I have missed a month!

What a long time it has been since I blogged!


I have had nearly three months of being quite unwell (to say the least) but hopefully I am on the mend now. :o)
Nothing very creative has been done for a while!

This morning we went into the park as usual and were enjoying the wonderful colours and the dry leaves underfoot when Rosie spotted some friends------all at once! Usually we bump into bigger dogs like spaniels and labradors but this morning they were more her size.




At one point they all stood/sat to enjoy the sunshine whilst their owners chatted.


Two Schnautzers joined in at this point but I didn't manage a picture of them.

 

Then a new friend to meet-- a Maltese terrier pup who was keen to play .

 

Think Rosie felt left out here 'cos she didn't have her coat on.


 

Three years on the 19th of this month since the Cockermouth floods and the finishing touches and clear up on our road is just about complete.   Who could ever have imagined it would have taken so long?

Two years today since the Cockermouth floods.

Two years ago I posted this little video on my blog.

It was the view out of one of our bedroom windows on the afternoon that the river broke its banks and the floods began. The river continued to rise for about another nine hours until the water reached nearly up to the roof of the garden shelter you can see on the left hand side. The whole of the garden disappeared under the water and the lane was filled. We were incredibly lucky in that our house itself is high enough up not to be flooded. Only about a dozen other houses alongside the two rivers were as lucky as us. The Main Street became a river that travelled so fast that things, that were washed away by the water, were travelling at over the 30mph speed limit.

This week there has been a lot of chatting and reminiscing about things that happened on this day two years ago. There are funny stories, sad stories, expressions of anxiety about it happening again and many ideas on how to prevent it. Various flood alleviation schemes are being discussed and legal issues are being pursued. There has even been a deputation sent to No 10.

A lot of our time has been spent dealing with the problem that we were left with in that our river wall was washed away thereby removing the only vehicular access to our house. We have a six inch high pile of paperwork and several hundred emails just dealing with that. The number of agencies that have to be consulted before putting back , what was there before, is unbelievable and that is only after the insurance have accepted the claim.

So what little pearls of wisdom can I pass on that could be useful to others------apart from living in a great community like this?

First of all most of us can take digital pictures so do it! Go round your house and photograph each room from four sides as a record of what is there. Take closeups of anything of value.
Take pictures of all the outside of your house and garden and of the contents of the inside of sheds and garages.
Scan and save info of purchases and guarantees. Same applies to solicitor,mortgage company, insurance companies,banks ,gas, electricity and phone.
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Now put all that info somewhere away from the house where it will be easily accessed in any emergency whether you are at home or away. You could put it on a CD and leave with your kids or email it to yourself at a web based email address like gmail.

Keep as much essential paperwork together if possible.

The last thing I can think of at the moment is to scan and save all those family photographs. The number of people that we have talked to who have said that the one thing they really missed and could never replace was all the photographs, was really sad.

At last----signs of progress!

The footpath diversion signs are up and the dense vegetation alongside the river has been cleared. Work proper should start next week and is programmed to finish by the end of August.


The picture below is what the lane looked like the day after the Cockermouth floods. By this time the water had fallen about 2 metres

This is the rough surface we were left with for a long time. It has never stopped the footpath from being well used!

Sandown National Quilt Championships 2011

This is my entry to the theme competition at Sandown this year which is Art Deco Revival. I called it "Clarice".

I didn't get a decent picture of it hanging straight against a wall before posting so this is just a collage including pictures I took as it was being made. The applique designs are pretty closely based on Clarice Cliff plate designs. The fabrics are nearly all from the Moda Marbles range, the only patterned fabric being that small strip of black and white stripe in the central block which is echoed in the border. The smaller plain circles were fun to do using the Bernina Cutwork tool!

