In the garden

I have just spent ages writing a blog post and chatting on and on and then it would not post, told me there was an error, so this time I posted the photos and trying to add an edit, so hope it does not get lost. The weather has been just delightful this weekend, so have escaped to the garden at The Sanctuary. Time for some pruning and weeding. This garden has been 2 years in the making so far, and you plant lots of things to fill the space and  now I need to chop some things back which are taking over the slower plants. But its all good fun, and coming along nicely. Below are a few photos that I took today, while listening to the birds and enjoying the sun. The honey eaters are busy this week since the bottlebrushes have come out in flower.


Not sure what this yellow flower above is,... (I have been informed that they are day lillies)... and didnt really notice it at first as its next to the gazania below and did not stand out until I got closer.

 

Native hibiscus.

Hedge of seaside daisies growing along the edge of the front lawn.

Lobelia still looking pretty until the heat comes. 

The bottlebrush in flower, there are 12 of these trees in the garden, all with red flowers, so make quite a statement.

Lavender bush in bloom.

Bought petunias to plant, and the pansies still looked good, so planted them in between and now have both flowering. 

I was given these bulbs by Pauline, (thank you) and this year they have made a statment and look very pretty. (Peruvian lillies or alstomeria).

Bomeliad growing in the tree trunk, about to flower.

Dianthus still making a show until the heat will hit them.

Knofilia (sp?) looking good this year, Thankyou to June.

Thankyou to Ann for this eromophilus, flowering for the first time.

 

 My jasmine also flowering for the first time and climbing up the back fence.

 

 Pride of madera in the back corner out of sight, but very showy.

And I planted these ?????? as seedlings 2 years ago and forgot they were there, hidden by the kiss me quicks which have taken over, and they have flowered this year and are taller than me. Who can tell me what they are? I am still learning all this, and had to get some names from Pauline before I posted..... Have been told that these are foxgloves, so did a google search and seems they are a tad toxic! But pretty little bell shape flowers aren't they?

 

I think that this will be enough rambling until I know whether this is going to post properly, hope to get another blog in later with some before and after photos of the garden.

Blessings,
From Jude

Retreat and wedding

 

Below is a photo of Heather’s Wednesday Wonders, who recently spent the weekend at The Sanctuary. Thankyou girls for coming and look forward to seeing you again.

Below are a few photos of a great wedding I attended last weekend. It was held at a venue in the Adelaide Hills, Beautiful sunny day, after a cold wintery few days, and lovely grounds, really loved the wisteria growing on the stone wall and the old house.

Above the happy couple (my nephew Les and his bride Libby), signing the papers, the water in the background and below the guitar music which was in the background.  The white stuff in the foreground are rose petals which the bride walked on to meet the groom.

It’s not often that all the cousins in my family get together, due to distance, but here they are, pretty good looking bunch I think. Ages range from 6 to 38 years, and 5 families.        The 2 from each end make up my 4 “children”!

Hope you are enjoying your week, whatever you are doing. I am quilting a few edge to edge quilts this week, before some custom next week. I am about to load a quilt that is 114” square, and the backing is just a tad too wide and fills up the whole canvas. So better get back to it, as this one won’t be finished in 5 minutes.

Thanks to all those who check in on me, I can’t believe the number of page views and how they mount up.

Blessings,

From Jude

September quilting

Below are more photos of customer quilts done awhile ago. Have got a bit behind showing photos, so this finishes September I think.

Blessings,

From Jude

Marian's quilt

 

 

These are a few photos of Marian's Aussie quilt that she made to go to England. The centre of the quilt was from a pattern in Down Under Quilts by J Lees and the outer blocks are                                patterns by Margaret Rolfe.
Good representations of all things Aussie. Love the koala's lounging around in the tree!
This quilt was a challenge, as the customer said, no SID! Really had to restrain myself.
This quilt should be on display at the Kaniva Quilt Show on October 20 and 21, so have a day out and visit Kaniva, which is just over the border from here, into Victoria.
Be back another day with more photos, still lots to show.
The weather has turned to winter again, very cold today and wet. Just when we think the spring has sprung, back comes the winter. Just as well we have heaters, and thankful for my house, would be miserable on a park bench. We have so much to be thankful for.

