Warning: if you are bored of me blabbing about chickens, skip this post!

I haven't been posting for a little while.  My Father-in-law has been having some health problems.  We'll know more today, but it's kinda taken the wind out of my sails.  (Like: what right do I have to share what's good and beautiful in my world, when it's all a bit crappy in his?) 

But I have been doing the normal things that life demands.  Like harvesting veges - and then artfully arranging them instead of cooking with them, which is what I should have been doing!

And I got down to Whangarei for the Annual Poultry Show.  I never thought about the noise factor.  Roosters crow whether they are out in a paddock or cooped up on display! 

This is a Barred Plymouth Rock.  A wee boy said he was his favourite and asked me to take a picture of him, so I obliged.  What a sweetie!

I took a pic of the winning Light Sussex cockerel (young rooster) and I reckon mine would have come second?!  (I know I'm very biased!)

There were some beautiful birds.

A silver-laced wyandotte pullet.

An, ummm, silver-pencilled something or rather pekin - stunning!

A polish hen (can she actually see?)

Lavender araucana pullet.  They lay blue eggs.  I have five lovely girls - but do you think I can find a well-bred boy?  Nope.

The lone Pekin duck.  Teeny tiny compared to mine - I think there are UK pekin and USA pekin - but don't quote me on that, and I wouldn't have a clue which mine are but I should have entered - I might have come home with some awards. I'm definitely going to enter something next year - now that I've actually been to a show, it's actually not that scary!

And I'll leave you with this.  It was the sunrise this morning.  It's nice to admire the view every now and then.

Aww, Cheers!!

I need to show a little bit of gratitude. 

First to Elaine, from Soggy Bottom Flats.  She sent me this lovely parcel of batik scraps and they're fantastic!  Beautifully saturated colours and a perfect red amongst them.  (Check out her post of her husband receiving her 17-years-in-the-making quilt - the pictures are priceless.)

Then to Itch to Stitch, our local Bernina Agent.  Bernina do a fantastic five year warranty on electrical parts and 10 year warranty on mechanical parts.  My machine spat the dummy at me the other day and lo and behold, she was three months out of her electrical warranty (I've had her for FIVE years?  You're kidding me!  I'm sure she only arrived a month ago!  And I still love her as if she did.).  But Itch to Stitch did some sweet talking and I've only paid freight, no repair cost.  How cool is that?  Next time I'm in Whangarei, I'm gonna go show them some luv'.  (Of the retail kind, it's only fair, isn't it?)

And lastly to Wright Fabrics.  They sell good quality, reasonably priced batiks over their website.  I did an order (I treat myself occasionally) and although my payment went through, no fabric arrived.  Usually they are fantastically fast so this was unusual (okay, the sounds like I order more often than occasionally). Anyway, when I called them, they had had the payment but no order had come through.  And glitches happen, so I wasn't expecting it, but they sent me a half meter of fabric added to my parcel as an 'opps, sorry'. 

Aww, the world is full of good people.  Virtual hugs to them all!

Batting the old-fashioned way.

I thought I'd write a bit about using woollen blankets as batting for my quilts.  I've had a few comments on it and a couple of questions so I guess there is interest, right?

I love old woollen blankets for so many reasons.  Natural fibres have something going for them, very warm, breathable, they break down easily - the worms in your worm farm will love your wool scraps!  Then there is the history aspect (I mean who hasn't heard a New Zealand orientated sheep joke, right?).  The label on the top blanket is a very well-known historical brand name, lots of people grew up with Kaiapoi blankets on their beds. 

And of course; reduce, reuse, recycle.  To buy new batting isn't cheap, especially if you make big quilts.  I've picked up most of my blankets for between $5 and $12 NZ dollars.  And most of them are in great nick.  Even ones with a few thin spots and holes can be sliced up and used in bassinet quilts and cot quilts.

This is all that is left of this blanket.  It had some holes in it when I bought it, but it's given me a big patch for a friends woollen blanket quilt I repaired, batting for a cot sized quilt, a thin and holey section for the cat's basket ;) and I've still got enough to make a couple of bassinet quilts.

Second hand or preloved blankets have usually been washed so many times that all their shrinking and felting is done, but I recommend to quilt recipients that they gentle machine wash on cold, or hand wash - but I'd recommend that for any quilt anyway.

This is one of the first quilts I made using  a woollen blanket for batting.  These photos are to give you an idea of the loft of a blanket as batting.  (The black is the back).  You can see that there is scarcely any bearding, which can be an issue with polyesters and I think it gives a slightly flatter look, but still shows up the quilting just fine.  It's a queen size topper and, if I remember correctly, I had to join two blankets together. 

For joining, cut off any edge binding to reduce bulk, then layer your blankets so there is an overlap of an inch or two.  Large zigzag stitch down each overlapped edge and you're done.  This gives a flatter finish, much less noticeable than a traditional seam.

If you have a really nice blanket you can use that as a batting and backing - just don't cover it up with a backing fabric! 

So, go ahead and try it.  And then when you are finished - enjoy snuggling under your quilt knowing how much good you've done the world, and how much history you are snuggling under.

This is the first ever quilt I made with my  boy, now five years old, rolled up asleep in it.  It took me years to finish it, it's half hand-pieced as I didn't own a sewing machine when I began and it started me on my woollen blanket journey.  I batted it with one because I had nothing else!

One Handsome Man & WIP Wednesday

I mean, if I were a hen, I'd want him for my rooster - wouldn't you?

As for Work-In-Progress Wednesday...well, I have lots of little piles of sewing, all waiting for my machine to come back.  She's still off on her adventure.

Lots of little batik half-square triangles left over from snowball blocks I made for another quilt ages ago.  I thought I'd sew them together into a cushion cover or something.

I'm making an I spy quilt for my daughter (you have to make one of them in a lifetime don't you?!).  I discovered what to do with all the leftovers of the prints - make the backing!  So they are patiently waiting to be pieced in some fashion or another.

Can't show too much of this one as the intended recipient's parents read this blog ;)  It's waiting to be quilted.  You can see the old blanket I've used as batting.

And a bag, just for me, just for fun.

Giveaway over at Elaine's.

Soggy Bottom Flats (don't you love that name?) is doing a giveaway over on her blog.  It's a kit for wool applique and if you've never tried wool before, now might be a chance to do it.

I've never really worked with wool in applique.  I tend to use my old blankets as batting for quilts, especially small ones for children, as I don't like using polyester for kids and because the quilt is small, it doesn't get too heavy.

But seeing some of the lovely wool work that Elaine does, I might just have to give wool a try!