Zoom Australia Day....

A little slow on the blogging front...... But I had another wonderful day zoom sewing....... Australia Day up bright and early to link up with the Canadians and Americans on the other side of the world catching them in their afternoon....... New Zealanders are often early too being a few hours ahead of me..... Sylvia in Germany is just in all sorts of hours...... Often going to bed and popping back up again to rejoin us....... 

Last zoom a few of us were discussing our zoom sewing project....... Some have been working on the same project each time. I have mostly worked on blue lanterns except for the last zoom. At that time I did decide I would try and make this epp project my zoom project.....It's mostly what I have sewn on zoom days......so that's where I started adding to the three pieces below.......... 

I added another 8 blocks to this section........ sorry no photo of that........but.....

This is what the quilt was up to prior to starting the sewing day...... 

This is what it looked like after...... I added that section I was working on in the morning to the bottom left side.....I also had another section together from previous sewing days and added it to the top right........ I can see heaps of progress on this quilt due to zoom sewing days.......well they are marathon sewing sessions usually for me........this time I sewed for 12 hrs......thanks for the encouragement girls.......

The only problem with the day is my power failed for a few hours...... But the girls hung in there and I finally got back on.......too dam hot a day for no power but nothing I could do about it...... 

Anyway it was another wonderful day connecting with my blog buddies.......

Til next time.....Stay safe........

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

Chookyblue........

PS be brave and join us next time.......

hand stitching.....

The other day the sky was looking pretty.........this is over some of the barley crop and then the clouds..........makes my heart sing.........

the advantage of being up early zoom sewing in the shed I got to watch the sunrise over the silo's.........

So what did I sew this time.........I worked on Blue Lanterns again.........

joined these 5 onto the side of the top........

started to join the section below to add to the top right side.........

Everytime I go onto zoom sewing I get very excited to see who i'm going to catch up with....

Its just a wonderful.....very easy conversation.........everyone working away and it's amazing what everyone achieves.........the only upside of Covid19 I can see we thought to try zoom sewing.....clearly i'm not the only one of us that needs this time to connect with like minded people.......

Below is a list of the girls who joined in this time..........a few of you have asked for the blog names etc so here it is.......its great to see you getting around and checking out the girls who are new to you and leaving comments and connecting after the sewing sessions..........

And I just have to do a little squeal of excitement when a couple of you have blogged again......after a big break.....its great to see what you have been sewing.......

USA Gail	Gail's Place	https://trailteach.blogspot.com/
USA Raedene	Thread on the Floor	http://threadonthefloor.blogspot.com/
USA Kathleen	Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm	https://roseprairiequilts.blogspot.com/
USA Denice	Denice's Day	http://weesied.blogspot.com/
USA Deana (and Deb)	Dream Worthy Quilts	http://dreamworthyquilts.blogspot.com/
Aus Annette	Jindi's Cottage	http://jindiscottage.blogspot.com/
Aus Jenny	Bird on the Border	http://birdontheborder.blogspot.com/
Aus Karen	Karen's Corner	http://pksmokey11.blogspot.com/
Aus Maria	Life on the Block	https://maria-lifeontheblock.blogspot.com/
Aus Julie	Simple Stitches	http://simplestitches1.blogspot.com/
Aus Jude	News From Jude	http://newsfromjude.blogspot.com/
Aus Sue	no blog
Aus Sue	Kiwikid's Page	https://kiwikidspage.blogspot.com/
Aus Susan (and friends)	Susan's Sewing Space	https://susans-sewing-space.blogspot.com/
Aus Jo	Jo's Blog	https://jobutterfield.blogspot.com/
Aus Cheryll	Gone Stitchin'	https://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com/
Aus Al	no blog
Aus Janice	Jannimary	http://jannimary.blogspot.com/
Aus Lise	The Chocolate Cat	http://thechocolatecat.blogspot.com/
NZ Raewyn	Stitching Farmgirl	http://stitchingfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
NZ Clare	Craftlady in Kiwiland	https://craftladyinkiwiland.blogspot.com/
NZ Lou	Manxgirl Living & Crafting Down Under	https://loulee1.blogspot.com/
Can Holly	Nimble Thimble Stitchery-Do	http://nimblethimblestitcherydo.blogspot.com/
Can Norma	Silver Thimble	https://silverthimble.ca/blog/
Can Chris and Emily	Quilting at the Farm	https://holycowchris.blogspot.com/

