WOYWW 235

Hello and welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 235, courtesy of our Julia.  You need to join in the fun by going here.

This week, my desk is on the floor.  I'm mostly wrapping presents.  The bottom right of the picture is the sack of presents already wrapped.  There are various gifts lying around, ribbons for tying, handmade gift tags recycled from last year's Christmas cards.  The cardboard box in the middle back of the shot is full of jars of chutney and jams waiting to be doled out.

There will be more of the same for the next two weeks, probably.

Have a great week, everyone! xxx

WOYWW 234

Hello and welcome again to another fun week of international snooping of crafty desks, courtesy of our Julia.  You can join in the fun here.

This is my desk this week:

I'm still stamping the Christmas paper.  There are various presents on the table in varying degrees of wrappage.  The blue and white box at the back is a sewing kit I bought from work that was partially filled and I am adding a few more important bits.  It's a Christmas present for my sister who has never shown any aptitude for sewing and calls me to sew on a button for her.  I think this sets a bad example for my niece, so I have bought them both a sewing kit in the hope it might ignite some inspiration.  I will be on standby for the constant advice I envisage will be asked of me.  IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN HOW TO SEW.

There are newspapers on there for no reason.  Oh, and a tin of Plop Trumps (Yeah, really) that I bought because I felt I should, however I have no one as yet to give it to.  Plop Trumps, to the uneducated, is a version of Top Trumps that features pictures of animal excrement that each player uses to outdo their opponent to win the game.  Yeah.  Oh, and it is highly educational;  marketed toward men and boys of all ages.  You'd understand why.

This week, I carry on with stamping my wrapping paper to wrap more presents, make 3D Christmas decorations and Stormtrooper snowflakes.  Mmm hmm.

Yep, so that just about wraps up this week's edition of Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Please take part and add your own desk! x

Woyww 232

Hello and welome to another week of WOYWW, where you can join in with the international desk snoop by clicking here.

My desk this week features an inverted TV cosy I am making for OH.  Probably best you don't ask.  I think it's fair to say I'm not enjoying this project, yet I still have three more to make him. Mmm.

In other news, I've heard that fellow WOYWWers Patsy and Peggy Aplseeds from the Philippines are OK following the horrific storm that has affected 2/3 of their country.  What a relief, but they are faced with very hard times.  If you like to pray, maybe you could pray for them today and if you have some spare money, perhaps you would like to donate to:

World Food Programme USA

Unicef

Philippine Red Cross

World Vision

Oxfam

who are all running emergency appeals.

Folks in the UK can donate by simply walking into their nearest high street bank or post office where you should see signs up for DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee).

xxx

WOYWW 230

Hello again peoples!  I haven't been about for a month or something due to my crappy computer, but it seems to want to keep it together for the time being so here I go...

Most weeks I join in with an online snoop of crafty desks around the world.  Please join in here.  You'll thank me for it.

Anywhoo...

I think it's finally safe to be mentioning the Christmas word now.  Here is my desk:

You can see my painstaking work of hand stamping a roll of brown paper for presents.  IT WILL BE WORTH IT.  Trying not to think about the fact that it's all going to get ripped up and thrown away at the end of it all.

You can also see paint, felt, some wooden decorations that I am decorating and a lot of bits of paper left over from making Christmas cards.  I made 60 in one sitting from the results of last year's Christmas card amnesty I held at work.  While the majority were shop bought and of little inspiration, the handmade ones were invaluable and went a long way.  I am looking forward to expanding my amnesty this year by asking my mum to involve her work colleagues in it at a big local DIY store.  So excited to see what I get - It's like poring through looted treasure!

I was going to show you the box of jams and chutneys I made but my camera's not playing ball today and frankly, I should be lucky it took a picture at all.

Next week, I'll probably be showing off pictures of a TV cosy in progress.  Yes, a TV COSY.  Once upon a time, we had a customer at work ask if we had fabric to make a TV cosy as her TV was too big for her room.  We all had a good chortle. OH asked me to make four (!) cosies for the small flat-screens he has to take to work every week.  I chortle no more.

Have a great week everyone - I hope you make all the things you have/want to get done: xxx

WOYWW 224 (FESTIVAL AT THE END OF THE YEAR ITEMS WARNING!)

Hello and welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  You can join in the international peekfest of other peoples' craft desks here.

My desk (of sorts) this week...

This is part of the cross stitch commission from another branch of the shop I work in.  It's a table runner and I've been asked to only complete half of it.

