15 Minute Challenge - slow down for rest of the year

Although my boss has managed to ring/text every working day since I have been on holiday it has been ok and I think I have finished everything he needs me to do today.  Turns out he picked up Covid again probably from his interstate trip last week, so I told him it was great that I was on holidays.  

DH and I hit the shops this morning for some last minute gift buying for the kids as there is nothing under the tree.  Mo wanted her room redone and we did that last week with some pale pink paint for a feature wall and sheer pink curtains.  It turned out very pretty.  Maestro only really wants stuff for his new house and we have to store it all, but we ended up purchasing a couple of frypan for him which seemed like a good deal 2 for 1 and we can take them back if they aren't any good according the chief. I wanted to get him a saucepan set but DH didn't think it was a good idea in case they weren't what he was after.  

I started a new crochet project, Mo wanted a throw for her bed and I had been eyeing a tartan look throw in one of the my books.  I had some 10ply yarn in suitable colours from a kit that went nowhere just needed a couple more to add so we went to the local yarn store and came away with some more and I made a start.  With any luck it will be finished in time for her birthday.  

That's it for me we have a house to look at tonight, fingers cross it measures up to the picture, I've come to the conclusion photoshop should be banned from all realestate offices.

Head to Kates for the rundown.  

15 Minute Challenge and I'm over house hunting but it continues

In the last 2 weeks I have been to Melbourne, put an offer in on a house, got the house then when the building inspection report came in cooled off on the house, put 3 more offers on houses, viewed about 8 houses, looked at new offices for work and worked way to many hours so that I could go on leave without too much guilt.  

My crafting time has sadly taken a bit of a dive but hopefully being on holidays means that can change.  

Mo is finished uni well and truly for the year, it's been pretty hard on her and her OCD is playing up and she has asked to see a councillor to get it back under control.  She had her first session while I was in Melbourne and will go again this week.  She also did her first market which was at the Uni and she did really well, recouping all her costs and making a nice profit.  Her and her boyfriend manned her little booth and they were pretty happy when we turned up to pick them up, though they said that next time they will bring chairs because 3 hours standing was too much.  

My local quilt shop is closing at Christmas for good so I have just been and done some shopping, not that I have been doing much quilting lately but I think I would like to do some stitchery and appliqué when I have had enough crochet.  Mo needs some help making her boyfriends Christmas present which we have left to the last minute, though she is busy painting her bedroom at the moment so it might be a couple of days before we can make a start.  

I'll leave you with my crochet, I have finished one more octagon but it has taken 2 weeks and lots of frogging as I started looking at the colours for the next pattern half way through.  

Head to Kates to see how everyone is going.  

15 Minute Challenge and Maybe some better news on the house hunting

We put in an offer on a property last week, but the agent wanted to have an opening so it wasn't presented to the vendor.  We have done some more paperwork today so fingers crossed our offer is better than the other people and we can get off this merry go round but I'm not holding out much hope.  

This week the properties were better, the last few weeks have been pretty depressing with what is on offer basically old with all their issues covered with a lick of paint and asking for top dollar.

I am a bit late this week.  Spent the most of my working day yesterday looking at new offices and walking around the city I then had to do some more work when I got home.    We found some serviced offices that we like, they have a space available now but I'm not sure if our people in Melbourne will move in time as our lease doesn't run out till June.  

This week I've managed to do some crocheting most days (I think).  I managed to finish another  octagon and a square.  Tonight I'll join them together.   I managed nearly finish the octagon and then realised that I'd skipped the colour to a different block half way through.  It looked pretty but it repeated the colours from the centre so I decided to unpick it and start again.  

Well that's it for me.  I'm off to Melbourne for Christmas lunch at the end of the week, staying 2 days so will be a good rest from house hunting.  Head to Kates.  

15 Minute Challenge

 Feeling lots better this week, have been going to sleep with the diffuser on and I think that is helping and I probably needs some hay-fever medication because when sun is out so is the pollen but we have had a return to winter the last couple of weeks (I'm back in a jumper today). Maestro went to a music festival yesterday in the rain, he texted us in the afternoon to say he had never been so cold in his life.  