If you are in SE Australia stay warm this weekend.........lots of low snow forecast in areas that rarely get snow too......and where I am I will get the freezing colds winds off the snow and they say it's going to be pretty windy for a few days..........

Stay Safe........

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

Chookyblue..........

zoom explanation/questions answered......

 Hi All

I had a comment from a blog friend and I thought I might explain zoom..........I never have so now's the time..........its started due to xxxxx and I wished we had thought of it before..........it will stay long beyond xxxxx also.............

Just wanted to say how I plan a zoom sewing day.......it isn't planned.......there is no consistency as to the frequency.........

I can't say I will do it at a certain time as I need to be able to be online when we zoom...........Sometimes I have posted earlier in the week..........sometimes it's been Thursday or even as late as Friday morning my time............Zooms are usually on a Saturday my time....I have done one on a Sunday but that wasn't so great to back up for work on Monday........they always start early my time so as to catch the overseas girls.........they are often a sewing marathon for some of us and others pop in and out...........hanging out on zoom for so many hours is not draining like work meetings/training.......

The last one was shorter......ended up being 7 hrs but I initially had only committed to 4-6hrs as I had to juggle some other things around..........

But the 1/2 day worked well also so maybe I may do some more often.......I really hate saying goodbye to everyone.......its easier at the end of a long day as I am so tired by then I just want to go to bed before I fall sleep online............don't laugh I am not great late of a night and if not to active can nod off......my friends who have seen this will be laughing right now...............

Who can join in.......any crafty bloggers.........it's not a select group.........it's not hard to get onto zoom.....you can do it on a phone, ipad, computer.........yes the first time you do a zoom meeting might be a little daunting seeing yourself and others on the screen but you quickly get over that as we mostly have our heads down sewing unless someone is leading us off in search of a "squirrel" or enabling us to shop for some fabric or start a new quilt..........some people have started off quieter but are now more confident to add more to the conversation and ask more questions........

Yes I pay for a zoom account every month which enables us to stay on for a long time but that is what I choose to do.........its my couple of coffees a month social fun........

So I probably annoy some people sending them an email about zoom as I don't hear anything back from some but I have thought maybe I should just have an email list.........then I am only contacting those who want to be contacted.....

If you haven't commented on the blog post when I put it up do you want me to send you an email to let you know????

WHAT DO YOU THINK?????

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

Oct zoom sewing day.........

Wow girls.....another wonderful marathon zoom sewing day......starting bright and early or as they say early bird catches the worm.......

The conversation was once again easy...........everyone just fits in......we all have the common thread that links us together.......everyone was so busy sewing

I think that the most on at once was 15 or 16 but there was 25 of us altogether and I have linked everyone on the sidebar on the left on my blog so you can all go visit each other...........

The security guard aka Bridget was on duty. Well sometimes she was sleeping on the mat across the door way but if she heard movement she was up and wanting to come in.........so innocent but so guilty all at once.........

I once again worked on my EPP Blue Lanterns.......

slowly sections were being worked on..........

Added the 3 blocks to the left side..........

got this whole section together.....lucky I numbered each block on the back as I had already forgotten what I had done....trying to work out from the pics a few months ago what I had done was a bit challening....anyway....it's ready to join onto the main part now........

And into the night I kept sewing.......chatting was sporadic for me as the day went on with the wind then the cloud coming over my wonderful internet was not happy............I kept freezing and doing weird things on the other end according to the girls so some of my messages were chat text..........Lucky for me I could mostly hear and see everything fine....but i had patches where it was fine.......I relied on others to chatter when it was not good........it's just like sitting around the table chatting with your sewing buddies..........so good........

