ozcountryquiltingmum

There's a quilt in here somewhere!

The kids were off at Holiday Bible adventure today. I often help but we are due to begin shearing here any day and as I have to cook for at least 10 I couldn't commit.

Shearer's cooking is a very serious business, well Really Serious, if you are my MIL and slightly less dramatic if you are me.

My MIL trained me for the first few years that I was home. Roast mutton every day with full roast vegies, and hot dessert and ice cream. Everything had to be fully cooked hours before the midday deadline and on the plates with a good 10 minutes to spare. She also made a lot of fresh cream cakes every day for morning and afternoon tea (Smoko) to go with the biscuits and a couple of rounds of sandwiches EACH!

Well, since I took over, things are not quite that focused. My MIL was happy to achieve nothing else in the day, I'm not. Aside from having to help shift and draft sheep, and press wool, I also like to fit in sewing (strangely enough) and the kids of course! So now I do all the baking beforehand so it is all ready in the freezer to be pulled out as needed...I do the groceries at once and not every morning at the local shop for 3 times the price, I put my meat on early, get the morning smoko done then wander off and do my own stuff until i realise with a panic that it is after 11am and vegies should be on...and that it's too late for that dessert so pull a sponge out of the freezer, microwave it, cover it with hot caramel sauce and in 8 minutes you have the equivalent of sticky date pudding! The whole thing is a mad rush and it is a very close thing between the men walking in the door and the food appearing on the plate...but I figure that they can wait a few minutes, it wont kill them. (But don't dob me in to my MIL!) A lot of places don't feed their shearers any more, women just aren't at home to cook, but it is tradition that we do, and I quite like the hustle and bustle and the company.

So while the kids were gone for 6 hours I had a finish.

The quilt that has haunted me and taken much longer than necessary is done. This is my Fall quilt for the four seasons swap.

I followed Atet's excellent advice and incorporated my hobbies with exercise.....seeing no-one has come up with a magical fat exerciser while sitting on your couch/sewing table for me yet!(But don't give up, keep trying!) I rode my bike to the canola paddock and played around with our Spring canola crop in the background of my fall quilt.

See, I used an alternative setting I hadn't even thought of when I showed this to you the last time. I decided this suited the recipient, so went for it. I would have normally just given something this size a spray baste, but no, it was going to someone else, who can quilt, so I basted it all beautifully, then stressed about the machine quilting before deciding I am not a hand quilter and can only do my best, so went to post it when i got the kids and..hey, where's the address email gone? Oops, a quick email has gone into Margaret, the organizer, and it should be in the post in double quick time! I am adding in a little book to make up for the lack of quilting expertise, think that will cut it???

Yesterday I incorporated my hobbies with exercise again and went adventuring with the kids. This is our canola crop, sorry to those whose crops are dry in Australia but that has been us the last year or two and you have to enjoy it while you can in this farming business. I love the colour of this crop, perfect for photos, but only flowers a few weeks.

Have a great day, Tracey