Sunday 28 February 2016

Oh my lordy be.......

While digging in the deep dark treches of my fabric stash I found a snap lock bag...........
Mmmmmm mystery.......
When I moved to the shed I was really good and wrote down all the projects I had started........those pages will never be viewed by anyone but me.....the list is long.........but....somehow this one missed the list..........
I have no idea when I started it..........I do remember making it...........once I opened the bag.......
Its the gorgeous "Maderia" by Blackbird Designs..............I have loved lots of their ranges, Garden Party, Beach House, Blueberry Crumb Cake...........
I just checked out the lastest one and such disappointment.......it's got purple, yellow and black in it..........so not their usual.........well what I loved anyway.........
But back to Maderia............it was released Sep 2007..........
So after Easter I might just pull this baby out and work on her again......
Thank goodness I live in a hot dry climate as those pins have been there for years............
Oh and text backgrounds have been around for some time now........
Catch you later...... 
Chookyblue....

Friday 26 February 2016

Thoughts of nothing.....

  • Where has Feb gone? 
  • Chasing hoses.....
  • Trying to keep my garden alive.....
  • Relentless warm weather.......
  • Boring bookwork.....
  • Organising kids......  
  • Finally having a calendar that syncs on my computer and phone.... 
  • Colour coordinating everyone and now it looks like a rainbow...... 
  • Hot days....
  • Shorter days closing in...... 
  • Tired..... 
  • Dust.......
  • More bookwork..... 
  • A little sewing.....  
  • Glorious morning walks before sunrise.....

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

Tuesday 23 February 2016

Big border failure.....

I had grand visions of featuring this fabulous print as a border.... I used the same print in a few squares in the quilt.... it's pretty much all French General's
Tonight I went to see about fussy cutting and mitering - lordy bee good help me - mitering the borders..... 
Yes the pics have the quilt upside down to the border print sorry but you get the idea..... 
I had it all laid out and looked and went omg...... It is so overpowering for the quilt.........
Mr chookys idea was to add the cream border then the big print still my eyes are just taken away from the big star that the centre makes..... 

All may not be lost as I think I may just by the skin of my teeth have enough to back the quilt instead.....
I even thought about just a cream border to make it a bit bigger but then the backing would definitely not fit.....
 So thinking it will just be the star as it is..... 
It's 72inchs square do you think that is big enough........ 
Catch you later.....
Chookyblue......

Saturday 20 February 2016

9 years on...........

I've been busy and missed yesterday.............but yesterday was my 9th blog birthday................
OMG how my life has changed due to blogging.............
the best part.........obviously the inspiration from my part of the blogging world is mostly quilting, some farming, it's a wonderful "nice" "positive" part of the net...........
I have so many real friends in my life that I have met thru blogging..........
so many online friends too............

your my "sewing group"..............
no matter what time of the day your online, posting, seeking advice, wanting to share progress on a project, a finished quilt etc, someone is always there..........
your spread all around the world.........and I love that......
and this year some of you have even see the light and returned from the "darkside".........

Here we go for another year.......
bring it on..........
.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Sunday 14 February 2016

This goes with that at Lucy's..............

For the Aussies I digress the blog title a slight twist on the old "This goes with that at Susans" advertising line.............
anyway back to Lucy.............
thought I had shared this but I hadn't so this is how I put my Lucy Boston blocks together..............
I join centre pairs and then put a green in this case and repeat for below then join those 2 sections and add the other 2 greens to make the section below.........
 I pair up the outer fabrics sometimes these have one directional prints etc and it is easier to think as I join them in pairs then as I put each one onto the block........
then it all goes together...........OMG when I first started I sewed wrong bits in or joined the wrong angles...........thank goodness I found a system.........well it works very well for me anyway..............
then  I add the units I have prepared of creams as per previous post........you don't need the little squares on all points.........
then we grab the fillers (see this post)
And this goes with that.........and Lucy starts to come together..........
Ignore the bottom left block as it is a corner and I am working that bit out............
I'll show you how I am finishing it off later..........
It needs more sewing and I am banned from Lucy at the moment.................
I moved it apart a bit so you can see the outline of each block...........
And just a bit closer..........
OK enough of Lucy..........I would not have done it today but we have free data with Telstra today so I have been getting some computer stuff out of the way.......updates etc..........I think they upped the speed because this morning mine was going SOOOOO fast for us..........not the case this arvo...........
usually we have such limited amount I am taking advantage.......
And it is hot so I am inside with the air con...............
I got one of the flowers finished and now April is done.............yep April last year........
better late then never?
Natures Journey.............

