What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #373

Hello. It's been over a month since I showed you my kitchen table. How very remiss of me. The party is now back at Julia's place, after a few weeks of being capably hosted by the lovely Jan.

This was the scene yesterday afternoon. I was making a batch of cards using my new Jar of Love stamps and dies. It started to rain before I had a chance to take any photos.

Instead I'll show you the card I gave Darnell, when I had the good fortune to meet up with her (along with Jan, Julia and Morti) last week. What a lovely afternoon and evening we had. I never imagined the connections I would make when I started this little blog of mine. On Friday, I'm off to London to make some more. Can't wait.

Mosaics and Moody Blues

I gave you a glimpse of a card design I was working on last week and today I have the finished article to share.

Easy to put together with the matching stamps and punch. I stamped a selection of mosaic “tiles”, punched them out and layered onto the embossed background. It’s the type of card I tend to make up in advance, ready to add a sentiment when I need it. I made another in navy blue which could be seen in the previous post.

I was very lucky to win a blog giveaway last week and this gorgeous stack of Fat Quarters arrived in the post a few days ago. Eight fabrics from the new Cloud 9 Moody Blues collection, courtesy of Dragonfly fabrics and Handmade Jane.

Now here’s a funny thing. I’ve followed Jane’s blog for quite a while, with no idea that we had a connection, other than our shared interest in sewing. It turns out that we have several mutual friends and lived in the same town at the same time, studying at the same college, yet we never met. What are the chances?

Have a lovely weekend.

WOYWW ~ The 6th Anniversary Crop

This time last week I was on my way to spend the day with these lovely ladies.

From L to R, standing: Dolores, Julia, Helen, Me, Kyla, Morti, Mary Anne, Sam, Fiona, Lisa, Cindy, Debbie, Chris, Jan, Margaret. Front row: Lisa-Jane and Zoe

I travelled light. Taking only my hexies kit.

Well I needed room for all the cake.

Zoe was celebrating her 40th birthday weekend with us. Her football team were on the verge of promotion and she’d coloured her hair, ready for Wembley the following day. All proceeds from the crop went to the charity she is fundraising for.

There was fun and laughter, a fabulous lunch, more cake…..

…..and even some crafting.

Thanks go to Jan for all her hard work in organising the day, cooking up a storm and serving that lunch. To Julia for bringing us all together in the first place, keeping us in drinks and being such a charming host. To everyone that came along and made it the wonderful day it was. A special mention to Shaz and Janet who weren’t able to stay for the whole day and didn’t make an appearance in the group photo.

Some images shamelessly stolen borrowed from Jan and Zoe. Thank you.

Me on Monday ~ The Sixteen Candles Edition

My sweet girl turned sixteen today…..

….which meant you’d have found me baking a chocolate cake.

Today is also the beginning of the last full week of school for both children. Half Term next week, followed by Study Leave, during which they will only go in for exams. All change around here.

Waving to Sian and happy to see that the zippy bag has arrived safely. I wonder if any of you guessed where it might end up?

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #305

No crafting in progress, for you to have a nosy at, today. It’s been in use all morning for either eating, revision or packing parcels. I’m just back from delivering my boy to a nearby village for an afternoon session of D&D with friends. A much needed break for all of them.

There are a few things on the table though. The box at the back is a parcel waiting for courier pick up. I’ve been “destashing” the stamps and ink pads I no longer use and saving the money towards a dressmaking dummy. The good news is I’ve reached my target and she is on her way as of this morning. I’m very excited.

The rest is what came in the post. A gorgeous postcard from Beverly as part of Liberate your Art, the all important Polling Cards and a second hand copy of Cross Stitch. I can’t wait to get stuck into the latter. I’ve been very much enjoying the recent TV adaptation of these books, now that it’s finally made its way onto streaming. Anyone else an Outlander fan?

Finally, the “little something” that I made for my nieces and nephews this year.

Linking up with Julia for the Wednesday desk hopping extravaganza.

A Year of Making ~ 2014

I’m starting the year with a look back at some of the things I made during 2014.

My favourite project from last year was, without doubt, the Friendship Quilt. From January to October I made squares and sent them off. I found photos of most, but there always seem to be one or two that get forgotten before popping in the post.

