Three days off

My three days off are nearly over. They have been good though.

Day one, Wednesday I spent enough time in my room to complete a pair of Scrappy triangle blocks.

(Hmm, but for some reason I didn't get a photo).

 Then I got on and completed lots of chores before spending the afternoon with my cross stitch.

On Thursday I spent some time preparing more kits ready for my 15 minutes in the mornings before work.

I also had a good tidy up of the drawer that contains the smaller scraps I'm using for these blocks. It was an awful mess, hopefully next time I'm making up kits I will find it a little easier to source the fabric sizes I need. 

Then I spent the afternoon stitching again.

Today, Friday I again spent time in my happy room, this time sewing together some of those mini kits I've been making up.

It was nice to be able to just pull everything out of the bag and start sewing.

These two were very quick and easy to put together.

This block was challenging to prepare for. All those tiny little pieces.

But the two completed blocks look sew cute.

And once I'm done here I'll be picking up my cross stitch again.

I have the first ornament almost complete. Hopefully I will finish it before Tony gets home looking for food. 

I did it!

 My plan worked. This morning before heading out of the door to go to work I spent a little more than 15 minutes in my room. I pulled out one of the scrappy triangle kits and made up a block.

I'm delighted to have it done and hopefully I can do the same again tomorrow.

I need to take the time on my days off to prepare a few more mini kits.

It would be great if I can keep this going.

*

After work I got changed right away and went back out of the door for a ride on my new to me bicycle.

This model is called Apollo, but I just call her Polly.

And best of all, she is blue.

Tony found her on a local trade page. She has been very well looked after by one previous lady owner.

We picked her up yesterday morning before the grandies arrived. 

I may be able to jump around doing aerobics for an hour and I often go out walking for miles and miles and still feel fine, but I am not cycle fit! I was out of puff in no time. I think this will be good for me. 

Right, I'm off to play with EPP diamonds. 

Adjusting...

As you know I have swapped shifts at work. This has been my first week of 7am starts after three years of starting work at 3pm. It's been a bit of a struggle I have to say. Not the getting up and being lively in the early hours, I was doing that anyway, no the struggle is when I get home, I have very little left in the tank and need most of that for chores and food prep. I thought I might get in to my room before work each day, but with no active projects calling out for attention, that didn't happen. I have managed to do some mindless tasks in the evenings. I spent quite a bit of time preparing more 3/4 inch hexies.

And covering them with pretty batiks.

I need to have a tidy up in the batik drawer to see if there are anymore smaller pieces that could be used up here. I still didn't decide what to do with these pieces yet but I'm sure inspiration will strike one day, meanwhile I'll keep adding to the tin.

While I'm on the topic of EPP, I did also manage to get another row of blocks added to my spots and stripes project.

My pile of premade blocks is getting low so I need to join a few more diamonds. I've also pulled some papers from the middle of this section so I could get more cut and prepared too.  

All of the above makes for good evening jobs if only I could motivate myself to do a little more. 

Finally I have my days off. Yay! A whole weekend. I have left a note on the roster that I am not available for call in so hopefully I can get on and do something creative.

This morning started with a quick zoom with Chooky and some of the Scrub Stitchers. As you can imagine there is lots going on and lots to see as Janice and Chooky went around the room looking at all the different projects. 

And it inspired me, I wanted to sew along with them. 

I pulled out my scrappy triangles project. I started these back in 2022, and dabbled a little more with them last year. Somehow I have ended up with three different sized blocks. Today I sorted them out and after a little trimming I have a bundle all the same size, (And a few smaller blocks, I'll use them somewhere).

It felt good to be playing with these again.

I printed some more paper foundations and measured twice to make sure they were the correct size. LOL

Then prepared my fabric pieces and sat down to sew.

Tada!  Two more blocks for the collection.

Then a brainwave struck. Why not cut and prepare blocks in to mini kits, all ready for 15 minutes in the  mornings? Or even for after work?

