It's raining.........yeh

Well I have just dragged myself out of bed it is the most beautiful day.........I was supposed to go to an open garden with a group of friends .......but due to the rain it has been cancelled so instead I have laid in bed and been reading a new novel I got while in the city.............1/4 of the way thru now but the best bit is I have been laying there listening to the rain fall on the roof..............we have had over an inch so far and more is forecast for later in the week........we have not had this much rain in one fall since the end of February and things were starting to look pretty desperate.........now what esle should I do now............maybe finish a bag I have been working on........catch you all later...........hope it is raining at your place...........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Welcome Stockdalejo

Hi all head over and welcome another new girl to blogland..........welcome Stockdalejo .........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Flowers for me............

When I was in the city my cousins gave me some flowers...........the poor things are not at their best but considering they were in and out of water and in planes and taxis and the car home they still look pretty good.......(this was on Sunday afternoon)........love the contrast in colours..........had a play around and thought I would share

.........take care til next time.............
.......Chookyblue..........

Shopping................

The shopping from Quiltsmith........this lot maybe some bags............(don't mind the carpet in the background...........not the best photo)............

Some Swell to go with a jelly roll I have............

liked the look of this bag...........

Found this piece of "bottlebrush" fabric at Spotlight........

.........take care til next time.............
.......Chookyblue..........

Birthday presents.........

Finally as promised this blog will try and return to quilting/sewing related pics...........lol..........

My sister went shopping at Hatched and Patched for my birthday..............she got me this Gail Pan Designs pattern........this is the pattern of the bag Gail gave me as a PIF.........I love it and now I can make some more.............

and several Hatched and Patched patterns tooooo............some christmas ones.......

this cute little one is a heat pack........

Oz Country Quilting Mum sent me these goodies...........thanks heaps love them..........esp the chooky tape measure..........oh and a great chooky card which is just MIA when I wanted to take the photo..........

and Kris from Tag Along Teddies sent me this card as a late birthday present and it is a wonderful thing............the card includes the full instructions to make the picture on the front and some cream fabric to start the stitching...........

.........take care til next time.............
.......Chookyblue..........

home again.........

Home from the "big smoke"......"bit like a fish out of water there"........had lots of fun..........caught up with friends and family, made new friends (the girls in my training) one of those was a quilting girl so we went to Quiltsmith.......had to find the directions for the taxi driver - scary..........when we got there they had 20% off - bonus..........so I got a little more.........check them out they have the sale on until the 30th August and it is online tooo............so many varieties of fabrics to look at......

Went to Billy Elliott the stage show - wonderful.............ate so much food it wasn't funny..........including Japanese for the first time...............went shopping in the city.........

Had a sleepover at Flutterby Angel's and a couple of drinks and some more food..........caught up with another non bloggy friend.......

BUT the whole time I was away the kids were pretty sick so I felt a bit guilty leaving them behind but the MIL looked after them well............they were very pleased to see when I got home and it was nice to see them and know they are getting better very slowly.........no school this week...............I got them some extra treats since they have been so sick while I was away.........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

to busy.........

Life is just a little busy to blog........off to the big smoke............aka Sydney for work......

....Fairy girl has some people to swap with more about that later...........

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....please go and wish Jodie Happy 40th Birthday on the 19th.......we chat online all the time and I can't chat to her at all on her birthday so please cheer her along for the big occassion

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.....have not even snapped a pic of the patterns I got for my birthday..........bugger

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............started making my 3rd Mystery block from the Fat Quarter Shop.........NOT finished........

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................if you are going to the Stitches and Craft at Rosehill Race Course in Sydney Australia make sure you go and see one of my best friends............Belinda............tell her Chookyblue sent you...........she will be with the Living Creatively crew.........I won't get there...........

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and the worst part no pic for this post............bugger -bugger.........hope your still here when I get time to return...........

