WOYWW 627 - Not so flamin' June - and G7

Hello, lovely deskers!   Welcome back to another round of WOYWW...  that weekly bloghop looking at the underbelly of creativeness, the mess and mayhem that is our desks... LOL.

As I type this, the weather is typically British summer - drizzle but warm and distinctly muggy.  Yuk.  Despite this, we have a major influx of visitors to Cornwall (no surprise there) but this has been augmented and indeed frustrated by G7.  I live about 7 miles from Carbis Bay and Tregenna Castle, and it's causing a lot of trouble.  Road closures - including all the bridges and overpasses for the A30, the main road that runs down the spine of Cornwall - and full accommodation are making things difficult for locals and visitors alike, and we get daily flyovers of USAF Hercules etc.  Don't get me started on the parking issues in Falmouth, where the media circus are hanging out.

Regardless, I'm sat in my cosy little nook, keeping myself to myself, and busy plying my needle through fabric.  They can keep their shenanigans!

The desk this week is suffering a bit from "pile it high" syndrome - I've not had the opportunity to sit and clear it up but my fingers are itching again to get on with it...

I'd also like to say a bit thank you to my swappees for the ATCs - what a lovely little collection!  So thank you LLJ, Ali and Spyder for your lovely ATCs and postcards!  I loved the little folder Spyder sent her ATCs in (and the little spider on one of them - too cute... :D).

Stitching - Siren's Lament lies untouched, with good reason!  Myth & Magic Stitch Wars, round 14, is well under way and there's just too much confetti in it for me to get a good stitch count in a hurry on.

However, The Christmas Moose (why didn't they call it The Christmoose?) has had a significant amount of progress - you can even make out where the roofs will be on that side.  Loving working on this!

Peppermint Purple's SAL is up to date as of last week and today's chart is now out, so I'll be working on that shortly.

Lastly, my Field of... er... Ducks is coming along nicely.  There's good blocks of colour so yesterday evening I churned out over 320 stitches on it which was pretty awesome and very necessary - our clan had been "poisoned" by another clan and had to collectively stitch 1000 stitches as fast as possible to reduce the damage being caused over time.

Note the strategically positioned needleminder!

The "ducks" caused a bit of a hoot over on my YouTube channel last week, and I also coined another phrase, where SAL no longer stands for "Stitch-a-Long" but "Stitch-a-Later".  Seems a couple of folks are going to adopt that now... heheheheh

So that is that, this week.  I found this "funny" on the web this week and had to share it - it takes a bit of thinking about but is v clever...

Happy Hopping!

Morti

x

WOYWW 626 - Flaming June

 Hello again, lovely deskers - welcome back to another round of WOYWW.  Deets here....   I must confess, there's not a lot to show this week!  And I'm much remiss in visiting desks, starting with the best of intentions but usually failing miserably.  This weekend we spent two days tidying, clearing the decks as it were, and cleaning ready for a visit from a family member who we hadn't seen for almost two years, since she last came to our house shortly after we moved in.

Therefore, not much to report!

Here's the desk....

And here's the only stitching I've done all week.  One finished ATC:

and the updated Peppermint Purple SAL

However, to make up for the lack, here's a lovely picture of the dogs on the beach on Monday just gone (t'was a public holiday here, for our overseas deskers), 

and the beach itself - Perranporth, here in Cornwall.  

‘‘Twas a lovely day.... scorching hot with an offshore wind which meant lots of sunburned bodies - mine included  just my legs/feet, and not too badly for me although I’ve got a heat rash on my arms which is a bit disconcerting.

And here's a shot of our peony, finally in bloom.  It's taken the last 7 years for us to nurture it to this point - Mr B had given up all hope but two days ago it popped open - ta dah!  Last year we got a bud (first time ever) but it never opened and there was a weeny hole in it so I think a bug got in and had a feast.

Lastly, figured it was time for another funny....

Happy Hopping, y'all!

