Blog buddies "d" list

It's been a long time between these post but if you hit the label "blog buddies" at the bottom of the post you will get the link for the "a" "b" "c" posts......."c" was way back in July before life went pear shaped.............

Dandelion Quilts - one of the USA girls I have followed for years.............she's been a bit quiet lately.............

Day Day's Blog - One of my very special blog friends.......Dale is a prolific quilter and very generous with donations for causes with her quilts.....She turned over a new leaf at GDITC this year and hopefully we will see her posting more this year.........She makes lots of different quilts and machine quilts them herself.......an Aussie I usually get to catch up with several times a year...........
De Zondagssteek - writes in Dutch from the Netherlands.........love the colours she works with............met her thru a christmas swap.............

Designs by Fee - you never know what Fiona is designing but it's always something pretty and soft...........another Aussie

Dilly Dimple - a crazy blogger by the name of Josie from Scotland.............always have a great lol when I read her posts.............one day I hope to meet her............it will be a fun time for sure..........

Dragonfly Sewing Another long time blogger...........she's been in every SSCS Secret Santa Christmas Swap........actually she was one of the first 3..............I emailed Fiona and another friend and said what do you think..........atleast we have 3 of us to swap around...............wow if I had only known what was to come of this..........we get to catch up a few times a year too since she is another Aussie blogger................

Dutch Comfort - Nicolette from Netherlands.........I have followed her blog for years......she did a quilt for breast cancer many years ago and I nominated a lady I know who was going thru breast cancer at the time and she won the quilt.............it was an honour to deliver this quilt to the recipient that Nicolette had made..........many ladies around the globe had a say in what she put into the quilt with Nicolette using her graphic design skills to create the quilt........so very special.........and the good news is the lady who had the cancer is alive and well.......

Dutch Sisters - sisters Heleen and Corry who do lots of gorgeous craft and live in the Netherlands

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

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winter is on it's way...............

woohoo.............sitting here writing this in my tracky pants and a jumper.........the cool weather has arrived today.........I love it.....I love to have different seasons......no rain to report but it's been drab and cloudy all day..........I love days like this - we get so few of them........I could not live like this full time.....lol......will definitely be digging out some more winter woolies as Saturday is supposed to be pretty cold.....well 13deg Cel is very cold for us as a day time maximum and that is what they have forecast...............
bring on the autumn colour.............
it's got to 19deg just now the sun is trying to poke it's head thru but mostly about 15 all day..........
it's pretty brezzy from the south so the fire has been lit for the chilly night (5deg)......I love the warmth of a wood fire........
Whats the weather like at your place???

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

a little piece of my heart is gone............

Yesterday was a sad day here..............late December I decided we were not going to manage when the school holidays were over.............no rain in sight............FIL out of action for many more months....I work part time in town so no able to work everyday with Mr Chooky.....I knew I needed to work out some assistance.......We decided to get a backpacker but instead found a young couple from Belgium - Kim and Damien......they arrived early January.......as I got them earlier then expected they came to stay with us instead of staying in a cottage on another property.........

16 weeks later they have left us.............it was a sad departure.......they never went to the cottage.......

they have learnt so much from knowing nothing about farming at all.............

they jumped into everything and never complained about anything.......and things were pretty bad when they arrived................

feeding cattle and sheep, driving tractors, motorbikes, bring sick sheep home then taking some who died away, pulling bogged sheep out of dams, doing mixes for feeds, fencing, molasses mixes, looking after the numerous poddy calves, mechanics, shearing, and once things slowed down a little and we had a few wet days they learnt to sew in the chookshed.......

Very quickly they became part of our family, being so young I am about the same age as their parents....

they just fitted in perfectly..........pulling crazy faces in photos etc they are just like my extra children and I think it is the only reason I stayed sane over the worst of the drought...........I still had to smile and be nice to them.............it sure did help........we have so many funny stories, a few translation issues.........but we will have memories forever........they did not want to leave and surely don't want to go home.......Damien wants to be a farmer in Australia and as they survived the worst of things here he will be able to manage in the future.........was so nice we got some green before they left and finally stopped feeding cattle only a few weeks ago.......

they have headed off on more of there adventure in Australia and will head home to study and will be back in a few years to visit us again............and if I" win lotto" I will be heading to Belgium to see them.........

a piece of my heart is going to live in Belgium............

Catch you later

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

scones, crutching and shearing...........

I have to look after my shearers................they usually get scones one day.............

here's the big basket full I made.......being school holidays there were extra rousabouts in the shed..........more scones needed.......and they always get served hot out of the oven with jam and cream...............yummo......

my nephew dragged a few out for the shearers.............

we crutched the ewes earlier in the week............then shore the lambs...........

lovely bright white wool.............

"Boy Wonder" having a go at shearing...........he crutched a few the  day before................

Getting instructions from the pro..............

always a problem in the shed for wool contamination but i love to see a black sheep being shorn............it's usually only a lamb.............we don't keep them longer then that.........

the colours as they are shorn always amaze me......

not sure if the wool is useful to anyone but if you pay the postage i'll send it off to you...........we have a couple of lambs fleeces

It's another long weekend in Oz...........attended the ANZAC service in town yesterday...........

Catch you later

Chookyblue

easter catch up & instagram help????

I got to spend a delightful day with Lise The Chocolate Cat..............we got to go to the farmers markets, Spotlight sale and got some lunch to eat in a gorgeous garden..............spent the afternoon there sitting around talking and a bit of a wander around............I haven't seen Lise for a couple of years so it was a wonderful time together.........

