ozcountryquiltingmum

Didn't escape unscathed!!

I didn't end up getting off quite as lightly with the storm damage as first thought.

Linseed is a fabulous thing, great for oil and for all those natural hormone type additives in bread and other foods....but not so great when its stubble all blows up against fences in winds that my husband assures me were more 150 kmh than 100kmh!

Some of our fences were blown over with the force of the stubble hitting them. The front end loader on the tractor could only remove the stubble close to the fence, not on it, so the kids and I had to work on getting the stubble off the 1 1/2 kilometres of fenceline they were on....I did a bit of this with them, then remembered why my neighbor had 7 children....here are 4 of them helping my two to get the whole rest of the job done in under an hour! $35 well spent I would say! These pictures only show the end of the job, at the beginning you couldn't see any wire or posts.

Instead I went back to working on my sadly neglected front garden. It has had to look after itself over the Summer, with no water to spare, and I have decided I am sick of fighting the elements so I have ripped it all out,

and am studying the space for a while to come up with some nice, low water requiring alternative. It's the entire South facing side of my house, so it gets little or no sun. The Hydrangeas, Arum lilies, shrubs and acanthus had loved it...some of the time, and looked nice....3-5 months of the year-not really a satisfactory arrangement. There is the whole other side of my front door to ad to the above pic.

There are a few more issues if you are thinking of making a suggestion...well, the main issue is this

....impossible to keep out so don't tell me seedlings would be the go...I have been there...and cried over that!!

She is "helping" me dig out the hydrangea!

So here it is today, after all my joints ache...and my carpal tunnel is playing up-a blank canvas, almost like reaching in the stash cupboard. There are even edging pavers under the edge of the dirt and lawn there somewhere, I have to dig and find them next! I only left my 2 now pruned iceberg roses because for some reason they love the position.-but I don't want them the whole way along the house.What to plant?

We had quilter's last night. Chris has her Kaffe Fassett ready for the longarmer.

I worked on my Spring swap but it isn't quite ready for your opinion so instead I will show you what I made for my friend Helen, who was my birthday buddy this month. They are from Ric Rac's tutorial on her sidebar, very quick and easy fabric containers, I will make them again. And the pot holder is from the 'Tracey out of my head pattern'! (that one was cheap!!!)

Have a great day, Tracey