WOYWW 625 - Another Year Older

Greetings and salutations my fellow deskers!  So last week was the 12th Birthday for WOYWW, and today is my own birthday.... toot toot!  Have to blow my own trumpet as I'm sat here today, preparing for a full day of work (I work Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday afternoons, but all day Wednesdays currently, how rude is that? LOL) and on my own bar the animal companions.  No Mr B - he's currently stuck somewhere around London with a delivery - and Miss B is sleeping the day away in Exeter, having worked a late shift at the bar she's at.  Her dissertation was submitted without a hitch (fingers crossed) and now it's the waiting game.  At least she's back at work and has something to take her mind off it a bit!

Anyone not a regular here?  WOYWW is a weekly desk hop in crafting land, hosted by the lovely Julia and all the deets on how to join in are here...

So, onto the desk.

Oh my.  Have I got a treat for you - not.  The desk as you can see is relatively clear (who am I kidding???).  The roses in the pot are still waiting for me to do something with them, and I have another 10 black silk roses downstairs that I'm at a loss for what to do with them.  The urn you see on the desk is needing a coat of paint of some description, to tie them in, and the roses need shortening somewhat.  However, it's a bit small so I'm thinking of treating myself to a nice vase from Weird and Wonderful Ceramics.  Homewares for the darkly inclined.  We bought some of their kitchenware, and were just about to complete the set when they discontinued the particular range I had my eye on. Sigh.  I have a plan, though, being the consummate crafter, on how to get around that.... hehehehe

I'm digressing.  Back to the desk.  I made 8 ATCs in the end, and they've all got homes to go to - I'm just waiting for one address (Ali!) and they should all be going out in the post today.  I missed the post yesterday or they would have gone then (apart from Felicia's - I need to visit the post office for that one!).  I'll share the ATCs I made (they're not particularly special I'm afraid) once they've all arrived at their destinations.

But.... wait....what's this?  Gah.  I seem to be spreading!  It started out with a couple of frames and a bag of bits on the sofa and suddenly... yikes!  I'd better get myself sorted out.

In my defence, the sofa is now bloomin' uncomfortable to sit on and is causing me to have considerable pain in my left hip, and a trapped nerve/sciatica on the right side (a new sofa is on its way, don't worry).  So as I've physically migrated seat wise, so has all my stitchy stuff and where I bought the trolley a couple of weeks ago, it seems I'm now overflowing it.

Stitching... it's only been a week so not much has been done.  The only updates are to:

Siren's Lament

and the Peppermint Purple SAL - I added last week's box, and this week's has only just been released online, so that's yet to be done.  But I am what I'd call "up to date".

Another new start though - and this has a short tale attached.  I'm on a FB group - Cross Stitch Friends in the UK - and they usually have various swaps etc going on.  This month they elected to do an ATC on the theme of stitching.  What ho! says I - this could be interesting.  So, in my all knowing wisdom I decided to do a fully stitched ATC.  Then forgot about it until a couple of days ago - it needs to be posted on Friday.  Cue plenty of "assertive stitching" (a phrase I nicked from a fellow YouTuber, Georgie, rather than "panic stitching") in order to get it done.  I'm on track - just got a couple of little motifs to stitch, and then the back to do.  And then to post it..... I must be nuts.

Julia commented last week on the fact that my starts seem to be located in different places all the time - the top left corner, the centre, the words - and how did I decide where to start.  Welllll, she says, cracking her nuckles and setting to the keyboard, it's like this.

