Caring with Quilts - first 5 quilts.........

OMG how exciting.............I have the first 5 quilts..........4 from Dale and 1 from Peg (she's working on another one at the moment)

I've had a very positive response to my post............and picking up these quilts it starts the reality that this will happen thanks to you.............

I am patient.............I will collect quilts over the next month or two..........a few girls have contacted me internationally too......THANKYOU..........Get your sewing group together and whip one up...........I can flick out a flyer if someone wants to take it into a quilt shop and ask to put it up..............

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thanks to everyone who has reposted my previous post or posted the pic and links......

.......please continue to spread the word............

I can't begin to imagine losing everything  - everything a pile of ash............ 

Remember leave a comment here or email me............

or drop quilts to 

Anni @ The Home Patch Bathurst 

Kerry @ Cottage on the Hill Nundle

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Patrizia if you are reading could you please contact me again with your email address...........your comment was no reply and your profile is private............I would love your quilt but I can't contact you...........

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Such devastation too with all the flooding......I would have happily taken some of the rain from them but really we have received as good as nothing.....so the stock feeding will continue.....the fire areas received good rain...........

.....mother nature sure is extreme in Australia in summer especially...........

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

Chookyblue

Caring with Quilts on Australia Day.......

Australia Day is all about being Australian and to me being Australian is helping your mates (friends) out when they need it so I think today is the day to get my plan together and ask for your assistance. 

I have been thinking about this all week..............what could I do...........how could I do it............could I do it..........well then here we go there is no stopping now................

The Wambelong Fire in the Warrumbungles Shire 

 to date 

56,000ha has been burnt out

53 homes destroyed

120 shed/out buildings

unknown livestock, machinery, fences etc

The fire is still being controlled today nearly 2 weeks since it started..........

So how can you help.............

If you have a completed quilt that you would like to donate to the people who have been affected by the fires in Warrumbungles Shire could you please leave a comment on this post so I can contact you.

I have been in contact with a couple of friends and we have 7 quilts between us now..............

I am unsure of the ages of the people affected but I did see a mixture of ages when I spent a day at the recovery centre............

What you can send me..............

a completed/bound quilt with a label and a letter/postcard from you with your contact details so if the recipient wants to contact you they can

(Unfortunately I can NOT take blocks etc to put quilts together as i don't have the time, skills or resources available to do this)

The quilts will be distributed via the 

Baradine CWA - Country Women's Association 

Quilts can also be dropped off to 

Kerry @ Cottage on the Hill Nundle

Anni @ The Home Patch Bathurst

If you are unable to send a quilt but would like to assist people affect by the fires you can make a donation to Blazeaid.

Blazeaid assists farmers to rebuild their fences after fires and was formed after the 2009 fires in Victoria.

 The organisation  operates with volunteers offering time to go and work with the teams in the areas rebuilding fences. 

They have a donations wish list page and also a page about volunteering with them. 

All donations no matter how small add up and will benefit farmers in the areas they have set up base camps at the moment. 

Coonabarabran's Blazeaid camp is being set up as I type...........

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I do hope you can help..........

please spread the word........

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

Santa Bag for James..........

Well I didn't get the 32 they forecast last Sunday..........it went to 35..............it's been around the 35-37 all week............with a bit more humidity is hasn't been so nice..........so I am still dreaming about a nice cool day............

It's been a big week work wise with some longer days...............another night of thunder storms and 3 fires from lightning that got put out while the boys were on the way to them from some rain.............unfortunately we only got 2 mls of rain.............again others got random bigger falls.......

some how in the last day or so I have gained a poor neglected calf and a lone lamb.........lucky me..............I will get you some pics soon..........

had some cattle stuck in a muddy dam - the boys have now fenced it off............

crazy amounts of rain falling up the Queensland coast.............we don't want it all but some would be nice..........

Haven't had a chance to get to the chook shed yet.............

this is a Santa bag I made before Christmas..........

Note to self.......think about the size of the writing before you draw it and cut it out in material............

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

Chookyblue

the difference of an afternoon..........

32deg C forecast for today.........music to my ears.......we have only had one day under 32 in the last 6 weeks.......

and this week the rest of the forecast is 35-37............this is going to be soooo nice..........

we had got 3 mls Friday night with the lightning fires the boys got home about midnight and since they had gone out before we had dinner I cooked up some dinner at midnight..........don't think I have ever done that..........we had to leave people at the fire until yesterday at lunch time when the lightning started again and then but we had some more rain with the lightning so no more fires right here..........lucky as the lightning was coming straight down.........the afternoon cooled a bit and we just had a fan on instead of the air con...........and last night we got to sleep without any fans or air con..............oh so nice........the rain people have had is so patchy............there was a little bit of rain on the big fire too so slowed things down there too..........thankfully............it was so nice to relax yesterday afternoon............lets hope we get more rain this week..........and no lightning.............might even make it to the chook shed again.......that would be nice...............

the best news is the chook shed is dust and smoke proof............unlike the house where everything feels gritty from the dust...........ok i'm going to enjoy the morning and get some of the dust cleaned up around the place..............try and get some order into this house............

the boys are off to feed sheep and do some repairs around the farm.........

I still have all my christmas presents I made to show you and other random posts to share but it will happen.............have a great Sunday.............

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

more fire pics...........

Some photos Mr Chookyblue took while over at the Wambelong fire........

He came back thru the Warrumbungles on the way home. The road is still closed but in the fire truck they went went thru.

Siding Springs Observatory on the hill......

these are just pics he snapped as they were driving thru........

