shop happily clutching my new purchase !

And I do love fresh grilled sardines - but always think you end up with more on the plate when you finish than when you start !!




The palm tree photo is one I will look at over the winter to remind me of sunny days lounging in our sunbed hut reading the day away !

I didn't just hit the books & my Kindle - I did a bit of botanical watercolour practice - hmm certainly need loads of practice !!

And as you can see I finished appliquéing the basis of the beach huts blocks for my quilt.

Have to add doors & roof pieces now ... mind you the weather so far this week is SO far removed from beach huts - gales & driving rain that it has been back to reality with a bump. 
Not sure the beach hut quilt project won't be put back in the quilt cupboard until it feels a bit more seasonal next spring !
So with the winter gales shattering the summer idyll of last week, I will finally give in & start thinking about Christmas - we have Christmas stamping at Craft Club tomorrow night !

Having arrived back at 10pm on Saturday night I was up at half 6 on Sunday with the first of 5 loads of washing on - so that plus 3 hours gardening, 2 hours ironing, a trip to Carmarthen shopping, making this card for my Aunt's birthday and cooking jambalaya for supper soon left the holiday as a distant memory !!









On my desk tonight I have Christmas stamps & embossing powders, vellum and so on  being packed to take to Club, the card ready to post and some Artist's tiles that I wondered might form the basis for the 2016 challenge that Lynda & I might like to embark on !

Looking forward to seeing what you have been up to this week - enjoy your crafty week ! Ali xx




Tuesday 1 September 2015

WOYWW - Glamour & Glitz

Well just a quick post today as only a few crafty things happening on my work-desk this week !

I have been playing in my Art Journal with my new Chloe stamps and some butterflies from a napkin ..

the theme is "Without Change There Would Be No Butterflies" 





August's tag challenge was Glitz & Glamour and use Mica Powders ... found these tricky with the mica powders smudging - anyone know a tip on how to stop this ?

The "posh frock" stamp was one from a bargain basket at the stamp show at Ally Pally in April !
The glitz is Chloe Sparkilicious.

And at the weekend I got stuck in to making the star blocks for the quilt I am working on - they are all pieced now - I hope to work on the hand appliqué blocks by the pool on holiday next week !

Catch you in a couple of weeks !

Have a great crafty week ! Ali x