So that is what I did, each of these wee bags has precut fabrics for two more blocks. That's six in total. Hopefully that will keep me going until my next couple of days off.

While it is not a scrappy kit to take along to club, they are still scrappy kits, so I'll count them as one of my monthly goals.

Bonus!

I plan to spend this afternoon cross stitching on one of the two ornaments I'm supposed to be making this month. I feel like I'm under pressure and may not finish!

Tomorrow morning we are heading about an hour up the road to collect a new toy for me.

No, not a sewing toy.

A push bike.

It might be nice to ride too and from work instead of taking the car every day.

That's the thinking.......

I'm not sure what I'll do when we get back, maybe prep some more scrappy triangles?

Maybe sit and do some EPP.

I should do some cross stitch tomorrow, to try and catch up to my own ambitions. LOL

I'll keep you posted.

What ever I do, I'll have to stop and put it away when the children arrive. 

I had better have a tidy up and put some projects away before they get here too.

I'm off to sew.

Finally made a start.

I finally found some time to sew.  I was hoping to have Monday and Tuesday off work, but that didn't happen. A colleague called in with Covid, so I stepped in to help out with another extra shift. I just got my pay slip. WOW! That looks good with public holiday pay and a bunch of extra shifts. 

I decided to change my 15 mins a day commitment from 15 minutes of working in hand every day. In future on work days I want to make time to spend 15 minutes with my sewing machine in the morning. So Monday morning before going in for the extra, extra shift. I went in to my room and dug out my RSC box, then went digging for yellow fabrics and even managed to sew one kiwi beak before heading out of the door for work. When I got home, I made the second beak section.

After cooking and eating some tea I pulled out the first of this months cross stitch projects. My secret Christmas ornament and made a start, then I made more progress today.

Make the most of this image, there won't be any more. LOL

Can you tell what it is yet?  

I hope not.

After catching up on some chores this morning and going grocery shopping I set about completing the two RSC kiwi birds.

Hmm, they have different beaks again.  I think I need to pay more attention.

They are now nestled in the box with their buddies awaiting next months colour.

As I mentioned I spent some time this afternoon cross stitching and maybe I'll get a little more done this evening.

Not much to show considering we are now over a week in to the month.

Hopefully I will make some progress on something over the weekend. That is if I manage to get my two days off.

Wish me luck.

A busy few days.

It's been a busy few days, with one thing and another.

My DIL spent the morning with me on Wednesday and raided my stash.

I think she likes purple. LOL

She cut some 2 inch hexies  and glue basted them, then just had time to sew one edge together before she had to dash off and collect Mr Torstein from day care.

The very next day she sent this image.

I think she may be hooked.

While Lee was cutting her purples and butterflies I was playing with my batik scraps. I was basting them on to 3/4 inch hexi papers.

All of these pieces were too small for a 1 inch hexie but still a little too big to throw away.

There are lots more in the tin now.

I'm not sure when I will get around to sewing them together.  I'm sure they will wait patiently.

*

Thursday Tony and I went to a funeral and spent time with the bereaved family later.

*

Friday Tony and I had a day out in the big city.

Christchurch is about a two hour drive away. We had a list of places to visit and I spent some money.

I found these lovelies in the place with the big red spot.

I also bought a roll of batting, but I don't think you need to see that. 

This pretty batik bundle was also from spotty and the spotty blue fat quarter as you can see was from another store. It's the first time I have visited Sew and Co. 

We also stopped at one more sewing store where I purchased some quilting thread. No matter what I try I just can't get a good photo, so you don't get to see it either.

For those who know, it is a cone of fantastico. that special pearly, pinky, bluey, white shade. LOL

*

This morning I did my first early shift at work in my new role.

It went well.

I have another tomorrow. 

When I got home I went straight in to the kitchen and made peach and chilli jam.

Of course all of that means I didn't even make a start on my commitments for the month, and we are almost a week in.

Maybe tomorrow.