27 April 2020

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.  


20 April 2020

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.  

13 April 2020

15 Minute - Happy Easter

It was a 6 out of 7 this week.  One day I just was really zapped and had no energy.  So I went to bed about 7.30 and went to sleep for 12 + hours, I came good the next day, thing had obviously been building up and I needed a recharge.

Green Tea and Sweet Beans continues to move along I finished one of the big appliqué blocks and have nearly finished all the propeller blocks that go together to form a big block.  I am working on  month 9 of the block of the month, but I may move to month 10 as I need a glue stick to finish the 2nd block for the month and that is coming in the post.

We have been watching The Stranger with Mo on Netflix we have 1 episode to go.  We binged 4 episodes last night, so I got lots of stitching done.  Don't know what we will find tonight to watch but the Stranger has been excellent full of twists and turns and yummy Richard Armitage.

We have been walking each day the dog has been enjoying it.  She has to have surgery this week to take out a couple of bad teeth, I had to start giving her antibiotics today and I was kinda dreading it but she took it like a champ, we will see if she continue to be good tonight now that she knows what I'm doing.

Here is view from the top of my street.  Our front garden is need of an over hall but DH did a bit of trimming of one of the conifers and it has made all the difference with the bark mulch. Ours is the house with the palm tree in the corner.  The palm tree is on borrowed time as its too tall to be able to prune now safely and it gets big bunches of seeds every year that when they come crashing down are deadly.









06 April 2020

15 Minutes and Working from Home

It was a 6 out of 7 week this week.  No excuses just didn't feel like it one night.

DH started working from home on Wednesday and I moved out of the family room where my desk was set up and just left him to it.  I set up in Mo's art room and so far we both happy with the arrangement we don't get disturbed by the constant video conferencing that is happening down the other end of the house.  DH is still grumbling about noise but I think we are doing pretty good.... he needs to lower his expectations, I'm sure we will have that discussion a bit later this week.

Stitching wise I have finished 2 more Green Tea and Sweet Bean blocks and am half way through the last block from month 8 which should only take me a couple of nights.  There are quite a few filler blocks that also have to be stitching but I might leave those till the end.  I'm not planning on doing the border at this stage, I've seen a version without the border and I really like the look.




We have a glut of tomatoes, they have been really slow to ripen as the weather since Christmas has been so mild.  We still have green ones on the bush.  I made a batch of tomato relish on Sunday.  After the mixture reduced sadly I only got 2 and half jars, but as I'm the only one who will eat it, it is probably a good thing.














I've been using the treadmill every day but today I thought it would be a good idea to go out for a walk as well so Mo and I headed out into the sunshine this afternoon. I got a sneaky picture of Mo when she went to get rid of a doggy bag.  





01 April 2020

Block 10 Springtime Romance Free BOM



I was a bit sneaky and put the pattern up early and I am leaving it up until the end of the month.    You can download the pattern from this post here .

And it you have missed out on any of the monthly block or haven't been collecting them I have decided to put the whole set of patterns up for sale for the month of April.  All blocks for Springtime Romance are 1/2 price in my etsy shop.