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

Happy New year!

Okay girls, thanks for all who played along- if you are tuning in for a winner....well, better give me until tomorrow!!
We had a little New Year get together here last night...and while it was half of the almost 42 degrees celcius that saw us all in the pool until after 2 am last year...it was still 4 am before I hit bed last night and seeing it is already midnight again I will wait for a little more coherency for drawing winners!

But, who needs coherency for blogging...heck, it's never stopped me before!!!

I am well and truly on the New year resolution track, my 1200 messages in my inbox are gone, as are almost equal numbers in bloglines feeds...I feel less cluttered already and I have had some great catch ups, with a good few more to follow for while I am supervising kids in the pool..(THEY may be happy to swim until 10 pm at about 14 degrees externally but I am not!!!)

They did get out in time for sparklers at midnight, I had a little play with my camera and forgive me for the indulgence but I thought these were pretty cute!

But I am getting way ahead of myself! Before having a party I had to do a few chores...

-well, this wasn't a chore. My sister doesn't sew and my DN Millie loves her hand me down dressups I made my girl, but really needed a good party one, so I came up with this. I mailed it and it got there in time for her to wear it not just to the dress up birthday it was intended for but to their New Year party. She refused to give in to the fact it was a beach theme... the dress was NOT coming off! Notice the judicious use of shirring elastic...the tute is in my sidebar...do you know that is the most commonly googled thing that gets people to my blog!

Now, here was the chore...or part of it!!

If you are going to talk about cleaning and sorting ....and ask bloggers about resolving to clean and sort.... you actually need to start yourself!!

Thus (isn't 'thus' a great word... I remember my Year 12 English lit. teacher telling me off for writing 'thus' and 'mayhap'....said they were old fashioned words for a modern girl..I said, "but I don't want to be modern, I want to be in Regency England with the Duke of Avon from a Georgette Heyer romance trying to woo me."... think that meant he didn't mention the language again!!!! Poor man wasn't game!)

Anyway, thus...I ended up with 4 hours until people were due to show and the entrance to my home looked like -who am I kidding, it filled most of the loungeroom!!......

wait...are you really ready...I am working on the theory that women don't like other women who are really tidy because it makes them feel inadequate...well, you are really gonna like me!!!!

That is most of the baby nursery that needed to be taken over to the sewing room...all the little things I have grabbed and dragged across in the last few months that MUST go back so i can open the nursery door!! We wont talk about the sewing room door, that project starts tomorrow and I am really not sure whether you are ready for the before picture!

On the good side, all this organizing has helped me find out what I am!! No, no, I'm not being deep...I have quite often been asked to describe myself in 3 words, it seems to be quite a general thing in a new situation and i am hopeless!! I don't know where to start and I certainly can't contain myself to 3 words!! And what do you say, do you build yourself up-discuss the good bits, or put yourself down...TOO HARD FOR ME!!!

But i sat down for 2 minutes in between loads to read the latest Notebook magazine. They had an interview with Kristin Scott Thomas..who I love in 4 weddings, and they asked her to describe herself in 3 words. Well, I think she used slightly more than 3, but hers is now my new answer...I may even put it in my sidebar if that will ever let me reload it!!

And the quote..."Chaotic but well-meaning!"

Isn't that just great....as I look around at farm bookwork, school minutes, card orders, pool toys and ironing (and that's just in the office!)-with chooks trying to get in the back door and lambs and kittens in the side, I am thinking I may even turn it into a t-shirt!

I had better got to bed but you will be pleased to know that by the time guests arrived that whole area was spick and span. Thank goodness no-one had to go in the sewing room!

Hope your New year was great. Here's to a good one in 2009

Until tomorrow... Cheers Tracey

I love to clean.

Actually

that was kind of a lie...or really a statement that needs qualifying because I don't like to "clean" clean.

You know, the every day stuff you have to do because it is required and expected that your family don't live in filth. I hate that cleaning, it just seems like such a waste of useful sewing time.

But, I do it.... about 50 weeks a year.

2 weeks a year I get sick or life gets really hectic and my DH and I agree that the nice lady who lives near us and LOVES to clean could use some extra work. Well, tomorrow is Valentine's day and a house cleaner is so much more fun to me than flowers...also I lifted, carted and sold well over 250 pea straw bales last week before a nice nursery man bought the rest (thank you SOOOO much!), so I felt a little bonus could be fitted into the budget.

So, guess what, yesterday while the nice lady cleaned the house, I did fun cleaning, the cleaning I love! I sorted out my sewing room..and while it may not be perfect it is a lot better than this!

Far too much running in and running out had been occurring!

The good thing about cleaning, other than being able to focus on your work afterwards, is that you find all the stuff you have been missing ...or even forgot you had.

Here is a selection.....

A complete Nancy Halvorsten kit I got for my birthday a few years ago.

The Gingerbread House pattern I found on eBay after not being able to find anything like May Britt's Japanese houses patterns....and an order from the FQS that got sat under something big-it is mainly Spring Fling.

We also have my red and whites for when I was going to be really organized next time I made Clare more blocks...so now I can make even more blocks!

My pinking shears- that were in the magazine rack! And my clear open toe applique foot that I was just about to replace.-see I could now tell my DH that getting a house cleaner was an economy because it saved money!!!

Also found my friendship blocks from Cynthia's swap. I remember I put these down to try and think about what I could do about the points not meeting...... I think I had better just sew it and not worry.

I also found my favourite pin cushion and needle case, I received it for a birthday swap a few years ago. Look how cute it wraps up......

An even happier note than all these treasures to finish on, is that now my main sewing desk looks like this-

So much easier to be creative when your work area is free of clutter....next post you may get to see all the flimsies I have found!

Have a great day...and suggest you get a cleaner instead of flowers or chocs-feels much more decadent and is far less fattening!

Have a great day, Tracey