WOYWW 775 - Another late one

You know how it is.  On Tuesday you remember you need to do a post and schedule it for Wednesday.  Before you know it it's Wednesday - late - and you still haven't done it and feel like you really should get off the couch and do something.  No?  Just me then?  Alrighty then..... 

Still not a great deal to report on the creative front other than a trial run of some new shrink plastic, the kind you can print on using an inkjet printer.  It's for a little project that's top secret until the first weekend in May. So I won't bore you with a view of my desk because I didn't actually move anything or do anything on it - the printer in question is nowhere near :D hehehe

The stitchalong has crawled this week.  I'm not normally slowed down by backstitch, but this time I have a touch of stitching fatigue.  I really need to do it before I put to one side to do WIPGO.

I'm not sure if I did WIPGO back in 2021, but in case I didn't, it's basically Bingo for your Works In Progress.  On my card I have all but two (well, four now, with the SALs) of my WIPs, and each is set for 5 days' work.  I'll talk about those in more detail next week.  

Throwback to a previous design - the last time I was here I was halfway through the 2021 Peppermint Purple blackwork stitchalong, and as promised, here's a (sorry for the poor quality) picture of the 2021 SAL framed along with its counterpart from 2020.  It was a bit complicated to frame so I had it professionally done  they did a pretty good job.  

SO there you have it.  I'm going to try and visit everyone's desks tomorrow.  I was actually out of the office completely today until almost 3pm, and then in back-to-back client calls.  Sigh.  No rest for the wicked!

Happy Hopping, folks!

Morti

x

WOYWW 581 - the multi-desk one

Hello again!

Bit of a difference today. 

I’m sat in my “office” which really means I’m sat in my craft room which has my “office” within it... Time for some desk sharing, although not the office part as it’s full of confidential stuff and nonsense. 

The paper crafting desk has got significantly worse but it’s in part due to Miss B having a birthday coming up and I’ve had to hide a couple of bits. As someone has commented previously, yes, naturally there’s a lot of purple... 🤣🤣🤣. I had a very dear friend - who sadly passed away this year - once tell me that if I wore any more purple I’d look like a Ribena Berry. Given that I was significantly slimmer back then, it stuck in my mind and I rarely if ever wear head-to-toe purple. 

RIP, my lovely Jayne. Thank you for saving me from Ribena-Berryness. 

On the other side of me is my stitching desk - beautifully clear by comparison. On it are the parts for making some masks for Miss B, as she starts work back at the bar again from 1st Aug and could do with a couple more. I found a rather good pattern online that had multiple sizes, rather than a one size first not all kind of pattern. 

Moving round we have the old Ikea expedit, or Kallax as I think they now call them, and a myriad of boxes and pots and beads and.... everything. It houses beads and buttons, patterns and paper, dies for paper crafting and wool, needlework and jewellery kits, plus much much more. I’m gradually sorting and tidying it because things have kind of been wedged where there was a space as we endeavoured to empty boxes over the last year. Some still haven’t made it here from storage. 

Round to the right and past the door are the drawer units many of you have come to know and love. These also need a good sort through and tidy up, and several things on top shouldn’t really live there (like two pairs of bridesmaid shoes 🙄). Mr B keeps threatening to put more shelves up for me. I live in hope. 

There’s still a goodly pile of bits in front but considering that three weeks ago you couldn’t really get to the drawers without scaling a cardboard mountain, I’d like to think I’m doing fairly well. I must confess that one box is full of clothes for the charity shop, when it eventually reopens. 

And lastly, back full circle to above the desk and laden shelves. Again, these need a proper sorting and I mourn the fact that I’ve had to give up space one end for office type necessities. Grrr. 

I’ve just realised that my magnifying lamp is shaped a bit like K9’s head (from Dr Who, a millennia ago). LOL. 

Till next time!!

WOYWW 380 – the patched one

Another round of WOYWW hosted by Julia at The StampingGround – the chance to be really nosy at other people’s desks/stash/skill and a chance to catch up amongst old friends...

It’s another quiet week at Morti Towers, apart from the whirr of the sewing machine.  I’m still stuck behind a mechanical needle, soon to be replaced with a hand sewing session.  Nothing has changed on the main desk.  You can see here the plain black one (except it’s folded up) and the last one waiting to be made.  And a big pile of patches and fabric badges to stitch to them both. 

