Christian Women’s Retreat

I know it’s past time for a report on the recent Christian Women’s Retreat held at The Sanctuary, but better late than never!

2 weeks ago The Sanctuary was “home” to 10 lovely ladies for a weekend of learning, sharing, laughter and tears. What an awesome time we had.

We were led by Margreet and Barb, in “Discovering who we are”. After filling out a questionnaire, we all learnt a lot about ourselves, why we are all different, and how to relate better with others. We are all part of the body of Christ and all have different roles to play, and it was OK to be “us” and not be like others.

After lunch on the Sunday, we prepared for an afternoon tea, attended by about 50 people as a fundraiser for destitute widows. Margreet and Kym work and live in Varanasi in India. They have a heart for the widows of India, who are often left in the city, and are living in the streets. A few years ago a Widows Home, House of Hope was built and some are living there now, and learning new skills, such as making jewellery, paper making, running a bakery and sewing. If you click on the link above you can read more about this.

Setting up the tables, where jewellery and other products made by the widows were sold.

Above and below, ladies enjoying the afternoon tea.

Margreet dressed in her “Indian” clothes. And below Kym giving a talk about the widows to the those attending the afternoon tea.

Kym and Margreet have returned to India now, after being on leave to visit family in Bordertown. They are making a difference where God has planted them, and I was very happy to be able to help them financially in their mission with the widows. I know that we are very blessed to be living in this country when so many in this world have so little.

Be back with more soon,

Blessings, From Jude

June 26, 2013

I know its time for another update on life, and there is lots to blog about, but am rather busy with this quilt at the moment, so just a couple of photos of Pat's amazing stitching.
It has been basted and I have done the SID of all blocks and sashes. And started on the border. Hope to make good progress today, but as it's still "talking" to me, not sure how much progress there will be!
All the blocks are on point, so that means that all the SID was on the diagonal, so was rather slow going. And it is a very large quilt as you can see in the second photo.
Takes up most of the machine space.

Have been absent for a few days in the city to visit family for the weekend. It is always lovely to see them, and my grandies are growing up so fast, especially the older girls! They are almost teenagers.

And then on Monday I had an appointment for my annual sqeeze, I mean mammogram!
I have acheived a milestone the specialist told me, as it is 5 years since my surgery and radiotherapy.
And apparently that is a good sign! That was good to hear.

Well, it is 5.30am and in an hour a few ladies will be here for our weekly Bible Study. And as I have not yet done any preparation, due to being away, I better open my books! We are doing the last lesson of Philippians, and next term we are doing Samuel. Very challenging.

Will be back soon with a report on the last retreat at The Sanctuary from a couple of weeks ago, the Christian Women's Retreat, which was an awesome time.

Have a good day, whatever you are doing, and stay warm, those who are in the southern hemisphere, it was very cold yesterday morning, and a big frost. Have not looked out of the window this morning yet, but at least my house is warm now. After being away for a few days, and not having the fire going, it was so cold yesterday.

Blessings, From Jude

June 18

 

Once again I have been absent in blog land. Things have been a tad hectic here recently. Am out of bed early this morning and plan a catching up day, back to quilts and firstly an update on the last couple of weeks.

I will start with a retreat at The Sanctuary, although Michele has already given a great report. We all had a great time, lots of sewing, some Downton Abbey watching at the same time, and keeping warm by the wood fire. Some photos below.

Jocelyn trimming her completed blocks, and is now in the process of putting them together. Can’t wait to see this finished, as it is a quilt that she has done in my Decorative Machine Stitching classes.

I think someone “borrowed” my camera to take a photo!! I do prefer to be taking the photos, not be in them! But don’t Helen and I look to be very industrious.

These are Val’s Ring Cycles blocks, done in a Lessa Siegele class. Yesterday I saw further progress as rows are being stitched together.

Christina concentrating hard cutting her star blocks, which are pieced perfectly, and my New York Beauty in progress, started in a class with Lessa Siegele earlier this year.

