A photo I wanted to share

The ceremonial reuniting of Drankey with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. It's Advent! #chezstutters #christmas #nativity

A photo I wanted to share

A new addition to the #chezstutters garden gnome collection.

Bento - 8th September

Today's #bento for me: stuffed to the brim 350ml container (it was clean and had a lid) - onigiri with salmon furikake, broccoli, roast pumpkin, pepper and onion confit: in the second compartment spinach and chickpeas (new recipe) topped with carrots cooked in a soy/morin/sake poaching liquid. More salmon furikake on the spinach. #chezstutters

On my desk right now (8.30am, Sept 7th, 2016)

On my desk right now... I'm about to do day 7 of #30lists - because it's the morning of the 7th. Also on my desk is coffee (surprise!), my work planner, and pieces of a #crochet #blockaday block that I haven't finished. #chezstutters

#30lists in progress. Sort of.

I love #30lists but I hate the embargo for people who aren't in North America. I do my lists in the morning ( or try to) but am not supposed to share them until 7pm. Which, really! #chezstutters

A photo I wanted to share

Current #quilting project... I sewed the four-patches when I was six. #chezstutters

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 28 - Waiting on... I haven't felt the need for a waiting on page up until recently, which may be an effect of switching to the 'autofocus' method for work tasks. But I do have one now, with a few items sitting there. I do think it's important to add the date on which an item was added to the list, so I'm trying to remember to do that, too. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1JFYeaO

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 25 (I think) - fave BuJo blogpost - it's another one from @tinyrayofsunshine on Simplifying. I currently use two notebooks for my BuJo, but this post is awesome in terms of keeping it all as simple as possible. #Repost @tinyrayofsunshine with @repostapp. ・・・ Hey there, I wrote about the feeling to simplify I've been noticing around the Bullet Journal community. I included how I've felt the same way and how I've simplified my system. #bulletjournal #ontheblog #simplifying #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1K5zSxB

#30lists September 2015 - the bases

The other night I sat down and put together my bases for September's 30 lists in 30 Days.

This year I'm using Design F, which has 11 pockets, working out nicely to three sides with ten lists and one filler card each.  I also decided to do a "cover" page, using mostly first and last page cards from my chosen kit, which is "Desktop".

So here you are.  Badly photographed, and without any of the decoration I intend to do: I do need to dig out my rukristin #30lists stamp from wherever I've put it.

I really love Tiffani Smith's "Desktop" kit for this project.  And I'm looking forward to September and beginning to list!

#30 lists blog hop

So - I'm all signed up for the September 30 days of lists, and today there's a promotional blog hop.

The idea was to use a prompt from the March #30lists a couple of years ago, just to introduce the idea of listing.

I chose prompt 21 - Things to do this Spring.  I chose it in part because so many of the embellishments (and who knows, probably even the prompts) are "Fall" focused, and in this part of the world, it is not Fall.  (It's not even Autumn.)  It's almost Spring, I have daffodils in my front garden, and I am waiting desperately for the warmer weather - it's been a cold winter this year.

I'm planning to do my 30lists as a physical Project Life layout again (as I did last year), but this year using a single kit.  It was going to be Heidi Swapp's "Favourite Things", but then I remembered "Desktop", which I also bought in physical and which I love AND which, with its stationery supplies theme, seems to suit 30lists.

For the blog hop, though, I've done my listing on the Project Life App (which I love.)

You'll see that my plans for this Spring are relevant to this blog!

I will likely set up automatic posting again from Instagram to here for #30lists, unless y'all are getting tired of the daily photo posts.  

Do please let me know.

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 21 - other notebooks. This selection includes my prayer journal (purple flowers, barely visible), Budget Book (@kikkik_loves), craft notebook (@typoshop), wedding planning notebook (also @kikkik_loves) and one of my two Period of Discernment notebooks. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1NzhWuF

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 20 - Layouts or simple? In general I stay fairly simple, except for my menu and bento planning layout, which covers dinners for the week, plus bento lunches for weekdays and what needs to be pre-prepared the night or two before. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1Jk0S5E

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 19 - Fave BuJo moment. It was this morning, when @tinyrayofsunshine Included me in her list of Instagram accounts with inspiring BuJo content! #Repost #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1KvaZp6

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 18: most-referred to pages - my week layout, my list of books to buy (I put in an order at ABE last week) and my monthly view with tracking: the orange squares are days I've posted to this challenge! #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1DZL24r

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 14 - Future Events. My work BuJo has blank calendar pages at the beginning. I use these to record my roster, as well as future appointments, etc. Personal life future appointments go on the Calendar app on my phone. Day 17 - you're getting two for the price of one today! Looking forward to... I'm looking forward to trialing what I think is called the autofocus method in both my personal and work BuJos this week. After this week's trial I may write more. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1WAk3SZ

