15 Minute Challenge and another busy week

 I had a busy week of stitching and work.  It was a 7 out of 7.  

The drive to work has been getting increasingly bad.  People have gone back after the Christmas break but they are shunning public transport.  So what usually would take 25 to 30minutes and on a bad day 40 minutes is now taking my a minimum 50 minutes a morning to get to work.  I'm really glad I can work from home 2 days a week.  Hopefully once the vaccine rollout gets underway people will start going back to the bus/train.

A run down 

Quilting of Quick Quilt 1 is all finished and I am hand stitching the binding now.  

I ran out of wool for my ripple blanket but picked some more wool on the weekend.  It is only going to be small 12 repeats of the pattern so should have enough for another repeat then will have to pick the wool for the border edge and the last 2 patterns.  

I made another couple of granny squares to make up my time before getting more wool, I may have ordered some wool for another couple of patterns as I had a 10% off voucher quite a bit of wool in my cart at the Bendigo woollen mill.  The sewing room is full of wool so I had better get crocheting to make more room.  

I'm trying to decide if I am going to do the cross stitch club again this year,  it is a bit more expensive and it is for samplers which I'm not really all that into.  I have plenty of patterns to go on with so I'm thinking I will give it a miss.  I still have a couple of kits to finish from last year.   So will see if the will power lasts.  

I also working on a gift for a friend.  Here is the quilted fabric which goes to make up the item.  I downloaded the pattern as part of my craftsy membership and am going to use the instructional video to put it together.  I really want to make one of these for myself, but the amount of fabric involved and the cost is making me think twice.   I've only had to buy the specialised wadding and some interfacing as I am using fabric from my stash without which the cost would be well over  $100.   Luckily I have heaps of bag hardware so that's also cut down on it and I didn't have to buy the pattern.

So how'd your week go.  Hope Kate' hasn't frozen in the US.  

15 Minute Challenge and Another Busy Week

I've had a very busy week on the sewing front so its been a 7 out of 7 without even trying. Work is still busy too, I'm thinking that is the way it will probably be for the rest of the year.  

The first Quick Quilt Pattern & block pattern for the Sampler is available to download from the 2021 BOM Page so head there if you want it.  

I finished quilting the quilt yesterday.  I picked up my new sewing chair on Thursday and it was good to be able to quilt for a couple of hours pain free.  

We thought we could get away without purchasing a computer for Mo as she has an IPAD Pro, seems that wasn't the case and of course she wanted a pouch.  She pulled some fabric from my stash and this is my Macbook Air sleeve.  

I have been admiring the crochet pattern below on instragram for a month or so and decided to have a go.  I'm just about out of wool so will need to go back to the shop to get more in order to finish this one. There are quite a number of versions and although this is the original way the blanket was made I prefer the ones where the colour change is at the pattern repeat instead of at the 4th and 7th row.  

This week was my birthday so the all important flowers came.  The upside of having a birthday close to Valentines day is that the blooms are always beautiful.  

Mo has set up an instagram page for her art and pottery so if you are on instagram you might like to follow her.  She tries and post every day of what she has been up to.  

Mo's Business Instagram Page.  

So how did your week go? Check out Kate's page to see how everyone is going.  

FREE Block every 2 Months and Pattern for a QuickQuilt

Check out the 2021 free BOM you can make a quick quilt every 2 months or just make 2 blocks to make the Deer Folk Sampler at the end of the year.  

Head to 2021 BOM Page to down load the first quick quilt pattern and find out more details.  You will find the requirements for Deer Folk Sampler at the end of the pattern.  

I am currently quilting the finished quick quilt and will add photo's when it is all done.  It's destined to be a gift for my Boss' daughter who is having a baby in March.  

The Quick Quilt Pattern will be available for free until 15 March.  Then it will go up on my etsy shop.  

I hope you enjoy.  

15 Minute Challenge & a week of running

 I managed 7 out of 7 days but I feel like today is the first day I could take a breath.  

It started with our visit to the financial adviser and I just feel like I have been rushing from one place to another I feel like all I have been doing is juggling for the whole week.   

Mo had a small gathering of friends to celebrate her birthday last night, and we got kicked out of the house.  We decided to go out for dinner and catch a movie.  It was the first time we had been to the flicks since covid hit so it we were interested to see how we would be seated.  There was only 8 or 10 of us in the theatre and we were spread right out.  We saw "The Dry" which was really good.  DH usually can't be bothered with Australian movies but it was good and kept us guessing till nearly the end.  

We came home latish the kids were still having Cocktails and were playing Cluedo and it sounded like they were having fun.  The only disappointment was that the planned pool party didn't happen due to the weather turning a bit wintery over the last week.  Thursday it is supposed to be 37C so go figure.  

I've mainly crochet'd this week, my time at the machine has been minimal.  

I have ordered a new draftsman chair for my sewing room. I thought I would be able to get one straight away, but they didn't have any and the shop said they can custom make it so that it can be lowered slightly more than standard draftsman chair.  My sewing table is a bit taller than a normal desk hence the need for a draftman chair, but they make them higher these day than the one that I have been using for 20 years.  It is still possible that DH is going to have to raise my table slightly and I will need to put the foot of my sewing machine on a step when I machine quilt as the JUKI's cord isn't long enough when it is quilting mode (side on).  I am going to ask the Juki dealer if they can make the cord to the foot pedal longer as it really is a bit of a stretch.  

