Fire and danger ......

Fires are raging all around the Mid North Coast of NSW at the moment. Have been up that way and today the Pacific Highway had to be closed to all North Bound Traffic at 2pm before being closed in the other direction due to high winds. The fire was not contained at that point. Very close to the service station and food outlets and the small township of Purfleet. Some relatives were up that way tin the morning and said they could smell smoke and see small flames late morning.
By 5m the Pacific Highway was also closed at the Forster/Tuncurry turnoff.
At the same time a large tree fell on the Bucketts Way - that was the only other access point to Taree !!
Whoops- headed home at 2pm to see plumes of smoke coming from down near Forster Keys/Green Point....and I didn't get to see the news so hopefully the 10 houses that were reported on the local radio station to be under threat survived it.

Hopefully you and yours are safe and out of harms way.

I'll be back later with my Friendship Swap 2013 picys :)

De

Read on ......

 

Its a brand new day but only just - Its just 12.03am as I start to blog:) Must be getting in early and no I haven't had coffee since this afternoon.

Got that when I was handing out brochures on how to vote - yep again. No more for me now though.  I have voted early because I will be busy on Saturday and there are plenty of other volunteers that are willing and able (though some complaining about doing so, so I  wonder why they volunteered in the first place) to carry on through till Saturday. But that's as much about politics as you'll get from me. I like having friends you see. And of course the old saying runs so true - Politics and Religion ruin friendships.

Now on keeping myself busy ..........

I have made some more stock for my Market Stall. Funnily enough, I have so much more girl baby/toddler things than boys and all I have is grandsons aged 1, almost 3 and 7!!

So there is Eco Nappies and matching hairbands with cute flowers - can use the naps as swimmers as well, cute bunny ear styled hair bands, guipere lace embellished rompers - butterflies and gorgeous lace. Made up some more baby gift baskets and just have to wrap in cellophane to keep them pristine. I will write more on all this when I download my photos to the computer.

Swap.......

My Friendship Swap presies are burning a hole in their box!!! Still can't send/deliver then to my partner till she comes backs from holidays.

Holidays..........sigh........

This brings me to remember what a holiday is about. It's that time when phones are not supposed to ring  with children on the other end begging you to come home because some type of emergency is happening ( yes this did happen and my kids were all working age!), parents can cope without you visiting, jobs can still run without your input, pets can live without your undivided attention because they can love others who feed them the same diets and treats, markets don't need you every month and my doctor doesn't need her monthly allowance from me.

So to plan a holiday? Once again I can plan though that does not mean it will actually happen.

Ask my friend Jo. We plan, we delay - either way something crops up for me and vice-versa. BUT we do get together and when we do we make the best of the short time. That's the problem when we now live hundreds of miles apart. Hey Jo! Did you know there's a Quilt Market in November in Melbourne?

I joked only yesterday to Jo that I could run away, make sure I had money so no-one could track my whereabouts, leave my mobile phone off  and have a break away from the myriad of going's on at the moment Jo and I agree we could do with a break - big time LOL.

And now ............

This alas my friends is the point I should shut both the computer down and my brain to give it a rest. Heaps to do tomorrow, still have some new signs to write and three bibs to complete, help someone move some stuff before getting back home in time for dinner. Saturday is a catch up day before the Market on Sunday, Newcastle on Monday and heading down to visit my girl then relatives. A very special birthday event for my daughter - her hubby is away till November and he is missing this event for the second year in a row. That's the job he has as one of our defence personnel and something she signed up for - we all know how much he wanted to be with her for this birthday.  Her Dad and I will make sure she has a fantastic 30th :)

Adieu and Good night. Hope you're all sleeping well

Dee

Watch This Space - More Quilts to Make

How lucky am I? I have two beautiful grandsons and a third is on his way. No secrets here - my family (brothers included) are destined to be male dominated. My eldest brother and his wife have one son - probably thought that was enough and stopped. My own family consists of two boys and then lucky me, I had me a girl. My youngest brother has six - yes that's right - 6 boys!!! And now my own children look destined to follow suite. My father was one of three boys and Mum one of two girls, so you would think there would be some fairness and sharing of sexes. That is, at least some girls would come about - alas - like myself, there is one female per generation. My youngest son has two boys - both pictured, and suprise, suprise, there is another little boy is about to be born. He is coming to us next month!

Jordan's Donkey :))

This is JB - my eldest grandchild, who at 6 - almost 7 (not till December 10th) Nanna. He loves everything his Daddy likes. That is cars and motorbikes. He also loves hats - again like his Dad, and has amassed an amazing collection of them and little cars. The picture below shows him in his bedroom at Dad's. I started him off with some pirate things, and he seems to have got carried away with those too....or more probably his Dad. LOL.  He loves coming to see his Daddy and I think his favourite food is Mcdonalds, though he does adore chocolate milk and icecream. Have all the bits and pieces to do a Donkey quilt designed by Hot Possum for him in his favourite colours. Even though he is a big boy now, he still loves colour and animals !

