Thank you,quilting and a op-shop/garage sale link up.

Hello,

Happy Monday everyone. Thank you to everyone who sent there best wishes on our "Storm Cell" as they are calling it. Apparently it had nothing at all to do with Cyclone Bianca. Though people are saying that they have been in cyclones up north and this was far worse. Winds of 130km were reported so no wonder the rain was horizontal instead of vertical. It was interesting to hear that the weather bureau reported on the news last night that they warned people of this. I hadn't heard of anyone getting a warning. Listening to the boss of FESA (Fire and Emergency Services) on the radio this morning he said they had no warning of it. I think a bit of cover up may be going on. Oh well, that is bureaucrats for you. Yesterday afternoon we went for a drive around town. There were still plenty of streets blocked of and power lines down. Laying in bed on Saturday night I couldn't believe that people were driving around,there were no lights on anywhere and these people would have had obstacles across roads,idiots is the word that comes to mind.

There is a massive amount of damage done to trees. The funny thing is we have a dead Tagasaste on our verge and I would have loved that to have been blown out.

This is the Avonvale school. It had several buildings with roof damage. All there school supplies for this year were ruined as well. School starts on Wednesday!!!

This tree is at the Northam High School. The main part of the building we noticed received some tile damage. I don't know how much more damage they had but we did see several trees down.

This is the house near Mum's. She was going to see them yesterday when the local SES (State Emergency Services) pulled up. So we don't have any further information on it. We noticed all the other homes around town had tarps on them so I guess this house will be gone.

This home is in the "Woodley Farm" area, several homes lost there roof . These people were on TV last night and the ceiling is in danger of collapsing. Carpets are ruined etc. A big damage bill. With high temperatures expected over the rest of Summer I really feel for these people. We have two homes at the end of our street with roof damage. One of the homes is for sale.

This was part of some one's roof along Woodley Farm Drive. Lucky the tree stopped it going into the home behind it.

As we had no electricity until Sunday morning, we had to meet our own needs into regards to what was happening around us. We don't have a radio in the home but there were plenty up in the shed. Ian attached a battery to this one we could at least listen to some music and news on Saturday evening.

Now I am truly thankful for that shed full of tools that Ian has. We set up this power pack with a light. You just need the right adaptor according to what you want to plug in. We also had plenty of candles on hand as well as a heavy duty torch. We brought in from the back patio or rather they had blown across the lawn the solar lanterns that hang out the back. I also brought in the solar lights from the garden bed. Ian brought the solar lights he has in the shed down too. We were the most lit up house in the street. I know next door who have two children only had one small light. Preparation is the key.

Communication with the outside world is vitally important. One of our mobiles went flat and that was the one with Internet connection!!! Luckily we still have a "old fashioned" plug in land line phone. So we were still able to make and receive calls from family. The newer style phones may be handy to walk around with but when there is no power they don't work. So if you see one of these phones somewhere grab it. Looking at the photo I must go and give it a bit of a wipe over.

One thing that saved our home from damage besides luck being on our side with what way the wind was coming from is these vents.We have one in the end,the way the wind was coming from and the other one is further up the home in one of the gables. These let air flow through the home. Very handy indeed. A lot of homes are built with closed in eaves and this is where damage is done because the force of the wind just lifts up the building etc.

The only thing I wished we had was one of those little battery operated fans. I really could have done with one of those on Saturday evening. Oh well a wet flannel did the trick. One other thing we realised is that you must keep your phone charged and I know that I should charge my battery camera on a more regular basis. It went flat after I took the first few photo's yesterday. I hope these few things we found out may help someone who may go without electricity for a while. I know there are still thousand's of homes and shops in the Wheatbelt without power.

On the quilting side of things I have completed the quilting to the edge of  all the blocks that needed doing on Lisa's quilt. I will work on doing a design in the centre of these blocks now. I found a wonderful book at the library last week called  "Quilting Designs from the Past 300 plus designs from 1810-1940" which is written by Jenny Carr Kinney and published by C&T Publishing. This book has history about the designs and a great selection of patterns to choose from.

Once again this year I was able to be included in the OPAM Challenge that is run by Kris and Peg. I have two finished items for this month. Next month I will be able to include the tablecloth and quilt I have sent to the quilters. Thanks to Kris and Peg for taking on the paper work involved with collating every one's finishes.

