31 August 2020

15 Minute Challenge and a week of finishes

 Well I had a productive week.  Finished a quilt, my cross stitch and the shawl I was working on.  

It was a 7 out 7 again all those finishes kept urging me on.  


I finished stitching the binding at sewing class on Thursday.  


Putting together the huswife was bit challenging but I got there in the end.  I used sawdust to fill the pincushion bit, which meant I had to be a bit creative to keep the sawdust in place as the stitching line didn't go all the way through to the cross stitch layer.  I ended up doing a little blind hem through the cross stitch layer between threads.  

Here is the shawl which is all finished apart from blocking and weaving ends in.  Not sure about the colour still might gift it.  

Mo has just showed us video's of her boyfriends final music pieces for senior year.  They were pretty amazing he is a very talented boy.  She said that everyone kept coming up to her over the last few days  asking her if she had listened to it (she hadn't until this afternoon). 

She is off to pottery again tonight.  They were given a chance to try pottery at school last week in her design class and the teacher was the same as the one from the Jam Factory where she has been going the last 7 weeks.  That teacher then told all her art teachers she's been doing pottery.  Her Art teacher was very impressed and  told her to include what she does in her art portfolio for the year.  

She has started on her final piece.  

How have you been going this week hopefully you have been able to keep up your crafting for the week.  Check Kate's to see how everyone has been going.  




24 August 2020

15 Minute Challenge - close to finishing

 My hubby has started working from home again... don't really know why think it may be a state government directive because of the outbreak a couple of weeks ago.  I ended up working while listening to an audio book I have a set of head phones that are close to noise cancelling so it was ok.  

The liberty binding arrived in time for the weekend so I was able to attach the binding to my liberty quilt.  The cross stitch is close to being finished and I'm half way through the shawl that I started last week.  I also got the wool for another project to crochet.  I'm also quilting the next quilt on the list.  




Mo and I did some shopping this week for formal shoes.  She ended up finding the perfect flat sandals with silver/gold and navy crystals on them.  I then did a search for the silver belt she wants after asking every shop at Habour Town if they had belts to no avail and we had previously searched when we bought the dress and there wasn't one to be found.

Must be the change in season and its the next big thing because the internet search this time came up with lots of choices and ended up getting it on ebay with only a week til delivery.  The only problem was  once I purchased the vendor turned out to be Chinese so I'm betting its coming from China.  I've been duped before they say they live in Australia but the goods come from China.  If it is the case this time I'm going to report it because I'm a bit sick of it happening when I deliberately choose an Australian vendor.  

Now I'm going to be pestered to make the appointment to get the hem altered.  

So how did your week pan out mine was a 7 out of 7.  Go check Kate's to see how everyone went this week.  


17 August 2020

15 Minute Challenge - an almost finish and a new start again

 The state got the all clear on the weekend regarding the cluster that had affected a couple of high schools here.  The governments action worked and we had no new cases until a family returned from India on the weekend and one of them had Covid but they are in hotel quarantine and have not been in contact with the general population.  

This week has been a good week on the stitching front.  I finished quilting my Liberty quilt and I am waiting on pre-made liberty bias to finish it.  I have start quilting another quilt on the unfinished pile, but I ended up unpicking some as I wasn't completely happy with how I'd quilted the background.  I've decided to just stitch around all the applique first and then decide what to do.


I've made more progress on my cross stitch there are a couple of errors in it but I can live with them, I won't say that it will be finished this week but I will make an effort to get near to the construction stage.  

I've started another crochet project, that I saw a kit for on instagram.  The pattern is pretty easy to follow so I don't think it will take long to make.  


With all that done it was a 7 out of 7 week for me.  

Mo finished her 2nd Art Prac sketch and we have framed the 2 pieces so that she could take  them to school for assessment.  She just has 1 more piece to work on now for the final assessment which will be a larger sketch that will complete a trio of surrealist portraits.  The first 2 are pretty amazing the last one will be a self portrait which I am sure will produce a lot more anxiety.

How has your week gone, found time to stitch?


Head to Kate's to see how everyone has got on.  

10 August 2020

15 Minutes - Scary times again

My companies head office is in Melbourne and they were placed in 6 weeks of lockdown last week trying to stem the increase in numbers of Covid.  We have had a small cluster happen here and 2 schools have been closed, about 1000 pupils told to isolate and another 90 sent to hotel quarantine.  One of Mo's friends is in home isolation as she does Specialist Maths at one of the schools.  All this because one idiot came home from Victoria decided it was a good idea to isolate for a couple of days in a hotel and not tell anyone he was doing so and the cleaner picked up the virus. 

It was a 6 out of 7 week for me.  

There has been a bit of progress on the cross stitch, getting there my sinuses have been playing up meaning it is hard to wear glasses for too long.  


I started cutting out a new quilt.  I delved deep into the stash for this one, pulled out fabrics that are probably 15 years old.  It has lots of florals, I did get purchase some to start me off but 2/3rds will be from the stash.  I might make it big enough to fit on my bed.  


Mo had to make a instructional video for english, it was to replace another assignment that couldn't be completed due to Covid restrictions.  She made a cake and the instructions were how to ice it. Here's the finished product.   Its super sweet I have only managed a mouthful or two, DH was able to eat half a slice.  Mo took some to school to share, hopefully she will take some everyday to get rid of it.  

Well that's it for me this week.  Mo's off to pottery class soon.  


03 August 2020

15 Minute Challenge - Juki Fun

This weekend I really spent some quality time with my Juki.  I got on a roll with machine quilting and my liberty quilt is past the half way mark to completion.  I've managed to change bobbins and rethread the machine without problem this weekend so I think I am getting to know the nuances of the machine.  I'm looking forward to move my machine quilting to the next level. As with everything it just takes practice and I am finding I am able to spend more time at the machine quilting because there is so much easier with the space to manoeuvre the quilt and I am more relaxed at the machine and less frustration.  

It was a 7 out of 7 this week and I was able to go to an actual sewing class at my local quilt shop which was so good, however the state government is to announce further restrictions tomorrow as there have been a couple of cases COVID cases recorded which has resulted in a couple of schools being closed.  Hopefully they are just being over cautious at this stage we don't want to be in the state that the eastern states are in.  

My cross stitch is progressing but I may have to unpick a bit as I'm not sure if I have the right side correct.  I may just have to modify the pattern if it isn't right, I'm fast running out of some of the threads and there is still a way to go.  

I couldn't resist some more hat pin's last week and they arrived super fast.  There where 4 I was interested in and the dealer gave me a discount if I took all 4 so of course I did.  Might have to hold back on hat pin purchases for a while until I have made enough pin cushions to display them.  Mo and I went looking at 2nd hand furniture shop, I want a small display cabinet.  We found a beautiful antique desk with attached book case that would have been perfect if I had somewhere to put it.... maybe in my next house.  

So how did you go this week.  Head to Kate's to see how the gang went.  


 Catch you next week.