This is what the warning is all about.  I spent ALL (6am-10pm) on Sunday making preserves to be given away as Festival at the end of the year presents.  I made 20 pots total of the following:

Blackberry jam

Apple and blackberry jam

Crab apple jelly

Plum jam

Chilli jam

Green tomato chutney.

Last night, I looked at my forlorn garden.  Summer has taken her love with her and now everything look wilty and sad.  I took a carrier bag to collect the last of the tomatoes and was astounded to completely fill it up.  I have a shedload of chutney to make.  I've estimated that I have at least 36 pots worth of tomatoes.  Eep.  Waste not, want not.

The sky from my playroom this morning.  Just had to share it with you.

Have a happy crafting week all! xxx

WOYWW 221

Hello and welcome to another week of WOYWW!  This is where we all have a look at crafty desks/workspaces from all over the world, courtesy of our Julia.  You can join in the fun here.

This is my desk this week...

On the left of my desk is Fifi's baby sampler.  Not long to go on that until I just have to wait for her to give birth at the end of next month so i can sew a name to it.

Then there is a book showing pictures that are useful for the Festival At The End Of The Year.  The aida on the frame is me starting some of those pictures.

Last week I promised pictures of the cross stitches I've been asked to do by another store.  Well, they forgot to send them, so I hope they appear on the van this week.  Instead though, I was asked today to knock up a little design to stick in our shop window this Thursday for the Festival At The End Of The Year theme.  They were going to stick the window in at the end of September, but three other stores have had stonking results since putting their windows in early, so we're being made to follow suit.

That's it from me this week.  Now go and have a look at all the other lovely desks that have put in this week.  xxx

WOYWW 220

Hello again folks.  Time for another week of nosing at other peoples desks, courtesy of our Julia.  You can join in the fun here.

My desk this week:

The book contains many previously unseen photographs of the members of the rock band Queen.  It was a birthday present from OH.  The pages shown depict the four members of Queen taking part in a Japanese tea ceremony on their first promotional tour of Japan.

The fabric container at the back of the desk is a JoZart desk bin, made my my friend, Fairy Thoughts for my birthday.  It currently contains chocolate.  Of course.  The cross stitch in the middle is Fifi's baby sampler that I've bought back out of the cupboard since finishing the wedding sampler.  I am going to try and finish it in the next three evenings because something exciting is about to happen...

About a month ago, I asked my buyer at work if she could circulate an email offering my cross stitching services.  I hoped to hear back from one of the others stores, but didn't believe I would.  Today at work, I get another store asking me to stitch up two Christmas displays a supplier gave them.  I hope to obtain them this Thursday, so will hopefully show you what's going down next week.

That's enough from me!  have a great week all! x

WOYWW 219 (Sorry I'm late!)

Hello and welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  Each week we peek at crafty people's desks from around the world and you can join in the fun by clicking this.

Apologies for being so late to the party this week.  I'm on a week off work and my time keeping skills have vanished somewhat.  You don't care about that.  Here's what you care about, my desk this week...

Set the party poppers off - the behemoth (biggest one yet) is now finished and framed.  I have mostly solved the issue of the join line by sewing over it.  Yes, a line can be seen but not so much anymore as I've covered up all the white bits.  Now I have to wait for the lovely couple to get back from their honeymoon.

Halfway through the walk to the wedding venue, my beloved left black strappy wedge broke.  We stopped at a nearby shop for superglue but it just seeped into the fabric sole.  I had to take them off and carry them back home over 3/4 mile of broken tarmac in just my tights.  Which was painful.  OH is trying to save said wedge by using decorator's caulk on it.

I got to the wedding eventually though and through the fug of champagne, white wine, black and white rum, I did manage to take a pic of the wedding cake topper...

The groom is into model making and he painted these himself.  An alternative idea.

This week I have already enjoyed a hangover, gone bowling and visited Avon Beach in Dorset.  I hope to prepare some glass jars for the festival at the end of the year.  I also have to pick up where I left off with Fiona's baby sampler and Nathan's (now Christmas present) Diatoms cross stitch.  Oh and it's my birthday on Saturday, so quite a busy week - hurrah!

Have a great week everyone! xxx

WOYWW 218 (AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!)

Welcome to another week of nosing at people's desks, courtesy of our Julia.  You can join in here.

Here is my desk this week...

I may be starting to lose my mind!  Pleased send chocolate covered thoughts my way!  I'm trying to stay positive for you guys, but the wedding is this Saturday, and I work full time.  I'm currently working on it for an hour before work everyday and 5 hours after work, I believe I need an extra 20 hours than what I can afford.  Oh well.  On the plus side, I have learnt that this size cross stitch which would ordinarily take 4 months can be done in 2 1/2 to 3.  Hopefully when you pop back next week, you'll see the finished piece.

