It Has been Awhile, I Know

It has certainly been awhile since I last did a blog post. Well one can never underestimate the forces of nature. I was stranded by flood waters for a week from home and spent most of my time watching the events in Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and Brisbane areas on the television as they unfolded. Then of course we had to have Cyclone Yasi devastate North Queensland.

We have made preparations to get three of our dams repaired and fences fixed. We consider ourselves very lucky with the damage we received compared to other areas of Queensland.

Then we also saw the floods in Victoria, bushfires in Western Australia and today more earthquakes in New Zealand. The snow storms across the USA added to the world's misery. I may be called a climate change sceptic, but I tend to think the Earth's poles are going for a bit of a tilt instead. I won't be alive in thousands of years to learn what really is happening though.

Back to the house renos ------- called to a halt for awhile. A wrist injury from work halted my activities a bit. Got that sorted now, blame the replacement centrifuge that needs a 10 ton force to close both lids on it, and my wrist has been xrayed, ultrasounded and it is perfectly normal. Does not hurt when I use the centrifuge in a different manner so that must have been the cause.

BUT I HAVE BEEN SEWING. Yes!!!!!!

My Yeppoon workshop was delayed until March due to the floods, so have been playing with the 60 degree triangle ruler for some samples. I must apologise for the photoes taken with the quilts hanging on the clothesline as I did not have time to set up for a real photo shoot.

I like the movement created across this quilt. Technically quite difficult to sew as there is lots of seams at some intersections. I love the narrow contrast colours and how they all interlock.

This green heaxgon was started using the same principle as the interlock one but to use up more of my green fabrics. This one has 2 photos showing the changes I made in progress. I used the camera as my design wall and have about 8 pics from beginning to end.The best part of making this one was the time spent arranging the blocks.

This is it finished with a narrow dark border frame. It somehow reminds me of a cyclone tracking map.

Finally I got the UFO out of the cupboard and have sewn it up. My Strips n Curves Demo from October 2009, not sure about a border/frame or what yet. I hope to take some of these with me to my Hollis Chatelain quilting quilts workshop at Coffs Harbour in May 2011. I think they need a bit of spicing up with some thread.

I have also continued with another idea from the green quilt, but using my stash of orange/pink/purple fabric. More pics when that is finished. Off to Mt Perry Wednesday for another patchwork day so I hope to get some more strips sewn.

What a Finish for the Year !

What a lonely and devastating sight to see. The rain continued in December and I think shocked a lot of people. This is the supposedly unfloodable bridge over the Burnett River at Mingo Crossing in a photo taken by my friend Patty. Two cousins experienced the flooding in their houses in Mundubbera upstream from Mingo earlier in the week. Friends have been cut off for weeks in their homes and trying to enjoy Christmas on their own.
In all of this chaos before Christmas, Archie returned on the day the bridge came out of the water, weaved his magic in wrecking our kitchen,some of the photos are out of order but I think you can see the changes. The old pantry doorway has been filled in with some overhead cupboards, the bench tops replaced with his suggestion for the laminate ( he knows his stuff!!!)

While he was here with his truck "bogged on our lawn" it RAINED and RAINED and once again the water went over the bridge.

A 16 hour power blackout occurred, the work stopped, the rain eased, the power guys were flown in by helicopter to fix the power problem and hey presto, Archie changed the end of the kitchen to this

FROM THIS

I certainly have lots of storage space, and it is not filled yet. He also made built in cupboards for our bedroom. We are very pleased with Archies's work.

The river also dropped late on Christmas Eve allowing the truck across so he could spend Christmas with his young family instead of being stuck with us. Mind you it came back up twice as high a few days later to peak over 9m. All of this water flows down to Bundaberg so no wonder they had a huge flood as every creek and river in the Burnett catchment was full.

One can only look at photos in sheer disbelief at the devastation happening in Queensland at this time. Of course no creative sewing has been happening but the real patching has once again been completed in the enforced indoor jobs. No outside renovations have been attempted. I did notice some mould coming on some paintwork. ARGH!!!

What a finish to the old year, so am hoping the New Year is a bit quieter than the last month has been, but not looking too good at this stage.More rain has been falling and the floods are still happening. I guess we have to just tolerate the conditions and do our best.

STRANDED!!!!

Sorry no pics this time. I am stranded in Bundaberg, due to some flooding that we have not experienced in years. Last week I took the long way home, Friday I detoured around 5 roads to get to Murgon and back. I travelled to Bundaberg for work, watched the rain radar and somehow I knew this would happen. I packed extra clothes for a change. What is a girl to do when they are short staffed at work and I am stuck in Bundy but volunteer for an extra shift, so instead of driving home tonight then back 2 days later for another shift , I will just do 2 in a row.
At least the shops were open this morning so I got a lot of Christmas food shopping finished. Now for the perishables on Tuesday after work and I will be nearly ready. In all of this ABSOLUTELY NO SEWING has been done. Hope your weekend was better.

Electrician's visit

He may have been 5 days late in arriving, but he certainly got in and finished numerous small tasks for me. The small light above the sink has been installed. He pulled a 6 foot snake skin down from the ceiling cavity after installing the light. We knew the skin was there since 2007 so no panic buttons were pushed. This is the view from the floor looking upwards.


