April 27, 2013

Time for another update about what’s been happening. I have been AWOL for a few days, been on a retreat with some of my family at The Sanctuary. I went without telling local friends, and some came looking, as most know that if I am not home, sometimes I am “over the road”!

Of course it could have been the smoke signals we were sending, as we had the fire going, and I also took the opportunity to burn some piles of rubbish. I was helped by the grandchildren, who raked and helped move stuff. It was a rare opportunity for the city dwellers to get a bit of dirt on them and we all smelled a bit smokey after!!                

We fitted in some sewing time also, some marshmallow toasting, cooked the snags in a frypan on the fire and ate outside. It was a visit to grandma’s house, but with a difference, as it was grandma’s retreat house. And all too soon, the time was over and we still had lots of things not done. Maybe next time??

Sorry the photos below are not in the order I had planned for, must be a trick I haven’t learnt yet.

This little man above was excited to see the fire burning.

Above the start of a Jelly Roll quilt, and joining all the strips. Hopefully next time all will be revealed. And below, continuing with what had been started another time.

And this is where 2 of my creatures are now established at The Sanctuary.

Above, a very proud almost 9 year old reached this stage of her quilt.  She commenced with a layercake, has done all the sewing herself, with help by Grandma with the cutting. It will have a plain border next, (colour to be decided) and then another border of the leftover pieces all sewed together…to be continued another time.

Above is Grandma and the girls toasting marshmallows, I have to confess that this is the first time I have ever done this! Bit of a learning curve to know just when to take them off, when they are nice and toasty on the outside, and before they fall off the stick!

And below my little man who wanted to help  water the flowers in the wheelbarrow. He was also very amused with Bones, my tin dog in the doghouse and tried to give him some food! (The photo of Bones was taken last year, the quilts are NOT normally hanging there).

That’s about it for this time, it was a lovely few days, and good to have them on my home turf. Today has been a pack up and go home day, a few loads of washing, and putting things away and getting my head back into quilting mode. It will be a busy week, but more about that later.

Blessings, From Jude

April 24, 2013

I started the week with a day trip last Sunday to Nuriootpa, to visit with DD2 who had a birthday. I picked my mum and dad up on the way, caught up with 3 of my children and all of the grandchildren. Had a lovely day, which was made better with the arrival of RAIN! It was the first decent rain we have had for months. That sounds like we had lots, but actually it was only 9ml, but it was lovely to see and hear. Some parts of the state had higher falls, but we are thankful for what we had.

Another week is half way through, have been busy with a few quilts, and spent the day in the kitchen cooking today. Made some food to stash in the freezer to have on hand when needed in a hurry.

Teresa made this flannel cot quilt, quilted with Dancing Hearts allover.

Rosie made put together a quilt for her aunty’s 80th birthday, with many blocks made by family members. Her Aunty loves owls, so the blocks feature her activities and interests.

And this was made by Linda, for Alan, and quilted with Bubble Play. Love the effect of the bubbles all over the quilt!

A simple quilt made by Erica, with the soft and pretty fabrics making the statement.

Maries very striking quilt, quilted with Modern Serpentine.

And these are the latest “critters” to come to live at The Sanctuary. I have a collection of garden art (?) scattered amongst the plants, and couldn’t resist these when I saw them advertised in a catalogue. I shall settle them in their new homes in the next few days, Thanks to Val for getting them for me, as it was not a local shop catalogue.

Tomorrow is Anzac Day here in Australia, and a public holiday. There will be dawn services in many towns throughout our country, to remember those who fought for our freedom. Another reason to be thankful.

Hope you have a good rest of the week, whatever you are doing.

Blessings,

From Jude

April 18, 2013

 

Time for another update in the “days of my life”, I just can’t believe how fast the days are slipping by. Each day I plan what I want to do, and hardly a day goes by that the list is not completed. Have been busy with quilts this week, after not getting many done early in the month. Found some photos of quilts done in March.

This one was made by a group for their local hospital. Pretty butterflies, and lovely soft colours.

And these 2 quilts made by Pat S, with simple e2e patterns to finish them off.

And above you can see what I have been working on lately, started in a workshop with Lessa Siegele, my New York Beauty blocks. Not sure how I shall put it together yet. I have 15 blocks in various stages, so will start to think about the layout soon. I would like for this to be a finished top, instead of languishing in a box for years, like so many other workshops I have started. Some people put a list on their blogs, but not sure if I would like to do that. I have about 10 projects in the quilting pile, and unless I start to put my name on the schedule, they will be there for a lot longer. The problem is I am not a very good paying customer!!

Well that’s enough for tonight, time to head to bed, another day tomorrow, and an early appointment.