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and 3 blogs to check out this week.............Angels Come to Play, p.s. I quilt, Laila's lapper (new blogger)

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Catching up...........

meant to post this the other day but I have been busy and decided to share tonight............we have had lots of frosts and cold winter weather............I know nothing like you girls where it snows but it is dam cold for me............we have had weeks of frosts and I caught these 2 pics from the back step one morning........wasn't going any further..............love the frost on top of the hay bales...........

now onto the reason for the post................THANKS heaps for all the birthday messages......you really surprised me with all the wonderful wishes.......I had a nice quite morning at home............spent a cold afternoon on the motor bike mustering sheep and then drafting them (sorting) ............then "bookworm" had organised a surprise dinner at the neighbours with another family..........I had a lovely day............

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SSCS update

I have now emailed out all the swap partner details so you should have replied to that email so I know you have it..............if you are going away for more then a week let me know............I nearly wiped a girl from the swap............she signed up and went on holidays and I was waiting for a reply to an email.............she is one lucky girl..............

oh and I accidently added someone to the swap...............it was such a weird moment when I got an email back from this girl and she said "wow so I did make it in the swap"...........OMG what have I done.............well once I realised what I had done (emailed Rachel in the USA instead of Rachel in Aus) I had a laugh and so did she and what was I to do but add her to the swap.............then I felt sorry for the girls that had emailed tooooo late and once I had sent out the majority of the swap partners I decided to add the girls who had emailed and missed out so now we have a swap of 152 (I think) wonderful excited Santa's..............yeh yeh I know I truly am crazy but it is my swap and I can do what I want.............lol.............

there are lots of new bloggers to me and some of the girls only write in there own language but I have a google toolbar and it has a translate button so I use that to read their blogs..........one of the girls does not speak english at all and her friend is translating for us.............

so go find some new blogs on my sidebar of Santa's..................

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also Fairy Girl (7.5) wants a swap partner so if there is an Aussie girl about her age who wants to join in the fun email me please

Take care til next time.........

Chookyblue..............

PS birthday presents post coming soon.................

it is so much fun seeing all the excitement around blogland for the SSCS..............

Happy Birthday to me...........

Well it has been a record since I last posted OMG shock horror it has been 5 days..............so I had to blog today.............

Happy Birthday to me.........

......someone has been sending emails around blogland or have a good memories as I have just been going thru my emails and already have 2 birthday wishes................thanks so much Linda and May Brit and I have some mail also..............I know there is a card from Jodie B (see the names in the SSCS for links)

But you know how excited I am about Christmas well I am just as bad for my birthday............even had an early birthday lunch with my work collegue on Tues..............

Off to do some sheep work and maybe out for tea the kids are planning something I know but not sure exactly what it is............let you know tomorrow...........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

SSCS Welcome 128 Santa's

I have just sent out an email to all SSCS participants................if your name is not on the sidebar your not in the SSCS..............make sure your link works and you must reply to my email I sent out...........don't worry about commenting on this post..........

make sure you all play by the rules as I was stopping at 100 and went to 128.....unindated with requests to join...............dh thinks I could go to 200 but I told him I am not that crazy yet.............

most importantly have fun............

and I promise this blog will return to some form of sewing really soon..................promise............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Ric Rac has been thinking........

Ric Rac has been thinking to much and wrote about "the big questions"...............have a read.........I did a post on the same subject awhile ago........you can find it here...........

since I wrote it there are lots of new bloggers and new to me bloggers..............let me know what you think.............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

08-08-08............

Hi all

Just sorting thru all the SSCS details and have the Aussie girls sorted and all into my SSCS bloglines folder............(yes I do follow all blogs during the SSCS)

but I have some new bloggers for you go meet and encourage................they have 2 posts up so please welcome them to blogland..............Kate W - Stitched with Love and Dawn S - Itching for Stitchin..............Dawn started her blog to join the swap.......yeh.......love that.......

which reminds me these two bloggers started their blogs last year so they could join the 2007 SSCS.........

Also one little blogger needs some posting encouragement she is seen around the traps in blogland..........

Now I will be watching the TV if you want to find me as the Olympics start tonight...............

Go Aussies, go Aussies

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

update.......SSCS

A photo I forgot to share from a few weeks ago.............

