15 Minute Challenge

Well that's August gone don't ask me where it went.  Work is very busy, with the move 2 and a bit weeks away, i've  been trying to make sure we are organised and sorting through papers and working out what needs to be disposed of.  My boss keeps telling me not to tell me what is going off to the shredder.  

I did manage to finish another doll.  The dolls are keeping me from going insane at the moment.  I have another body just about finished ready to put hair on.  I've decided to just do a few bodies for now and then work out how I want to dress them. 

I've also been collecting a few embroidery patterns from Cottage Garden Threads, and I'm planning to work through the field journals but I don't think I will bother about collecting the threads as I have a big stash of Cottage Garden Threads as well as countless other varieties which will be fine to use in the project.  

In July Maestro got notified that he needed to be available for Jury duty in August.  He wasn't happy and but we talked him round, and it turned out he wasn't picked for a trial.  He only lost a couple of days work in the end.   

This week he is desert module at TAFE.  He's not a dessert person but I think it looks pretty good. 

Mo did another bake sale and the raised a good pot of money for the Grad Show.  Here are her efforts.  

Thats it for me this fortnight, it has only taken 3 days to write this post. 

Head to Kate's you know the drill.

15 Minute Challenge

The last 2 weeks have been more of the same just plain busy again.  My crochet dolls are keeping me sane.  

I have finished another doll and have the body and head finished on the next one.  The latest doll uses an additional support in the neck which goes inside the head and stabilises so there is no drooping.  I think I will use the technique in future dolls.    I have had to ordered some brown 4ply as the cotton yarn I am using is only available in baby colours so had to go further afield for more colour variety.  

I'm being called to the TV to watch our latest show, so I have to keep this short.  

Head to Kates to see what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge A couple of finishes to report

The weather has been a mixed bag it has been cold and wet and then we have had days filled with lovely winter sunshine.  

Mo went back to Uni last week for her last semester.   I think she is a little scared about job prospects at the end but she got good grades again last semester so at least she has that behind her.  She has been working on  the committee has been working on the End of Year Exhibition throughout the break and she has done a great job of designing the Catalogue and a lot of the promotional things all good experience for her resume.  

Work is still busy I don't see it getting any better for a few months, and we haven't posted the job yet, 2 steps forward and 1 step back seems to be our moto at the moment. 

To keep me sane I  have been doing lots of crochet.  Made my first doll (a bunny) finished a scarf and started a new dolly.

The wool for the scarf is Poll Merino wool and it is divine so soft and lovely to work with.  It is from a SA farm Leahcim Wool.  

I picked up the pattern for the Rabbit on etsy it is called Liberty Bunny by Lulu Compotine.  Her patterns are translated into a few languages from the original french.  There are loads of photo's and once I got the ply right it went together like a dream.  I'm now working on Little Lise.  Working on them is melting the stress of work away.  

That's it for me hopefully  there will be more to show next time.  You know the drill head to Kate's 

15 Minute Challenge No More Excuses Just Plain Busy

A post every 2 weeks might be all I am going to manage for the next few months.  My boss said we needed to discuss his schedule today and he's going to be interstate for big slabs of time over the next 3 months right when we are moving and supposed to be taking on a new employee.  I think I probably don't want to think too much about it all for a little bit.  Denial seems to be a good option at the moment.

At least I am still managing to keep up with 15 minutes every day, its been a lot more consistant the last couple of week.  Maestro's blanket is all finished.  We had some lovely winter sun last week so I got it washed and blocked.    It looks great all pinned out and I'm sure it will be perfect to snuggle under. One day he might have a girlfriend to snuggle under it with but at the moment all he does is work.  

I'm trying my hand at amigurumi crochet. I'm working on a bunny, I gave up on the first one as it turned out I used the wrong weight yarn.  So scratched it and started again, its bit fiddly but I'm having fun.  It's helping me not to think about work.  

Head to Kate's to see how everyone is travelling, I'm sure they are more productive than I have been.  

15 Minute Challenge and end of Financial Year Chaos

 Well I promised myself that I would be more dedicated to the blog and commit to a post a week but it just hasn't happened.  Friday was the end of the financial year down under and work again just got in the way.  Each year its been getting increasingly busy and this year was pretty bad.  Even with my extra hours I ended up doing more hours on top of it and we didn't start the process of getting a new person on either.  

This afternoon I should be able to finish attaching the last square the Maestro's blanket and will start working on the border.  It's been good to be able to snuggle under 4 squares as I do the final 2 and it should be better now that there are 6 to snuggle under as the weather has been cold and wet.  

