What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 516!

Hi Everyone!

So I managed to schedule one post while I was away on holiday but couldn't do Mister Linky till I got back so not sure if anyone has read it...I look forward to catching up with everyone's posts later!

So last week the Podcast I was a guest on back in march for Stitchery Stories was released while I was away. Its a relaxed chat with the host Sue about the challenges of writing a practical embroidery book and designing projects that will hopefully inspire my readers to start making their own embroidered boxes. If you fancy something different to listen too while you are crafting then I definitely recommend giving this podcast a listen, not just my episode but any of the other wonderful episodes that take your fancy!

You can listen to my episode directly here or to listen to some of the other episodes click this Link or go to any Apple or Android Podcast App and search for Stitchery Stories.





So I don't have anything new on my workdesk this week since I only went back to work this morning but I have a couple of things planned to get started this week; including this silk shading of a Fairy Wren which I had planned before I was offered my book deal. So fingers crossed I should have more to show you next week!

Happy WOYWW and thanks for Visiting!


Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 514!

Hiya Everyone!

Yay, I managed to find some time to do my first scheduled post! So I don't have anything new on my workdesk this week since I'm away so I'll show you a photo of my latest make; the box for my introduction to Box making kit.  The design for this is based on a photograph of a Nigella Flower that I took in my garden last year. I wanted to keep the embroidery quite simple so that it is suitable for a beginner and can be completed during a 3 day workshop.

A couple of weeks ago I recorded a podcast for Stitchery Stories which I believe will be released next Wednesday the 17th of April so if you have a bit of time while you are crafting please pop over and have a listen; not just to my story but any of the others you fancy listening to as well...since I'm away I wont be able to listen to it till I'm back so I can avoid knowing if I did Ok or not till I come back 😂😱🙉🙈😉 

I have to say I was very nervous and also tired (notice I'm getting the excuses in now 😜) since I had been woken up four times in the night by my son who as you will know from my last post had Chicken Pox but thankfully Netflix kept him quiet while I did the recording so at least he didn't interrupt it!

Thanks for Visiting!


Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 513!

Hiya Everyone,

I know I've been absent for a few months again but I've been super busy with a few last minute edits to my book....which is now finished and due to be published on the 22nd of April....Yay!! 

I'm so thrilled with how its all come together and hopefully you will all love it too!

I've also been working on my website and finalizing kits and other products to sell via my online shop...if you would like a signed copy of my book it is for sale via my website £22 + UK Postage, its also on Amazon UK. If you are outside of the UK please email me via the website as I currently only have UK postage available and I will let you know the cost of postage. I am still working on my worldwide postage costs; just getting the shop set up as it is was enough of a headache 😵😬🙈. I will be away on a cruise for the next couple of weeks so please bear with me if you do email, as I will not have Wifi on board, so I may not reply straight away but I promise I will catch up as soon as I'm back!

I was so excited to receive my advance copy a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to share it with you all (if you are on Instagram or Facebook you will already have seen it) but the same day my little man came down with chicken pox so I've been playing catch up with my to do list ever since, luckily he didn't get it too bad! 

So this week I finished the sample for my Introduction to Box making kit which you can see on my laptop; I am just editing the photos ready to start the instruction booklet. I also have a few other things on this week as well as packing and wrapping up my son's 5th birthday presents (how is he 5 already?!?!?) but I will try to make some time to schedule a couple of posts for while I'm away even though I wont be able to post the link on Julia's page.

Thanks for Visiting! 

Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 498!

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Its been a long time since I posted as I've been super busy working on my book but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and give you all a little update. I should have more time in the new year to post regularly with whats on my workdesk!

So the book is pretty much done and edited there are just a few gaps which need filling, its hard to tell till its all been layout by the typesetter. As you can see there were quite a few, mainly small spelling/Grammar edits, and a few additions! I believe they appreciated my OCD colour tags to show which pages had corrections/additions 😂 At the moment the estimated month of publication is April; we timed our cruise holiday well so I'm likely to be away and without internet when its published 🙈

So this week on my desk is the beginnings of a new box as one of the gaps is on the page about fabric placement so I thought I would make a Stripy box with the lines all matching from the lid down to the base, there will be a west highland terrier appliqued with the tartan on the lid. This will also be a limited kit for sale in the new year as only one or two photos of it will be in the book and then it has more than one use rather than making a whole box for one or two photos, and for fun too! No price worked out yet but if anyone is interested (the tartan/plain red interior fabric wont be the same as that is all I have; I'll find something as close as possible tho) then leave a comment and I will let you know when its on the website which wont be launched till the new year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 474!

Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to give everyone an update...I've reached 50k words and still have a bit left to do whoop! With about month to go though I'm really please with how it is all progressing, although I've only got a couple of weeks left where little man is in Preschool, not sure if I'll be done with editing and last minute photos and illustrations before hes finished but fingers crossed! He has his first proper school visit today to meet his new teacher so I will be taking work to do in the park later while hes there (because an hour isn't really enough time to bother coming back home for), cant believe that hes going to school in September even if he is ready to go!

Once the book is finished I can get back to working on some more projects and a new website with the aim of starting to plan some classes to teach from home if I can, not sure how that is going to work with the puppy though as he get very excited when we have visitors! He is a rather large dog now (he often sleeps on the floor now because hes too big to stretch out fully on the sofa🙈) but very friendly!

Thanks for Visiting! 

Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 467!

This morning my work desk is now occupied by my laptop and a separate monitor, that can only mean one thing....I've finished all the boxes! (I may have misjudged the time it would take and after telling hubby I would definitely be finished by Thursday....7 more hours over the weekend and I was finally finished 🙈). Still its all done mow and I can concentrate on writing. I've written the instructions for 4 boxes so far and have started the 5th out of 10. I've also written most of the first chapter prior to finishing the boxes so once the instructions are done I can work on Chapter Intros, the embroidery instructions (the detail of which will depend on how many words I have to 'fill') and the final chapter which will be advice for making your own, although none of the box instructions have exact measurements because people may not want to make theirs the same size as mine as their objects/materials will differ in size to the ones I've used.

I'm a bit late writing this post this morning because we only decided last night that little man was going to dress up as a King/Knight/Captain America (as that's the only shield we have) for pre-school's Royal Wedding themed dress up day rather than the Sully (Monsters Inc) costume that he insisted he was going to wear a couple of days ago! Then this morning he also decides that he wants a sword belt so he can take his sword...which we don't have. Thankfully a quick rummage in my stash of ribbons and bits turned up a piece of black elastic which just so happened to be the exact size I needed, a long piece of black ribbon and a belt clip. So this morning I sat in bed with him watching Tv and started sewing together a sword belt...thankfully it didn't take very long to do. I've sewn the sword holder so that he can't remove the sword from the belt, hopefully pre-school will allow him to wear it and he will be under strict instructions to only remove the belt and give it to his teachers if he doesn't want it any more and under no circumstances wave the sword around!

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and I haven't forgotten my promise to show you more of the finished embroidery so here it is! 

I'm not sure if I will have much to post about over the next few months as I will mostly be writing but I will try and post when I can!

Thanks for Visiting! 

Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday 466!

What a lovely few days its been! I've been up early again this morning stitching in the lovely warm sunshine that's streaming through my office window! On my work desk are the ribbons I ordered a few weeks ago (the first lot didn't turn up 😔) that I've finally been able to start using this morning. Next to the ribbons is the Ribbon work book which I absolutely love, not just because it was written by a friend of mine (Sophie Long) but because it is a really great book on ribbon embroidery. The embroidery is safely covered in tissue until I can continue this afternoon when little man is in pre-school.

The final box had grown a lot since last week and just needs doors with handles and a lid for the embroidery so I'm definitely on track to finish it this week. This means that after this week my workdesk is probably just going to be photos of my laptop and a separate monitor (which will probably have photos on as I work on writing the book. While I feel sad that that stitching parts are now all done I'm glad that I can start making on progress on bringing the book together. Also my laptop can go anywhere to I can move my desk outside! I have set myself another deadline to complete all of the box instructions by the end of this month so that I know what word count I have left to use to bring it all together and have June&July to edit. I have some illustrations of alternative box ideas to do  as well so its not all computer based! August is fast approaching but at least there is only two weeks between pre-school finishing and my deadline, this means I can spend the summer relaxing in the garden with little man and taking trips out before he starts school in September!

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and I hope you will be back next week to see the progress I will have made on the final box, I'll save sharing the embroidery till next week when its more completed.  Hubby is hopefully working from home again tomorrow, it worked really well last week so look forward to us spending a bit more time together, even if we are working. If you just can't wait to see it you can head over to find me on Facebook and Instagram where I try and post as often as I can so you will find more on there before my next Woyww post!

Thanks for Visiting! 

Emma x

Why don't you pop over to the lovely Julia's stamping ground http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ and see more workdesks it's great fun and very addictive!