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!