Often, patterns will give you an indication of where the centre point is on the chart, and tell you how big the finished piece will be.  Generally, you add an extra 2-3 inches of fabric to allow for stretching and framing, and you then have a choice of where to start - either 2-3 inches in from the edge, or in the centre once you've located that point.  When you're working on a piece that is not "full coverage" (like Christmas Moose, and the cactus in a pot I did a few months back) it makes sense to start from the middle and work outwards, as it saves an awful lot of counting to find where to start, and you're guaranteed to have placed the motif in the centre of the fabric (provided you got your fabric the right way up to start with!).  Full coverage pieces like Siren's Lament are a different matter.  You know exactly where the top corner is, and when you're working on something that big (35 A4 pages - 28 full and 7 partial!), finding the "middle" is nigh-on impossible.  I start top left, but I know others start top right or bottom left or right.  It all depends on preference, but the way I see it is that I'm right handed, and by working left to right, I don't fluff the work up by rubbing my hand on it.  The text start (Field of "ducks" LOL) is actually a top left corner start, and although it's not a full coverage piece, the majority of the design as at the top and on the left, so I worked out the inches I needed for framing etc, and just stuck in.

The box lurking on my desk contains some jewellery making stuff delivered yesterday, which I only opened this morning being forgetful, and therefore unsure if it was a birthday present!  I am thinking of making some needleminders and project bag dangles - I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the footie one I did for David.  Maybe in next week's blog!

Happy Hopping, everyone!

WOYWW 624 - Happy Birthday, WOYWW!

I’ll just nonchalantly slide in here at the end of the day, to say hello and Happy Birthday to all of us. I’ve been back and forth with my blog, so I’ve not posted for all of the years but I’m still here!

It’s been a busy few weeks with family and life. Miss B got her extension and tomorrow is the big day... Other than that we’re all keeping well and... busy. But I said that already!

Thanks to family stuff I missed the last couple of Rudolph days but they’ll pick up again starting next week. 

Here’s the desk....messy as ever. It will be cleared tomorrow,  as I can’t miss out on the old ATC swap now can I?

A quick update on the stitching 

The Mill Hill kit I showed you the start of was FFO’d (fully finished off) this morning...

Moose has been worked on but not by much!

The Peppermint Purple is up to date, apart from today’s release. 

And Siren’s Lament has moved on a little, but not much either. Maybe a couple of thousand confetti stitches!

And lastly, we have a new start. This one is a bit cheeky, but if you fancy learning more, head over to my Flosstube and have a watch!  You’ll find me at https://youtu.be/DPDar1-OCdg

That’s it - short and sweet. You’ll see me back here again in the near future, I can assure you!

Happy Hopping!

Morti x

WOYWW 619 - the wanderer returns

Greetings and salutations, lovely deskers. Welcome back to another round of WOYWW, hosted by the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground.  For all the deets check here, but do have a read below first!

I have been somewhat AWOL for the last four weeks.  Sincere apologies. Life kind of got in the way, not least with the ailing health of my father in law which culminated in him passing away on Easter Sunday, the 4th of April. 

Bill had Alzheimer's, and was heading into the last stages of it.  He'd got to the point where he - like small children are wont to do - would spit out any tablets he was supposed to be taking, or would hide them in his mouth and throw them away.  This wasn't good for a man on heart medication, but became a much bigger issue when he needed antibiotics for a urinary infection.  He ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics, and did rally, but then as is all too often the case developed pneumonia.  As he had a DNR in place, he was allowed to slip away in peace with the nurses making him as comfortable as possible.  His funeral is on the 21st April.

Now, those of you who know my family (or indeed have seen on FB), will know that my in laws are up in Liverpool and we are down in Cornwall.  So there has been a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, and there will be next week.  Poor Miss B is at Uni in Exeter, too, and her dissertation is due in on the 28th April.  I believe she's applied for an extension, as Granddad was a special man in her world.  

RIP Bill

We've also got a camping trip coming up, a social with fellow reenactors in preparation for the re-enactment year slowly gearing up.  The dogs need breaking in to the whole concept of tents and campfires so this should be interesting!  It'll be good to meet up with our Domus Lunaris family, and a few others we know.  I'm sure I'll have some photos to share later!

Anyway - you've not come here to see me witter on about family news.  To the desk!

Oh dear.

Yes, not much has been done this month.  There's been a bit of stitching but not overly much.  Well, I say that...

