Weekend catch up.............

 Finally I feel like I am catching up on things...............
Last weekend considerable rain was forecast so I thought it would be a great time to zoom...........

As it had rained and I didn't go to work Friday I thought I would host Friday afternoon drinks and stitch...........we had a lovely crew join in I think 10 of us..................

Saturday morning I started early as usual..........
22 ladies popped in and out during the day...............
It's always great to see what everyone is up and hear the talk of snow when we are sweating it out..............

It rained most of the day which was so nice............

I worked on my random quilt from retreat.......

lots of 3 sisters fabrics plus a few others thrown in I am sure..........

the bird baths are all full.................

great to catch up with everyone and just enjoy good company...............

finally we had to duck to the neighbours to pick up some supplies and this was the end of the day view............

the week has continued with storms floating around most days and a good heavy fall on Tuesday ran water everywhere.........

The creek was up the next morning.............

so nice to see it full..........

got bogged going to work with my neighbour on Wednesday......

We could not budge it........had to call for help.....

Still chance of storms for the next few days.....

97mm (nearly 4 inchs) since it started last Thursday........very nice.......

some very big falls around.........5-6 inchs is pretty common.......some 8-10inchs

Anyway its great for the summer feed to come away..........lots soaking in.........dams full........

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

Chookyblue.........

great start......

Great start to the new year ....... Chookshed Stitchers meeting last night 20 stitchers and this morning my time we had 16 stitchers.... From around the world as usual....... 

We had a number turn up and it was wonderful to catch up.......

I got a couple of stitcheries done......

Susan will tell me what this is from but it is a Natalie Bird @ The Birdhouse panel.......

Lou got her Lucy top finished..... It's only been 18 months she's done great......8 years and I'm still going.....

missed taking pics when we had more on.......

Catch you later......

Chookyblue......

Zoom zoom............

 Yes I know I've been quiet...........

I have emails to reply to........I have a pile of blog posts to read and lots of churn dash blocks to make.........

But I need a sewing fix so the Chookshed Stitchers will be meeting this Sat my time..........

If you have not joined us previously your very welcome to join us........

Just need to be a blogger........its not hard to get on zoom.......

Prepare yourself for a BIG session..............

It's going to be a long one.......

tell the husband, dog, kids your busy 

DO NOT DISTURB

Leave a comment if your keen to join in..........

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue......

ADDED I'll send link close to the meeting time...........

actually sewing........

Finally I actually did something.........I got all these little babies ironed open............

Its all I did Friday and make this one block below..........

Huge effort for the day.........NOT........

Saturday I really felt like some company........but I talk and I cough.......vicious circle......well I cough anyway but I cough more.............

I sent out the zoom link for those who could join........but you had to do all the talking.........

I am very happy to say you did well keeping the conversation going without me saying much..........

most of the time I spent on mute........and I used my machine to sew more Churn Dash blocks and prep some triangles..........

I'll try be more organised for the next zoom..........and I am sure a long day is due just got to work out when I can do that.............

Thankyou so much the company was so nice to have...........this last week I've barely talked to anyone cause it's just to hard.......back to work Monday.........see how I go..........

I got these 4 blocks done.........a little brighter in real life......

Sunset last night...........5 mins apart........love how the colours change..........

Have a great Sunday........

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

Chookyblue........

zoom binding marathon.......

WOW IS ALL I CAN SAY..............

Yesterday was huge...........I had planned for it to be a big day but it was huge and I got SOOOOOOO much done...............lets recap the last few weeks to set the scene.............

Easter I realised besides the 2 quilts that had binding attached I also had this pile of SEVEN quilts to bind............more then I realised...........

I started cutting all the binding that weekend........

My FG Moda love quilt (post coming soon) got finished at easter........

Anzac Day I got Framed finished......shared back a couple of post..........

Since I was on this binding challenge with Rose Marie I decided I needed to get the bindings all attached and ready to stitch down........I don't love attaching the binding.........

Sweat shop binding prep.............

I did give an update at the bottom of this post............

I had a few done but since the end of the month was approaching I decided I would try and get ALL the bindings attached ready to stitch down..........just to make it a self goal...........