 

I’ve made three more cushions this week (two of which are proudly displayed here, and have been seen by many of you on FB) and I still have one to do. 

 

Seven of the patches in question are from Geocaching last year.  Or it might have been the year before that - I've lost track!  You had to complete six challenges to get certain "souvenirs", and by completing all six, you won the seventh - the "Achiever" award.  We discovered you could buy these patches and although I think you're meant to stitch them to your geocaching bag or jacket or whatever, we've opted to add them to cushions - we're likely to buy more in the future and on a cushion there won't be the faff of having to take them off when the bag breaks or the jacket wears out etc... I bought two sets - Lil Miss B has her own geocaching ID so she got her own set of souvenirs.

 

 

 

Once I’ve done that I’ve got an idea for the scraps left over from the printed fabric, and I need to make a makeup bag for someone who has been patiently waiting for it.... heheheh

I'm looking forward to getting back to card making and scrapbooking though, I will admit.  And some beading.  There's definitely beading on the horizon...

Hope to see you all on the hop!

WOYWW 178 - Happy Halloween!

And that's as spooky as my desk gets this week! 

Just for a change, I'm not going to show you my usual desk.  This here is my other "other" desk.  Not my proper work desk, at work. No.  This is the "desk" in the lounge, next to the chair where I crochet and cross-stitch.  You'll see there's a bauble lurking, waiting for me to start beading.  And a couple of crocheted squares in funky colours....I'm using a random dyed wool at the moment.  My coffee cup, empty at time of shot.

Just for good measure, here is an update on the cross-stitch.  Slow progress, I'm afraid, but progress nonetheless.

The reason for not showing my normal desk?  Trial runs of wedding stationery are on it and I'm keeping them under wraps.... heheheheh

As for the lack of spookiness - Lil Miss B is in Turkey with Real-Mum, and we're off to see Fields of the Nephilim tomorrow night, so won't be in for the trick or treaters..... mwahahahahahahah... instead, spookiness is provided by Carl McCoy!

Have a good week y'all....

WOYWW 174 - Happy October!

Wow – where IS the year going? 4 weeks to Halloween..... I’m not even going to count down to Christmas, it would scare me too much!

Well, the reason I’m here, and you’re here, is because it’s a Wednesday and it’s WOYWW.  If you don’t know about it – head here to the Great JD’s desk, where you will find all the deets and Mr Linky.

Once again, not a lot of change from me.  You can the domino I've been working on for The Big Crop, and also a Christmas card.  Yup, a Christmas card.  I'm partly doing it for the Sketch Saturday challenge, and partly because I need to pull my finger out and get making some cards to sell at work.  Yay.  I also did two more squares for the pile this week. This blanket is going to take me a while..... 

None of the bits on the card are stuck down yet (hence the wonkiness) as I'm not sure I'm happy with it.  In fact I'll go so far as to say I'm NOT happy with it and don't know what to do to put it right.  Watch this space...

 Here’s an update on the cross-stitch, for those that are interested...

 And a gratuitous shot of Mr B out with the dogs and me on Saturday...

So, there you, brief as brief can be, or at least my version of it!  Catch you in a comments box near you!

WOYWW 173

Another week rolls around and it seems that Autumn has finally hit us broadside with all she’s got.  It’s sad to hear of the recent deaths around the UK but one can’t help but wonder whether or not the drivers involved were driving safely for the conditions.  Having said that, I was driving to work yesterday morning and as I crested the brow of one particular hill, I drove smack into an unexpected vertical wall of water  - a full-on rainstorm.  Had my poor little car not practically ground to a halt climbing the hill (it thinks it's a truck!), I would probably have driven straight off the road, as at the top of the hill there is also a sharp bend, and visibility was down to almost zero for a few hundred yards.  Then the rain started to clear, but my thoughts are with the families of those poor children and adults who have become more victims to the British weather.  To all my WOYWW friends – safe driving out there, especially those of us in the Northern Hemisphere where the evenings are getting darker, and the weather wetter.  (I've borrowed the picture below from The Telegraph - it was taken in Lacock, Wilts, not too many miles distant from LLJ and I - Swindon is just as bad!).

Anyway, you aren’t here to listen to my spiel about road safety, you’re here to see the desk, courtesy of WOYWW and Madame Dunnit, the desk diva.  Visit here for Mr Linky and to join in yourself.  The Big Crop is just 2 and a half weeks away.... Ulp!

My desk isn’t particularly busy – but on it you can see.....

