The Big Reveal and stories

Howdy everyone! Hope the summer has been easy on you all. I've noticed some areas of the U.S. have had flooding and crazy heat. The fire had been put out 4 days after my last post. Everyone was allowed to go home. Here in Arizona, our monsoons have arrived and today it will be 82 degrees. Whew. It rained for a week and a half straight. It heats up and the storms come in in the afternoon. Like I've said before, I don't like humidity but it comes with the territory. The picture on my header is a lake not far from me. You can see the level has gone down. But look at that color! It does turn that color here after a storm. It's very neat.

Let's get to the real reason I'm here, among other reasons. I joined the Christmas in July Exchange hosted by Kaye at Kitten Stitching. The person to send to me is Nadine or Jocondine as her blog is known. Her package arrived the 2nd week of July from France..

I love the stamps!

We had to wait until today, the 25th, to open our packages and here's what I have in mine..

!!!!!!! Clockwise from top left-the package of sweets, the Christmas card, the handmade ornament (love it, by Cuore et Batticuore, an Italian designer), the ornament with monceau sapin which I think means tree hill or mound, and the wonderful Christmas fabric. Here's what is inside the card..

Isn't that cute? Each little 'door' opens to little stickers or a nice little saying, or with a charm like the one at the bottom right. And of course, I had to open the package of sweets...

I have since had one of the little marshmallow-like candy and it's very tasty! Saving the big peanut cluster candy and cane for later.

Nadine, a huge Thank You for this wonderful Christmas gift! I love it all! Thank You also to Kaye for putting this exchange on. It's a lot of fun!

As for my package to Noni aka Stitching Noni, I sent it off on the 13th of July to Australia and I'm hoping it has arrived in time. Seems that 12 days would be enough time? We'll find out. Next time I mail to Australia, I'll have a better knowledge of how long it takes.

Since I'm here, I might as well show a finish I had, the LizzieKate design..

Wow, how blurry. Cute, cute. I used a sparkly braid for his eyebrows and the buttons that came with the chart. I used a linen called Strawflower and I really like it because there are very faint red and green colors in it in real life. Since I'm finished, the chart of this is up for grabs! No embellishments though. The usual rules of which there are hardly any: just comment you would like to have it and I'll draw names on August 2nd, Arizona time. I can mail overseas, follower or not. 

So I lost the stitchy bug for a good week. I just wasn't feeling it. I did however get caught up on some reading. I looked at all my WIPs but nothing screamed at me, until I up and jumped onboard another exchange! This one is the Haunted Harvest Exchange hosted by the Dixiesamplar/Terri on FB. I have my recipients name and info already. While waiting for the info, I started this Notforgotten Farm piece called Death and Judgement..

Everything is looking so blurry. This may or may not be the exchange piece for my person. It's big. I'm going to give it a tea bath and finish it just like the model, a tombstone. I'm thankful my person likes Halloween! We have until the last week of September to mail to our person.

So needless to say, the stitch bug is back!

I guess that's it! Thanks for stopping by. Here's to a great week for all! I'll leave you with a picture of Monument Valley up in northern Arizona while I go out and weedwhack the jungle outside!

Happy 4th! And the winner is..

MENDY ELLIOTT!! Mendy, you won the Sweetie Peetie Pumpkin. Thanks for playing. Here is an email to reach me: ________. Let me know your mailing details and I will get Peetie out to you. Thanks to everyone else for playing. It was a good turnout!

I hear the fireworks as I type, trying to keep my poor cats calm but it's not working. I am nervous about fireworks as it has been so hot and dry here. Two neighboring towns canceled their fireworks because of this:

I took this picture off my front porch. It looks like the fire is right behind those houses but it's really 14-16 miles south in the mountains. This was Tuesday of last week. It started 3 days before on Saturday. By Sunday you could see a plume of smoke. It was all white smoke, burning through chaparral and pine. Those dark smoke section means it burnt some cabins and outbuildings. After this picture, the wind turned and for the first time since the fire started, the smoke poured in to town. I began to get worried. Otherwise, it had been blowing to the east.

An aerial shot from a news chopper. At this point, it grew to 20,000 acres. And got within 5 or 6 miles from my town! A whole slew of evacuations for 5 or 6 small towns down the highway with us being a maybe. People with horses had to write names and numbers on their hooves or backs and set them loose. I started packing important papers and wondering how my cats were going to handle being tossed into my car! I was a nervous-wreck. I went to work expecting to get alerts that we were to pre-evacuate.

On Sunday the slurry tankers began to fly along with the helicopters that scoop up water to pour on the fire. By Friday there were 1,120 firefighters fighting this and they began having success. As of this morning, 28,740 acres, I believe, had been burnt and it is 95% contained. Whew. The evacuations began lifting and people were being slowly let go to go back to their homes. They haven't said how many structures had been destroyed. There is a couple crews doing mop ups and watching some small fires still going. There is still a little bit of smoke in the air. Boy, was that scary. Every June this happens here, fires springing up. Not helping was all the rain we got from January to April and everything just grew. It's been 10 or 11 years since a fire sprang up this close and I'm hoping we don't see another one for quite awhile.

Last weekend before all the above, I got the FFO bug. Here's the result:

The round ornament is The Bluebird of Happiness from a JCS ornament magazine. If you go back in my posts, you'll see which issue its from. Above is Why Yes..from Lizzie Kate and the Mardi Gras ornament I think is called duc d'Orleans but it's by Ink Circles. I wish I had cut the contours for that one instead of one big oval shape. But I'm quite happy with all three.

I started and finished this one. Cute as a Button by the Nebby Needle..

I will sew a button or two on the end and make it like the model with jumbo ric rac and buttons..

I picked up Coming to Town-Santa '11 by Lizzie Kate just a couple hours ago and am half way through it. It's failing miserably as a cool reminder: today was pretty warm. Cricket-bug, you are right, I don't have AC here so fans and ice water, and shorts, and windows open is what I have to do. I don't get a good nights sleep but I am now used to hearing the big box fan I have going in my room at night. We are just praying for rain and our monsoon is running a little late. Once they arrive, the fire ban throughout the forests get lifted and we get some relief. 

So that's it, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a hectic week and a half here what with the fire and a few other little crises. Here's hoping things settle down. Take care!

Oh I forgot that I framed this little cutie, Home, Diminutive by Pineberry Lane

This poor thing has been on the to-frame pile for the last two years. There is no green in the design but the yellowish areas pick up the same in the frame. The word HOME looks like HOMB. I learned the hard way to pay attention to details. The fabric is 35 or 36ct and I went ahead and stitched 2 over 2 when it should have been 1 over 2! I couldn't figure out why my stitches looked so squashed and awful! 

Okay, now I'm gone!