I've made quite a bit of progress in the Persian Tile Blanket, thinking of making it bigger but I probably shouldn't bite off more than I can chew as I keep finding patterns I want to try.  

Work is winding down which means we need to start thinking about finding a new office and advertising for another person to join the team.  

That's it for me.  Head to Kate's to see how everyone is travelling.  

15 Minute Challenge & Almost down for the count

 My 4th sinus infection for the season had me down this last week.   The other three I have managed to get over without resorting to going to the doctor with just saline flushes but after 3 days of high temperature and splitting headache and with no signs it was going to let go I headed to the Drs for the dreaded antibiotics.  Within 24 hours I was on the mend and so far thanks to probiotics and plenty of yogurt no side affects (fingers crossed).  

There wasn't much progress on the crochet front, I did finish a couple of motives for the Persian tile blanket but when I went to take a picture I found a couple of mistakes which has resulted in quite a bit of unpicking including one of the first octagons I finished because it was missing 2 rows.... don't ask me how I missed that.  So you just get a progress shot of the motive I did manage to finish then stitched to the group all wrong which was the first bit of unpicking this afternoon.  

I think this motive is my favourite colourway of the blanket.  

Here is a picture of what I think is a day lily.  We got a random pack of bulbs from the Royal Show a couple of years ago with no clue what they were but they flower every year so they are a winner in my book even thought the flowers only last a day there are usually lots of them one after the other.  

No news on the house hunting front in fact this week has been downright depressing in that regard.

Head to Kate's to see how retirement is working for her.  

15 Minute Challenge No House Yet

We made an offer on the house we were looking at this week but we weren't the only ones so I don't think we will get. The agent was saying she was expecting a price way out of our budget so I don't know if our low offer will make the grade.  We found out an issue with the property so it may be better that we don't get it.  So we are probably back to the drawing board.  

Bit slow on the crochet this week.  Got 4 motives joined together and a few more rows on mosaic.  I did work out that I don't need to sew in all the ends in the mosaic as the border folds over and encloses them all so that is a bonus.  

I have been sewing in the ends on Persian Tiles Blanket as I complete each row in the motive so that won't be an issue at the end.  

That's it from me this week.  Head to Kate's to check out what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge and More/Less House Hunting

 We only saw one property last week on Thursday it was one that our buyers advocate found and it isn't going on the market until next week.  Unfortunately Maestro couldn't make it but we were really happy with the look of the place and it was in a good location for transport, close to his work (in fact he could catch a bus down the street) and only 20 minutes to the city and 25 minutes to our house.  The only problem is that it may end up being above our budget so fingers crossed the downturn in the market that is everywhere else in Australia hits Adelaide but so far we haven't seen prices going down yet.  

We decided to just take the weekend off of house hunting.  There wasn't really anything we were desperate to see so we just had a break and that was really good and enabled us to have a bit of a recharge.  Maestro has pre approval for his loan so that gives us a bit of peace of mind to make an offer when something comes up.  

I did a bit of crochet this week, I really wanted to finish the 4th motive for Persian Tile Blanket but as you can see I'm only nearly there.  

The Mosaic rug is coming along, I was planning to give it to Maestro at some point when he has a sofa in his new house. 

That's it for me this week.  Head to Kates to see how everyone is going.  

15 Minute Challenge

 It was a bit of a slow week on the 15 minute challenge this week.  I only managed 4 out 7.  There were a couple of days of not picking up the crochet hook just because I was being lazy and we went out on Saturday night to my boss's 60th birthday so nothing was done that night.

I did finish another motive for the Persian Tile Blanket  and a couple of rows on the Sofa Runner.  

We only looked at one house on Saturday and we still haven't found anything worth making an offer on.  We are a bit closer to Maestro getting pre approval so that one stumbling block will be removed.  

My local quilt shop has announced that it is closing down at the end of the year which is sad.  I haven't been going regularly since their Thursday classes have stopped.  I probably have enough fabric in the stash for plenty more quilts in the future, but we all love looking at something new.  

In other news Coco's has finally got over her ear infection and my wallet is very happy about that.  She is back to he nutty self and is happy to go on long walks again.  