...alcohol inks and dominoes, plus a few Christmas bits I've dug out with a view to playing with!  Wobbly man seems very interested in my embossing powders for some reason and...oh dear... I see I've still not finished sorting out my stamps.  Best get on with that!

I’ve got an update on the cross-stitch (as per Sue’s request last week) and as you can see, there’s just a little bit extra done.  So many hobbies, so little time!

Anyone coming to The Big Crop who wishes to alter a domino – these are the sort of dominos you require for the technique I'm demonstrating.

You will need to bring a stamp of your choice – it will either be small enough to fit onto the domino in its entirety, or you will use part of it.  For inspiration, and to get some idea of what I’m on about, go here to visit Leigh, the Sharpie Domino Queen.  You can either turn your domino into a pendant, brooch or keyring/handbag charm.  I can drill them while we’re there, and if we do it early enough in the day, you might even be able to glaze them. 

Stash required:

Domino (or other similar game-pieces, e.g. Triomino)

Stamp

Stazon ink

Colouring medium – Sharpies, alcohol inks (plus blending tool and pads), chalks

Fine Paint brush

Glossy Accents or similar glaze

Choice of findings/stringing material. 

I think that’s all – I’ll bring some bling to add if you want to...

See you in a comments box near you!

WOYWW 170 - When September comes....

.....and OMG it's here!  Where is the year going?

So here we are on WOYWW once more - head on over to Julia's to see the deets and add your desk to Mr Linky.

Not much has happened on my desk since last week's creative flurry.  I can show you a shot of the cross-stitch I've been working on though!

I won the Third Coast Altered Domino challenge - YAY! 

I also won something else - the relief at finally being told that 50% of my tummy troubles are down to a hernia, and yes it can be fixed.  BUT I'm probably going to need a hysterectomy too, so now it's up to the General and Gynaecological surgical teams to co-ordinate so that they can do both at the same time.  Me, I'm phylosophical about it all.  I'd rather have the next 20 years pain and worry free than keep a somewhat redundant womb that has failed to achieve it's target, and now never will, only to have it removed in 20 years time anyway. 

So here's to health and fitness - however far off it may be.   LOL.

WOYWW 129 - the slightly different one....

Ok, it's late on Tuesday night (technically, now early Wednesday morning) so I'll keep this brief.  Makes a change, says the reader....

Welcome once more to WOYWW, the wonder of desk hopping and blog surfing as created by the magnificent Mrs D.

This week I kind of have two desks for you.  One is my upstairs desk....... ta dah!

As you can see, not a lot on it.  We have a broken pair of earrings courtesy of Lil Miss B.  A stack of cutting mats, at the bottom of which is a nice, shiny (literally - I haven't taken the cellophane off it yet!) A2 cutting mat.  And we have exhibit A - one set of the new limited edition Tim Holtz inks which plopped through my letterbox today.  Huzzah!  There's not a lot else on my desk because I've not been here to do any crafting.  On Monday, Mr B's school got the call all schools dread these days - Ofsted are showing up today (Weds) to do their Inspection, so it's been a frantic couple of days of catching up  on the marking and targets and paperwork and.....and....  He's been putting in 20 hours days, and I feel like I have too...

The other "desk" is my downstairs desk, aka a lap tray.  On it is the remains of the Mill Hill Charmed Stocking I'm working on.  The main part of the stocking is now done; I'm working on the cuff and stocking "stuffers" to finish it.  I WILL have it done soon, then I can go back to the Hardanger I was working on earlier in the year....sigh.....

Other entertainng news - Lil Miss B and I went to the Wave 105 Live gig on Sunday (I won a pair of tickets back in September), and saw: The Reason 4, The Feeling, Erasure, Matt Cardle, Darren Hayes, The Pierces and The Overtones.  We had a fab time, though Lil Miss flagged a lot sooner than I did - we had standing tickets!  I do have a couple of pics but they're on my phone and it requires more energy than I have right now to get them off it.  I have managed to pull this photo they took of us off the Wave 105 website, though!  How cool is that?!

Less than entertaining news, but far more important (and I know I should be happy but it's hard to) is that I finally have a date for my investigative laparascopy.  And guess what?  It's the 15th December.  Nothing says Happy Christmas quite like having your abdomen pumped full of air and a camera shoved through your belly button.  My workplace aren't too impressed as by then my boss will be in Australia with his family, and they're worrying in case the hospital decide to keep me in as there's only the two of us in the department.  Tough!  My health comes first.... I'm sure someone there will keep on top of the cash!