HOT TIPS FOR BINDING........

things I forgot.......notes more for myself......

choose the binding when choosing the backing......

use your quilting gloves at least on your left hand - helps feed it thru..........

attach your walking/accufeed foot..........

check foot pressure......

make sure you have several full bobbins when doing a few.......

lengthen the stitch......2.5 minimum.......

check any quilt points on the edges before trimming back........

also moving forward 

make the binding and attach as soon as the quilt is back.....

trim back ready to sew down.....

I've gone to pick up these quilts esp the two that had binding attached a couple times but they weren't trimmed properly so got sat back down........left to wait.......for way too long.........

Saturday this is what the pile looked like..........Orange one missing as it was partly bound...........

But everyone ready to sew down...........

the gorgeous glow outside my door 10 mins into zoom...........the day was going to be stunning even if it was a chilly start in the Chookshed......no need for a heater as I would get a bit of sun coming in soon.........

this is mid morning............

Everyone was so busy.........we had about 25 thru the door during the day but I think 10 was the most on at once...........some came and stayed............some popped in and out a few times...........

Jeanette wins the stayer award today........

This is how the day started............

progression was happening.........

including finishing the binding on a small project........

the display increases..........

then they just got thrown on top........LOL...........

Can I say this was definitely the quietest zoom session ever...........the silence was not awkward...........it was a good silence when it happened..........everyone so busy.....But i did have to work harder to keep some conversation going......lol......the pic above was at 10pm last night...............the longest zoom yet......we finished at 10.30pm cause I was done........but can I just say it took until 15hrs for the conversation to kick into chat drive..........and once it did it didn't stop...........16.5hrs later we finished zoom...........yes that is Gail back on from the USA it was 5.30am for her....she'd been to bed and got up again................Marika says she is coming in from the start and not going to bed next time.........

the view this morning.......feels like a drunken party..............quilts thrown everywhere.......the one on my chair 1/2 done.............I want to get it finished today......

thankyou for keeping me going girls......

especially to Rose Marie for the gentle encouragement she gives to get started to start with..........

now I think she is in shock and when she reads that I finished 3 yesterday she will be in shock............

Above the pile at the start of the day............minus the orange one as it was being binded.........

And look at the pile today...........the top one is 1/2 done so in both piles............

my fingers are going great which is amazing.............

For April I bound 720 inchs

yesterday I bound 901 inchs plus my little project got finished

I have 1046 inchs to go to catch up..........

also I thought I bound about an hour a metre/39inch but I am actually twice as fast..........didn't know this until I timed myself........but I had some binding support Rose Marie finished a quilt before she left zoom..........Narelle had made a table runner and bound that and Marika felt bad she had a wall hanging on the wall with the binding clips holding the binding down.......Sooooo she pulled it off the wall and got it stitched down also..........nothing like keeping each other motivate............

so today I would like to finish the binding on another quilt.........

Might even get some of the blocks sewn that I drew the lines on yesterday also...........

Ok it's morning tea time and I need a nanna nap already........

then it's quilt photo shoots and quilt washing while it's a nice sunny day.........

Keep the love of blogging alive...........

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

Chookyblue......

Zoom zOOm ZOOM???????

 Hey girls..........its wet and I couldn't go away so we are going to do a massive zoom.........

Prepare yourself.........get your stitching ready...........

warn the family to stay away except to deliver food..........

Check out your time zone......I feel bad for Europe now as the times have got worse......

BUT go to bed and get up early.......we'll still be on here.......

As usual leave a comment if you want to join in...........

Been out and around some dams.........

See you soon........

Keep the love of blogging alive.........

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

Chookyblue........

binding........

I'll get back to Scrub Stitchin' but for now...............

Happy Easter............

It was very dark when I took this photo on my phone as I got up to get ready for zoom....... 

Love the stars I also captured......

How many stars can you see?

It was a strong international zoom this one....... Janice was on early for a short patch but nearly 1/3 the zoom time I think I was the only Aussie.......

The bummer with the times now due to daylight savings finishes here and starting in Europe it was late Friday night already when I started...... this didn't stop Ellen and Hanne...... They stayed up late.......