Have a great week all! x

WOYWW 217

It's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, where we visit the desks of the craftily-minded.  You can take part here.

T minus 11 days (insert comedy gulp here).  Here's my desk this week...

My desk this week, as it has been for about two months, is my lap.  An accord has been struck with Taz (pictured) and I that she may sit next to me if she doesn't attack me everytime I move a bit of thread.  So far, so good.

With eleven days to go until the wedding, things have been somewhat fraught.  I'm really worried about the join line that runs along their necks.

I THINK I HAVE FOUND A FRAME FOR IT!  A chance discovery in Sainsbury's the other night produced the only frame I've found so far that might fit, with some mounting.  Egads.

Still, on the plus point, it's also only 11 days until my birthday week off.  And I won't be cross stitching that week, that's for sure.

Thanks for visiting.  I'll do my best to get to your page.  Have a great week! x

WOYWW 216 (18 DAYS TO GO)

Well this was unexpected.  I popped along to Julia's page to remind myself what number we are up to and see that this week's blog hop has started a day early due to some internet issues down Julia's neck of the woods.  I better get on with it then!

Every week, a lot of people take advantage of participating in an international blog hop around the world, courtesy of our Julia and you can join in here.

My desk this week...

So all hell broke loose at the weekend when I discovered that the top panelling was misaligned from the bottom pannelling by a whole three stitches.  I turned into some kind of banshee until OH gave me an uncomfortable solution:  TO CUT THE TOP HALF FROM THE BOTTOM HALF WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS.

Understandably, I felt sick about the whole thing, given how long I've been working on it.  Can you see a very faint line running across Tom's neck?  That's the cutline and I'm hoping that when I've done the picture,  I can go back and fill it in a bit.  I'll either frame it to the edges or mount it.  Can't decide on that at the moment.

Yup, that's 18 days to go until the wedding.  In that time, I have 96 hours left on this project.  You're not hiding your laughter very well.

And I still need to find a frame for it.

Start crossing your fingers folks.

Have a great week! 

xxx

WOYWW 215

Hello fellow WOYWWs!

It's another week of nosing at other people's desks to see what crafty projects they have been up to.  You can join in the fun here.

My desk this week...

Hope is slowly fading that I will get this finished in time for the wedding.  I'm not a pessimist, just a realist.  With 25 days left to go, I still haven't finished all of the bottom panels.  I will keep at it though as I would dearly love to see the bride and groom's faces when the see it.  Wouldn't quite be the same to have to take it around at some point afterwards.

Also on my mind this week...I'm thinking of making hard boiled sweets using recipes from a book I bought myself.  I hope to wrap them individually, stick in the jars I've been saving like a nutter (got around 15 of them now), pretty them up and distribute when the big festival at the end of the year comes around.  I DIDN'T SAY THE WORD!

Thanks for looking, see you all next time folks! x

WOYWW 213

Hello and welcome to another week's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  If you would like to join in with the weekly global snoop into the desks of the craftily-minded, you can do so here.

My desk this week...

On the left is the guitar strap and metal shabby chic heart I bought for my mate Lou's birthdy.  next to them is the birthday cake cross stitch I've made for her birthday cake.  In the box in the middle of the shot are all my DMC skeins that are waiting for a new lever arch file and DMC plastic archive sheets.  There is about 150 in there all tidily wrapped around their stitchbows.  In the lid, however, is a whole world of hell.  These are all the bits of strands that are too long to bin, but are no longer attached to their appropriate numbers and so cannot be identified.  I'm going to wrap them all onto cardboard tags and will store them in this box to use for creative xstitching projects I plan to do in the future.  The cardi is still in the background.  I am still painstakingly colouring in what was black with a black dye pen in a hope to spruce it up.

Here is the wedding present I am still working on.  Getting a bit antsy about it now as I only have about 40 days left to get it done.  This hasn't been helped by the fact that there is virtually no time to be spent on it this week as I have been cat sitting for OH's mum's cat and this weekend is the Hat Fair here in Winchester and I have found that I am going out for it on both Friday and Saturday nights and am also joining in with the Sunday picnic, so that's the whole of Sunday afternoon/early evening gone!

When I'm working on it, it is just a mess of colour and is very difficult to see any detail forming.  Huzzah then for having a camera as I' seeing the detail in Tom's shirt now and can see his beard starting to creep into the shot.  It's starting to get exciting!

