blog book..........

Wow this is the most exciting thing I have received.........I found a site Blog2print
where you can put your blog (blogspot or typepad) into a book..........it can be soft or hard
cover (takes 350 photos per book at present)...........here is my first one (will take
several to get to present time) I did mine hard cover.......

.......I would choose a different background for the cover......the front pic is the first one I
put on my blog.......I didn't include any comments.......just the
posts..........

Well it is great quality........nice hard cover......photos have come up
really well.....nice glossy pages........I am going to make the next edition
now........
.........take care til next time.............
.......Chookyblue..........

Crutching........

We have had some days shearing and crutching happening around here over the last week or 2...........Crutching is when you shear the wool from around the butt of the sheep and
also around their face...........usually do it leading up to shearing........
....although I don't feed the shearers I do have to feed my boys and when
they are working in the shed they eats lots..........

....I made 80 of these chocolate chip biscuits (did take a few to work - yummo) and 6 dozen patty cakes last week.......yesterday I made 4 dozen muffin size patty cakes (managed to freeze 2 dozen for lunch boxes.........today I made scones for morning tea for all.....yes I take the jam and the whipped cream to the shed and the scones are piping hot straight out of the oven when I head down........after that I came home and made and banana cake up but it was so hot I made them into muffins so the cooking time was a lot less and I could turn the oven off and the air con on.........

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

PS if you want the biscuit, patty cakes or banana cake recipes let me know..........

Weblog awards.........

Did you know that there are blog awards (scrolls sideways I had to)...............I didn't know there are blog awards...........anyway nominations have closed and the finalist have been announced and you can vote...........so head over and check it out........might find something new to look at...........Pioneer Woman is nominated in 5 categories.......amazing.........her main site for Most Humorous, Best Overall and Best Writing.........her food and photography blogs in respective sections also..........I don't know any of the others nominated so will go and check some of them out...........voting closes 2nd Feb..........

TELL ME NOW...............JUST FOR FUN

####### TELL ME A FEW IF YOU CAN"T JUST PICK ONE ########

............think hard on who you visit and tell me who you would nominate for a blog award and why..................include a link so we can find it and check it out...........lurkers I know you are there........you can anonymously leave a comment so tell me who you love.........

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

Another trip to Hatched and Patched.........

Yeh I know what your thinking I was only at Hatched and Patched about a month ago................but I promise it was ages before that and I would be lucky if I got there once a year and just cause one visit was at the end of last year and the this at the start..............lol..........anyway that's my story and I will stick to it............

Anita and Jo Jo were supposed to meet me there and Jo Jo's dh is a "useless" (JoJo's words) hobby farmer and that stopped them coming the night before...........I was very sad..............but I had talked Bloom into coming the day before so she and her family come along for the day anyway.............(so nice to meet you Bloom's Mum)

Now Jo Jo your dh is in big trouble with us as since you girls couldn't come we had to do you proud and make up for what you missed out on...............let me tell you we have made you VERY proud..........unfortunately I can't show much as it is all for secret projects but I did get some pics of Anni's beautiful shop........and some books I will show you later............and Anni was having a SALE.......so that made it a bit better...........

some quick easy projects hanging in the window............

a baby shelf........

more lovely things..............

more fabric..........

I like this one hanging above the old fire place........

then of course we had to go out for lunch..............and wow was that good.............

is your mouth watering Jo Jo..............does it match the desserts Anita and I had............

this was mine.............

they all looked so good............

So sorry you missed the day Anita and Jo Jo but maybe things will work out better next time............Nundle is not that long away...........

Thanks Anni and Margaret another great visit.............

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

Open Gardens..........

Okay so much to tell you all but we'll start with the open gardens.........while I was away I was lucky enough to go to 3 open gardens............... they were so nice and all different and I took HEAPS of photos meandering around the gardens with Bloom who shared the same passion for gardening and photography..............enjoy......

(I think if you click on the pics they will open larger)

the historic house.........

lots of succulents everywhere in this garden............so effective.........even edging the vegie patch........

this was an old shed which they pulled down and rebuild into a guest house a few years ago..........you can just see a corrougated tank on the left and this was the bathroom.........amazing.........

some flowers..............

The next garden had lots of Silver berch..............something I cannot grow in my area........they are stunning............

some roses..........

soft and pretty.........

big expanses of lawns..........

a dam on the left pics..........

The third garden..........specialising in natives...........

I love gumnuts.........and I found this cool chook.........

some natives.........

lots of different decorative structures..........

thanks for making it to the end..........I got a little sunburnt wandering around but wow they were worth it.........I hope you enjoyed my highlights............

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

Australia Day

I have had a few days away and a wonderful time, shopping, catching up with family and friends, eating delicious food, movies, shopping also some great mail........more about that later...............

