Going, going, gone...

This is our back gate which leads out to a quiet street.

The photo below shows the house 3rd from ours, in that street; note there are some workmen on the roof...

two days later and what do you see?....

The tiles of the roof are all gone and so are all the weatherboards...

We're starting to notice all the trucks that come up the street to the house....

Trucks that carry away building rubble. Trucks that bring earth-moving equipment and trucks that bring skips.

There is a sign on the site warning of asbestos...some of the trucks are taking this rubble somewhere different for disposal. The residents hope that all the protocols and precautions for dealing with asbestos removal  have been followed. This slows down work a bit... 

Going...going....

The following photos I took last Sunday, after the workmen had spent most of Saturday at the site.

Going...going...GONE!

This photo shows what a large area the former house was on.

I don't know what will be built on this site; possibly a number of townhouses like 2 doors up from this site. So for the next few months we'll have trucks, dust and noise....as our suburb progresses! The last photo is one few we have which won't be built out...it's the view we get when we walk down the middle of the street. It shows the range to the west of Brisbane's northern suburbs and in particular Mount Glorious.

The Port of Brisbane...

This part of my city is like another world to me. The old port was in the city reach of the river when I was a child, but now the port is near the mouth of the Brisbane river and somewhere that I don't really go to . Today DH and I delivered all the knitted/crocheted items to the Mission to Seafarers which is at the Port of Brisbane. In my typical fashion, I took lots of photos of our drive and our visit to the Mission. :-)

Just before we turn on to the P.O.B motorway

Lots of trucks on this road

These are roadworks to make the motorway wider

There's the sign...Port of Brisbane

A lovely view of the river from the road

Lots of birds roosting on the little island in the river

Lots of shipping containers all piled up, in this part of town...

The loading and unloading gantrys in the distance

Our destination...

DH handing over the box of items from K4BN, to Adrian the manager, and the 2 lovely volunteers

I took some photos inside the mission. There is also a small room set up as a chapel. It is furnished with a beautiful wooden altar and a magnificent stained glass window. Too dark to take a photo though. There is also a 'shop' in the complex which sells basic groceries and Aussie souvenirs; apparently Australian made chocolate is very popular with the sailors :-)  If any of the sailors want to go to a larger shopping centre, the volunteers drive them to nearby Wynnum. At one side of the building there is a large covered area, set up with a BBQ and tables and chairs. One of the local Rotary Clubs has also put in some garden beds, planted with screening shrubs. 

And outside the front of the mission building is this...

It was a very uplifting experience touring the facility and the appreciation and gratitude from the staff was just so nice.

The results of the August Challenge...

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about K4BN's  August Challenge , which ran over the first weekend of August. Fifteen ladies 'signed up' for the challenge and I was appointed as the 'collector' of all the items. Since that weekend there has been a steady stream of parcels being delivered here, as well as items being handed to me at the various Knit and Natters that I attend. We were making beanies, scarves, balaclavas and fingerless gloves for the Mission to Seafarers, Brisbane branch who hands out these warm items to seamen whose ships dock at the Port of Brisbane. Tomorrow, DH and I are going to deliver 69 beanies, 2 balaclavas, 7 scarves and 10 pairs of fingerless gloves to Adrian who is manager of the Mission.

What an impressive amount of items from 15 people and how generous they have been with their time and materials. Here are some photos :-)

Parcels arrived from not only Queensland addresses, but also from South Australia and Western Australia!

This shoebox contained 7 beanies :-)

This big box arrived one morning last week!

items all piled up on my table as I sorted and counted

These were knitted by Sister Patricia 

These were my contribution 

These beanies came from Elizabeth (the city), South Australia

These were crocheted scarf and beanie sets

This is the 90 litre box packed ready to deliver

Finally finished and posted...

In the July FNSI, one of the projects that I worked on, was a dog coat...I finished one that night but had hoped to get more done. So over the next month I procrastinated and dithered, and all the while, the weather was cold and the dogs at the Animal Angels refuge were 'doing it tough'.

So last week I took a break from charity knitting (and sewing up knitting) and with 'determination and steely resolve' sewed up another 4 coats.  I not only sewed them, but wrote a cover note to Evana, the lady who runs things at the refuge,bundled up the coats and took them to the Post Office. Where I was pleasantly surprised how economical the postbag and postage was.

The coats have been received and much appreciated, so all is good :-) Even though it took me ages to get the coats made, sewing them is an easier option to knitting a dog coat and by the time I sewed the 5th one, I'd completely got back into the swing of sewing on ribbing etc. I was just out of practice! When we have a Homeless Connect Day, dog coats and blankets are always popular as many homeless people treasure their animals and will often be reluctant to take items for themselves but will ask for a dog coat for their pet. So I plan to sew some coats for K4BN, ready for next winter.
And to think DH was worried that I wouldn't have enough to keep me busy when I retired! lol

FNSI...

My original plans for Friday Night Sew In was to at very least, cut out some little girls' dresses in Christmas fabrics. I also had hoped to sew up at least one little dress.

I'm planning to use a few different Christmas fabrics in each dress...

You see our parish Twilight Fair is looming with 4 weeks to go! And I have a number of projects for that ,that I volunteered to do. However...

in the 'Seasons' Swap' that I've joined in with over at 'Gone Stitchin' ', posting date is August 31. Not much time left really! So last night I had a Friday Night Knit In, to work on my project for that swap. When I checked out my swap partner's blog I found that she is an accomplished quilter and that in the previous seasons' swaps I saw that she had received aprons, potholders, bags etc etc, so I decided to stick with what I do best...knit! The theme is Spring so I hope I've got the spring-like colours right, and I've used a light yarn. This person lives in a part of Australia that can still experience cold/cool weather well into spring, so a shawl will be useful methinks!! 

I've made it in a 'stole' style, a long skinny rectangle.

So that's what I did, (and didn't do) in FNSI. You can visit 'Craftyvegasmom' and see what the other 94 people did here ! :-)