Then, in June, it was my turn. Such a lovely feeling when each one arrived. Carefully chosen fabrics and lines of stitching. All different and yet fitting together. Again, I couldn’t find photos of all of them. I’m so excited to sew them up into a quilt top, once the last two have arrived, as a reminder of our lovely blogging community.

I carried on teaching my original class and started a new one in May, which filled up very quickly. These are a few of my favourites from the past year. I’m looking forward to starting again next week, with a “Back to Basics” session.

Finally the sewing projects. To my shame, 5 of these remain unfinished. Can you guess which? Yes, the dressmaking! I seem to be incapable of making an item of clothing as the pattern intends. There is always an element I want to change, but I don’t have the necessary skills so I end up getting frustrated and moving on to something else. I need to change that and I’ll tell you how I plan to go about it when I blog my “Intentions” next week. 2015 *will* be my year of sewing. I’m determined.

Me on Monday….

…..with Teal toes for Marti.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the US and I’ve painted my toe nails teal, in support of Deb, whose Mom lost her battle with the disease in October 2012.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

I posted a picture of my roasted chickpeas on Instagram the other day and Rinda asked if I would share the recipe. It was one of those make it up as you go along experiments. The oven was already on to cook the dinner and I had time on my hands. I’ve been trying to think up some healthier snacks and this fitted the bill.

I used tinned chickpeas, which I rinsed well and then placed on a tea towel. I folded the other half of the cloth over the top and rolled them under my hands to dry. That removed any loose skins and I could easily pick them out.

I put them in a roasting tin, lined with foil, sprayed with olive oil and dusted liberally with smoked paprika and powdered garlic. Followed by a couple of grinds of black pepper and a little sea salt, before placing in the oven at 200 C.

After about 15 minutes I took them out and gave the tin a good shake to turn the chickpeas. Repeated after another 15 minutes and then removed from the oven after another 15 minutes, by which time they were nice and crisp and delicious. 24 hours on, the few I saved (in an air tight container) had gone soft so they want eating up. They’re very moreish and somehow I don’t think that is going to be an issue!

PS If you were expecting SIPIDI! today, I’ve decided to give it a little break over the Summer. It’ll return in September.

Monday Randoms

This is what my hands looked like after class last week. I’m still trying to find a way to persuade one or two people that they really don’t need to press the stamp into the inkpad *that* hard! If there is ink on the edge of the rubber, then it’s a little too much pressure. If the whole of the background rubber is awash with ink, then it’s a lot too much pressure. If the entire wood mount is also covered…well…the person cleaning up after you will end up looking like this!

It’s quite a difficult thing to teach someone. I can demonstrate my own technique, ‘til I’m blue in the fingers face, but you have to find the right pressure for yourself. I’ve described it as a tapping motion, rather than a pressing one. Suggested building up the colour gradually, by using two or three gentle taps, rather than trying for even coverage in one firmer push. If an inkpad is particularly ‘juicy’ I sometimes just rest the stamp on the surface and that can be enough. You know it’s level and you won’t get that irritating ‘ghosting’ from inky edges. If you’re a stamper, do you have any other handy hints that I could suggest? I want everyone to get the most from their experience and go home with something they are proud of.

While we’re on the subject of teaching…..I’ve written a few tutorials, to share here on my blog, over the past couple of years. I always use the same format: a photograph of each step, with an explanation underneath. A few people have commented that I should make Youtube videos so I thought I’d ask the question. Is that how you prefer to view tutorials?

I do watch them myself, to get an idea of how to do something. If I was going to follow the directions, I would have to keep stopping and starting the video, while I made my own ‘copy’ of the project. Personally, I prefer to have the directions in a series of images and instructions, that I can have open on my laptop screen, or print out to refer to.

I’m going to make a tutorial for the “Card in a Box”, as a few people said they would like one and I have all the “Blue Peter” bits ready to photograph. It will be in my usual style of words and pictures this time, but I might rethink for the future, depending on feedback.

One last thing, before I go. Abi opened a discussion, about replying to blog comments, last week. A couple of people commented that they didn’t know if they were “no-reply” bloggers. I thought I’d direct you to my own post on the subject from last year. It includes a link to instructions for finding out and fixing, if you’d like to.

