Back to work.

My annual leave comes to an end today.  I'll be off to work this afternoon.

It's been a good week, with busy times and slow times. I've cleaned and tidied, cooked and baked, reorganised and sorted. 

I had thought I might be very busy with my sewing machine, but that didn't happen, instead I picked up my cross stitch and had some slow stitching days. So my brothers regiment badge went from this..

To this.

Not finished, but very close.

I'm pleased with my achievement and will hopefully get a chance to do a little more today before I head in to work.

I was busy in the kitchen again this morning, making a lemon and weetbix slice.

I had to try a piece, to make sure it's good enough for Tony to eat. LOL

It has a lovely flapjacky texture and flavour with an amazingly lemony icing.

It is delicious.

I also made a big bowl of coleslaw to keep us going for a day or two and tomato sauce for the freezer. 

That's it, my days chores and responsibilities are almost done. The only thing left to do is cook some lunch for Tony.

As it's too early to do that, I might go and pick up my needle. 

 

A busy weekend.

My week off work is almost over. What do I have to show for it?

You'd think with all the lovely new fabric scraps I've acquired recently I'd have made a start at least on a new scrappy quilt top. Or put together some more crumb blocks for the latest squirrel. Alas no, I've been occupied with other things.

 I've been baking and preserving.

The hunt for a bar of chocolate led to a big turf out in the pantry on the very first day off, and from there the clean and sort continued through various parts of the house.

My collection of empty jars was sorted and some were given away as I realised I had far too many.

The shelf where I keep my recipe books was sorted and tidied, all the printed out recipes were put away into the ring binder and I managed to find a few that I had misplaced.

Even my lap top moved. I usually sit at the dining room table with it, but my Chiropractor says that is the wrong place and is causing lots of issues for me. So I've moved it, to my swing room, it's sharing the desk with my sewing machine....

So I had to sort out a shelf in the cupboard/wardrobe to keep my books and study notes on.

Of course the arrival of the latest bag of scraps stopped the big tidy up and I spent some time sorting, trimming and pressing scraps.

On Saturday Tony convinced me I should take a day off and rest. So I did.  I looked in to my room and was not inspired, (I blame the lap top, it's in the way.....). So next I wandered back in to the sitting room and my cross stitch almost jumped off my sewing cabinet and demanded attention.  According to my diary, I haven't touched it since 31st January, and you can see where I left it in the image below.

My Brother used to serve in Her Majesties British Army and this is his regimental badge.

Saturday was a good day. I didn't sit down to stitch until after lunch. I took the usual pit stops and helped Tony to make tea, then continued to stitch in to the evening.

Although it doesn't look like much I feel like I made significant progress.

Cross stitchers among you will understand the term Confetti Stitching.

There are four shades of yellow, that change every 4 to 9 stitches. It felt like I was spending more time changing threads than I was actually stitching!

 I did try counting my way over to the next patch of the shade I was using.....

After the second time I ripped it out because I had mis counted, I gave up on that idea and went back to changing threads every few stitches. I think I finally put it down at about 10.30 pm. 

I did think I might get back to my stitching yesterday. (Sunday). 

But something more exciting came along. While Tony and I were busy in the garden we received a phone call.

Would we look after Torstein while Mummy and Daddy go fishing?

We do see the whole family quite often, but this is the first time we've been asked to look after the little man. All alone, without Mum or Dad being present.

We were not sure how he would react to that.

No problem. He waved goodbye to his mum, then turned around and walked in to the house.

His toys were already out and waiting for him, so he got stuck right in.

Fabric is not the only thing I have scored at the op shop recently. 

While I was out with Debbie a couple of weeks ago I found a big bag of building blocks for $5. I snapped those up. When I got home and did some research, to buy them new would have been $45NZ

What a score!

Grandad and Torstein had fun with them.

Mummy and daddy came back  five hours later, tired and with no fish, but they were just in time to have Roast chicken with us, and some sweet corn cobs from the garden.

Of course Torstein and Grandad had ice cream too.