I've been purchasing more crochet patterns and a couple of skeins of wool from a poll merino sheep farm which is the softest and luxurious wool I've ever felt.   I plan to make a blanket out of it I already have a scarf started in a previous skein I purchased and I just love the feel and way it makes up I had to have more.   

I have purchased a couple of amigurumi patterns, I'm hoping they are simple.  Will see but I like the idea of maybe making something small with crochet that are quick and hopefully easy.  Fingers crossed the experiments works and I have something to show in a couple of weeks.  

Mo is on uni break at the moment but is still going in once a week for the Grad Show Committee, she has managed to pick up a dreadful bug last week which had her spending a couple of days in bed but she is almost over it now.  

Mo did pottery as an elective at uni this semester and I will leave you with her finished works.  The final project was to create a set of  6 matching cups  and there are also some of her other pieces.  We love the cups they are a perfect size and shape and wonderful to use.  

That it for this week.  I have tried to keep up my 15 minutes and I have probably succeeded about 75% of the time.  

 Head to Kates

15 Minute Challenge and lots of walking

We just had a long weekend for the Kings Birthday, it use to be the Queen's Birthday, I guess they just recycled the holiday for the new ruler.  It never was the Queens actual birthday but I'm not complaining it was a long weekend.  

We walked everyday of the weekend and took the opportunity to walk a bit further.  We did a couple of 6km walks then yesterday we did a 7km walk to Henley and back.  Yesterday was the pick of the days, the sun was shining and there were lots of people on the path.  We ended up cutting back through the side streets to another pathway that eventually follows the creek a couple of blocks away from our house.  

I finally finished the 4th square of Maestro's blanket and we decided that he needs 6 squares to cover his long body.  I am close to finishing the 5th square, the 4 squares is perfect lap size for me so it is keeping me warm on the cooler nights we are getting now.    

That's it for me this week.  

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

 

15 Minute Challenge - More Work and Less Play

 My hours have increased officially so at least now I will get paid for working more.  Our landlord has offered us another part of building with a bigger space, we just have to wait and see if HO approves.  If it goes ahead we will easily  fit another person in we can move our network equipment into a separate room which will reduce the noise in the office.  Its more space than we need but there is room to grow if HO wants us to put on more people.  

Over the last 2 weeks I probably have only done my 15 minutes 50% of the time.  Mo wanted to make her boyfriend a cap for his birthday, so I did a test of the pattern last weekend to see if it was easy enough which is was, and she made one for him.   The test one I made has gone missing so I think she may have worn it today so no photo.    

I helped Mo changed her hair colour again over the weekend, she has gone from pale pink, to lilac and now navy so that it blends in with her roots I think she is ready to go back to her natural colour soon, the bright colours are more work than they are worth.  Its definite more work than I want to do. 

Short and Sharp today.  Hopefully I may get some more things accomplished on the sewing front next time.  Head to Kates to check in.  

15 Minute Challenge - Happy Mothers Day

 I'm feeling much better this week, some nice weather has probably helped.  Mothers Day was 27 degrees which is well above average for this time of year.  

Maestro always works Mothers Day it one of the busiest days of the year in the restaurant, but he was pretty happy he was only on prep and not doing too much cooking, so he squeezed in a phone call.  He came over for dinner and footy watching Saturday night gave me my flowers.  

I had a lovely Mothers Day, morning tea with some of the Mum's in the street, then a walk with just the dog and me and I finished watching Queen Charlotte with a bit of crochet thrown in.  

I can't say I have done a lot of sewing or crochet this week, just felt like doing nothing much of a night this last week.  I've nearly finished another Mandalay square, I'd like to finish at 4 but I think Maestro will want it bigger as he is not small (6'2") so he will want full coverage to snuggle up on his lounge.  

Maestro's dating life is a bit of a running joke in the house (he doesn't have one).  He was set up on a date with a girl the other week, it lasted a joint date (with the couple that set him up) and 2 other dates and he was trying to work out how to say it wasn't going to work and she texted him to say the same. Oh well.  

Mo's bake sale at the uni was a great success they made $1200 and sold out.  Here are the biscuits she rejected.  

We are ramping up to some busy times and I'm going to be increasing my hours soon, not sure how I feel about the extra work load but the extra money will be good.

Head to Kates to catch up on what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge

For the last week I have been trying not to get the head cold that Mo had, all I got was the headache and a bit of a sore throat, but have now ended up with another sinus infection which I am again trying to avoid the use of antibiotics.  

