Beautiful.....

Chookyblue...

Front of a dust storm.....

Chookyblue....

Cows and sheep....

After town work I thought I would be mustering sheep but the boys were right so I went to another place and checked the water........ New babies everywhere....... No green grass though.........

Chookyblue........

Mother nature gave a nice surprise......

The reward for being up before sunrise..... 

Chookyblue....

B&^%^%$ Sheep.......

And my day got better almost as I hit publish on the "summer slump" post...........

the shearers rang and we are shearing lambs and crutching the ewes this week.............

JOY JOY JOY.............

The sky was pretty when I went out though.............

it's not going to be a good week..........it's like you want it to happen and need it to happen but I just wish i could click my fingers and it was all done............

It's the extra stuff I have to fit into my week that won't make it good.......

I just drafted the lambs up and copped a few horns into the side of the the knee............

once I got the stuck to me dusty sweaty clothes off I had a swim to cool down........

I was over heated........the pool was soooooo nice....

we will go back later and bring a mob into the yards and pen up into the shed.........

move another mob............

&&&& 

no sewing or bookwork will happen as planned...........

Really worried about NJ SAL being done this month as I have not even had a chance to start the blocks............bugger.......

Catch you later......

Chookyblue......

summer slump...........

bring on the end  of  summer.............the days are closing in rapidly............

but the heat will no go yet..............I just looked and til the end of Feb it's all 36-38 deg............

Feb has been warmer then Jan.......very unusual...

it's a flat time for me.......most day's i've been managing with just the fans but a few days we've had the air con on..........with all the insulation the house isn't too bad anyway.............it's been too hot in the Chookshed.........we need to put some more insulation in the ceiling so will have to put a lining into the shed............

(Snapped by Fairy Girl)

you wouldn't think we got that fall of rain a in Jan..............it's been zapped out with the heat............

some poor buggers in the country are being flooded with too much rain from the cyclones........I could easily take a few inchs right now..........

I thought the 2 cyclones would stir the weather up a bit and we might get something but no such luck.........very disappointing..........

better go the house looks like a bomb hit..........

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

want a treat...........

look here.........

been following this blog for years and she does amazing things.............

and today post is a real treat............amazing...........love it............

Check out Supergoof Quilts in the Netherlands............

sometimes I don't quite understand what is translated into english but is is like looking at quilting super treats...............

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

8 years..........

wow......I can't believe 8 years have gone by.........

I was wondering what to post.............and going thru some pics I thought I would share some of the faces my blog has had over the year...............I've had heaps more but these are some of the ones I could find in my pics.............

Way back here I posted my first post............the crepe myrtle has grown a bit........and I lost the couple of posts I tried to do................SO if your thinking of starting a blog don't give up............it's wonderful.............

When I started I would never have believed I would still be doing this 8 years on..........

swaps..............

random photos...........

nature...........

farm stuff..............

flowers............

weekends away............

quilts.........

water or lack there of................

stitching............and blue of course.............

so many sunsets.............

But this header below sums it up pretty well................

THANKYOU.........

Catch you later......

Chookyblue......

kitchen help.............

well I could do with a maid and cook but that's not that help I need today................

I am designing a Bunnings kitchen with Mr Chooky...

limited budget.............so it will be a basic flat pack...........

unfortunately I will be installing aforementioned kitchen with him too......

sadly it's not a new kitchen for me..........

BUT....

has anyone got any tips, problems, suggestions I need them ASAP...........

It will be simple and basic.............

Something like this one.. but U shaped.......

bit lighter then these doors on the bottom with a speckled/motley bench top a bit darker then this...........I just noticed in this kitchen they have lighter doors up the top........

what do you think about that????

should the doors all be one colour?

Not going with white cupboards........

might need the full time maid then to keep the dust off..........

help.......

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

Shopping help!!!!!!

a blog friend is visiting Australia from overseas and emailed to ask about patchwork shops in Sydney.

She is here for a few months so wanted to know about patchwork groups/shops in Sydney............

If you could add detailed comments as to the shop and address, suburb etc I would appreciate it.

Maybe I will have to check out a few when in Sydney next......

Some of the ones i thought of were Quiltsmith, Cottage Quilt Works, Material Obsessions but not sure of the address, suburb etc........

Hope you can help.............

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

buuuuzzzzzzzz.......

 "Buzz" said the bee who bit me on the ear while I was walking on daylight...........

Gosh they hurt.............still had the stinger in when I got home.........Mr Chooky got that out............some phenergan and ice and it feels better........but I am zonked a bit from the phenergan..........nighty night.............already had one sleep..just about to have another........

&&&&&

40deg forecast for today and it is pretty hot out there already............

