Chick gets a lift.

Ever tried getting a picture of a chicken on a calf??

Or is that still on your bucket list?

Now, before you say, Why?

...Say, well why not?



This chicken could probably come up with a few reason why not!!!

There are many other reasons you don't see many chick and calf pictures......

especially if you let them walk in the calf's feed first-

...(and how gross is that dribble-my chick should run and run hard!!)

The main problem is the lack of suitable chick saddle.

"If I am going to continue to be utilized for commercial purposes i demand a stunt double!!"

Would that be called a side saddle then?

How did I go?

Why does everything take longer than planned?

Okay ladies...the winners are in! My junior assistants LOVE it when i have a giveaway, they take the drawing process incredibly seriously....and tonight they decided upon Quilted Simple and Julie at bushbabyjag. I would love to tell you it was solely due to the wisdom of their New year's resolutions but I sadly fear it has a little to do with the fact they have chooks in their profile pictures....I shall ask no questions of my officials and be told no lies!

Well done girls, drop me an email.

I found a lot of new blogs from those comments, always great fun with a giveaway. Welcome to all of you and I am pleased you are enjoying the snippets from the farm.

Speaking of the farm, I seem to be having another surge of babies, very few of which are expected. I was walking past the haystack on New Year's day and heard some characteristic new mother clucking-yes, the cluck and "chat" from a hen with babies under her is completely different to without. )Just like humans really!) Of course she had hidden her nest (...of 24!!!) up the top of the stack and behind the bales where they couldn't get out and there were babies dropped and trapped everywhere. It took me a good hour of hanging upside down but I retrieved all the chickens...transferred a few neglected hatching eggs to another cluck and put the other 10 eggs left who look due over the course of the next week under the turkey!! I can see a future in foster care should farming ever go bad!!

Here she is...the perfect exponent of "ruffled feathers!!" She had issues with my rescue!

And here she is with the one who walked out with babies last week......Mums on the run...

I also forgot all about the shelly baby at my door when I was mentioning the invading pets the other night.

The kids were sure that this fellow wanted to watch TV with them in the house...

I was of course, then left to babysit him in a box while they jumped on the trampoline.

seems he really did want to watch TV...in the loungeroom not my kitchen!

And very determined he was too.....

Success!! For at least a minute!

And on the resolutions note...this morning I was starting the Sewing room at 8am...well, I did manage to start at 9.30 am-I think I forgot I had those things known as children!

I had some expectation of Hour 1, Hour 2, etc update shots.....

Here is the start......not much room to get in the door!

And everyone knows the only way to really clean is to get everything that's not on a shelf , out

Well, by 7.00 pm the outside was starting to clear but the idea of more a Day 1 progress photo seems more sensible than Hour 1!! Who knew assembling my new cutting table with just a screwdriver and no drill would take me 2 hours...and hanging the curtains so the fabric doesn't fade probably another 2...and shifting all the furniture around so that every stitch will be a joy....another 2....and sweeping and washing and dusting and throwing out the rubbish....

At least I know day 2 will be just on the tubs of fabric-and I am finding a heap of really great stuff that I thought was lost! Knowing me, by Day 3 I will be saying, "how about I just turn all this fabric I can't find room on the shelves for into quilts!!" and there will be another dozen flimsies waiting for action!

Perhaps, seeing the sewing room needs a name I should make it something like the 'Chaotic cubby.'..certainly it aint no H.Bailey Sugar Shack...maybe by tomorrow? (Ha Ha)

Any other name ideas and how's your sorting coming?

Have a great day, Tracey

Second families

Remember my first babies of the Spring? You saw hatching pics and early pics, I thought you may like the update 7 or 8 weeks on...

a few changes aren't there! About half inherited their mother's 'frizzlenessness" and the rest have normal feathers. They are a scream to watch around the yard, they look like they would be better served as dish cloths!

As you can see their Mother has long since given them up, she has actually already moved to the new family and is sitting on 10 eggs under a shelf in my garden shed.

The moving onto the second family is tricky, in people as well as chooks.

