What's On Your Workdesks Wednesday - WOYWW Week 387

Hello WOYWWers and All,

Greetings from a very cold, only 1°C this morning, but bright and sunny day here in Ayrshire. A perfect day for staying cosy indoors and just admiring the fabulous autumnal colour in the trees that can be seen from my craft room window. Which brings me to the point of this blog - my desk and our weekly visit to the Stamping Ground, to link up with our Head Desker, Julia; taking the opportunity to see what both she and a whole lot of other crafters have on their desks to today.

And here's the desk. It's all Christmas themed. A pile of new stash bought at the show at the SECC on Saturday has galvanized me into action ... there's nothing more stimulating than new stash, don't you think? There's the trees in the background, behind the mountain of card scraps. In front of that is a pile of card waiting to be used, well some of it anyway, in cards. 

Here's another view ... one that shows all the stuff I keep on my desk most of the time.That's a bunch of toppers made using stencils, inks, waxes, and glitter paste. Messy, really messy, but an awful lot of fun!

That's the desk this week, only the one - the sewing table is little changed from last week. 

I teased earlier with a mention of new stash and I'm sure you would want to see it so here's a few photos.

Templates, Embossing Folders and Palette Knives

Sewing related goodies - the white stuff is wash away web for machine embroidery

Our fellow desker, Annie, aka Wipso, of a Stitch In Time makes the most beautiful memory bears so when I spotted the pattern I was delighted and just had to buy it. I vowed that I wouldn't buy any more fabric but I just could not resist the pink floral - at only £2 it was a bargain. My daughter, charged to keep me on track, joked that she would let me off this time :)

Apologies to Julia but here's a few more photos from the SECC. 

A Christmas cushion that took my eye - as did all those lovely fat quarters behind.

Teeny weeny guitars based on those played by just about every guitarist you can name.

 

A beautiful silk painted panel created by the Scottish Branch , Guild of Silk Painters to - apologies that the photo isn't the best, there's a good close-up on the Guild's website.

This brightly illustrated van actually driven into the hall - saves transporting a huge stock of pens from the car park!

 And finally, the Wincher's Stance, found inside the Buchanan Street bus station terminal buiding in Glasgow on the way to the SECC. The name of this bronze sculpture comes from the local slang word for kissing or courting, “winching.” It shows a very touching scene of two young lovers meeting again after being apart for some time and separated by many miles. The aptly named sculptor is John Clinch.

There's even a tear of joy rolling down the young woman’s cheek.

Once again I apologise to Julia for such a photo heavy post. I hope I'm forgiven this week. I'll try to be good next week.

Take care everyone and have a very happy WOY.

Friday Smiles

Morning Smilers,

It's been an incredibly busy week at Chez Worthington. Out on Tuesday, new floor laid Wednesday morning, vet's appointment in the afternoon, and out all day at the Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts Show in Glasgow with my daughter yesterday. The result of all this gadding about is that I have loads of photos to choose from for Annie's Friday Smiles.

First up is a photo of my great-granddaughter, Rhian, all smiles after her wee operation to remove a bead that 'just fell into' her ear.

It proved to be a wee bit more difficult to remove than the average foreign body stuck in an ear. Despite trying various methods and instruments known to do the job it wouldn't budge and Rhian got more and more distressed so it was decided it was best that she was admitted to hospital to have it removed under general anaesthetic. The op was a success and, as you can see, she came through the ordeal with a big smile on her face.

Next, a few of photos from our trip to the show yesterday.

To give an idea of how tall this giant medieval lady, part of an amazing knitted display, here's daughter, Juli, standing beside alongside. Juli is about 5' tall so I reckon medieval woman is at least 8'.

Just about everything you see is knitted, even the leaves and the tent!

I just had to take this shot of Juli struggling to find a bag in her bag. We had a giggle at how difficult it was proving to be. Here in Scotland, since the bag charge was introduced in 2014, we're well practiced at carrying a stash of bags wherever we go, just in case, but it can be quite a struggle to release them from captivity :)

Finally, not a joke this week but a sentiment that really appealed to me.

We met a lot of lovely people in Glasgow yesterday, from the two delightful ladies who shared our taxi to the SECC, to the very interesting and interested and informative women who were responsible for the fabulous displays of quilts and embroideries, to the traders who were very happy to help us with our purchases, to the lovely lady who was sitting beside me while we ate lunch, and I can say without reservation they all 'had hearts like dogs'!

We're off on another trip out today. This time through the lovely hills and dales of Galloway. Despite the snow that's happening elsewhere in the UK, the weather is on our side here so I think it will be a lovely day.

Wishing you all a very smiley weekend.