January was pretty kind temps wise but Feb is going to make up for it............

hello lounge and air  con...........

stuffed my day up though I had lots planned........

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

The bitches, yoh!

OMG................

laughing until I wet my pants and had pains in my tummy muscles................

Blame Cardygirl for the blog title...............lol

very impromtu but often the best nights.........

2 late nights drinking and partying with a big drive inbetween OMG crash day today............

hello lounge I LOVE you............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Jindi's visit...........

Finally the last catch up post................Jindi came to visit after we got home from holidays............
we've been friend's online for years..........many many years.................

I started cutting these scraps into triangles..................

Jindi showed me many projects..........some hand, some machine, some a combination..............OMG.......

She  had just been to a summer school so had the show and tell from that too..............

I was really taken with the framed birds............1/2 inch hexies around them.............

And very excited about the above................Jindi was part of the SAL in 2012 when we did Some Kind of Wonderful by Anni Downs...........
Jindi had brought hers to finish........she had worked on it while away so had to add the outer borders...............it was fun pulling mine out and pinning Jindi's over the top............mine on the left and hers on the right..............
Jindi was the one who taught me to hand piece..............must get back to that.............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

the lookout..........

after the bad walk the day before I decided to go to the light house for sunrise............
me and 3 kids got up for an early adventure.............

we watched the ship move past the sun as it rose..............

by the time the sun was up the ship had gone to the left of it.................

first light on the homes...........

glinting around the side of the light house................

after the sun came up we drove to another waters edge for our walk but this time on a proper path.............so much easier...............
thats the end of our holiday...........we stopped at the  Country Music Festival in Tamworth on the way home...........I would like to go back and spend a bit more time there...........maybe next year..............
I hadn't been for about 22 years...........
&&&
Loving my walks morning and night........but in the last few weeks boy have the mornings closed in.........over a week we are losing about 10mins of a morning and about 5 mins in the afternoon............
the best time to go is about 10mins before sunrise and sunset.............
I often have company.......the poddy lambs of a morning and Boy Wonder of an afternoon..........
The morning will be good until it gets too cool............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

more beach and a cruise............

simple but beautiful...............

I could watch waves wash in all day..............if I didn't have to deal with and..............

sand yuck.............

The walk on the beach this morning was not so good as sometimes one foot would sink more then the other and it would be random when it happened..............no good for crappy knees...........

later in the day.................

see more jelly fish......this time they were all up in the river.......

the tour guide said it only happens about every 10 years.............

we saw these when our friends organised an evening river cruise.................

it was so nice..................

we saw one dolphin on the cruise too.................

AND some amazing house...........out of this world for me............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

creatures at the beach.........

As predicted you get all these weird creatures in the sea but my first walk had heaps on the beach............

a very unhappy crab..........

(bottom side)

lots of jelly fish washed up on the beach.............some of the beaches had been closed due to all the jelly fish..............

(top side)

these things are about the size of a dinner plate................so cool to see them up close..........

who lives in here???/

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Sunrise morning...........

Cramming in lots of belated holidays posts..........but I love taking pics so either like it and read thru and enjoy it or come back next week when there may be a slight chance of sewing posted............

My first morning beach walk was stunning..........

this is the only time to go to the beach trust me...........

and let me tell you my big toes is lucky to get wet...............

if only you could get a lift from the wet hard sand on the edge to your car............

the light on the rocks was amazing............you only get this at sunrise..............

Back with more soon.............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Timbertown.........

As a kid I got to go to Timbertown several times.............I loved it..............it shut for a period of time and reopened...........so many good things to see and do while there.............

I was making the teenagers suffer it no matter what but they actually didn't complain once.......never asked to go home...........actually looked like they enjoyed it most of the time and said it was ok..............so it must have been pretty good...........we could have spent a bit more time there but had a deadline so has to keep moving...........

For those who have not been you should go.............

Timbertown is a heritage village...........

it celebrates the history of the timber industry and is time period set..............

lots of buildings set up.....ei church, school, home, etc

you could have a go at a cross saw

Watched the bullock demonstration................they used to use the bullocks to drag the timber out of the forests...........

one of the few working bullock teams in Australia.............

Had a ride on the steam train............this pic is for you Maria..........

We also had a horse and carriage ride...........

It's also great to see the blacksmith working............

The bullock team walk up and down the street.....The kids also had a go at whip cracking........Boy Wonder has no trouble cracking a whip so had a go and was helping the other kids crack theirs.....the bullocky went and got his bullock whip..............now bullock whips are huge...........the whip handle is more then a metre long and the whip is 10foot long........there is a certain technique to get it to crack.......Boy Wonder tried and tried but finally got it to crack.........

More holiday posts to come..............sorry it's a few weeks late................

Catch you later

Chookyblue