15 Minute Challenge - Do I Want it to Go Back to Normal

We haven't been in heavy lockdown like other states and there is only 1 active case in the state and that was an overseas traveller who was let in on compassionate grounds last week, but I'm not comfortable heading out into the big wide world.  People are complacent, if I need to be somewhere I go in and get out as quick as I can.  I am still shopping early so that I'm not in large crowds, I ventured to the shops on Sunday afternoon for a quick purchase for Maestro and there were just too many people I managed my purchase without getting near anyone and then headed straight home.

Maestro is back at work, he was spent after 3 double shifts he didn't even have a 12 hour break between one of them and slept most of Saturday and even went to bed early which is highly unusual for him.  Shows what 2 and a bit months on nothing much does to the system.  This week he has single shifts but that means heading across town and back 5 times this week.  Everyone is eager to go and eat in a restaurant apparently.... not this little black duck.

I have done lots of stitching this week.  My first Blackbird Design project is finished, I also finished marking the last of the appliqué on my piece of linen and started more stitching.  So it is a 7 out of 7 for me.









Head Office want everyone back to Pre Covid work arrangements by 1 July which may mean I need to do 3 days at work and only 1 at home but we will play it by ear and see what happens 2 and 2 is working out for us at the moment.

Mo made a cake for her boyfriend for his birthday and took it to his family dinner.  I think it was a hit.  And so was the keyboard bag, but apparently he got another keyboard for his birthday.  I said to her I wasn't up for another bag for a bit but she said that this one isn't a portable kind so no bag required. I'm sure there will be more instruments though so I am sure we will be designing something else down the track.  That kid had better get a job to feed his musical habit.



















Hows your stitching going this week.  Cant wait to sit in front of the box and do some tonight myself.

15 Minute Challenge things are slowly returning to the new normal

Pubs are apparently open and places are beginning to open up.  Borders are still shut so we are in our own virus free bubble at the moment.  Eastern states still have active cases and there are known clusters so I think borders will stay closed for a number of weeks yet.

Maestro has 3 double shifts at the end of the week so he is happy, he is getting Job Keeper but he would prefer to be busy.  He hiked last week 3 times up to the top of Mount Lofty and back down again.

This week Mo and I worked on the bag for her boyfriend I finished the last of the pouches during the week and we worked on the outer bag for most of Saturday.  The picture below is the finished bag, she is pretty happy with how it turned out and she thinks he will think it is amazing.  The proof will be when she hands it over tomorrow.  It to hold his keyboard so its quite wide and we made an adjustable shoulder strap.

She has made his cake this afternoon, and made brownies for him yesterday.  She is going after school to his house for family dinner, I have to help carry everything in apparently.

This week I worked on a new granny square from Granny Square Academy (Spincushions).  12 squares done.  I'll start on the next pattern later in the week.

I think I will stick to cross stitch for a couple of days I'm getting to the end of the first Blackbird Design Project and I just received the next project which I am itching to start so I need the first one finished.  It is one of the barrel pincushions which I was hoping we were going to get as one of the projects.  In the kit there is a monogram pearl button to go on it.

Since this picture was taken I have started working on the house part of the pattern.  So it won't be long.

I've just got back from the physio, my back has been sore the last couple of weeks.  I will be putting on a heat pack later this tonight.

So how did you go this week.  I think I can safely say it was another 7 out of 7.  We have been watching The Bridge (USA) the last week so there is plenty to watch we are into the 2nd season.  I am going to have to talk my husband into the watching the other subtitled versions which I think go for 5 season, its a bit gory but we have been glued to the TV so plenty of stitching time.  I've also been watching Sweet Magnolia's on Netflix its a nice brake from Drug Cartels on the Bridge.

Catch you next week.

15 Minute Challenge and Back to Work from Office Sort of

I went back into the office yesterday, don't really know who was sadder the dog or me.  I have gotten use to just staying at home, and I have managed to get round some of the connection issues by just logging on early before the work network became too busy.  But the boss said it was time to come back in a couple of days a week.  The office carpark was totally empty when I arrived so I left the front door locked while I was on my own.

I can't stick to one craft at the moment so there I have been doing a few different things it was a 7 out of 7 last week again.  More work was done on Mo's boyfriend's music bag but we really have to get to it this weekend because his birthday is next Tuesday.

