I'm back in blogland.... woohooooo

 

Well the rain did stop at last and we now have power (no power since last Sunday morning till today)..... I was very lucky to have been invited to Sandi's house for a lovely shower (boy was it good too) she also charged our phones and put Gavan's insulin in her fridge.... things one doesn't think about I guess. I have been unable to contact my  long time friends Jenny and John until today, they live in Bundaberg, my mobile phone was flat and all contact numbers were in it, while at Sandi's today I rang Jenny to find out how she was going, they were evacuated from their home and still don't know how much they have lost..... my heart goes out to them, I just can't imagine how they must be feeling  but Jenny is a tough girl and I'm sure will get through this terrible ordeal.

 

These are a couple of photos of roads near our home ( I  pinched these from Sandi's blog) oooo I'm so naughty.

 

 

 

We have been doing things to pass the time away that we all should do more of, Corinne...Kenny....Gavan and me have enjoyed playing games.... cards, Yahtzee etc.....by candlelight of course.... pity we don't stop to smell the roses more often, we actually had a lot of fun with them. We have only tank water here so buckets have been the order of the day and the gas

BBQ  has been busy, so we have been camping in our own house really..... sort of lol.

 

We are very fortunate here and really haven't anything to complain about, loss of power and the inconvenience of not being able to flush the loo is such a minor detail when others are losing everything they own.

Happy Australia Day

Its a terrific day here in sunny Queensland....... not...... but it is great really, we have rain at last so we are very pleased. The weather may spoil plans for lots of Aussies today but I'm sure they will still have fun.

Here is my parcel for Cheryll's Initial Heart swap and it will be off to a very special lady on Tuesday so I hope the postie gets it to her quickly as I'm running out of time..... I forgot about the public holidays...oooops sorry. 

Have a great day everyone and enjoy your Aussie day celebrations, don't let the rain spoil anything.

A post at last....

Posting  just hasn't been happening here of late but I think I'm back to it now.

Firstly my blog book arrived last week, heavens knows why its exciting but it is, I'm getting quite a collection .... its amazing how time has flown since I began, it might even be a time for my first giveaway I think..... I'll be back with more news on that later so keep watching this space.

Scrap booking fever has hit here as well, Corinne is in her pondering pose thinking " what will I do now" she is working on a surprise for her partner... Kenny's .... mother which is such a lovely idea as his parents live in Japan and have missed so much of his years while he did his education here in Australia.

                          I have been working on secret sewing so I haven't got a lot to show.
Our FIS online group are putting together some sewing packs for sewers that have lost everything in the Tassie fires..... I guess it doesn't seem a lot but it might bring a smile to a few faces and for them to know that people do care.

I have finished my gifts for the Heart swap so they will be in the post on Tuesday, keep your eye on the postie ...........   you didn't really think I would tell you who it is did you ?

Thank you Cheryll for organising this lovely swap.

I've had a little hiccup too, I tripped over a car cover that was sitting on the front porch and I think I have broken my toe and its quite swollen further up my foot  ..... funny it's more painful than it looks .... I can't get any shoes or even a thong on so I'm hopping around  but mostly sitting as the pain stops when I have it elevated so naturally that means I can get a lot of hand sewing done.

 Well I'm off now to sit with the foot in the air and back to a bit more stitching.

Pies with Pop and Fun with Nan

How time flies....its so nice to look back sometimes 

You can just see little Corinne (3yrs old) there, she is helping Pop make pies...... she is standing on a little chair.

 then  17yrs later they are still enjoying their pie making.                                      

These days though they do the washing up which is really good.

We decided to make Reindeers for Christmas but as usual our plans went out the window so we have only just got to them, Tuesday girls liked them so that was good.

I do the fun things.....

                       Aren't they cute, I promised Sandi that we would make more for our Tuesday get together next week at her house, her hubbie wasn't happy that she didn't take any home for him so don't panic Wayne yours are coming.

                                                 Some stitching to show

...... this is my Crazy Christmas  BOM, I was hoping to get several blocks put together today but I have run out of wadding so that put paid to that idea..... this is a quilt as you go project.

Oh well I think I will start my Heart swap instead...... I have plenty of projects to choose from, far toooooo many really.

Pledge and FNWF progress

My 2013 Pledge.

Cheryll, has invited everyone who would like to participate in her swaps to join us in the pledge,you can add it to your sidebar.

MAKE THE  7  STEP  PLEDGE  

 I   Helen  will try my utmost .........

1.  To always swap on time.
2.  To always email a  THANK YOU  to my partner.
3.  To be considerate and thoughtful when choosing a gift.
4.  To give my partner the quality of gift that I would like to receive.
5.  To communicate when it's required.
6.  To NEVER over commit and let a partner down.
7. To advise the swap mama when I receive my gift.
                               
                                         This I sewonly pledge......


                       Well I'm back to report on my FNWF sewing.

 Yes I can hear you ask..... why on earth has she put a photo of a blank wall with hooks in it.......its in anticipation of the "Fernhill" button BOM quilt by Lynette Anderson that is ear marked for this spot. I should have been stitching it when it began last year but of course that didn't happen and my "Tis the Season" Christmas quilt stayed there all of 2012 so this year I have removed it and I'm leaving the space empty as I know it will annoy me and keep me motivated to finish.

                                        Here is the first block in readiness for FNWF.

My other project is another  Lynette Anderson "Crazy Christmas" that I bought a long time ago..... no I'm not saying how long trust me thought it was a long long time, I will have this finished for this Christmas.

This is the progress I made on Friday night, doesn't look much really but that's all I got done.

As you can see here ..... no progress was made on this one at all...... why you ask ?

Well I decided to use a few different colour threads than the ones used in the pattern so I always take longer to choose fabrics and thread colours so that took about 1 1/2 hrs and got me no where so I gave that away and got on with the above stitchery.

I was a bit disappointed with my nights work but some work is better than none I guess.

I have been checking out the other blogs to see how others went on the night and there is some great crafting going on, well done girls.

wrong title.......should have been ..... Whinge post.

 Sorry girls this is just a waffling post
 

Well I was going to put up some photos but my internet is soooooo slow that I can't do it now, I have been at the Telstra shop this morning having a bit of a whinge .... as you do...... our plan only has 5GB per month and thats  not doing the job so we were told that we could upgrade the internet at any time for $10 month so thats what we tried to do....... hmmmmmmmm sounds easy enough but of course you can't do that now you have to spend $20 and you get 200GB, silly as we don't want that much so I did a bit more complaining (nicely of course) but was told "thats just the way it is" .... theres nothing they can do as it goes from 5GB or 200GB how stupid is that. Wasn't happy but its amazing if you complain enough how all of a sudden they can change things so we now have 25GB for $11 but it won't start until 12 tonight......  $20 really wasn't the problem but its the principle and misleading information when you sign up for these plans.

Ahhhhhh I do feel better for that whinge......
I will be having a look at everyones progress from the FNWF tomorrow and also uploading my results too.
 

 

I'm so naughty but a good naughty, I have joined in with all the lovely girls in Cheryll's

 

 

I was such a good girl in 2012... I promised that I would resist swaps and get more things done from the "To Do List" and I did so I think this year I might spoil myself and swap to my hearts content..... a bit of a pun there ... did you get it ?

So to help me on my way I have also joined in

 

 

organised by the lovely Cheryll, she is such a busy girl..... I don't know how she does it all, just pop over  to her blog and join in. No sewing to show yet but I have been preparing things for stitching as I have a ...... dreaded plan ......for this year and its for me to know and you to find out what it is.........