Lucerne Hay for Sale

HAY CARTING 2011

Weather has been kind to us in our area in recent months, enabling a second harvest of lucerne crops for hay baling. To the extent that we now have the Hay Shed overflowing to extra bales alongside, the machinery shed full plus a "house" stack on the ground near the Hay Shed.  Hard to believe.  John hopes to sell some to combat the cost of harvesting it and now needs more sheep for the feed we have as last year when we were in drought, he sold off as many as he could to minimize the anxiety of feeding stock with so little feed available.  Many hands make light work and the rellies were called in to help.  They decided it was easier with the ute and trailer rather than the truck this year, not as high to lift, plus the "octopus" decided it wasn't going to do this year's harvest!  (It's a machine to lift the bales up onto the truck, for those who may wonder.)

What a country we live in with such extremes! 

Dorothea Mackellar's famous words in her poem:

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me!

With this, we are in absolute awe of the devastation and heartbreak so many people in parts of our country are facing as they now come to terms with the incredible terror they have been through and now try to rebuild their lives, homes and communties after enormous flooding.  We ARE an incredibly big country, so if overseas readers can imagine the size of the land now under water, some over roof tops and indeed, the city of Brisbane itself - Prince Charles brought it to some perspective when he said it was the same as imagining all of France and Germany being under water.  We are just so used to our large spacious farming areas and long distances we have to travel, that it becomes second nature to us and we don't even think about it.  The images portrayed on our TV screens are unbelievable to say the least and so many tragic stories being told.  We all sympathize with people affected by these disasters, in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.  The vastness is beyond comprehension.

 

Help is being offered from all communities and the clean up has already commenced in some areas.  There are numerous ways of helping been brought to action, but one of my friends, Nikki Tervo (Nikki Tervo Buttons) in Brisbane has asked me to add her own request for assistance for those in need as follows:

Nikki says: "I am collecting 12 1/2" pre quilted quilt blocks. Blocks need to have a cream fabric measuring 14" square on the back, a thin wadding like wool or cotton to be used. All blocks must be quilted. Please send to Nikki's Flood Quilts, PO Box 4139, Gumdale.  Qld. 4154.

Feel free to sign or write a message of comfort on the back of your block. Make sure it is quilted please!!"

Help comes in many ways, everyone lends out a helping hand when and where needed, but what if you don't have any hands?   Well, hop on my back then!  This incredible photo was taken in Dalby, part of the highly affected flood area of Queensland.  A green frog catching a ride to safety upon the back of a snake.

Expertise Events, organizers of the CraftExpo to be held in Brisbane late March, have emailed a memo to all saying that they are monitoring the situation in Brisbane very carefully and with respect to all.  However, they have found in the past, after the Victorian Bushfires and the Earthquakes in Christchurch NZ, both of whom had a show very shortly after such disasters, that the community was very appreciative that those shows went ahead so as people could return to some kind of normality with their lives as quickly as possible.  Of course, such an event would also aid the Flood Relief Fund that the Government has set up and we would all contribute in some way.  I shall keep you informed.

I often receive emails asking advice as to which stabilizer to use when or what is available to use in such and such a situation.  One asked this week was in relation to Foundation Paper Piecing.

Alison asked:

Hi Judy, I’ve just been experimenting with foundation piecing and have tried paper and freezer paper. Both have their positives but tearing them out didn’t really work for me. I was thinking that there must be a stabiliser (not iron on, I think) that I can use by either putting it through an inkjet printer or overlaying it on a printout and trace out the lines and then use it instead of papers? I think it’d need to be fairly light weight as I’m imagining leaving it in the quilt like those pre printed foundations by the yard - but doing different patterns to the ones available that way.

My reply was quick and straight to the point:
Yes, there is. Ricky Tims Stable Stuff.  Should be perfect!
Here’s the link:
http://www.punchwithjudy.com.au/shop/stable-stuff-by-ricky-tims.html

I just love this "stuff" as Stable Stuff is a versatile, multi-purpose stabilizer that may be used for Appliqué, Embroidery, Foundation Piecing, Marking Quilting Designs, Machine Trapunto and so much more!  Suitable for use in either laser or ink-jet printers too.  But the best part is the soft feel after washing.
Ricky Tims, who is well-known in the quilting world for his extraordinary quilt designs and educational classes, developed this as a versatile, multipurpose stabilizer.

Ricky says “Stable Stuff is a polyester tear-away stabilizer that when wet, becomes really soft, so soft that you don’t even know it’s inside your quilt. It does NOT dissolve away, just becomes a fine, soft layer of polyester fibres inside your project. The advantage of the Stable Stuff is that it’s packaged in 8.5" x 11” sheets, making it so user friendly.”

Let me know your thoughts on it after you've used it!