My big brother is a grandfather a few times over already but a few years ago his wife left him and it is not in his make up to be by himself so after a few disasters he has found a hard working dairy farmer lady, (with 4 kids to join his grown 3)...and early in the week they made it a round 8! At 39 and 45 this is up to them, but once again I am reminded of the 'Anne's House of Dreams' book (part of the Green Gables series), where Anne first meets Miss Cornelia who announces she is making special things for a baby because, "it isn't to blame for being the eighth." Well, I feel like that as well, I think all babies deserve some fuss, so I am working on this blanket-(even though the baby's Dad only punched me everytime he passed me in the house growing up AND used to sit on me and force me to listen to "old Shep" because it made me almost hysterical with tears...he thought that was hilarious!)

This is only the top, hopefully get it finished tomorrow.

I wonder if there is any chance my brother and his partner will equal this present favourite and make it 10?

(Perhaps just for his sister's quilts!)

Have a great day, Tracey

Chook blocks.

The Church ladies morning coffee went well, 20 ladies and their kids came, the weather stayed nice and the trading table made over $350! Some of the leftover plants stayed here, and I bought a few, DH thinks we will need to expand the garden.

Having a quieter day today after all the rishing, may even take the kids into the Clone Wars movie this afternoon....(even though there is not the slightest chance of Harrison Ford!)

I love all the international relationships you form with a blog, I have had a few interesting emails this week from different parts of the world, wanting to ask about something or check on instructions..or just chat about patchwork.

Carol in the US wanted some closer chook block pictures and I thought there may be someone else out there who wanted them as well, so here are a few i have.

These two are from the shirt quilt. when you look closely you can see it is really just a few variations on the flying geese block idea. I appliqued the beak on but you could have a seam along there and sew it as a half square traingle type arrangement, that would save a lot of time. It is all in 2 1/2 inch size units. The comb is actually double layered fabric for a bit of extra oomph, sewn into the seam below. I think I intended appliquing around it once but prefer the loose, 3 D look and as it hangs it hasn't frayed. Felt would do well for this, or applique.

Here is another version of the same block, with additions like a stitched beak, appliqued comb and stitched wing.

These are some other chook blocks. This is just a flying geese block with comb attached in the seam, stitched legs and button eggs.

another variation.

applique possibility

another applique possibility

...and another variation, completely free!

She wandered out of my DH's workshop yesterday morning. She hopped back on her nest last night and I found her...she had just sat there quietly for 21 days with no-one any the wiser!

Off to the movies, have a great day, Tracey

Out in the garden

Oh the excitement, the tingle in the toes, the sheer joy......

Tomorrow the rest of the family's team plays in the Grand Final of the Australian football league. This is our equivalent of the Superbowl. I am kinda excited, it's not quite the same when it isn't your actual team, the family team won last year after over 40 years of no premierships. I was right on board then, this year i particularly dislike the opposition, too many 80's memories of them winning everything!! So I will probably board the bandwagon and say, 'Go Cats!' quite enthusiastically.

But, that's not the only excitement I am sharing. I get a huge amount of joy out of a girl who hatches a baker's dozen so i even snuck out in the middle of the night to get hatching pics for you....knew those fluffy silky frizzle cross feathers would be good for sitting.

I just never get sick of this-mammal babies are pretty impressive...but the whole hatching from an egg thing...wow!

I then attempted to get the perfect chicken picture to share...i will never be a professional chicken photographer that's for sure-look at these tries.

Do they have no concept of "stand still and smile or I will withhold the chick crumble??"(-works on the kids..lol!!)

This is my favourite.

They are all out and about today in their little fox proof wire cage. I have got my kids back...with interest...so they and their cousins have spent a good part of today just sitting watching the chicks meet their world.

When I dug up all my front garden months ago I dumped a lot of the arum lilies into pots and threw them in a corner with a few other pots, empty, dead and otherwise. I wondered past that today and spotted colour -in my favourite shade of pink.

Now last year someone told me that cyclamen are bulbous and will regenerate. (Bit of Doctor Who there-the regeneration bit and the fact he definitely used to battle some things that sounded a lot like cyclamen!)

.

But I'm getting distracted.....Closer inspection found a cyclamen pot, well and truly neglected, that just goes to prove what I found out last year....that I have thrown out a lot of good cyclamens in the past because I thought they were dead and not dormant. It is now flowering beautifully at my front door after 12 months of neglect. My Mum is going to freak because she has thrown out a good 2 pots of "dead" cyclamen a year, treats them almost like cut flowers. Who knew this was a "things you can learn about your garden blog"!!!I'll have to ask for more pay!

