15 minute challenge & lots of crochet this week

 It was my birthday on Saturday, we made a last minute decision to head to a pub for lunch.  We went to the Largs Pier Hotel, which we have eaten at before during the week but the restaurant was open on the weekend so we snuck in there.  The meal was wonderful and their was service was great.   Mo and I couldn't finish out serves.  I love the look of the hotel, I was trying to talk the hubby into maybe staying a night there for an occasion.  The restaurant had a view of the ocean that you don't get when you are eating in the bar section of the bar.  We were going to get ice cream at the pier but there was a big line up so we just walked back to the car along the foreshore.  There were lots of couples just sitting on the grass in the shade of the Norfolk Pines and I said to him we should do a picnic down here some time.  

Lots of crochet this week, not much embroidery. It was a 7 out of 7 week for creativity this week though.    I have finished all the flower centres for Asterles and now I just have to square all the blocks up and hope I have enough yarn to put a small border round the finished squares.  The 2nd picture is the yarn i picked up for my Sophies' Universe blanket.  I was going to do it in 8 ply but couldn't get the right colours in the yarn at the shop so settled for 4ply (hopefully I won't regret it).

Mo has put in a few pieces into be fired, one is a commissioned piece and I have asked her to finish one of her mugs off for a gift. She painted a small watercolour on some board that she bought back from Japan a few years ago with the gold edge I thought she had purchased the painting,  I should have known better.  She has kept up the tradition of making me a card and she always puts my age on it, I told her she doesn't need to do it any more (pretty sure I told her that last year as well).  

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

15 Minute Challenge & Not Much To Show

The week of teeth is over. Turns out Maestro's tooth ache was caused by a bad mouth ulcer where his wisdom tooth was rubbing on his cheek.  He doesn't have to have them out unless the ulcers become problematic.  He did make an appointment for a check with our regular dentist which he has been avoiding for a couple of years.  I'll leave it to her to nag him now that he is a big boy, my nagging has just been ignored.  

Its my birthday next weekend and I bought myself a wooden ball-winder and picked up a book for a CAL Sophie's Universe which I have admired for a while and didn't realise there was a book.  Don't know when I will start but it looks fun and pretty every row is different, there are lot so colour options to choose from.

I have made 6 Asterales flower centres and need to finish the borders on 4 of them.  Have decided that I won't be making the blanket very big and will just stick to 3 x 3 and put a border round them.  Couple more rows to go on this one, but I need to look at the video help for the next row.  

I made a transferred a few small flower motives to the linen and have started stitching.  I have asked Mo for another sketch but it is a bit low on the priority at the moment so I am fill in time with small embroideries which will probably be the centres of some pieced stars.  

That's it for me this week I think it was a 4 out 7 this week really wasn't enthused to do to much.  

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

15 Minute Challenge the Still Hot and Humid

There was a couple of days in the last week I just couldn't get to the stitching so it is a 5/7 for this week.  

I did make masks for Maestro he has lost all his.     He has been suffering this week, after being told by the Orthodontist that should not be named that he didn't have wisdom teeth (when he was 15), he has been in major pain the last week with a wisdom tooth breaking through.  I managed to get some anaesthetic from the chemist to paint on.  It was like I was asking for major drugs,  had give name and age and address in order to get it.  When they were kids you use to be able to get that stuff off the shelf.  

Mo went to see an oral surgeon today, she has 3 to be removed but there is no rush just within next 12 months.  I wasn't allowed to go in with her (due to covid restrictions) which we didn't find out until we got there, so that was fun.  She hasn't even been to a normal dentist on her own, she was a bit shaken up but as there was a 40 minute wait to see the guy she said she pulled herself together. 

Maestro officially starts his apprenticeship this month (well the study side of it.  He has already worked the required hours at the restaurant for his whole apprenticeship.  As we were taking out the teeth/gum paint he told us to come to the restaurant for an early dinner and he cooked for us.   He did a great job. 

Sewing wise I have started the frame for the stitchery.  This is my 3rd or 4th attempt.  I have done a bias frame before but I just couldn't get it to work this time.  So I've ended up just covering the whole stitchery and cutting the frame away.  I can use the centre and outside cutaway  for appliqué so it isn't that big a deal but I would have liked a scrappy frame that I can only really achieve with a bias strip.  The edge of the frame is a free drawn wavy edge.  

I signed up for a crochet CAL and we were given one of the border blocks to start on.  I used a 5mm hook for the multi coloured block but it feels too lacy.  The 2nd block is with a 4mm which is what I will go with and I am going to replace the teal yarn with the darker purple I used on the 2nd block I will probably need another ball of that but I can order it down the track.  The colour way I am doing has 2 versions of the square.   The CAL doesn't officially start till March so there is plenty of time yet.   

I think this will be the year of multiple starts we will have to see how many things I actually finish.  

Head to Kate's to see everyone's progress

15 Minute Challenge & I Hate Humid Weather

We have had major rain here 200+mm in some areas and its hot as well so humid and yuck.  We have Evaporative air-conditioning which does nothing when its humid so I feel like I have been sticky for about a week.  I've just been sitting next to a fan.  

We got a work from home order when I got back from leave and they have just extended it for another 2 weeks which is fine with me.  Cases heading down but I am pretty sure that is because everyone is pretty much staying at home.  

