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?

A calf and a shirt quilt.... or two.

Okay, so once again Monday has magically turned to Thursday and have I checked bloglines and what everyone is up to...it's coming!! Hopefully after the weekend "time" will miraculously appear...kind of like those cleaning fairies I am waiting for who will make my house ready for the Church ladies morning coffee that is at my house on Saturday morning!!

Congratulations or commiserations to the US ladies depending on their leanings. An unbelievable amount of coverage of your election here, live feeds on lots of channels and an incredible amount of information. Almost more so than with our own elections.

I can't help being reminded of the Goodies episode where Tim and Bill take on each other as a type of Evita Margaret Thatcher vs. Che for the leader of Britain and the telecast is so engrossing no-one shifts away from the TV to vote! Those boys were way ahead of their time.

The thing that fascinates me is that you vote on a Tuesday. We vote on Saturday as people have it free. The lines look enormous, do you get time off work to vote or how do you manage it? I also have trouble getting my head around voting not being compulsory, we would be fined if we were over 18 and didn't vote here.

Anyway, enough of that, I have had a few emails about my last post, mainly regarding the shirt quilts. I also am non the wiser on who my swap buddy is. You will need to trawl back through my posts but you will find plenty of quilts made from my shirt stash. A couple I still had around here were.....

This one that I made up and hangs in my bathroom.

And I thought i would introduce you to the latest 'sucker of my time'...in a good way... Harry. Harry proved a most accommodating display board..

for my shirt chook quilt.

.......mostly

...except when doing his rodeo exercises...

And finally Harry got his reward, still enjoying his shirt quilt.

The problem, (or good thing depending on your mood) with having a coffee morning is that you also need to tidy your garden. When I get gardening I wonder why I don't do it more, then I get sewing and wonder why I have a garden....... Perhaps I need to be like the lady I met after my weekly attempt to hold back the fat tide at the gym yesterday...she said her hobbies were exercising (!!!)...and just stick to one thing. But I can't see it happening...especially the exercising!

I was repotting succulents and unfortunately this one was in a round pot and there was only one choice-

-the radical one!!

I thought it's roots were well worth a picture, they reminded me of something off Doctor Who, something that would come creeping around a door jamb to eerie music whilst the Doc and his latest assistant took off in another direction to investigate where the people were. I have just decided there is far too much British tv in my past!

So off I go to in the vain hope that those fairies visited as i typed! Have a great day, Tracey

The week in review.

I know I am in trouble when even my DH tells me to stop and smell the roses! Well, I didn't think that my week was just too bad-just full. But I did then add in a full night of cricket watching when Australia beat south Africa in the Semi finals and followed it up with a big day of catering, fete organisation, packing bookclub orders, school storytime, chiropractor and Auskick footy for the kids. I fell into bed about 11 o'clock that night after serving supper at our church hosted Pr*menade of Sacred music and slept very well.

Big news here, last night it remembered how to rain, some people got close to 2 inches in our dry old state, we are closer to half an inch but it is a nice feeling to know it can come. My kids are presently in the bath, on a Saturday morning-Why? Well they went out to kick their footballs and I missed a great photo opportunity because they were so excited about the puddles that they sat and played in them! They turned up at the front holding ALL their clothes in their arms.

Not a lot of sewing this week,but while waiting for the cricket I made bags and purses, the purses have all found homes, this bag is a prototype, I love the fabric, ordered some more after I saw the results. While the cricket was on, when i was back in the house, I baked more of Kim's apple cake, did my ironing and finished my Lone Star. I am only giving you a peek at the back before I sat and took out the templates, I am hoping to have it appliqued for it's big unveiling very soon.

THANK YOU to all of my commenters on the last post. I have printed them all out and DD and DS are going to cut them up and draw them out to see who gets the prizes. It was great to hear from a few "lurkers" as I then get the chance to visit new blogs. Stay tuned!

Finally. I have weaned 3/4 of my bucket reared babies. They didn't seem to be finding the water in their new paddock so this is me tricking them into following me to the trough by carrying their feeder. At one point I had 13 behind me all sucking on my clothes, then the kids came and they just annoyed them.

AHHH....cool, clear water.

I finished Sandra Dallas' Persian Pickle club the other day, it is now being devoured by my friend Robyn. I am well into the first Elm Creek quilts book and really enjoying it.

I love this quote, "Time, space and lots of friends-that's what you need to be a successful quilter." p.118. So true I reckon,but also often hard to achieve, you need space to think big! The time factor is also important...in 2 weeks I will have plenty (well that is the theory!) But the friends thing is really the most important, it's not much fun making quilts if you have no-one to see them and no-one to talk about them with. The internet is great for those of us who can't always catch up with other quilters weekly. YAY and gratitudes for the 'net!....and friends here and not here ....and cricket....and sewing spots no matter how big......and crazy kids...and caring husbands....and a drop of something alcoholic on occasion ...and even half an inch of rain. Have a great day!

If an apple a day keeps the Doctor away......

Then he is never coming here. Have a little look at the apples that have been given to me for cooking. I already have 22 foot of strudel in the freezer and I can see plenty more coming. I also resurrected my dehydrator and have that drying some as I write. I am thinking fruit leathers as well or I will never be able to use my laundry again.

How are the calves? Going very well as you can see from the most recent pictures. I am a little fixated on Jim Shore resin figures with the quilts incorporated in them at present so I chose an old sampler quilt and tried for a few similar shots. If they would have stopped trying to eat the quilt it would have been a lot easier! But I think these couple of photos worked OK.


Worked on the pink floral quilt for an entire hour today, I would have finished but I sewed two rows together wrong and am now about to unpick.(Not rip!) So I suppose I had better stop putting it off. Adios, Tracey

ps, In about 55 minutes it will be 12 years since an optimistic me married a fairly well confirmed bachelor and it worked out better than even I hoped for, here's a pic!

My babies.

Some photos of the new calves to share today. There ended up being 19, I must be a sucker for punishment! I realised that today, when I was doing my best rodeo impression and had to basically straddle each one to get them to suck on their milk calfeteria. That is usually the case on the first try and they then know what to do next feed but it took an hour and a half (as did I mention there are 19!) Some are close to 3 weeks old and very strong. I will be heading for a long hot shower very shortly!

The kids 'helped' feed which basically entailed them chasing the dog but I can't complain as DD actually made pancakes from scratch for breakfast this morning while her mother may have been sleeping in. I went to bed amazingly early for me but I just can't put The Time Traveller's Wife down. Can't believe it was the author's first book either.

Did some shopping at the Fat Quarter shop last night-just popped over there for a little buy-up (or as good as.) Also did a little bit of damage at the Jim Shore site as well. I'll look forward to sharing the purchases. It still amazes me that I can be shopping in the US from my little farm in Australia but then everything about the Internet amazes me.

Happy sewing while I go and rest my weary body before starting more strudel and pickles.

ps. My Essendon Bombers, who languished near the bottom of the AFL football ladder last year have started with a very unexpected win. At least that is one!