Some retail therapy at Val’s shop, Maneys of Mundulla.

And on the way home we did the tourist thing and stopped to see the white kangaroos, which Bordertown is famous for.

It’s now 6.30 am and I better get to the shower and change out of the dressing gown. It might not be a good look for the day.

Will report on another retreat at The Sanctuary last weekend another day. It is 3 weeks until the next retreat, so  hope to get some quilting done by then.

The next weekend retreat will be another UFO, work on your own projects time, first weekend in July, if you are interested in some time out at The Sanctuary, please contact me. There are still a couple of spots left.                                                                

And Christmas In July at end of July still has 2 places, so would love to hear from you for a fun time.

Have a good day, whatever you are doing,

Blessings, From Jude

June 8

Just a quick posting this morning before I get into the day. Am sitting here by the heater in my dressing gown still, it's rather chilly outside and still dark.
Had a day out to the city yesterday, left here just before 6am and arrived back just before 7pm.
Attended 2 meetings in Adelaide, had a shop for some fabrics, picked up my 2 special passengers and drove home again. The trip went so fast, and not because I was speeding,                                           but because we talked all the way!
The Sanctuary is home this weekend to 9 girls who are sewing away on their own projects, enjoying the company of each other, and keeping warm by the fire. I shall post some photos later. I did head to bed earlier than the others last night and I think I am the first one up this morning.

Just a quick quilt show this  morning, with Helen's quilt. She had a pretty piece with butterflies on it, and combined it with some of her hand dyed fabric, made a Convergence from Ricky Tim's book and this is how it came out. She was battling with a shortage of some fabrics, so has been creative with her corners, in that they are not all the same. Which of course, then posed questions for the quilter in how she should treat them!? So this is what it looks like after quilting. Helen brought it to me for an allover quilting job, with butterflies! Sorry Helen, but I thought that your quilt was a bit special and needed something more in those "empty" corner triangles. Hope you are happy with it.
(And before you all think that I always do my own thing on a customer quilt, I don't. Usually I follow the customers instructions.)


Below a photo of the back.

I think that's about all for now, better get to the shower and find some clothes. And then decide just what I shall work on for the weekend. Lots of projects I would like to finish.

And thankyou also to another friend, who kindly lent me her DVD of Downton Abbey, series 2.
I had watched Series 1, and was rather "into" it and it came to a halt. I have the 3rd series lent to watch, but need the second before I do. I had not watched any of it on TV, as I don't watch my TV very much, but after hearing people talk about the show I was curious. Thankyou Sue.

Bye for now, enjoy your weekend, and stay warm (well those of you who are in winter!)

Blessings, From Jude

June 7th

This is the last of the quilts for May, so am almost up to date now.
By the time this posting is scheduled I will have returned from a trip to Adelaide and brought back 2 special passengers and we will be settled in at The Sanctuary with our feet up and relaxing! More about that in due course.
Below is June’s Kookaburra quilt, a pattern by Heather Ridley.



And I know its not a quilt photo, but this is what happened in my bathroom recently, had a water leak in the wall of the shower. By the look of the pipes, it had been leaking for quite some time. Hopefully it will be ok now, waiting for the grout to dry and will be using the shower again soon. It was fortunate that there were spare tiles left in the shed which matched. And also fortunate that this house has 2 bathrooms! The house would be close to 30 years old now. And that’s probably rather obvious by the dated tiles of my ensuite!





Above is another quilt by Sherrel, made with fabrics called Jewels of India. I quilted it with a Lotus pattern.
And below is Cynthia’s quilt, a snail trail quilted with a swirly e-e. Very striking colours, the black and white.