The quilt itself was quite a challenge as the Art Deco period isn't my favourite design period and I am much happier working in other areas of the colour spectrum. It made me realise how infrequently I use orange and yellow fabric. Why did I enter the competition if I don't like the colours or the period I hear you ask? It is the challenge I think as well as the opportunity to do something different. Each quilt I do makes me learn something new. By the time it was finished I was comfortable with the designs and I realised that I shared Clarice Cliff's delight in trees and skylines. I still prefer Art Nouveau and Arts&Crafts movement stuff but perhaps I now look at Art Deco with a slightly different eye?


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Sandown will also see the last showing of a collection of my quilts titled "Does it need beads?"They have been touring around since autumn last year with Grosvenor Shows. I felt very honoured and to be honest quite overwhelmed to be asked if they could be shown!

We will have to get the wheelbarrow ready to go and meet the courier when they are returned as our lane (damaged in the Cockermouth floods in November 2009) is still unmended. The good news is that work should start next week and should be finished by September! :o)

Life gets a little hectic sometimes

We have had a busy few weeks.

Indoors we have been working on the last room of our renovation. I can't bring myself to show you what it looked like when we first saw it. It has remained as a junk room for years but now its turn has come. Other windows downstairs have proper working wooden shutters so this window looked a little bare until we were tidying the loft space and came across an old dismantled wardrobe . The doors were exactly the right size!

Sadly they won't function as shutters  and this old window can't be double glazed so I am seriously thinking of quilted curtains? :o)

Outside there has been a lot of gardening to do.

Everything is growing so fast and early! Looks as if another huge crop of apples is promised on this tree this autumn. It has cropped heavily for 20 years now!


Quilting wise I have got through the "creative lull" I was in and am now working furiously on something for Sandown and something else for Festival of Quilts although the latter is just a rough sketchy idea at present. I am definitely better working under pressure!

The other thing on the horizon is the start of the rebuilding of our river wall and road damaged in the the Cockermouth floods of November 2009! It is due to start at the beginning of June and be done by the end of September. It is going to be a big job and at present we have no idea how we are going to be able to get to and from our house. Just in case we are going to do a couple of big shopping trips so that we are stocked up with all the non perishable heavy staple stuff.

Water

This last week has been quite drippy and the river came up quickly but it is dropping fast again. The Cocker is reputed to be one of the fastest rivers in the country . It is only about twelve miles long and drains quite a large area of the fells. It rises very quickly but also drains down very quickly too. As it rises it changes colour from crystal clear ,dark green, sandy brown and then dark brown but as it falls it includes this wonderful almost blue colour. At this particular spot we frequently see the heron and kingfisher and it is a favorite place for the red squirrels to cross the river high overhead through the trees,

While I had the camera out I thought I would take some pictures of the damage done to our lane by the Cockermouth floods in November 2009. This collage is what we see as we set off walking towards the town


This one shows the same lane only returning from town. You can see the last bit of riverwall still standing but also just how narrow it is ,where a couple of metres of the width of the road has been washed away. Incidentally you can get an idea of the height of the floods at this point. The river is nearly three metres below the road here and at the height of the flood the water was through that hedge on the right and well up that telephone pole.


When all my quilts were parcelled up and ready to be sent to Grosvenor Shows ready for Malvern and the Spring Shows they had to be trundled along here in the wheelbarrow to meet the courier.
Fun!
:o)

After several weeks quiet--

I end up blogging twice in 24 hours! I forgot to mention last week that I received the current Fabrications magazine and two of my quilts at Sandown are mentioned.

but what got me excited was noticing this for the first time in print!

I knew it was planned but until it appeared in print I couldn't believe it. I still have to pinch myself!
In the next few weeks I will have to parcel up nearly all my quilts and won't see them again till sometime in 2011. Malvern is the first show in which they will be displayed.

Of course the big problem now is to work out how many I can put into the wheelbarrow to push 100 yards to the nearest point that the courier will be able to approach! The saga of the river wall and the road continues but more of that next week.
Suffice to say that it is now nine months since the Cockermouth floods and we don't yet have a start date for the wall to be rebuilt.

