Hello

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and welcome to the BYC community.

 

[Katy B]

Hi Katy, it's nice to have you here with us! You have some interesting sounding hobbies, any pictures you'd like to share?

Eventually, I'm pretty slack with taking photos but I should be able to rustle up a few.

I also left the workforce unexpectedly early because of an accident.

What a wonderful array of interesting hobbies you have cultivated! I like to PRETEND I do all kinds of cool things. I certainly have all the materials and supplies.

But, hey, you are actually being creative, and I congratulate you for that! Not that I don't keep busy -- too many coops, too many other animals, an old farm house in constant need of updating. (Those are my excuses for not sewing, painting, working with clay, knitting and crocheting, for example).

I hope you enjoy the sharing and connection with BYC members as much as I do. Welcome, new friend!

Curating a craft stash is a hobby in itself and I don't have a lot of animals anymore, or the activity tolerance to do a lot of outdoor work.

When I bought myself a rigid heddle loom, it arrived unfinished and it just so happened that I had all the ingredients for a beeswax polish in the stash.

 

[Ribh]

WELCOME TO BYC

FROM SUNNY QUEENSLAND.
Hi Katy. There are lots of crafty types on BYC. I'm a crocheter & sometime painter. I got lucky with my last intake of chickens & acquired a Vorwerk. Beautiful bird! I have a very mixed flock @ present with a number of *feather dusters* & a handful of Campines.
Please feel free to drop by my thread & say *Hello*. A number of Aussies hang out there. Don't try & wade through the whole thing. Just jump in. We all love pictures & stories of others flocks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ribhs-dcoopage.1295189/page-2136
​

 

[MaryJanet]

Hello Everyone,

I'm Katy, mid 50s, Australian and living in Victoria. I'm not new to chickens, I've lived with backyard poultry since childhood. I've had a few years without chickens after a disease issue coming from the next-door neighbours's flock. My neighbour no longer keeps any poultry, so during our second lockdown (in the dumpster fire that was last winter) I brought home 4, day-old chicks for company.

Unfortunately two of my chicks grew into roosters. I usually go for the trusty Australorp, but this time I decided on a mix and bought one of each, Platinum Sussex, Voorwerk, Buff Orphington and what was supposed to be a Welsummer, but is actually a Barnevelder. The Barnevelder and the Buff Orphington are the roosters and fine specimens seeking new homes. Council by-laws forbid the keeping of roosters in town.

Favourite aspect of backyard chickens... I love it all. The free turning of my compost heaps, the soil enrichment, the reduced bug load in the veggie garden, and the companionship are all great, but most of all, eggs for the table without supporting commercial egg farming.

As for hobbies, I retired early due to health issues, so I have a lot of hobbies. I keep budgerigars and quail (Coturnix japonica), I craft with both warm and hot glass, (mainly for jewellery setting), polymer clay sculpting, bookbinding, painting (oils, acrylics, encaustics, dry pastels) and I engage in a wide array of fibre and textile based crafts (weave, spin, dye, sew, knit, wet felt). My hobbies tend to rotate and at the moment I am mostly working with fibres and textiles.

Right now the dye pot is on the stove and I am cooking up a new batch of Millennial Pink (avocado skins and seeds) to dye some handspun Lincoln fleece.

My main reason for signing up is connection and sharing with people who have similar interests... without having to use FarceBook.

Wow! Do you have an etsy page for your craftwork? I would love to take a look

And Hi by the way! I'm Aussie too, Adelaidean with four hens in the backyard. @Scrambles83 is in Geelong. Are you in the suburbs or rural? From your craft, I'd guess rural?

 

[Scrambles83]

Hello and welcome! I am a fellow Victorian

 

[LozzyR]

Welcome to BYC! This is a great community with lots of advice and support.

 

[drumstick diva]

Aussies always welcome here. Thank you for joining us at Backyard Chickens

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Hello Everyone,

I'm Katy, mid 50s, Australian and living in Victoria. I'm not new to chickens, I've lived with backyard poultry since childhood. I've had a few years without chickens after a disease issue coming from the next-door neighbours's flock. My neighbour no longer keeps any poultry, so during our second lockdown (in the dumpster fire that was last winter) I brought home 4, day-old chicks for company.

Unfortunately two of my chicks grew into roosters. I usually go for the trusty Australorp, but this time I decided on a mix and bought one of each, Platinum Sussex, Voorwerk, Buff Orphington and what was supposed to be a Welsummer, but is actually a Barnevelder. The Barnevelder and the Buff Orphington are the roosters and fine specimens seeking new homes. Council by-laws forbid the keeping of roosters in town.