This cheeky little chap is MJ, who will be two on November 1st. His smile lights up any room, and his enormous blue eyes which are exactly like Mummies, are gorgeous. Not sure why the car is in his mouth, probably cause his Mum calls him motormouth :)) Always welcomes his Nan and Pa will a cuddle and kiss. Runs to the door and swoops on us - just lovely !! The photo above shows him in his element, he also loves cars and is always mucking around with Daddy while he paints and fixes up mini-trucks. Dad is like his own father - they both love motorcycles - seems to be a thing with all the makes in my family! Think little MJ may talk his Dad into getting him a motorbike, quicker rather than later. This little man loves his food - anything at all - and everything is his favourite. The kind of kid everyone loves to have around too. If they can make more like him, I'll take six - LOL. MJ's new quilt is half way finished and features stars and stripes in the brightest of greens, blues and a bit of red thrown in for impact.



This is the latest little man on the right in his latest scan. Due in August and we can't wait to meet him! We may not be able to wait, but mother nature says we have to, so we will wait till Mummy obliges. In this image he is waving to his Daddy LOL. Now I will have to get busy and design another quilt for this little fellow. Have pretty well decided on wild animals. Have a great quilt to complete and a Giraffe Sketch to embroider on another blanket. Any ideas on some simply made toys would be appreciated as I know little presies from the baby to the big boys will make having a new member of the family more welcome by them. Have thought of toy bags, but maybe someone has some other great ideas they want to share with me.

Chat again soon - Quilty Hugs - Dee :))

Day One of " The Trip"

Leaving Sydney at 8am

Silly really. Fancy leaving from the Sydney end of the expressway at almost peak time. Soooo much traffic boths ways - going up to the expressway to travel toward the City and Coast or southerly to places like Epping  and Parramatta (no way) . Thank goodness we had to turn off onto the M7 to go south after what we saw and sat in below. This, the shortest of trips took over an hour when normally its about 15 minutes travel.

Bumper to bumper, pouring rain. What a way to start a holiday. Figures though for the Lord and I to always pick such glorious weather to travel in. Should we be lucky that the weather would grace us with a peak of sunshine? Maybe.

We luck out most times - Hurricanes in Queensland - Bush Fires in Perth (never got there), chose Hamilton in New Zealand - earthquakes, Kobe in Japan - tsunami and Fiji - flood time but before we could book on our first ever (never gone now) holiday overseas, Mother Nature took her temper tantrums out in mega style. Sigh. Is it our lot in life to stay close to home?

Well not this time! It can rain all it likes. We have umbrellas, warm Ugg boots, jackets, and many layers of clothes to see us through whatever Mother Nature wants to send to NSW and Victoria. We even have a gas stove, kettle and tea bags so we can have a cuppa whenever the time arises that we require one.

So many photos to share but thought you would like to see what happened when we stopped at a little town called Jugiong in NSW. There had obviously been a flood in the township in the prior few weeks. The barrier rails had been lowered. This is to facilitate any debri being able to float across the bridge without etting stuck on it and the railing that normally protects cars from driving off it!

Bridge to Jugiong.

Before we actually got to the bridge we happened on a man riding an unusual mount !!!!!

Jack on A Roo :)

A rather old rusty man and his mount - a very large red kangaroo. The original Jack on a Roo..... a pun here ok??? Jack a roo.. Okay some won't understand but those who do should have a great laugh.

Happy Oxen :))

You can see the grass on the legs of these 'oxen' how far the water rose from the river to the old Truck Service Station.



I am sitting in a motel room at the mo, with the air conditioner on warm - actually very warm. The dial says 30 degrees celcius. Methinx not. We also have the advantage of electric blankets - something I normally don't use. Overheats moi and his Lordship. So I may have to turn it on to warm those blinking cold cotton sheets as the temperature is supposed to be zero tonight. But as the ever so bright and cheerful if somewhat unhelpful (Paris Hilton type) weather girl stated tonight - bright and sunny tomorrow at 17 degrees. Haha. Thanks for that - we are travelling farther south tomorrow.

I had to go out from the motel to purchase a meal. Round and round a growing city - that is Albury.

As I was driving I happened to glance to the left - a sign said PATCHWORK !!!! My 4WD took itself around the road to the left and then up Macauley Street, Albury to the patchwork shop - Avonleigh Country Quilting.

I just happened to 'require' some fabric to do some hexagons with while I am away - uh huh - and purchased three fat eighths of pink and rose print type quilting fabrics for $9.00. Served by a lovely lady who gave me their business card. 

If you would like to see more have a read of their BLOG at http://www.avonleighcountryquilting.com.au/

Had to add the following pic for all to see. This is the Albury Information Centre. Very helpful staff :)

And the very beautiful and well looked after Albury Train Station in its sunny glory. Gorgeous huh.

Now this weary traveller is off to shower and have a well deserved rest. Goodnight and Adious till the moro my friends - Dee