new blogger and thanks.........

Welcome to Too Many Eggs in the Basket another new blogger I have not told you about yet.........

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Totally unrelated but I do like pics in my posts

The lizard above was sitting at my back door last month and I forgot to show you...........he puffed himeself right up when I went to step out the door........

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Also thanks if you have subscribed to read my posts by email. Most appreciated.

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Follow by email...........

this post is for blog readers and bloggers.............

first up for the lukers / blog readers / quiet dedicated followers

this would suit people who just open a blog to see what has been posted......

.......if you use google reader that is better but for those who don't I have a solution............

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This week I discovered that blogger has a new feature.

if you want to follow all my posts you can sign up with your email address on the top left side of my sidebar

see the box "follow by email" click in it and type in your email address - click submit. 

You will get an email to verify the subscription in your email account.

Once you have done that once a day you will get an email of any new posts I have put up...........it looks just like the middle section of the blog your reading right now (with the writing and pics)................

I added it to my other blogs too..........SAL and Snappy Friends

i have been testing it out this week and it works well. 

A couple of people have already found the box too.............thankyou.......

Now for bloggers..................

Sign into your blog

From the dashboard

Choose the "design tab"

"Add a gadget"

A box pops up

Choose "follow by email"

Click on the "blue plus box" then "save"

Another box will pop up and details should automatically be put into the

boxes

"SAVE"

hope this helps..................i'll add it to the "how to..............blog bits" on the left sidebar..............

I like how this is private and not a "competition" about how many "followers" people have...............
As i have said before.......

I would prefer to only have 10 people who really read my blog then 1000 people "follow" and not really read my blog......only there for a giveaway or freebies...............

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

Chookyblue

secrets..........

One of my travelling buddies sent me these 2 pics..............

you may have seen pics of pretty organised tables to start with with our lovely mugs and kits bags.............

what a mess below.........this is after lunch.........

and here is the secret................lucky you can't see what Anni has on her lap..............we were lucky to get some peaks at things Anni has coming out in the next few months.............shhhhh can't tell you anything..............but it is very exciting..............lots of "oooohhs and aaarrrhhh's"............."that beautiful"............."oh I love that"..............."how cute".............

that brings me to the end of GDITC 2011.......

......I have to get some photos taken of my garden's Journal to share with you all.............it's been a big week............

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

Chookyblue

GDITC shopping...........

Anni had some new patterns available...........I love this bag.........

No Place Like Home Bag

Sewing Angel Tool Store

love this stamp..........Kerry just organises the day lovely for all the girls attending...............also assisting with accommodation and meal bookings etc............huge effort and most appreciated...............

her band of merry workers thanks too - Shazza, Vicki, Nic, Bec, Sarah, Betty and Mary?

just a few fabrics..............gorgeous

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

GDITC - lots of eating and socialising...........

there is lots of time to sit and chat...................

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

Chookyblue

GDITC swaps and projects..............

you all know I can't sum up Girls Day in the Country in one post.....................

this year at we had a swap on the day...........Since Anni Downs Hatched and Patched was our tutor we did an Anni swap

brief - one of Anni's designs no bigger the 6x6inchs place into a brown paper bag.

I choose to make Christmas Stamp Pockets

I collected all the parcels for Kerry then she called up table numbers and the girls who had swaps went up and she passed out a paper bag..............I was so excited when I got Sandy's parcel............

look at this gorgeous little purse she made for me..........just perfect..........I love it..........

love the little zipper fob...........(tag attached in the way too sorry)

then we took all the gifts outside for a group photo............so many wonderful projects..........

so what did I make on the day..............well well well............

I am so pleased to say I finished a project on the day ............

Anni did a gorgeous job designing a great ******** Chatelaine (thanks Cardy) (scissor fob, pincushion, needle keeper, scissor keeper thingy all tied together) If only I could spell it I would tell you what it was called............but I love it....

anyway I was taken by the scissor fob so after I traced the whole big stitchery project i traced one of the little pics and stitched it up............as this was a bonus project we didn't have the ribbon so i got permission to steal some tape off the morning tea baskets................and found a piece of calico to stuff it with chopping small pieces up and rolling into balls.................anyway I managed to get it stuff and stitched closed............Anni then showed me how to do the criss cross edging.............it looks great........the girls on my table were quiet rude cheeky about my lack of achievements on the day but I WAS the only one who finished a project on our table...............pretty good effort don't you think................