Have a great day... and for peace and harmony in the home, GO CATS!!

Requests

Hi, need to ice a heap of slice with chocolate icing and I need to know what chocolate icing recipe you use to get a shiny icing that is still cutable-mine tends to crack or lose its shine, mine is a predominantly melted cooking chocolate plus a bit of butter recipe.

Also, who had the tutorial or even the picture of that cute round pincushion you make, then you whip DMC type thread around to kind of quarter it? (all the DMC threads come up through the middle) Around the diameter of a coffee cup or however big you want to go.

I don't know what it is called and writing all that in Google will not get results!

Now, for the information of the competition enterers and whoever else is interested, here are the chook vital statistics.

#1 -a silky/barred plymouth rock cross rooster
#2 -silky/pekin cross rooster
#3-purebred bush chook rooster!!
#4-predominantly pekin hen with a tiny bit of silky
#5-bush chook frizzle cross hen
#6-bush chook frizzle cross hen (the rooster is very virile and easy to pick his kids!)
#7-silky pekin cross rooster
#8-THE frizzle rooster...he may be small......but it's the quiet ones you need to watch!
#9-silky hen
#10-frizzle silky cross hen
#11-silky pekin cross rooster
#12-frizzle rooster crossed with bush chook.

And finally, because this is meant to be a quilting blog (!!!) here is the little stitchery I made for last Sunday. It is attached to a card with double sided tape so can be hung after the event. I stitched it during a report at convention-I like to have something to stitch, stops me from falling asleep!
Have a great day, please drop me a line asap with the queries, Thanks, Tracey

Pick your chook!

I have been asked many times just how many chooks (or chickens for you o/s people) that I have.

My husband quite often asks the same question as well....usually when they have been in his sheds.
So the other night I did a count of the ones that roost in the shed or somewhere I can find them and I have a number for you.....just don't tell my husband though, promise, have you promised? Ok then,
it's 97!!!!
And seeing life is busy this week with minimal sewing I am going to introduce you to Tracey's top 10 ...or 12...of the most unusual. I breed for unusuality. We may as well call it a competition, just for fun, and one lucky voter might just win a prize! You can get all creative and even name the ugly one of your choice -or who it reminds you of. That will keep me entertained when i need a break from strudel..or jam..or slice...or making pot holders!! Have fun, you have until Saturday, 10th May!

#1


#2


#3

#4

#5

#6

#7



#8

#9


#10


#11

#12

Have fun! Tracey

It's raining....rain!

It never remembered how to rain like this in Winter, but here it is late Spring and it seems to be kicking an all over the country.

Oh boy, is it ever raining.

Over 4 inches here in 2 days, a huge % of that was last night, with lightning, thunder and huge winds thrown in. Thank goodness we had not cut all of our hay yet, it would be underwater.

Like this barley is.......

and these chickens were.....

-miserable!
DH woke this morning and said he had better go and check the sheep, I said that the good shepherds looked after their sheep in the middle of the night. Well, they aren't sheep, but they are my responsibility anyway. I donned wet weather gear at 1 am and went out to check my babies and they were copping it from above and rising groundwater as well, many were about had it so I had to move them into cages and into the kitchen under reading lights. I sat with them until I could see them starting to preen and this morning they are as good as new. More than can be said for me!

-happier this morning

Luckily DH's stone bridge is holding up well under the torrent and the water should all hopefully be dispersing soon.

The wild weather knocked over my favourite Yukka/succulent pot as well, I foresee shopping.

The weather didn't stop the morning coffee ladies yesterday though, they are tough! At least 18 with another 18 children showed up, we made $200 from the trading table and had a lovely morning, the kids were great and didn't seem to really miss the backyard, playing well in the lounge together. I was only disappointed that after all that gardening no-one could go outside but as they say, at least that is done!!

I turned an experimental block into another experimental chook, it wasn't allowed to be sold! Both kids came out to the trading table with their money boxes to buy my chooks, sad when you have to buy them , I said I'd make them some later, but no, the cash came out.

Well, better go and swim out to the clothes line and at least get some school uniforms into the drier, you would have thought forecasters could have picked up 4 inches worth of rain and warned us.....but no!

Have a great day, Tracey

Gratitudes-

-rain, can't be fussy about volume

-a warm house

- photo albums that are now only 12 months behind after a few hours work last night.

-DD happy and pain free..