I hope you all have a lovely week.  I will visit all those who visit me and then some. xxx

WOYWW 212

Hello again!  It's another week's peek at crafty desks across the globe and you can join in too by clicking  here.

This is my desk this week...

I am currently painstakenly filling in all the washed out areas on my favourite top with a dye pen.  I can't do more than 10 mins at a time due to sheer boredom, but I'm not ready to let it go, so suffer I must.

There is a pile of stitchbows waiting for m to wrap my DMC flosses onto.  That will probably happen on Sunday.

OH is a computer game nut and he has been known to buy limited edition merchandise.  The foldy paper you see with shapes on is a 3D tab Duke Nuken doll.  Oh yes.  I will show him off next week to you all.

The wedding present continues.  Starting to get irked with it now.  Don't worry, this is perfectly normal behaviour for me.  When I start a cross stitch, I am in love with it.  Then comes the obsession in stitching it every waking minute that I am not at work.  Then I get irked, start to dispise the piece and at the point of handing it over to it's new owner, I utterly hate the thing.  Thank goodness I have a deadline!

Thanks for peeking at my desk this week!
x

WOYWW 211

Good morning!  Welcome to another week of creative desk blog hopping.  You can join in by clicking here

My desk this week has been the chair sat next to the one I sit in.  Here is what is on it this week...

This is the wedding present I am making.  It is still not showing any sign of a face.  What looks like a face on the left is not a face.  

I spent most of my Sunday unpicking half of the white work I did down the middle.  I was out by 22 stitches!  Then I filled it back in to find I'd done it wrong again and spent Monday evening sorting that little pickle out.  I've nearly finished with colour number three.  To put it into perspective...

...This is only a quarter of the colours going in.  HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.  I may have just broken.

Have a lovely week everyone, I look forward to seeing your desks! xxx

WOYWW 210

Hello and welcome to another week of desk hopping, courtesy of our Julia.  You can join in the fun by going here.

This will be a painfully short blog today.  This is my desk this week...

Can you even see it?

This is a brand new design I'm making as a wedding present.  It will be a double portraiture and currently, I'm filling all the edging whitework.  Boring, sorry.

This means that all other cross stitches are currently on hold.  That includes Nathan's Diatoms.  It's going to be a tight squeeze as this new cross stitch is due to be gifted the day before Nathan's birthday.

In other news, two curtains have been unpicked and I am currently trying to source loose lavender locally.

That is it, I'm afraid.  Have a great week all! xxx

WOYWW 209

Hello everyone.

This is the 209th What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and I hope that you will join in with our weekly feast of blog hopping around other like minded and crafty peoples desk by clicking on this.

Firstly, I would like to thank my WOYWW 4 ATC partner, Kyla, for the beautiful butterfly ATC she sent me (at top of first photo) and to Fairy Thoughts, for thinking of me and giving me the lovely lace and button ATC, even though I wasn't able to give her one back.  THANK YOU GUYS!

The lovely ATC's from Kyla and Fairy Thoughts!

 My desk this week.  My mum works for Homebase and every couple of years they throw ou all of the demo display curtains.  They are single curtains and about half the width of a regular one.  The first time they threw them out, I salvaged the lot by ringing up friends to bring their cars to collect it all - all 100 of them!  This time though, I've been given six.  I unpick and keep the linings separate to reuse as lining, for embroidery or as practice fabric for my sewing machine.  I pln to use some of the top fabrics to make lavender bags with, as the fabric looks like real silk I think they'd look lovely with some lace wrapped around them.  The rest of my desk is a mess of cross stitch!

'Cat Pile' is coming along nicely.  The first page is now becoming a little more defined.  The black part is a cat's tail!

I'm sorry!  I've started on my Christmas card designs already!  Tee hee.

This is the Bartlett-Cobb baby sampler.  Can you guess what it is yet?!  Nah, didn't think so!

I've done nothing to Nathan's Diatoms piece this week as I had to reboot my computer which meant losing my place on the chart I had on my screen.  I'm now intending to print the chart out instead.

That's all from me - I hope you all have a lovely and productive week! x

WOYWW 208!!

Finally, the time has arrived - the 4th anniversary of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  I think I've been waiting for this for two months or something.  I'd like to suggest you take the time to check out the other workdesks available for perusal here.  Happy hopping!

So, my desk this week...

 One hot mess of cross stitch preparation.

 I've decided that as I'm not declaring what this is until it is completed (by which time, you'll be able to guess the subject matter for yourselves), it will, until that point, be named the Bartlett-Cobb sampler, after my friends surnames who are having the baby.

 'Cat Pile' is coming on.  The width of the work that you can see is just one of the 15 A4 charts that is part of the design.  Gah?!