And my beautiful feathered friend Jenny @ Bird on the Border has been visiting for a few days..........the Chookshed was buzzing.............more from Jen then me but hey I got some sewing done.............made the design board above for Jenny while she was here.......
sadly she had to go home...........even if she banned me from Lucy and flogged me along with Natures Journey..................feeling heatly and reinspired with many projects and some time to do them..........
Catch you later.......
Chookyblue.........

Saturday 13 February 2016

HeLp........

The deadline is Girls Day in the Country 19th March....
helppppppppppppppppppppp
An insane Chookyblue......

Thursday 11 February 2016

Lucy fillers..............

I am absolutely stoked some of you felt like you were standing on the dam bank with me listening to the frogs and the crickets in my last post........
that is how I wanted you to feel...........
OMG how amazing is nature coming to life so quickly.........
my first video on my blog worked.......sorry it didn't  work for Maria......
&&&&&
Moving onto Lucy..........
unless anyone has a better suggestion this is how I put my Lucy fillers together.........there isn't a pattern I am just working this out...........now everyone will put this together as they wish but this is how I have worked it out............and to make it easier I call them fillers......
If anyone has a better suggestion fire away..........tell me.......
I use my Westalee Ruler as I just leave it set and I don't have to think......love it........
I cut my strips 3.5inchs.......my little Lucy (honeycomb) template has 3/8inch seam allowance...........some of you will have them with a 1/4 inch seam allowance so your strips might be a smidgen narrower..........
line up 2 strips so you can cut 2 at once............
I free hand cut the fabric just holding the template and starting in the middle and going forward and back..............that's why the strips are a little crooked at the top and bottom.....
sometimes I cut the tops........
sometimes I cut the side and then I turn them around and cut the other 2...........
then you end up with a pile of cut fabric........
4 strips per 3 Lucy blocks......
then I pile them onto my new design board for storage until I get them onto the papers
Missed a photo here but I attach the papers with my glue pen............
my other design board is fantastic to work with too............
it's easy just to pick up the board from my lap when working on Lucy...........
Susan it has been a life saver it used to drive me nuts before picking everything up off my lap if I wanted to get up.....and it is brilliant in the car too...........I got lots done on the weekend while driving.............well Mr Chooky was driving..........all was well til it got dark..........
Don't ask me but I don't feel so well if texting too much and I can't read a book but I can sew for hours..............
now I sew the creams into banks of 3.............it works for how I join the fillers and how I attach to the Lucy block..............
Mini snaplock bags store the pieces before and after I join them...........
then I add the 1 inch squares to the creams like above............not all of them but probably 3/4 of the cream units............I am using a blue/grey print for the 1in squares but Sandy @ Shiralee Stitches is kitting up a lovely grey but I had this fabric and the bolt of cream............so using from my stash.......
So to make a filler I am using 1 x 2in square (or you can use 4 x 1in squares)..........then add 4 x cream units as above..............then 4 x 1in squares
I had tried a couple of ways to put these blocks together and found this is the easiest way for me..........
If you're doing the Lucy Boston BOM from Sandy @ Shiralee Stitches just email or ring her as she will just sort you out with what you need.............
then you have a filler block.........
I'll do a post next showing how I put Lucy and Lucy fillers together.......
Catch you later.......
Chookyblue.........

Wednesday 10 February 2016

dam life.........

I have never shared a video before.............but the sounds at the dam were amazing after the rain.......so I tried to record it on my phone and I was amazed how well it came out............make sure you have your volume up..........to the left is the dam we got dug out last year or the year before.........
the foreground is the swamp/watercourse that fills when the dam is full..........
So nice to see all the dams full...........and green...........
i'll have to take some more pics to share.....

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