If you want to join in you just need to leave a comment or email me when I put up the post that we are zooming. I can't give heaps of notice as often it is not until close to the weekend that I can work out that I can fit it into my day....checking other commitments or farm jobs don't pop up in the way.........

And as you like to see whats happening on the farm this is a crop pic from during the week.............

Harvest is coming soon......some have started.........hopefully the rain we are getting today doesn't do any damage..........as the girls who have been on before know it's been pretty chilly in the Chookshed for a zoom gathering but yesterday was our hottest day since last summer........35 deg....so the air con was turned on early to keep me cool..........

today it is barely 1/2 that 17deg and I have my jumper and trousers on again.........

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

Chookyblue........

zoom project update.....

wow what a day.............it sure was a zoom sewing marathon and 15 1/2 hrs later I poured myself into bed exhausted but so happy.........I really don't think I can go any longer then that as I start to get too sleepy by 9.30pm......

Lou in NZ gets the long stayer award she did the whole zoom with me........Annette AUS popped in about 1/2 hr later and spent the rest of the day with us also...........

there was 29 opps 30 of us in yesterday..........only Maureen, Annette(2) and Helen aren't on the sidebar as they don't blog but they are Scrub Stitchin' girls..........

At one stage we had a record 20 on at the same time..........it was great..........

girls popped in and out all days........some in several times.........some for a long time some only short..........but given we are in numerous time zones its whatever works for each person........

Welcome Randy, Anorina and Lianne who were all new.......now added to the left sidebar.........I do hope you all join us again next time.............

I was working on my zoom sewing project Blue Lanterns..........the photo above was August last year............as you can see below I had been working on the top side parts getting them added in.........

yesterday I attached the big section on the bottom half of the quilt..........

This is what I had done up until yesterday then the big section got joined on...........then I had a bit of a hole so I joined 5 blocks and below you can see I got them sewn in and had a cream hole and started to add that in but I gave up as my shoulders were getting sore from all the maneuvering of the quilt.....and it's getting heavier and more cumbersome to move around..........

I am so happy with the progress inbetween all the talking..........sewing for so long you can really see the progress that you make.......

I had so many cuppas as it was a bit cool to start the day...........this mug is from Scrub Stitchin' this year........

Prior to the weekend we had some great rain...........just under 2 inchs.......45mm......

I went down to the creek to see how high it was and had someone or 2 stalking me......Bridget and Casper the poddies.......It was nice to not have to worry about driving to town with the rain as I had the week off work.........back to reality tomorrow...........

This is one of my favourite trees in the creek.........I would love to know how old it is...........

Have a great week girls..........

Catch you later........

Chookyblue.........

new years day fun

Wow what a way to see in the first day of the year.........it started on a high......

15hours of zoom sewing with my blog friends......

Mostly all still blogging which is wonderful........

I worked on my Miss Elizabeth quilt who has not seen the light of day for a long time........was great to get the light strips on each side of this piece..........They are over 1 metre in length..........I finished this up and had to make a mad dash to the Chookshed for more sewing and found Lucy..........well LucyII to be exact.......forgot to take a pic but I found 4 blocks cut prepared so I choose one of those. 

I think this time we had 16 at the most on at one time.........some pop in for a long time......some for a shorter time and some in and out a few times.......it's what ever works...........27 of us in total...........be brave and join us if you like next time......it's not exclusive........but it is for sewing/crafty bloggers..........

I have a list of everyone with blog links on the sidebar.......only the bottom 5 weren't in yesterday.....

I was starting to fade about 8pm and Janet @ Rogue Quilter USA who had left us many hours earlier popped back in.......I said omg what are you doing here what time it is.........she said it was 2am and she was finally going to bed but thought would those girls really still be online??????

