a stitchy weekend.......

 Between a few jobs sorting and decluttering small areas at a time and watering the garden I found some time to sew over the weekend............

This time of year I like to shut down..........take it slow..........pottering around doing whatever takes my fancy.......it can get busy but only if I choose...........

Some of you joined me on spontaneous zooms..........it was a lovely time catching up........

I worked on my scrappy 4 patch quilt............

Hopefully I will get the top sewn together tomorrow in the Chookshed Stitchers end of year stitch in.................... (see previous post)

Have you ever done Christmas at a motel???? I did this year and some of the girls on zoom thought it was a bit different.........but we had some decorations and the kids loved it...........

Have you enjoyed Christmas at an odd location????

Catch you later..........
Chookyblue.........

Chookshed Stitchers end of year stitch in!!!!!!!!!

 Lets end the year on a high...........

Who wants to join me on zoom for a sewing day...........

If you want to join leave me a comment............ If you haven't joined the Chookshed Stitchers before well thats ok............Just need to be a blogger to join us...........

Get the sewing ready........tell the family you are busy and prep some easy food so you don't need to think about it...........

grab the nibbles and a drink or two to enjoy also.............

Start time guide above.........really hope I will be up at 6am and ready........For the flip side it will be the afternoon of the 30th December...........

We'll probably end up discussing our Chookshed Stitchers Challenge and Deana is hosting this again in 2025 for the group.........

Don't forget.........leave a comment if you want to join.......

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

Merry Christmas.........

 Taking a break now until after Christmas............if I get some reading time I might try and do some catch up on blog reading which i am way behind in and miss, but I won't be posting again before Christmas...........

Just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who reads and comments on my blog, joins in on zoom sewing times..........

Have a wonderful Christmas............
Catch you later..........
Chookyblue...........

Weekend catch up.............

 Finally I feel like I am catching up on things...............
Last weekend considerable rain was forecast so I thought it would be a great time to zoom...........

As it had rained and I didn't go to work Friday I thought I would host Friday afternoon drinks and stitch...........we had a lovely crew join in I think 10 of us..................

Saturday morning I started early as usual..........
22 ladies popped in and out during the day...............
It's always great to see what everyone is up and hear the talk of snow when we are sweating it out..............

It rained most of the day which was so nice............

I worked on my random quilt from retreat.......

lots of 3 sisters fabrics plus a few others thrown in I am sure..........

the bird baths are all full.................

great to catch up with everyone and just enjoy good company...............

finally we had to duck to the neighbours to pick up some supplies and this was the end of the day view............

the week has continued with storms floating around most days and a good heavy fall on Tuesday ran water everywhere.........

The creek was up the next morning.............

so nice to see it full..........

got bogged going to work with my neighbour on Wednesday......

We could not budge it........had to call for help.....

Still chance of storms for the next few days.....

97mm (nearly 4 inchs) since it started last Thursday........very nice.......

some very big falls around.........5-6 inchs is pretty common.......some 8-10inchs

Anyway its great for the summer feed to come away..........lots soaking in.........dams full........

Catch you later...........

Chookyblue.........

Qld Retreat.........

A few weeks ago my partner in all things quilty Miss Jules and I headed off to QLD for a retreat.........This is the 3rd time we have headed north for this retreat.........normally we add a bit on at the start going to Toowoomba and extras at the end but given everything else going on I cancelled all that............

Along the way we found some stunning cactus flowering........

so delicate on such a harsh plant............

We checked out some new cotton plants.........

We all have such a huge investment in cotton we should know where it comes from............

This is an irrigated crop............but it was not going to be watered for a few more weeks when we saw it..............

Checked out Fairy Girls current rental and enjoyed this lovely waterhole...........so much bird life here to enjoy also............and look at the reflections..........It was lovely to have the night with her even if I had to take a spare bed with me to leave with her...........lol.........

Jenny was finishing her retreat and were were starting so I got to catch up with her and Gail briefly also...............

Didn't think to take a photo.......

Food is always very important and this cafe with a nursery and gift shop at it was just wonderful once again............

I continued to work on my Fat 1/4 mixer quilt..............

enjoying the beautiful gardens.............day lilly.........

the roses were past there best this time sadly.............

it rained every day were were there which was wonderful................

that doesn't usually happen at my place...........

I wanted to web (join) my project and I got it all in one stack to start.................

saved so much space and confusion............I used this tutorial...........

happy and cheeky stitchers..............

a little G & T hit the spot.............

Once I got my top together I started working in these random blocks I made one day ages ago................

Adding some sashing........more on that one later................

We also did some coaster dot things..........mine is the middle right................

it was a bit of fun............