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 16 - collections I keep. Here's a few: books I want to buy (and where from); TV series we're watching (so I know what eps we're up to); and reading I need to do for my Period of Discernment. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1EvtSGE

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 15 - Experiments. This was last week's first try at a new menu planning layout. Only I never really got around to planning a menu. I still think the idea is good, and I'm about to draw up one for the coming week. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1MtoJXy

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 13 - Supply Storage. I've been looking for a good form of storage for my acrylic stamps for a while: I got this photo box with five or six envelopes on clearance from Lincraft a couple weeks ago. It's not quite sorted out yet, because I'm sure I have more stamps hiding in other places, but I *think* the concept will work. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1J86iFm

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 11 -system before BuJo For work I tried Todoist, Wunderlist, scraps of paper, various modification of GtD. For home I used all of the above, plus some Kikki.K (yep, them again) daily and weekly layouts, as well as the good habits stickers. That said, I am thinking about using the Habits lists and paste ins in my BuJo - that might be my new thing for next week. Can't waste all that paper! #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1IFVbzN

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 10 - BuJo accessories In this photo: another lot of stamps I expect I'll be using with my BuJo, a clear clip in ruler that I use in my work BuJo (I have two - one to mark the monthly calendar and for the page I'm up to), a little magnetic bookmark I use in my personal BuJo for marking the next blank page, and the ever present washi. I also use repositionable 3M tags. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1WbqlYX

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 9 - finances or expenses: keeping track of my finances is something that I'm hoping my bullet journal and organising will help with. But for the moment at least I'm not going to be using only my bullet journal. I have a bill payment tracker set up in my BuJo. But I'm going to use a Kikki.K budget notebook to track spending. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1Njcslq

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 8 - planning strategy... What planning strategy? To the extent that I have a strategy, I guess it's "get it all down". If it's in my bullet journal, I know where I can go to find it later, whether that's reminders or to dos or my menu plan. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1IU6Iix

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 7 - the prompt is about YouTubers: I don't watch any BuJo vids at all - not even Ryder Carrol's - because I'm so much more a text-based person. So today instead you get brief thoughts on stamps. I just found this set of Kaisercraft stamps which I bought for Project Life, but look really good for planner-y things, especially as my regular PL-zing is mostly done on the app these days. I've used another set -also Kaisercraft, I think - for the day headings on my new menu planning layout that I designed this week and will be using for the week ahead. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1P9Nw0Z

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 6: pens - I don't used anything fancy: whatever blue or black pen I'm using at the time in general is usually okay. For colour coding I use @kikkik_loves ink gel pens. On Tuesday night I learned that the paper is too thin for a sharpie - I was crossing off completed #projectlife layouts with the pen I use for journaling. Bad idea. But not fatal. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1E9CTox

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 5 - how I set it up. Work BuJo today, which ironically has less set up than the personal one. I do have some separate pages for things like ledger numbers, training records etc (and the frequent references get tabs) in general it's just write the date and go. That said, looking at my index I used to do a weekly tasks list to gather things without s specific day and that would be good to get back to both for work and personal. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1IWAx3Q

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 4: what notebook do I use? - I'm finally including a photo of my work BuJo! For that I use a Kikki K planner with a monthly calendar at the beginning and then ruled pages (only because I can't get grid pages: please do grid planner inserts, @kikkik_loves !) I've been using that as my work planner for at least three years, and as a BuJo for just over a year. My personal BuJo is an X A5 grid Kraft notebook from Officeworks. (I decorate the cover with washi.) The benefit is that it's thin (62 pages) and can slip inside my Kikki K planner, but I go through those 62 pages pretty quickly. I'm thinking I might go to a Moleskine or a Leuchturm once this and my next (already purchased) run out. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1P1FF5C

The Bullet Journal Challenge

Day 3 #bulletjournalchallenge : what I keep track of - just about everything. I have two bullet journals, one for work and one for everything else. The personal BuJo includes menu plans, blog planning and drafts, lists of Project Life layouts to complete or get printed, shopping lists, maybe lists, random thoughts that hit me at odd times, etc. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1ISXVz3

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 2: Personalisations - my two key personalisations, washi tape and colour coding. (I don't use either of these in my work BuJo). I like the colour coding to try to keep my time balanced, and to highlight notes as I flick through to find things later. I like the washi because it's pretty. (I am such a washi addict.) #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1DigL0o

The Bullet Journal Challenge

#bulletjournalchallenge Day 1: Signifiers. I'm just getting back into the swing of using my bullet journal after a bit of a break, and I can't currently find my previous notebook. But here's a couple of signifiers I'm trying out - a face for logging my mood, an envelope for noting important mail that arrived that day, as s reminder to make sure things get dealt with, and a tilde that I'm using to indicate random thoughts. Don't know if I'll keep these yet - I'll have to see whether they prove useful or not. #augbulletjournal via Instagram http://ift.tt/1MDCp1P

August bullet journal challenge

So, from today (1st of August) I'm going to be taking part in the August Bullet Journal challenge on Instagram.  (You can follow me there as chez_stutters).