Nathan's Diatoms are racing onwards.  Thanks to the bank holiday weekend.  I managed to get a record amount done to all the pieces.

I'll do my best to get round as many desks this week as possible. x

WOYWW 207

Hello and welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  This is where we all take a curious peak at other peoples work/craft desks.  It is good fun and you can join in here.

Well, this is what I have been up to this past week...

On the left is Nathan's Diatoms cross stitch.  I've done a fair bit to that this week, although I'd be guessing it's difficult to tell that.  I'm starting to doubt whether I'll get it done in time for his birthday in August.  May well end up as a Christmas present then.

The middle one is a birth sampler for my friend Fiona's baby, who is due in September.  I'm not saying what it is - it's a surprise and you'll have to check my desk every week to see how it gets on.

The one on the right is the Cat Pile cross stitch.  It has been started, at least.  If i'd been clever, I'd have stood back a bit so you could get a view as to how big that piece's Aida fabric is.

I was going to start another one for another friend's birthday (Nathan's mother, to be exact) but the design of a cat in amongst  mosaics and flowers comes out of a hardback book she bought me for Christmas and the picture isn't very clear.  It requires me to sit down with some square paper to knock up the pattern properly.  As I also want to turn it into a lavender bag, it's a project for the near future.

I hope you have enjoyed taking a look at my desk this week.  I intend to look at as many desks this week as possible.  Take care all of you!

XxX

WOYWW 206

It's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again.  For details, please see Ms. Julia's page.

My back appears to be getting better and I have started scaling back the codeine this week, although I took a double dose at lunchtime by accident (should have been a single dose) and spent the subsequent three hours effectively stoned.  I got a lot of work done, administered first aid and dealt with two complaints (not about me), so I don't think anyone notice.  Need to be more careful.

My desk this week:

To the left, don't know if I've mentioned this one before, but it's a cross stitch pattern a dear friend gave me for Christmas just gone.  It's called 'Cat Pile' and is a heavily Photoshopped picture of a number of different kinds of cat.  I don't think my friend read the specs, or more likely didn't know what she should look for as this pattern is 15 x A4 pages and after I converted the colours from Anchor to DMC, discovered it has 107 colours in it.  Yes, that's 107.  I feel it would be rude of me not to give it a go a she is a good friend and she did spend money on it.  Just don't expect it to be done anytime soon.  I envisage it as the background piece I pick up between projects.

Dan bout me two big Caramel bars, half of one has already been snaffled.

I started a felt bird tutorial on Sunday, which explains the green felt clippings and scissors.  The bird is roughly in the centre of the shot, near a small pile of stuffing.  It is terribly small and very fiddly, so I may make up a load for Chrimble prezzies

Nathan's Diatom cross stitch is still going, at the back of the shot.  I mentioned last week I was taking it on holiday with me to Mudeford to fill in some of the blackwork.  That went well for the first two days of the holiday, when I was in control of my embroidery skeins.  At the end of day two, I found my niece posting the black down a gap in the sun patio of the lodge we were staying at.  Thus ensued a quiet search for a Haberdashery to buy another one.  Ha ha ha - Haberdashery?  What's one of those then?  I obviously take the fact that I work in one for granted, because it seems that no one else has one.  We went to the one I'd heard of in Christchurch, but it had closed down.  I spotted a Bradbeers in New Milton as we drove through the town and made a mental note to stop on the way back and investigate it.  Plans were changed and I never got there, so I packed it away and got my book out instead.  Want a new and exciting book to read?  Get 'The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson out of your local library - it's the bomb! (snigger)

Work have just bought in a load of Decopatch stuff in and it's payday tomorrow and I wonder whether I have the will power to resist.  I will buy the tissue box at some point because I like giving useful gifts.

That's enough words.  See you next week:))) xxx

WOYWW 205

Hello everyone!

I have cheated a bit this week (sorry Julia!).  When this week's WOYWW happens, I shall be holidaying sans lappie and desk in (hopefully) sunny Mudeford.  So here's one I prepared a little earlier, and if Fairy Thoughts is able help me, she'll be posting this up for you all to see!