Jan 26th is Australia Day...........a day to celebrate living in the most wonderful country in the world................in my part of Oz it is HOT and DRY day............one to rest and relax in the air con...........

just cooked a BBQ..........."Sam" would like us to eat lamb on Australia Day but I eat that all the time so I am happy to BBQ anything on Australia Day and for lunch we had rissoles and potato chips and onions............yummo.............maybe lamb chops for tea........

and as it is so hot I even had a beer..............gotta be hot for me to have one of those.........

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY..............

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

emailing pics to your posts

updated Feb 2018
I see quite a few girls complaining about the up load time for photos in blogger.....or ipads' phones, programs not talking to blogger properly...........
I used to have this trouble (take 30 mins to upload one photo) but now I email all pics to my blog post and then go in edit and write the words.

this might help you out.........

To setup in your blog

login into you blog
from the dashboard go to "settings" then "email"
in the mail to box you will need to put "(a word)"

say your email is
smith@ hotmail.com

and your blog name is www.sewingroom.blogspot.com

then it will probably have something like already there

smith7.________________@blogger.com
you will need to write in your secret word (of choice) so it could be

smith7.sewing@blogger.com (write this down)

then choose save emails as drafts

Save Settings - this is then setup...........(add the email address to your email address book)

Now how to post

go into your pictures and find the photo/photos you want to post (what goes in an email is in the post)

Select your photos so they are highlighted then right click on your photo/s
choose
Send to mail recipient (using you regular email account eg outlook express, gmail etc) then choose make my pictures smaller and click OK
If you want to send lots of photos I send about 6 at the most per email and then open the draft, copy the pics and paste  into the one you want to publish if you want to have stacks of photos in one post.

your email program will then open

type in your email address

smith7.sewing@blogger.com

your email subject will become the post title
then click
send


Now once this is sent go into your blog and go to edit posts
the email will be saved as a draft - edit draft and I usually make sure there is a space between the photos and type in what you want then post as usual...........
I add my text to the draft post as it goes in the order I want then........

sometimes you may want to go to post options down the bottom and change the time of your post as it gives it the time when you sent the email edit: this has now changed with an update of blogger and it will automatically post the the time you click publish unless you set it to come on at a later date...........sometimes I send several emails of various pics to my blog and then go in and edit and post each when I am ready.............

Good luck hope this helps...........

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

bloglines follow up...........

this post may confuse you completely but I was writing as I thought so if it doesn't make sense move on to something else............lol..............

&&&&&&&&

Ok so it is pretty clear most of you have some kind of system that makes blogging easier…………..and a lot of you are like me and have way to many and spend way to much time on it but hey........gotta enjoy life............lol...........

Most of you use one of the following to manage it all

Saved in favourites

RSS feeds (thru your email)

Followers (thru blogspot)

And lots us google reader and bloglines

Actually I forgot to say I use bloglines Beta version and it is easier then bloglines to make folders etc and sort your blogs……….I have mine sorted into countries but I have seen others sorted into style of blog………eg appliquéing, knitting, embroidery etc…….whatever works for you.

If you use bloglines and want to go to the Beta version once you open bloglines just click on "take a test drive on Beta bloglines"(right hand pane).........not sure if you have to login again (which is the same username and passwords)................but once you are in the beta version if you add it to favourites and open it when you go to bloglines you will stay in Beta..............what ever changes you make in one will stay in the other.............see how you go...........

For those who just use your favourites you will save a lot of time with google reader or bloglines. What they do is find the new posts people put up and let you know. You only see the people you want to keep track of. Once you add their blog to bloglines they just keep updating you once they have updated their blog.

Then you are not going to their blog and wasting download time to find nothing new. If you see something in a bloglines update and you want to comment you click on the link and it takes you to the post directly so you can comment.

Anyway go with what works for you...............there was certainly lots of comments goodluck.........email me if you want to know something specific that I have not covered..............

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

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

Sweet treat bag.........

Lovely Lise gave me a Moda "Aviary" Sweet Roll and it also included a Moda pattern with it ..........so this afternoon I decided to have a little play..........."Aviary" reminds me so much of "Faded Memories"..........soft and pretty............

it is nearly finished here...........I don't have any velcro and I need a button a little hand stitching and it will be done but I was so excited about it and wanted to show you all..........

Finally we have had a day with no air con...........33 today...........not going to last very long though as it is going to be another hot week..........just let me catch up on the watering..............

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

PJ pants...........

My first WIP's finished for May and Kris Challenge......started these a
couple of months ago.......some PJ pants for Fairy Girl...........

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

do cows like hot pink.........

