Aunty Chookyblue..........

Today I have a new niece........Mum and bub are doing well and there is one very proud Dad...........

I had other additions to my family this week too my cousin had twin boys.........all so exciting can't wait to see them........

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

What's for dinner at your place...........

If you want a yummy dinner with left overs cook this.........makes enough for our family of 4 for a couple of nights.............

Ingredients

Masterfoods finishing sauce - wholegrain mustard with honey

crumbed chicken wedges (I cut my pieces into 4-6 pieces)

carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, (whatever vegies you love)

cut everything pretty small and cook (just) I usually julienne my potat and carrots so it is quicker

2-3 cups cooked rice

300ml cream

mushrooms (don't cook just slice)

place cooked rice in baking dish about 1/3 of the depth............

spread cooked vegies all over making the next 1/3rd of the depth...........

cut up the crumbed pieces of chicken and place over the top.......lay the slices of mushroom on top and then combine the cream and wholegrain with honey sauce (dilutes the flavour so the kids will eat it and I like it better too) and pour over the dishes............(I make 2 dishes this size at once)

cook in the oven (180 deg cel) until the mushrooms are cooked..............approx 15 mins (best thing my family don't eat the mushrooms so I get all of them)

very yummy................my girl friend made this when  I went to visit a few months ago and I have made it several times since then............oh and homebrand have a sauce like the masterfoods one but it is NOT as nice.............

whats a yummy meal at your place?????

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

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

wonky houses..........

Sorry forgot to show you my houses before I sent them to Lurline........bit

of a love hate relationship with these.......but in the end I really LOVED

them.....once they were done it all came together...........my bag of swapped blocks should be back soon..............thanks Lurline for organising the swap and squaring up the blocks...........can't wait to see what I get back.............

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

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

Wonky House..........

This is a house I started playing with when Lurline was first talking about doing the swap............it is different to the ones we made for the wonky house swap..........

Made this into a wonky house wall hanging..............

Put bee fabric in the windows and found these very cool bee buttons that I

added to the wallhanging....... 

Another finish for the OPAM challenge

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

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

PS Fairy Girl said thanks for all the lovely comments on her stitching in the last post...........

Fairy Girls Stitchery.........

Fairy Girl has been stitching this design it is by Sally Giblin of The Rivendale Collections it is a bonus stitchery that came with the "Happiness" pattern - I love her stuff........we decided to frame this one.....she got a 2nd at the local show..........

....her stitching is improving with the more she does.......

I am not sure where you can find Sally online  - pretty sure she doesn't have a blog but not sure if she has a website...........if anyone knows leave a comment here........

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

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

Friends are flowers........

Another finish........well the stitchery has been finished for quilt awhile (2007).......but I finally decided to finish it by framing it.......I think it is a Christine Book design????

Edit definitely Christine Book.....

My header currently has part of the stitchery........

This got a 2nd at the local show.........

only a minor job to finish but another one for the OPAM challenge

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

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

Hatched & Patched Angel Love Cushion..........

Wow we have had some wonderful rain over the last few days...great for the crops just emerging........beautiful soaking rain......hope no one is being flooded out by the wild weather up the coast.........

I started this stitchery more then 12 months ago and it got put aside and

then about 6 months later it got some borders and then I have been trying to

decide what to do with it.......wall hanging??? Cushions???? Bag???? 

Guess the cushion won out and then I decided to put a frill on the

edge.........I used some of the chenille that Flower Garden gave me ages ago

for the backing........ I was not sure where to put it but it got displayed

in front of my quilt in the background at our local show (you can find the

quilt here) and I decided then it would look good on that bed....

.....the quilt and the cushion both got 2nds at our local show..........

The pattern for the stitchery is a Simple Stitchings pattern of Anni Downs

Hatched and Patched called Angel Love....

After a drought on finishes I have finished this for the OPAM

challenge.......hosted by Tag Along Teddies and Abyquilt..........

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

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

blog win..........

Mel from Mel's Own Place had a giveaway and I was the lucky

winner.........one of Mel's Own Place patterns and fabrics also a Dandelion Girl charm pack.........thanks heaps Mel and she also sent

Bookworm a prezzy gosh he was so excited and things have been rearranged in

his shelves to fit the goodies in thanks heaps Mel............. 

