25 weeks & 2 days but who's counting............

Sadly Cardygirl has made her way home safe and sound and I will have some pics and news from her visit next but the biggest news of the weekend is that

the cows are now home....

last week I ended up with 2 days in the cattle yards............one day sorting cattle out working out what to sell, what to wean and who owns which calves...........the other sorting up for sale etc..........for the truck to pick up.................big days drafting with Mr Chookyblue and FIL.......

the first day was fine..............they were happy enough to plod along at my pace..........I was picking the cattle out for each yard............they were on the gates "blocking" etc................I will not BLOCK anything that wants to get away bad enough...........they can go I say and I will get them out again...............

the second day was different..............they were impatient men and I threaten leaving them to draft on their own several times............we got thru the day...............lots of cows sold and and lots of calves weaned to another property..............

On Saturday morning we were going to get up bright and early and start to bring the remaining cattle home..........but it was looking stormy and we decided to wait...............good thing we did as we got a bit of a storm come thru.............Sunday morning Mr Chooky headed off and started to bring the cows home...........gave them a break along the way then back at it again............we went down for the important part........pushing them along for the last bit......

.....it was very exciting ........NOTE Cardygirl has her working boots thongs on..........

Finally thru the last gate and they are home...............the little calves were pooped but I am sure they don't know what hit them today..........wandering around a big area as they please.............

we got 20mls (80points) of rain on the weekend and everything looks so fresh at the moment..........

We still are very short of rain for the year.............but lets hope it's awhile before I have to go droving again.............and we have made the right decision...........

My Chooky pincushion can now be retired from the car................she has been my constant companion and thread rubbish holder since moving out to the road 6 months ago..............wow 6 months............there has been some good and bad days in all that but it is wonderful to wake up this morning and not have to worry about who's going to the cows.............and if it is me pack a lunch box and sewing and hope the day goes well..............

Thanks for 

putting up with numerous cow posts.............

suffering a lack of sewing on the blog.......

putting up with a lack of posts when I temporarily lost the plot.............

the wonderful supporting comments you have left............

blogging yourselves as it gave me posts to read on my phone which killed the boredom at times.......

funny amusing comment and emails you sent me during the time..........

your friendship............

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I'll leave you with a sunset photo I took on my phone coming home from town the other night..............

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

Chookyblue

Cardy's has gone country.........

Yep Cardy has arrived safe and sound.............checked out the sights of town...........had lunch in town with another friend also........ then out to the farm.........the kids have dragged her around doing their jobs............another girlfriend called in and a bottle of champagne later..............no sewing yet but hopefully we'll get some done tomorrow..........to much chatter happening...........it's going to be a great weekend.........

lined up some cattle work for her tomorrow morning..............he he he...........

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

garden visit and SSCS...........

Some photos from open gardens I went to recently.............started taking lots of pics and forgot to pull my camera out in the last ones..........woops.........
Anyone want a ride............

Do you know the name of this rose???

Pigface flowering amazingly like it can...............

Heaps more photos here.........

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I've received a few emails yesterday with pics of SSCS progress and finished gifts....
.. gorgeous gifts for ???? oh thats right I can't tell you...........
....how are your presents going.........
.....less then  a month to go now........
.......the excitement is building.............

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

Chookyblue

not the usual car problems...........

Found this tree on Thursday............I have been going past it for months at a distance but I was close the other day.............look at all the bumps on it...........cool........

Bookworm was playing games with a new calf when we were putting them in yesterday...........putting his hat on the calf..........

Bookworm headed home on the motor bike and stopped not very far down the road holding these up.....from a distance I thought he had 2 rats..........but it was much better 2 bearded dragons............he caught them on the road together............then he popped them down so we could head home and the ran up onto my car tyres................lol.............

took another 10-15mins to get them off the car...........well one disappeared but this one was very persistent.............

Finally got him off the car tyre and Bookworm let him go and he ran up the 4wheeler tyre................once he took him off here he went over and put him on a tree..........

some flowers I found..........

pretty and the colour came out right in the photo.........

thanks for the comments on my last post........my weekend was spent at the cows..........I did get some hand stitching done.................it was a warm weekend .........there is a reasons why Mr Chooky and I usually split the difference with the kids taking one each.............they were tired and narky yesterday and I had both of them.....But I am on countdown as Cardygirl is coming to visit...........OMG I am so excited..........

.....off to do some cattle work..........supposed to be 32 deg.......hot, dusty and flies.......yuck.....but it will be good tonight once it is done............