I would like to pass our deepest sympathy to my sister-in-law Laura and my brother Geoff and family on the passing over the weekend of Laura's Father Ray. Our prayers and thoughts are with you all.

I have noticed that a lot of bloggers out there in Blog land love getting a bargain  either at the local op-shop or garage sale. I have been after something for a little while and found some at the local op-shop the other week. You don't get to see what it is yet. You will probably laugh when you finally do see it. Everyone is after something they want that is all I am saying. I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone else has purchased recently at a op-shop or garage sale. I will do a post on Friday morning this week on the 4th February and will get friendly with "Mr Linky" so you will all be able to join in. I hope you can.

Thank you once again for all your best wishes. I have some pumpkin and corn soup on the stove I want to blend up for lunch. I know making soup in Summer but over the last week or so I have felt like soup and today I decided to "just do it".

I hope to see some of you on Friday with your op-shop/garage sale purchases. I will be back tomorrow with Tuesday's Treasures.

Happy days.
Bev C

We survived the STORM, it was like a war zone.

Hello,

Wow, how our lives changed in a few moments yesterday. We had been on cyclone watch or rather the whole state had been. The weather forecast was for Cyclone Bianca to hit further down south today.
Just after getting up from a nap yesterday afternoon I was reading the paper and Ian said we had better check to see what was happening. We looked up the BOM weather site. It was just before 3.00pm. We both saw that the rain was coming .We both said at the same time "It's Here" I then looked outside and quickly ran to grab the camera. Ian went up to the shed to shut the door and to put the pool cover on the pool. He only had just enough time to do that.




Ian walking up to the shed.

 The dust came in so quickly all these photo's I took were only a few seconds apart. If you were out shopping etc you would have been stuck.








Looking across to the neighbours across the road.



This is the view to the neighbours house above a few seconds after.

It was coming at such a fast pace, it really was unbelievable.

Dust was everywhere. There was just dust and noise for the first few minutes then the wind hit. Unbelievable, is the only way I can describe it.

Within a few minutes it was black for quite some time. I took this photo just before that looking out the front window. Remember this is three in the afternoon. I quickly realised we needed some light so managed to find my way to the pantry cupboard for the torch. By this time the power had gone of and we just had to hide inside. At one time I stayed in the passage way. It was the safest place. Luckily the winds came from our bedroom end of the home if they had come from the front I don't know what the story would be. Winds over 100km per hour raged for over an hour. I watched our neighbours trees just fly out of the ground and big branches fall of gum trees. We only had about 12mls of rain which was lucky. Our pipes to the tank just out the back blew of so we didn't collect any rain there.

After it finished there was an eerie quite then sirens started. We ventured outside to see what the damage was. Our back gate that we walk through that you can see in the top photo has had its hinges broken,completely blown off. We ventured up to the chook yard to find the door blown in,luckily our three new chickens were still inside. A neighbours gum tree had fallen on the chook yard and pulled away some of the wire. Luckily it completely missed there fence and our fruit trees. One little plum tree that was only planted two years ago if that was tucked between the branches. One of our fence posts completely snapped at the base and we lost a Wattle tree on the verge and in the front yard. We also lost a bush that I was hoping would go, so was happy about that.

All in all we were extremely lucky. I guess that is the good thing about loving roses,they were OK. After checking on neighbours who had also come out and having a chat with them we then went to check on my Mum's home. She had rang us to say she wasn't home but the neighbour had called her to say her house was OK. We went and checked, there were so many trees damaged and big huge ones in the back yard that were completely blown out. One had fallen on the neighbours fence and he was already there with the chainsaw. Another neighbour came to help and while I was cleaning up the lady across the road came to see if Mum was OK.
The house on the corner near Mum's with the hedge had its roof completely taken of and a chimney was gone. I don't know if they will rebuild. There home is currently for sale. I guess you would now call if a renovator's delight. It had ropes holding it together yesterday. I haven't seen it today. I guess it probably will be demolished because the rain would have wrecked the ceilings if they held up at all. I reckon they would have been terrified.

