What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 616

 Hello Everyone,

It's WOYWW time again and, as usual, I'm late. There always seems to be so much in the way of domestic duties keeping me from my workdesk that I have very little to report. Except that is, for the EM's latest escapade - more of that later - and my fall from grace, evidence of which was on my desk this morning - I've cleared it now to make way for the keyboard.

Not a great photo because the sun is streaming through the window but I'm not complaining - we need the sun, even if it does show all the dusty corners. You may recall I stated, more than once recently, that I was on a craft spending freeze. Well ... this week I well and truly fell out of that particular wagon! 

Here's a better shot of this little beauty. I can justify buying this, not because it is pink ... I'm not even a pink kinda girl ... but because it is intended solely for sewing on cardstock and/or paper, thereby saving the life of my super dooper, all-singing-all-dancing, computerised machine which cost a mint and should not, definitely should not, be used to sew on to scrapbook pages. It is also extremely lightweight so perfect for taking on holiday and on crops ... whenever that bright day comes again. 

I've put it through it's paces and it performs very well. For a machine that's at the bottom end of the price range it's not bad at all with 10 stitch settings plus two for buttonhole making. It's set it up on the side counter ready to be used whenever needed - perfect!

These trolley accessories just happened to jump into my basket too! As they say around here, 'it wisnae me' ... I had absolutely nothing to do with how my fingers kept slipping while that basket was open. 

And now, I hinted that I'd expand on what has been going on this week here at Casa Worthington so here's the gossip. The EM took a tumble on Friday morning, wrenched his right shoulder and suffered cuts and abrasions ... get me with the medical terminology! The ambulance took him to A&E where he was x-rayed and had the cut on his right hand stitched up. Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to be with him so he was brought home by the loveliest team of Red Cross ladies you'd ever meet.

Not the best pic ever, it was early evening by the time he got home. He's been the worst patient ever ... very intent on carrying on as if all is normal so, consequently, the wound is still bleeding. It doesn't help that because of his heart condition he is on blood thinning medication, but he does need to take things easy and guard that hand. Happily, he has an appointment with our practice nurse this afternoon and I'm hoping she will read him the riot act. There's never a dull moment with the EM!!!

And finally:

Very apt.

And have a great week too. 

Sewing - Crazy Patchwork Needlecase

Hi Everyone,

I have a really quick share today.

I've been working on this needlecase for some time. The cover is crazy patchwork sewn with hand embroidery. The cover is made from patches from a variety of ditsy printed cotton fabric and embroidery stitches - chain stitch, cross stitch, herringbone, lazy daisies, etc. I used two colours of DMC floss in shades of wine and pink.

Instead of cutting the felt inner with pinking shears, I machined a pretty scalloped stitch down the edges, using a pink rayon thread (40wt Wonderfil),  and trimmed the excess fabric away. Another decorative stitch was used to sew the felt inner to the cotton lining. 

The ribbon tie was machine stitched to the centre of the cover.  

The ribbon tie was also machine stitched to the centre of the patchwork cover. To finish the needlecase I sewed the lining to the cover.

The cover took the longest to make - all that hand stitching - but once that was done it just took minutes to complete. I'm planning to make a few more but I won't be doing hand embroidery - giving my hands a rest - instead I'll use some of the many decorative stitches on my sewing machine. In the meantime, this one will take pride of place in my embroidery box.

Take care and stay safe everyone.

And Happy Crafting,

Sewing Project - Jelly Roll Table Runner

Afternoon Everyone,

Having just spent the morning dodging men laying new flooring down on our hall and landing, I've finally made it into the craft room. I should have followed The Boss' example ... she escaped to this haven of peace and tranquility and ignored all the disruption going on around her as soon as the floor layers arrived.

I finally finished the table runner I've been working on for quite some time. Although it had me pulling my hair out to begin with until I worked out exactly how to approach the sewing of it, I'm happy to report that the result is not too bad.

And it does look lovely on our dining table.

