A fire

There's an ironynin writing this - one year ago this weekend a fire ripped through our property in Childers - took out everything except our sheds and caravan. We were so incredibly lucky.

Yesterday afternoon, i was sitting in my craft room getting organised for a night of sewing/crafting. My eldest son ha just taken my youngest son to a mate's place. Second youngest came up the hall and said that he could smell smoke. He's very good with that as he is asthmatic. I said that we should walk around and see what was happening, but no smoke alarm was going off. However, within minutes, the smoke alarm was going off and smoke was billowing from my eldest son's bed room.

On to the fire brigade. Within minutes of the alarm going off the smoke became flames going upmthe wall. It was right on dark, power was off and it was horrible to say the least. I grabbed photo albums, kids (not necessarily in that order!) and we went to our evacuation point. DH and eldest DS continued to do what they could to bring the fire under control.

Several hours later we were given the all clear to return to the house.

We still have a house. Everyone is safe, including our animals and birds. It was probably the scariest event in my life - hoping for it to remain so!

The worst casualty for me is one of my quilts. It was near the power board (that may have been faulty) and is completely ruined. It was a log cabin with stars. The one Australian Patchwork and Quilting put out on their first video.

The quilt was made at a time when all my children were small and time was even more precious than it is today. I remember how I struggled to eke minutes out of the day tomwork on it. The top was then put aside and it was a few years before it was actually quilted.

This is it today!


When I look at all the maybes of last night I am very grateful that this is all I have to lament. Of course, his bed is gone and mattress. And the other bedding. But to me that's all replaceable. And, yes, the quilt is replaceable, too. But in a very different way.

Then I look at all my other quilts, bears, dolls, special kids toys, memorabilia and gifts from overnthe years. We're all ok. We still have a home. We slept in our own beds last night. We have been very lucky.

Another SKOW block done

My latest block: Daisies.

I'm leaving the last of the stem stitching until I have cut the block to the correct measurements.

6 blocks left to complete.

My plan is to finish preparing the blocks for applique this week. And get the rest of my sashings cut. If the blocks are prepared, they are portable. For all those waiting moments with kids!

That's the plan.

Cheers

Marg

Another block done. SKOW

The Daisy block is now finished. Will take a photo tomorrow. Another one down.  

Another two finishes

Last night I had finished two bears, finished my block for SKOW. What to do next?  I had a look around and found two scarves that were in the UFO pile. I sat down and finished both. Another two for OPAM!  Just have to get some photos. 

Two new Bears

I've been working on two more bears recently. Finally finished them today. They have to be dressed yet. They are gifts for my DD's netball coaches. Now I have to dress them in netball uniforms. They played in two leagues, hence the two uniforms.

Here are the bears (undressed!)

Both designed by Debbie Amos. She has created beautiful bears. Lovely to make.

I'm Back

What a year this has been. I've been living in Childers at the start, back to Beauy when my son's apprenticeship didn't work out. I've learnt to make bears - which has been a long time ambition. Still enjoying the learning.

I've come back to my scrap booking. Re-discovered Creative Memories where my scrap booking began a dozen or so years ago. I've managed to finish 4 photo books - digital is certainlu the way to go for me! But traditional remains my favourite and I've managed to re-commence that. Along the way, I've taken on the role of Creative Memories Consultant. It is such a brilliant product and the tools are fantastic.

As part of this role, I've started card making as a number of my clients are interested in pursuing this. As with everything - with the right tools, it makes it all so much easier.

These are all the cards we made at my first workshop!

Of course sewing is still there as amajor part of my life. The red and green costumes above were my doing - peas and tomatoes. For my dd's school drama production.

And the dance concert is coming up. Our girls have 10 costumes between them. So far I'm making one of the costumes for all 8 in the group. Not sure which of the others I'll be making.

I'm still trying to make some progress on My Favourite Things Quilt for the SAL. Getting there - very slowly. My latest block Home.

We're in Childers on holidays. Hoping to get some more blocks completed before I go home. I've cut some sashing strips but no joining yet. Still, with the help of the SAL Group and the inspiration from all the members I'll get there.

Two Teddies on the go - faces to complete and they need to be dressed. Hoping to get these done during the holidays - at least the faces.

I've discovered a new bear making fabric - Alpaca. I've acquired some and hope to trial it soon. One of our plans for next year is to start breeding alpacas. So, I'm very interested in what we can use their fleece for. The knitting yarn made from their fleece is just beautiful. Hoping to trial some of that to. Have met an amazing woman who is involved in the industry. She felts the fleece. Beautiful.

So, lots happening. Missing blogging - but I've kept up with reading others.

Now for a coffee and some more sewing!

Some More Photos

Some more scrapbook pages:

I made this card at a scrap booking workshop - it was lots of fun and is so pretty.  

This is a quilt I started in 2006 - finished the quilt top back then.  Quilted it this year.  It's called Country Hearts by Patchwork Pumpkin and was a Row of the Month quilt.  Love the colours and the pattern.

Finally, a photo:

This is my latest  bear - Elle Jane.  I may have already blogged about her, but she's cute enough to blog again!!

Cheers