10 retreats 10 quilts..........

well 6 are finished........and by next year the whole lot will be finished..........

2004 Spinning Pinwheels - Boy Wonder

2005 Princess Mary - Fairy Girl

2006 Greener Pastures - my summer quilt

(sorry need to take a good pic of this one).........obviously it's the green one on the left hanging over the table.............

2007 Butter Scotch Pie - to be finished

2008 Le Jardin - Little Chicken

2009 Champagne and Chocolates - No 1 brother

2010 Churn Dash Quilt - to be finished

2011 Tumbler Quilt - special girlfriend 

2012 still to be named and finished - all the blocks are done

Pattern is Hanky Panky by Abbey Lane using fabric range "Hello Lucious" by Basic Grey

2013 

working on it again tonight Rising Star is on the design wall a work in progress.............if I can do 10 mins each day it will keep progressing forward.....each star block is about 26 inches so BIG............

Pattern available here with kits available here........

Kerry runs the best retreat weekend............thanks Kerry...........

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

Retreat time.............

The weekend wrap.....

I do enjoy lookouts and they are something I don't get a chance to go to very often.....

gorgeous............

yummy dinners with friends.....

Nundle in July is sure to bring a frost and it was huge and a freezing cold night..........

Arriving at Kerry's on Saturday morning my pile of fabrics cut ready to start sewing...............

a little bit of cutting I did myself.............

love this pattern and the blocks are big.............another Angels with Ease book pattern.....but more on this later........

Fairy Floss making decisions on placement of blocks..........

Two of the girls did this quilt..........Riley Blake fabrics (kit details)......

Our Super fast finisher got this one done and started another............

Miss J having a go at dresdan plates...........and I have missed a pic of Anita Riley's Rambles and her quilt but she had another colour choice............you can see the whole pattern it's called Calico Crossroads here

I've missed a couple of quilts..........Googy Girl was working on triangles all weekend and probably cursing me that she liked my quilt but it will be beautiful when she is done..........she is copying one of my quilts that I also love Trianlges Galore.........And another new friend Robyn was working on a batik quilt and I missed a pic but it is coming together well and looks lovely..............

Below a huge quilt by Bird on the Border......not sure of the pattern name.....

All these quilts are available in kits you just need to email or phone Kerry @ Cottage on the Hill and she can help you out.......

&&&&&

The girls gate crashed the retreat and it was great to catch up with them, you can see more on their blog "The Adventures of Peg and Dale".......have you checked it out lately............they have been busy with lots of different things.....you would be amazed......

We always enjoy drinks and nibbles........don't worry "the chicks" didn't have any alcohol.........

We all got some Chilli Jam thanks to Mr Bird on the Border......love it (you can see  it with one of the cheeses on the right)

frost on one of the cars........so "cool" close up all the shapes it makes.......

Anyway another wonderful weekend in Nundle......thanks to the wonderful girls I got to spend the weekend with.......the lovely food Kerry prepared for morning/arvo teas and lunches.......

Catch you later

Chookyblue

So predictable......

Catch you later
Chookyblue

off on retreat.............

OMG I am so excited......the sewing machine and supplies are packed........the clothes are sort of packed............won't take long...........Off to Cottage on the Hill for my annual retreat..........pick out a quilt to make...........Kerry does ALLLLLLL the CUTTING...........all I have to do is sew, eat, chat, enjoy nibbles, dinner and drinks with the girls.........hope you have a great weekend planned too...........

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

mag review......

So what do you think of the new look homespun???

It's been out for a few months now....

it's a nice fresh look and a bit of a change around is great.............

love that they have the month/year clearly on the mag........

BUT

i'm not liking the paper pages..............I do love the glossy mag look that they had..........

But if I have to choose between mags and only buy one this one gets the flick......

It would have to have a very good project in it that I wanted to do........

So am I fussy??? Is it just me??? 

Do you like the old glossy pages or the new look......

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

Blog buddies "c" list...........

Again mostly Aussie bloggers..........here is the link to the previous posts..............

Cabbage Quilts Cathy likes working with bright fabrics.....I love visiting to see what she's working on.........
Calico Crossroads one day I will make it to Paulines shop..........this is a shop blog....
Cardygirl another great friend  - Cardy has a bit of hand piecing, Kaffe brightness, lifes happenings......she moved house and downsized so she's only just finding her sewing mojo again..........

Caro's Blog been following this Dutch blog for many years not..........Caroline shares a bit of life and sewing.....
Carolyn's Quilting World a shop and designer specialising in reproduction fabrics.....
Cascade Lily she's been quiter since she went back to fulltime work but I have followed her for many years......
Cattle Kids & Chaos running a farm and family...........
Cheryl's Stitchings always enjoy seeing what Cheryl is stitching.............
Chez Princess Nounouche Living in France -  Flo's blog is written in French and English....huge effort.....I think we met thru the SAL blog....
Chickadee County Cottage Craft's a Canadian blogger.....she works on various crafts......
Cinderberry Stitches An Aussie designer......fabric and patterns.....great projects......she's just released a book....
Club Quilt a quilt group....always got something to show - a quick post to read.......
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman Rees blog is a fun to read...........a she cooks takes great pics lives on a ranch and writes cooking books..........i've been reading her blog for years...........
Cottage on the Hill one of my great friends.....Kerry regularly has retreat groups vising her shop on her farm......she's also part of an online friendship group....the hostest of GDITC......
Country Wishes Kylie is in a friendship group with me too......enjoy seeing what she's working on..........
Craftlady in Kiwiland I love to pop in and see what Clare's making.............
Cubby House Crafts working in soft fabrics Lisa has pretty things to look at all the time........she's designed some gorgeous stitchery projects for Homespun too....