The supplies used included heatproof wadding (batting), lining and several strips from a bright and cheerfully patterned cotton jelly roll called Tweet Town.

I experimented with machine embroidering some detail on just a few of the plainer patterned strips.

Making this project proved to be quite a learning curve and think I'd tackle the next one I make differently. For this one I used the quilt-as-you-go technique but I think this method did not suit the wadding used. Next time I will sew the strips together first before creating the sandwich of top, wadding and backing, and then do the quilting.

I hope you are all having a great day.

Tartan Flower Applique Tote Bag

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I hope you are well and having a wonderful weekend.

Today's share is the appliqued tote bag you may have spotted in this week's WOYWW post. It's taken me some time but it's finally finished and ready to sent to my wee sister ... she doesn't read my blog so no worries about spoiling the surprise :)

This was my first serious attempt at free motion embroidery. Not easy! My hands got so sore and cramped up that I had to sew in short bursts. I believe that wearing special quilters' gloves would take some of the strain so I plan to acquire a pair before I try this method of sewing again. And there's no possibility of me trying it on something as large as a quilt - ever!

Supplies used:

The plain calico tote bag was purchased in a pack of ten from Amazon. The cost worked out at about 66p each ... that's approximately 96 cents in US currency at the time of writing. Before attaching the applique, I unpicked the side seams to make it easier for sewing.

The flower and butterfly shapes were first cut out of Bondaweb, an iron-on transfer adhesive, using Dies from X-Cut's Bloom and Butterflies sets and my Cuttlebug die-cutting machine. The Bondaweb needs to be passed through the machine several times to persuade the dies to cut it and even then I still had to snip stubborn areas with scissors to release the shapes. However, this method is still quicker than the alternative which is to trace around the shapes and then cut them all by hand.

The next step which is to iron the shapes on to the reverse of the fabric. The tartan fabric used is from a pack of fat quarters bought from Create and Craft. There was no easy way to cut the fabric shapes out - it all had to be done by hand, cutting around the ironed on shapes. That done, the shapes were arranged on the front of the bag and then ironed in place. I also cut some strips of dark green tartan for the 'stems' and fixed them in place with Stick and Spray for Fabric.

Next came the 'fun' part - the free-motion sewing. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be precise and the result doesn't bear too close inspection, but in the interest of honesty here's a close-up.

The final step was to sew up the sides of the bag and press. Job done!

Things I learnt from the project apart from the fact that I might benefit from those quilters' gloves. Well, use good quality thread. Because this was very much a practice piece, I used cheap, thin, old black thread. Not a good idea. It snapped several times making the experience more frustrating than it needed to be. Oh, and be careful when giving butterflies antennae ... it's so easy to get them wrong!

Otherwise, the bag didn't turn out too bad. Now that the law requires large shops/supermarkets in England to charge 5p (about 7 cents)  for all plastic carrier bags I thought my sister, who lives in London, could do with a tote to pop in her bag for when she is shopping. I think the tartan will remind her of home.

We had our 16 year old grandson over yesterday to help us lift the carpet from the hall and landing ready for when new flooring is fitted next week. Needless to say, he made very short work of it ...oh, to be that young and fit again!

It's amazing what you find hiding in an old house ... this one is over over 60 years old. There was cheap laminate under the hall carpet and that had to come up too. Under that is beautifully polished floor boards. Upstairs on the landing it's not quite so beautiful. There's a strip of bare floor boards up the centre where, presumably, a carpet runner had been laid, and the edges have been painted red, then white, at some point in the past. Still, I rather like those polished floor boards in the hall. So much so, I'm thinking it might be a shame to cover them up again ... decisions, decisions!

It's a really nasty day here. I've come to the conclusion that one thing the west of Scotland does well is ... rain. We've only had one sunny days in weeks and I hear there's another storm on it's way. I'm feeling miserable! To cheer me up the EM is taking me out to the garden centre this afternoon. There we will treat ourselves to a delicious scone and a really good cup of coffee.

Hope you have a lovely afternoon too.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW Wk 348

Hi to you all ...