I love the bullet journal concept.  I let it drop in a big way both in my work and personal lives since about May, but when I got back from Assembly I picked it back up, and I'm really looking foward to this Instagram challenge.

It's run by the blogger Tiny Ray of Sunshine, and the challenge prompts are here. If you're really lucky, I'll remember to crosspost things over here (or I'll see if I can put together an ITTT script to do it for me for the month...  if I can remember my ITTT account details, that is.)

Quilt Block Swap

My friend Alisa has set up a quilt block swap. It's getting me back into patchwork, which I love, because I've gotten away from that since I finished quilting a couple stoles for a friend. 

So for the first block swap we did a 6x8 inch mug rug. I'm sending the finished block off in the next few days, and I don't want to post it here until my recipient gets it. 

Meanwhile, I'm working on ideas for next month. Next month we start a Pass the Parcel swap, which will last a number of months. Today I signed up for the block swap team that gets to choose the block the other team members will make for me. And then, looking at Pinterest, I thought that I might be able to cope with the harder challenge after all. 

I won't sign up to the harder challenge this time. I totally don't have the time to do two blocks per month at the moment. But maybe next time I'll have the confidence to shift to the other team.  

Block a day #21 and #22

"Gypsy Wheel"
Pattern No 106 pg 97

Second of the three I'd planned to finish over the Queen's Birthday weekend, another one that came up really nicely. I love the pop of pink in the border.

Finished 12th June.

"Margarita"

Pattern No 191 pg 159

I mentioned in the previous post that I was going back to "Gentle Waves".  I think I'm giving up on that one.  It just doesn't seem to sit right with me.  After frogging back my second attempt on Gentle Waves I switched to Margarita, and here it is.  The frilly border is a lot simpler than it looks.  Finished this one on Friday night (12th June) during a double header of Phryne Fisher (last week and this week's episodes of Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries).

I've now got three spreadsheets going, one keeping track of the sort of details I'm posting here, including start and finishing dates, as they don't all get finished the same day they are started, one with the page, star and colour numbers of blocks I'd like to do, and one that's keeping track of linear blocks vs in the round, single colour blocks, common colour combinations, etc.

I'm starting to get some ideas for how I plan to put them all together, and that's meaning that I'm being a little more deliberate in how I choose blocks and colours.

Block a day #19 and #20

 "Double Granny"
Pattern 43, pg 55

I do end up doing more blocks in the round rather than in rows, partially because the tension seems to a lot easier (and more consistent).  But I like how this one has come up, and I'm very pleased with my colour choices.

"Granny's Round"
Pattern 104, pg 96

Another one I really like.  This is one of the three I was planning to do on our weekend away, but I don't think I started it until the day we got home.  These were the four colours I took with me, so you'll see these colours again in the next couple (one of which is finished, and one of which is...




...one of the two current blocks I currently have half done, and would love to finish tonight (while M watches the new season of Orange is the New Black).  But right now I'm planning to try another one entirely: the first pattern I tried, "Gentle Waves", which I frogged back fairly quickly.  But that was using one of my variegated yarns, and we know what happened to those blocks...

Block a day - #17 and #18

So, the posting schedule broke down a little.  We were away in Sydney for a friend's wedding, and although I took yarn with me to keep up with doing at least one block a day, I managed half of one in the four days...

"Kaleidoscope"
Pattern 332, pg 263

I love how this one came up.  It's got two colours that I don't want to overuse - the hot pink and the black - but just want to sprinkle through the project as a little bit of spice.








"Spinningfields"
Pattern 281, pg 224

Although it doesn't look that great in this photo, I really love this block.  It's one I may well use again in the future for other projects.

Currently - 10th June

Watching - what I can find on YouTube of Everest: Beyond the Limit; Masterchef AU.

Reading - "Buried in the Sky: the extraordinary story of the Sherpa climbers on K2's deadliest day" by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan; "Into Thin Air", by Jon Krakauer (re-read); "Cranky Ladies of History" (still).  For more, see my Wednesday Reads over at the other blog

Listening - DAAS "Warsong", the Lazy Doctor Who podcast, and I've caught up completely on the Audio Guide to B5.

Making: yet more block-a-day blocks.  Must catch up on blogging them.  Also, tea.  Lovely hot lemongrass and ginger while I blog.

Feeling: sort of relaxed and sort of really not.