Here is my finished fat 1/4 mixer quilt..........

I just need to flip one block around...........

It is huge and super bright..........

100x90...........just need to find a backing now...........

Most of the fabrics came from The Next Stitch and a few from my stash and I added a couple from the shop in Warwick...........

Also I can say that I nearly have all my blocks for my Chapel Street quilt.............

477/512 so not many to get now.......

I will cut some from the left overs of the fat 1/4 mixer quilt...........

Maureen popped out to visit us one day and joined us for morning tea and lunch............well she did  bring morning tea with her..............

Susan worked on her Chapel Street (I may have coerced her to make this one) and you can see a few blocks on the wall.........she is using a solid black where I used a stripe..........

We each have some of our own bits but we also shared a lot of fabrics..........

I enjoyed a walk every day and I found this beautiful grevillea on one of my walks.............

Thanks heaps girls for having us once again and Sandy for organising.............

it was wonderful to catch up with you all again..........

(not sure why this photo made the back row blurry - sorry)

Catch you all later............

Chookyblue.........

Cancer fundraiser results.......

 Still playing catch up...........

26th October I held a Cancer fundraiser on Zoom.............

I have lost several close family members to cancer and one is currently fighting cancer again.........

Last time I did this I co-hosted with Jude 18mths ago and mostly raising money for Breast Cancer Network Australia........

Once again to join in you had to make a donation to a cancer organisation.....which ever one you liked so long as it supported cancer.............

During the day I got everyone to say who they donated to and what there organisation did.............

Everyone emailed me their donation amount and if international I converted to AUD..........

I had to do some watering during the day and I found this beautiful hippeastrum flowering............

Cheese and nibbles is always enjoyed............

Stunning and flowering madly.............

I worked on my bright Fat 1/4 mixer quilt..........mostly Ruby Star with a few others thrown in and a few from my stash.............

Cutting and piecing some during the day..............

I did spend a lot of time just chatting.........but that's fine also.......

The last stragglers................

we had a very long day sewing..........

6am-8.30pm.........

We were nearly at $1000 at the end of the day and someone made another donation to kick us over...........but then a few more donations came in after the day..........

CONGRATS together we raised $1132.71...........

18 joined on the day.......

plus a few more girls made donations that didn't get to join us.........

THANKYOU EVERYONE 

Together we can make a difference..............

Catch you later..........

Chookyblue..........

Spring Stitchin' in the Scrub..........

Early in September I co-hosted Spring Stitchin' in the Scrub retreat with Deb from The Crafters Cottage......thanks Deb for co-hosting.....

There was 21 of us altogether...........great size group...........

Many regulars and some newbies............

As usual it worked perfectly............

Remember the daisies from the last post...........Brenda worked her magic with them and once again we had beautiful flowers on the tables............

We had so many we decorated the food area also...............

The room set up..........

massive thanks to everyone who helped..........

With Dad sick (not dying at this point) I was worried about him and popped away to visit several times........And my back was bad.........Standing was ok once I was up but how I got thru the first week when I hurt my back I am not sure..........I needed distractions really as not much provided any comfort except standing.....so pottering around was working for me........

I did quite a bit of cooking on the Wednesday after I hurt it..........Mr Chooky had to keep coming to do things like grab something out of the cupboard or put things in and out of the oven..........

Deb and I catered all the food..............

Most importantly we had to celebrate Brenda's birthday................

OMG I so want to be like Brenda when I am 90.........she is amazing..........

I didn't take many photos this retreat.........to many other distractions........

once again lots of happy faces and new friends to make.........

Machines and sewing stuff everywhere.............

Deb had set up a little shop in the corner which was great.............I brought a few bits........I didn't get a photo this time...........

my new table clothes..........an excuse for Janice to come and deliver the extra ones she brought me............She wasn't coming and then made a rash decision to join us...........

Unfortunately the cabins were not available so most of the girls stayed at Reggies Pub.........we had dinner there Friday night and I don't even have one photo.............woops...........

A couple of us were going to stay in one of the pavillions with Di and Miranda in their van but we got one of the cabins at the last minute..........they have painted and redone the floors and foundations of all the cabins so that is great...........

One of the quilts I made.............I did do a little sewing........

Some of the girls had there finished orange peel cushion covers that we made in the workshop I attended earlier in the year..........that's when this retreat was hatched...........nice to see theirs finished.........mine is still a work in progress........

Kaz one of the new girls was like a sewing machine........so inspiring.......she was constantly finishing tops..........some needed piecing.........others just borders etc....every time I looked over she was working on something else.........she held this one up at show and tell but it still needed the other borders on...........

Anyway that's it for the retreat..........

Catch you later.........

Chookyblue........