WOYWW - Week 249 ... the one with the craft show

Morning WOYWWers, Followers, Friends ... Bloggers Everywhere,

So it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again and what have I got to reveal to the head of workdesks, Julia, and all, nothing, zilch, nada ... not a thing! Why? Because there's not a lot going on craftwise right now ... too many distractions, e.g. the sun, the garden and craft shows, to name a few. So, to compensate, I thought I'd show you the pics from last week's Creative Stitches and Hobby Crafts show at the SECC in Glasgow. The following is heavy on photos but short on words :)

First up a shot of my daughter, Juli, making a beeline for a fabric and haberdashery stall.

Spoiled for choice! So many fabulous trims: needless to say we both found a selection to bring home :)

Next is a series of photos taken of the Craftwell Village ... a wonderful knitted and crocheted project that attracted a lot of attention.

Even the flowers and vegetables were knitted. The neat vegetable gardens are a credit to the residents :)

We were just in time to see a newly wed couple having their photos taken. And the attention to detail was amazing, even down to the stones in the graveyard.

The village had everything, including a train station and an outdoor market.

And on the outskirts the farm where there was even a farmer bringing in the hay.

While we were sitting down for our lunch we were treated to a fashion show.

Unfortunately, I was so enthralled I forgot to take out the camera so missed taking photos of the fabulous Snow Queen and the wonderful Frog Prince and the Princess ... sorry!

There was some wonderful embroideries and quilting on show but because of the many 'No Photographs' signs I have few pics of the inspirational work on display.

However not everything had a photo ban, here's just a few shots taken of fabulous display portraying The Seasons - one of those displays where the more you looked the more there was to see!

Similarly, the Myths and Legends display had us mesmerised!

And at one of the fabric stalls, every little girl's dream, tutus and concoctions made of ribbon - delightful :)

And finally, my haul. Top left - lovely pieces of yummy fabric, a desktop ironing pad and some batting/wadding; top right - the trims, bias binding and ribbons were irresistible (the buttons were thrown in as a freebie); bottom Clarity stencils, some tiny doilies, and lots of Pinflair goodies - several Gentle Blends, the sponge applicators and lots of adhesives, including a bottle of, new to me, Temporary Stick Stencil Glue ... I can see this being invaluable for holding masks and stencils in place, something I struggle to do.

Please let it be noted, not one piece of pretty patterned paper or cardstock, no matter how temptingly gorgeous, made its way into my basket ... still staying true to my goal of using up the stash I already have!

That's me done ... a longer post than Julia would like I guess, but nevertheless I hope you found the pics interesting.

I plan to visit as many of you as I can and, in the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful WOYWW.

Happy Crafting,

Glasgow Craft Show Haul ...

... so many crafty goodies ...

... and only so much time. Had a great few hours wandering round the stands ... my DH actually found a few demos to interest him too :) For example he was fascinated by what you can do with a glue gun ... apart from the usual, that is. At the Dremel stand we watched a young woman show us how to make spider webs with a gun and a stick of glitter glue - so a pack of mixed colours had to come home with us.

There was many of our favourite stands there but a noticeable few were missing. Barbara Gray, ClarityStamp, was there as usual and I did enjoy getting in close and watching her make one of her lovely scenes using the Scottish castle on an adhesive sheet and coloured with Perfect Pearls. Pinflair, Crafter's Companion, My Craft Studio, Samuel Taylors, Lili  of the Valley, to name but a few, were all there ... Lavinia Stamps and Inkylicious were there too but I somehow missed the stands ... spent so much time watching those demos and just ran out of time.

Came home absolutely exhausted but I did manage to tick of a good few items on my list of needs/wants, e.g. the glue gel, red adhesive tape, iridescent glitter (several gorgeous new colours), charms, gems, TH ink pads. And, of course, I was tempted by a few things not on the list, in particular the DCWV  Vintage Stack 12"x12" paper which is absolutely stunning, many of the sheets are flittered  and embossed and totally irresistable. And, I wouldn't be true to form if I didn't buy some ribbon, this time some gorgeous BoBunny Christmas ribbon. Not in the shot is the My Craft Studio CD-ROM, Tinkering with Steampunk - looking forward to making good use of that.

Sorry for the lack of photographs of the show, I did take my camera with the intention of clicking away, but in the excitement completely forgot to use it. However, I did take a few snaps in George Square, which we passed through on our way down to the SECC where the show was held, and I thought you might like to see a few, especially the first one. It's a bike taxi ... never thought I'd see one of these in Scotland!!

Glasgow has a mix of old and new architecture and some of the old buildings are beautiful.

And here's a shot of the Christmas lights - they are impressive enough in daylight but they must look fabulous all lit up at night.

And just look at that blue, blue sky ... after all the rain and storms we've had over the last month or two this is a very welcome sight :)

Needless to say, I overdid it somewhat by going to the show, paid for it in more ways than one, which necessitated some rest and recuperation ... but I'm over it and raring to go again.

In the meantime, I hope you've all had a great weekend and been happily crafting away.