However, for now we are plodding along quite happily, so see you around on the blop!

Ha!  Just realised...... I was going to keep this brief....  Oh well!

WOYWW 109

Welcome, welcome, to the weekly wonder that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  Please visit Queen Julia of Snoopdom's blog, The Stamping Ground, for the S.P. on what I'm going on about!

Now, for anyone watching last week, you'd have seen that LL Jan stepped in for Julia - and it turned out to be a most fortuitous occasion.  A couple of you have been to my blog since and spotted my more recent post, but for those that didn't and are interested, visit my post "A funny thing happened on the way to the netball" .  Absolutely incredible!  (Hi Jan!)

So, what indeed is on my desk this week?  Look closely, and you'll see the fabulous tag I won on Hel's blog last week - it's absolutely gorgeous and rather large as you can see!  I love the colours, and little does Hels know it, but blue butterflies mean something rather special to me, so I love it twice as much.... Thanks Hels!

Also on my desk are the startings of the card I'm making for Mum's 80th birthday which is in...erm...10 days.  Best get my skates on with it this weekend!  I even succumbed to a purchase of flower soft, which I'm going to need.... LOL

Now, you see just to the right of my cutting mat?  That's it, go on, zoom in... A grid of numbers?  I'm sad enough to generate a grid every Wednesday - and I tick off each number as I visit it!  Yup, sad like I said.  But it stops me double tracking and as I surf from both work (during lunch of course!) and home, the links don't highlight in both places!

Hardanger update - by hoosie this is taking a while!  I had foolishly suggested to Lil' Miss B that I would have it finished by the end of June, but guess I was wrong on that count....LOL.  At least it is progressing, and noticebly so.  That's good, because I have three other WIPS (or UFOs if you prefer - LOL) to get stuck into after this.... sigh



Right-o - off on the hop, catch you out there!!!

WOYWW 108 - the brief one...

Just a quickie from me tonight cos once more I'm tired, Mr B has gone to bed, I need a shower and I don't have a lot to say!! LOL  I'm scheduling this to post v. early tomorrow morning as my desk won't change again until tomorrow evening....

So, here you are.... here's my desk complete with the Hardanger, and a new goodie I've not yet got out of the packaging...

Close ups of the hardanger, as promised to Jodpea!

Tonight's glorious sunset - we were out celebrating Mr B Snr's birthday this evening and came home to this:

and of course, I'd made him a card.  Guess which team he supports....!!!  LOL

Ok - I'm off to hit the shower and bed - my desk will look exactly the same tomorrow!  Catch you on the blop!

PS - Thank you all for your kind words about my friend H - she says Hi and says thank you for your support even though she doesn't know you!  She's doing well, has just had her fourth op and is scheduled for another next week..... eek!

WOYWW 107 - the one with yet more Hardanger....

Greetings all!

Just a quick one for me because it is late on Tuesday evening, and I'm tired.

Not much on my desk this week, just a Hardanger update.  We've been rather busy with house issues and then we found out one of Mr B's friends is in hospital with some rather serious leg issues.  Like, touch and go between one leg or two legs when she leaves.  The good news is that today they did some surgery which they wouldn't have done if the prognosis was bad, so that's made us much happier!  We  spent Monday evening at the hospital, and I popped in again on my way home tonight with stuff to keep her from being too bored.  Get well soon, H!

So, here's the desk.... if you're a newbie to this WOYWW lark go to Desk Dimensions where you can find enlightenment!

It's amazing the results you can achieve by using a flash, eh?

And here's the progress on the Hardanger...



Creeping along slowly, but getting there!  It's a bit scary snipping the fabric - I'm not so worried about cutting the wrong bit of cloth, as the green threads, but I seem to manage ok.

Well, last week I managed about 30 of you, and if this week cuts me a bit of slack, I hope to get round more.  Catch you on the blop...!!!

WOYWW 102 - The shot taken in daylight....

Mrs D of The Great WOYWW Wander asked me last week if I ever craft in daylight.  The answer is, not during the winter no (except at weekends) and usually what happens in summer is I end up taking my WOYWW photo in the dead of night. 

So here, for the purposes of proving that I'm not a shade or a vampire, is my desk in daylight.

