January Journal Notes

 In a previous blog post I mentioned our roofing iron. I had Dr Dirk Spennemann from Charles Sturt University contact me about our Redcliffe Crown Trademark. He was doing research into the use and whereabouts of the type of Redcliffe Crown Trademarks. He has established that the sale of it started in Australia in 1875 and was discontinued during World War 1. He has published his findings at this link https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287533307 if you are interested in reading it. Ivanhoe is included as one of only a few houses known to have it still in use. Has helped me establish that this house is close to 100 years old. I wonder if we can get the exterior and the top surface of the roof painted soon so hopefully though I'll never know, it can stand for another hundred, hopefully there is never another close lightning bolt again.

I did some sewing for Christmas for the Grandkids, the girls scored a few tops and nappy covers, Parker a few pairs of bright PJ's and Levi a crocodile. Charlee scored Marli the monkey, I managed a photo of Marli after she was unwrapped on Christmas morning. I'll have to get one of the Croc. he looks more like an armadillo to me.

 This was Christmas afternoon after the toys were put together and successfully being used.
I headed back to work for lates/nights on Boxing Day. My advice is if you must need to visit DEM don't do it on Boxing Day evening/night. The place is always super busy. Whether that is from no GP's open or people delaying seeking medical advice until Christmas is over, but I was really busy. I was pleased to get home a day before New Year's Eve, we were mustering, branding and weaning, and I arrived  home for the last day of mustering, so had a bit of peace and quiet for New Year.

I know I have shown this quilt top before, but I have finished a few more using the similar batiks. I will be thinking about quilting these very soon.

 This is finished also, ready for quilting. A friend said " it reminds her of an ocean" wouldn't I love to be living closer to one now in this January heat. It is a bit of a struggle to keep sewing in the middle of the day when it is so hot, and night time brings the insects that crawl through cracks. However I have managed to finish the next two UFO's as well.

Work in progress for this one. The foundation I used here is actually a pattern drafting fabric from Spotlight. Mind you I learnt that it doesn't like an iron. Shrivelled up in an instant. So glad I finger pressed the piece instead of ironing it each seam.

 It is still waiting for a small diamond to be appliqued in the wave bulge in the middle. I really like this technique and the colour grey I used for each alternate strip.

 I finally got around to working out the top and bottom border for my Inner City UFO. I started this 2 years ago on my first block of late/night shifts in Jan 2014 after we changed our work roster. So I thought it was time it got finished. I am still hand stitching the hexagons onto the bottom border. So quilting again will definitely be on my agenda.
First though, there is the BAS and paperwork for that. The annual PIC reconciliations for EU accreditation has been underway. We are in the process of getting warranty NLIS eartags to replace the hundreds that have fallen out of the breeder ears. Apparently the company has discovered that the original tags they manufactured since 2004- 2012/13 have about a 40% failure rate after 4-5 years and gets worse after that. That explains why most of  our old breeders are now tagless. The PIC reconciliation has been getting harder each year.

We also have been inserting a property management tag in the weaners since 2014. I really wish we had at least this number every year. 
Had some good rain, but Queensland needs a lot more. Hope you have been under some of it. it was good to see some areas had some decent falls but sadly some missed out. It was very heartening to see the Burrumbuttock Hay Run last week. I am off to Amby again in April, and am thinking of doing something like that but quilty wise as I want to extend my trip up to visit Tambo/Longreach at the same time. Will let you know if I can organise something as I may need some assistance, so watch this space.