I have done a bit of stitching and I did a bit more tidying up in my sewing room (mainly sorting out my yarn).  Decided to do a crochet CAL this year and got the first part of the pattern .... don't ask when I'm going to fit that in but I have reassigned some yarn that was going towards another project that I decided I didn't love anymore.  Fingers crossed this one get to be a finished.  

Finished the first stitchery for BOM.  As it is a public holiday tomorrow I might organise an appliqué border to finish the block.  

Pretty sure I got in 7 days last week.  Next week will be a different thing as I'm already 0/2 if I don't do anything tonight which is a high possibility.  

Well that's it for me, head to Kate's to see what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge and too much Cricket

 I've watched more cricket in the last couple of weeks than I ever had, mind you it has manly been just background noise while I knitted, sewed or crocheted.  Maestro is an avid fan, DH not so much but they  had tickets to the BBL this year.  Unfortunately because Maestro was a close contact after New Years  and then having to pick up extra shifts at work they only managed to go to one match.  Quite a number of matches were rescheduled due to Covid within the teams.    As we have some hot weather DH has even been watching the Ashes while trying to stay cool.  He's going to try and talk Maestro into not getting tickets next year and just watching it at home.  

Working from home has been fine, DH has worked out how to stay scarce while I work so I can do phone calls and get my hours done, after 2 years I have the working from home down pat now.  The boss is on leave at the moment we are still pretty quiet but things will ramp up pretty quickly in the next couple of weeks.  

I've started a new pair of socks (they have been unpicked twice) but I think I have them straight now.  Mo was going to wear her short socks the other day but has decided that the band needed to be longer but they would be ok for wearing around the house. I decided after my 2nd unpick to increase the length of the band.    I also picked up the book Happily Knitting Socks which has another heel option that I need to look into(see if I can find a video).  I'm trying a new heel with these colour work socks which is a bit scary but I love the look, you don't knit them until the end so fingers crossed they will turn out ok.  

I've been working on the stitchery, but I haven't been sleeping all that well lately so I haven't managed a lot in the evening but I'm slowly getting there.  I need to get Mo to work on the next one and think about how I'll frame this one.    

How has your week been.  Head to Kates to catch up with everyone.  

15 Minute Challenge and Another Burst of Heat

Its +40c today so I have been sitting on top of a fan to keep cool.  My babies have been babied, there are pillow slips over the 2 hanging baskets to keep them from burning and DH has been walking around with a watering can to keep everything alive (Oh to be retired).

Returning back to work after a month has been a bit of a shock to the system but we have been directed to working from home for the month of January due to the Covid situation so there will be no driving so that gives me an extra half our either end of the working day.  Yesterday I drove into work picked up files and came home.  The building was deserted so I was quite happy to return home to work I don't feel safe working there when non of the other tenants are in the building.  

I made another pair of socks this week.  That is good going on the year of sock but I am only planning on knitting 1 pair a month so I am ahead now.    No sewing but I did potter in my sewing room a bit, putting things away and working out some more yarn storage.  I might go back to the stitchery tonight.  

Mo finished up her retail job Sunday which is a relief one less chance to catch Covid.  She isn't due for her booster until the end of the month.  Maestro had a near miss but has tested negative which was a week of worry we didn't need.  I will be nagging him to get his booster over the next couple of weeks.

Stay safe and check out the 15 minute challenge at Kate's.  

15 Minute Challenge and Bunkering Down

Happy New Year to everyone.  We are just bunkering down, keeping going out to the minimum and hoping for the best that we don't catch this thing but it is pretty much everywhere now.  

Mo finally resigned from her retail and promptly got a couple of orders for some pottery, so she said it must be fate.  She has her final shifts this weekend.  She has been working on polymer clay earrings for her "market store".  I want her to make some things to be used a pin keeps but I need to source some suitable magnets to put on the back.  We have just come back from a flying visit to the art store for more clay and I get the feeling she is busy creating.

I finished a pair of socks yesterday and am toying with doing a year of socks .... don't ask me when I am going to fit that in but I like the idea of making stripy socks which will be my next sock adventure, though I have another sock half made that needs to be complete, that probably won't stop me starting the stripy sock set soon though.    

I have had a rest from my stitchery, I'm a bit worried that I might not be able to get the threads again in a timely manner.  Mo needs to do some more drawing for me for the next stitchery and I want to settle on some small motives.  I don't think the BOM will be starting for a while as the embroidery will take time to finish and it will be safer to have them all completed before heading into the piecing.  

Last years Quick Quilts are now finished the final quilt will be available till the end of January.  I am going to post today the Deer Folk Sampler Instructions.  If you have downloaded all the quick quilts you have all you need to finish your sampler.   I have decided to keep that free on the blog forever and I might see if I can maybe combine all the quick quilts into one entry on my shop later in the year.  

Here are my Christmas Babies.  I have always loved fuchsias but haven't really got a spot for them but I decided I couldn't live without them any longer.  We used to have lots in a big shade house at our first home. They are temporarily on our veranda and DH is going to build a shade house for their permanent home... one of his many retirement projects.  There is no rush I will just have to baby them for a bit, I must be doing something right because all but one has flower buds on it today I potted them all into bigger pots.  Can't wait to see what they look like, it was a mystery batch of doubles.  Expect more update photos in the future.

Kate has started the 15 minute challenge again this year, its a great way to keep your creative stitching going and I'll be joining in again this year.