The week before last I did manage to crochet every night but last week I'd say it was a 3/7 week as all I really did was head to bed early to try and get some sleep to help fight of the germs.  I have finished 2 squares and have another square 3/4's done.  

We did some more work at Maestro's townhouse the last two weekend, he now has curtains in his living area.  He is back at trade school and is juggling both school and work again.  

Mo took on being  on the committee for the graduate exhibition for her course.  Which is way out of her comfort zone but great experience.  They are running a bake sale on Thursday to raise money, the first of their fund raisers and she  is busy doing her first batch of cookies tonight.  

A poster she did as part of illustration last term was a finalist in a Government sponsored competition for Advocating Refugee program, the winner will be announced in the coming months.  

Head to Kate's to catch up with everyone's stitching progress

15 Minute Challenge & Anzac Day

 I only seem to be able to blog when we have a public holiday today is Anzac Day. 

I looked at more serviced offices last week and after the boss rejected a great office I told him I wasn't going to do  any more looking as he wont compromise and HO keep changing what they want us to have.  I told him we need to refit our current office which is double the size of any of the serviced options we have looked at and we will easily fit 3 people in it with a refit and he has agreed.  I guess we just have to make it happen.  

I've done some gardening today repotting philodendron  that has outgrown its pot and put 2 new fuchsias that I purchased via mail order in bigger pots.  I think my shade house is pretty much full now.    I'm waiting for all my fuchsias to finish flowing and cut them back and take cuttings and hopefully get me plants.  

And let' get to the challenge, I've been crocheting the last 2 weeks.  I have finished one big square and have been struggling with the 2nd one,  having unpicked rows 20 to 23 about 4 times.  I think it is now right so I'm hoping that from now on I should be able to finish the last 10 rows.  I'll start with 4 blocks and see how I go.  I used the better part of a 200gm ball to finish one square and I have 8 in the stash I'm thinking 3 x 3 will be a good size.   

That's it for me, I might switch back to stitching next week, head to Kate's to see how everyone is going and I had better check in myself.  

 

15 Minute Challenge & Happy Easter

Missed again last week, been busy and been unwell.  A couple of blood tests and a couple of scans, turns out I'm in menopause but I was pretty sure I had already gone through it about 6 years ago.  Hard to tell when you have had a hysterectomy so one of the scans was to see if there is anything going on with my ovaries.  

In the meantime I am on HRT for a couple of months until things settle down and hopefully get ok results back next week on the scans.  I have slept 3 nights straight which is wonderful because I think it is a month since I've had a decent sleep if not longer because I usually sleep badly for a week and then sleep like the dead for a night or 2, 3 good nights in a row is unheard of.  Got to say I am already feeling 100% better than I have in a long time.  

Hubby and I went for a walk this morning and I felt really good.  We went and did another couple of jobs at Maestro's house yesterday.  He is working and at trade school and hasn't much down time.  I'm waiting for him to get sick,  he says he is going to have a few days off so I might try and get him to get a flu shot he gets really sick every winter and takes weeks to get over it.  

Crafting wise I'm dividing my time between appliqué and crochet.  I have 4 squares finished for my infinity scarf, not sure if it is going to be long enough, probably only have enough wool for another 3 squares and then a border so it will probably end up being just a scarf.  

Maestro was complaining about being cold while watching the footy so I pulled out some granny squares that I have worked on a couple of years ago and I might do a couple of bigger blocks and use these as a border to make a throw for his lounge.  It's wool so it might end up being a bit scratchy but should be warm enough for a bit until I can make something from cotton that I have in the stash to make him something big and masculine.  

Progress shots on my appliqué project.  I'm really glad Anni's style is pretty rustic as these aren't too perfect, but it should look nice and fun when its finished.  

That's it for me head to Kates to see what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge and some Me Time

 We only spent a couple of hours this week at Maestro's place and it wasn't too bad this time  though he is still pushing to get things done, some which just couldn't happen.  He is doing TAFE (trade school) at the moment as well as working so his time is limited.  Work want him to finish all his modules in the next couple of months.

I've worked on a few more blocks from my Hatched and Patched Quilt but there was a couple of days missed.  

This weekend I did a class at the local yarn shop with Shelley Husband.  The class was quite nice though a bit short, I'm use to all day classes.  

On Sunday I went to FibreFeast which is a market for all things yarn and fibre and happens once a year.  

The green block is using some of the wool I purchased which is Poll Merino and is super soft and has a lovely drape.  I'm going to make an infinity scarf from it.  Don't ask me what I am going to do with the rest I don't know but I had to get them.  