Well hello we were........well maybe 4-5 of us......it was very funny.......she could not believe we were still here sewing and chatting....Sylvia in Germany was even back with us as she had popped away for a few hours sleep............anyway we all chatted for another couple hours.........I think I stopped sewing just after 9pm. I know when I am away next I will be looking for a better sewing light.......it's fine sewing in the Chookshed with the fluro lights but my sewing lights just don't cut it inside anymore......bit too warm light.......need a cooler light that will be much more brighter.......

Anyway our group had a real international mix especially earlier in the day......but with so many different time zones discussions on what meal time it is for others.......what covid restrictions are in place.......what traditions people have for Christmas..........what changed this year........what projects people were working on and a million other topics I am sure were discussed........

THANKYOU girls for making my start to the year so much fun........

OK must go mow the jungle that I call lawn.......really with the storms around it needed to be mown a day or 2 ago...........

Happy New Year...........

Stay safe.......

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue......

Up for a party???

 SO the Chookshed is turning 10 next week........hopefully it won't rain and the girls can get here for the usual retreat weekend BUT this Saturday (my time) we will  start the celebrations.........
If you new here my Chookshed does have a birthday every year.........I celebrate that fact I have my sewing space as I never thought I would get anything close to this...........
I really cannot believe it is its 10th Birthday............

This weekend we will start the celebrations with a zoom party......I used to have people sewing at home the same weekend as me and then we would share a blog post of what we made over that time......

It was great to see what others had sewn and knowing we were sewing separately but together over that weekend was pretty cool..........

If you have not joined us before your welcome to join but you need to be a blogger.......sorry if your not but that is how we have connected........

Since covid in 2020 and 2021 we did zoom sewing days........they were so much fun too so we cannot miss out this year once again......if you don't want to zoom online with us sew along at home instead and then do a post and show us what you made after the weekend.........

The party will start 6am AEST my time on Saturday morning..........not sure it will be as long as the last two which were crazy but it should be a long one anyway......

As usual put the family or whoever on notice that your out of action.........prep some food that's easy so you don't have to go cook dinner.........(some of you are way to kind or i'm neglectful) 

I wonder if Mick's  (@Jannimary) free to cook the birthday cake again????

So are you coming to the party?????

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

PS Ma Betty I cannot contact you as you don't have an email or blog connected to your name...........

zoom sewing day.....

It was a big day once again and I got lots of sewing done too so even better.......

Its just too wet to do anything around the farm so I signed off for the day........

The garden light catching the drips of water on the trees was pretty.......its was so wet with dew but not raining............this was when I headed out to the Chookshed to start zoom...........

zoom kicked off bright and early as usual and I was working on the binding I had attached on Friday afternoon..........I started stitching it down Friday night and got it finished first up Saturday morning on zoom.............

At one point I could not get out the door due to Bridget blocking the door.........

she loves camping on the deck..........

once that binding was finished I started on Miss Elizabeth............I had found some fabrics in a box that needed to be glued so I did that then I thought I would join them............

by the end of the day I got the three rows joined up............there was only about 10 joined at the start of the day............I realised I need 4 sets of this and I only have 3 sets made so need to cut some more fabrics for a few more hexies.......that would explain why I had spare hexies..........woops.......

&&&&

zoom was a wonderful mix of girls popping in and out all day...........

with so many time zones you never know whos popping in when..........

some stay up really late........others rise super early.........35 girls from 7 countries joined in and it is amazing how wide and varied our topics are during the day..........and we are always learning something about another country............

This was the creek on Friday afternoon and it is the same or slightly higher this morning............

it was such a warm day yesterday I had to turn the air on on in the Chookshed for a few patches........cloudy again this morning...........hoping for some dry days so I can go to town...............

Check out a few new patchwork shops..........

ok best go find a quilt binding, cut some more hexies and photograph a few quilts if I can find mud free spots.............

Have a wonderful Sunday...........

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

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue.......

PS I will be starting a new scrappy churn dash quilt if anyone wants to join me.......theres a few keen.........

Australia Day zoom zoom..........

 I'll be zoom sewing again tomorrow for Australia Day.........