Life has been a little hectic recently.

I have been busy with a batik landscape. This was part of it at the beginning stage. Relieved that I can say that it is finished now and ready for Sandown next month . Phew!

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Have also been having a big clearout and sort through of my stuff as it was threatening to overwhelm me. I started another blog here to sell some of the accumulation of many years of doll making. My hands can't cope with the stuffing any more.

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After nearly six months since the Cockermouth floods we still have no vehicular access to our house and are beginng to go a little cabin crazy every now and again! We are hoping that over the next couple of weeks we may have some idea of when work will start.

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Last weekend it was Cockermouth's Georgian Fair and it was great to see visitors to the town and so many people dressed up. There was everything from maypole dancing and morris dancing to Cumberland wrestling and sedan chair racing! You can see some pictures here.

The Main Street is gradually coming to life again and looking almost better than ever with all the new shop fronts and clean paintwork. Woolfest next month too!

Less than a fortnight till Christmas

At last some sunshine and no rain! The trees looked fabulous against that blue sky.

Not many preparations for Christmas have been started in this house yet! I can hardly believe that 3 weeks have elapsed since the floods.


Going into town has quickly settled into a whole new experience as everyone adjusts and copes. I didn't realise until this happened what a set route you fall into for going shopping. This has all changed now as very few places are where they were just a few weeks ago.

Christ Church is the hub in the town of the relief effort and now has the police station relocated in a building opposite to them. This C.of E. church itself is now also used by the Catholics, as well as the Red Cross ,the Library and other agencies. One newsagent and a bakers are operating from a lighting centre, the Methodist Chapel is the Food Bank and about 10 businesses have taken over the defunct Job Shop . 14 other small units are being constructed inside an agricultural warehouse and are already being fitted out. All the doctors have now relocated to the Cottage Hospital and nearly all our banks are caravans in Sainsbury’s carpark!

Main Street and the Marketplace are just empty of anything but skips and workmen . There is a constant hum of pumps and dryers as a background to hammering and drilling as properties are dried and mended. There are plans for some shops on Main Street to reopen before Christmas which is wonderful news. The message going out is that we are open for business.

A wishing tree and Christmas lights were lit in the marketplace at the beginning of December but the big town Christmas tree still stands unlit in the middle of the Main Street. It managed to stand defiant to the torrent of water that enveloped it on that Thursday evening. I have heard that there are plans to light it on Christmas Eve with a open air Carol Service accompanied by music from the Town Brass Band.

I think there will be a lot of tears as well as smiles and Christmas greetings at that gathering!

The general spirt of the town is still good and there is much support available. Accomodating so many people whose properties have been damaged has been very difficult. Many went into holiday homes that were lying empty but of course many of them are let out over Christmas and New year so some people are having to house hop several times over the holidays. Not a pleasant experience in winter with a young family or an elderly person either!

Here and there dry humour is showing through!
The Job Shop where many businesses are relocated has a hand written sign to say that it is called "Cockermouth New Main Street". :o)
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If you go to http://www.cockermouth.org.uk/floodupdates.html

There are a couple of videos at the bottom. They both show the Cocker which is the one that goes past us (very close) and just before it cuts to the sheep saving incident it is looking down our lane. Those videos would have been taken mid afternoon .The water rose for another 10 hours or so after that. By the time it was high tide at 1 am the water had risen another couple of metres. We reckon it rose by nearly 30 feet at the end of our lane so it is no wonder our road and river wall have gone! It rose so much higher here because we are in a narrow valley between two areas with flood plains so the water has nowhere else to go but up!

We have no idea how our lane will be fixed ! Three weeks without being able to use the car now. This is an increasing inconvenience but absolutely nothing in comparison to what other people have had to cope with!!!

We are approaching as many agencies as possible for help and hope that the Govenment's promise to mend all roads will hold good for unadopted roads too.