Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's very green up my way!

The wet season is well and truly here, and our little town has certainly taken a hiding in the last few days. 
On Friday night the rain flooded parts of Kezzie's house, and she lost power for hours. A number of trees came down and a neighbour down the road lost their roof.
On Sunday Mr E and I went for farewell ride with a teacher friend who is leaving town, and though it was fine when we left home, by the time we'd ridden 70 klms the rain bucketed on us. We stopped in Townsville for a while to enjoy hot cuppas and good Aussie meat pies, hoping to dry out a bit before the return trip.
 It doesn't really show, but our friend Adrian is saturated up to his waist. He was wringing the water out of his shirt, and later emptying his boots.
Heading home we rode through even worse rain and wind. Mr E was still squeezing water out of his wet-weather jacket on Monday! We all discovered wet weather gear doesn't always do what it's supposed to. 
The upside of the rain is the greening....
I took this photo today when it looked as though the sky was clearing, but an hour later the wind and rain tore through town again. Kezzie rang to tell us that our Vet Surgery had a huge gum tree come crashing down through the roof. I think that a lot of trees and houses here will experience troubles over this summer. In February when Cyclone Yasi tore through town it weakened a lot of structures and trees - I imagine we'll find out how much as these storms increase over the next few months.
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I can't show you the gifts I have been making because I have nosey children and friends who will come snooping on my blog, however, I can show you some Christmas stitcheries I've been enjoying.
A while ago I found this pattern in an old issue of Handmade and I knew it was going to end up on my wall this Christmas...
The designer is Lesley Purdon. 
I found some pretty blue frames for $2 each at a garage sale, so chose to stitch it in blues and pinks...
It looks gorgeous on our dining room wall!
Bronwyn Hayes has generously shared some beautiful free Christmas stitchery designs on her blog the last few weeks, and as soon as I saw this one I had to scurry to find some nice backing fabric and  my trusty DMC 347 red thread!
Visit Bronwyn's blog HERE. She is always showing lovely ideas, and sharing her unique talent!
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The lovely Gail Pan has also shared a gorgeous free Christmas stitchery!
 Head over to her blog HERE to download. It is only available this month.
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Another special lady who is sharing her talent is Kaaren from The Painted Quilt. She has a redwork Woodland Santa, and as soon as I saw him I thought of St Nicolas!
 You do know that today is St Nicolas Day don't you??
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Now while I am a redwork roll, you must visit my sweet friend, Allie! She is sharing a set of seven redwork Christmas stitcheries. 
 They will stitch up quick and be perfect for decorations!
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With no children in the house anymore, we've decided not to put up the big tree this year. 
I wasn't sure what we'd do until I saw this on Marg Low's blog the other day...
It sits on a table. 
Marg made the tree skirt and added ornaments of her own design. Isn't it pretty?
You can visit Marg's blog HERE. She has such lovely designs!
Today I tell Mr E I need a little tree, and he finds me one at Overflow that is barely 6" high.
Not a tiny tree, a little tree, I say.
I hope we have luck with finding one.
~~~~~
If you're new to my blog this year, you will have missed this free design I shared for last Christmas.
I made it into a door hanger for Kezzie.
With storms around today I've been sorting out my sewing room, so I'd best get back to that.
 Miss Sophie on the other hand has not been working...
The perks of rainy days.
Hugs
Jenny
xxx

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting post Jenny and thankyou for all the links for free downloads and also your own.xo

petra said...

Dear Jenny

Thank you for sharing this wonderful sticheries and redworks.

I wish you and your family a wonderful St. Nicholas Day. Here in Austria and in Germany it's an important day for all children and they love him for all the sweets he'll bring them.

Fiona said...

always fun to read your posts.. I do hope everyone can stay safe in this weather.. it has suddenly got very cold here in the SE... thanks for all those lovely links...
Hugz

Melody said...

Thank you for sharing the fabulous links. I always enjoy you posts, so very much.

Lida said...

Hope your house will be spared and all the families will get out right in these horrable storms! Hope the summer returns with sunshine! Greetings
Lida

Vickie said...

oh yes when that rain falls from the sky it sure does so in buckets...love all that stitching them Leslie Purdon birds are cute...seeing them all makes my fingers itch-but I must not start anything new (if I keep telling myself I might follow through)..
the hanger for Kezzie is way cute,cheers Vickie

Quilt Kitty said...

Miss Sophie no doubt thinks 'mum has so many things around the place that are here just to look pretty so I'm going to do that too'. Love your Robin stitchery. Perth has had storms all day today too. That is quite scary about Yasi weakening structures, I hope it's only buildings etc & no one gets hurt. We celebrated St Nicholas Day today too as we now have a lovely German lady at work who is giving us a little taste of Eurpoe in Oz. Tracee xx

Carrie P. said...

Well you certainly are staying busy with the house all to your self. Love all the things you are working. The birds are so sweet. Thanks for sharing all the links.

Belinda said...

Wonderful post! I love your cool ideas!

Sue from Cyprus said...

Hi Jenny
Thank you for sharing your wonderful patterns with us.
I just love that beautiful photo of yourself. You have very kind eyes... and we all know that you have a heart of gold!
Stay rested,
Hugs, Sue from Cyprus x x

Allie said...

I remember riding in the wet - not really fun, lol! Glad you got home safe and sound, love the pic of you with the beautiful green framing your sweet face. I am praying for your little town, how awful that Kezzie got flooded!

I'm going to be starting both Gail and Kaaren's lovely stitcheries soon - perfect for cousins. I think your Holy Night will be perfect for mum! I hope you find your tiny-not-teeny tree! Love you girl, kiss Miss Sophie for me!

Christine M said...

Another enjoyable post. Thanks for sharing all those lovely stitcheries and thanks for the links.

Stitched With Prayer said...

Hi Jenny, Wow, it sounds like we sent our horrible storm across the ocean to you. About five days ago a storm traveling east roared through Utah and California leaving huge amounts of damage in it's wake. A town just 15 miles south of us was first declared an emergency area and has since been declared a disaster area. So many home badly damaged, so many beautiful trees destroyed, tearing up sidewalks and streets as the roots pulled up out of the ground. Winds reached 102 MPH. We only get the East Winds about every 15 years and this was not the worst we've seen but very close. One child was killed by flying debris when a McDonalds sign tore apart. Sounds very much like the storm you just had as it was traveling your way. I hope no one was injured over there and that clean up isn't too bad. We fared well as we just lost some siding off our home, easy to replace but costly. Okay, enough of that. Thank you so much for the links to the freebies. I already have Gail's and your last year's beautiful gift, but have to go get the others. Sending big hugs your way. Oh, by the way, you look beautiful in your picture. Your hair is growing out faster than mine but by Motorcycle weather next Spring I should be grown long enough that the helmet hair isn't as bad as the short hair. Okay, hubby's got a wonderful Chili made for our 16 degree day so I'm off to share some with him. More hugs and God Bless...

LindaB said...

Hi Jenny...your stitcheries are very beautiful...I do not know how you find the time to complete so many....love the christmas robins...what issue of Handmade is the pattern in...if I am lucky I will have it in my stack of magazines....hugs..LindaB