Blessings,

From Jude

April 14, 2013

This past weekend saw 7 South Australian Longarm Quilters come to The Sanctuary.        It was a great weekend of sharing, getting to know each other, finishing off projects, relaxing, shopping, eating, sleeping and just sitting around. Some achieved lots of projects, and others just switched off from the daily routines. Our occupation means that we work in a solitary environment, so it was good to network with others who speak the same language. 

 

Photo above is some of the group working. Below is Trish, who has another skill besides quilting, and churned out a few of these baskets. Her hands were hardly ever idle.

And Chris was working on some applique, a project started quite a while ago.

And Val was doing some applique blocks for a child's quilt, the makings of a blue airplane you can see.

And Lizzy was casting on stitches to knit some socks, while checking out facebook on her Ipad.
(And I didn't tell you that not many more stitches were cast on for the whole weekend!)

One lady had a birthday while she was there, and a good friend did some detective work to find out exactly where she was staying and organised for flowers to be delivered!

Val thought she would show the applique quilt that she was making, and lucky for her, that the girls decided they would remove the tearaway on the blocks, while they were sitting around!

And Lizzy gave Brenda a lesson on her Ipad so here's Brenda playing word games.

This is the birthday girl, with a big smile.

The obligatory group photo outside on the last day. I am getting quite a collection of group photos, and have started putting some into frames in the house, calling it the wall of fame!

On Saturday some went to Mundulla, a short drive away, to check out one of our local patchwork shops. This is worth a visit, just to check out the 100year old building, which still has the old wooden counter down the centre of the shop.

 And looks like a couple skipped across the road to the Mundulla Hotel, the cups are coffee cups, but was it really coffee in them??!!

And then it was time to pack up and head home, just notice the amount of luggage that Sharon has (on the left) and compare that with how light Lizzy travels (on the right)!! But in fairness I have to say that Sharon worked on a lot more larger projects, like quilts, than the space that               
     Lizzy's sox took up!

All in all, a good time was had, and everyone went home looking much more rested                         than when they arrived. The weather is still so nice, that a few meals were eaten out in the pergola. The rain tried to fall, but as soon as it came, it left again. The rainwater tanks are looking for a fill up and the gardens would love it, and the farmers will be getting anxious soon.

 

Well that's about it for this time, be back in a few days,

Blessings,

From Jude

April11, 2013

I hope you didn't get too used a blog posting every day last week, don't think I can keep it up.

I really dont know just where the week has gone, don't seem to have a pile of quilts done waiting for pickups, so..... better think back a few days.  I have spent a lot of time at the computer, after being away for a week, there was lots of "stuff" to attend to. Been trying to work out a schedule for the last half of the year for retreats at The Sanctuary. And I have done some quilting!And did some shopping.  And I guess time was spent cleaning up after last weekends retreat, and thinking about the one for this weekend. And watering the garden is still an ongoing chore, with no rain falling from the sky yet.  But, I have to say, that the weather is just glorious. Too good to be inside. And I have had a couple of meetings to go too as well. Maybe all that accounts for the week?
Today I have spent in the kitchen, as you can see from the photo below, some bikkies to munch for those having a cuppa this weekend.

And some lovely flowers from a friend, after I said, (well maybe I moaned!) that there was not much colour in my garden at the moment. I think she mentioned something about giving me some bulbs, so maybe next year there will be colour.

And this is what I had intended to do today, but spent the day cooking instead.

Tomorrow sees the arrival of the longarm quilters, for a weekend of "timeout" from their jobs, to relax, sew, chat, eat, sleep, drink, eat some more, sew, chat etc. I think you get the idea.
So it's time for bed now, ready for tomorrow.

Hope you are having a good week, whatever you are doing.

Blessings, From Jude

April 8th, 2013

 

We have had a great weekend here in Bordertown at The Sanctuary. Judy B shared her great knowledge of the Electric Quilt programme with us. It is just amazing what you can do with this software. Just wish I had more time to spend playing.

Below you can see the work area, with Judy B at the head, her laptop hooked up to the TV screen so that we could all see what she was doing. Michele has her back to us, and you can just see that she is stitching. There is always someone who leaves the preparation for a workshop to the last minute, (including me) and she found that her purchased EQ7 was not compatible with her Mac computer! But she came anyway, and spent her time stitching a project that needed to be finished soon, shared her design knowledge, made our coffees, and made sure we drank enough water!! And absorbed a lot of the instruction as well. Thankyou Michele.

I look forward seeing what Lois will design for our next Mystery Quilt weekend retreat with all the new knowledge that she has.

Above and below you can see the real quilt and the original design on the screen.

