where is time going..

I can't believe another 2 months have gone by again....... time is really flying past us lately and the first term of the school year is almost over.....

We have been rather busy with the start of the school year and all the other sporting interests of our children and farm life in general so haven't really been too near a sewing machine for a little while......

I have however managed to make a couple of glass cases/playstation case bags...lol they have a spring based opening on them so nothing falls out.. along with a little carry handle.

Both my younger girls were recipients of one each for their psps and an extra one for the one who wears glasses for her own glasses..hehe and also one was gifted to my mum for a belated birthday gift..

I have also made 3 of these bags which have been sent off to a quilter in the Victorian bushfire area along with some knitted items which are all going to those who have lost so much already. The bags will be used as stash bags and filled with fabric and accessories for other quilters who have lost their stashes. All the knitted items have been handed out to help those in need now. I am lucky enough to have contacts on the ground so to speak who can get items of need to those in need rather quickly. I just pray that those of us in Victoria are now over the fire season, especially after the horrendous day we experienced last Tuesday.

The winds we got here were equivalent to a cyclone 1 strength and cut us off from our local town with trees downed on the roads which could not be cleared until the winds abated as it was too dangerous, trees were continually falling all over the area, the dust storms cut visibility to almost zero and was very eerie.. luckily for us all fires that started in the area were very quickly and aggressively attacked by the local firies... one good thing to come out of Tuesday is we all have enough firewood for the winter ahead.. and we got RAIN... yay..... being in rural Vic we rely on tank water for our survival and have not had rain of any sort since December..... the rain started off Tuesday night with a bit of drizzle but by Wednesday we had real rain...... such a fantastic sound to hear the rain on our roof again......and running into our empty tanks..... lets all hope we don't get too much more of the hot, windy days and fires we have seen since February..... even though we have had rain the land is still very dry and it still would not take much for a fire to take hold again...... we still have probably 7 weeks before we can relax.......

Our other lot of news is DS1 moved out of home mid January, much against his mum's advise lol with the economic downturn....... but he had to go out and experience life..... he was advised 2 weeks ago that he and another apprentice at his work were being laid off....... that seems to be the story everywhere around here at the moment.. so after a fortnight of speaking with different people about different strategies, as he is still completing his apprenticeship, he has decided to move home...lol esp as he now can't afford to rent and pay off a loan on no income.... we think at this stage he will be allowed to finish the schooling part of his apprenticeship by attending 'school' once a week and have his workplace side of his apprenticeship put on hold until things pick up... he is going to work for us here on the farm and we are all just hoping that some how we all survive financially..... we have put up for sale a couple of vehicles and also sold off our heifers and now it is just a wait and see what happens with the markets, it is out of our hands but we will get there......

I have been spending a lot of my nights knitting and have a bit of a stash of completed items which I will take pics of later and update on my other blog for those interested. I have joined an online group call Knit4charities which is a really great and inspiring group who does an amazing job of helping out charities here in Australia with in kind donations of goods. I have gained a few new contacts for charity goods to be donated to. It is such a good feeling to know that you are helping out those in real need and that the items are actually getting to the people who really need them.

I am off this afternoon to help cut out blocks for a QS quilt my local craft group are making for a raffle with all proceeds going to the bushfire victims here in Victoria.. as we only meet on a monthly basis now the majority of the work will be done at our homes and pieced together when we meet... so I can see that will be keeping me busy also...lol

Take care all and I hope it won't be soo long before I update again..hehe no promises though