Nature..............

a terrible landscape can show beauty at times................

Sometimes it's "paradise".............depends on what you focus on...............

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

Chookyblue

Retreat.........

Wow where did the last week go................it was a logistics nightmare.............but I survived and made it to retreat weekend..........just a slight detour to Sydney (unexpected) at the last minute and I am sure I was on "plan y" ........but by the end the kids and the cows were sorted and cared for..........

A very depressing point was the fact I was in Sydney for less then 24hours and they had more rain in that time then what we have had all year and EVERYONE is complaining about it...............not a drop here at home............it may be the wettest start to the year for many places but it probably our worst ever..............

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This is the 8th year i've been to one of Kerry's retreats at Cottage on the Hill............she runs an excellent weekend...........cuts all the fabrics..........cooks the food............nothing is a hassle or a problem.......and you usually come home with a finished quilt top............how can you not have a brilliant weekend...........

friends, food and wine are essential at retreat too........

busy girls............

the first night we were too warm in our cabin and since I was relegated to the top bunk (thanks to my FRIENDS) I was just about melting with the heat...............second night I pulled the mattress down and popped it on the floor......also saved me climbing onto the top bunk which I can assure you IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT........anyway the floor was much better but you should have seen the frost we woke to on Sunday morning...............we definitely needed the heaters on.............

everything was frosty..............but so pretty...........

this is my tumbler quilt.............walked in, saw it, loved it..........Kerry said she had a kit with the same fabrics already so a quick decision made .........and then I realised it was one of my favourite ranges (no wonder I loved it) Antique Rose..by Blackbird Designs.......they have the most gorgeous fabrics.........

(Kerry does have another kit if you interested)............it was pretty quick to come together.............I love it...........the sides are zigzag which is lovely and a little different and it's going to be quilted in the next week.............(not by me Sandy...........lol.........)

then I had been thinking about these Bliss flannels that were being stitched up across the table from me..........

Another tumbler quilt but using the Bliss flannels..........(sideways)

so once i finished my tumbler quilt I started on project 2.................see picture below and add some of the bliss big floral prints and red chenille and project 2 had 2 rows joined by the end of the weekend...........

there isn't much bliss left unfortunately by the time we were finished with it...............

Has anyone seen some bliss flannels anywhere in a shop???? 

The florals or a red and white spot????

another of the quilts..............Rum and Raisin......

...(pretty sure there are kits for this one too email Kerry)

I love it and it has a chocolate chenille wide border all around..........LOVE chenille...........

Kerry has a great range of flannels............I nearly left with some of the gorgeous winter palace flannels that she just got in the shop ..........but I am still thinking i'll be putting in an order for some very soon......they are gorgeous...........

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another friends quilt..........so soft and pretty.........it is huge and she used a beautiful border print..........

she was up to mitering the corners here...........

i've missed a few of the girls quilts............sorry.............

&&&

Still trying to catch up on emails so if you have emailed me in the last week i'll get back to you in the next day or week.............I'm not sure when I have a day home at this stage......the days I am home I am at the cows........life is a whirl wind at the moment.............

Thanks girls for a wonderful weekend.......especially Kerry.........such beautiful company............I am bless to have some very special friends...........see you all next year..........

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

mia..........

i'll see you next week.............

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

at the cows again.............

At the cows again............I know some of you have said where are you, what do you do there............

so I took some pics over the last few days to show you..............

In Australia we have Travelling Stock Routes (TSR) all over the country.............some are more well know then others............some don't really have stock use them these days...............

the Canning Stock Route is a famous one...........

Traditionally they were used to move cattle and sheep around the country side...........by walking them.............also know as "The Long Paddock"...........

Drovers would take stock from one property to another and this may take weeks or months and involve many many kms................Now days they are used more in time of drought when feed is short ...............some mobs of cattle go out on the TSR's to "walk" and they have to travel a certain distance everyday...........other mobs of cattle go out and stay at a reserve (wider area along the road) and move within a shorter distance.............this is what we are doing...........we have an area along the road that we are allowed to use and we pay a fee to have the cattle out on the road...........you have to get a permit to take the cattle on the TSR's.........

You must have signs at either end of the area the cattle are out during the day...............they must be in a fenced "break" (paddock) during the night.....you are supposed to be with the cattle while they are out on the road during the day...........a short time away is ok but they can't be left out all day without someone with them.........

The cattle have the right of way along the road so if you're driving along the road and come across a mob of cattle you have to give way to the cows if they are on the road.............

........we use an electric fence system to keep ours under control of a night..........the electric fence gives them a little zap if they touch it which they hate but it doesn't harm them...............

So why are we out on the road.............well we don't have enough grass for them at home............this is a way for us to give them extra food...........where we have the cows isn't that far from home but it has had some extra rain that we have not had at our property.................this is July and we have only had a little over 3 inchs for the year................our average is 22 inchs............

we still have the sheep at home and we are feeding them grain several times a week.............

So what do we do at the cows each day.............let them out of the "break" which sometimes is quick and easy and other times like today took ages as the cows were not co-operating with me.............so long as they are heading out along the road in the right direction they are allowed then all is well.............

Usually they can do what they want until they hit the boundary and we have to turn them back towards the "break" from mid afternoon it is mustering them slowly back to the break...........

DH has the motorbike with him and can do it quicker but as I don't like to unload and load the 4 wheeler motor bike off the back of the ute I do it on foot...........hunt them along a bit and then walk back to the car drive forward a bit then walk again and keep doing that until we get back to the "break"......the kids are usually pretty good help (except lately when they have been sick).....

.......today like yesterday was FREEZING so I was not liking getting out of the car to move them along..............

So for a fair bit of the day I get to stitch.............sitting in the car watching the cows.........when I first started blogging we were in the middle of a few months out on the road..............it was hot and dusty as it was earlier in the year and we also had to cart water then so I would stitch for an hour or 2 then I would be dusty/dirty/sweaty hands and have to stop..........

Now it is chilly most mornings and I sit in the car most of the day soaking in the warm sun..............sometimes about lunch time Fairy Girl and I have taken the table and chairs and sat out for lunch and some sewing or reading but the last 2 weeks have been too cold for that...............

today I was trying to catch up on the Tis the Season blocks..............please note the progress in a photo below............lol..........

I love my thermos at the moment.............and I have decided I like Earl Grey tea more then plain tea...........I drink it weak black but can nearly have it without sugar..........would be great to drop sugar from my cuppa's

(Can't drink too many as you have to do "bush wee's" and that's when you need to find a good hidey spot and no cars going past.............lol.........really the less you need to go the better.............lol)

See the steam on the windscreen...........it was COLD outside.............

I was tired this morning so I had a "nanna nap" about 10.30 which is so not me but I was tired.............

Fairy Girl is usually pretty good all day but today she was pesky and unsettled all morning not really happy with any activities.....books, Ipod, sewing, eating......but this afternoon she settled down into her sewing...........she is doing so well........

......sometimes neighbours stop as they pass and you get to say hi even if it is only for a few minutes..............

Being sowing time for crops occasionally a farming plant travels past.........

Anyway that's an outline of a day at the cows....

...whats happening at your place???

Take care

Chookyblue.........

Creamy Chicken and Rice.........

Not much happening here with sick kids and cold weather it's just TV and Ipod's etc.................

I cooked this last week and the kids requested it again today............got the recipe from my sister

the slowest part is shredding the chicken.........

Creamy Chicken and Rice

2 cooked chickens shredded (BBQ is fine pull the skin off)

2 x 300ml sour cream

2 x 420g tins cream of chicken soup

Keens Curry powder 1teaps - 1tabsp 

(I only use 1 teasp with the kids but you could add a lot more for your own taste......you can't really taste the curry with 1 teasp)

Bunch fresh chives (dried is fine that's all I have access to)

Throw everything into a big pot and cook (really only heating thru).

While that is heating cook some white rice and serve.

The mix above does us for a couple of meals. The kids love it. It is great in this cold weather.

My sister says it freezes fine but ours never last that long.

Let me know if you give this a whirl......

....it's even better when the BBQ Chickens are on special...........

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

Chookyblue

Breaking news............

GO Aussie's Go Aussies Go Aussies

 "Aussie Diamonds beat New  Zealands Silver Ferns and Farmgirl Stitching has to make a present for Chookyblue....."

(Image from here)

the first 1/4 wasn't so good................it was a nail biting game......extra time..........the stress was ridiculous ....but the Diamonds won in the end..............

i'll email my snail mail to you now Farmgirl............lol..........

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

N e t b a l l world challenge............

The W o r l d N e t b a l l C h a m p i o n s h i p s are on this afternoon/evening......

(photo from here)

.........lucky I saw Nicky's post here........I had a bit of a shot at her about the Rugby losing last night......Reds/Crusaders.....lol.........anyway she emailed back suggesting a small wager on the netball.....

......yOu'Re oN........

......the loser makes a small present for the winner..........

......you better start stitching Nicky the Kiwi's are going down...........LOL..........

........the netball coverage kicks off on about an hour.............I better go do dinner so I can watch the whole telecast...........

No matter what the outcome it should be a good games between the worlds top 2 netball teams............

GO Aussie's Go Aussies Go Aussies

Tomorrow Headline

 "Aussie Diamonds beat New  Zealands Silver Ferns and Farmgirl Stitching has to make a present for Chookyblue....."

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

frosty......