The house that is being built across the road from us in the paddock is gone. The roof and other parts are strewn across the paddock. You can see a photo of it here. The owners came this morning and I watched them. They never even got out of there vehicle. It was a Queenslander style home on stilts. We used to worry about the home because it was out in the paddock surrounded by crop . We worried about it being at risk if a fire came through.

After we left Mum's we went for a quick drive around but decided it was way safer at home. There were power lines down everywhere and trees uprooted. We saw homes with the roller doors on the garage completely blown in. Chainsaws were in action straight away and not long after the television stations from Perth were hovering above in there helicopters. Unfortunately we didn't get to watch it because our power was only restored this morning.We spent the morning putting tree branches out onto the verge for the shire workers to collect.It has been described like being in a war zone. Something that I hope we don't ever ever go through again.

Back soon
Bev C

In the Pink with Colourful Friday.

Hello and welcome to Colourful Friday.

This weeks Robyn has let us choose our favourite colour. I chose PINK. It was cooler at the beginning of the week so I was able to get a few shots taken of the PINK roses and hollyhocks in the garden.



In the Pink at Kainga.

 I even included some PINK gardening gloves that Bonnie included in my Christmas present.

Yesterday we had a PINK sunset. I managed to get a few shots.

I played around with the two photo's above and superimposed one on the other and came up with this one below.






I hope you have a wonderful day and find yourself surrounded by your favourite colour. Please check out what other bloggers are coming up with this week.

Happy days.
Bev C.

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello and Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures.

This week I want to share with you a very old journal that belonged to a relative of mine way back in the 1800's. I have been lucky enough to be the present owner of this. Or rather I am the minder of it until it gets past onto the next generation.

This is the outside of the journal it has gold on the edges of the paper and some corner protectors. The word "Journal" is written on the side I presume this may be in gold as well.

The first few pages have been cut out. I don't know what the reason for this was. Maybe there was something there that the owner didn't want anyone to see. Or it may have simply been a error and with everything having to be so precise he decided to take it out. A part of history I won't know. It certainly would have been interesting to know though.

This page here shows a purchase of a block of land in South Perth for 32 pounds in June 1896. A deposit of a cheque for 4 pounds was paid then a monthly payment of 4 pounds over the next few months finishing of in January 1897. The interesting part is that the real estate firm is Peet & Co which is still going today.

This is actually the first page which starts in 1896, so it makes me wonder when the journal was first started as there was writing on the pages that were cut out. This page shows land which was purchase in Victoria Park.

Now it was very interesting to read this page of the journal. It was in 1901 and it was an account with CW Stanton Co. of Chicago. It is an order for books. So you can see the family history that goes back a long way we always had a love affair with books.

This journal makes for great reading from the pages that are full of prices of food especially meat flour sugar etc. I have just found a page that was written in 1952, I presume this was my Nana's but it shows "Earnings from Writing". She got paid in January and February for writing stories in the "Crusader".

There are pages and pages of land purchases, it is hard to believe what some of these blocks of land are worth now. Some day when I have time I will have to do a comparison. Another interesting piece of paper that was floating in the back was an article my Nana had typed up from an article. Guess what it was about? How to bud roses!!!

If you want to see the writing up closer please click on the photo's. Thanks.

Now if you want to see what other Treasure's are being shown this week,please go to Melody's blog and check them out.

Happy days.

Bev C

"Redwork Love Is" and a Bungarra.

Hello,

Oh my goodness I am so glad yesterday is over. A scorcher of a day about 45 degrees Celsius in the shade. I just stayed inside watching the Australian Open Tennis on the television. I have been enjoying the tennis again this year. It is something I look forward to. Nothing like watching rich tennis players arguing with the umpire and grunting each time they hit the ball!!! Seriously we have seen some amazing tennis and it continues this week. I was hoping to have some photo's of the completed "Sunflowers & Sunshine" quilt but they are on the other computer. I will have to transfer the photo's later on and show them in a future posting. I dropped the quilt of to the quilters along with my tablecloth that I had finished last year. I also dropped the recent cross stitch to the framers. So it will be bread and dripping over the next month while I save up to pay for them.

Over the past week I have been finished of  Paula's latest free Block of the Month, called Redwork Love Is.