I've done started on some different granny squares from a book and youtube video's by Spinchusions. I plan to make a blanket for Maestro out of these.  There are 10 designs that get more difficult as you move along and learn more stitches.  I have enough of this wool to do a 100 squares which should make a nice size for his bed.

The cross stitching has come along now that I have my space age glasses though I have been gradually modifying them so they are more comfortable.  First I took the arms off and put he head band on that it came with. Then I took the nose piece off because that was digging in.  Think I might need to put a bit of felt across the bit that sits against my forehead but the magnification is amazing the holes in the linen are so easy to count now.

I'm just a 3rd of the way through.

My last piece I've been working on is my whole cloth applique.  I've marked 4 designs along the sides and bottom and have selected another for across the top.  There may be a few more smaller designs to go in some of the blank spaces I will have to see.  I've started on the centre motive.

Check out how everyone is doing at Kate's 

15 Minute Challenge and Happy Mothers Day

It was a 7 out of 7 this week.  The blanket got finished though I still have to weave in all the ends.

I started the Blackbird Design Cross Stitch kit I received.  The stitching is really tiny and my the magnifier I purchased was didn't do a good enough job.  One of my friend's reminded me that the light we use has a magnifier on it that she uses.  It is a bit awkward I have to sort of sit on the light base to use it but I could see better with it so was able to get a good start on the cross stitch.

I did a search on amazon and found some glasses with interchangeable magnifiers so will give them a go when they arrived.  I also got a delivery of wool today so the next crochet project is in the planning stage but I am doing a few lessons on Youtube to get my skills up, as I really only know a couple of stitches and I want to be able to do some more patterns than traditional granny squares.

On the weekend Mo and I started on her boyfriends present, he turns 18 in a couple of weeks and she wants to make him a bag to carry a small keyboard and synthesiser.  He them over  over so I could take measurements of them and I when I looked at them I realised that they would need extra padding within the bag to keep two pieces safe (there are lots of knobs and switches).  I found some adhesive foam which I thought would fit the bill.   Here is one of the completed pouches this one will be for the cords, there will be another one for the synthesiser and one for the keyboard.  I'm not completely happy with this one, so it might get a remake if I have enough foam left over the lining is a bit too big.

We have 2 more weekends to get the bag done, fingers crossed it all works out.  As working with the foam is a bit tricky I've told Mo that I will do the pouches and she can make the outer bag which should be a bit easier to stitch.

They have eased the restrictions here, hopefully people do the right thing, though they reported in the papers that people flocked to shopping centres on the weekend.  Of course it was Mothers Day yesterday and maybe it was just everyone trying to get something nice for Mum.

We headed to a local tennis court and the kids had an impromptu Mother's Day Classic Match. Mo was leading the first 3 games but then Maestro managed to start getting his serves in, so most of the rest of the games went down to the wire withe Maestro finally taking out the match.   Maestro is usually working Mother's Day so it was good to have both the kids home.  I got nice gifts from them both and we did have quite a bit of family time so it was a good day.

How did your week go, are you getting much done.  Head to Kate's to see how everyone is faring.

15 Minute Challenge - Heading Back to a New Normal

Do you think things will ever be the same, I think there is always going to be a bit more wariness in us all.  Our state has hit 11 days straight with no new cases and I think the government is going to start easing restrictions.  I'm sure the borders will be closed for a lot longer as eastern states of Australia are still getting cases.

My husband who didn't want to have to work from home now doesn't want to go back to working from work and is going to try and stay home as long as possible.  Now that he is all set up and knows what he is doing he is pretty happy.  The fact that everyone has to tip toe round the house when he is working is a major pain though, the poor dog keeps getting in to trouble for barking at the postie and anyone who walks by.

I will be happy to move back to my old desk and get out of Mo's hair though.

Its been 7 out of 7 for me this week, most of it has been crochet.

I'm at the finishing line for the blanket I am working on 15 rows to go and its done.  There is nothing to be done a
bout the too tight first row but nobody is probably going to see it and it is just a throw rug for when we are sitting watching tv its all learning, I've discussed it with my friend and next time I will use a bigger hook for the first row to avoid this.

I got some new crochet books this week which came with e-versions and You tube videos I'm thinking about doing a sampler blanket next with lots of different granny squares from one of the books.  I also have the wool for another stripped blanket in the sew room that I am going to start which is super easy as I think the sampler is going to stretch my skills somewhat.







