What's on your work desk? Wednesday 456!

I never seem to be able to get a good run of WOYWW's too many things seem to get in the way, the week before last was half term so didn't have any child free time and we were giving our office a make over, more on that in a bit. Then last week I was making the most of my child free time to complete my 6th box and make a start on the seventh which features the Silk shaded Crocus I've started above, that's only about 5 hours work as I started the box first until I realised that despite having loads of sewing threads I didn't have quite the right colour! Not great excuses really but now that the office is almost complete it will make working in the evening easier as hubby can I work in there together on our separate projects so wont feel guilty about working when he's home.

As you can see the office make over went really well, one day to remove the awful paper, one day to paint and a final day to replace the carpet with wooden flooring. Its not perfectly painted but it will do for now and is 100% better than it was before. The new chairs arrived Monday and the new desks should be arriving this morning, weather permitting as we've had a small amount of snow yesterday (which made our walk more interesting!) but we are expecting more.

I spend a little bit of time last Friday experimenting with making some handles and feet for my biggest box because I just cant find anything I like which is also the right size. Pinterest is amazing for ideas and I came across the idea of using Fimo or polymer clay as draw knobs so as I just so happened to have some I thought I would give it a go. All I needed to get was some small flat head screws with nuts. Whilst in Hobby Craft getting the threads I needed I spotted Glittery Fimo but typically as they didn't have the right colour I thought I would test adding Glitter in too. It all worked perfectly, the only decision left then was deciding on the shape to make them, I've decided its probably best to keep them simple, this is not the final version (as I haven't made them yet) but will give you an idea of what I'm gibbering on about.

Yesterday I wasn't able to work anymore on the silk shading due to a poorly child (who seemed better an hour after deciding not to take him to preschool...) so during Puppy Sonic's naps I've been sorting photos and working on instructions on my laptop, not very exciting but needed to be done. When he was awake I was able to make a start on a mini project of a coffee cup cosy/sleeve. We are trying to reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging we use and while we have had the resuable cups for a while hadn't really thought about the cardboard sleeve which you still need to use. It was so easy/quick to make that I've finished mine already and although he didn't like the pink/orange colours hubby liked the idea too so I've started making him one as well. I cant take credit for the pattern as I found it on Pinterest Click here for pattern.

I thought you might like the sleeping puppy in the background, although hes so big now people aren't always sure hes a puppy 🙈, yes that is his sofa...

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and hopefully I will have made more progress on my silk shading this time next week, you never know I might even have finished it (wishful thinking). Fingers crossed the new furniture will arrive soon and I can make a start building it so you can all see our nice probably not tidy for long office completed. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram!  

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 work desks it's great fun and very addictive!

What's on your work desk? Wednesday 453!

Hi Everyone,

As you can see the box from last week is still on my work desk! Its been slow going because the outside is covered with leather...my fingers are sore and I've had to use pliers to push the needle through and pull it back out! As you can see I've had a bit of a sort out and bought a new storage box so all of my equipment is in one place (rather than 4!)

I've also been having a sort out of the whole room which will be redecorated, hopefully soon but I'm not counting on it! things always take ages in this house. The horrible wall paper (it has flowers embossed, not my taste) and red walls will be going (it was the old owners teenage boys room). My husband worked really hard to get big promotion before Christmas which means that he might be able to work from home a couple of days a week so we are trying to sort the room out for us both to work in there....he can't work with clutter (I call it creativity but whatever!). So sacrifices have to be made...not getting rid of too much but we have re-homed around a 100 books to a charity shop (we kept some but they've gone in the loft), the bookcase to the dump (it was too damaged to give to charity) and my sister re-homed the metal unit to her garage. I've put a load of discard sewing patterns in the Recycling, I know its a shame but I was never going to have time/the figure to make most of them and as they were free/discontinued stock from my old job I couldn't sell them and its freed up a draw and box so I can save more important things!

Before:

After so far:

The window which was put in two years ago still needs finishing (as I said this house is a work in progress) the table and the desk will be going to charity if they want them and will be replaced with two new desks (which I'm sure I will end up using both when hubby isn't home) as the current set up doesn't really work that well as its a bit cramped. The Kallax unit is staying but will need some inserts or boxes to keep it tidy, and maybe another layer as my fabric stash is stored in boxes on top, I was trying to persuade Hubby to let me have another small once but he doesn't want the room to be too cluttered when hes working so I guess I'll have to pick my battles! 

it will be nice to finally be able to put some frames on the wall too, especially my certificate and some pieces of my work. The carpet is going to be replaced with hardwood flooring as its high pile  so when I dropped a small box of tiny beads on the floor the other week a lot were lost the carpet/hoover 😢 Pins are another issue with carpets so wooden flooring seemed the best solution. Now I just need to persuade hubby to go to the dreaded Ikea (love the meatballs, hate how busy it gets) and B&Q to get what we need.  

Now I just need to decide if this thread is really worth untangling, it is rather nice...maybe a tiny bit more time...

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and I will have something more interesting for you all to see next week, I say hopefully because it is half term! You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram!  

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 work desks it's great fun and very addictive!

Once upon a time....

This once upon a time series of posts is all about having a look back and showing you the embroideries from my Apprenticeship at the Royal School of Needlework.

This weeks once upon a time is my Fine White work, this was worked during the final year of my apprenticeship. Fine White work is always worked on a 55 thread per inch linen and uses various White work techniques such as Pulled thread, Drawn thread work, counted stitches, eyelets, padded satin, trailing as well as creating layers with fabric attached behind and net darning worked with lace like designs. This white work is always mounted on a coloured fabric background in order to show off the various layers and usually worked during the summer months when day light is at its best (well as good as UK weather gets anyway!).

If you would like to see more of my work and the current projects that I am working on then please head over to my Facebook or Instagram pages.

Thank you for visiting my blog, hopefully you enjoyed looking at my work and will come back next week for a new throwback Thursday!

Emma x