Planning: what to do at my first ever scrapbooking crop tonight.

Loving: that I got to see a good friend and her husband and toddler today, even if it was only for 15 minutes because I couldn't get away from work to have lunch with them.

Block a Day - #15 and #16

"Winter Daisy"
Pattern No 258, pg 208

This is listed as a 1-star pattern, but believe me, it is NOT.  Also the pattern was hard to follow, with no indication of what was meant by "sl-st behind top of next dtr3tog".

Not a favourite.

Finished 31 May.









"Sugared Almonds"
Pattern No 336, pg 267


Going with some similar colourschemes here.  (Just wait until the weekend, when we're going away and I'll need to plan my squares for three days ahead!)

I like this one - in the photo you can't really see the effects of the front-post trebles (which are every second row, just about).  Serviceable rather than pretty, but very serviceable.

Finished 1 June

Block a day - #13 and #14

Note to self: choose a font and stick to it.

 "Greek Cross"
Pattern 105, pg 96

There is one mistake in this one, but I was too lazy to go back and fix it.

I'm now saving the variegated yarn for single round borders, as I did previously with Tangerine Dream.  It's about the only way I think it will work in this project, which means one of these days I'll frog back those first three blocks.

Finished 30 May

"St Tropez"
Pattern 239, pg 194

As I said on Instagram, this is a version of the St Tropez pattern.  The pattern in the book involved right sides and wrong sides and made no sense to me whatsoever.  So I ended up just doing a very straight granny in htr, following the initial round pattern, but without all the turning.  I mostly like the look of it, and to me it looks like the photo in the book, but I sure didn't follow the written pattern.

Finished 31 May

Block a day - blocks #11 and #12

"Fans"
Pattern #84, p 83

This was the square that I spilled wine over last Sunday.  This isn't using the same yarn, but it's close to the same colour yarn, and it's a really pretty block once it's worked up.  I quite like it.

Finished 29 May.

"Millefeuille"
Pattern #111, pg 100

Why, why, why I decided to do this just after I did "Ripple", with all its multiple ends to tie off, I do not know. I really like it in close colours, although Shell thought it needed more contrast so that she could tell that there were different colours.

Finished 29 May

Block a Day, blocks #9 and #10

Block #9
"Rose Garden"
Pattern 139, pg 121

I got my counting wrong and so the first green round is a little cobbled-together, but it worked out, I think.  The green "granny" style section is done with 2-tr instead of 3-tr, which constantly confused me

Block #10
"Ripple"
Pattern 180, pg 152

Looks great, but incredibly difficult (I challenge the one star rating) and fiddly. Also, we'll have to see what blocking does to it.  I also instagrammed my frustration with the number tails you end up with in ripple patterns

Currently... 27th May

Watching: less of the Giro this week, because of Richie Porte's bad luck.  Watched to the end of what was available of the Big Allotment Challenge s2 (final episode not on YouTube) and have started watching 1900s House, also on YouTube.  I wish I could find the original (British) narration, but all I can find is the American.

Reading: The Thistle and the Rose, by Jean Plaidy.  Still addicted to the massive File 770 Hugo comment threads.

Listening: Night Terrace 1.3 and 1.4; The Audio Guide to Babylon 5 - which I got to through Verity.

Making: My block a day project

Feeling: mentally and physically exhausted.

Planning: nothing.

Loving: The Audio Guide to Babylon 5.

Block a day project - blocks #7 and #8

Block #7
"Rosa"
Pattern 145, p 125

 A bad photograph of the "Rosa" block.  I had to start again after the first round of green, because I'd only done seven petals instead of eight (argh, I can't count).

That said, it's another lovely block that I'm likely to use again.

Finished the morning of 26th May, although the bulk was made during the 25th of May.

Block #8
"Tangerine Dream"
Pattern 92, pg 88

As I've said previously, I'm not entirely sure about my previous variegated yarn blocks, but I can totally cope with variegated final rounds, and I'm really pleased with this block.  Looking at the photo, I suspect the top right hand corner shows where I was accidentally doing 2-ch corners instead of 4-ch (oops!)

The 4-ch, by the way, felt very odd as I was working the square, but the block itself seems to have turned out okay.

Block a Day - blocks #5 and #6

Block #5
"Hove"
Pattern 141, pg 122
Clearly, this block needs blocking.

Even then, I don't know that it will actually work - I rather envisage taking the final round off and doing a different setting for the hexagon.

Finished: 22nd May 2015

Block #6
"Modern Mesh"
Pattern 210, pg  172

Another one that I really like, and can see using in other projects.  There's a somewhat similar pattern, "Spinningfields", that I expect I'll try soon.

I don't know how the corners turned out quite so pointy and twisted, though...

Finished 25 May 2015.