Busy busy busy!

Good things come to those who wait and last week I was lucky enough to have a few days with my mum at the Port Fairy Folk Festival! 

Many fantastic acts to see and I particularly enjoyed Ash Grunwald, The Good Lovelie, the Stray Sisters, The Pigs (very funny!), Breabach, Altan, Lunasa, Glen Hansard and so much more! 

This week it was straight back into the thick of it. Scanning ewes on Monday and Tuesday. Two of the most tiring and long days. Ewes did not like moving into the scanning set up and we pushed them all up all day! We were wrecked buy the time we got in that night! 

It was rather cool checking out the ultrasound images of tiny baby lambs! There was a couple of heavy passing showers that drenched us, but we soon dried out!

Thursday and Friday have seen us crutching again! 

First time crutching on our new farm. Did I mention we bought our neighbours place that is just over the drain south of us? Beautiful neighbours we are so so sad to see move away (but they're not going far!), and we'll see them often with all the community fun we have!

Mum came over after the Folkie for a few days to see how farm life is going at Shepherds Way. It's been 12months since she last saw it and 12 months since we moved in! We've been working her hard!!

Cooper and Mickey have been coming along in leaps and bounds this week! Working really well in the pens and even moving sheep down the lane! Very proud of them! 

Not much crafting going in this week!!

Righto! Back to work! More crutching to do!

George update

Here's George and I posing for our photo. He's looking great and finished his injections. Chasing me up and down the yard with a gallop and a skip as he tries to get more milk! 

Wanna dig a hole in the garden? Ask a kelpie to help you!!! Great work Mickey!!

This weekend is the Port Fairy Folk Festival! Very excited to be seeing such a great collection of acts, enjoying the fun atmosphere, food, market stalls and bumping into loads of wonderful Warrnambool friends!! Plus my lovely mum has come all the way from Canberra to enjoy the weekend and catch up! A big thanks to my gorgeous husband for managing without me for a few days. Very, very, appreciated!! 

George

Little George is surprising us and looks better each day. Two more antibiotic injections to go. He's drinking well and skipped around following me tonight. He bellows when he's hungry and inbetween slurps makes me dizzy by walking around and around me looking for the teat again. Very cute!

 

Bulls & cattle dogs

Bull sales are fun! A great chance to catch up with locals, swap ideas and gossip, admire great bulls and lovely country hospitality. We've bought 3 bulls this week and they are fine strapping lads!!

We are also welcoming to the Shepherds Way family, our neighbours lovely kelpie 'Malcom'!! Very friendly and full of beans. This is 'TJ', on the left and 'Malcom' on the right. 

Little calf George has made it through the night and after some antibiotics and hand feeding seems to be ok, but he's still not real crisp. Fingers crossed he continues to improve! 

Now I'm in town doing a list of jobs for the boss. Car service, pick up lick blocks,  fix drill, get parts etc!! Better get going! 

February Happenings

As usual the year is flying by and I wonder what I do with my time!? How can I fit more in? There's so much I want to sew, create, develop and cook! 

My Goddaughter turned 8 this month (gorgeous girl!), my brother turned 40!! We had our 12th wedding anniversary, calves are starting to drop, the garden is happy the hot hot days are behind us and we are looking forward to a busy March (Port Fairy Folk Festival), shearing begins and travels with my cousin in April! 

I'm sewing a quilt to enter in the Royal Adelaide Show this year! To mark the special celebration of its 175th Birthday (1838-2014), quilters are constructing their own version of the 1932 Farm Life Quilt competition! Open to your own interpretation, the idea captured my imagination and fired my inspiration! Loosely based on the original 1932 quilt and using the gorgeous 'Terra Australis' fabric by Emma Jean Jansen, my plan is to use blocks made up of Terra Australis, alternating with embroidered blocks of Australian farming images. 

This is the fabric washed. Wonderful colours and graphics! Stay tuned for the next stage! 

Mickey supervising my vege patch facelift. Scrapings of dirt from the cattle yards full of cow manure ready to spread, followed by sheep manure collected from under the shearing shed, a spray of seasol and finally a new layer of mulch! That should get things kicking along!

One last show and tell! My latest card. Inspired by a challenge from my fearless Stampin' Up friend Sam! 

Again, using the Owl Builder punch to make the rose! Such a versatile punch!! I'm not sure how to rotate it on my iPhone blog, you'll have to tilt your head till I figure it out! 

Tomorrow we are off to a bull sale! These auctioneers are always entertaining! We've got our eye on a couple of strapping young fellas to help our Hereford mob! 

Better stop blogging and get some sleep!! Night all!!

First calf

Our first Hereford calf was born last week! We love this time of year when these beautiful creatures drop! Very cute and very protective mothers. One of our young dogs decided to bark at calf today and chase it around. Big mistake! Mummy cow came running and attacked puppy (6mths old puppy), who dashed back to the ute and flew on, very scared! Let that be a lesson little Cooper! 

These are some of my first cards using elements of all three current Stampin' Up catalogues, the Sale-a-Bration, the new Occasions and the big Ideas Book and Catalogue!  I am a bit in love with the Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-Brations!  I hope that will reappear in the next big Ideas Book and Catalogue!

Time flies indeed!  I have been busy being 'farmhand Fleur', moving sheep, weighing cattle, weaning steers, crutching, pulling down old fences and feeding out hay & lupins!  Not much time or energy to do much in the evening other than cook dinner!  My poor garden gets mowed occasionally!
I have managed to have a play with my owl punch though!  Inspired by the wonderful pinners on Pinterest, I have been experimenting with what you can do with a simple ole owl punch! The possibilities are endless and it cover boys, girls, get well, birthdays, Christmas, babies and many more occasions! 

 

Thank you to all the amazing girls who I 'cased' these ideas from on Pinterest and YouTube:
Kirsty Brown, Michelle Scileppi, Amanda Mertz, Jodi Mertz, Kirsten Andresen, Carol McCarron, Nicole Stein, Michelle Joy Wecksler, Darlene DeVries and www.HandStampedStyle.com

Such a versatile punch! I just love it!

I'm working on some samples from the new 'Occasions' catalogue (when I get time!), and it is such a beautiful cataloge, filled with wonderful projects, especially if you are planning a celebration!  The Sale-a-Bration catalogue is also brimming with beautiful bundles and projects to kick-start your card-making and parties!  Don't forget that you are never restricted to card-making!  Stampin' Up products are wonderful used as decorative elements for your home, such as wreaths, banners, photo frames, flowers, candles and clothes, as well as gift boxes, labels, journals, travel diaries, bookmarks and book covers.  Just like the owl punch, the possibilities are endless!