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

IIIIIIIIII........

I hate hayfever............

I detest daylight savings.......

I hate google ads.........

I am annoyed by blog feeds that only show the first couple of sentences...........

I am sick of not being at home..........

I wished it would rain more...........

I love my cows BUT...........

I can't wait to pick up my Ruby fabrics today........

I hope we make some money on the plant stall at the fete today.........

I had some great phone calls this week with some blog friends ..........

I love all the excitement of the SSCS (thats why i do it)...........

I wished I had house cleaning fairies......

I love the smell of roses...........

I wished Cardy would come visit........

I am sorry I don't have a photo to share in this post...........

I love posts with photos.........

I hope you have a great weekend..........

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

Ruby Flannels.........

.........I have been waiting for them to come in for quite awhile......finally they are here.........

.......Kerry has cut a shaggy quilt kit for me.........going to have exciting parcel this week............

These fabrics only got into the shop on Friday and Kerry has already cut several quilt kits up already............

Get in quick if you're keen for some Ruby in your house............. 

Catch you later.............. 

Chookyblue

SSCS International postage.......

Everyone should have an email from me last night..............you must reply to it please.........

A few have mentioned postage............so i found an old post and dropped the info here for you.............

Not that postage is happening yet (19th - 25th November) but as people are preparing their parcels I have received a few questions.............hope this helps............. 

If you are posting to Australia this info (here too) may be useful of goods not allowed..........also probably not a good idea to send chocolate to the southern hemisphere at this time of the year as it could be quite hot and melt while under the christmas tree........... 

If you're an Aussie girl posting to another country look at this Australia Post site as they give country specific information..............

 Australian girls you can even calculate how much your parcel with cost to send here

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If there is an issue for your own country leave a comment with the country and problem here and others can then read it.

CUSTOMS DEC's

Also I realise you have to put your name and address on the parcel..................it is only a secret until the parcel arrives but the goodies inside will still be secret.............the ornament is opened when the parcel arrives but the main gift goes under the tree for Christmas day.

Get creative on the custom declaration.

Don't write bag - write what it is made of -  fabric, buttons, pellon, etc...........

not telling any lies but not saying what the gift is.

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

spring has sprung...........

"Cecile Brunner" is flowering beautifully...........love the fragrance...........

the chickens are getting more feathers......................

the lambs are growing............we have 6 at the moment.............see the little one at the front...........that's "Addy" she got mis-mothered at lamb marking............she's doing it tough but I think has finally headed in the right direction.......she went missing the other day and we found her in a big post hole.............

"Circles" the lamb below....(he's been with us for about a month now)............obvious name as "circles is blind and when we got him he had bad eyes and walked around in circles..........now his eyes have cleared up but he is blind.............he'll just hang out in the sheds yard for the rest of his life.............he can walk in sort of straight lines now...........we call out and keep calling and he makes it back to us..............

A better photo of the white calf.........

I went to some open gardens today so hopefully i'll get the camera downloaded soon and share some pics..........

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

Chookyblue

passing on addictions............

At the cows the other day I had a brand new baby........slowly I watched it come to life..........learning to walk........mum licking it to clean it up......having it's first drink........precious

some gum trees at the house flowering..............more photos here.............

I have numerous visitors at the moment............but one of them she doesn't sew but loves to see what I am working on...........well she wanted to have a go at English Paper Piecing  (EPP)........well she did each step and now she has 2 flowers done........talk about get it.........A+ student.....

.......so later last night after lots more talking, stitching etc I finally remembered where had seen precut hexagons we ordered these precut hexagons using Hometown by Sweetwater..........and then this morning look at the post Possum Blossom put up for me..........

Then after chatting to Kerry at Cottage on the Hill she told me she does precut hexagons too so she will be able to assist with the background fabric precuts..........

And my other friend Kerri has some yardage for backing so all is sorted...........

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in regard to the GDITC post before this one Lise is planning a road trip - she's looking for passengers.........want to join her..............Loz is.........imagine the fun you could have...........

I've met Lise before but Loz and I have been talking about meeting up..........it looks like it really is going to happen..............

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hope your weekend is going great mine is.............

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

Chookyblue

GDITC 2012..........

Is it tTtTtoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo early to mention Girls Day in the Country 2012.........(GDITC)

I mean Christmas will be here in no time and then it will be March 24th in a flash.............

Always a wonderful weekend in Nundle catching up with heaps of blog girls (and some of there friends)..........its a bit like a blog reunion/gathering now so many have been going years now.........always a few extras coming and going each year............

took this from Kerry's email........

