WOYWW -

Hello lovely reader, welcome to my 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday' blog post - a place where I share with you a piccie of my workdesk and a recap of what I've been up to in my world of textile art.

Here it is; the desk today...

There's a few bits for a commissioned piece I'm working on, a couple of finished pieces ready to mount and then loads of part-finished hand-embroidered bookmarks. I think I might need a finishing day! I also have a growing pile called 'not sure this idea worked' - attempts at new ideas which I really don't love. Does anyone else suffer with this when trying new ideas?

My desk hasn't seen any action today, however, as it's my birthday and I was determined to get out there and enjoy the sunshine with my little man. We had lunch with mum (Twiglet) and when 'im indoors' got home from work we went out for tea at our favourite tapas place. There...no room for needlefelting today!

But I have been a busy bee this week so can spare myself a day off. This week I've had a photo shoot for my pansy brooch project, which I am making into a step-by-step guide for my courses and an article for an online publication later in the year. I produced the brooch in real time while my in-house photographer  (a.k.a Dad) took some brilliant close-up photos of each stage of the process.

The shoot set up

My snap of the finished brooch

Right, that's all from me today. There's a pile of birthday brownies with my name on it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting,

Max x

WOYWW - A flock of dumflings...or maybe a herd???

You've heard of a parliament of owls and a murder of crows, right? Well which word would you suggest for a collective noun for dumflings? I have quite a hoard sat on my workdesk today.

They're migratory dumflings, mind you. They started their life on the sofa (I've been sat most evenings with the hand dumfer watching TV) but they're now grazing on my workdesk waiting to be mounted and framed.

I'm swiftly replenishing my stock, having dropped a selection of my work in at a lovely shop in Hednesford last week.

Also flying off to pastures new this week were these hand-embroidered pictures for two special little girls who turned one this week.

The pictures have been produced using a combination of applique, blanket stitch and running stitch.

Hopefully they'll add some hand-crafted charm to their bedrooms or playrooms.

That's all from Tilly Tea Dance Towers today, the supermarket shopping calls! Thanks for stopping by, I'll swing by some desks later today. If you have arrived at my blog by happy accident and would like to know more about What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground.

Happy crafting x

WOYWW - A very special birthday card

Morning all! A very quiet workdesk awaits you all this morning. Yesterday was Ben's birthday and we had his party at the weekend so very little sewing has been on the go this week

I have found time to make a special first birthday card - hungry caterpillar themed of course.

Ben seemed pleased with it anyway.

On my desk this morning I have threads, felt and buttons ready to make another girlie birthday picture for Ben's bestie, Isabelle, who turns one at the weekend, rounding off a long run of first birthdays.

That's all for my crafting this week so I'll round off with some pictures from Ben's party (you can see the bunting, pompoms and cake I made him and nanny Twiglet's banner)  and from his birthday trip to Home Farm, the farm which once supplied Attingham Park (now National Trust). Ben enjoyed his first encounter with piglets, sheep and calves.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll swing by some WOYWW workdesks later today to catch up on your news.

Happy crafting :-)

WOYWW - Deck the Halls with...Hungry Caterpillars

Welcome to another What's on your Workdesk Wednesday!

With only three days left until Ben's birthday party my desk has been taken over by all things hungry caterpillar!

I've made bunting and pom poms to decorate the party pad (a.k.a Nanny and Grandad's house). I've done triangular bunting, rectangular bunting and chevron shaped bunting. I am now suffering from bunting maker's finger. What is this hideous blight I hear you say???! Well it is when you chop away so furiously with stiff pinking sheers that you wear a layer of skin off the middle finger of your right hand. Mum blames it on me being a left-hander!

Nanny (Twiglet) has made a fab banner which she is no doubt showcasing over on her blog.

Not much dumfing (needle-felting) has happened this week. I've mainly been trying to find mounts and frames for my latest work.

As anticipated, virtually none of my mounts and frames fit the pictures I've dumfed!! The difficulty is that dumfing and free-machine embroidery both tend to make a piece of work shrink, so what you start with is not what you finish up with! I think I need another sortie to Ikea to track down some suitable frames...

Once mounted, all my new pieces will be going into my Etsy shop.

It's a short but sweet post this week, lots more birthday bits and bobs to finish. Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I'll hopefully swing by some other WOYWWers today too.