Oh, I know I said that was the last thing, but I wanted to share this little teaser. Something that I got very excited about on Friday night. If you’re a Facebook friend you’ll already know, but if you’re not…..can you guess what it is? I’ll tell you the whole story later in the week. Hope you’ve had a great start to yours.

PS Links to the tutorials pictured above can be found here:

Flower Treat Box

Gift Card Holder

Hearts & Doilies

Lollipop Holders

Coffee and a Catch Up ~ June 2014

Come in, come in. Your timing is perfect. I have an unexpected hour or two to myself, while The Mechanic is visiting his parents with the children. I’m taking advantage of it to get back to my dress, at long last. A bit of hand stitching and an episode of Mad Men on a Sunday afternoon. Bliss.

Do you sew? Perhaps you were put off by Domestic Science (I’m probably showing my age by calling them that!) lessons at school, like me, or did you have a positive experience? Maybe there was somebody in your family who encouraged you or whose example you followed. My Gran was a talented seamstress, which meant my Mum didn’t ever need to sew herself. Gran made me some beautiful dresses when I was a little girl. I must dig out one of the little outfits I made for my girl, to show you another day.

Can I offer you a slice of fridge cake with your cuppa? I’ve been meaning to try Mel’s recipe for ages. When I was sorting out the larder cupboard during the week, I found a box of Maltesers, which had been languishing there since Christmas. Luckily I had everything else needed on hand and I could whip up a batch. Melt, stir and pop in the fridge to set. Super simple. Leave it there as long as you can bear! I left the topping off as we’re not fans of white chocolate around here.

Would you like to see what we made in class last week? I was really happy with how my first attempt at a ‘flip’ card turned out. There are lots of special dies available now, that cut and score in one go, but they are quite expensive and I’m not sure how often I would make this style of card. There’s usually an alternative way to do it. Not quite as straight forward of course, but not that tricky either.

We’ve got a busy week coming up, with my girl starting her work experience and having her bi-annual appointment with the consultant. Two classes in two different towns for me and a follow up appointment for my Mum. My boy has begun phase two of his A Level studies, now that the Year 12 exams are over, and needs to narrow down his choices for further study so that we can visit some universities. A few more weeks of school left for us. How about you? The summer holidays can’t come soon enough for me.

I’m linking up with Abi’s little tea party today and looking forward to catching up with everyone else. I’ve visited a few of you already as you’ve popped up in Feedly. That seems to be behaving itself again at the moment. Are you a fan or do you prefer Bloglovin’? I couldn’t get on with it myself and find Feedly much more user friendly.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #263

My desk looks just the same as last week so I won’t bore you with it, nor the details that led to the complete lack of crafting (or blogging) over the last few days.

However, I do have one or two lovely things to share with you. Another quilt square arrived on Saturday morning, accompanied by some of my favourite chocolate. Deb cleverly took her inspiration from my blog name/header.

Then, yesterday, this little beauty arrived. It has caused Deb a bit of anxiety on its travels as it took longer than expected to get here. Well worth the wait and it came on just the day I needed a little cheer in the mail.

At lunchtime I had an unexpected delivery of some goodies from By Hand London. You might remember me sharing a link to their Kickstarter project a few months ago. This was a reward for pledging. I just love the Anna dress in the illustration. It’s on my “To Sew” list….one of these days. Probably without the thigh high split!

So, that’s me, for today. Hop on over to Julia’s place for more lovely deskers.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #262

Pretty much the same rubble as last week, with a few additions.

The purple lidded box, that I take to class, was dumped on the desk when I got home and has remained there ever since. While I was unloading the boot, I noticed the MDF Christmas tree, top right, that I won in the WOYWW crop raffle. I have plans for that, but I really can’t think about ‘seasonal’ projects when we are just getting some sun.

My clutch containing hexie sewing bits and bobs, that I took to the South West Stitchers meet up on Saturday. Always a great day out, with good company, delicious cake and free flowing coffee and tea. Oh, and some sewing!

