December quilting

 

Guess I better slip a post in while it is still December, I can’t believe that Christmas has been and gone and the last day of the year is here. Won’t be long until next Christmas!!

The following are a few of my customer quilts done in December. I thought I had them all rotated the right way up, but sorry, I don’t, and I can’t find a place in Live Writer to turn them.

First up is Chris’ blue and white, a first quilt for Chris, and she did a fabulous job. She wanted a very simple edge to edge, and we used  a Lorien Quilting pattern called Happy Times.

And this is another “large” quilt from Christina, quilted with a clam shell pattern that has a small star in the arc.

A 2010 Bedford made by Pauline for a friend.

And these are both made by Jean, and quilted with simple custom.

And this is made by Val’s daughter Robyn, and I think also a first quilt. She wanted a simple water pattern.

That’s all for now, have lots more to say, but it will have to wait…… Had thought about a new year posting about leaving the old and going into the new, but am on my way out the door, so it depends if I get home before the clock strikes midnight!! I spend days thinking about what I can say, and read some great postings on other blogs, and then when it comes time to “pen” tap my thoughts they never sound quite the same.

So, maybe I shall just leave it here and wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope that it will be everything you want it to be. I know I have changes I wish to make, and hopefully I can keep them up.

And this is where I shall get my blog printed, right up to the end of the year 2013.

Happy New Year, and Blessings, From Jude

The Day after Christmas

Tradition in my extended family is a gathering the day after Christmas. The venue is usually shared around, and this year we gathered at my sister’s place at Mt Barker, a town in the hills near the city of Adelaide. As you can see, there a quite a few of us, and one brother and his family was absent. After main course, we gather around the tree for the giving out of gifts. Each person is given the name of someone to buy for, so we each receive one gift. And then we have dessert. Some of the younger family also spent some time in the swimming pool. My camera spent most of the day sitting on the table, so not a lot of photos to show you.


It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to my sister’s house, and then home again. Not far from home, I noticed this in the paddock alongside a parking stop. Had to turn around and go back for a photo! I think Santa may have lost his way, sure hope he had finished his delivery run  first, although the bag seems to have something in it still!

You can see in the photo, that is it well and truly summer here. The farmers are almost finished the harvest, and I did see some headers in action on my drive home.
The road I travel is the main highway between the city of Adelaide (in South Australia) and Melbourne (in Victoria), and there is much traffic on that road. I saw the places where accidents have occurred, both fatal, and was reminded that Christmas was probably not good for some families. And another small town on the highway, would have been holding their breath last week, as a fire burned very close to the edge of the town. The trees along the highway are all black and bare of leaves.  A bit hard to take photos when you are the driver of the car!
I think today is the day to load another quilt, my break is over, another Christmas has been and gone. It has been lovely to spend time with family. And even the housework time was good, to see the clean windows at my house!
Will be back soon with another quilt show. Enjoy your day, whatever you are doing.
Blessings, From Jude.

Christmas Day

 

And here we are on Christmas Day, in the year 2013!

A time to say Merry Christmas, NOT Happy Holidays!

A day to reflect on the coming of our Lord. A day to think about the real meaning of Christmas.

May you know the spirit of Christmas, which is peace, the gladness of Christmas, which is hope, and the heart of Christmas, which is Love.

Blessings,

From Jude

A quilt catch-up

 

While I am sitting here at the computer, I thought I would post a few more customer quilts, that are sitting in the file waiting to show. These go back to November, so I better post them, as still have all of December to blog yet.

The first 2 are pretty quilts, made by Linda, for her granddaughters, first one quilted with hearts, and there were 2 of these the same, and the second one quilted with ballet slippers. These quilts have been a work in progress for a few years, so Linda was pleased to get them finished, and the girls were ecstatic with their quilts.

And this was made by Joan, all hand pieced!! Joan wanted a very simple quilting, so diagonal lines did the job well.

And this was made by Valda for a Christmas present for a little girl.

Birds and Berries, a BOM made by Jill, and custom quilted.

This quilt made by Sherrel, and used up lots of scraps, although Sherrel said there did not seem to be any less after finishing this.

This was made by Jenny, and I was going to do an allover pattern, but  decided to do a pattern in the hexagons, which quilted quite fast, and really made the hexagons show up. (Sorry that the photo is sideways, but forgot to change it before, and don’t know how now)

That’s all folks, for this show, be back in a few days with some more.

Blessings, From Jude

Coming ready or not

At last I have finished the last quilt before Christmas, and can start my preparations for the big day. "Max" has been switched off, and it is very unusual not to have a quilt on, or at least hanging over the rollers ready to load. I plan to be back at work by next Friday. 

In the meantime I have been baking, and I know it is all sweet stuff, but mostly will be put into containers and given as gifts for Christmas. 

After church today, the Christmas tree was put up, and the decorations hung.
Tomorrow I shall go shopping for some presents, and wrap them to put under the tree.

