Lucy got some fresh air......

After doing nothing for the first 1.5hrs I finally dug Lucy out.............

It's time she got some fresh air having not worked on her since Feb (the last pics I found)

I worked on the bottom right corner pieces...........

I think we had about 26 people pop thru during the day........some popping in and out several times..........I only took this pic........always great to see everyone and have a chat.........

chatter about the Queen was a definite topic........so sad but so pleased she died as Queen.........

So the four Lucy blocks in the bottom corner got bits added to them then added to the quilt.........she is coming together.........then this also needs to happen on the bottom left corner..........and adding a few bits around the edges that are missing........

these trees are in mass flower............no idea what the name is........but they are out in the paddock and there is a thick patch near the front gate so easy to enjoy..........

The country side is pretty with flowers in lots of places..........wild rape growing here.......looked so pretty with the rain clouds forming..........

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

Chookyblue......

update Churn Dash SAL.....

End of June update............

Junes' been pretty hectic....Sheep work, shearing, visitors, trip north, starting a short course and sadly back to work.......loved my long service leave....Lucky I got in and got some sewing done right at the start as not much else has happened sewing wise.........

Over the long weekend I had brought the Churn Dash fabrics in and started cutting them on the end of the bench.....I got some cutting done.......they look a little washed out here they are richer in real life.......we had visitors and it was cold..........

EDIT: This pic above is pretty true to colour. Just not the first photo in this post....... 

Since I got home I thought I better bring the background in and check it then I can start cutting............

woops.........I'm not sure.........do you think the fabrics at the bottom of the pic will stand out enough.......pinks, burgundies, greens, mustard & browns.........

will it work???? might need to make one......

Of course I already shared the double churn dash blocks earlier but since it is the end of the month putting it all together in one post........

While away I got a Lucy block finished.......took me two days in between baby distractions.....

I did work on a section of Miss Elizabeth after this but missing a pic.........

One of the pics from being away.........sunrise on the Barkly......This highway is one lane for maybe 80-90% or more of it..........and we had driven 250km before we passed a vehicle which you mostly have to get off the road to pass.........we had 4 more vehicles in the next 100km...........

I'm sorry I am way behind in blog reading but trying to catch up......no mobile service where we were so I have not read blogs since mid month........I will get there just busy with a few things......I have started with a couple..........slow and steady........

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

Chookyblue.........

Chookshed party for one update.......

Today I finished up the other binding that needed the extra strip added..........then I attached the one above.........

When there is no one to entertain the food is very boring at the Chookshed party........Lots a noodles cuppa soup and some croutons..............

the sun was out today and catching the plants nicely.........you can see a couple of old machines in the bottom of the pic.........

I got two more Double Churn Dash blocks made..........as I am unsure what size this is as in 9,12 or 16 blocks I thought best to get 4 done......yet to cut the actual Churn Dash quilt I am making to start with......there's lots of chatter and excitement about the Churn Dash SAL so that is great.........

A few of you have been sending me pics of different variations............very tempting.........

its going to be interesting to see what everyone makes and the colours they choose...........

Remember 1/4 of your blocks made by end of June......

In my tidying up and sorting out I found some more Lucy fabrics cut out......they are not as dull in real life as here..........but I do wonder what was going with what.........there was a couple more fabrics with them that were not cut so I need to have a good look and nut some blocks out......no I don't need any more but yes I will probably be still making some....

Really its Lou's fault she zoomed in for a cuppa and she was joining some more Lucy......

So what did you make today???

I know a few of you said you were sewing so be lovely to see it.........

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

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......

Australia Day.......

Australia Day zoom went off well......

I worked on Lucy again and got the to filter block and the side filler block attached........The others I added between the last post I shared and now.........My dad's staying and he thinks I'm crazy...... How am I doing this.....I had to bring the bigger piece in to show him....... Then I show my progress after stitching for awhile and his comment was "well that is very slow & it's going to take a long time"....... Lol......i did agree.......

Green and Gold was the order of the day and I wore my green dress.....

You can see some of the girls wore green and gold or hung up some fabric...... It was once again a short session but great fun and Lucy is progressing.....I started attaching the piece above to the main quilt.......

This gorgeous cactus surprised me in the garden.........

Have a great weekend.......

Catch you later......

Chookyblue......

Lucy & zoom......

Sorry to those who missed the quick zoom this morning...... Well when I say quick we did only go for 4 hrs so pretty quick....... Starting at sparrow's fart as usual if you weren't up early in Oz you missed out......Sorry......

This is what this section was up to...... I've added to it during the week since the last photo I shared......

Buggered up in the centre top as that was supposed to be on a side..... Oh well I'll just add some bits to it and it will work......

We added some new girls to zoom also......

