SSCS ornament ideas........

With less then a month to go til we have SSCS parcels loaded in Santa's sleigh travelling all around the world I thought I would show you what gave me the idea to include an ornament that can be hung on the christmas tree...............

this is a great ornament I got from one of the ladies in the SSCS last year.......even included the year which is wonderful...........

some more.............bells on the bottom....

hearts..........

this one is a Hatched and Patched pattern slightly modified for Fairy Girl to make...........

these ones also included a bag to stash them in when not needed...........

can't wait to see what you have made for your partner...........I have been emailed one present..............very nice..............

over the last few days I have ordered another blog book ($$$$$ good and 20% off helped) and I was looking back thru posts etc and found pics from both the last swaps................such great memories............so many wonderful gifts............check it out if your stuck for ideas..............

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I think the ornament should be wrapped seperately so that it can be opened and placed on the tree as soon as the parcel arrived.................what do you think????

Take Care..............

Elf Chookyblue...........

tripping about................

Finally some more pics from my travels during the holidays............I got to go to quite a few open gardens which I LOVE...........the Southern Highlands is another world compared to the area I live..........

(private open garden)

some flowers....

Red Cow Farm at Suttons Forest open 8 months of the year............I love this garden I have been before - even the family enjoyed it..............definitely worth the trip...........

Views from Illawarra Fly, and Saddleback Mountain lookout also Kiama Blowhole

Another private open garden..........

on the weekend I got to go to Mayfield Garden Oberon...............a very young garden but massive and very impressive.............you need hours to go thru this garden....and good shoes.......it is open again this weekend is anyone is in the area...........definitely worth the trip.............still constructing some of the water areas...........but plans are a world class garden and it is heading there..........and open much more with nursery, cafe, etc............I will definitely be going back to this garden

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

nervous anticipation...........

no sewing time here again.............to many bugs to have a light on of a night..............

here is a few things I found in my travels yesterday.............lots of snakes...............2 dead on the road (no pics of them).........these 2 were on/near the road (4 in total) the hot weather is getting them out and about....

both big brown snakes.........snapped these out the car window............also a pretty tree I found which I though had flowers from a distance but up close they are pods..........and a spiders web...........

it is getting hot 37deg  yesterday...........hot again today..........cooler on Sunday/Monday

some places around the area have feed some don't..........(our place doesn't have very much)

 below is a crop of wheat I saw along the way.............harvest has started for some in the area and for others it is a nervous wait especially since rain is forecast............everyone just wants to get it off the paddocks and into storage...........

here are some of my cows I was checking the other day...........they would like the rain for some green grasses to grow but really we could wait a few weeks until harvest is done..........

Take Care til next time..............

Chookyblue

Sanctuary bag.......

This pattern is the Flea Market Bag - Grand Revival Pattern by Tanya Whelan

Perfect spring bag..........

When I saw this piece of heavier weight fabric from one of my favourite lines Sanctaury by 3 Sisters for Moda I had to buy it and even better it was 1/2 price (and extra wide)................then to decide on a pattern and the lining fabric. Lining is Look and Learn by American Jane for Moda. Went perfectly..........

love this grevillea...........

sometimes you just don't see everything in a photo when you take it until just now I was looking at this photo and found a snail on a leaf...........nice surprise when I was trying to get the hydrangea so I cropped it a bit........

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

How to get your comments emailed to you............

okay a few people emailed me to ask how do they get there emails sent to their email account.............something I just assume everyone knew..........hence don't take everything for granted - you learn something new everyday...........I don't mind sharing these "how to....blog bits" cause every so often people email me and say they used it and thanks for the help...........pleased to be able to help.........

now back to the task at hand........

go into your blog

dashboard

settings

comments tab

scroll down the bottom

comment notification email (has a box beside it)

write your email address in this box

click on save settings

DONE

[if you don't want all your comments going to your business or private email make an account thru gmail, hotmail etc I know gmail has a little program you download and it will notify you each time you get a new email if you stay logged into your account..........it is pretty handy to keep blog emails and other personal emails seperate - makes life easier for me anyway]

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue......... PS I found a lovely new blog.........welcome Thimbelina a very new blogger........and she has a great recipe for Plaited Pesto Bread........ PSS if you want pics (love pics in each post) head here............we are doing a weekly challenge set by the hard task master lovelyLeanne...........she has seriously challenged us this week on reflection........if you want to play along on your own blog let me know so I can come see - the weekly challenges are on the sidebar of snappy friends...........

replying to comments..........

As I was so far behind in my blog reading (still catching up) being a bit of a distance down some commment lists I have seen the blog author replying to comments in the comments list..................

does anyone reply to me in this way and maybe you could tell me why you do it this way (so i understand why)  as once I have left a comment I never go back there again.............do I need to???

when someone leaves a comment on my blog I get an email sent to me.............I simply read the email click reply and reply to the sender - what do you do???? How do you reply??? Do you reply???