The weather over Easter was glorious.............a nice quiet easter here.................

Instagram HELP!!!!!!

I know nothing about it I thought you used it to look at pictures................someone smaller in my house is hassling me about getting it............should I let her get it????

how do you chat to people in it???? (she tells me you can do this)

 Do you need to make private settings etc????

is it easy to do this????

Do you set it up with your proper name or like blogger whatever you want to use????

I goggled a couple of bits but it looks like it is tied up with facebook and you now what I think about that.............

HELP.................
ADDED whats the difference of pinterest also - it's for photos too isn't it?????

ok got to run just made a batch of scones for the woolshed..............been crutching ewes and shearing the lambs.........thank goodness I had to work in town and they will finish today so avoiding the shed except to deliver "smoko".......see if I get some pics to share.............

Chookyblue

sorry dory...........

So sorry Dory..............I thought I had brought barramundi at the shops..........but it was Dory instead...............

Good Friday is always fish and prawns etc......no meat............

we did the prawns on the BBQ for nibbles.........

the left sweet chilli sauce..............on the right lemon and garlic.............

Then we cooked the dory and had chips.............yummo............

OK must off to bed.......I have a big day tomorrow.......super exciting bloggy catch up.......can't tell you who yet but I am so excited.............I can't wait to give my buggy a huge HUG.............it's been quite some time since we caught up............

Have a great easter weekend....

Catch you later

Chookyblue

holiday fun.............

wow what a busy week it's been................"boy wonder" had some mates come to stay................2 arrived last Friday and they went home this morning..............2 others came and went over that time too..........it was so nice to see them interacting together......tell/showing each other how to do things better/differently in the cattle yards.........5 teenage boys in the house - most would say I am nuts but they were great.............not once ounce of trouble.........bonfires, camping in swags out in the paddock ......"boy wonder" is sound asleep at the moment..........a very long nanna nap...........

one day we had a big day of cattle work........took longer then planned so the last were unloaded off a truck just on dark..............

I looked up and thought of Leanne The Stitching Room..........so had to snap this one...............

(missed the lunar eclipse.....just the slightest glimpse last night as we had some cloud)

I love all these silhouettes of the western sky............

big sky country..............

this is the best of a bad bunch but considering it was just my phone in hand it's not too bad

Was trying to get the silhouette of the cattle as they jumped  off the truck...........

just about now was when I got a face/neck full of cow S&#%..........think face mask...........

the very next day we had some of the steers stuck in the dam............2 of the boys got in and got them out...........

the boys could stand on the silt layer with flat feet but the hoofs of the cattle were busting thru...........you can see the wet shorts of when the boys dropped through.............we hadn't got this dam desilted due to it drying up and not getting the tractors out there to do the job.............now it only has some water that has run in from the batters (sides)............hopefully the others drink more carefully...............

then the boys raced to the edge..............

And I have found a few moments to do some sewing prep work.........nearly all the hexies are glued and ready to start joining...............

Fairy Girl had a friend out.............now she has another..............it's a bit of a revolving door here.........I have to do a head count each meal to know how many I am feeding......

But I wouldn't have it any other way.........

Have a great Easter........got my fish and prawns for Good Friday............

busy in the wool shed next week (thank god I have to work in town 2 of the 3 days) so not sure when I will be back..........enjoy the holidays if you have some..............

&&&

Calf update

 we lost both the last 2 calves we brought home..............one a few days ago the second one this morning............for some reason he decided to swimming fell into the dam getting a drink yesterday..........goodness knows how he got out but we blow dried him last night and tried to feed him but it was the final straw and he was just too weak and not drinking..............I think they were both to drought affected to drink properly..........

Goodnews - the blind calf (pink eye) can see a little bit more.....he hangs out with his buddy we feed him with.........all the other calves are cruising along...........fat little things.......I tell you there must be some good stuff in green grass.................it is so nice to see all the stock here fat and healthy...........

Catch you later

Chookyblue

Wow.....the new cabins...........

Wow Kim and Heath sure did put some thought into the 2 new cabins they have created at Fossickers Tourist Park in Nundle.....they are the "hostest with the mostest"....I have been staying there for atleast the last 6 years several times a year.......for Girls Day in the Country and also my retreat weekend....slowly the cabins numbers have grown...........and this year they have excelled well beyond previous new cabin expectations.........we were the first to stay in them...........not actually available  for bookings until this month........but since I am running late with this post ring and book your weekend away now.............

Kim has enjoyed planning the decor for the cabins...........I am no good at describing styles but let me tell you she has done a fantastic job..........heaps of space.......I had to find out where the orange rug and pillow came from for one of the girls I shared with..........

just perfect for a girls sewing retreat weekend at Kerry's..........huge table area.......plenty of room

lovely big windows, excellent light for sewing of a night (not sure if this was a fluke or Kim thought of it)

plush sheets and towels, nice throws, lovely black cushions were added to our beds after I took this photo (below).............

The bedroom layout is 2 beds and an en suite on one end (above) and 2 beds and a bunk bed on the other end also with an ensuite (below)....if you are couples the singles can become king beds............

Kim and Heath - thankyou for a wonderful visit.......nothing is ever a problem.actually they go out of there way to assist...........

Yes I have booked the rooms for my retreat weekend later in the year..........I can't wait.............

Catch you later

Chookyblue