Last Wednesday, I went to a colleague's leaving do at a local eatery.  I was in such a hurry to seat myself in the far corner of our table area that I was practically running along the gap between bench and table before tripping up on the final table leg and in one neat motion, managed to twist myself firmly into my seat.  Unfortunately on the way down, I whacked my spine against the bench back.  Didn't think much of it until Thursday when I couldn't move.  Saw the doc on Friday.  She prescribed codeine and two days off.  In my codeine induced fuzz, I spent those two days doing this:

 It is a drug structure embroidery (of sorts).  You see, when I got home on the day the doc signed me off I went to drugbank dot com to see what pretty picture codeine looked like.  Then it occured to me that I could start embroidering these pictures.  So I decided to start with the A's.  So far in the whole picture, we can see Paracetemol, Acyclovir (in Zovirax for killing herpes virus), Allopurinol (cures gout), Alprazolam (treats anxiety), Amiodarone (heart medicine), Amitriptyline (anti-depressant), Amlodipine (improves blood flow in vessels), Amoxicillin (antibiotic) and Asprin has been marked up to do next but is already fading.

 This beastie is Paracetemol.

and this is the Acyclovir.

Strange project.  I don't know what I'm doing it for.  Maybe I'll make a wall hanging out of it or turn them into patches or something.  WHO KNOWS?!

In other news, Nathan's Diatoms cross stitch is packed up ready to go on holiday with me.  My goal is to fill in as much of the black work as possible while I'm away.  I am intending to do a fair amount of beach combing this week as I never get to do it.  I'm looking for sea glass mainly, as it is a lucrative business on Etsy and Ebay, but we'll have to see abut the state of my back and whether I can get down far enough to see what i'm doing.

If you leave me a comment, I shall endevour to reply to you and peek at your desk when I get back this Friday.

Enjoyed this blog?  There are others in the same vein of crafting here, have a scooch around looking at other fantastic craft desks, all courtesy of Ms.  Julia.

I do believe it's codeine o'clock already:)  Have a great week, everyone! xxx

WOYWW 204

Another chance to be nosy at other people's craft desks. You can join in here.

Short and sweet this week -

In a clockwise fashion - Magic roundabout birth sampler for my friend Charlotte who had a boy named Henry last week, a new unopened project waiting, a special cross stitch project and Nathan's Diatoms cross stitch continues.

Thank you for visiting.  If you leave a comment, i will visit you!  Have a great week! x

WOYWW 203

My first time back in weeks, it's time for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  You can join in by clicking this link.

Here is my desk this week -

Two weeks ago, we had to have our cat Guinness put down.  She was diabetic and we'd rescued her and her sister, Taz, from my Dad who wasn't looking after them properly.  I gave Guinness a happy and loving last two weeks and miss her character enormously.  The vet and I decided to start her on insulin on Sunday morning two weeks ago as it was my day off and I'd be able to watch her like a hawk.  She was good as gold, no problems.  I went to work on Monday and got a panicked call from OH at lunchtime saying Guinny was limp and flailing around on the bathroom floor - she was having a diabetic seizure.  He rushed her to the vet, where I met him and I had to make the terrible decision to put her down as she had fully slipped into a diabetic coma by that point and the vet agreed it was fair as she was 14 an showing signs of liver damage, possibly bought on by years of untreated diabetes.

I am at peace with my decision now but as you can see from my desk, have completely thrown myself into my crafts.  I got out of my maudlin mood by making a felt brooch of Guinness's face taken from a photo, complete with whiskers! There is a very old tshirt belonging to OH that I have to sew the neck line back together, fix a hole in the armpit and patch a number of moth holes.  He refuses to believe it's had it.

Since I sold a batch of fused plastic bags to a lady in New Zealand last week, I've been experimenting fusing together different kinds of plastic and cutting discs and squares out of it.  There was a lot of interest in the bags so am thinking of opening yet another Etsy shop to cater for it.

There are cotton spools, scissors, repair tape and glue, a photo album my sister gave me for my 30th a couple of years ago made in the style of This Is Your Life and opened to a picture of Guinny and Taz when they were much younger.  Guinness has her arm around Taz, I love it!

I'm waiting for a friend to give birth this week so I can finish baby's nursery sampler.  Another friend has just announced she's expecting so am plotting the next one.  I've also got a leaving present and birthday present to magic out of thin air too:)

So sorry for the long post.  I hope life is treating you all well and see you next week:) x

WOYWW 199

Hello all!

Welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday!  This is where you can peek at crafty (and less so) desks on the interwebs.  You can take part in it here, and you'll find info on how to take part there too.

I have a confession to make.  I'm really sorry, Julia, but there is no picture of my craft desk this week.  If you read my last WOYWW post, you'll know that OH and I were about to take on the big responsibility of rescuing my two family cats from my dad.  In a way, it has been my project this week.

I would like you to meet Guinness (or Guinnyminns):

 Guinness is 14 years old.  My dad fed her nothing but biscuits for those 14 years and now she has diabetes. Way-to-go Dad.