I used to use green tags but now 2 different neighbours use the same so I have decided to change to hot pink.........how do you think these will look on my black calves.......pretty cute I think and the boys well they just have to cope and be trendy new age calves and be cool to wear pink..............lol

Anyway what have I been up to today....................it was a pretty hot day so we were in the cattle yards marking calves at daylight......they all get one of these hot pink tags in their ears.......and we finished by lunch time 33 deg then.........later this arvo we had to go out again as we needed to take a few to town and it was 39 then............do you know how hot metal is then................I was just about melted by the time I came back in..........early to bed tonight as I have done nothing for days so it was a huge day for me..........easy day again tomorrow

it's just before 8pm and just under 38 deg cel..............bring on some cooler weather........nothing forecast and since well before the new year we have had 3 days under 34 deg........(32deg) it sure is summer at my place.............

Here is the little niece who received the skirt with the ruffles...........she loved it..........

Thanks for all the comments re my last post........I will pull some thoughts together on it very soon...........nighty night..........

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

bloglines/followers ????????

no sewing i've been best friends with the bed and the lounge.......good thing too as it has been hot so I have a good excuse to hide in the air con.........

but my question for today is ....(been thinking about it as I watch my followers grow..........)

How do you follow your blogs.............

Bloglines??? (my favourite)

Followers??? (found blogs I never heard of)

saved in your favourites???

What do you do............how do you manage it????

I know I have to many in bloglines but hey who do I scrap..........lol...........

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

Fairy Girls Sewing..........

This is Fairy Girls first project with her new Janome machine.........a place mat
for her Great Grandma.....

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

Peg's prezzie........

Look what the beautiful Peg sent me................lol.............gosh that girls is productive........I am so pleased she is.........

Do you know what it is.............scrummy delicious chocolates............one of my favourites.............unfortunately it was 39-40 deg the day it arrived and they were nearly running out the packet............I carefully placed them in the fridge and ate them later..............you should have seen the mess but they tasted just as good......yummo

but luckily they didn't spill out of the bag...........Peg made me one of May Britt's designs.............and some very nice fat 1/4's..........

with a beautiful Christmas theme.........thanks so much Peg

today was a little cooler 34deg C but we have been having some HOT weather..........with more to come next week...........I am so pleased I have an air conditioner.........watched Mamma Mia twice today..........loved it.............

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

PS Jo Jo do you have a different email?

PSS just trying to keep up with the watering............

Ruffling.............

A few commenters asking questions lately have ben no reply so I cannot directly answer your question.........but if you see this the fabric on the skirt with the ruffles is from A Day in the Country Emperiors garden........some other fabrics in the range are available here.........

I had a few comments on my ruffling foot............here it is and I did a
strip with the 3 widths of ruffles you can do..........I love it so quick
and fun.........

the foot is huge and intimidating.........front view .........mine if for a Janome machine........

back view side of machine......

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

Meet Blossom............

Hi remember when you met Curly Pops..............and we had Blackie for a while but Blackie went back to a cow...........just before Christmas we got Blossom............she was a few weeks old when we got her..........this is a pic of Blossom and Curly Pops the other day............Curly Pops doesn't have milk anymore......she has grown lots..........they are great together........

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

catching up...........

wow I thought we could just ease ourselves into the new year..........

OMG blogland is a hive of activity.........thank goodness the SSCS is nearly all over..............I have one more post to do but will wait for a couple of parcels to arrive..........and a couple of pics emailed to me.............

but just cruising around blogland in the last few days here is what I found

Capricorn Quilts BOM (loved the last one)

A calendar BOM (stitchery/applique options)

WIP's Challenge (definitely need that)

Whirl into Winter (with nothing under 32 & 39C forecast hardly feels like winter here)

Red work Cushion swap (thinking about it)

Diet Challenge (need it but will I do it???)

Handmade 2009 Christmas (just to get you moving NOW)

Calendar Quilt Challenge '09 (nice idea but I would miss to many days)

and I am sure there are more I missed...........I think I might bury myself back under the air conditioner.......

take time to stop and smell the roses...........picked these ones and put into 3 vases this morning........

sewed some binding onto this quilt on my new sewing table...........so much easier with heaps of space..........and flat bed too.........

I helped fairy girl make a place mat for her Grandma.........nearly done..........

amused myself with pin decorations made by Fairy Girl......

Finally took some pics of the new table..............8x4 foot............it is wonderful............

custom made by DH for us girls for Christmas..........

2 machines and the over locker now have their own flat bed space............

even designed underneath so some of the boxes can go under there and there is a high shelf that I can put my light box (custom made also by DH) and rulers etc and it is on wheels so I can move it all...........scary thing is where the boxes came from it doesn't look like anything is missing.........I have way to much "stuff"

nearly finished this skirt for a niece just need to find the piece of paper with the waist measurements and we are done..............

got a ruffling foot awhile ago and had a go on the skirt..............very nice and soooooo much quicker then gathering..............

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