Storm damage

Yesterday a massive thunderstorm came through topped off with a nice spot of hail. The gutters on the house didn't cope very well and I got a lot of water in my craft room. Luckily I was home and I was able to ferry  everything that was in danger out of the way. Most of my supplies are stored in two large metal chests and a metal cabinet. Everything in these is dry. Unluckily, the water has gotten into my power outlet so I won't be doing any sewing in there for a while.

Most luckily of all, my most prized possession, a latch hook rug, only got a little damp because I grabbed it in time. It is irreplaceable because I bought the kit in 1983 and that company isn't in Australia anymore. It is from Readicut in the UK. The design is called "Richmond" and I just love the colours - Country, Autumn.

There is actually a funny story surrounding the making of this rug. As I said before I bought it in 1983 when I was with my first boyfriend. I took it home and started to work on it but lost interest. It was rolled up and moved with me when I moved in to my first flat in 1985. It then moved with me again to Melbourne when I went to live with my second boyfriend. It moved back to Bendigo with me when things didn't work out, 1986. It moved again when I got married, to the third man in my life, 1992. I then dug it out and actually did a bit more work but only finished about two thirds. My marriage ended in 2000 and it moved with me again to a flat, a house and another house where it was finally dug out again and finished. That was in 2009. I know, I know.........that means it took me 26 years, three relationships and I don't know how many moves to complete. I think I hold the record for the longest time to complete an article of work. But let me give you a bit of perspective - the rug measures three feet by six feet ( the size of a single bed), each row took half an hour to complete (and I mean latching constantly without a break) and there are 240 rows. That is 120 hours of work and a lot of memories tied up in it. (The wool is pure wool and so nice to walk on in bare feet.) As I said, irreplaceable, and now has pride of place at the foot of my bed in front of the camphor wood chest that I mentioned in an earlier post.

And for those of you paying attention, yes my bedroom and sewing room are the same room but at four and a bit metres by seven metres there is plenty of room for every thing. It is actually the sun room which means I get plenty of light for crafting and wake up at sunrise every day, hop out of bed and can do some work before the kids get up. Speaking of sun, it  is now streaming in the room and I better get back to airing out my carpet.

Talk again soon.