Swaps, shopping, and prezzies............

The gorgeous Chez aka Dory gave all the girls on her table a little present..............

(right pic borrowed from Kerri)
On Friday night the bloggers had a swap..............I did 2 swaps.........I knew JoJo - Dzintras daughter wanted to join in so I did a swap between us.........it was fun getting a parcel together for her.........

This is what I got from JoJo............

The swap was the same as what we have done at the Bathurst Blog meets
Make it (handmade goodness)
Fake it (too busy so you buy a present)
Bake it (cooking etc)
I received from Shez..............she faked it but also made something..........bit of a mix......
a slice tray, cookie cutter and one of her wonderful hand towels

I had actually paid Kerry too much money for GDITC soI had some spending money and I got this jelly roll book I have been eyeing off for quite some time.............and a bit of Anni Downs fabric.............

guess who scored the left over lemon slice from Shez...............lucky me.........

some fabrics from a couple of besties..............thanks girls.........

This is a lovely parcel my friend Carole in the USA sent to me a little while ago...........but it's where all the troubles started with Kerri regarding the magazine......lol.......but thankfully a lady called Chris had a copy for her........thanks so much Chris...............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Sunday breaky the beginning of the end..............

Sunday morning we all joined together for breaky........the finally gathering of bloggers at GDITC....

the beginning of the end..............starting to say farewell to everyone........

I will miss these girls so much until I see them all again...........

Sonia was coming to visit but her car had other plans............maybe next time Sonia...........

still smiling and laughing........lucky we had the place booked just for us once again......it doesn't matter how much noise we make then................

just after this all the hugs and farewells begun...........

everyone went off in many different directions.............

hundreds and thousands of kms later we were all safe and sound at home..............

Thanks girls for the best fun weekend........see you all next year.......I hear a few newies are coming and some of the oldies will be back.....yippee.......the countdown begins............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Sat night....

What a treat it was to see these gorgeous quilts of Lynette's but even more special these 2 have been "remade" in Lynette's newer fabrics by my blog friend Kate from Stitched with Love

I always think she is very industrious stitcher when she starts a project there is no stopping her.......but OMG Kate made "Love Letters" above in 17 days...........I don't think she slept in that period of time.........no wonder she has been quiet on the blog front............

She also made this older pattern in new fabrics - "Waiting for Santa"

Some of my stitching on the day.............

A lovely surprise Tracy from Sunny Corner Farm called in to say "hi"

Dory checking out her new name tag..............
now onto Saturday night.................

Lynette thought about having a sleep over with us but thought better of it.....lol.......we chatted and sat around til later but she needed her sleep to teach again the next day..............

I missed taking pics at show and tell because I was helping hold up the quilts........but there were some gorgeous quilts done by the girls......I got this photo from Shez of me and Dzintra holding up our Gardener's Journal quilts. Dzintra finally got hers finished late last year................
After the great BBQ dinner at the caravan park we retired to our cabins..........

The light in the new cabins is fantastic for stitching.........

everyone was industrious except me..........was it was so nice relaxing and chatting with the girls............

Kate checking out Maureens stitching............

Kate modelling her stitching..................

I had a great time sharing with these girls..............it's non stop laughing...........
Catch you later...........

Chookyblue.............

time changes..........

Thanks the lordy be the clocks back to normal time.........I hate daylight savings............

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

Sat at GDITC.........

Finally I have almost got my posts prepared for GDITC.......Friday night you can find way back here.......
here we go.........Kris have you got your cuppa..........
Huge anticipation waiting out the front of the hall for the doors to open.............what has Kerry decorated the tables with, what is the project, what fabrics will we have, what type of coffee mug will be get..........
I got a green one this year........I had a red one but  I knew Jenny LOVES red so I swapped with her............
This is my 7th year...........I have not missed one.........
1 & 2 with Leanne Beasley and Rosallie Quinlan
3 & 4 with Anni Downs Hatched and Patched
5 & 6 Sue Daley
7th Lynette Anderson

So many happy excited ladies........

catching the morning sun before we head in............

Everyone finding there tables and getting organised.............
Loved the blue boxes Kerry popped our projects into...........

I "had" to stop sewing and give Lynette my chair so she could show us her applique techniques..........
Anita this is the reason I didn't get my project finished..........lol...

Lynette Anderson and her great bag design we did for our workshop............

Some of my non blogging buddies on this table..........we always catch up at GDITC............

Betty and Chris also came to our Bathurst Blog meet........

Hi lurkers...........lol........

the room buzzing with activity and happy ladies..........

Maureen, Susan, Dawnie, Suzie, Ann and Sam on this table.............

Dzintra, Jenny, Janice, Fiona, Lynda, Cheryl, Maree and Aunty Alison

?, Miss Jules, Alison, Kate, Lea, Sonia, Jan

Lynette shopping only......lots of her patterns, buttons, fabrics some kits....
I think this was before the shop opened.............

Betty brought along this gorgeous quilt to show me.......I should have stolen it from under her table....do you think she would have noticed...............I LOVE it..........gorgeously quilted by Betty too............

Dawnie, Kerry and Lea
Oh and incase your vague, busy or missed it Kerry's blog is now at this address.......I only worked this out yesterday when talking to Kerry and she asked had I not seen the gorgeous new French General fabrics on her blog..............woops was still following the old blog address not the new one............all sorted now though.............