I was reading my blog posts and I subscribe to the Blogger in draft blog........it said there were some changes to the blogger in draft so check it out which I did............it is quite different................I don't mind it but things sure look different..............I can't get into the blog by clicking on new post or design up in the top right corner but I can from the dashboard in the top right corner...........(it usually says dashboard when your signed in but looking at someone elses blog)

Anyway while i'm stuffing around with this I got an SOS phone call from Nic........she went into her blog and she has the new look and did the emergency phone call to me HELP................lol...........anyway I got her back to the plain blogger (not the blogger in draft) and she is right now but I had a lol............

This isn't what i was going to post when I started out this morning........it's very chilly here today...........took me a bit to get the pics off my phone this morning...........maybe it was frozen too...........but it was a big frosty morning here today............

-2.2 which is about as cold as it gets here..............

I love looking at frost................these aren't as clear as they could be as I was using my phone instead of the good camera..................

and as I am doing this post I don't have the slide bar to move up and down the box..............have to use the arrows...........

Have a super Friday.........whats happening at your place????

Finally the sewing machine is calling..............

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

Chookyblue

900 and playing............

More time at the cows means more hands stitching.................
after seeing Janet's post with her fabulous fussy cut hexagons I decided to play with one once i had the others done that you'll see below..........

this is more the true colour and one of the little arrows is the same colour as the centre fabric.........

this is what i was working on with the diamond templates..........I have this one finished and I have 2 more stars minus the cream diamonds..........no idea really what they are to become yet...........

and the tiny baby hexagons - these are for a Marg Low pattern I am working on.............
that's a bobbin in the middle to put it all in size perspective.....

oh and a few posts back I missed it but I have just past 900 posts.........
....OMG where has that gone............
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hope you can find a warm spot if you live in south eastern Australia................it's not to bad here but some places have had some wild weather...........the next few days are going to be pretty cold for my area............

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

Nine patch swap...........

This quilt was finished in May but I have only just got around to posting it.....too much happening here........
......Last year woops the year before 2009 Christine from Once Upon a Quilt held a nine patch swap.......civil war prints........this was what started my love of the fabrics............I didn't really know what they were before this swap............Lurline and another lovely person I can't think of helped me out with the first month of blocks we had to do as I didn't have any fabrics or access to them so she sent me some to get started..................

Christine thanks once again for organising this great swap.............

this is my version once I got the swapped blocks back.............

love it on point..........and the dark chocolate fabric..............

This is a big quilt..........approx 2mx2.2m

Vicki did a great job on the quilting for this one..............

Thanks girls I love it.......

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

Chookyblue

playing with papers.......

I've been out watching the cows for a few days and after a visit to Sue Daley's stand at the craft show I thought right I have to do this.................perfect really for down the road as i'm just sitting there in the car.......NO POWER required...........

anyway I got some big diamonds...........thought it would come together a little quicker then..........not quite so fiddly...........

no idea what I am making them for but I am having fun.................

So today i remember I had a kit using these tiny hexagons...........

excellent idea to play with the big ones first and I felt much more confident today with these little babies............see the bobbin on the right near the scissors.......those sure are tiny hexagons..........

I have one of those steady tables - you know the kind you can put your dinner on to eat on your lap (blue)............well i never do that but my laptop lives on it............anyway it was great sitting on my lap in the car............everything was well balanced.............it has a lip around the edge and little things sit there perfectly............

hope you're ready for the cold weather we are going to get this week..............

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

Chookyblue

out and about in the city...........

While it is always great to go to the city it is great to come home..............on a full time basis I could not cope.............random order but some of the highlights and sites while in the city.............

sunrise over the city

the exhibition centre where we went for the quilt show...........last 3 halls down the end were the quilt show............

city lights..............

Darling Harbour by night............

the kids and Mr Chooky did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon one day.............this is the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.............

looking back towards Circular Quay

Sydney Harbour and the Opera House from the Pylon..............picture perfect day..........

we went to Aquarium at Darling Harbour one day.............they had heaps of statues made from lego/duplo..............pretty big............

I love the aquarium...............

I could watch these jelly fish for hours..............

there are 3 sections with different types of sea creatures in each tank..............you get to walk thru under the water in a glass tunnel.............it was feeding time while we were there too............

the shark tank...............

The big thing that got us to Sydney to start with was tickets for Mary Poppins (timed with the Quilt Show)..............yes we are fans and Fairy Girl and I got to go with a girlfriend and her daughter.............we loved it..............Fairy Girl asked could she go again before we had walked out of the theatre............I wished............

If you can get tickets go.............we loved it.............Matt Lee is fabulous as Bert...........my favourite parts were when they sang SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS...........how they did those actions so fast OMG.............and the chimney sweeps dance scene.........

....its wonderful and magical just like Mary Poppins............
And this wraps up the trip to the big smoke..............we sure packed lots in.............

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

Chookyblue