If you enlarge the picture you will see that the quality is rather dire - for some reason my camera doesn't like taking shots in half light, but if I'd taken a photo with flash it would have rather negated the point, eh?  Equally, you can see why I don't tend to craft in daylight - the light is awful in here.

So what's on my desk?  The usual, not a lot.  I took this last night, just before I did my entry for the Tri-Colour Challenge over on UK STampers (see previous dated post).  I failed to cover my PIF up properly, so I've had to employ Mr Photoshop to hide a bit.  ROFL.

I then put the light on so I could get a reasonable shot of my UFO - the Hardanger piece I referred to in last week's WOYWW.  As you can see, I have actually done something to it.

No Julia, there are in fact several crafts I DON'T do. LOL - Crochet for one; you have my utmost admiration for that. (Never could get the tension right, which meant I was pretty good at crocheting triangles but not squares LOL). Basket weaving for another (though I'm tempted for practical reasons!). Crewelwok leaves me cold. I could go on.

I managed to get round a fair few desks last week, before my Blogger at work started playing up.  I keep getting "your cookies are not enabled" messages, but although I've done everything they've said, I still can't get Blogger to work.  Thus, I am Blogger-less at lunchtime, which puts a SERIOUS dent in my WOYWW browsing. 

I'm getting a helluva good score on Zuma Blitz though....

Catch you on the hop!

WOYWW 84 - the non-descript one

Good Morning all!  And how are we this fine day?  Tired?  Happy?  Bored?  Fed Up?

Likewise....

This is the worst week of January, methinks.  Only in my case it's tempered by the fact that my company pays us on the 15th - which this month will be the 14th cos the 15th is a Saturday.  Gives one something to look forward to! 

It's also a week where I feel suspended in mid air.  Coiled like a gazelle ready to spring into action.  In the distance I hear the ghostly chants of "He's behind you" and "Oh no it isn't" as we're almost at the panto.   Last night a photographer arrived from the New Forest Journal and I managed to get this somewhat humourous shot of Tink and Hook together:

The proximity to the main panto event should hopefully go some way to explaining why my desk looks like this:

Fairly bare, just a cross stitch piece on that I'm working on for the mo.  I should add at this point that I'm not just a stamper - I do loads of other crafts too (so many hobbies, so little time!) and every year I try to make an ornament for the Christmas tree.  I have three other charmed stockings on my tree, so I bit the bullet, ordered the remaining three just before Christmas, and now have some small projects to undertake before next year.  No rush!

In case you're wondering why I'm blathering on about my desk, every week there is a phenomenon, yes, truly a phenomenon (heheheh managed to get big word in twice!) known as What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Go and pay Julia a visit here to find out more.

I haz to dash............. see you on the bloghop!

TGIF

Ok - from what I can gather, TGIF is also a challenge blog. Maybe I should have a look at it sometime soon!

Anyway, as promised I need to start updating you guys on what I've been up to.

Before Christmas, on Aunty's Forum, we were set two challenges. One was a stitching challenge, where we had to come up with something "Stocking" related. My effort was this....



It's a kit manufactured by Mill Hill, and is one of the series of "Charmed Stockings". I absolutely adore them, and have made a couple of others previously to this one. I'm currently working on a charmed mitten (oops, spoiled it for the guys on the forum. Oh well!) for this months stitching challenge, which must involve beads!

The other challenge I took part in was to create a Christmas Decoration and photograph it hanging on the tree. My effort....



It looks more pink in the photo - in real life it is Christmas reds and golds, and is gorgeous. I can't lay full claim to it - it's a pattern by The Spellbound Bead Co - but I did pick my colours and provide my own beads and bauble!

More to come, so watch this space!

Fireworks and other stuff

I'm bad, aren't I?

Here's me, promising to blog more often, yet when I look at my blog it's been a whole month since I last blogged. Shame on me!

So what have we been up to?

Mostly unpacking boxes, putting up pictures, boarded out the loft, rewired the lighting in the loft. Oh, cut a new loft hatch that was twice the size of the old one.

Now we've dug up the front garden, moved some flower beds, widened the gateway, moved a fence and stuck in a load of new plants and bulbs. And I'm shattered.

Craftwise I have done nothing. I'd like to. But I still can't quite get into my craftroom to sit and do some work.

Mind you - I was a REALLY good girl on Monday of this week - I finally took my Mythical Dragon cross-stitch in to be framed. I get it back in about 8 days time, so I'll have to blog that moment!

Does that count as craftwork????