Now I'd like you to meet Guinny's sister, Taz (or Tazzy-toodles)

Taz is also 14, and a complete picture of health.

OH and I rescued them last Saturday night.  I'd taken Guinness to the vet for a complete M.O.T. with blood and urine tests and was presented with a diagnosis of Diabetes.  I then spent the end of the week in bits wracked with making a decision between putting her down, or trialling her on insulin.  I chose to trial her on Insulin for three months.  I am in the process of changing her diet to a cat meat high in fibre, low in carbs and fat and have had an absolute nightmare trying to find a cat food that doesn't list meat derivatives as it's first ingredient.  I've also come to the conclusion that vets in general are rip-off merchants, thanks in part to the rules and regulations of the E.U..  So far, I've spent a whopping £150 on her for just one appointment!

The plan now, is another appointment to show me how to inject her twice a day and manage her glucose levels, then in three weeks, she gets to spend 24 hrs at the vets being monitored and glucose tested 5 times to the tune of another £150.

Taz was showing signs of separation anxiety and  didn't like OH quite openly, but they seem to be getting on now and she seems to be eating her food better and is using the litter tray, so I'm not so worried now.

It is truly lovely having them around.  Knowing they are depending on me has given me a purpose in life that I have been lacking.

Thank you for coming to have a look today, and sorry Julia, for the long post.  Back to ordinary crafting again next week - I promise!

xxx

WOYWW 198

Hello again friends.  Sorry this has been put together a bit late in the day, but at least I got here at all.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday is a weekly look at other crafty minded folk's work desks.  To join in the fun, have a look at Ms. Julia's blog here to take part.

My desk this week:

Here we have  the Diatom cross stitch attatched to a stand lent to me by Fairy Thoughts.  It's brilliant and I want one of my own now.  To the left of that are two Christmas cards with birds that have been painted by kids.  Chck out the robin Cuthulu-style card.  to the right, there is a black bag of ribbon, more of which in a minute.  Below that is a pile of my cherished postcards I got when I was an avid postcrosser. My decimated ribbon box, and a lot of other random rubbish!

There is so much going on here this week.  The dining room table is still unchanged from the previous week's photo.  I'm hoping to get all the items we're not keeping onto Freecycle just as soon as OH gives the signal.  However, I have finally just managed to load all the crappy items from Grannys into the back of OH's car in anticipation of a trip to the tip tomorrow.

****News Flash!****

I am proud to announce that we are getting two new additions to our family this weekend.  My dad is no longer able to carry on looking after the family cats, so on Saturday I will be collecting Guinness and Taz and will hopefully be able to provide a clean, loving home for them to live out their days in.  So excited!

Thank you for popping by to have a look.  If you leave a comment, I will be sure to check out your desk!  xxx

WOYWW 197

Hello all, and welcome to another week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  To have a look at other desks, visit Ms. Julia's blog at Stamping Ground.

This week, I have two desks to show you, the greedy swine that I am!

This is my regular desk:

On the left is a cross stitch I'm doing for my friend Matthew, who turns 40 this weekend.  I ditched the original tree pattern I was going to make as it would have taken too long.  I'l be making that for my friend Naomi's 30th birthday in May, so I've got a bit of time to go on that.  I wanted to spell his birthday out in Roman numerals and chanced upon the Latin for Happy Birthday, so with a bit of luck, it should end up reading:

FELIX NATALIS 

XVI 

III 

MCMLXXIII

XL

Or...

Happy Birthday

16th

March

1973

40

I have started on this year's Christmas cards.  Nathans Diatom cross stitch is coming along nicely at week 3.

This is my dining room table this week:

OH and I are starting the ridiculous process of clearing his Granny's trailer so we can move her closer to us as she is on her own miles from any family, at the age of 88.  This picture shows all the salvaged and cleaned items found in her kitchen.  Our job now is to decide what we're keeping and what's getting divvied up between friends/Ebay/Facebay/Freecycle and charity shops.  Out of shot are boxes of metal, plastic, glass, wood and pottery items that are heading straight to the tip as they have all cooked their last.

Exciting times!  We're going back to Granny's this Thursday for more stuff, so there may well be another table shot next week.  Stay tuned folks.

Thanks for popping by, and sorry for the long post! xxx

WOYWW 196

Hello all:)

Get nosing at other crafty desks here at Stamping Ground, where Ms. Julia hosts the best blog hop in the interwebs.

