Great excitement!

There is a new sewalong starting and I'm very excited about it!

Regular readers may remember that I love to test Juliet Tartankiwi's FPP patterns for her. When she sends a plea out to her group of regular testers, I very seldom say no, and manage to squeeze in the sewing, somehow. I think I enjoy the combination of making something I had no idea I wanted to make and the technical side of analysing a pattern, feeding back to her and so on.

And something I tested/sewed last month, is now in print and about to be launched as a new Sew-Along.
...........Introducing the Sleigh Ride Sew-Along!

Here are the two blocks I sewed up as a tester —

The reindeer —

And the sleigh —

Once I started sewing I wasn't sure about the background 'night sky' fabric I chose but it has grown on me and definitely gives a unique look!

The sewalong is focussing on making a table runner but, knowing me, I'll make mine a little bigger - and I'm hoping that by joining in with the sewalong I'll make some good progress!

(Oh and this pattern is definitely easier to sew than some of Juliet's patterns. They are all well designed and written but these particular ones are suitable for 'adventurous beginners' {to quote Juliet!})

Head over *here* to check out the details of the sewalong.

Which now gives me three Christmas projects I'd like to complete this year.

My Scrappy Christmas ornaments —

And The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me —

But who's counting........😂

In other exciting news, I made another star block for The Great Scrappy Star Adventure —

And my 'baby chickens' (hereinafter called The Pullets) have started laying - spot the (tiny) pullet egg in the photo above! They are now enjoying life as big chooks, with the same freedoms, and I am hoping for nests full of full-sized eggs pretty soon. At the moment they scatter all the nesting box hay around and generally create havoc but I continue to live in hope!

Great excitement but not of the positive type over the weekend. Recently, the MOML has been getting to the cowshed at 5am to discover lights not working or the pump running. We figured there were rats in the ceiling chewing wires so have been working to get rid of the rats, seal up all the little entrances that creatures find and to pin down our electrician  to come out to fix the wiring.

Saturday was the last straw, when the radio wouldn't work! Up came the roof to see what on earth was going on. Amidst a tangle of chewed wires was a big old possum. Obviously he'd been having a grand old party living in the roof and living off wiring - how he didn't cause a fire, we don't know, so we feel very lucky. It took seven calls to get an afterhours electrician, but we were up and running by afternoon milking time again!

Roofing iron off

Look how chewed the wires were - so lucky we didn't have a fire!

The area is well sealed now, I think that even a slug would have trouble getting in!

Anyway, cows and calves are calling!

'til next time,

happy stitches,