The Cottage on the Hill

Nundle

Presents our 5^th Annual

Girls Day in the Country

Saturday March 24th

0r Sunday March 25^th

2012

Join us in Nundle for one day with

Talented Guest Tutor

Sue Daley

From “Patchwork with

Busyfingers”

I just got an email from Kerry and I am so excited.........this is why I have got into my EPP.........

So ARE you COMING to GDITC????

Each year I meet some more new wonderful people.......some start new blogs because of the gathering.........like Jen, Cardy, Patricia, Sandy........

Contact Kerry on email here for more details..........or phone 02 6769 3297

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

Chookyblue

Chookyblue's name.........

Dawn was asking about blog names.....................mine is very simple..............

love my chooks (chickens/hens) and love blue..............jammed it together..........sounded okay so that was it..............

I never knew then the repercussions that would have................

all good............so thank goodness I picked something I really liked................

When I am with other bloggers everyone calls me Chookyblue, Chooky or even some Chook...........

sometimes people email me and say sorry I have to call you Chookyblue but I don't know your name...........well I like it so no need to apologise..........it's what everyone calls me.............

Back early in my blogging days I was in a swap and I sent a parcel to Margaret...............she was so happy and that started her bag addiction..............

She makes the most gorgeous gifts..............I was blown away when this parcel arrived as Margaret wasn't sending to me ........the post about the bag is here............

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So in answer to someones question about my blue chook icon.........did my name come from it.........no I used to have a daisy and then I changed it in the last year or 2.............

Margaret designed this bag especially for me............I feel so special..........I carry it everywhere and it always have a stitchery project in it and it always get amazing comments...............it super special..............

I wasn't going to post about my name as last week just disappeared............but as I still see some posts popping up I thought I would do it now............

It has been fun reading why/how you picked your names...............

thinking I might need to get a security guard....... especially when you read posts like these.........

here and here............

So leading on from Dawn's post of whats in your name............a couple of girls said why they started blogging

 BUT........

Why did you start blogging??????

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

campoven dinner.........

Recently I got to catch up with Janice at a mutual friends house for a campoven dinner..........it was lovely to see this bag below...........this was a present from Linda to Janice in the SSCS last year...........the bag is pretty big size which you would not think from this photo......but it is gorgeous..............I went hunting thru my SSCS pics to find this photo...........

HOW IS EVERYONE'S SSCS PARCELS GOING??????????

a little fire........someone threw some copper wire in............pretty blues and greens in the flames then.............but I couldn't capture the blue in any photos.......

beautiful camp ovens for dinner................legs of lamb.........

more campovens with vegies in them...........

The cows are calling again...........I am late..........

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

Chookyblue

bits and pieces..........

This was some of my sewing from Thursday at the cows............

this is a Gail Pan stitchery.....

bit challenging as I only had a black pen (permanent and too dark) with me or white pen (which doesn't show up on white fabric).............so it was lots of creative stitching..........but I think it is pretty much right............ 

this new calf was at the cows............super cute.......resting her hoof on her nose..........

playing with some EPP stuff...........

got some chickens from some friends.............all different varieties.......they breed them......

Last weekend I found an echinda crossing the road in my travels.............

usually they roll themselves up very quickly so I hardly ever get views like this...........

it was heading straight for me............

too spikey to touch................

have a great weekend.............lamb marking here so I am off to the cows............what a great excuse to miss the sheep work...............

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

Chookyblue

Tis the Season...........

Yesterday was a sewing day..............weeks ago I had planned a day with a couple of friends............I knew I had this week off work and it is school holidays so perfect...........no matter what I was going to fit it in somehow..............champagne, yummy lunch, chatter with friends - talk about recharging the mind..........perfect.........

finally we got into some sewing.............

as the deadline was looming I set to work on the Tis the Season..........by Natalie Bird.....

this is my label block.........

quilted in the ditch around the white stitchery blocks.........

preparing the binding..............

The fabrics I used are Robert Kaufman - Sparkle All the Way

finished the binding just before midnight....(deadline 3oth Sept)........had a few of the quilting threads to fix up this morning............So pleased to have this done..........

The Stitch-a-long blog is very busy.................heaps of posts yesterday and today so head over and check it out.............there is also a slide show on the left sidebar where I keep adding finished quilts............

My favourite block...........

Can't wait to hang this one up for Christmas..........

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

Chookyblue

Quilt Airing Cancelled..........

Unfortunatley due to rain Kerry had to cancel the quilt airing..........

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