I used up some of the material I received from my neighbour last year. I used cream homespun that I had on hand for the stitchery squares and for the backing I used a pink shade of matching homespun for the backing. I added a suffolk puff to each intersection and used DMC 221 for sewing them on and doing the stitchery.

I added another stitchery square because I had mine 5 blocks across instead of four. I think the block I added is rather appropriate. Plus it adds my personal touch to the quilt. Thank you once again Paula for a great pattern.

Seeing I can't show you photo's of my "Sunflower & Sunshine" quilt I will show you some photo's of a visitor we have to our place on a fairly regular basis. I heard something banging on the security screens the other day and went to investigate. I opened the curtains,looked to the right nothing looked to the left and saw the neighbours cat. I banged on the window to get rid of him.

A little while later Ian came home from work and the banging started again. We both went to investigate. No cat but this was hanging on the door.

It was our resident Bungarra. This is his tail. I presume it is a male, I really don't know.

Here you can see his markings on his skin and his feet.

Here his his face. He was upside down. He stayed there for a few minutes then dropped to the ground and he was of across the block within a few seconds. They are fast runners. The Bungarra has been around Kainga for a couple of years now. I saw him in the garden the other week. I think he also lives across the road at some neighbours because they have talked about him also. Last summer I heard him on a very hot day in the gutter. Looked out and he was poking his head out looking at me.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. It is only going to be 35 here today. That is about the hottest I like before it gets uncomfortable for me.

Happy days.
Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello,

Welcome to Tuesday's Treasures kindly hosted by Melody from The House on the side of the Hill.
At Kainga our dining table is very old. It has four drawers,two on each side. One or two drawers having nothing in them. Meanwhile the others contain all sorts of treasure.

There are lots of "real" serviettes. Most of these I have bought from garage sales. The plain white ones came from "Byfield House" a old home in town here. It was run by a lovely couple as a restaurant many years ago. It is now a private home again. The embroidered ones at the front were bought for a dollar or two. There are four of them but one must be hiding in the linen cupboard.

Another treasure you can find in the drawer are letters from Lucy to her Dad when she was much younger.
It says,

Dear Daddy

You are the best Dad in the world
Love from Lucy
I love you Dad

You will also find this little bit of school work done by Lucy.

Now I just wish those damn Slaters were bright pink like this so I could see them in the garden!!!

Now I am of to see what other Treasure's were found this week.

Happy days.
Bev C

Sunshine & Sunflowers

Hello,

Recently I have been working on a "Block of the Month" called Sunshine & Sunflowers. Late in 2008 Ian was sent across to the other side of Australia and had to do a weeks work in Townsville Queensland. He enjoyed his work there of course he was put up in a lovely hotel right beside the water with three course meals each night and fully cooked breakfast each day. I sent him of to Tinker's Cart to purchase a book for me. The one I wanted wasn't available but he chose this one for me. I even went out and purchased the material not long after he got home. I have peeked into the bag of goodies every now and again. I was even tempted several times to use the material in other projects. Well I have decided to bite the bullet and start it.

I added some ric-rac to some of the blocks. The pattern called to do stem stitch but I decided to use up some of the ric-rac I have in my collection. This is some that I bought from Good Sammy's a few years back. It is the old fashioned type made from cotton. It came up lovely after giving it a pressing. There is something quite special about the older style of haberdashery.

This is the book I am using it is by Suzanne McNeill.

I am up to putting on the borders. I don't know if I will do as the pattern says. It depends on the amount of material I have in my stash.

I have also been catching up with the Block of the Month from Dawn Heese. I love this project because I am raiding my stash and using it up. Plus I am doing it with "Button hole" stitch which I just love.

I have been busy ordering books through the local library. Thanks to Nat for recommending some of these. There is certainly lots of inspiration here. I have a confession to make though, I have been wondering where my Tupperware containers have disappeared to over the years. I found out the other day. I was tidying up and re-arranging my sewing room. They were in there full of "projects on the go'. I found I had started a project from the Blue and White cross stitch book and hopefully that will be a project I will finish not just leave there to be done sometime soon!!!


