BLESSED SPEEDY

Five or so years ago I joined into an international block swap - we were placed into groups of five from what I can remember and we sent each of the other four people a piece of fabric to be incorporated into a quilt block and be sent back to us.  I received back three blocks and had my own but the lady who was making the fifth block was somehow lost contact with.  Therefore I gave up on that last block and made a table runner from the four blocks I had. However several weeks ago I had an email from that lady who lives in the US and she said she had always intended to make my block and had done so and was posting it back to me- I was stunned! Anyway the block arrived and I still had some of the fabric left that I sent (its in the centre of the star) so decided to add a few rounds to the block she sent and make a table topper. This is the result - and Im quite pleased with it if I do say so myself - and it this small exercise may well have rekindled my quiltin...

Hooray! Our home renovations are finally completed and we are both so please with how they turned out.  From a very small lounge room and a very old kitchen and a useless passageway we now have a beautiful open and airy space.  Everything looks so lovely, clean and shiny - I wonder how long it will last? Of course this makes us want to more in other parts of the house, but I think we need to save up a bit first!

We've just spent a lovely weekend with Mia and Maddison (and Aimee and Jason too) coming to visit - much fun was had - and even some farm work too! As you can see Mia is still one of the best "gates" around and is always happy to do it - yes we did this safely as if you look closely the gate is tied with hay band just in case the cow got a bit "cranky" Mia is also very helpful when you are rolling up an electric fence or setting one up - its so much easier with someone holding the posts for you as you walk along! And Maddison was Very Impressed with sitting on the wheel of the tractor - just didnt really like the loud noise it made when running!

The last few days have seen some extreme weather - gale force winds at times reaching 140 kmh and rain as well.  We've had a bit of damage but thankfully nothing life threatening and no animals (or humans!) injured. Clothes line is pretty sad but thankfully we have another clothes line over at the other farm which is not being used so hopefully that can come and live here. We now have plenty of firewood for next year!