Don't worry if you haven't joined in before be brave and jump on in.......
just flick me a comment and I will send you the link

I've been busy on the sewing machine so will be back to show you what I have been up too soon......

almost got a quilt top together.........

Hope to see you tomorrow........

stay safe.....catch you later......

Chookyblue......

PS It's won't be a long late night sewing night for me so hop on early...........

ZOOM ZOOM Chookshed Party time.........

Its that time girls........the Chookshed's 9th Birthday.

I really have people coming to join me again this year the following weekend and with the full nest of friends I won't have time to chat online so thought I would get the party started a week early........

THIS WEEKEND

Hope some of you would like to join in see times below for your conversion............

Sylvia you better be prepared for a late night.........

Can you believe back in 2014 for the 2nd birthday there was 107 comments on my post about joining the party virtually...........so many bloggers have left blogging now which is sad but there is still a hard core bunch out there reading and blogging away.........which I love.......

Back in the day you just all sewed along and did a post about your sewing after the party..........

Last year we discovered zoom for the Chookshed birthday when we were all locked down due to covid..........I had an absolute ball and this has lead to many more zoom sewing days..........

While I am very fortunate to be able have friends here again this year I know parts of the world are in lockdowns or very restricted lives still due to covid...........

So if you want to join in leave a comment........check out your time zone.........I can only commit to 4hrs I think at this stage so get up early or miss out if you are in Australia.........otherwise it should be Sat afternoon for most parts of the otherside of the world.........

please join in the fun..........if you have not zoomed before be brave and join in it's just like you are sitting around the table with your friends but we are all right there in front of you on the screen and you are part of the whole conversation........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue..........

zoom aka Chookshed Stitchers, binding, epp.....

wow.........where do I start..............what a weekend.........

Since getting home it's been a bit busy with lots of things so I wasn't even sure what I was going to be up to over the weekend but I knew I could not do a big zoom day...........

Being harassed by Lou and someone else pleased Lou harassed me (no names mentioned J*%@&) I had emailed the zoom list late in the week to say keep an eye on the emails if I decide to zoom........

We started off late (for me) on Sat morning and went thru til lunch...........

I worked on the EPP above.....part of Miss Elizabeth......I had worked on it a bit while away.........

Zoom Sat night above..........I missed taking a pic from Sat morning.......bugger........very slack of me........

Sat night I also remembered to tell the girls before we signed off about our new name and logo.........thanks to Lou's daughter for the logo..........its on the sidebar above the names and now we are "Chookshed Stitchers" thanks to Gail for the name........

Its not an exclusive group but it very special.........

So as the conversation developed Sat night we were trying to talk Sylvia into coming to Scrub Stitchin'............

Well guess what.............

Sunday night we had a special inpromtu session as Sylvia is coming...flights are booked.......some of the girls who go to SS were also online........so that was fun............and of course Lou and Raewyn are also joining us again from NZ.........OMG how am I going to keep my excitement down.......its my special time with so many friends.........

Sandy popped in also on Sunday night and the exciting news with Sandy is we got to meet on my trip...........I was stalking her shop sending her messages and she came down and opened up.....lucky me.....

I found a few treasures below and also the binding for a quilt Fairy Girl made....(not in the pic)

We then went out and enjoyed dinner together (that was planned prior)

Was so nice to finally meet we have been friends online for a long time......many many years.........

Sunday night I ran out of sewing and I remember this quilt was on the lounge waiting patiently to have the binding sewn down........I worked on binding a babies quilt Saturday and then frustrated with a couple of corner issues on that I started sewing this one down..........its a big quilt and nearly one side is done...............

This pic is from hols - one of my favourite locations........

And finally to summarise I ended up with lots more zoom then what I thought as the weather wasn't so nice and I jammed a couple of jobs in and even lazed on the lounge both afternoons and Sunday I managed a good sleep.............

to all you girls who I know were sick on the weekend I do hope your better very soon.....there was lots.....lucky it's virtual......

Hope you had a great weekend....

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......