Christmas!! Again..

Merry Christmas!!

Some of you Northerners may only be just getting going, but for me it is already Boxing Day. I have performed in a Church drama, driven a round trip of over 200 kms to my family for lunch and hosted DH's extended family here for tea...looking forward to a restful day of Australia in the Boxing Day cricket tomorrow while eating left over prawns and desserts! bliss.

Can't go to bed without showing you the lovely gift i received in Chookyblue's SSCS this year, it is from Andrea, Welsh quilter.

Beautiful work, Andrea, and perfectly chosen, Thank you!! Can't show you mine as it may not be opened yet...soon!

Some other shots....My girl made two Gingerbread houses, from scratch!

The poopin reindeer helped demolish this one!


A true "family" shot of my brother with nieces and nephews...some stubborn, some uncooperative, some happy, some sad. it takes all kinds to make a family, but all equally as important. Hope your day was great, back soonest! Tracey

Christmas is a step closer...

My present has arrived for Chookyblue's secret santa swap, it is from Welsh quilter, Andrea, who i have known a few years on here. I have only opened my ornament, as requested, and am waiting for Christmas day for the rest, thanks Andrea, very excited! Here is the ornament.

Onto a few photos for you..

A gymnastic caterpillar on Queen Anne's lace...

My SSCS presents!

A present i made for our Quilter's breakup, it is a card holder with plastic pocket.. shocking pic!

My son came into tell me there was good light and ladybirds piggybacking...

Gotta love an inch long baby praying mantis

And here is my shearing photos in "Downunder" magazine. They have asked for some more.

Some black and white succulents

...and a hatching chicken....lots of those happening around here, 13 today!

I have now photographed almost 25 woolsheds for the book, so staying well out of trouble. My kids broke up school last night, boy is deputy school captain for next year and DD won the service award, so everyone was happy.

have a great day, catch you very soon, Tracey

Leave you with this year's decorated hay bales at our local annual laternenfest.

Sheep and more sheep

Hi, anyone still out there...can't believe that it is 6 weeks since I last posted already. If I tell you what i have been busy with will you forgive me?? The camera!! So many photography jobs to be fitted in around the normal stuff. The only sewing is for Chooky's secret santa swap and of course I can't show that....oh and some chook wheat bags and pot holders, but forgot to photograph them...amazingly!
Shearing has been and gone for another year. I took a lot of photos and posted a few on the net and now have a two page layout in a magazine in December. Very excited about that. That has started another photography project...I finished cooking for our woolshed, loaded the wool and the truck and I headed off visiting other woolsheds...with an idea of a book. Have done well over a dozen sheds already and am getting very good responses to my photos so in about a year....or 100 woolsheds, hopefully a book!
Here are a few of our of ram shearing to give you a preview.

Not just taking photos of sheep though, a few other things thrown in for you...

Getting close to summer at the beach...

Last night's sunset after my boxing class.

My frizzle rooster who is belted up and friendless in my chookyard...well except for me.

And a dandelion...big one...from the back of our lake

Also found and relocated this young fox.

I'll leave you with a woolshed photo i can share because you can't see a face...hope you are all great....Tracey

It's spring...again!

Do you think you realise you aren't a teenager anymore when you hear yourself sounding like your mother??

"Where has the year gone, where have the weeks gone...where do the days go?" "Time just flies by!" "Soon be Christmas already, where'd that year go?!"

I don't think she had the answers and I sure as heck don't have! Spring is here already, there are many signs in the yard...

baby ducks

baby kangaroos

and bees

but most importantly Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas swap. I missed last years...and believe me, i really missed it. Christmas didn't feel quite the same. I am back for this year, think that will make it 4/5. Seems like the 5th Spring I have spent as a blogger, once again I can feel those quotes of Mum's coming on...


So, what's life thrown since last post....it has finally stopped raining and by working around the clock the past 3 weeks DH has managed to get over 500 acres of crop in, at least 500 acres more to go in, but shearing is approaching rapidly and we may run out of time. It is really too late for the crops we are planting, but you can't give up, we have to hope the rainy conditions may last into summer.




I have therefore been checking sheep and cattle, chasing around after kid's sport and taking all the football club photos...with some paid ones for the local paper! Big news also, was my girl winning Coaches trophy at netball presentation,






My boy and I headed off to Mt Buller for a week on school snow trip,

...and my boy playing on the Melbourne Cricket Ground at half time on AFL match day..