Favourite aspect of backyard chickens... I love it all. The free turning of my compost heaps, the soil enrichment, the reduced bug load in the veggie garden, and the companionship are all great, but most of all, eggs for the table without supporting commercial egg farming.

As for hobbies, I retired early due to health issues, so I have a lot of hobbies. I keep budgerigars and quail (Coturnix japonica), I craft with both warm and hot glass, (mainly for jewellery setting), polymer clay sculpting, bookbinding, painting (oils, acrylics, encaustics, dry pastels) and I engage in a wide array of fibre and textile based crafts (weave, spin, dye, sew, knit, wet felt). My hobbies tend to rotate and at the moment I am mostly working with fibres and textiles.

Right now the dye pot is on the stove and I am cooking up a new batch of Millennial Pink (avocado skins and seeds) to dye some handspun Lincoln fleece.

My main reason for signing up is connection and sharing with people who have similar interests... without having to use FarceBook.

G'day Katy. I'm from NSW. I belong to my local felting group (wet and dry) am a newbie at dyeing(silk and silk hankies) and have taken up watercolour this term. I tend to collect hobbies too. Beading, stained glass and choir in the past but ready to be taken up again at the drop of a hat. My youngest has done some bookbinding and does sewing and leather work now so I have some exposure to them too. I recently acquired an old hand cranked sewing machine that I'm enjoying playing with.

Do take up Ribh's offer to join her thread. Many of us hang out there and share our flock stories and offer mutual support.

Hope to see you there!

P.S. I didn't know that you could get pink from avocado! I must have a go!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Welcome to BYC! So glad you decided to join us!

 

[Katy B]

WELCOME TO BYC
View attachment 2523386
FROM SUNNY QUEENSLAND.
Hi Katy. There are lots of crafty types on BYC. I'm a crocheter & sometime painter. I got lucky with my last intake of chickens & acquired a Vorwerk. Beautiful bird! I have a very mixed flock @ present with a number of *feather dusters* & a handful of Campines.
Please feel free to drop by my thread & say *Hello*. A number of Aussies hang out there. Don't try & wade through the whole thing. Just jump in. We all love pictures & stories of others flocks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ribhs-dcoopage.1295189/page-2136
​

Hi Ribh, I do like the Vorwerk as a breed. Nice compact little hens and I have a soft spot for the low countries (my inlaws are all in Belgium and I used to work for a company based in Amsterdam).

Wow! Do you have an etsy page for your craftwork? I would love to take a look

And Hi by the way! I'm Aussie too, Adelaidean with four hens in the backyard. @Scrambles83 is in Geelong. Are you in the suburbs or rural? From your craft, I'd guess rural?

Hi Maryjanet, no, no website. I prefer to do custom work and up until a couple of years ago, I was active in the local arts and craft markets. I was diagnosed with both lung and thyroid cancer in 2018, so I stopped going to markets and accepting new commissions. I finished treatment at the beginning of last year and now I am just waiting for the pandemic to end.

I'm rural (north east Vic), but grew up in Melbourne and crafted when I lived there.

G'day Katy. I'm from NSW. I belong to my local felting group (wet and dry) am a newbie at dyeing(silk and silk hankies) and have taken up watercolour this term. I tend to collect hobbies too. Beading, stained glass and choir in the past but ready to be taken up again at the drop of a hat. My youngest has done some bookbinding and does sewing and leather work now so I have some exposure to them too. I recently acquired an old hand cranked sewing machine that I'm enjoying playing with.

View attachment 2525805

Do take up Ribh's offer to join her thread. Many of us hang out there and share our flock stories and offer mutual support.

Hope to see you there!

P.S. I didn't know that you could get pink from avocado! I must have a go!

Gorgeous Sewing machine Aussie-Chookmum, I bought a (circa 1895-1905) Wertheim treadle just after xmas. I've got it pulled apart atm and it's camping in the hallway that doubles as storage space, the drawers need some repair work (lol when I get around to it).

I was looking for treadle irons to build a table top spinner, but ended up with a beautiful machine, that I can't bear to strip... so I am still in the market for treadle iron to build a table top spinner.

You can get some beautiful pinks from avocados, keep a mix of skins and seeds (the seeds contain tannins that act as a mordant). Mine has turned out a brown toned peach this time, because I got distracted with the pot on the stove and it boiled. High heat kills the subtle baby pinks.

Today I decided to do something with all the scrap fabric left over from making masks. Sewing room is a mess, but I have the beginnings of a crumb quilt.