... from a very sunny Ayrshire!

A perfect day to join in and show what's on my desk for Julia over at the Stamping Ground.

I was going to draw down the blind but then thought, no, you might prefer to see that rare ray of sunshine hitting my desk. Out today is a bunch of photos of The Boss together with some cat themed papers, ribbons, washi tape and coordinating buttons. I take tons of photos of herself but rarely get around to creating any layouts with them so I've decided the time has come! Just to the side, out of shot but not forgotten, is the Christmas album ... it's there as a thorn in my side to make sure I complete it this year!!!

On the other desk I'm making some advance on the tartan applique you might recall I started a couple of weeks ago. This is my first serious attempt at free motion sewing and it's a lot more difficult than the experts make it look, sigh. However, just a couple of small flowers and butterflies to sew on and I'll call this one done. The EM will be pleased. He bought a pair of trousers yesterday that are now waiting on the sidelines to have the leg length altered :(

The sunshine is drawing me out of my cave so I'll be popping out soon ... I desperately need some ink cartridges ... but I will be back to check out as many desks as I can before bedtime.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of WOYWW.

Pyjama Bears

Afternoon Everyone

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and that Monday hasn't been so bad either. I haven't been very well, picked up a bug somewhere which has had me feeling way under par for the last week or so. However, I'm feeling a bit perkier today so hopefully that's me on the mend.

All that means is that there will be no vase today - haven't been out of doors yet. Besides, after the recent snow - which, as predicted, didn't last long - and the never ending rain, there's not much worth picking at the moment.

Instead, I have an overdue share ... I think they may have appeared as works in progress some time last year but not the finished twosome.

I made these little pyjama bears for the two great-grand babies that were born last year. They are soft and cuddly, and intended to taken to bed by the babies, so made only from fleece and cotton fabrics with felt features. There's nothing in the construction that would harm baby's delicate skin, like buttons for example, or that could cause any injury. The blue one is for a boy so he has a felt collar and the white one is for a girl so has a little pinked detail with felt 'buttons'.

The easy to make pattern appeared in a copy of Love Sewing Magazine but is from Retro Mama: Scrap Happy Sewing by Kim Kruzich - details for which can be found on the Retro Mama blog.

Now, I think I may just have a bit of time to get back to working on the much neglected Christmas scrapbook album ... this could be the longest project on record!

Take care and have a lovely evening,

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW Wk 344

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year to all Deskers everywhere!

That's the festivities over and done with, the tree and decorations are packed away and we have a year of WOYWW desk-hopping ... courtesy of our Head Desker, Julia, the Stamping Ground ... to look forward too - fabulous!

Not that my desk looks much different from last week. Still working on my Christmas scrapbook album. However, there has been some progress which means the desk has got a lot messier, of course. Maybe next week I'll have moved on to something new.

I have been putting my new sewing machine through its paces, testing out all the lovely decorative stitches ... apparently it's wrong to call them embroidery stitches. The alphabet stitches are a great extra to have. I'm so pleased to be able to personalise projects with names, especially as there are so many unusually spelt names in the family. This little pincushion is for my daughter who was born in August, in Germany, so named for the month of July, i.e. Juli in German ... don't ask!!!

This is my new curling up on the sofa, with a lovely hot cuppa to hand, TV watching project. Over the last couple of years I've crocheted more than a few rugs, blankets and throws for family members but, to date, I've never made one for myself so this project is going to be just for me. It's a giant granny square throw in my favourite colours :)

Right, off to do a bit of desk-hopping before dinner.

Have a great week.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 335

Hello Deskers,

Missed the last couple of weeks - a rather traumatic root canal treatment over two weeks laid me low but, just like the bouncy clown my son had when he was a little, I'm bouncing back. And it's a whistle stop tour of my desks as they are this morning for Julia's WOYWW :)

The craft desk is covered in Christmas related stash today. I've been trying, not too successfully I have to add, catch up on making cards ... I'm so behind this year :( The basket is full of old packs of patterned paper - it's an attempt to use up what is already here rather than succumb to temptation and buy any of that gorgeous new stuff I keep seeing everywhere. The stamp sets are mostly freebie sets from magazines which I hope to make use of instead of just stashing them away as I usually do. Next to them is a pile of scrap card ready to made use of.

In the corner, on the sewing desk, is a table runner in the making. It's my first attempt at 'quilting-as-you-go' and it's not going as smoothly as I hoped. I had to take the stitch ripper to so many strips of fabric because the lining and the wadding were drifting ever further apart. I'm hoping by adjusting the pressure on the sewing machine foot and tacking the wadding to the lining, I may have cracked it - we'll see!

Talking of sewing, you may recall another project I was working on, a pram cover with a flock of birds appliqued over it. Here's the finished cover.

The top is made with a lovely white-on-white fabric that has a subtle all-over design of dragonflies on it. The birds, the inspiration for which came when I spotted a flock of starlings take of from a nearby tree, were cut from scraps of cotton and appliqued on to the cover using a zig-zag stitch.

I used fleece to line the cover.

Now I must go. I'm expecting a visit from two grandsons and our baby great-grandson any minute now, so I'll be back later to do a bit of blog-hopping.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Happy WOYWW,

Sewing Machine Mat

Morning Everyone

A quick post today because we are off out to the garden centre shortly so I better get a wriggle on.

What I have to share with you this morning is the sewing machine mat I made as a gift for my daughter, Juli.

Juli has plans to create a sewing corner elsewhere in her home but in the meantime she sews on a table in her main living room. Because of this, it occurred to me that anything that helps muffle the sound of the sewing machine would be very welcome. I searched online and found quite a few illustrations of sewing mats and then I adapted the idea to the fabric I had chosen.

Materials used:

• 1 x patterned fat quarter - If She Knows She Sews - £3.25 from Oh Sew Crafty
• 1 x plain turquoise fat quarter - bought at the craft show in Glasgow last year
• Wadding cut to fit the padded bit that the sewing machine sits on
• Black bias binding - enough to bind the edges of the pocket piece and round the entire mat.
• Thread, scissors, sewing machine

Now all I need to do is make a mat for my own sewing machine but that could be some time as I have one or two more pressing projects I'm working on at the moment.

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you have a lovely day. I see the sun is breaking through the clouds so it may turn out to be a lovely afternoon.

Take care.

Callum's Cot Cover

Morning Everyone,

And a happy Saturday to you all too. The sun is shining and the world looks a better place for it after all the rain we've had this last week.

I have a quick sewing project to share with you today before I take myself out into the garden for an hour or so ... need a vitamin top-up :)

It's simply a cotton print top lined with some pale blue fleece - really easy to make.

It's big ... measuring 31" x 42" ... and this is what it looks like in our all too rare sunshine :)

You would think I would be able to remember where I found the print fabric but I don't. However it's lovely quality and should see little Callum through until he goes into a big bed.

The fleece was an inexpensive to buy cover, originally finished in red blanket stitch, which I just cut down to size.

Right! I'm off to play in my sunny garden for a while but plan to return later with my Rudolph Day card for this month.

Have a great day everyone.

Lace & Hessian Jar Wrap - Just Experimenting

Hi Everyone,

I hope you've had a great weekend. We certainly have here. Yesterday we took a trip up to Garelochhead, a small village on the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute ... a lovely trip through some beautiful countryside ... and today we went along to Ayr Town Hall to see The Great Tapestry of Scotland. This was our second visit, it's so big it took us two days to see it all. Posts will follow once I've sorted out the many photos taken.

This evening I've been experimenting with how to make a wrap to prettify a jam (jelly) jar.

The base is a piece of white on white fabric from the scrap box. I added white lace borders, hessian (burlap), white satin ribbon, cream embroidered ribbon, a cream crocheted flower and a pearl to finish it off.

I decided to leave the ribbon fairly long so that the wrap could fit several sizes of jars.