The little scrap of blue and white spotty fabric was tying up a bundle of loveliness that arrived last week from Sian. The very first square for my very own Friendship Quilt. I may have been a little bit excited and unexpectedly a little teary. I can’t wait to see what else my month brings.

The pattern came with issue 2 of Love Sewing, along with a free tape measure. How many of these does anyone need? I’d rather have a slightly cheaper cover price, or extra magazine content personally. How about you?

The washing machine is bleating at me so I’d better make the most of the sunshine and get the next load on the line. Looking forward to catching up with you all, over at Julia’s, once it’s coffee time. ETA: There’s no linky today as Julia is poorly. I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing her a speedy recovery.

Only one more exam left, Physics for my girl tomorrow, then we’re done. Thanks to everyone who has left good wishes for her.

PS If there’s anyone, among my readers today, that fancies taking part in the “Ever Expanding Blog Hop” that I was part of yesterday, please leave a comment to that effect and I’ll tag you in.

Peachy Keen

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I’m taking part in the 52 Card Challenge again. I was a bit hit and miss with it last year and thought by posting what I’ve made here, every now and again, I might be more inclined to keep up this time around!

The first challenge was to use stash you’d been given for Christmas. In my case, that was none! Instead I went for something new(ish) that I’d bought myself, the smaller of the two flower stamps. The larger one is an old favourite and both have matching punches, which makes things easy. Inspired by the peachy tones Alexa chose for her Friendship Quilt blocks, I made this card and a coordinating box*.

Last week, the challenge was to use a very bright colour palette, with many more colours than I would usually put together in one card. I managed to get them all in, albeit in very small doses, including a nod to the spots and chevrons in the picture.

This week it’s a sketch challenge, if you fancy joining in. I’ve yet to make mine, but I’ll share it, along with Week 4, later in the month. Here’s to keeping up with good intentions….so far!

*You can find a tutorial for the box (in a slightly smaller size) here.

A Friendship Quilt Around the World

I’ve been toying with an idea for a long time, after seeing the many beautiful patchwork quilts, made by sewing bee groups, on Flickr. I’ve wanted to have a go, but all the participants seem to be experienced and the blocks they contribute are often quite intricate designs, as specified by each member of the group.

All a bit scary for a novice. They must have started somewhere though so I came up with a plan for a virtual sewing bee of my own. I sent out a few emails to blog friends just to see if there would be any interest in such a project. I didn’t want to blog all about it and then find nobody wanted to take part. To my surprise almost everyone said, “Yes!” and we now have a group of twelve ready to begin this year long venture.

Abi ~ Creating paper Dreams

Alexa ~ Trimming the Sails

Alison ~ Life in the Slow Lane

Amy ~ Over at Our Place

Beverly ~ BE Glorious

Deb ~ Paper Turtle

Deb ~ Debs World

Fiona (me!) ~ Staring at the Sea

Jacky ~ Scrappy Jacky

Jo ~ Buckingham’s Palace

Jo ~ Sugar and Scrap

Sian ~ From High in the Sky

The idea is that everyone in the group will be assigned a month and will choose their preferred colour scheme. During that month everyone else will make a block for that person to their own design. Allowing for the fact that we all have different levels of sewing experience. Many of us have never made patchwork before. I didn’t want anyone to feel put off by that. We all have to start somewhere, right?

You don’t need any fancy equipment. A pair of decent scissors, pins and some neutral coloured thread should suffice. I imagine most people will sew their blocks on a machine, but they could be sewn by hand if that suits you better. The blocks can be anything from the simplest four patch to something a bit more challenging. Whatever you feel comfortable with. I want it to be fun, not stressful.

For now all I need you to do is decide on a colour scheme. This could be fairly specific eg blue and yellow or shades of blue, more general eg Autumnal or Summery colours, or you could just embrace the hotch potch nature of patchwork and go for the ‘pot luck’ option. Your choice entirely.

I also need an address from everyone so that I can make up a master list to send out to all the participants. If everyone could contact me by the end of the week with posting/mailing details (including surname) and a preferred colour scheme, that would be great. I can’t wait to get started.

I’ll be back soon with more info, useful links and some tutorials that may be of help.

PS If anyone reading this post is interested in the idea of a virtual quilting bee, I’d be happy to organise another group.