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

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

dresdan plate...........

After being tempted by Loft Creations, A Quilting Life, Cardygirl (look back thru their May posts) and several other places in blogland in the last few weeks I succumb to the pressure and got a dresdan plate ruler from OzQuilts........excellent quick service...........I joined 2 in a matter of minutes when I got the ruler.....

...but today after a chat with

Cardygirl I had some off cuts from my wonky houses and cut them up for my

very first and I might say definitely not the last dresdan plate

project.........I never get called for news polls and today I did and I sewed the ends of these and ironed the lot while completing the survery on the phone...........goodness knows what the lady on the phone thought of the noise in the background.............so that wasn't wasted time

so what to make of it now I am not sure it but it needs to be stitched down and the centre of course........

OMG this is addictive...........

Oh and I have a winner for my 500th post draw.....congrats first commenter

Deb.......send me your details and I will pop the Lynette Anderson pattern

and who knows what else in the mail to you..........

Oh and if you think hexagons are fiddly well check out this post of Lilly's

as she has made this with 1/4 inch (yep you read it right) pieces of fabric OMG AMAZING.........I am NOT doing that I am not that patient.......well done Lilly's Stuff........the photo does not do it justice as for the TINY size.........but is it appliqued onto a 5" charm square

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

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

PS oh and sorry if I caused worry on my last post title.....lol.....opps it is something I say fairly regularly and I didn't think about it when I posted but I have 2 projects finished and I don't have them for a few days and forgot to take some pics...........so as soon as I get them back I will take some pics and share............

shock horror...........

Shock horrow I have actually nearly got 2 WIP's done.............I know Kris and May Britt this will be a huge shock to you but this month I have some finished for the WIP challenge............back soon........ 

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

More redwork cushions..........

thanks for your lovely comments regarding my post celebrations and the cow.........the cow is going well..........checked her leg yesterday and she is healing well and walking much better.......still a bit of a limp but much better......back out to the paddock..........

Maree has posted some pics of the redwork cushions made for her swap.........there has been some wonderful stitching in this swap...........she still needs to get a few more pics of cushions but there are lots posted already.............check it out here..........well worth the time

As for the winner well i'll let you know next post as I forgot to choose one when I started to write this and i have things to do so it can wait til next time.........

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

cows with bling..........

Happy Mothers Day to all those mothers out there...........hope you have a great day..........

I am not really big on presents when it comes to Mothers Day just whatever the kids make for me at school usually is wonderful but this year they have "gone shopping"..............Fairy Girl was nearly in tears Friday night worrying about where she could get some flowers (no florist in town) for me and she had to tell me this "surprise" cause she didn't know where to get any...............got that one sorted when dh went to town yesterday and I got a beautiful bunch of yellow chrysanthemums..........but it got me thinking about jewellery and I know lots of Mum's might be getting some out there today.....

.....yesterday we had a farm problem..........this Mumma cow must have decided to try on some bling..............

Really someone should have told her anklets are not really her thing.............you know that feeling when you try on a ring and then need water and soap to get it off..............I am sure that is some advice no one gave this mumma................

she decided that a piece of old bore casing would make for a nice anklet............but she tried it on for size and then it wouldn't come off............lol............poor girl.............I only discovered her late Friday afternoon and she was too far from the cattle yards to bring in before dark...........

yesterday dh went and brought her in and with the help of the neighbour, some ropes, angle grinder and some screw drivers to prise it open finally the bling was off.................I am sure she won't be trying any jewellery on soon.............we have never had this happen before...........there was dirt all packed into it also.............she has a little sore on the front of her foot where it was rubbing a bit and we put some antiseptic onto it...........she will be kept around the house for a few days to make sure it is all good..........

now remember my post about the 1/4" foot the other day...........well I got one and sent it to the Farmyard and she has now a few problems and questions re binding and the old metric -v- imperial argument...........you can read about it here.............tell her what you think............

and I forgot to tell you I spent some time sewing with Flutterby Angel last week and I got to see this beautiful bag.............lots of stitching detail..........