I mean I was busy gas bagging, chatting, networking.....oh and snapping pics etc........

lets not mention the fact it is about 1.5 square

since I had the stitchery traced I started stitching it Sunday morning in bed when i woke up early.............

I stitched her wings too.............

Here are the projects..............

Peaceful Garden

the thing I can't spell..............so very cute.............

Here is the Bits and Pieces Purse.............

front and back..............I saw some great purses in progress.........and some finished....

oh and to the lurkers "quiet dedicated followers" I have heard from 2 of you.............

here is another blog link too........

Bird on the Border........it's always great to welcome another new blogger............and I found this blog too............One for a Wish............

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

Chookyblue

GDITC.........I'm exhausted..........

all the blog links in no particular order............

 Itching for Stitching      Thimbelina

 Country Wishes      Cardygirl

This Old Aunt Quilts       Cottage on the Hill

Oh Sew Busy       Dragonfly Crafts

Calico Crossroads       Happy in Quilting

Gaizies Blog       Day Day's Blog

Creative Disorganization      Riley's Rambles

 Heavens to Bettsy       Bliss in the Burbs

 Sunny Corner Farm       Jannimary

Sew Suzie Sew       Shiralee Stitches

Anni Hatched and Patched

also pictured is our 2 new bloggers who's links I will links I will include very soon.............

missing  - Angels Come to Play 

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All the girls with their Gardener's Journals - missing one but her blocks are hanging on the fence below........

fantastic to have Anni herself in the photo with us..............there will be more on this on the SAL blog once I can get a post organised..............

all the quilts hanging on the fence looked great.........

I am home safe......totally exhausted but so many happy memories of another wonderful Girls Day in the Country............

Hi :-) to the lurkers I met...............Jenny and Gail, Di, Josie, Alison and Trish, Jenny, and the really sneeky Sheryl..........you all know who you are........lol..........hope you email me.............

Thanks bloggy friends are the best..............

Chookyblue
PS thanks for all the comments on my last 2 posts ..............i'll call it quits and start replying again on comments on this post............

Waiting

Just heading into the hall
Chookyblue

Gj and friends..........

Got up at 5.00am and the power went off within 5 mins of me being up for 1 hour so

now I am way behind...........it's still pitch dark..........

here are some pics of the GJ Bec has done an amazing job...........I love it.............more pics later

off to spend time with some of the girls in these pics.............many old faces and some new ones...............

Girls Day in the Country here I come................

2008, 2009, 2010..................2011 will be here in a few days

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

Chookyblue
PS just finishing my swap gift for GDITC..............

Doll Quilt Swap received........are we twins..........

Wow what a great mail today................I got my quilt from Maree in the Doll Quilt Swap.................

are we twins or not............actually it is quite weird with us girls..............so many times we do/say things the same it is scary..............in a good way..............

remember my quilt in the last post..............yep nine patch set on point.............I cracked up when I opened the parcel..............wondering how Maree kept it together and quiet once she had opened the parcel from me knowing we had both made pretty much the same quilt................

Maree's hand quilting is much better then mine...........you can't quite see here but the cross hatching is all over the quilt............it just doesn't show in the pic on the middle.............

I am stoked and I love it............

Better pack it in with the show and tell for Girls Day in the Country..................only a bit more binding to do on the Gardener's Journal...........but it is just too warm and steamy here tonight to have a quilt on my lap...........

Oh and I had some other things to keep me busy I helped a couple of girls get started with blogs................

you all know how exciting it is once you get a comment .....

........head over and give them a welcome and introduce yourself...........

Shiralee Stitchings and Emma's Stitching............

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

Chookyblue

Doll Quilt Swap sent...........

Finally I can share one of my secrets..................

Christine very kindly hosted a Doll Quilt swap...
........this is round 1........

I had Maree Farmyard Crafts as my partner...................

It measures 12.5x16inchs finished........

.........I used Beach House as I know Maree has a quilt for her room in Beach House

I had a go at hand quilting...............never done it before - it's ok but I think I seriously need some lessons in hand quilting...............

only a simple 9patch but since it is my first doll quilt I wanted to keep it simple and be able to finish it............interesting trying to work out the setting triangles............anyone know how to work them out easy...............i found a site and it was all a bit too big even thought I followed the directions they gave for floating the blocks...........

Thanks Christine..............looking forward to round 2............