Michele and Delwyn below, both stitching in the evening. Delwyn came from  Warracknabeal, where she manages the lovely patchwork shop, Quilters Harvest. Maybe there will be a new quilt design available at Quilters Harvest soon, designed by Delwyn??

The weather was just so lovely, that most meals were eaten outside in the pergola, listening to the local birdlife, which included the neighbours rooster! We were serenaded during the day as well as the early morning about 5am. (Michele thought this was a tad early!)

  It was the end of daylight saving for our state, and I remembered to shift my clock at home back on Saturday evening so that I would arrive on time Sunday morning for the bacon and egg brekkie, superbly cooked by Pat. BUT, I managed to slip up at lunch time, as my mobile phone time does not change automatically, and I forgot this. Thus I started cooking the salmon, and got the query, what time are we having lunch?? Then realised it was really only 11.30!! But they thought the stomachs were still on the old time and we had an early lunch!

Michele entertained us with a really good joke! This was the action for a pair of pliers!

And this is Pat demonstrating some stitching to Michele.

All in all it was a great time, not only learning about Electric Quilt, but also lots of discussion about computers and how to do things, about blogging, about photos, about copyright issues, and so much more.

One girl had EQ5, and the others EQ7, but Judy managed to find ways on EQ5 to do what the others were doing. Another weekend has been planned for later in the year, and Judy B is happy to teach anyone with EQ5, EQ6, or EQ7, and the classes will be limited to about 5 students, so that everyone may benefit. If you are interested I would love to hear from you. The next EQ retreat is scheduled for October 25-27.

Thankyou to the girls who came, it’s always a great weekend. Now I better start the machine and get a quilt going, and reply to some emails before I go to a committee meeting at 6pm. Looking forward now to another weekend ahead with the longarm quilters.

Enjoy your day,

Blessings, From Jude

April 6, 2013

I have been missing in action this week, but very pleased that my blog postings have come through each day as planned. Always something new to learn about this blogging. Not too sure if I will be able to keep up with a posting each day though!

I left home on Tuesday and travelled to the Barossa region of South Australia, where some of my family live, and it just happened to be the week of the Vintage Festival, which is held each year after the grape harvest is finished. It is a week of events, such as markets, quilt shows, wine tastings etc, and they usually have scarecrows dotted about the district for people to see. Below are a couple of photos of some that I saw in my travels. I also managed to catch a quilt show by Vine Patch Quilters on my way through, where I saw lots of lovely quilts. Sorry, no photos.

While away we had a family birthday celebration with my youngest grandson ( I know he has long blonde curls, but he is a he!) who turned 2 years old. This is a photo of my 6 gorgeous grandchildren.

I have a group of ladies at The Sanctuary this weekend, learning about Electric Quilt and what marvellous things it will do! We are all learning lots, and I think the teacher as well! (Check out the Virtual Quilter blog and I know I should learn how to do the linky thing. Maybe I shall get her to show me in class tomorrow. I will post some photos of that another time.

We are having some lovely autumn weather this week, with temperatures mid to high 20’s. Just glorious before the winter comes upon us. And tonight it is the end of daylight saving, so we get a whole extra hour of sleep.

That’s all for now, must get my “beauty” sleep before another day of learning tomorrow.

Blessings, From Jude

April 5, 2013

Hope you are enjoying the quilt show this week, as I catch up on blogging each day. I now realise just how slack I have been, not keeping up.

Below are 2 of Sandra’s quilts, with simple e2e patterns. The kaleidescope quilt was the first quilt that Sandra made, a few years ago, and she found this recently when she was packing up to move house. She is pleased to have it finished.

Found some nerines’ flowering in a corner of the garden at The Sanctuary this week, a nice touch of pink. I am looking forward to a show of colour soon from the seedlings that I put in last week. It has been a hard summer this year in this region and we are looking forward to some rain and the cooler temperatures are welcome after the hot season.

Easter was spent with friends. all sewing for a couple of days. It was a lovely time together, and we all achieved lots more with the motivation and encouragement from each other. I especially appreciate the company, as otherwise I am likely to be putting on the next customer quilt. Good to have some time out for doing my own sewing.

And it was Pauline’s birthday so Helen made her a cake and we all sang! You can’t see in the photo, but Pauline was wearing some PINK rabbit’s ears on her head, Pity I cut them off in the photo!! Hope you had a good day Pauline. And the cake was yummy.

Well time to sign off, I hope that all these blog posts will come in on the right days that I have set for the week ahead, and that by the time I arrive home from Adelaide on the 5th April that you will have had one a day! And I shall try to be more disciplined in future posts.

Enjoy your day.

Blessings, From Jude