Marika and Ellen from Germany and Jennifer from Australia....

This is what I got to this morning...... Since then I have added a block to the top right.......

Monday we finished harvest...... This paddock should be golden stems of ripened crop..... They are there but there should not be all the green grass....... Usually we would be finished harvest in November early December but with all the rain we only got onto the ground this year........ Harvest was very slow.... The grass has grown heaps and caused issues....... The grain we got was down graded due to all the rain but atleast we got it all off......... Thankfully crap wheat is worth something this year........

(An old photo but this is what the paddock should look like once harvest is finished)

So pleased we are done......I suggested we should head the header towards home on Monday afternoon as some rain was forecast. Lucky we did as where the crop is we got 4 inches of rain the next morning........ Only a tiny bit at home and Mr Chooky was able to pick up the header the next morning where we left it and drive the rest of the way home.......

Ok best go......10 mins sleep and back into something..........

Catch you later.....

Chookyblue.........

Rusty collection.......

those who have been on zoom may have seen this pic.....my rusty old machine collection........I have a couple more in another spot also.........9 here so I think I have 11 in total..........always happy to gather a few more.........the one on the front left that still has some board on it I have since sat it on some bricks in the garden....

   see my cute little chickens on the edge of the pavers too.....

I've got a bit more of Lucy joined......

Was thinking we may be able to zoom next Saturday but we have a planned power outage so unless it gets too wet during the week and it gets canned that won't work........so I'll keep working on a plan and get back to you when I work something out.......

pic of the dam...........I've been over here for many trips as I need to start a pump every time I want to water the garden........yesterday there was more of an issue with the old pipes so we got the wheel of death down from the neighbour's and dug trenches to lay new pipe.....what a crap job on a very hot afternoon....I faded and called in assistance.......we would never have got it finished last night..........still got some trenches to dig from the end of the trench to the pump by hand but I will pass on that job.........

ALSO in that job we ran a new power supply for the Chookshed so I can get a bigger air conditioner in there.........OMG I cannot wait for that.........

My poor little air con is just not big enough but runs off normal power.....

Anyway.....that's enough for one post......hope you are all well......

Catch you later......

Chookyblue.......

wow what a start to 2022......

last week was just making a few blocks.......yes I know I achieved but this weekend on zoom I really can see the difference from the start to the finish.........

here we are at the start of the day.........

zoom started bright and early as usual in my time zone......6am i cracked off and very quickly I was joined by lots of the international girls...........

everyone is often head down as they are busy sewing.....

I had to join this filler block in to the section I wanted to add to the main quilt.......

and I had to join this block onto the bottom right...........

...then it was joining joining join.........felt like it was never going to end.........

Found one of the lambs stuck under an old combine..........

finally with me annoying it lots it got out........

as girls pop in and out all day sometimes you suddenly look up and there are 23 girls on the screen....My main co conspirator Lou from NZ assures me we got to 24 for a short time.......that's a record girls........I think this time we had 33 join altogether......

Sunset was pretty spectacular when I had ducked out to move a hose............Sylvia had not long before shared her sunrise in Germany..........so I had to snap this to show the girls..........

few bubbles and cheese were required as I had to keep my stitching stamina up......

working in so many time zones is funny......someone's having breaky someone else is having dinner or lunch.......

this time we had a few newbies.......Jackie and Mary in Canada, Hanne in Norway........I hope I have not missed any newbies........this time we covered Canada, USA, Norway, Germany, UK, New Zealand and Australia.........Hanne and Sharon were surprised we were still on when they got up........Sylvia came back as usual so we stayed on for ages after that chatting and sewing more........it was a late night for me.........we shut down at 10pm.......

But look at my progress........the big gap on the bottom right is not all sewn in............I even started sewing in a block in the gap and I had it about 1/2 in and my thread ran out and so did my ability to keep sewing.........

Another wonderful time with everyone.........love seeing what everyone is working on.........Karen hope you can get your technology sorted so you can sew with us next time....but you are great at keeping the conversation going.......

so now its trying to work out what goes where and joining 2 more rows...........then I will decide what size I want to make the quilt but I will get it to 6x7 before I make a decision..........

Thanks girls for the motivation and inspiration.......

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

Chookyblue..........

Christmas zoom......

What fun yesterday was............carefree and relaxed...........me time......

Just what was needed after the last month........

and refueled I feel so thankyou girls......

bright and early start as usual at 6am (my time).......almost as soon as I was logged in the international girls popped straight in.........

I worked on Lucy yesterday for a change...........I added the creams to the block under my glasses and made some joining blocks..........Kept me busy all day although I don't feel like I achieved alot....I did do more then this pic...........

