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.

15 Minute Challenge things are slowly returning to the new normal

Pubs are apparently open and places are beginning to open up.  Borders are still shut so we are in our own virus free bubble at the moment.  Eastern states still have active cases and there are known clusters so I think borders will stay closed for a number of weeks yet.

Maestro has 3 double shifts at the end of the week so he is happy, he is getting Job Keeper but he would prefer to be busy.  He hiked last week 3 times up to the top of Mount Lofty and back down again.

This week Mo and I worked on the bag for her boyfriend I finished the last of the pouches during the week and we worked on the outer bag for most of Saturday.  The picture below is the finished bag, she is pretty happy with how it turned out and she thinks he will think it is amazing.  The proof will be when she hands it over tomorrow.  It to hold his keyboard so its quite wide and we made an adjustable shoulder strap.

She has made his cake this afternoon, and made brownies for him yesterday.  She is going after school to his house for family dinner, I have to help carry everything in apparently.

This week I worked on a new granny square from Granny Square Academy (Spincushions).  12 squares done.  I'll start on the next pattern later in the week.

I think I will stick to cross stitch for a couple of days I'm getting to the end of the first Blackbird Design Project and I just received the next project which I am itching to start so I need the first one finished.  It is one of the barrel pincushions which I was hoping we were going to get as one of the projects.  In the kit there is a monogram pearl button to go on it.

Since this picture was taken I have started working on the house part of the pattern.  So it won't be long.

I've just got back from the physio, my back has been sore the last couple of weeks.  I will be putting on a heat pack later this tonight.

So how did you go this week.  I think I can safely say it was another 7 out of 7.  We have been watching The Bridge (USA) the last week so there is plenty to watch we are into the 2nd season.  I am going to have to talk my husband into the watching the other subtitled versions which I think go for 5 season, its a bit gory but we have been glued to the TV so plenty of stitching time.  I've also been watching Sweet Magnolia's on Netflix its a nice brake from Drug Cartels on the Bridge.

Catch you next week.

15 Minute Challenge and Back to Work from Office Sort of

I went back into the office yesterday, don't really know who was sadder the dog or me.  I have gotten use to just staying at home, and I have managed to get round some of the connection issues by just logging on early before the work network became too busy.  But the boss said it was time to come back in a couple of days a week.  The office carpark was totally empty when I arrived so I left the front door locked while I was on my own.

I can't stick to one craft at the moment so there I have been doing a few different things it was a 7 out of 7 last week again.  More work was done on Mo's boyfriend's music bag but we really have to get to it this weekend because his birthday is next Tuesday.

I've done started on some different granny squares from a book and youtube video's by Spinchusions. I plan to make a blanket for Maestro out of these.  There are 10 designs that get more difficult as you move along and learn more stitches.  I have enough of this wool to do a 100 squares which should make a nice size for his bed.

The cross stitching has come along now that I have my space age glasses though I have been gradually modifying them so they are more comfortable.  First I took the arms off and put he head band on that it came with. Then I took the nose piece off because that was digging in.  Think I might need to put a bit of felt across the bit that sits against my forehead but the magnification is amazing the holes in the linen are so easy to count now.

I'm just a 3rd of the way through.

My last piece I've been working on is my whole cloth applique.  I've marked 4 designs along the sides and bottom and have selected another for across the top.  There may be a few more smaller designs to go in some of the blank spaces I will have to see.  I've started on the centre motive.

Check out how everyone is doing at Kate's 

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.