My desk this week:)

On my desk this week:
1.)  More progress with the diatom cross stitch.
2.)  I got an invite to go to a friend's 40th birthday in two weeks and stupidly thought I could get a cross stitched tree done in that time.  I have since given up on giving it to him, but will carry on with it whenever Diatoms bothers me (mainly after unpicking sessions, like just now.).
3.)  Ongoing project since October has been to collect many pieces of baking paraphenalia for my mum's birthday at the end of this week.  I found the box in a local card shop, bought brightly coloured packs of tissue and raided my ribbon box.  There is A History Of Cake book, glitter candles, various cake casings, edible gold lustre, an elephant shaped cookie cutter, coloured royal icing, sugarcraft bees sat on flowers, neon coloured sugar crystals, edible petals, a pen that writes in chocolate and other stuff I packed long ago and have forgotten about.  I'll be making her a card to go with it at some point this week.

That's all folks!  See you next week:)

WOYWW 195

Hello everyone:)

Come and have a peek at all the lovely and creative desks on Ms. Julia's blog this week!

Sorry I couldn't make it last week, I've mislaid my camera charger.  I borrowed another one so I can keep up with this weekly blog hop.

My desk this week:

 This picture shows cough sweets and gum in top left corner, three postcards OH has sent me from Sweden, the new cross stitch and bottlecaps on the right that are destined to be taken to work for recycling.

I've not got a lot done yet.  It is called Diatoms and is a birthday present for my friend Nathan.  He is training to get his doctorate in Marine Biology and Conservation and posted the picture I got the design from on his Facebook page.  I made a chart from it and here we are.  It's on white 22ct Aida, which is turning me blind. Am actually thinking about investing in one of those around the neck magnifying glass things. His birthday isn't until August, but I'm already getting nervous by the scale of it.  Well, if it doesn't get done in time, he can have it for Christmas!

Thanks for coming to peek at my desk.  I hope you will go peeking at other desks too!  have a great week:))

WOYWW 193

It What's O Your Work-desk Week again and it's week 193.  It's your opportunity to have a look at the work desks of the crafty minded, and you can do so by going here.

Here is my desk this week:

The white expanse at the back is half a metre of 6 count Aida, waiting for the Minecraft pictures i'll be stitching on it.  Was going to start today but turns out my cross stitch pattern software has left my pooter and I'll have to download it again.

I got two books out of the library.  Techno Textiles is astonishing and is jam packed full of technological fabrics like Kevlar, Neoprene, astronaut suit fabrics, etc and is also full of pictures of brightly coloured and highly textured textiles.  I like to get inspiration from it.  The other book is Fleece Dolls and inspired me to get two dolls I made years ago out again.  When I can get some fleece, I'm trying out some of the designs.

The Diatom cross stitch for Nathan's birthday is carrying on apace.  I am currently working the perimeter of the piece and have had to baste the edges to try and halt the disintegration of the fabric.

My colleague Fairy Thoughts and I have decided to pack in the chocolate for Lent, which starts today.  I have also decided to pack in the fizzy pop, crisps, biscuits, cake and sweets and intend to throw myself into my crafting for that time, so hope to get more work done than I have done lately.  Hopefully the increase in crafting with replace the lack of sugar and results should be seen.  We'll see!

Go and be a nosey peep and take a look at the other desks! x

WOYWW 192

It's Wer-wer-wer-Wednesday!  Time to start looking at other crafters work spaces for inspiration at Stamping Ground, courtesy of Ms. Julia.

My desk this week...

What a mess - about four projects on the go.  Nothing new then.  Got the book out of the library.  It's really good, but covers too many bases.  Think I just want a modern needlecraft book.  Cough sweets for my sore throat. Still going with the Christmas labels as received too more bags of Christmas cards last week.  IT WILL NEVER END.  Lollipops are obviously for my sore throat.  New cross stitch for  friend's birthday in August.  Will be slow going because upon realising I didn't have any 14ct Aida left in the right size, I opted for the 22ct i had so I could get on with it.  It will look ace, but my eyes are unhappy by the smallness of it all.

Due to a very successful birthday party for OH this weekend just gone, I am starting to think about mine, even though it isn't until August.  I want to make fabric invitations and have a tutorial informing me what I should do.  That's why the felt is out, although I now think I will opt for a cotton fabric instead.  Time to save up for interfacing, vol-au-vents and fabric, which I can do soon as I am neither paying to have my washing machine fixed (my sister offered us hers) or buying OH flights to Sweden (OH's best friend is doing that instead).  Winner.

To those who have enquired, this is what my face looks like most of the time...sat in my little corner of Narnia, naturally.

Go and have a look at other peoples desks now - thank you for looking at mine! xxx