15 Minute & another quiet week

 I'm enjoying the calm before the storm. Mo goes back to Uni this week and with the end of the month I'm pretty sure work will ramp up again.  

I finished another the 8 small squares for the Nimue CAL ready for today's for a new list of instructions.  10 rows and another 8 small squares.  I have finished one row this afternoon as we have a long weekend for Anzac Day today.  

I have finished the first Loose Feathers pattern and have started on the next.  I think I will make a cushion out of it as I'm not sure where I would put a framed piece but I may change my mind once it is finished.  Its fun breaking it off into small chunks with each 6" pattern.  I like this next chart better than the first, it has a house in the centre and some birds and vines and not as much of a defined border.  

It was a 6 out of 7 week for me, Maestro came over one night we haven't seen him since we went into iso so it was good to catch up.  

So that is me for this week short and sweet. Head to Kates to see what everyone is up to.  

15 Minute Challenge - Uneventful week

 I am very happy to report a very uneventful week.  We were able to come out of ISO on Wednesday which allowed me to do some shopping for over the Easter break and run out and get DH a gift for his birthday on Saturday.  Easter has been pretty quiet as DH still isn't completely over Covid and apart from a couple of shopping trips (where he stayed in the car) he hasn't really been with other people.

Mo made him a cake, a simple packet cake with cream filling, it wasn't super sweet but it was yummy.

There has been plenty of time for the crochet cal and I have completed the next step on the centre square which still has another week to go and I have to do some more of the smaller squares by next Monday which is doable.  

I decided to get out the Blackbird cross stitch I started earlier in the year.  There are 9 patterns which I am going to do as one piece, so there is a long way to go, but I am enjoying the stitching.  

Head over to Kate's to see how everyone is meeting the challenge.  

15 Minute Challenge - ISO Fun

 DH and I went to a party last Saturday night, we got an email the next day that someone had tested positive the next day.  By Wednesday DH started getting symptoms and we did RATS he was positive and has been really sick with fever and a terrible cough.  Today which is day 6 he is much better and he keeps coming into the house for a chat (he has been living in Maestro's old room) he's bored and feeling better.  Both Mo and I have tested negative every other day.  We have one more test to go tomorrow.  

So apart from working all I've been doing is crocheting and cross stitching.  

I had a couple of finishes my easter projects are done but I need a small basket to put the eggs in to take a decent picture but I can't go to the shops till Wednesday.    

I got up to date with the CAL see picture below, the next instalment has just been released so as soon as I'm finished here I think I'll get going on the next 20 rows.  There is a facebook group and lots of people are steaming ahead and are already on their 2 blanket, I will be happy just to keep pace with the CAL. 

 

I have also got out the Loose Feathers Blackbird Design I started working on earlier in the year which I think I will keep going on for the next little while.  There are 3 small heart cushions in one of the new books I purchased recently and they might get started as well, they look very pretty I just have to decide what threads to use.  So lots of cross stitching to come.  

I saw that Kim Mclean is releasing a new pattern and I might just have to order it but I shudder to think what the postage is going to be.  

Well that's it for me ISO is pretty boring, but a big cheer for online supermarket shopping that has made life easier.  

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

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.