White Gum Lookout........

Heading down the hill into the park...........

The "Woolshed"

These pics are the mountains on Thursday night..........

Exmouth is on the left edge........

From Bullaway to Red Spire

This one is for Leanne............while I was using the tripod and time delay I snapped this one of the moon.............but weirdly it has 2 moons.......the top one is the correct one...........

some kind of reflection thing happening................

Thunder storms last night that weren't forecast but some big lighting was going straight down.......

...2 fires at 2 neighbours almost at the same time..............things were a bit stressful for a bit..........one out another one still burning logs and a few trees bit contained....

.....only 3 mls of rain but none at either fire spot..............

Thunder storms forecast for the next 5 days..............

thanks for your comments etc..........I just don't have the time to reply at the moment but they are appreciated..............

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

Chookyblue

mother nature..........

Mother nature...........the week so far............dust storms, fires, sunsets and sunrises

Sunday afternoon on my back step.........smoke cloud........

out in the paddocks.......dust got thicker then this......

cool sky with the dust bank below...........

heading towards the fires.............

had no idea that at this time the fire had travelled 20km to the east and turned to the north with a massive fire front...........

reports are these clouds went into the sky 14kms...........

Monday sunrise

Monday evening

Tuesday evening.........

cool clouds...........

For Leanne...............sunset reflection.....if you look close you can see the moon at the top and bottom of the pic..........it's only tiny.......

Wednesday morning..........

sun just peeking over the mountains............

Thursday afternoon on sunset......

Thursday night............Exmouth on fire in the middle

Thursday night......

Thursday afternoon.............same dam back up 6-7 photos

Friday early afternoon...........

Exmouth in the middle...........

was pretty still at this time............

Burning up Bullaway............

nearly 47,000ha burnt now..........

51 house, 110 shed etc, livestock? machinery?

I know one friend has lost at least 1400ha and it's still burning there...........so many people have been working on this all week..............stinker yesterday 40degC they have forecast 41 for today...........

it's been a very warm night.............32degC when I got up at 4am........ok better go back to bed..........

I took some more pics last night but have not downloaded the camera yet.............

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

Chookyblue

squishy mail...........

Wow after a tiring few days and being told off by a collegue at work for no reason I was had it when I got home and pulled in to get the mail from the box and there were two parcels in the mail.............

not expecting anything I headed in and opened them up............two of my best buddies had sent me things..........it brought a smile back to my face for sure and quick phone calls to them to say thanks...........

Peg sent me a diary............Mr Chooky gave her some cheek telling her it was a little light to put in the work ute with him.............lol...........thanks so much Peg...........it will be put to work very soon..........

the next parcel was from Kerry...............look at all these gorgeous reproduction fabrics............

all from a collection she just got in  the shop - Paula Barnes Marcus fabrics...............

Kerry just knew I would love them...........and she is so right..........

some of these will be going into my foundation paper piecing quilt..............

thanks everyone for all your comment - they are very much appreciated..........

things have settled for a bit on some sides of the fire and causing trouble on other fronts..........

the next couple of days will be of major concern with the heat hitting 40+again.............

I have taken lots of photos while I have been on my heat break...........no real sewing but random farm things and quite a few sunsets/sunrises..............just doing some cleaning from the dust storm we got Sunday afternoon when the fire took off.............Mon and Tues we had a bit of a reprieve from the heat on 34 and 35degC........much better then 46.7 which I think is a record for us.............

i'll try and get some photos organised soon.............

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

Chookyblue

fire map...........

this is the map of what has burnt from Satelitte.........the arrow points to yesterday............on the right is todays pass............massive area burnt on the right side.............

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

update........

Fire really bad..........28 homes lost..........40 sheds etc..........plus machinery, stock, amounts unknown at this stage.......40,000ha at least burnt out..........100km perimeter..........

STILL OUT OF CONTROL..........

thanks for your concern.........

the wind and the temps yesterday were horrendous..........up to 46 degC and wind in the afternoon 60km-80km per hour.........worst fire conditons possible.........

today is going to about 37 deg..........bit breezy but not the wind like yesterday...........

lots of worrying for family and friends.......

this is a long way from over...........

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

worried..........

I have lots of friends and family in the path of a terrible fire and with a wind swing it could be me................please let the wind stop..................
EDIT 4am the wind has dropped but there is not enough detail about where the fire has burnt at the moment..........

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

Heat break.......

Either way you look at it the 2 forecasts below from different sites it just mean it is going to be crap weather...........

And I know others are hotter..........So when the weather breaks I will return............

Sunny		Sunny		Sunny		Sunny		Sunny		Mostly sunny		Mostly sunny
Maximum	41°C		39°C		40°C		40°C		40°C		42°C		44°C
Minimum	23°C		22°C		22°C		25°C		17°C		21°C		26°C

When we get this weather everything struggles.....life is sucked out of everything including me..........things are looking terrible in the garden..........think I will lose some plants and some of the lawn is crispy fried...........the weather has been so dry for so long now.........things are giving up.........the poor stock are trying to find what ever shade they can all day............we haven't had a summer like this for awhile so with no end in sight at the moment i'll take a break...........when it cools down or rains i'll return............. 

dams which are getting low in water need to be checked for sheep stuck in mud........

also back to work too..........

try and stay cool..........

	--	22.3	21.8	25.3	16.5	20.1	23.8	25.4	22.7
	41.5	38.7	40.6	39.1	39.9	42.5	41.5	43.2	38.0

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