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

Chookyblue

Site feeds......what are they..........

I was setting up a blog for a lady on the weekend and going thru the tabs was reminded of this so thought I would do another "How to.........blog bits" and add this to the sidebar............So what are they.................some of you will know others will have no idea what I am talking about.................

site feeds allow what goes out to things like RSS feeds, google reader, bloglines etc............

you set up what you want to follow and the feed programs search for all the updates.

eg you follow a blog - they are what updates you that they have a new post in google reader............

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this also helps out when reading blogs in google reader and you have scrolled down threw lots of posts and you get to the bottom of a post and go woops who was that and have to scroll back to the top to find out who's post it was as lots of people don't sign a name at the end of their posts

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you can control what feeds go out.

I don't like blogs that only allow a few lines of the post to be sent out................tend to stop following those blogs................sometimes I don't realise they have a short feed and really I don't have time to go read extra opening another website.............yes great if I want to comment but usually doesn't give me enough to know I want to leave a comment.............

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so how do you do it...............I have a pic below to help......

from the dashboard 

go to settings

site feed

allow blog feeds - full (must be full to allow the next box to show)

post feed footer -write your name here and/or your blog address

copy and paste your address if you tend to stuff it up............

SAVE SETTINGS

unfortunately the post feed footer is where some people add those annoying google ads too...........gosh I hate google ads.............if I wanted adds I would go find ad sites.............

anyway hope this helps or explains something............

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

Chookyblue

PS don't ask me about the post feed redirect URL as I don't use feedburner............

SAL books..........

ADDED 01-10-11

Some Kind of Wonderful by Anni Downs

Anni's shop has the book............other wise google the name and I am sure you will find other stockist around the world.

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Sorry girls I just realised this blog has been very boring and not showing you much at all the last week or 2............esp the last 2 posts.............hints but nothing for you to see..............

BUT I promise that will change soon.................

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In the mean time I am still getting emails of where you can buy the SAL books...............

Sharon in the USA emailed me and she has ordered some more books in - they should be there very soon but you can order them now.............

in Australia Natalie's shop here .............

there are heaps of others in Australia too but I am not going to mention them all here..............

If you haven't been to the Stitch-a-long blog well check it out.........

....the girls have been very busy posting lots of motivation..................

And I am still regularly getting emails where to source A Gardener's Journal

Anni's book is available here...............

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off to do some more secret stitching.............

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

Secrets.........

One swap down 3 to go.............

this is all I can show you for the Doll Quilt Swap organised by Christine Once Upon a Quilt

It is a direct swap and we know who we are matched with.............if I show any more it will give too much away

you have to wait until Maree receives it in the mail next week................

sorry nothing to share there are just too many secret projects happening here.............

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

Chookyblue

Binding.......

Lots of binding to do now......
Chookyblue

Testing......

Trying to post from my mobile

OK so I got it to post from my mobile............any tips I couldn't get it to write in the text box until I went to edit HTML tab above the box we write the post in................

Then was trying to add a pic but couldn't get that to work either...............

Any advice welcome............quite scary me and a new android mobile...............the touch screen is taking a bit of getting used too............

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

lots but nothing...........

Bits and pieces happening here..............helping some sewing friends..............sorry can't share pics............

and anything else I am working on is TOP SECRET SWAP BUSINESS.......

......yep I am boring hence why you get a sunrise..........

BUT this time in 2 weeks I will catching up with heaps of blog friends and some non blog friends at Girls Day in the Country (GDITC)..............I can wait...............this is the 4th year and I am just as excited as what I was the first time we all met up there........................anyone else going?????

It is great to get away with wonderful sewing friends..........

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

Chookyblue
PS I ordered my 2010 blog book today...............had it prepared back in January but was waiting for a discount deal and it came thru this week so if you want to print a blog book and you haven't done one before i can highly recommend it............let me know if you want the email with the printing deal code..........

Tis the Season SAL starts today............

The SAL is full and it stats today.............have my first block prepared...........even stitched the first word.............

First day of autumn today..............summer went out with a bang yesterday and a 40plus day......

......someone forgot to tell the weather gods that today is autumn and it should be nice and cool.......

........we have 38degC forecast for today..................pleased can I have some COOOOOOOL autumn weather............I know down south it has been cool........think Tasmania even had some snow on higher parts.........

....we have only had a 3 or 4 days under 30deg since Christmas............

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

Chookyblue