I have also been cleaning, a longggg overdue task. Sweeping cobwebs outside the house, and cleaning the pergola, are both jobs that have been passed over, with the priority being customer quilts, and looking after The Sanctuary. And one job is leading to another, now that I am looking more closely. So hope to do some windows this week, especially now the weather is a bit cooler for a few days. And I know that as soon as it heats up again, I will wilt. I don't function well in the really hot, but after reading blogs of people in England and the US, I think that ice and snow would be hard to work with too. (Even though snow does look pretty in the pictures!)
Last Thursday's temperatures of around the 44deg mark certainly made the gardens wilt. And throw in high winds as well, and lots of damage done.

Blessings,
From Jude

Hot, hot, hot....

I know it's summer and we should expect this, but it has come so suddenly, I'm not ready. But if I am truthful, I will admit I am never ready for HOT summer. The hot weather and I don't really get on very well together.
I have decided that I need to head to the lounge, put my feet up and turn on the aircon. The quilt is not finished, but it will have to wait, hopefully until it is a bit cooler in the early morning. Not quite such a hot one tomorrow, and then much cooler for a few days until Christmas, maybe some rain even??


This is one Christmas job that I acheived this week, with many thanks to some helpers. (Thankyou to Jean, Pat and Mikaela!)
Now it's up to Australia Post to get them delivered to my lovely customers, without who, I would not have a business. Each Christmas I like to tell them how much I appreciate them.
I know I still have lots of quilt photos, but it will have to wait.
I am leaving the studio.
Catch ya, next time, and stay cool if you are down under, and hope you are warm up north.

Blessings,
From Jude

Electric Quilt programme

I have spent time this week updating the scheduled retreats page of this blog with some of what is planned for next year.
These photos are of the EQ retreat that was held at
The Sanctuary earlier this year. The next one will be February 14-16, 2014.
If you use this software, and want to know how to make it work for you, come and spend time with Judy (The Virtual Quilter) to learn more. This is a small class, so that Judy can give each person individual attention.
A weekend spent in a relaxing setting, fully catered and all linen supplied.


One of Judy's designs in EQ on the computer, and the real quilt beside.

If you are interested, or know of someone who might be, I would love to hear from you.

It has been a busy week, quilts being finished, and administration "stuff" happening, an update was loaded on to the Statler and a couple of jobs have been done outside the house. Hopefully by the end of next week, I might be able to START to think about that "C" word!
I did dream about having time off in January, but think it was just a dream!

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are,
Blessings,
From Jude

More family stuff

Just a quick post with photo of my oldest granddaughter who has just finished her primary school years and next year will be in high school. This is her with her mum, all dressed for her graduation. Seems like only yesterday that this young lady was just a baby! Another reminder of just how fast the years are flying by.

Have a good day, whatever you are doing, it's time to get ready for my day, another quilt to finish, still a few more to do before that big day comes, which I am trying not to think about yet.

Blessings, From Jude

The Pope family gathering

Last week I mentioned that relatives from Queensland have been visiting with my parents. While they were here, a reunion of the family occurred. The first photo is 5 of the remaining 6 brothers and sisters out of the original 10.

Those 10 siblings produced 45 children between them, and this photo is of the 16 who were able to attend. Not too bad, considering that we are spread over a large part of Australia. And out of that 45, there are still 44 living, ranging in age from 42 to 65 years!

At the reunion there were lots of photos, and books of family history which have been compiled over the years. I have not read them all, but brought one home with me for a bit of night time reading.
It has been interesting to reflect on this family, and read their stories. One thing that stands out for me in, is how well everybody has got on with each other, and that they were all friends and enjoyed spending time with each other. Tolerance, and being happy with what you have. Such a contrast to lots of family units where there is arguments and friction.
They have each had their share of problems, and sometimes the going has been tough, they are not living in mansions, and I don't know if any are millionares! But, you would always be made to feel
welcome and did not need an invitation to visit. There are some things
that money just can't buy.
(This also reminds me that I am not so young anymore, and maybe I should start to make some notes on my memories).
It was lovely to catch up with cousins I rarely see, and maybe some of them will be reading my blog now. If so, hello and welcome.
Time to finish,
Blessings,
 From Jude
 

Customer quilt catchup

Once again I spent time writing up a blog posting and it just disappeared! So here I am, trying again. This time I have published the photos and now gone in to edit the post. Hope it works this time. Just gotta remember what I said on Sunday morning.
It's been awhile since I posted customer quilt photos, so thought I better catch up.
First photo is Jill's quilt, simple piecing and quilted with a swirls pattern.


And this is a bargello, made by Helen for her grandson, and quilted allover with soccer balls. Very striking use of colours.

And this is a sweet baby quilt made by Jean for her niece's baby. A simple custom job for this one.