Later in the afternoon I heard some thunder...........pretty quickly this turned into a storm that hit us........14mm later and a few power flickers I stayed on mute for awhile as the rain on the roof was so loud and I was having internet issues......but it all settled down and I was back to the chatter..........

thanks to those who help kept the conversation going.........but we do have times of silence rare as it may be it is not awkward........we are just all busy sewing.......

Girls popped in and out all day this time from Austalia, New Zealand, Germany, USA, Canada and UK........some stay all day some for long periods others short.....some in and out and in and out......what ever works for you.........

We had 3 new ladies join us which was great.........Welcome Sharon, Julie and Sharmayne........I will add them to my left sidebar shortly (please check your own link is correct).....

Don't forget everyone should be on the sidebar except a couple of my friends who come to the Scrub Stitchin Retreat that don't have blogs........

A few popped in just to say hi and send Christmas New Year wishes..........

I'm out in the Chookshed again for a short time today.........

get this post done and sort a few bits and pieces........

I feel inspired.........not commited to making a list for 2022 Karen but might pop some blocks up on the wall that I can play with daily and see what happens by the next time we blog.........which my friends should be next weekend since I am avoiding the covid world.........

If all goes to plan Sunday morning for Aust/NewZealand, Sat afternoon various times for USA/Canada and Sat evening for UK/Germany or get up early Sunday morning and join us........i am hoping it will be a big day once again..........

new blogger are welcome it is not a select group..........

I love the companionship, the mixed conversation of so many tops and learning bits about other countries.....we are a big mix of styles, techniques, skill levels and it just works........people are willing to share knowledge, provide support and actively encourage others to take on new projects for which we will cheer from the sidelines but hold no responsibility for (wink wink)

Thankyou blog girls........

I promise I will be catching up on your blog posts..........

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

Chookyblue.........

Storms, Lucy, nest building.......

Well I wasn't planning a break that long but life gets busy.......things happen good/bad and days wizzzzzzzz by........suddenly it's as good as a month since I blogged...........

What's happened since then.......ran over my phone with the lawn mower....that's now unrecognisable and in a hundred pieces.......

lost quite a few pics but I think that was all..........its the hassle of a 4hr round trip to a shop to get a new one that suited my needs.......and then remembering all the apps you had on the old phone and adding them and logging into them on the new one.........

a storm one day last month............

This month so far for November we have had 55mm and its been very mild.....more like early spring then late getting close to summer..........

Today I would have said it wasn't far from a wintery day........

I didn't light the fire but I did think about it........

I had been playing with some cream bits being added to Lucy blocks....or making the cream units......nothing had happened for weeks now........

I've been following this Willy Wagtail nest and was stoked to find these pics here as I had started this post mid Oct I thought I had lost these pics on my old phone........

they built this nest within a week......2 little willies were so busy.........its a solid well made nest.........

they have babies who have now hatched and not far from leaving home and I have been taking pics daily as they are nested about shoulder height straight out from my bedroom.......

OK must go.......

trying to work out if I can zoom sew next weekend.........

not confirmed yet but keep an eye out if your interested........

Catch you later.......

Chookyblue....

Lucy update......

As I said I would add a Lucy update here it is...........

I think she has enjoyed getting a breath of fresh air and I know I have enjoyed working on her again............she been a journey thru lots of good and bad times........so in some ways what will I do when she does get finished............don't worry that won't happen this week.........and we need to end in a good time and that isn't now so it might take some time..........

Its been so long I forgot what I was up too......maybe a few years since she has been alive.........

I have some blocks that don't have background added so got a few of those ready.........

These are the background blocks and I have 2 full ones to make like above and several edge ones to finish.......if I have the blocks like this and the one above I just keep joining blocks............no other pieces need to be fitted in...........

So here she is before we went away..........(which seems like a million years ago)

See the big section on the bottom right..........While away I got that together and a few blocks needed some work to get them to the joining stage so very happy with the progress.........I have since added a block to the bottom left of that unit and located what block goes in the gap up the side......so once I sew it in I will attach this unit to the main quilt............then I will be well over 1/2 way............on the home straight some might say but there is another 2 rows to add on and i'm still not decided on the final size until I get more together and lay Lucy on a bed.............

Is this some motivation for you Lou@Manxgirl Living and Crafting Downunder 

Mind you i'm so far behind she may have her quilt done she's such a busy girl......but she may have been lead astray by the squirrel once again and off on another project........

Apologies for not replying to my last post.......thanks for the advice........life has been a little challenging and now we are in lockdown........I may actually be working from home.........who knows...i'm on a few days leave........I was supposed to work from home last year and it lasted 8 days.........but the numbers are not great......worse again today regionally so I doubt we will get to come out of lockdown next week.........

Take care and stay safe..........

Chookyblue.....