Here is a view of the kitchen area with the hot plate pulled out and for a temporary fix, I have a board from an old cupboard filling in the space. The microwave is now sitting on top of that. 2 new sets of power points at the end above the tiles means no more leads and power boards running across benches. The different amperage power point for the hot plate was moved over to the stove area. So guess what, MY STOVE IS FUNCTIONING albeit without the GAS.
I have temporarily moved the hot plate over nearby so we can use either the oven or the electric hot plate. I am off to BBQ's galore to source a regulator to fit so we can maybe use a small gas bottle if the switching over of the hot plate/oven annoys us. We are waiting to get the plumber/gasfitter when we install the shower.

Just to show you it is indeed on and working, I am cooking afternoon tea. Care to join me for some oven baked goodies ( the first out of this kitchen in 3.5 years) . Alas now I have to go shopping for some Christmas Baking stuff.

I think we are now nearly ready for Archie's return. But first there is some mustering for Craig to do and some paid work for me. It took me a little longer to get home last Sunday morning, but I was pleased I left Bundaberg at 7am. Mind you I was pretty darned tired when I did eventually get home. I had to try 3 different ways to get past 1 flooded causeway near Hivesville. Belinda got through it in the X Trail but my car was just too low and I certainly didn't want to flood it.

Archie's Visit

Sounds good doesn't it. Archie is actually a cabinet maker who suggested he be allowed to do our cupboards for us.He paid us another visit as we had a problem with matching the existing laminate. So I seized the opportunity and while he was here remeasuring, we removed the half finished cabinet for a wall oven and moved the freestanding bench along to decrease the space as the stove will slide in there now. The splashback and rangehood will go above. In the background you can see the newly painted white wall of the dining area. By the state of the existing green boards one can assume that area was previously the wash up area. The large hole in the floorboards was also a giveaway to its previous function.We have now selected a different bench top colour and these will be recycled to the downstairs laundry area. A few hours later, I painted the recess with 2 undercoats, and moved in the stove. If you have lived without an oven for nearly a year, one can appreciate how excited we will be when the electrician comes and installs the power point. Then we wait to get the gas fitter so the top half will work. In the mean time we can use the existing hot plates until Archie comes back. The matter of the deleted laminex colour has probably been a blessing as we had a dilemma as to how to fill in the hole when we pulled out the hot plate. Since we now have new bench tops coming we don't have to worry.

Painting Progress

This job is certainly beginning to feel like running a marathon, does the finish line ever appear?
Here is the tall wall in the dining area of the kitchen section of the house. I have brushed one top coat of paint onto the old boards. Will attempt a second coat after I attack the kitchen side as the level of paint in the tin is dropping fast. I might need more than 15 litres for this part. At least the yellow has been covered. The dark line you can see is my appeasement to Bryan as he was complaining he needs coloured trims in the room. I have tried a sample pot of Taubman's Deep Water on the sill, actually looks ok but I thought I'd wait until the cupboards are in before deciding for a permanent solution.
Here is the view of the tall wall. I just managed to reach the top with a long handled brush. Didn't have to perch my ladder on a table either.


Now for the lovely green section.
Here is the before view , the green is definately not my favourite colour, it was probably quite a pleasant shade when new, but after years of grime and dirt and teamed with chocolate brown trimmings, it had to go. Luckily I don't have to paint the entire wall as the cupboards will cover the rest. The old sideboard and overheard cupboards are also departing.

Have not taken the after pic yet as I have only brushed one coat. Tomorrow will be the next coat with the roller.

I'm quite certain I enjoy sewing more than this but one has to take care of their environment also. Will be glad when I can move onto the downstairs rooms. They only have 7 foot ceilings.

Some progress

Back again with some photos of my progress on my triad. This is 4 strata units. I have since pulled off the yellow/red strips attached to the purple set. My adviser said he quite liked the yellow orange but I felt it had to go. I wish the unsewing would happen as easily as the sewing. Would help if I could find the quick un pick.


Here it is with the 5th strata set added. In this photo I still have not replaced the yellow/orange strips. I think I have also moved the blue line over one row to draw the eye in a different direction since this pic was taken. Might make one more set yet and have put it aside until next week for patchwork day. I have also decided I don't really like the watermelon strip set so it might only be used as a fill in on the edges yet.


Here's where I've got to. Back to the veranda. This is the first panel on the right hand side of the front steps. I finished sanding it ready for painting. I will now start on the longer posts and cross beams at the top. Used the angle grinder dics, the heat gun and the sander to shift some of the stubborn stuff.

This is the last panel on the RHS of the steps. Look closesly at the top rail and you can see how much of the rail was rotted. This one will eventually be replaced as it is far too whoopy to keep.
Hopefully after the beginning of December all this side will be painted. Have not decided on a colour for the top rail yet. In the background you can see where Craig has thinned the tree line a bit.

Off to wash a few more walls inside as it has to be finished painting before a cabinet maker revisits us in December also. Then I may finally be able to store some stuff that currently is homeless and a sewing area may happen.