That's enough for today, will be back soon with more family stuff.
Hope you have a good week, whatever you will be doing.
Blessings,
From Jude

Happy Birthday to my mum

Today is a reminder of just how fast the years are flying by, as it hardly seems any time since I posted photos of my mum's 80th birthday, and today she is 82 years old! Mum is the one in front right of the photo.


It has been a busy couple of weeks for mum and dad, as relatives from Queensland are staying with them. It is a long time since I have seen some of my cousins, so it was a great catchup, and a reminder of good times growing up. My mum is one of 10 children, who produced 45 children between them! So family get togethers were always rather large, and fun.
Front left in the photo is one of mum's sisters, aged 85, and standing at the back is one of her brother's, aged almost 84. There are 6 of the 10 still living, so must be good "genes"!

Time for turning on the machine, another quilt loaded and ready to go. Looks like a lovely day outside, so maybe some gardening time later.

Blessings, From Jude

My quilts

 

Decided it was time for more quilts, been awhile since I posted any, and my travels are over for now.

The following 3 photos are of 3 quilts that I finished just before our exhibition in October. Was a bit of a rush to get them done, but sometimes you just need to work on something of your own. After all, it’s because we were first making our own quilts, that led most of us into quilting for others. And just occasionally I need to feel like finishing one of those PHD’s. There are still quite a few waiting, maybe I need to actually list them, to keep me accountable.

This first one is my New York Beauty, and this is one that I started earlier this year, in a Lessa Siegele workshop with our local group. So must be a record to be started and finished in the one year! The photo was taken straight after I took it out of the bag that it had been folded up in, and you can see the creases.

This was started a few years ago, made for a special little girl, if she likes it. Used the go cutter to cut out all the heart shapes, vliesfix already attached!  Note to self, use the cutter more.

And this is a BOM that I started back in 2003, when I must have had more spare time. I started all the applique by hand blanket stitch, and had about 3 blocks done, and had made up the log cabin blocks. But as my business got busier, and other life events happened, I never sat to do any handwork and the quilt was waiting. An elderly friend moved to Bordertown a few years later, and was looking for some handwork to do. I offered her the applique blocks to do, and planned for her to keep 6 of the blocks, and I would have 6 and we would each have a smaller wall hanging. Great idea, and Ann sat busily finishing the blocks. Unfortunately, not long after, Ann became unwell, and later died. Thus, I “inherited” the blocks back. So, earlier this year, I put the quilt together and it waited in “the pile”. And one Sunday, a few days before our exhibition, I decided to quilt it. I have named it “Ann’s Garden”, in memory of my friend.

Time for work, another week ahead, just realised that it is December! Where did November, and for that matter, the whole year go?

Enjoy your week, whatever you are doing.

Blessings, From Jude

The journey home

Just a quick posting this morning with the last few photos of my trip.


An early morning journey, sun just coming up, and if you look closely, you can see a few hot air balloons in the sky, over the city of Melbourne.

Still driving.

In a tunnel, rather a long one, tried not to feel claustrophobic.
(I do have a slight tendency to feel that way, after a childhood experience where I was locked in a caravan wardrobe by my brother!)

Out the other side and heading into the city itself.

The Overland train, waiting for it's passengers. This was only half of the train. Lots of people were heading to Adelaide. I only had to go halfway, as Bordertown is on the border between the states of Victoria and South Australia. (Rather obvious, isn't it, now that I said that!)

Just leaving Melbourne, and on my way.
It was a lovely few days, a long overdue trip. It has been 4 years since I stayed with my daughter. Won't be long and I will be back, in January to celebrate the engagement.
Thankyou to all those who "check in" on me, by reading the blog.
Life is back to normal, quilts on the machine, and customers bringing in more. A busy month ahead, can't believe that December is almost here.

Better finish off, need to go "over the road" to The Sanctuary, few things to do, before a visit from a group later this morning.
More quilts to show you soon.

Blessings,
From Jude

Puffing Billy

More news from Jude again today. When I got up this morning, I came out to the news that a booking had been made on Puffing Billy Train. This is a preserved century old steam train still running on its original track in the Dandenong Ranges. The weather was just beautiful and we had a lovely day.

 This is the Belgrave Station which was the start of our journey and departed at 12.30. Susanne had booked the dining car, first class, for a special treat, so that we could have lunch on the way up.

We started our lunch with a Natter Platter, which you can see in the photo, and was delicious.

The lush scenery on the way up and below, the lake at Lakeside, where we finished our journey, before the return trip.

 On the return journey we were served scones with jam and cream. The train seemed to go much faster on the way back, think they had the brakes working hard going downhill!

A fantastic day out, and spending time with a daughter who i don't see nearly enough. Lots to talk about, and amazing scenery. Thankyou.

Tomorrow will be back to reality, and an early train to catch, though I think this one will go much faster. 

Will report in again later in the week. Hope you are having a good week.

Blessings,

 From Jude