15 Minute Challenge and Happy Mothers Day

It was a 7 out of 7 this week.  The blanket got finished though I still have to weave in all the ends.

I started the Blackbird Design Cross Stitch kit I received.  The stitching is really tiny and my the magnifier I purchased was didn't do a good enough job.  One of my friend's reminded me that the light we use has a magnifier on it that she uses.  It is a bit awkward I have to sort of sit on the light base to use it but I could see better with it so was able to get a good start on the cross stitch.

I did a search on amazon and found some glasses with interchangeable magnifiers so will give them a go when they arrived.  I also got a delivery of wool today so the next crochet project is in the planning stage but I am doing a few lessons on Youtube to get my skills up, as I really only know a couple of stitches and I want to be able to do some more patterns than traditional granny squares.

On the weekend Mo and I started on her boyfriends present, he turns 18 in a couple of weeks and she wants to make him a bag to carry a small keyboard and synthesiser.  He them over  over so I could take measurements of them and I when I looked at them I realised that they would need extra padding within the bag to keep two pieces safe (there are lots of knobs and switches).  I found some adhesive foam which I thought would fit the bill.   Here is one of the completed pouches this one will be for the cords, there will be another one for the synthesiser and one for the keyboard.  I'm not completely happy with this one, so it might get a remake if I have enough foam left over the lining is a bit too big.

We have 2 more weekends to get the bag done, fingers crossed it all works out.  As working with the foam is a bit tricky I've told Mo that I will do the pouches and she can make the outer bag which should be a bit easier to stitch.

They have eased the restrictions here, hopefully people do the right thing, though they reported in the papers that people flocked to shopping centres on the weekend.  Of course it was Mothers Day yesterday and maybe it was just everyone trying to get something nice for Mum.

We headed to a local tennis court and the kids had an impromptu Mother's Day Classic Match. Mo was leading the first 3 games but then Maestro managed to start getting his serves in, so most of the rest of the games went down to the wire withe Maestro finally taking out the match.   Maestro is usually working Mother's Day so it was good to have both the kids home.  I got nice gifts from them both and we did have quite a bit of family time so it was a good day.

How did your week go, are you getting much done.  Head to Kate's to see how everyone is faring.

15 Minute Challenge - Heading Back to a New Normal

Do you think things will ever be the same, I think there is always going to be a bit more wariness in us all.  Our state has hit 11 days straight with no new cases and I think the government is going to start easing restrictions.  I'm sure the borders will be closed for a lot longer as eastern states of Australia are still getting cases.

My husband who didn't want to have to work from home now doesn't want to go back to working from work and is going to try and stay home as long as possible.  Now that he is all set up and knows what he is doing he is pretty happy.  The fact that everyone has to tip toe round the house when he is working is a major pain though, the poor dog keeps getting in to trouble for barking at the postie and anyone who walks by.

I will be happy to move back to my old desk and get out of Mo's hair though.

Its been 7 out of 7 for me this week, most of it has been crochet.

I'm at the finishing line for the blanket I am working on 15 rows to go and its done.  There is nothing to be done a
bout the too tight first row but nobody is probably going to see it and it is just a throw rug for when we are sitting watching tv its all learning, I've discussed it with my friend and next time I will use a bigger hook for the first row to avoid this.

I got some new crochet books this week which came with e-versions and You tube videos I'm thinking about doing a sampler blanket next with lots of different granny squares from one of the books.  I also have the wool for another stripped blanket in the sew room that I am going to start which is super easy as I think the sampler is going to stretch my skills somewhat.







I have started on my whole cloth appliqué which is going to use mainly Liberty prints, I am using lots of Blackbird Design blocks to fill in.  I have finished the frame for the centre block and then there will be other pieces around the centre from their various books.  I think this is going to be all by hand I'm think I will even hand quilt the finished quilt.

I also managed to get my hands on some more linen a bit heavier weight than this one which will give me enough for 2 whole cloths (it is 280cm wide).  So I am planning a couple of new projects when this one is finished.  I might even wrangle Mo in providing some appliqué designs.

I think I am going to give the BOM a rest this year.  I don't have the energy for writing patterns I'm just enjoying creating without an end goal at the moment.

I must get back to Green Tea and Sweet Beans later this week when the blanket is finished.  I've been enjoying the rush of starting new thing this last week.

How did you go this week are you using your time at home to sew or have you lost your motivation?

Head to Kate's to see what everyone else is up to.

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.  

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.  

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.

How is your fifteen minutes going.  Check out everyone at Kate's.

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.  

How have you gone this week. Head to Kates to see how every one is travelling.  

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.