In my last blog post I mentioned that the March Mayhem didn't go according to plan?  It failed miserably.  I finally finished off the sassy spider...

He now has a hanger. 

And started the next Mill Hill Kit....

And that was it.  Can you tell what it is yet?  LOL

I also finished the Hardanger!  Suggestions on what to do with it, please... It's too small for a tray cloth, too big for a scissor keep.  I could frame it but I rather suspect it's going to end up languishing in a box somewhere.

The Peppermint Purple SAL has moved on, but is still behind...

The Moose on the other hand has moved on a fair bit...

and Siren's Lament has had some notable work done on it!

The last round of Myth & Magic Stitch Wars really took it out of my team - it was stressful (but fun) and has left us debating continuing.  It doesn't help that FB isn't geared up for that sort of thing and was very glitchy, so the organisers are now trying to move it off FB and onto other platforms but we're not sure it'll work.  

It's Mr B's birthday on Friday, and I've made something for him but can't share it here for fear he'll see it.  I mean, he rarely looks at my blog, but this would be the one time, ya know?  I’ll share it next time!

I shall love you and leave you here.... Happy Hopping!

WOYWW 615 - caution warning, stitched spiders ahead!

 Greetings, Desk Hoppers!  Welcome to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  All the deets are here, provided by our Mistress of the Hop, Julia...  Just a quickie from me this week, so I hope you'll excuse the brevity of language throughout.

I'm back. A brief absence, but an absence nonetheless.  No real excuses, just time gets away from you.  Plus the next bout of Stitch Wars is on, and time is a premium when you need to be a-stitching... LOL

So what gives at Morti Mansions this week?

The desk is a mess.  A proper mess.  What you can see front and centre is a stack of cards we've received over the last 18-24 months, including New Home cards!  they've been left to pile up on the Welsh dresser (hutch for our American friends) downstairs until I've had enough.  At the very least they're up here to go through, decide if any require keeping (like from the olds) and which can be thrown.  And if there's anything to be salvaged from them to make gift tags or components for other cards.  Do like a good recycled card, me.

Speaking of which, I never posted the outcome of my last Rudolph day, so here you are...

and a second one

Inspiration from Pinterest.  The ornament stamps were by Stampin' Up!, and  I used a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white for the strings and doodle border.  The tall card was made using paper and components from various magazine freebies.  Again, inspo from Pinterest.  The next Rudolph Day is next Thursday...

I made these on 25 Feb, the day after my last blog hop, and I had a stark reminder of just how long I've been a crafter.  When I made the ornament card above, and heat embossed the ornaments in white, I managed to put my thumb through the lid of the EP pot.  Now, you could say it's French quality that caused it, LOL, but I've had two other pots go that way, brittle with age.  I've worked out, based on the fact that the pot is all in French, that I probably bought it back in 2004/5. The other two were bought for me by my mother when I was 15 and heat embossing had just become a "thing", back when it was de rigeur to use a toaster and judicious placement of fingers to avoid burning oneself.

Stitching-wise, I've been stitchin' up a storm.

Siren's Lament has moved on considerably...

As has Mr Moose.  He's looking adorable.  Won't be long before I'm done with brown and can do some other colours!

I've finally picked up the Peppermint Purple Stitch-A-Long, and am almost fully caught up with it.  I say almost - a new square was released today and I've yet to stitch that, but as of last night I was up to date with all the released elements at that point.

March Mayhem has not quite gone to plan.  I've managed three of my kits so far  The big spider needs to be fully finished off yet, with snipping out around the legs and a hanger attached.  A bit dismal, that we're halfway through the month and I've only managed three, but I tell myself it's three more than before and we still have two weeks left!  The first one I did, the lovely blue background for web and spider, has about 1300 stitches in it which is quite a bit, I can tell you!  The other two have about 700 and 500, for comparison. Considerably smaller.