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I just saw a blogger saying they were going to reply to comments this way - I just don't understand why - not that it is wrong thing to do but I never go back to peoples comments page once I have left one...........

Does all this make sense????? Am I rambling???? If you reply to me in your comments I would never know..........

Enjoy your Sunday off to garden...........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue......... PS I always reply to comments (well 99% of the time) unless your "no reply")

blue mountains and SSCS update............

first cold stop on holidays was the Blue Mountains.......we went to the Toy and Railway Museum at Leura.......worth a stop such a wonderful collection..........directly opposite is a park with the views below..........this little yellow flower on a shrub at the park..........

woops left to right views...........

spectacular............

would have loved to get down on this little bridge...........

there was an amphitheatre that would be a wonderful place for a special event...........down at the rails is where I  took my pics.............

and as we just can't grow tulips where I live I had to snap these at the Toy Museum garden............lovely garden to wander thru there too..........

SSCS participants............

I sent out an email this afternoon................check your emails as you must reply or I will start to worry........

..........to all the girls who have replied thanks so much............I love all the excitement and planning you are into.........everyone is on track so far.........a few people are finished...........OMG I must get a move on to keep up with those well organised girls.....but it does let me take a sigh of relief...

...don't forget to snap pics (and email to me) of your present before you wrap them for posting off between the 20th-25th November.............

ho ho ho .........Chookyblue............

long time no post...........

sorry for dropping off the planet but we had visitors over the long weekend and had a fab time with them...........lots of sewing and quite easy time....just what I needed................ then we headed down the south coast and had more lovely relaxing time.............it is such a beautiful part of the world and just so different to the area I live in..........green rolling hills and wonderful lookouts are just not words you use to describe my area.............lol..........I was a hop skip and a jump from 2 lovely quilt shops............visited a few more...........went to some beautiful open gardens.........I would go back much more often but the 8 hour trip really takes the toll with 2 kids in the car and dh is very glad we only seriously played "spotto" in our travels yesterday...........and yellow road plant equipment are NOT included although dh tried to create trouble..........lol............(spotto is where you say spotto when you see a yellow car, ute, truck, bus - Fairy Girls game)
Anyway back to the south coast........we didn't take enough warm cloths - lucky I found a coat in the car.......I am so not used to the weather that changes with the blink of an eye...........and the wind was terrible most of the time we were there but we did manage to do and see lots and hopefully I will share some pics soon...........also managed to do some sewing while I was away too............I took my machine first time ever........

but i did think we were going to have internet while there and the connection wouldn't work and there were no internet cafes so it was a net free week...........but now I am even further behind with bloglines cause it has been a few weeks since i cleared them all out 1000+ and I had a pile of emails to sort thru.............but that is nearly done..........

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

new skirt............

Whipping up a few skirts and this one is for fairy girl...........

Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue

Daylight savings - yuck..........

I HATE daylight savings but it is back again.............wished I lived in WA or QLD or the NT those states don't have to change........

Chookyblue : (

FQS BOM blocks 4 & 8 ..........

Having a great time with the visitors...........we went to the dam for a walk and I snapped this photo - part of an old gate..........got my "favourite colour" post done for snappy friends today too..........

Finally got some sewing done..........Tutti has some skirts finished and I made 2 more blocks for the Fat Quarter Shop BOM.............I did such a good job motivating Nancy she got going and never stopped...........got it all done and signed up for the next one and she has them all up to date too.............

anyway she has been trying to re motivate me and I think she gave up but today I sat down - cleared the dust off the machine and got 2 more blocks done...........

Block Eight - "Star Party"

Designed by Bonnie Olaveson

Block 4 - "Double Treats"

Designed by Bunny Hill Designs

I changed the centre block of this one...........it was supposed to be the brown with red spot but I thought it looked too dark.........the red tone on tone looked heaps better...............

3 more blocks to complete.......

Take Care til next time..............

Chookyblue

life...........

Apologies to anyone who has been visiting this blog to see what I am sewing............I looked back thru and I have not posted any sewing since late August..........well the problem is I have sewn about 2 hours since then...........lucky I can entertain you with shopping and photos otherwise you would have left long ago.......... But as life is life and I have been flat out with farm jobs and other things life has swung out of control.............don't drop dead with shock but I may have 5 days home in a row and Tutti Fruiti is packing the sewing machine and if you want us this weekend we will hopefully be having some time in the dining sewing room together.........otherwise you will find us at the motorbike track or the kitchen.......... School holidays start tomorrow love it...........we can do what we want when we want........... If your looking for something to do this Saturday Kerry is having an outdoor quilt airing..........hope the weather is good.........  my fabulous Snappy Friends have a new challenge happening so I will see if I can make the first week..........favourite colour...........check it out.......... .........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........