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

I will get these triangles right ....................

I will get these triangles right......I will get these triangles right.......I will get these triangles right.........I will get these triangles right......I will get these triangles right......I will get these triangles right....I will get these triangles right......I will get these triangles right........I will get these triangles right.........I will get these triangles right......I will get these triangles right.......I will get these triangles right.....I will get these triangles right.........I will get these triangles right....I will get these triangles right.........I will get these triangles right..........  

3rd time lucky........Thanks Heather...(she must think I am a complete idiot along with the rest of you).....I have moved the ruler slightly to the right so you can see the dotted line that is what I am supposed to line up with...........

 The rectangle cuts as they finally should be.........fortunately I had only cut one set  (the second wrong way) and I have plenty of fabric............

 

We went for a drive today to the movies...............it's the only thing Fairy Girl really wanted to do in the holidays so today was the day............a fun kids movie.........poor child hasn't been to the movies much because she sat in the seats and said I feel like I should put my seatbelt on.....lol.......

Oh and have worked out how to get the reverse stitching done on my quilt..............an itunes gift voucher and Fairy girl.........fair payment I would say as I would throw the quilt in a corner or leave it hanging on the wall and not get it finished...........she has unpicked 2 of 9 rows.....so I will start constructing from the bottom..............

thinking of a name for my quilt.............Cosmo maybe turn into "Omsoc" (reverse)

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

the good and the bad.............

so lets start with the bad.......I need to do some reverse stitching.....

see the pic below..............I missed part of the cutting directions because when I cut half triangles from rectangles I do it like the right side of the pic.............what I needed to do was the left side of the pic...............
edit: yep that was wrong too see my next post

wouldn't think it would make so much difference but look below....the correct one is on top.....

quite a different shape..........

 it means this pic would then look straight across the top (sorry pic on side) instead of weird angles that look like they need to be trimmed.............

What I should have done is email Heather and ask 2 days ago instead of last night.........

my mistake not hers but she helped me work out where I had gone wrong..........

But the good news is I now have a new laptop.............my connection to the world we share.......so life online will get back to normal doing everything the way I normally do it...........and I can open all my own files and pics etc.......all my logins work...........LOVE IT........and now I even managed to get the printer working wireless which I could never get going before................

 Yummy Sausages for dinner in the slow cooker.............my recipe here

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

Cosmo progress........

4 (2x2) rows together..........another 5 to go....

.....it's a slow process adding all the strips in between....and I hadn't added all the centres squares so doing some of those as I go too.............

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

Cosmo quilt.........

Now remember this pic........well it's the book and ruler I have been working with making the quilt on the front cover........."Cosmo" by Anka's Treasures

Sandy and I have been working on this quilt for the last few days........well the truth is she found out I finally had started cutting and temptation was too great she had to get going too........but she has caught up and got ahead of me I think............

cutting the blocks.......... 

Piecing.......... 

 

2 triangle units joined together..............

 star backgrounds.....trimming i think........
EDIT should not look like below.......should be straight.......across

this was my progress last night.............i've got some more centres in the stars and worked others out and removed the 2nd block down on the right - it's bugging me........ I like the fabrics but they just weren't working in the quilt..........

Had some soup for lunch at 2pm and back out to the chookshed.......trying to get a row or 2 pieced........

Check out Sandy's @ Shiralee's Stitches progress (completely different colourway) and yes Sandy I am impressed you were able to follow our instructions to do a post from your phone........that should fix the blog silence............

Also is anyone else working on any quilts from this book...........

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

play days........

I really am lost with the days - with the quick trip away on odd travelling days for me and not being at work and no school........

After kidnapping Jenny we got to have lots of sewing time together in the chookshed.........

I started cutting into fabrics for my new book and ruler  - ive been bursting to have a go

i'll show you more next post..............

I just started pulling out fabrics from a box of fat 1/4's i've had for ages years..........just fat 1/4's I have brought along the way........

 the boys brought the rams into the small paddock behind the house to trim it down..........they are doing a great job...........this is a few of them thru the window...........

Jenny started playing with my Lil Twister..........she's making a table runner..........the blues and greens look nicer then in this pic..........

cutting out.............

 putting it back together...........

 I started my July SAL project..........

 Fairy Girl finished her scrap/selvedge bag..........she just kept joining bits and pieces.......

Jenny got her Sal bag finished..........a little bigger then the pattern......... 

Once Fairy Girl finished her bag she was allowed to start something else..........

Some charm squares Kerry sent her awhile ago........she almost has the rows together.....she's going pretty well with this one.............and on the right she is starting a jelly roll race with a jelly roll Jean gave her.......... she joined all the lengths and then had to reverse sew a lot of them.............she needs more practise and now knows why you have to sew on the pencil line very well........

All in all things are going pretty well............loving the school holidays.................

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