I do hope you are having a good weekend, it is a long weekend here in Australia, with Monday being a holiday for the Queen’s Birthday! I wonder if this country ever becomes a republic, like some politicians want, whether they will take away this holiday? I am taking the weekend off, to do some sewing for me, and to spend time with good friends. The retreat is called “Finished is Good”, now if only I could decide which PHD would be good finished. There are so many of them, and I know some people list there projects on their blogs, but I am not going there. They would be on the list too long!
Enjoy your weekend, hope you have enjoyed the quilt show every day, just don’t get used to it, as I shall probably fall back into bad habits again very soon.
Blessings, From Jude

June 6th

 

Another quilt show today, did not realise just how far behind I was in posting quilt photos.  

This is Jenny’s Hungry caterpillar quilt, quilted with an edge to edge with the same name. Our pattern designers do a great job, enabling us quilters to find just the right patterns.

Below is another one from Jenny, she is in the process of finishing lots of PHD’s.

A Jelly Roll quilt made by Pauline, and I love the texture this pattern gave to the quilt.

Above and below are 2 of Di’s quilts, a jelly roll quilt and one made with Christmas fabrics. I am so pleased with the pattern above and how it turned out, and the Christmas one was quilted with a Holly e-e.

Bye for now,

Blessings, From Jude

June 5th

 

Hopefully you are getting a post each day, and I don’t need to worry, think, about it for another few days.

I have a busy, full week ahead, with more quilting, an 80th birthday cuppa, a 60th birthday lunch, a trip to Adelaide on Friday and a retreat at The Sanctuary this weekend. And I need to catch up with my bookwork, as the end of the financial year is coming fast, and I have been so slack for almost a year!! But with a little bit here and there over the next few weeks and I should almost catch up.

There is good news on the weather front, and last weekend saw the heavens open and 40 ml of rain fell. The best rain in months, certainly filled the tanks,and watered the land. Thankyou Lord.

Below is another quilt from Kath.

And above and below, 2 from Teresa, who makes a lot of children’s quilts.

Above is Vals quilt, the dresdens all made from Australian printed fabrics. And below is a quilt from Sandy, made in a mystery quilt class.

Hope you are having a good week, whatever you are doing. And making the most of my daily blog posts, all scheduled on Sunday evening. (That’s if it works!!)

I am so looking forward to the weekend when a few of us are having a retreat at The Sanctuary, working on our own projects. I have so many, I am not sure which one to work on first. It is a shared catering weekend, so I won’t have to cook and can relax and sew!!

Blessings, From Jude

June 3rd

 

I shall try to post more often to make up for my neglect, and I certainly have lots of quilts not yet shown, these go back to April.

A simple jelly roll quilt, which always look great.

Very effective layout, and i love the colour combinations of Sherrel’s quilt.

This was made by Erica, using the range of fabrics called A walk in the Woods, by Aneela Hoey. Managed to find a pattern made for this, which had little red riding hood, and the big bad wolf depicted.

Above is Di’s amazing embroidery work. Her stitches are so tiny, way out of my zone! And below is 2 of Di’s quilts, the first one had cute pictures of little girls making out to be grown up. Sorry about the orientation of the photo.

Well I have set this to post on Monday, so hope it works. I shall now get back to the bookwork, which is calling my name, and needs to be done as I am way behind.

Had a lovely lunch out today, to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of 2 good friends. Wishing you many more years of happiness, BJ and Dot!

Blessings, From Jude

More quilting

 

A photo of 2 of my grandson’s hiding under the table, taken while they visited for Mother’s Day and a birthday, both on the same weekend. Was good to have some family home for the occasion. Not looking forward to the next birthday, which has on “O” on the end of it!

And continuing on with the quilt show, below one from Teresa, a flannel cot quilt.

And Merridy’s quilt, stunning in the orange and white colours. The white border looked quite stark until the orange crosshatching was finished, and that tied the whole quilt together.


Above a quilt made by Sandra, in Oriental fabrics, and below Jennifer’s quilt with birds. Jennifer Meek Giftware is the place to go at Nhill, Victoria if you are interested in this quilt kit.

That’s all folks, until next time,
Blessings, From Jude