My Month in Numbers ~ June 2013

I didn’t do much counting in April and May, but June proved to be a very good month for numbers so I’m joining in again. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then go check out Julie’s blog, where you’ll find all the information you need.

It began on the very first day of the month, when I drove 45 miles to meet up with a group of 17 lovely ladies (and a couple of chaps) in Burbage. The drive was a bit nerve wracking, with an intermittent fault light flashing at me. I’d stopped to check the manual, before I was too far from home, and rung The Mechanic. His response? Just keep driving and if you break down, call the AA. Thanks then!

I made it there in one piece, if a little frazzled. I had a brilliant day with wonderful company and the most amazing lunch laid on by Jan. They don’t call her Lunch Lady for nothing. It was fun matching people up with their blogs and deciding if their real life personality matched how they came across on line. I don’t know about you (if you’ve ever met any blog friends) but it’s all about the voices for me. So often people sound totally unexpected and I always ‘hear’ blog posts in their owner’s accents for ever afterwards.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one weekend, there was more to come. The following day I drove (5 miles) to Shaftesbury, to meet up with these 6 lovely boys. We met for coffee in King Alfred’s Kitchen, a favourite hang out when we were sixth formers. Back in the day, they’d have spare tea bags in their pockets and ask for an extra jug of hot water, to eke out the stay as long as possible!

We spent almost 7 hours together and the conversation and laughter flowed, with barely a pause. The casual observer would never have guessed that it had been 26 years since we were last all together. We’ll not leave it so long next time.

There were 13 days between my boy’s last exam and the end of the month and we went out on 2 mini expeditions. One of them took us to Stourhead, which we are extremely lucky to have virtually on our doorstep. We spent 2 hours there and I took 59 photos. 5 of them featured in my Scavenger Hunt round up on Friday.

These 3 little ducks dashed out from the undergrowth and crossed our path as we walked past.

We spied this group of Canada Geese, but all attempts to count them failed and even with a photograph in front of me I’m still not sure. I’ll leave it to you to decide.

I taught my card class on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month. We made 5 cards and a Post-It note holder between the 2 classes and I now have a total of 8 lovely ladies who come along each week. Next Wednesday we are moving into a bigger room, because we have outgrown our current home.

This may seem like a bit of a random selection, but I did have a vague idea of a theme in mind when I chose them. You may remember, way back at the beginning of February, I posted about my word for the year and haven’t mentioned it since. These numbers are a good illustration, I think, of how I have been connecting and reconnecting with people in my every day life.

The final batch of numbers for this month are all related to my blog, another great way of connecting. I managed 13 posts, a record number compared to other months this year. I gained 7 new followers, having been stuck at 122 for an age. A warm welcome to you all. I reached my 300th post and had a little giveaway, inspired by Sian’s Great Big Swap of Little Things and the 3 winners are:

• Twinkle Star
• Scrappy Jacky
• Ladykis

If you are a winner, please could you get in touch, with your address and a preferred colour scheme eg bright, neutral, subtle. Thank you.

My email is angelfishcrafts{at}gmail{dot}com.

We’re planning on another little foray tomorrow, to tick off a few more items on the Scavenger Hunt list. I hope to share them in the evening. See you then.

PS My blog visiting/commenting has ground to a halt this week. I’m mourning the loss of Google Reader and not really feeling the love for Bloglovin’. What are you using now and are you happy with it? I think I need an alternative. Something more like Google Reader, if such a thing exists. All suggestions gratefully received.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday #213

It’s been a very trying couple of days around here, for reasons that I won’t even begin to bore you with. I don’t usually say sorry for not blogging, as I firmly believe that we all should do so without obligation. However, I really must apologise to everyone who entered my giveaway. I will have my glamorous assistant draw the names, out of whatever handy receptacle I happen upon, when she comes home from school. That’s the boring bit out of the way. Now for the workspace.

There’s no crafting happening at the kitchen table right now, but there might be later.