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

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

PS this is my 500th post...............can you believe it........I talk WAY WAY too much.............but as a little giveaway I have a Lynette Anderson pattern.........

....what do you like about Lynette Anderson's patterns and which one is your favourite ...........

have a great Mother's Day........

Ruler review..........

I have been using my adjustable quilting ruler and thought I would give you a review of what I thought then today I saw a review of the rulers in the lastest Homespun magazine..........I first talked about the rulers back in July 08 when I saw it on The New Inventors.........it won the viewers choice for that week thanks to all us quilters......who else would have voted for it.........then it went on to win viewers choice for 2008..............

dh surprised me and got me one for my birthday.............

But as for the rulers.........well I have the long rectangle one........24" long cuts up to 6.5" wide.........it is not fun if you are constantly changing your widths every cut but as soon as you have to cut more the 2 strips it is wonderful........I have recently been cutting some borders for quilts and it has been great...........with my plain ruler I am usually constantly checking and rechecking the width before I cut.........worrying I will cut several different widths........

now as for cutting with this adjustable ruler it kind of butts up to the fabric so no problems getting it in the right place and so long as it is butting the fabric correctly cut away...............no need to worry about the width it is set.............saves me worrying.........

just loosen the 2 screws one on each end and then move to correct mark and tighten............cut away............

( www.westalee.com.au )

now as for buying the rulers..................if you are new to patchwork and deciding on what ruler to buy first this would not be it as I use the other one.............but as soon as you want to cut strips this baby is tops............they have some different triangle ones too...........hope you like my review.........enjoy.........

this quilt has finally gone to be quilted...............

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

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

Prezzy.........

Gosh I love the mail............I do only get it 2 times a week it I love it.............you never know what may turn up in the mail..........like this Rosalie Quinlan Designs bag pattern..................as I was to busy talking didn't see any of these bags at Girls Day in the Country  my lovely new blog friend Cardygirl sent me this pattern..............now I did tell you about her when she was very new but she has a wonderful blog and does lots of lovely stitching...........she has a beautiful dresdan plate quilt up tonight and I have just ordered a dresdan plate ruler......

.......anyway back to the subject............the pattern is Nellie's Sewing Bag.............looks great so will have to try and fit that one in soon.........(with the mountain of other things I have to make)

Autumn is definitely in the air and last week we had some quite cool weather................I lit the fire for the first time and yesterday I snapped this shot of the crepe myrtle out the front...............they just have the best autumn colours..............

Also signed up for a few swaps............Once Upon a Quilt has a repros nine patch swap (sorry Australia only unless your my best buddy o/s and we work something out)..............only problem I don't have any of the fabrics...........no problems Lurline and Christine are helping me out to get started...........thanks so much girls...............very much appreciated.............

Also signed up for a pincushion swap hosted by Quilt at Home in the Netherlands.............it is an international swap..........

Check out the girls blogs as they both do beautiful work.............

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

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

Redwork Cushion Swap received..........

Finally here we have the pics of what I received in the Redwork Cushion Swap............the wonderful Kris - Life at Rosemary Hill sent me this parcel...........

oh I just love wildflowers and have a big cross stitch I did years ago of a wildflower bouquet...........very similiar flowers in it...........

waratah...........so many different stitches in this work..........

flannel flowers............some wattle....

bottlebrush...........

closer trying to show you the stitches............

and a little more.............

Thanks so much Kris I love it and thanks Maree for organising the swap...............

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

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

Redwork Cushion Swap sent..............

Finally I can show you some secret sewing..............this stitchery was from a country threads mag I think...........just found it one day and knew I had to stitch it...............

"Flutter by the Flower Pots"

totally forgot about a square cushion when stitching this up............so added some red chenille for a bit of texture and to square up the middle..........then it had to have a little blue.........you know me..............

some of the creatures.............

I sent this pillow to Margaret at Cosmos and Chrysanthemums.............hope you liked it Margaret...............thanks heaps to Maree On My Verendah for organising the swap..............

next post I'll show you what I received from Kris

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

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