What other news haveth I?  Well, the re-enactment season is somewhat upskittled but provided everyone plays ball and campsites can reopen on April 12th, we have a re-enactment social weekend where we can camp and see our friends, and spend some time ensuring kit is ready for the rest of the season, such as it may be.  Many events have been moved or cancelled - certainly those in April/May/June, but the July, August and September ones all seem to be going ahead at present.

Mr B has fixed the car - we needed a new fan for the heating and air con - t'was rather horrid driving along without it.  The windows kept misting up which meant we had the windows open and in January, was not fun!  The fan cost us a whole £330 new from Renault, but fitting was free as he did it himself.  I'm not sure what labour is at Renault, but at the garage 300 yards up the road its £50 an hour, and the whole fit from removing the old to replacing the new took about 5 hours.  Quite a saving...

The offending broken fan

Anyway, this is turning into a ramble, so I shall leave you with a lovely photo from a couple of weeks ago, sunset up on Carn Brea, 

and a "and finally" in honour of our lovely Shaz.

WOYWW 612 - Rudolph Eve

Hello, deskers!  Welcome back to WOYWW - that weekly roundup of all things deskish, hosted by the lovely Julia.  Details can be found here if you'd like to join in, or want to go on a bloghop round the desks.

This week is more of the same (stitching, not crying!) with a random card thrown in for good measure...

The desk itself has had a bit of a tidy up, but there's a load of stuff sat on it ready for tomorrow's Rudolph Day, when I shall make a couple of Christmas cards, and maybe work on one or two other things.  I have Thursdays off at the moment (which will switch to Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri mornings off from next week.  Flexi-furlough, don't you know.

One of the other desks had a bit of a tidy up too.  It had been piled high with fabric and assorted oddments.  Now it has been cleared, but there's still quite a bit on it.  I've got a couple of projects on the go there, and also some stitchy stash waiting for me to film a flosstube where I can show off my recent haul.  There won't be much more purchased going forwards though!  Time to rein in the spending a little.... heheheh.

So, updates:

Siren's Lament

Mr Christmas Moose

Peppermint Purple's 2021 stitchalong - not much done to it but YAY! Patterns!

Also found lurking and needing love is this hardanger piece I started goodness knows how many moons ago (the needle had rusted into the fabric), and is worked from a pattern from an old Jane Greenoff Cross Stitch magazine.  I have no idea what issue number it is... I did try to find out when the magazine was last in print and know it was going until at least 2005, but couldn't find out any concrete information.

Next month is March Mayhem - a group on FB of stitchers who broke away from May-nia which was another group of individuals doing a crazy challenge stitch wise.  I think there may be a competition to see who can do the most new project starts, or how many WIPS you can be working on at any given time!  My foray into this world of craziness is that I'm going to do "March Mill Hill Mayhem".  Nicely alliterated, I thought.  But basically, I'm going to try and do as many Mill Hill kits as I can in the next month.  The idea being to do a bit of stash-busting and get them stitched and up on our craft tree this Christmas.  And Halloween.  We have a Halloween/Samhain tree too.  I have 5 more Halloween Mill Hill kits to do.  And about 16 Christmas ones.  Best guess is that I might get a quarter of them done if I'm lucky but if I persevere, maybe half.  Which will be ten more than I would have otherwise.  Apologies for the glare on the top three.  

So, back at the beginning of this post I mentioned a card, and I alluded to it last week when I said that I never thought I'd be kicking off my non-Christmas card making with this particular variety of card, but here it is.  

Needless to say, it was sent to Doug.  Forgive me if I don't tell you all I wrote in it, but the night before I wrote it, I was binge-watching Criminal Minds and they start and end the programme with quotes.  One episode ended with:

"Death ends a life, not a relationship", Mitch Alborn.

That quote has stuck with me, and I put it into the card along with our own sentiments. How very true.  

And in recognition of the lovely Shaz, I'm going to add a finishing funny:

Perfectly describes this household currently...

Happy hopping!