15 Minute Challenge and More MIA

 Although I have been absent I have been keeping up with my 15 minute challenge.  I think there was only 1 or 2 days over the 2 weeks where I didn't manage to sit and stitch (cross stitch) or crochet, no quilting though I have just lost the quilting mojo.  I think it will come back but I just don't have the urge to sit behind the machine at the moment.  

2 weeks ago I was asked to go to a conference for work as one of the people going from interstate got Covid.  The first event was a big cocktail party 10 minutes in I nearly ran home.... too many people in close proximity many from interstate where numbers are rife no body wearing a mask.  It was on a balcony so pretty much outdoors and I was careful about only taking food from the servers directly from the cooking stations and not from servers walking around the crowd.  I only went to a couple of talks the next day.   I managed to stay away from Covid, though my boss got it, but he thinks he may have picked it up from his mum and they both tested positive on the same day.  He was only in the office a short time that week and I had left for the day.  

I returned to the office on Friday and thorough Glen 20'd every surface and sprayed everything with alcohol all over the bosses desk/keyboard and phone.  He is allowed to return to work on Monday.  Last week was so busy we had our biggest client due and also one of the large Vic clients that we are still looking after.  Both these practices are very demanding and paperwork has to be double checked and triple checked.  By Friday I finally felt like things were under control again, but running the monthly report found out that we had 10 new policies which means next year March will be more busy again.  We are going to have to search for new office space because we are going to need to take on another body and no young person will want to work in our pokey little office with no social interaction that the boss and I don't care about.  

So what have I been after craft wise.  The Spincushion Cal started, 2 weeks to get to row 20, I think I am up to row 15, a whole week to get the next 5 rows done.  

I finished the light purple square and have started a dark purple one for the other impromptu blanket I decided to make.  I love the purple square and that was a previous CAL that I have the pattern for so I am thinking I will make a nice big blanket for Maestro in wool instead of cotton.  I just got Bendigo Wool Mills 2022 shade card and they have added some nice manly shades that will go with his bedroom.  

I've been working on my easter cross stitch kits that I got last year.  I will need to head to the sewing machine to finish the bunny and hopefully the eggs before easter still got a bit of stitching to go on the egg.   Might need to head out and find an easter basket to display them all.  

Mo got a letter from the university this week.  She has been awarded a Chancellors Commendation as being in the top something % of students sorry bit vague on the figure as the letter just got waved at me.  She will be invited to join some academic group which will give her a chance at scholarships and hopefully will look good on her resume.  She says she hope she isn't expected to get great marks this years as she doesn't think she is going as well though she is probably just being modest she is definitely putting in the work.   Lastly is the back wall of Mo's pottery shed, with finished and drying pots.  She has been also working on jewellery from resin and polymer clay. 

Head to Kate's to see how everyone is going in my absence.  

15 Minute Challenge and a visit to the Hospital

 This weeks fun included day surgery to remove a benign tumour from my leg.  I found it about 8 weeks ago and got in to see a surgeon pretty quickly.  Because of the elective surgery ban, the surgeon scheduled it for 6 weeks from my appointment and he was pretty spot on with the timing the ban lifted 3 weeks ago so the big rush was over and I went under the knife on Thursday.  The tumour had made sitting uncomfortable for long periods of time so a full day of work sitting in an office chair hadn't been fun the last couple of weeks.  Today is the first day that I have been able to sit in the office chair since the op so I am healing, just in time to head back to work tomorrow.  Probably did a bit much yesterday so was limping by the time I went to bed.  Will be glad when I can get back on the treadmill and walk around freely, hopefully only a couple more days.  

To while away the hours I have been sitting and crocheting.  Finished the big square I was working on last week and added a border and have started on another square the same size but in a different colour.  Will border this one as well then join them up at this point it will be 4 squares which will make a nice sized throw.  I ordered more yarn for a CAL (Crochet along) and another stash for another pattern I have decided to try.  

I've been doing my of 15 minutes this week and binge watching lots of British Crime Shows on ACORN.  

The last picture are of a heap of pots and mugs Mo got fired this last week.  The picture doesn't do the speckled glazes justice they are like sprinkles. These glazes are hard to get and she was only able to get small tubs but she thinks she is trying to source a bigger tub elsewhere.  

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

15 Minute Challenge Missing in action

 The week before last was a bit of a shambles, Maestro had had a big blow up with the owners of the restaurant.  He got blamed for something that he didn't do and got yelled at over the phone on his day off right before he was set to start at trade school.  He was already to just quit and head up to Queensland with a mate who has a side hustle.  But it turns out he will have to repay for his apprenticeship which the owners have stalled for 6 months.   It will all blow over once he goes back to work because that's how these guys operate, a couple entitled rich kids who have never had to work for what they have been given. 

He has got through his first 2 weeks of trade school and passed his first exam.  Another 2 weeks to go for this session.  

That Monday I was functioning on no sleep whatsoever so I just crashed, Monday night which is my usual blog, everything was still up in the air, but by Wednesday the Queensland plan was off and though still angry he was accepting that he needed to stay where he is.  He spoke to the Head Chief who is going to have a word with the owners.  

I was all set to blog last Monday night when we got a thunderstorm struck over 3 suburbs in Adelaide ours being one of them.  We were hit with between 60mm and 80mm of rain in an hour.  Our backyard was a foot underwater and the pottery shed got flooded, Mo's wheel was up to the motor in water when rescued it.    Maestro's old room which is detached from the house leaked and a big part of the carpet were soaked as well as some electrical equipment.  We have spent the last few days cleaning up.  Luckily the carpet was just a room sized edged piece (no underlay just like a mat) on a tiled floor.    DH use an old carpet cleaner that we had in storage to suck most of the water out of it and the weather has been warm so we were able to drag it out onto the veranda to dry.  Day 3 and it is finally done.  There was a whole day of washing towels that we used to soak up the mess.   Nothing like the floods on the other side of the country but enough to be a nuisance.  

Mo started back at Uni last week and she had her first life drawing class yesterday.  They started them off with a Male, he did wear a mask but that was all.  Mo said she was fine until the last hour when he faced her and kept making eye contact.  She said he had a blank face for so long because she couldn't sketch it while he was looking at her.  She is only doing 3 classes this semester but we haven't seen too much of her since she started so there is lot of home work to do.  2 of the classes are animation related which is the part that she likes the least about the course, she much prefers illustration.

So what have I been doing.  Well no sewing but plenty of crochet.  I finished a blanket and started a couple of squares to try.  The small one is for a blanket that I want to do down the track and the large one was just to see how I'd fair on a really large square.  I still have another 10 rows to go on that one, there is another progress shot from today, it will be about 20" when finished.  Might just do 4 and put them together or choose another of the same size squares from the book (Granny Square Patchwork by Shelley Husband) and do 2 of each with a border.  Will have to order more yarn, think I only have 2 balls of this one.  

I signed up for a CAL which is to start soon and I was going to do it using mu
lti colours but I've seen  the finished one in one colour and  I've changed my mind.  Might doing it in hot pink which means I need to buy more yarn but have enough to start.

Have spent the weekend drooling over cross stitch patterns from the Nashville show.  

Since my last report I have only had 1 or 2 days off from doing my 15 minutes.  

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

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.