Busy Two Weeks

It seems to me that no matter how hard you try where paid work is involved it takes over more time than you are being paid for. The year started well and I had my time planned out beautifully so I had a great balance between work (the day Job) and fun (family, quilting, knitting, walking). Then we hit the flu season and many of my colleagues got ill with it or the horrid cold that's going round. Now you can't help being ill but you can take action to reduce the risk and one action is to have the free flu jab paid for by our employer and after all we are teaching nursing, midwifery and healthcare. No, most people didn't bother with the flu jab because it will make them ill! The down side for everyone else is the less people in work, the more work for the ones who are there. As a result I've had less time, or felt too tired to get on with the fun side of life. During the second week of January I did manage to keep up with my 15 minutes of sewing time each day but last week I felt shattered and just sat and watched TV or went to bed extra early. 

Anyway less of the grumbling and lets get to what I have managed to do. Well I'm quite pleased that I have found space and the energy for some sewing activity most days, spending 15 minutes or more on it. So my tally up to the 21st January is;

17 out of 21 days.

On some of the days I had to really push myself but I'm so pleased I did as sewing is my way of relaxing and I generally sleep much better on the days I've given myself some sewing/stitching therapy.

At the beginning of January I received my treat box from The Bramble Patch. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the contents but I have been working on a pattern from the box. I do most of my sewing at our dining table and if someone else is working at the other side, usually John or Lucy, they feel the vibrations from the machine. My pin cushion, stitch unpicker and scissors also get muddled with their work. So the pattern for a sewing tidy to go under the machine was brilliant.

My box contained the charm pack Caroline by Brenda Riddle Designs plus the pink fabric for the binding. I already had fabric for the backing but had to purchase some wadding. I set the machine up to take the photo as the mat isn't fully finished. As you can see I need to stitch the binding down. The button in the middle of the pin cushion also came as part of a pack in the box. The buttons are wooden so not really usable for clothing but great for craft items such as the pin cushion. When not in use the cushion can just hang off the mat or be stuffed into one of the pockets so it wont get lost. This is so close to a finish, it should be done by Friday which will make 2 finishes for January.

My job over the weekend was to unpick the heading on Richard's curtains and to replace with new. I did the unpicking whilst watching Vera on the video and just dumped them on the floor once done. They needed a good iron before I could attach the new header. 

Today is my day off so there will be sewing time later but in a few minutes we will be heading out on the next section of the Capital Ring.

Lyndsey