I want to make this one..........

My table.....
back - Jenny, Gail, Peg, Kerri (hiding), me and Dawnie (table crashing)
Front - Dale, Dory aka Chez, and Shez
I got to sit next to Shez for the day...............let me tell you girls...........
I had to confiscate that ipad of hers........she was getting no work done as she was too busy on it.....no wonder she had to have a "nanna nap" later in the day............
seriously though it was great to spend the day next to her............

I had the best time with Kerri coming to stay before the weekend.......we spent a couple of days in the chookshed it was so nice...........not that I achieved much as I had trouble focusing on a project but it was nice to just be out there...........but Kerri made great progress on a quilt top............

Lots of ladies enjoying a drink and nibbles while watching the trunk show by Lynette.........
more to come.................
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Oh and did you know this time is 350 sleeps 1hour 2 mins and 23 secs we will be doing it all again............not that I am counting down or anything.......
But I heard there are a few newbies for 2015 OMG I am so excited and some of the old girls will be back.......some of my blog buddies I only get to see while here so it is a special time together....
If you want to come you need to contact Kerry today as it is pretty much already booked out for 2015......she only has so much space in the hall and that's the biggest venue in Nundle.
Catch you later

Chookyblue

an over night surprise.............

These 2 calves joined us on Wednesday.........the grass has started to grow at the other property where most of these have come from.........one mob of cows is improving slowly but the other one seems to be going backwards which is quite normal problem after you start to get some feed...........they will start to go the positive way but the feed needs to grow and get a bit more goodness into it.......

calves are still struggling.........

The one eating at the trough we have nicknamed "one eye" as he has pinkeye in one eye making him blind at the moment...........he should come good......drank well last night but not good this morning.....maybe a few weeks old........so trying to get him onto milk as they still need it but atleast he is eating ok........

This one is "skinny" she's not drinking well at all.......maybe a week old.......had a very hard life..........eyes are ok but a bit weepy so trying to prevent them getting worse with pinkeye..........used the blue spray hence the "blue eye shadow" look...........lol......

The other blind one they brought home in the last week or 2 is still blind.........think maybe he is starting to see some shadows so hopefully he will get some eye sight back...........but he has quietened right down and is drinking well..........

the little black flies we have at the moment are so thick and at the calves eyes all the time............

look at the vibrant green in the background.............

With a bit of rain around the blowflies have been busy breeding too...............yesterday afternoon we had the lambs in to do them for "blowfly strike" 

We have to treat them with some chemicals to kill the maggots otherwise they will die...........

We only had a couple blown which was great.............

but it was so good to see the lambs fit and strong........this is what they should have been like a few months ago when we weaned them........boy that was a disaster............we lost about a 1/4 of them which is a huge loss which will affect us for years but that's life with a drought........we had feed issues and in hind sight we would have still weaned them when we did as the ewes went better but we would have done a different feed program.....once we realised what was going wrong it was a bit late......basically they needed more protein then what we were giving them...........

&&&&

the over night surprise is the storm we got during the night gave us 14mms of rain.........quite heavy at times..........and a chance of a bit more today so that would be nice...........lots of lightning about............

&&&

Also calling Marcelle.........and anyone else interested in starting a blog but not sure how to do it or what to write etc......use the contact form on the right side of my blog and email me..........it comes to me privately so please include your email so i can contact you back...........

it is an amazing spot to be...........and if you make the leap from a lurker to a blogger you won't be sorry........

&&&

ok off to do the thankless job of house work and some bookwork..............

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Great prints......

aren't these prints cool...............my new pj's..........only $11 a pair so I got 2........lovely soft flannelette

the top one is navy..........my favourite colour.........

Hope your having a great day.............

Chookyblue...........

new life................

The last 3 months is a period in my life I would prefer to forget........but then again you learn from every situation in life.......I am sure I will be stronger from it............but it's not just the drought although that has been the biggest issue it sure has not assisted with other areas of my life...............and while I would not say the drought is over things sure are looking more positive than they have for the last year or more...........

So onward and upward I say with a few more changes in my life........

with rain I will spring back to life just like the earth does................

(a photo from 2007)

Things have been so chaotic and miserable here I even missed my blog birthday.......this is what I posted on my birthday and I didn't even give my blog birthday a thought.........that was back in February.........7 years OMG can you believe it 7 years I have been blogging here in this little spot in the cyber world.......the things I have learnt, tried, seen sure has been encouraging and inspiring especially when you don't belong to a sewing group......... friendships formed from all over the world............one day I may get over the ocean and meet some of you for now it's just the girls in Oz I get to see.............another upside of blogging is always finding someone online no matter what time of the day someone is online doing something in my part of the cyber world and it doesn't cost me trips to town to meet up, you don't care whether I am in my daggy work clothes or pj's, thankyou for your support and encouragement over the last few months actually the last 7 years...........it is very much appreciated..............hopefully now I can get all the things on track that have been neglected over the last 3-6months.............slowly and surely I will get there............now to prepare some more GDITC posts............and wait for the cooler autumn days to arrive......I hope this is the last day of 30deg...even the nights have only got down to about 18deg.........still very mild...........but sunny days like these sure will help the grasses grow.............

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