Head to Kate's to see how everyone is going this week.  

15 Minute Challenge & More House Hunting

 The house hunting continues, we thought we found the perfect house, but they have already had offers exceeding the price indicator and we needed to get a offer in within the next 24hours.  Our buyers advocate said that he could get our offer in if we are interested but he also found out a few things about the property that we weren't ok with and could cause issues down the track so we have backed off.  

Maestro couldn't get time off to go and see it anyway and it is a lot of extra money for us to spend on his behalf without him actually seeing the house.  So the search continues and more time he has to get his pre approval sorted as the bank keeps asking for more information.  

Crochet update.  I'm heading into the pinks and purples for the sofa runner now and I'm loving the colours.  

I decided to make the square to join the first 2 motives of the Persian Tiles Blanket.  I just have to decide which motive to do next 2 more to join below these or continue in a row.  

I purchased a couple of books which have more mosaic crochet in them. I really like the density of the fabric they create.  I have found a few more Mosaic designers on instagram as well.  I'm a bit obsessed with this technique.

Well that's it for me this week.  Check in with Kate to see how everyone is travelling.  

15 Minute Challenge and the Money Pit

 Lots of crochet this week.  Giving up on the CAL for a while has been good and I have finished the first block of a project I have been wanting to start for a while.  I have nearly finished the 2nd block and will continue with this in conjunction with the Sofa runner which has grown this week as well.  

The pool is proving to be a bit of a money pit at the moment.  The chlorinator was hardly working last autumn and we decided to just leave it until spring to replace the cell.  With all the rain we have had and intermittent warm weather, we ended up with a pretty green pool.  We replaced the chlorinator cell which cost quite a lot and it was just starting to clear when the pool pump started making a loud noise.  DH managed to find a pool place that was pretty sure it was just the bearing that could be replaced without replacing the whole pump for only a 3rd of the cost of replacement pump.  Fingers crossed that is all that needs doing.  

More house hunting on the weekend but nothing turned up worth a 2nd look.  Maestro was able to go with us and he was pretty quick to dismiss both the opens we went to.  We did some drive passes of a couple of places and he decided they weren't pursuing  either so I think we will be looking for a while yet.  

Head to Kathy's to see how everyone is meeting the challenge.  

15 Minute Challenge - Long Weekend to Recharge

 I pretty much hit the wall this week, haven't been feeling well and work just got a bit too much.  There was a couple of early nights because I just needed it.  I think this week was only a 3 out 7 because a few nights I just sat and stared at the TV not really taking anything in.  This week is a long weekend and apart from looking at a few houses on Saturday we have done nothing but a bit of washing and staying close to home.  

The boss and I sat in the office on Friday and just had a bit of a whinge fest.  The last couple of months have just caught up with us.  The boss has had to deal with health issues with family members and we have had to cover holidays for manager's interstate, our office internet being cut and there are also lots of legislative changes happening that mean more work for us.  

The crochet hasn't been all that successful this week.  I've decided to stop doing the CAL for a bit as I am struggling with one of the sections and I have unpicked it that many times I need to just put it down for a bit and go back to it in a couple of weeks.  The Sofa Runner has been unpicked as well but I'm back on track and have managed a couple of extra rows on last week.  I've pulled out another pattern to try tonight.  

That's me for this week.  Hoping to have a better shorter week this week.  

15 Minute Challenge - Welcome Back

 I've been busy with work and running around lately so blogging just hasn't happened.  I've managed to keep up with the 15 minute challenge most weeks last weeks there were a couple of days where I just vegged and didn't do anything.  Springtime Romance got finished and in the Show but no ribbons which is fine at least it got finished.  

I also finished the shawl I was working on and then started a new CAL this one by Janie Crowfoot it has lots of colour changes and I'm having fun.  The CAL is done in 4 pieces each piece is repeated once and then joined together.  I have also collected more yarn for some other patterns on her website. There is lot of texture in her work which I love.

Most of the increase on the sofa runner below happened on the weekend.  Up to Row 85 this is really easy to do and the colour changes are so effective.  I've found another designer that does similar mosaic designs and I can see me doing more of these types of crochet.  

I am slowly closing down my etsy shop, just letting everything expire, I'm actually enjoying not having any deadlines or commitments, I'll pick up the machine and/or needle soon but I'm enjoying crochet at the moment but I will probably stop for a break once the weather warms up.  

We are house hunting for Maestro which takes up part of the weekend and a lot of our spare time during the week as well.  Hopefully we will find something soon.  

Mo is on a break from Uni this week and then she returns for a month and that is all for her 2nd year.

Head to Kates to see how everyone is going.  

15 Minute Challenge

 There isn't much to show but I have completed Springtime Romance it is all quilted, binding is done and hanging sleeve in place.  I need to have one more look over and it and pack it up ready to drop it off at the show the same goes for Nimue. I haven't taken any photos of the finished quilt so you will have to take my word for it.  I haven't decided if we are going to the Royal Show yet.  

Work has been busy as is usual for this time of year but nothing like last year so I think we are coping well.  

The shawl which is the only other thing that I have to show is nearing the end I think I have about another 8 rows to go but of course those rows take a long time to finish.  

I am well and truly keeping up with the challenge, last week once the quilting was finished I broke the binding up across 4 nights, planning to do a side each night and then pick up my crochet.  This made the binding task not so onerous, I still didn't find it enjoyable.  

Its been a while since Kate has posted but I'll keep linking

15 Minute Challenge & Splat

 The excitement for this week is that I took the dog for a walk and managed to trip over and went splat.  Luckily apartment from being jarred there was no real damage, though today I'm pretty sore.  

I'm on the home stretch for quilting Springtime Romance one more and a bit more borders to quilt. 

More crochet progress below.  

Mo made her first Etsy sale and she has just received an email from the customer to say it arrived safely, which we have been worried about because you just don't know what is going to happen with Australia Post.  

That's it for me short and sweet today.  

15 Minute Challenge

 I'm quilting the final border on springtime romance, so it might get finished in time to go in show, if I am happy with the final quilt. 

My crochet projects are zooming along I'm on a roll and I am really happy with them.  There are plans for the next projects, I found another designer with projects that I love and can't wait to get started on.  

I'm gradually closing my etsy shop, once the patterns expire that will be it. I might find another venue or just leave it for now. 

Mo has opened her shop .  Hopefully she can make enough money to pay for supplies.  

15 Minute Challenge

 More crochet this week.  The shawl I'm working on is getting easier and I've made progress.  I am using Scheepjes whirl and the colour changes are quite subtle.  It has started a magenta red and is gradually changing to pink.  I love the fact that the colour changes can be hidden in the stitches without the need to start and finish.  The end of the ball is purple should look quite spectacular when it is done.  

The sofa runner is moving along.  I have a couple more blues to go and then it is heading to yellow, the ends I don't have to do for the shawl and made up for in runner as there are ends to weave in at every row.  

Quilting continues on Springtime Romance, I did too much on Saturday and suffered Saturday night, one day I will learn to make smaller quilts that are easier to move under the machine.  Hopefully next weekend I can start on the big borders.

I started a small cross stitch project but didn't get very far it will be a drum, just felt like doing something new, you know how it is.  

Link to Kate's

15 Minute Challenge a couple of new starts

 I finished the shawl I have been working on but I haven't blocked it yet, should of done it on the weekend but it was pretty cold and wet so it wouldn't have dried.  I did start another shawl the first few rows were a bit complicated and the instructions are in US terms so I have to really think about it and there was lots of unpicking.  

The sofa runner is coming along nicely, now that the pattern has developed its pretty easy to keep track of and will be a reasonably quick project to crochet.  

I have done some more quilting on Springtime Romance, hoping that it may still be worth entering in show, but will have to see if I'm happy with the finished quilting.  

Mo is doing a 2 week intensive at Uni with a Claymation Studio.  Here is her character, it looks pretty spectacular, I had to drop her at Uni today as we didn't think it would survive the trip on the train.  She is painting it now.  She initially wanted to make the clothes from fabric but I think the modelling clay gave her a lot more versatility and it was a medium she was more comfortable with.

Thats it for me well and truly keeping up with 15 minutes each day.  

15 Minute Challenge and Reflecting

This week in my facebook memories a couple of entries came up about times we had struggled with Mo.  They were from 9 years ago, at a time when she was having issues with her back.  Now in hindsight we know that the back issues were a result of her OCD which wasn't diagnosed until she was 14 and was very under weight due to her need to control. 9 years ago she had a number of rituals that she would repeat, one of them was stretching and rubbing her back, so much so she left a mark/bruise and she was having back spasms.  The memories shared that she was doing swimming and she was going to physio a lot and there was quite a number of bad days.

When she was diagnosed things all fell into place about all the rituals she had done over the years, there were lots and they changed over over time, some were quite funny to watch others not so much.   Thankfully I have all but forgotten all the struggles we had.   She can still be very controlling when she is stressed about time, about food, about things being perfect but we don't notice the rituals any more, she probably still has them she just has learnt to hide them better. 

Nimue is all dry now, it took nearly a week and on the weekend I wove all the ends in.  This is the last time I'll show a picture of it I promise.  I've entered it in the Royal Show this year.  I'm pulling springtime romance, I'm not happy with the quiltings but will continue to quilt it and get it all finished and bound.  

I have started a sofa runner and am finishing up a shawl that I started when Mo had her wisdom teeth out.  It is going to be lovely and warm with any luck it will be finished this week.  

I only managed a little bit of cross stitch this week not anything worth showing, but I need to get going on that as well.  

With any luck Kate will be back.  

15 Minute Challenge and CAL all finished

 There was a bit of quilting done this weekend (a very little bit) working on quilting the sashing round the outside of the blocks.  I can't say I am happy with some of the quilting so I'm not sure if it will end up going in the Royal Show.  

I have finished the crochet Cal and blocked it on the weekend.  As its pretty cold here it is going to take a while to dry another couple of days I think.  

I'm working on a shawl at the moment, giving the big projects a bit of a rest for a while.  I yarn arrived for another blanket during the week, which I think I will give to Maestro, maybe for his birthday if I am quick, but I do have a couple of shawls that I want to work on first.

Head to Kate's who has been a bit MIA for a few weeks hopefully work will settle down for her and she will resurface.  

15 Minute Challenge and end of financial year

The last week work has been a bit full on, the end of the financial year is looming and it never was that much of a deal in the past but last year was nuts and this year is a close 2nd but it has only really been the last 2 weeks.  Why of why do people leave this stuff to the last minute.  

I powered ahead with the CAL this week and did a couple of extra rows only about 4 to go unless I add a few more .... still deciding.  Its getting harder to take picture of the whole thing.  I think once its all blocked I will maybe use Mo's bed to spread it out.

There was a little bit of quilting my neck and back are playing up so I kept it to bare minimum but progress was made. 

Only a few stitches were added to my cross stitch.  

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

15 Minute Challenge and no more Wisdom Teeth

Mo had her wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday.  She was a bit of a basket case leading up to it but as per usual once it was done she was fine.  It was done under a twilight and not general anaesthetic, but  she was still pretty groggy on they way home and we had an interesting conversation.  They did give us some stronger medication to take and I only gave her half of one of the tablets that first night.  She ended up sleeping all the way through with no need for anything else though I made her take Advil and paracetamol for the first 36 hours she decided she didn't want or need it much after that.  She did look like a chipmunk for much of the week but the swelling had pretty much disappeared by yesterday.  

Even though she is pretty much eating normally, I noticed when I came home from work she had talked her boyfriend into making and delivering her a big tray of chocolate pudding (the cake variety with chocolate sauce).  

There has been more progress on the Crochet CAL and I started a shawl while I was in the waiting room on Tuesday.  As I still have some rows to go on the CAL the Shawl will have to wait.  

Cross stitch progress is below. I'm enjoying doing the house with it's lovely blue bricks, they have been quite quick though I need to fill in the blanks.  

Not much quilting progress this week though I did do a couple of hours on Saturday, Sunday was a bit of a bust as we had a bit of a fridge emergency which turned out to be a false alarm.  

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