Having a few problems getting the names added to the sidebar.........first night got lots up easy in one go............did heaps last night and lost them and battling with it again tonight...........even in very small batchs...........so don't dispair if you can see your name there....it will happen and I will let you know here when I am finished.........48 hours = 120+ swappers...........just finalising a few emails etc............

Santa's from The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Portugal, USA, UK, Italy, Norway, Chile, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Germany and finally lots of Australian girls.

SO this is even more international then last year............now as I have gone above my imaginery limit you will have to be very patient for my organising..........fitting it in around my normal life..........

Take care til next time...............Chookyblue.............

phew..........

more news soon........ but for now I am still adding names to the sidebar and

not sure if I will get it all done tonight so don't panic if you don't see you name there.........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

OMG Stop..............we all love Christmas.......

Wow what a response....30 hours so far..............I wake up this morning and have another 35 emails to go thru so I will stop taking names for the moment to see how many swappers I have...........and I need to update the list on my blog and my spreadsheet...........

Only email me if you always comment on my blog..................and you know who you are

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Are you ready for the SSCS 2008..............

(feel free to save the logo and add it to your side bar....directions here)

After having a fun time in the Christmas Swap last year with 80+ participants I decided I am going to run it again………….1 person didn’t send and 1 present didn’t arrive so that is pretty good. ……( those 2 girls didn’t miss out though)

If you want to see what happened last year go to my labels and choose Secret Santa Christmas Swap

Here is what Cheryl wrote about last year’s swap……….

“August 10 of last year was my very first post and there leaving a comment was Chookyblue. "Welcome to blogland" she says. "Why not dive in head first and sign up for my Christmas Swap" she says. "Yippee" I say!!! I am all about Christmas...and then the adventure began with Elf Donna at our helm for the first ever Secret Santa Christmas Swap! Who would have guessed that 80 + swappers from all around the world would participate, and out of this wonderful idea from our own Chookyblue (aka Elf Donna) such wonderful friendships would be made, not to mention such wonderful gifts exchanged! So what do I say...come on...dive in head first and join Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap, and let the magic begin!”

Cheryl Polka Dots & Rick Rack

The rules are simple

• Don’t tell anyone who your swap partner is please. This is a secret swap shhhhhhhhh!!!!!! A different person will be sending to you……….
• You have to be willing to post internationally
• You need to have an active blog …....posting a couple of times a month…….. so your partner can sneak a peek and get ideas of what to make for you and they know you are active……………therefore existing
• You can make whatever you want eg, bag, wall hanging, softies, stitchery, table runner - whatever it is you love to make………send something you would love to receive…..
• Sign up deadline is when I have toooo many people (last year I was going to leave it open for several weeks but had to shut it within a week)
• Swap partners emailed out mid to late August
• Sending (not before 10^th November) deadline is 25^th November to ensure your partner gets their present before Christmas (remember reason for swap)

· Please don’t sign up if you are not prepared to send, non-senders!!!! will be named and shamed

· Make sure you "thank" your Santa – very important

· If If you are difficult to contact you may be dropped from the swap………..several times between now and the deadline I email out and you MUST reply………so if you are going away for a week or 2 just let me know

· If everyone can follow the above it will make for another very successful SSCS………..

· Any problems make sure you contact me

• If you want to join email me I need your

Name, Address (including country), email and blog address

Cheryl and Laila still have the SSCS 2007 logo on there sites so auto entry for those 2 girls...........

CLOSED*******CLOSED*******CLOSED

.........take care til next time.............

.......Chookyblue..........

Peg's Challenge

things were looking bad when I classed this one block as a finish for the challenge but at the time it looked like I would not get anything done................

The I got a couple more projects finished and a couple of new ones completed...........

Not 5 quilts but I am very happy with this............funny thing is the only thing I got to keep was the block..........lol.......all the rest were swaps and gifts...............

Thanks Peg for motivating us to get some stuff finished...............yeh...........

take care til next time when I have big news.........Chookyblue...........