Love and prayers go to people across Australia involved in the recent bush fires who lost there homes in Lake Clifton south of Perth and to everyone who have had to endure horrendous times with the floods in Queensland. Thoughts especially to those who lost loved ones.  Lets hope the recovery process is taking shape and your futures will be bright. I was amazed at how well processes were put in place to help people.
I know there are lots of appeals going on. I think the main thing people need is money. Please make sure you make a donation either directly to the flood appeal or to one of the service organisations like Red Cross etc.

Happy days
Bev C

Tuesday's Treasures.

Hello,

I am back joining in Tuesday's Treasures with Melody.  Thank you for hosting Tuesday's Treasures Melody.This week I am sharing a very new treasure. I received this cup and saucer set from Mum for Christmas.

It is from the Maxwell and Williams range and it is called "Rambling Rose" I just love my new treasure.

I have another treasure to share with you this week also.

Melody sent me a parcel of treasure. I was a winner on her blog a few weeks back. A Spencer Museum charm pack and those most lovely carved bookmark made from wood. With a kangaroo paw design on it. A few ladybirds managed to fly into the parcel as well. Thank you so much Melody. You made my day.

Now some of you know we have had a computer problem here at Kainga. In the meantime we have set up an old laptop. We hadn't used this computer before now,I was having terrible problems with scrolling down and the picture being wavy when I scrolled down. Last night I was determined to find the cause of it. A few searches of pages on the Internet and I found we didn't have our "Nvidia" video driver installed on our computer. I wasn't game enough to install it but showed Ian this morning what I had discovered. He quickly found where to upload it and BINGO it works perfectly. I told him he didn't have to buy me the new car straight away!!! Using this computer will be fun from now.

Hope you have a truly wonderful day.
Happy days.
Bev C

Hello my name is Bev and I have an addiction to PDF's.

Hello,

I hope you have had a great start to the weekend. Did you know I have an addiction and I can bet you do to. I can't resist downloading those PDF's. Did you even know what those letters mean,besides that the ones I download usually contain a free pattern or stitchery design. PDF stands for "Portable Document Format" in case you really needed to know. Well I thought it was about time I started sewing up the ones I have saved on the computer. I started with this little stitchery bag.

"Take time to smell the flowers."

This was designed by May Britt a couple of years back for a swap. The thing I loved about making this little bag was I used up two different types of wadding. I joined them together to make the front and the back. This year as well as last year I really am hoping to make all my projects without hopping out to the shop to buy items. I will be using up those smaller pieces of wadding in projects like this.This project called for some cord. Now I didn't have the right length but I did have a huge shoelace type thing. This was cut up and knotted at the ends,just perfect.

Another thing I am addicted to is magazines. Gosh it is awful having these addictions!!!!

Magazines I won from Michell

I was lucky enough to win some magazines from Michell's blog. It was fun to receive these magazines. Of course this meant it was time to stop work and put the kettle on for a cuppa and a read. Thank you so much for sending these to me Michell.

Now I hope you all have a fun weekend and do something you love.

Happy days.
Bev C

Rain!!! Computers and a Great Giveaway.

Hello,

Guess what we had 14mls of rain a few days ago. Yippee I can hear you say. Well that was a huge amount for us. Though it was on a very hot humid day I will gladly take it. After a extremely dry year last year I am grateful for any rain.

Now I was hoping to get back looking and blogging on a more regular basis but unfortunately I googled some images of "Cornucopia's" the other night and I think I may have attracted a bug to our computer. With this it is better to be safe than sorry. So Ian has taken the hard drive to our repair man. I am using David's old laptop at the moment.

Hello, my name is Bullet

Do you love dog's? Everyone likes to pat them when they come to you puffing and wagging there tail.
Carolyn is being such a great sport and is planning to make dog coats for members of the dog community for the S.P.C.A She wants us to think up a name for her project and she has some great prizes on offer including a dog coat.

Carolyn's Box Pouch,one of the prizes on offer.

You may be able to help Carolyn make a dog jacket as she has a pattern to use. So all you dog lover's out there get on to Carolyn's blog and enter and spread the word. Who could resist that smile from Bullet.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Stick around."

Hello,

Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you have had a great start to 2011.

Please "stick around". I will be back to blogging next week. In the meantime I will be entertaining "Mr Pool" and "Mr Daikin."

Happy days
Bev C