Because of the chair situation I haven't wanted to do too much sewing, my back and hip have been a bit sore this last week and I wanted to make sure I had plenty of back support so I could quilt pain free so I am waiting they promise the chair early this week.  One good thing is the pattern is nearly written, just have to check it and maybe add a few more words and pictures.  Hopefully it will go up by the end of the weekend.  

I've been trying to start a 6day Kids Blanket, but have been having a few issues with getting the start right.  I'll be unpicking for the 3rd time tonight and really concentrating.  

This week the plan is to just  go with the flow.  

Head to Kates' to see how everyone is going this week.  

15 Minute Challenge Birthdays and more

Mo turned 18 on Thursday, we had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant to celebrate and she will have some friends over this weekend. She was hoping to have some fun in the pool and go to the beach but the weather is looking like it is going to be cool so she is going to have to make other plans.  She made her cake again this year.  It was pretty yum with a cheesecake base and vanilla cake layers.  

I've been progressing on the Quick Quilt BOM and I basted and started machine quilting the quilt on the weekend.  There has also been a few more crochet squares this last week so I'm pretty sure it was a 7 out of 7 week.  

Mo decided to get her learners permit (finally) but when we rang to book the test there is a 6-8 week wait due to Covid restriction.  So we needed to get her a proof of age so that she can get into places now she is 18.  Her boyfriend's band has their first gig in March so she needs proof of age to get into that.  Although she doesn't want to be an adult just yet it is kind of necessary to be one sometimes once reach 18.  

We went and saw a financial planner yesterday to find out if DH can retire soon, turns out he can but he has decided to wait another year now that Mo has finished High School just to see how our expenses go this year.  He can change his mind if work gets too much this year.  

So how has your week been.  Check with Kate to see how everyone is going.  My plan for the week is more quilting and I need to finish writing the pattern.  

15 Minute Challenge and New BOM taking shape

Mo turns 18 this week I really can't believe it.  She is all signed up for Uni, and we tried to book her in to get her learners permit but there is an 8 week wait due to covid restrictions.  She wants to go to a desert cafe for tea on her actual birthday and then is having a small group of friends over to celebrate next week...no big party for her.  

 It was a 7 out of 7 for this week.  A few hours on the weekend to finish my first 1 block quilt.  I also did a few more crochet squares.

I took the photo below and then found another one in my crochet bag, so 18 are finished getting close to half way through the book.  I need to get a board to block them and I have started weaving in the ends now as soon as I finish a square because that is a thankless task that I probably don't want to leave to the end.  

Here is the first of my Quick Quilt series.  I need to hunt around for some batting, I have quite a bit but most of it is earmarked for quilts, I don't really want to go out and purchase some,  but I might have to.

I think I will release a pattern every 2 months, one of the blocks I have already used in a pattern so I will release that last.  At the end you will have 6 blocks (2 blocks each design) which you can make into the final Deer Folk sampler quilt.  Most of Quick Quilt series will all be 13 blocks on point which makes a small lap size quilt.  

We had a real swelter of a weekend 43C yesterday and not much lower the day before, there was a fire bug lighting fires in the Mount Lofty ranges which is pretty close  to the city.  They have arrested someone but I think there were a couple of houses lost.  This morning we woke to smoke blanketing the city, it was like driving in thick fog.  

This afternoon we had a torrential rain storm our backyard flooded so hopefully it rained in the right place a helped put the fire out. 

Check out how everyone is doing this week at Kate's.  

15 Minute Challenge and New BOM Thoughts

 The first week back at work was hard, mainly because people were still at home sleeping in while I had to get my butt out of bed.  It was even worse today when I slept in so no walk for me just up and get ready and go.  

It was a 6 out of 7 week for me,  I did quite a bit of appliqué, and a couple of nights of crochet (latest squares below) and thought about what this years BOM might look like. 

I wanted to base this years BOM  on this quilt which I used as a teaching sample about 5 years ago.  The name of the quilt is Deer Folk and was completed in 2015.  The instructions for each block are done but I didn't want to just redo this quilt.    

The first thought was that I would do a sampler quilt with various sized blocks but I just couldn't get much enthusiasm to finish a sample on EQ let alone get fabric out so I have changed my mind. The quilt consists of 6 blocks and when I did the original teaching notes, I supplied a graphic of what a quilt would look like made up each of the blocks. 

I had a bit more of a play in EQ and have decided to do a series of 1 block quilts utilising some of these blocks.  I have decided to call them the weekend quilt series as you should be able to make a small quilt using the blocks in a weekend (if you don't do anything else that is).  Personally this only happens when I go away for a girls weekend, I can't sit and sew for that long at the machine without feeling it but in theory it is doable.  

Here is the first block,  I have cut the whole quilt out and have used just over 100 different fabrics.   I just need to trim the stitched units and sew them together as 9 patches.   I'm hoping to get the first quilt pieced by next weekend at the latest.  The pattern will be released here to download for free for at least a month, and the plan is to release further patterns throughout the year.  I'm being careful not to overcommit  myself just incase things go belly up again.  I will probably use this quilt as a present so it is sure to be finished sooner rather than later fingers crossed.  

Mo got out into the potters shed this weekend and she made a tea pot.  Everything she does is a bit of an experiment until she is able to be consistent about shape and size of things.  She has set up a new instagram account for her art and pottery and she hopes to take commissions in the future.  

So how did your week go.  Head to Kates to see how everyone is going this week.