As I'm always looking for a new container for flowers this is a great way of creating something different quickly and inexpensively. It would also make a pretty container for a tea light.

This was so easy to make and it's a great way of using scraps of materials that I may just make one or two more.

Many thanks for visiting. I wish you all a good day tomorrow.

Happy Crafting

Birdie Cushions

Evening Folks

It will have been back-to-work-after-the-holiday day for many today so I hope you were rested and refreshed and ready for the fray, and that the day went well. Despite not having to go back to work, my day has been a busy one with lots to do, including the finishing of these two cushion covers.

And not before time either, they were started some time ago, actually a few months ago! It's a simple enough design, just 4 squares sewn together and backed with plain red fabric using the tried and true (and easy) envelope closure. Love the birdie fabric teamed with the red check - perfect for our recently decorated lounge :)

Short and sweet this evening. Time I went to bed - had a sleepless night last night and feeling it now - so I'll bid you a very good night and hope you have a great day tomorrow.

Purple Drawstring Bag

Morning Everyone,

Happy St George's Day!

Apologies for being a really bad blogger at this time but blame the garden! I've been weeding, digging, raking, planting and sowing seeds, all of which takes a lot of time. And let's not forget the watering ... it's been so hot and dry here that I've been out with the hose every evening making sure those seeds survive! All this physical exercise leaves me totally jiggered by the end of day with no energy for crafting. Normal service will be resumed eventually ... just don't ask me when!

I did, however, take a quick couple of hours out recently to make this little drawstring bag for my sister's birthday.

Made from Debbie Shore's Bag's Galore Molly bag pattern, it took only two half fat quarters, some adhesive applique paper for the heart shape, satin ribbon, scissors, thread and a sewing machine. It's fully lined. The pretty purple/pink flower patterned fabric is a Kirsty Allsop's design - a fat quarter which came free with Love Sewing Magazine - and the plain purple fabric was just a piece left over from another project.

I fringed the square on the front before attaching the heart shape with a satin stitch ... not perfect but I was in a hurry :)

That's it for now ... off to sow a few more seeds in the cutting patch.

Have a great day whatever you are doing.

Happy Crafting,

Stamping on Fabric

Evening Everyone,

Hope you have all had a lovely day. It's been such a sunny day here that, after zipping through the dreaded housework, it was out into the garden to weed another stretch of border. Mind you, I'm paying for it now ... there's not a bone in my body that's not complaining :) Enough of that, let's get on to my latest project.

Just a bit of experimenting ... stamping on to fabric rather than paper. I used a scrap of white cotton fabric and my favourite snowdrop stamp from The Wild and Free Collection from get Stamping ... chosen mainly because it is a simple image ... nothing too taxing :)

 The outline is stamped with Versafine Olympia Green, an oil based pigment ink ... I don't even know if I've used the right stamp pad here, it was just what I had in my stash, but as I doubt whether it will ever be washed I thought it would be okay. The tiny amount of colouring was done with green and yellow ProMarkers. When done, I ironed it to, hopefully, set the inks - just in case!

And here's what I made with it and how.

• I cut it down to a square measuring 2¾".
• Ironed some adhesive applique paper on to the back.
• Traced and cut out a heart shape on to copy paper, using a template found in a book of hearts, Hanging Hearts by Rachael Row from Search Press. 
• Cut two heart shapes from the green/white polka dot cotton.
• Removed the backing from the applique and pressed it on to the heart shaped piece of cotton that would be the front then machine stitched around the sides of the snowdrop square using white silk thread and a satin stitch.
• The two sides of the  heart were sewn together, adding a loop of white satin ribbon at the top before stitching. 
• Finally, the heart was stuffed through a gap, deliberately left for just this purpose, which was then stitched up.

Though I realise I still have a lot to learn about stamping on fabric, I'm well pleased with this wee heart which is now gracing the hall here at Casa Worthington :)

Thanks for dropping in, as always, it's much appreciated. Have a great evening, what's left of it, and take care.

Happy Crafting,