Wilma comes to visit

I had grand plans of needle-turning one more block of this quilt before breakfast, but instead went for a walk to survey our soggy pastures.

Cyclone Wilma has visited Northland (edit; and the upper half of the North island, according to radio reports), bringing solid rain since lunchtime yesterday. Luckily we didn't get any winds or other cyclone features. The quiet little river through the centre of the farm has flooded. 200 mls (8 inches) of rain in about 14 hours has had this effect —

The view from the house section; these are supposed to be paddocks!

The bottom flats all covered in water

The power lines lead to the pump shed, we covered the
pump in gladwrap last night but fear the water may
have reached the switch board

We have never seen this area flooded before

The hill paddocks across the bridge are completely inaccessible, but we have 7 paddocks on the house side that are usable, and some hill paddocks across the road. So we're pretty lucky really, I'm sure there are others that wouldn't have faired so well.

Our horse-riding arena is under there somewhere! 

Luckily the MOML moved the kayak up to higher ground last night,
the usual 'safe spot' is under water. We'll need it later to check the
pump shed.

The road is well and truly blocked! We'll be flooded in
in the other direction too.

The steers are high and dry.

As are the horses, their usual 'safe spot' is also under water.

Usually we drain away quite quickly, although we may not get over the bridge for a couple of days. There will be a lot of fences to repair and rubbish to clear away.

...follow-up and family...

Last post I was really excited that I had discovered using skirt hangers to hang my flimsies; I had bought a 5-pack of hangers and even had a spare one!! Connie commented that she also used these for hanging blocks on----so now I have a new home for my partially joined hexie-flowers, they were starting to get in the way; thank you Connie!!

I really wanted to share my favourite photos from the recent weekend - not quilty related sorry but important to me :-) {Smile with a big grin.}
My day-by-day shot for Saturday showed our son and his wife just arrived from Melbourne for an extended weekend, primarily to see Granny and Pop. The MOML and I took them down to see them. Here are my favourite photos from the visit —

Pop taking BB for a walk around the orchard. Think these are the walnuts,
or are they the chestnuts?  I know they are not the hazelnuts!

They are still walking and exploring, Each tree has a story.

Dad and I sitting back and watching— 

—the MOML redoing a fence. Tokoroa Ash soils lovely to
 dig in - a change from Northland Clay!! He fenced all
weekend, even in the pouring rain.

My sister and her family came over for tea. Here's her and I with Mum.

Me and my Big Boy. Even though he's ALL grown up it still takes a long time
to get a photo of him smiling, and not pulling a face!!

It wasn't all red wine! While there, I wrote out Apple Tree labels.
The name of this tree really tickled my fancy and got my imagination
going - a good cropper I imagine!

Thank you for visiting!! I hope everyone is having a great week (Oops, I've just realised it's just about the weekend again!!)

Organising myself

This week I took a bit of time to have a bit of re-organisation in my sewing cave. First step was to buy a bunch of skirt hangers for my flimsies. Second step was to find somewhere to hang them....a simple plastic hook that hangs over the top of the door was the solution. I very rarely shut this door so they will be tucked away out of the way (and the sun) but still visible enough to remind me that they are there waiting for attention!

Please note I bought 5 hangers but have only
used 4!!! Grin.

The third  step was to tidy up the storage on top of my (Grandmother's) sewing cabinet. A small bookcase (2 for $25) was a perfect solution.

I even coped with having to assemble it...

Perfect!!

Having a sense of organisation cleared my mind for sorting out my UFO list for my committment to the 'Sew It's Finished' blog.

Here goes - 

1. Breast of Friends - Homespun magazine project 2009 - 5 blocks completed

2. Flirting with Flowers - BOM by Toss's Corner (now the Pickledish Patch) - 6 blocks completed, only 3 to go (I think)

3. Crumbs quilt - this is at flimsy stage so just needs quilting

4. Klosjes quilt - make it up as I go - i.e.my own design (!) want to do at least one more border of spools

5. Reproduction jellyroll quilt - this was intended for the MOML for Christmas - Dad's illness stopped work on this one - just have the last border to do plus the quilting etc.

There now - I have it in print!! Now this doesn't mean I won't be starting or working on other projects but these are some that I REALLY WANT TO COMPLETE!~!!!

See what I mean - another wee project started - this is the start of the stitching for my New Beginnings kit for one of the many crafters who have suffered from the Queensland floods.

Happy stitching every-one, and thanks for visiting,