I have started on my whole cloth appliqué which is going to use mainly Liberty prints, I am using lots of Blackbird Design blocks to fill in.  I have finished the frame for the centre block and then there will be other pieces around the centre from their various books.  I think this is going to be all by hand I'm think I will even hand quilt the finished quilt.

I also managed to get my hands on some more linen a bit heavier weight than this one which will give me enough for 2 whole cloths (it is 280cm wide).  So I am planning a couple of new projects when this one is finished.  I might even wrangle Mo in providing some appliqué designs.

I think I am going to give the BOM a rest this year.  I don't have the energy for writing patterns I'm just enjoying creating without an end goal at the moment.

I must get back to Green Tea and Sweet Beans later this week when the blanket is finished.  I've been enjoying the rush of starting new thing this last week.

How did you go this week are you using your time at home to sew or have you lost your motivation?

Head to Kate's to see what everyone else is up to.

15 Minute - This and That and More of the Same

Mo went back to school this morning.  She doesn't know if she will go everyday but we will see how things pan out.  The federal government wants kids to go back to school, but the school has told us for students only to return if they have already indicated they were going to do so.  Hopefully when she get home she will know more about what they expect.  She works fine independently so I'll leave it up to her.

Reminder I will only been keeping Block 10 of Springtime Romance for free until the end of the month so if you have been following along get you download done and it comes  down on Wednesday.



Another big batch of tomato relish this week.  I've told the girls to do a drive by and they can have a couple of jars as I am never going to eat all this.

















On the stitching front this week was a 7 out of 7, though it wasn't all stitching a couple of days all I did was crochet, I just haven't enjoyed the block from Green Tea and Sweet Beans that I as working on or maybe I just needed a break.  Will get back to it this week though as I am itching to start a new appliqué project.

I worked on the centre design for this new quilt the centre will be on a piece of linen.  The design is from one of my Blackbird Design books, the original design is quite large I only increased it to half the finished size to make it fit into what I want to do.  This one is From Where the Wind Blows, I have also picked a couple of designs from Birds of a Feather that I want to use to go around the outside of the oval shape.  It will be nice to just appliqué for the fun of it for a bit and not worry about creating a block or instructions.  I might even rest the BOM this year.  




I signed up for a Sewing Club project of the month which is cross stitch using Blackbird Designs Sewing Club Book.  The first project arrived today with just about every thing you need to create the first project.  I just have to wait for the arrival of a magnifier (which or ordered a couple of weeks ago and appears to be lost in transit).  I'm due for new glasses but COVID put a stop to that.

So how are you going this week, are you filling your time with stitching and other things head to Kate's to see how everyone is travelling.  

15 Minute Challenge - School Holidays but it looks the same as school term

Mo is still on school holidays but she has been doing a lot of school work over the break so it doesn't look much different apart from the fact she isn't physically going to school.

We have kinda got into a rhythm working from home although my hubby has had a few days off, but the thing is when you are working from home you don't actually have days off because you still check you emails and people still ring you because you phone is diverted.

I managed to get toilet paper today (first time in 3 weeks) and last week I got hand sanitiser and liquid soap so maybe things on the supply front are returning to normal (its the little things at the moment).

We haven't had any new covid cases in our state since Thursday and they open up the testing criteria and tested a lot more people this week so good signs.  The government is spruking an app for us to download if we want to begin to open up, I'd want a lot of assurances before I do it but I can see the benefits.

Over to my stitching it was a 7 out of 7 this week. I have also started crocheting again, though it is a bit hard on my shoulder which is playing up now that I don't have a regular massage.  I have been crocheting during the day and stitching at night.

Coco had dental surgery last week she ended up have 3 teeth removed, she is nearly back to normal now but she wasn't herself happy self for a few of days.  She is still on pain killers and antibiotics for most of the week but she is back to being my shadow again.

I finished the propeller block in the Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt.  Still waiting on glue pen refill to finish the clamshell block which was the other block for month 9.  Australia Post is a bit of a joke at the moment  everything I order either gets lost or takes a month to get here.   I have started on month 10's block which are 3 blocks of a drunken path block.  They are all cut out but am only halfway through 1 block so nothing really to show.

Well that the report from me, how are you going finding time to stitch 15 minutes.  Check in with Kate to see how everyone is going.