With the local football season coming to a close last weekend, i am very hopeful of lots of sewing. Here are some optimistic recent purchases...can you tell hancock's had free postage???

Little golden book cats, cat fabrics, trains....

I love the black knitting sheep! And the chooks of course.

Of course, the only question now is where to start????

Have a great day, back soon, I promise!

Colourful Fridays...leaves.

A quick post this morning, massive week and today isn't much better. Snatched a few minutes to take some photos for Daisy Quilt's, Colourful friday challenge. today is leaves. A little bleak for good leaves around here, so this was the best that I could do...
The underside of a leaf ...think a young ivy.

More ivy...with some digital enhancing for fun!

Next in the search I found all this growth on what is probably a century old fruit tree. Hidden amongst the lichen are some leaf buds...which hopefully gets this in on a technicality. The lilies are sending out new leaves. And on the final note, we get to Archie and one of the cats...


And that is what i had better do, cheers, Tracey
...just found the typo in the above pic but haven't time to fix it!

It's ugly but has personality....

I LOVE making quilts out of used items. The joy of seeing a heap of old shirts turn into a quilt can't really be described to someone who isn't a quilter. I love finding fabrics from Op shops and rehoming them into a useful item. Of course I also like making extra pretty quilts, with all the latest fabrics that match..but they generally disappear to some raffle donation or baby or niece.

The scrappy quilts tend to stay here, normally because a little bit of extra love has gone into the making. There is a new addition made for my boy's recent birthday. He is a big lover of quilts, always likes to be wrapped warm and cosy and takes a big interest in the construction. He liked the clothes string quilt I made his sister for her birthday last year, and I have been racking my brain to work out what to do for him. Most of his clothes were unispiring to me and were passed to his cousins and my friend's boys. I started collecting up his t-shirts and in June at retreat i got serious!

I cut the front from all the collected t-shirts, then pinned them to a pre-quilted foundation piece. To give stability i crazy (string) pieced parts of his cotton shirts in the corners, using some of his Dad's shirts as well, one he is holding him in as a baby, another he wears in a date photo with me. I found an old football jumper from his team...in it went....his last ribbon from the local show found a spot..and I transferred some favourite sport photos onto fabric as well. A few boy type strips went in for good measure. I did some basic trimming to get at least some of the blocks to the same width and it turned into kind of t-shirt eye-spy! It has a very warm flannel backing and I added a polar fleece cuddle border to the top. Like I said, it is ugly from a purely aesthetic view, but he doesn't think there is anything more beautiful, 'cos it has personality! We have to keep cuddling under it and he keeps explaining to me why his is better than his sister's!

Here is hers, just for the sake of equal parenting. i love hers, it managed to be pretty, but then it didn't have to have star wars and geelong t-shirts in it!


Hope your day is great!

Colourful fridays...(quilty) triangles

Another colourful Friday hosted by Daisy quilts. This week's theme is triangles. I haven't been outside much, far too wet here for wandering around in search of triangles (i might sink!)...so I stuck to inside. Sewing related triangles were the only ones I found. I'm sure when i follow the links to everyone else's photos in a minute i will see great ideas! These traingular chooks (chickens) have always been favourites of mine, therew should be table runners just of them...but whoever gets time for tablerunners for themselves?!

I have made hundreds of these little chooks for school and Church markets, these are the ones the kids wouldn't let do. Triangle beaks!


My daughter made this one...a little differently.

This is in my site heading picture, starting to fade I noticed when i took the photo. it is no wonder it lives on the kitchen couch and wraps at least one family member every day. Was made from my very early stash, 8 years ago, lots of triangles.


And another oldie. This hangs in my kitchen and is tiny. Made from a the small centre verse, a gift from a friend. I look at these traingles and shudder...but still love it. I think i only owned about 10 fabrics then! Do you have favourites like that?

So, step over and enjoy some more colourful Fridays at the linked blog above. Cheers, Tracey

Colourful fridays...red and green

Joining in with Daisy quilt's colourful Fridays today, it is almost too much for me..I can only choose one photo! So this Oriental poppy wins the job.

I love these poppies, have them in all colours around my garden in spring, I love seeing what new variations the bees have assisted in creating. They are my kind of flower, one that comes up itself ..and more of them come when you never tidied your garden after the last lot of flowers! Negligence in this instance, is golden. (Or red...or purple with single petals..or pink and fluffy!)

My boy has been sick with tonsils this week, back ay School today so i have one day to get his quilt finished for his birthday....can't stay, must run!