Mo has been experimenting with cup shapes, she has been doing this petal shape which is quite nice to drink out off.  She is obsessed with white clay and hasn't been able to get clay white enough without going to porcelain which is hard to work with.  She was advised to underglaze with white to get the effect she wants and it worked.  

That's it for me this week.  Head to Kate's for the round up.  

15 Minute Challenge and an Exhausting Week

AHHH not great on the challenge this week in fact I only managed 1 day of sewing and that was today.  I've spent the day in my PJ's after heading to the shops to get a few groceries and returning some of the curtains and hardware that we purchased.   All the blinds in the top on the top floor are block out and were fixed in such a way that putting curtains in as well was really difficult so we opted not to. 

Maestro's room had curtain rails (but no curtains) as well as blinds so we were able to get ready mades for his room.  He wasn't too keen on the colour at first but once they were up they he realised that they were perfect.  

By yesterday after 5 days of walking up and down the stairs my legs were really complaining, but most things are done and Maestro is pretty much settled in.  He has TAFE for the next 3- 4 weeks, he was only going to work 2 days but I think he feels he needs the extra money to get things with the house right.  We knew there were the curtains and the showers needed resealing but all the down lights were too dull and had to be replaced as well as the tap in his bathroom so $500 that we weren't expecting to spend happened as well as a few other things.  The joys of home ownership.  

His tenants have moved in and they are pretty quiet and seem to be easy going so hopefully it will be smooth sailing for  a bit and will help with his mortgage.  

My fuchsias are finally blooming and the begonia which I received for my birthday is flowering.  

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

15 Minute Challenge New Quilt Start

Our Office search continues, head office didn't like the fact we found a place out of the CBD, so last week we had to start again.  We visited 5 places and found somewhere that we think head office will approve of.   The office is western side of the city which suites both of us and I can take public transport and leave the car at home, but my boss may be fighting to get a paid car park.  

I've been a bit unwell the last few weeks, I think things are just getting to me too many ball's in the air coupled with a change in meds which I don't think has agreed with me.  Will head back to the Dr's after Maestro moves in this week.  

Settlement on the house has been moved up and is tomorrow.  I have taken a day off on Friday to help, I'm sure it will involve more trips to shops  and will probably be back and forth for most of the week.  The place has no curtains so that will probably be a priority. 

Sewing wise the last two weeks I have been keeping busy and I think I only missed one day of the challenge.  I ordered a  kit from Annie Downs from Hatched and Patched.  I've cut all the blocks out ready to stitch but am working on the appliqué blocks first.  Annie's style is pretty quirky and simplistic which is about all my appliqué is up to at the moment while trying to get me groove back.  

That's it for me this week.  Hopefully I can have some house pictures next week but won't hold my breath about getting Maestro to pose.  

Head to Kates to catch the round up. 

15 Minute Challenge and now where did February go

 Seems to be a bit of a theme so far this year.  I know that come Monday I've been feeling pretty beat when I get home from work.  February is a really busy month (January genuinely is own only slow month) and clients always are slow to give us the information we need in a timely fashion they are still on holiday timetable.  This means lots of followup holding cover for them until they get their act into gear which is lots of extra work for me.  We are also looking for new office accomodation.  Our head office wants us to find serviced offices which in Adelaide is slim pickings, but the latest place is pretty good and cuts both my and the bosses commute by about 20 minutes at least.  We are waiting on head office's decision but all we are hearing is when we are going to put someone else on which until we get a new office isn't going to happen.  

This boss is having his appraisal soon so hopefully he can push the new office situation in talks as we need to jump on it soon if we get the office we want.

I have been doing a bit of sewing (well supervising sewing) Mo has wanted to make a T-shirt which she did with not too much interference from me (she told me I wasn't allowed to take over) and she made two bucket hats for herself and her boyfriend for the return to Uni tomorrow.  She did a great job on the projects and I only really helped when there was unpicking to be done.  

I got the panel that goes with the latest Homespun Block of the Month and have started doing the embroidery.  I don't see me making the quilt unless it is just the embroidery blocks, but I've had fun doing a bit of embroidery this last week as we have had a heat wave with a week of 38+ temps and it was too hot to crochet. 

Its back to crochet this week, I have Mo's bed runner to finish but it also means a trip to the yarn shop soon as I have run out of white and will need more of all the colours to finish it.   It is pretty easy compared to the Persian Tile so it shouldn't take long to finish once I have more supplies.     

                                           

Since the last time I blogged I finished my Persian Tile blanket.  

We are in the count down to settlement of Maestro's house in a little over two weeks, he will be glad to get  in and start to settle in.  

That's it for me today.  Head to Kate's for the round up.