After all that fun and excitement I was too tired to stitch, so I had a glass of wine and an early night instead. 

Two more days before I have to return to work mode.

Today I plan to stitch.

Or maybe I will sew.

First, I think I might get dressed, as I'm still in my PJs.

LOL

I wonder if there is enough chicken left to make a pie for Grandads lunch?

I hope you had a great weekend. 

 

A New Start and a Zoom....

Having finished the hand piecing on Jenny's Hexies, I went looking for something else to keep my hands busy in the sitting room. I had though I might get my Santa cross stitch back out, but came across this piece and thought it might give me a quick finish and the boost that goes with it.

It's my brothers regimental badge. He sent the kit to me as a gift.

I guess he knows it will be regifted.

LOL

This is the start I made on Saturday.

No cross stitching on Sunday, instead I zoomed with Chooky and the girls.

I got one and a bit Lucy blocks made.

As you can see, I even added the white round before starting on a second block.

That was all that I had time to do as it was a short zoom session due to Chooky having family commitments.

Chooky, thank you for getting us all organised. It was great to spend time with everyone. I hope we have another session soon.

*

That's it, just a quick post from me today. Time to go and do some stuff.

 

Just a quick up date.

My little tiger finally has a friend. I'm going to concentrate on the ground this evening, and back stitch the tigers tail and leg, I think he looks odd at the moment without it done.



I do have a picture of my quilt, but I'm saving it for another day. Al my plates are pinned onto their squares, I really should start the applique process.

Catch up.

No pictures today, the camera batteries are charging.

I finished stitching my little tiger friend. It's really nice to have him finished, it feels like an achievement. I've made a start on the gorilla and will continue with him tonight.

I got lots of cutting and pinning done for my quilt this afternoon so tomorrow I'll get the sewing machine out and make a start, I was hoping to put it off until after my birthday, then I would have my new machine to play with..........Hmmmm.

I promise I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Gina, you really should treat yourself to one of Pams treasures, trust me, photos do them no justice, they are much prettier in person.

Ere,ere

Well my little friend has an ear. I've actually stitched more than this picture shows, I've filled in a lot of confetti style stitches around his face and been back down by his paws to stitch some more of the ground. I'm glad my plan for a rotation didn't work, I really didn't want to put him away.



As for getting on with my quilt during the day when there is no chance of disturbing Hunny! My sister keeps visiting, how come she gets to sit and do her embroidery while I get to surf all over the net and do her shopping online? Never mind, I'm expecting NO visitors today, so I'll get on and finish cutting the next lot of plates and may even get time to make a start on sewing them up. These are the first 8.


I'm not sure how many I'll need! Yes, I know, I should have decided this already, but well, I keep changing my mind. I have three plans here, all beautifully drawn on graph paper. I measured my bed countless times, measured the sheets, measured the two handmade quilts my hunny bought for me, then debated for and against putting my 11 inch plates onto 12, 14 or 16 inch blocks! Mind you, I've been planning on making it longer than it is wide, Hmm, where's my tape measure?
Happy Thursday.

Cross stitch

As promised I took a photo of my WIP. I'm fairly pleased with what I achieved yesterday.
Before I started I substituted the off white 14 count aida and replaced it with an 18 count Silkweaver solo. I think it's going to look much better on that. As you can see I've barely started this project.
It was designed by Carol Bryan and published by Candamar and is entitled 'Endangered Species Collage'. I managed to scan the model image all by myself, with no profanities! And no help from my Hunny. So I'm feeling rather proud of myself. Aren't they so sweet?


Your help would be appreciated here, there is nothing to tell me who all these little critters are, I know all of them, except the little guy at the front, tucked inbetween the two cats, who is he? Could he be a beaver? Are they endangered? How about an otter? He has some pretty fearsome claws on his rear paws and a appears to have a largish tail if thats any help.

I have a whole day off work today, I have done most of my chores already, I still have an errand to run in town and then I plan to spend the rest of the day curled up with my stitching. Time to say goodbye for now and put some music on methinks.
Take care.