Happy crafting x

WOYWW - Birthday preparations

So we're back from our week away in Cornwall and my mind is now firmly fixed on the little man's first birthday,  looming large in just four weeks time. Before the big day however there are more first birthdays among his little friends so I've been busy making birthday presents for them too.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Perranporth, but as there wasn't time to get up to any stitchery, I've enjoyed getting on with some sewing projects on my return.

So here's my workdesk. . .

Currently in progress on my workdesk is the birthday collage I have made for him. I have used the collage for the invitations to his birthday tea party and I'm pleased enough with the finished product to mount it up for Ben's bedroom wall. I thought it would make a nice annual tradition to produce a collage for him.

Here's how I used the collage to print pictures for the invitations we have sent to Ben's twelve little friends...

Also on my workdesk is another couple of treasure hunt toys I am making as birthday gifts. Ben seems to enjoy shaking his and looking at the different charms. He is already able to recognise and point to a number of the charms so it must have some developmental value!

I've raided mum's stash of beads, buttons and card toppers and I'm now running low on charms to put in the toys. If you have any suggestions of very cheap sources of 3D shapes (animals etc) about 1-2cm / half an inch, please share them. The pound shops of Shrewsbury have so far proven fruitless!

My final workdesk feature is a handful of needle-felting backgrounds ready to work on. I found them as I was clearing some space in my sewing cupboard for all my busy book materials and thought it's high time I got my head round some needle-felting again.

I'll round off with a collage from my little man's first holiday...

Thanks for stopping by. If you've landed here by happy accident and are wondering what WOYWW (what's on your workdesk Wednesday) is all about, drop by Julia's Stamping Ground to meet a fab gang of crafters from across the globe.

Have a lovely week, happy crafting x

WOYWW - treasure hunt

It's just a quick post this Wednesday as I'm up to my ears in packing for our Cornwall holiday. I've not been very busy with my sewing this week so here's a whistle-stop tour of my workdesk...

The little man's first birthday is looming large just a few weeks away so I'm working on a birthday picture. His birthday teaparty will be hungry caterpillar themed and I plan to use photographs of the finished picture for the invitations he'll send to his twelve little friends. If it's any good when I've finished it I might frame the picture for his wall.

Also on my workdesk is the finished 'treasure hunt' toy I've made to occupy Ben on the ride down to Cornwall.

I've used some clear plastic (like table cloth) to make a little pouch which I filled with plastic pellets and ten little charms including a ladybird, butterfly and duck. Ben is getting good at recognising and pointing to 'red spotty ladybird' in his favourite books so hopefully he'll enjoy hunting for it in this toy too.

So it's been a frenzy of last minute packing for me, but we've not all been so busy. I think someone has already got into the holiday spirit with a bit of 'mañana' time...

That's all for now folks...I must get on with scaling the Mont Blanc of ironing! I'll try to drop by some desks at nap time and catch up with some of the lovely crafters via Julia's Stamping Ground :-)

Happy crafting x

WOYWW - birthday girls!

It's another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and this week...not a busy book in sight! I've still been busy with the project this week but just the boring bits like ironing huge lengths of bias binding.

This week has been all about birthdays. Ben's besties are all nearly one so I've been busy making very special first birthday cards. But that's not the only birthday activity this week and Ben has got in on the act helping me to make a birthday card for his Daddy.

So here's my workdesk...

The cards in the foreground are my hand embroidered cards for Gracie and Ligeia, two of Ben's favourite girls. I wanted to make something that their mums will like to keep as a memento of their first babies' first birthdays.

Having been a life-long loather of hand-embroidery, I've only recently found the love. I've used a variety of stitches in this design.

Those of you who are familiar with my previous WOYWW posts might recognise the butterfly as the twin of one I have embroidered in Ben's busy book. I loved it so much and it was the thing that inspired these cards in the first place.

Also on my workdesk is the birthday card we made for my husband. We love daddy very much. He's a hard worker and our super hero. It's just a bit of fun and I thought that any papercrafters reading this might have a giggle at its juvenile charm!! ;-)

If you've landed on this page wondering what in the world WOYWW is all about, hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to find out and catch up with a whole gang of fab crafters!

I'll drop in to as many desks as I can, thanks for stopping by!

Happy crafting :-)