Yesterday brought something even more exciting to my door. A lovely little package all the way from Arizona. Deb had posted about a chocolate cake that her Mom used to make and shared the recipe with her readers. One of the ingredients is not widely available (if at all) in the UK and she kindly offered to post out a packet to two commenters. I was delighted to be one of the recipients.
It’s the Fourth of July tomorrow and that seems like a pretty good day to make this all American cake. It’s also the day that my son was due, sixteen years ago. However, he made us wait another week, in the July heat (yes, we had some that year), before he put in an appearance. I’ll let you know how it goes Deb.
That’s what is in my workspace today. Are you sharing yours? If you’ve been under a rock for the last four years, then pop over to Julia’s place to see what it’s all about.
I aim to be back tomorrow with the winners’ names and maybe even some numbers.

300 Today…..I think!!

I’m a bit rubbish at anniversaries. I let my first year of blogging roll by uncelebrated. My 100th post pass unannounced. Before I knew it, my second birthday and 200th post had both been and gone. I was determined not to miss another milestone.

I checked the stats and according to my dashboard, I have posted 295 times on this blog. I was gearing up for a special post next week, but….when I added up the numbers in my sidebar this morning, I made it 299! Now maths has never been my strong point, I’ll admit, but that would make today’s ramblings my 300th post.

What to do, to mark the occasion? How about a little giveaway? I had a lot of fun putting together a little package for Sian’s Great Big Swap of Very Small Things. I was even happier that Sandi was so delighted with what she received, although that had quite a bit to do with my clever girl. You can read all about it here. You’ll see I have shamelessly stolen Sandi’s picture, as I forgot to take one before packing.

I decided I would make up three more packages, with an assortment of little things that could be used for scrapbooking or card making. Would you like one of them? Just leave a comment at the end of this post, before midnight on Sunday. The giveaway is open to all my followers, whether you have been here from my very first post or just found me today. I’ll announce the winners next Monday.

I would like to take this opportunity, to thank each and every one of you, that has ever taken the time to leave a comment on any of my 300 posts. I still get a little thrill with every email notification. I feel blessed to have blog friends who stop by week in, week out and every now and again to have a brand new name pop up, or maybe somebody that I haven’t seen in a while. You are all appreciated.

Not exactly what I was planning, but I did say the other day that I was a “blog on the fly sort of girl” and this post has been a good example of that! Thanks for visiting.

PS Please make sure that you are contactable via your comment. I have noticed that many more people are ‘no-reply bloggers’ these days. I don’t know if that is deliberate or just Blogger messing with us, but it makes things a little trickier.

The Great Big Swap of Very Small Things

Just a quick post from me today to share the lovely little package of goodies that plopped onto my door mat earlier this week from Estelle.

A gorgeous selection picked with obvious care, to include lots of my favourite colours, namely purple, teal and turquoise, along with some sea shells and other pretties that reflect the name of my blog. Thank you so much Estelle and many thanks to Sian, of course, for dreaming up this Great Big Swap.

When I was filling my own package, ready to send, I was reminded of something that I did in primary school. After searching through a few boxes, I found what I was thinking of and will share that little story soon. You’ll only have to wait until the first Sunday of next month. Not long to go now.

Have a lovely weekend.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday? #195

I’ve been out and about today and came home to find my scheduled post hadn’t posted at all. Now it doesn’t make a lot of sense! Here’s the edited version.

In the background some red winceyette (reminds me of sheets I had when I was a little girl), a couple of notebooks (for my daughter), a new magazine (that I haven’t even opened yet), a pattern I was lucky enough to be given (more about that on Friday) and thread (to match the fabric from last week).

The spoils of my little trip to Salisbury to meet some lovely fellow WOYWWers. We had a great time looking at fabric and wool and chatting about anything and everything. Jan gave me a cute little fabric basket, which you can see on her blog today.

Right, there are a million other things I should be doing, so I’d better go do them. First on the list is making a jug of hot chocolate for my frozen children, when they walk through the door in a few minutes. Once I’ve got the washing in, I think I might need one too. Linking up with the lovely Julia and her merry band of desk hoppers.

PS For those who worry that clicking on my links will end up forcing them to buy pretty things (you know who you are!) I haven’t added any of those kind today, I promise. You’re quite safe!

PPS Hopefully I’ve worded that better now and it won’t upset anyone. That was never my intention. I don’t think it was being read in the spirit it was written.