Blessings,
From Jude

Jacqui's Wedding Quilt

Once upon a time there was a lady who made clothes for her children, mainly her 3 daughters. Years later when one of these daughters left home and was married she suddenly realised that at last she had a "sewing room". When moving "stuff" into that room, she found remnants of little girls dresses and decided that they could not just be thrown out, she would make a quilt with them. And with her dressmaking background she cut a pattern of brown paper and used scissors to cut them out! Well, as you might guess, accuracy was not there, and so they did not fit together all that well, and some fabrics were not cottons, and frayed etc etc. And the binding was put on before it was even quilted!!
Well, that lady was me, and I was telling my neighbour at that time, who lived on the farm across the road, what I had been doing, and she said..."you need a rotary cutter and a cutting mat"... Well, I said, what are they???
  And as you might guess, that comment led me on the road to where I am today, as once I found out about those, I was hooked. I started accumulating my "stash", and bought books, and attended classes, and joined a group etc. etc.All the things that we quilters do.
Making quilts was a great past time and helped me cope through some tough times. It was my sanity, my creativity and more. And in due course, in 2002 I bought my first quilting machine and started my business, Cornerstone Creations Machine Quilting.
My neighbours name was Colleen, and we belonged to the same quilting group. Some where in those years, Colleen and her family moved from this area to another state, but we kept in touch with phonecalls, emails, and they visited this area sometimes. She was a great encouragement to me when I started my business and I looked forward to our chats. Colleen had started making a Candlewicked quilt for her daughter, for one day when Jacqui got married, and we talked  about me quilting  this for her.
Sadly Colleen passed away suddenly a couple of years ago, without finishing this quilt and many others. I talked to her husband about helping him get some quilts finished.
Earlier this year, he phoned me to tell me that Jacqui was getting married in November.
So this quilt needed to be finished, and he posted to me a box with what had been done, and some patterns and cut blocks and fabric and thread.
A machine girl I am, not a hand sewer, and this was candlewicked blocks, by hand!!
I have a very good friend called Pat, who also knew Colleen, and she offered to do the hand work.
And Pat put the blocks together for me to quilt. It has been our pleasure to finish this for Colleen, so that Jacqui can have her wedding quilt. The blocks that Colleen had made, Pat has embroidered her initials in the corner, so that Jacqui knows the ones made by her mother.

I thank you Colleen for starting me on this journey of patchwork and quilting, where I have met some lovely people and go to a quilt show every day when I come out to work. It's hard to understand when things like this happen to people, and life throws some curved balls at us, but I hang onto the faith I have and know that God has a plan that one day we will understand. Hope and trust keep me going.

Below are some photos of the quilt. Hope you enjoy.
 

 

 

 

And as a finish to this blog, all you quilters out there, please make sure you tell your family what you want to happen to your stash, your ufo's, your quilt tops, your books and all your "stuff".

Will be back another day, with a report on the weekend retreat that was on at The Sanctuary this weekend. This is enough for one day, but was a story I wanted to tell. It has been a reminder of a good friend and fellow quilter, who I greatly miss, and just maybe, one day, another quilter may finish of some unfinished projects of mine! (And I do have plenty!)
My family won't inherit the crown jewels or lots of money in the bank, but they will have lots of fabric, books, sewing machines, a quilting machine, and lots of quilts!

Enjoy your day,
Blessings, From Jude

More quilting

Jennifer’s Pinwheel quilt

Above and below are 2 quilts from Jacci, who has only just started making quilts.

And below is a Jelly Roll quilt from Sherrel.

Just realised just how far behind I am with posting photos of quilts. These are a few from August! And still lots to post from September. I can’t believe just how fast this year is going, the days are marching well into October.

Will get back soon with more quilts from September, finished another custom yesterday, and today hope to get another one on, and think about shopping and cooking for a group that are coming to The Sanctuary this weekend.

We have had some lovely spring weather this week, but I think the weather is going to cool down again for the weekend.

Had a great day last Saturday, with a trip to the AMQF in Adelaide. Caught up with lots of quilters, saw some fantastic quilts in the quilt show, did not have time to look at the vendor mall in great detail, which probably saved me quite a bit of money, and did some classes.             Good to meet up with fellow blogger Jan. We left here at 6am and arrived back at 10pm!

Enjoy your day, whatever you are doing.

Blessings                                                                                                From Jude