Deb joined us for the first time from Canada......

You can see in the bottom of the zoom screen pic I was binding....... No epp today as I committed to a binding challenge with Rose Marie and Mary earlier in the year........ Except they have made the challenge each month Rose Marie is even one extra up.....I have done about 1 metre one month, a few inches another month and nothing another....... Rose Marie being so kind said even the few inches is progress..... True that but at a very slow rate.......But I got my quilt finished............Its been washed this morning and I'll take some pics later...........probably should have taken it for its photo shoot before I washed it oh well...........

So the discussion then went on as to how many did I need to do.... Rose Marie had several and some being quilted..... She said Mary had heaps......... I've just sent a few quilts away to be quilted so I need to do something before they return.....

I thought I had 3-4 to do ......... OMG how wrong.......

Friends came to visit after lunch and while the boys were out I said what if we go to the Chookshed to chat as I can keep tidying things up after the Scrub Stitchin' dumping.............I started pulling out quilts to show as she enjoyed seeing them...........

OMG BIT OF A SHOCK...........

I have another quilt with binding attached.......I had two bindings prepared see the angle ones above on the top right.......I saw I had two pieces of fabric sitting around with binding written on them.....I cut them......... In the end I cut 5 bindings....I had to choose a couple........So that means I have 8 bindings to do........ All big quilts......because what else would I make..........Oh dear........I need the "binding fairy" but she doesn't travel this far north...........dam........

Here's another view of the tank the day before.......I was capturing the wispy clouds and they didn't last long like this...... Such a brilliant blue sky........

So do you have any binding to do?????

If yes how many?????.

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

zoom massacre end.......

Yes a dramatic blog title.......I will explain below.........what a wonderful day on zoom........

We rounded up 28 girls popping in and out from 7 countries.........

Eventually Lucy came out and played.........Chris and Lou were also working on Lucy

This morning I needed a massive clean of the Chookshed see below..........but I was looking at my table and wondering what does your space looks like........

computer screen, laptop, coffee, soda water, champagne glass, sewing gear and bin, treats, phone cord....notepad and bit of the project scattered around..........but everything in close reach......

Lucy still is in lots of pieces....she's scattered right around me when I look at this pic......

Love seeing everyone's progress during the day......all encouraging each other.......

***

Later in the night I went to turn the air con off and realised I had been invaded by earwigs......100's and 1000's i'm sure.....they were crawling everywhere up towards the aircon end of the Chookshed........

So out came the spray and drowned them and me and zoom finished.........:(

Now the problem this morning is cleaning up the massacre.......look in the pic close...........1/2 the shed floor looked like this......the other 1/2 not as bad.......had to go get the big vacumn to tackle this job.....

then cleaning the floor and room led to cleaning one set of sliding doors (thanks Denice where are you??????) I could not look at them any more after the window cleaning discussion in zoom........

But lets move onto Lucy's progress............above the section was only partly joined maybe 3-4 edges.......below I got that on and the filler in the right corner........

I have 4 on the left joined together prior to today which was a nice surprise as I had forgotten about it......just adding two fillers and it can get joined.......but I started working on joining the 4 on the right side........she's growing.......

******

As this post got disrupted during writing I have now cleaned (inside and out) all but the long window........That's two sets of sliding doors and a set of windows that big and then another more normal size window.........

*********

Now I have been asked by a few people about joining zoom............do you need a blog???? 

Well as we can only see each other through our blogs that is how we have all connected.........

given the chatter yesterday we have been blogging for a long time........

hundreds of years if I added up just who was on yesterday.........

we had a lot of discussion about when we started blogging yesterday......

yes I do have a few friends who don't have blogs join but I know who they are and they have joined me on retreats and been in contact over a longer period of time..........

You can always start a blog.........it's very easy......one of the girls who wanted to join has been working on her new blog........

I don't do "the dark side" aka facebook and your very welcome to start your own zoom group but I do like to keep up with what you are doing between zoom sessions and that is by reading your blog and interactions thru comments......I hope you understand......

We've all been making new friends thru zoom/blogs as not everyone knew each's blogs......

Happy Sunday........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue......