15 Minute Challenge and the Winter Sun has come out to play

After a couple of weeks of rain, rain and more rain we have had 5 days straight of beautiful sunny weather.  The house is freezing so I have spent as much time as possible sitting in the garden. 

It was a 6 out of 7 week this week.  One night Maestro took over the TV with his Dad to watch stuff I just couldn't stay interested in so I went to bed and read. It was the one night he had off for the whole week, he's doing another 7 day week this week with mostly double shifts so he will be a wreck by the end of the week.  I know he's loving the money but the 40 minute drive home late at night after working 12 hours is a big concern.  He wants to work as much as he can before Uni starts again.  

I got a delivery today of antique hat pins.  I'm collecting them for my Blackbird Design X stitch projects.  They are so pretty.

  

I did a fair bit of stitching non the less this week even though I missed out on one day.  I finished the project I was working on for my friend and found a ready made frame to fit.  It is all ready for when we can meet up again hopefully soon.  We are going to wait until they let you stay longer at restaurants.  

Below is my next project from Crewel Goblins Project of the Month it is a drum pincushion called In My Garden so I thought stitching it in my garden was pretty apt.  I found a nice plant stand online for my cyclamen collection where I had them on an old outdoor setting that my husband made in highschool and he was getting antsy about the fact that it might  rot with the pots on it.  So I moved them then Mo went on  a succulent planting spree and fill the table up again.  

Hubby is talking about putting in a shade house up the back which will mean no tomatoes next year. I'd wish he would get rid of the old swing seat that he did a running repair using a noodle and a rough awful plank of wood.  He is the only one that will still sit on it.  Next hard rubbish collection I might get Maestro to help me dump it.   I think I might save up for a nice outdoor setting, even the current swing seat is starting to look a bit ragged. 

Howd your week go.  

Head to Kate's to seek how everyone is going.  

15 Minute Challenge - More Rain

More rain this week, we had one day of sunshine which was luckily my non work day so I washed all day.  Maestro worked all week but got the weekend off, but it has meant that we had to wash his work gear every day.  Getting it dry has been an issue we have clothes airers up full time at the moment.  We move it in front of the heater outlets.

Mo and the beau headed out for a walk on Saturday and 10 minutes later we were hit by a huge deluge. Luckily they were able to take refuge at the local train station and I was able to rescue the 2 drowned rats.

We have been removing filing cabinets from our office, 2 really big cabinets came out during the week and it has made the office so much more spacious.  I'm going to be clearing out more files to storage over the next few weeks and making the office a bit more easy on the eye.  Plants are going to be purchased, hopefully we won't kill them, but I think I have worked out at home the type of plants that don't die too quickly. 

So on to the sewing week.  It was 7 out of 7 and I have nearly finished the centre of the appliqué whole-cloth.  Just 2 flowers to go.  

I received today  he next project from Crewel Goblin.  I am one project behind  but I will be back to cross stitch this week once the 2 flowers above are finished.  I still have that gift that has to be completed also that is first priority.   I also got some delivery of saw dust to use as filler in Project 2.  The parcels are beautifully packaged they are like a gift every month.  I also got some other pieces of linen for a couple of other projects that I want to start sometime soon.  I think I really need to sprout another set of hands to get everything done.  

So how did your week go.  Head to Kate's to see how everyone is going.  

15 Minute Challenge - Winter Has Set In

Last week though sunny it was very very cold for this time of year and we recorded our lowest June temperatures for a lot of years.  The weekend saw lots and lots of rain and the house still looks like a laundry mat but it was perfect weather to sit and stitch.  

It was a 6 out of 7 week, the one day where a work a full day I find it hard to want to sit and stitch after I've have been flat out trying to keep up with things at work even if I am doing it from home.   Only spending 2 days in the office means I can't quite get things done in there that I want to.  So I may need to do an extra day or 2 over the coming weeks to sort some of the old paper files out.  

This week I have worked more on the cross stitch piece that was started the week before last.  There is still a few hours of work but I am going to have a break for a few days to work on my liberty appliqué on linen.  I want to get the centre motive done this week.  There is still a lot of details to add so I may be pushing it a bit, but the liberty is lovely to work with the leaves are all basted, but all the flowers have multiple layers so they are going to take time to get finished. 

I will be putting in a smaller something on top and bottom of the centre design I just haven't decided what yet, maybe some birds or a scroll. There are a couple of marks on the linen thanks to Mo making some bees wax wraps with my iron that need to be covered up.    

So how did your week go.  Head to Kathy's to see how everyone has been travelling this week.  

15 Minute Challenge

Its a long weekend here this week. Nothing was planned and I had a bit of sleep in this morning and did some stitching throughout the day.  I've been basting shapes on my whole cloth linen applique quilt and sitting in the sun shine on the swing seat in the backyard as the house is too cold.

Mo went out with friends to a park and Maestro is working again, he has done more than 50 hours this week, everyone is getting the restaurant fix.

I've been working on another cross stitch (not from the Crewel Goblin projects) but from another Blackbird Design Book that I found.  Its for a gift so I'll just give you a little glimpse.

The week has been a 6 out of 7 one night I just didn't feel like stitching.  We have been watching The Terror on Amazon Prime which was a bit gruesome but had us hooked just to see what happened.  Not sure if we will watch the 2nd season.

I just managed to save my tin of fabric from being kicked off the edge off the seat someone wasn't too happy to share the seat with my sewing stuff.

So how did your stitching go this week.  Head to Kate's to see.

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.