Australia Day

 

Today, January 26th, is Australia Day, and there will be celebrations in many towns across the country this morning.  Our local town is having a breakfast at the swimming pool, where they will honour local people and groups for their achievements. It will be combined with the 50th anniversary of the building of our local swimming pool.

We are having our own celebrations at The Sanctuary, where a few of us are having a weekend of sewing, lots of laughing and reminiscing about earlier days, and some Aussie Food. We have the flags flying, as you can see below!!

Marie is determined to get her Ring Cycles from a UFO to a finished top, and is making good progress.

And I am working on my crinoline ladies quilt, and enjoying “dressing them up”. Have been waiting awhile to have a play on my sewing machine, and the bookwork has progressed far enough for me to take some time out.

Do hope you are all enjoying Australia Day, wherever you are. It is a public holiday in Australia tomorrow, so that gives us a “long weekend”. And in South Australia, school returns on Tuesday for the start of a new year. And as is typical, the temperatures are rising again. The weather was lovely last week, after our searing temps from the week before. But, it is summer, I know.

Have a good day,

Blessings, From Jude

Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of my oldest granddaughter, who is now a teenager. It only seems like yesterday that she was born, and now she is 13 and heading off to High School when school returns next week.

Above is the new born photo, which I had to dig to find, and then scan. And below, she is on the right, with her younger cousin, taken at the engagement party last week.

So, happy birthday and love from grandma.
Blessings, from Jude.

Going for ride in the little blue car

I am in the city for a few days minding 2 of my grandies, and this morning we went out for "brunch". The pancakes were yummy, and we don't think we will need food until this evening. On the way out of the shopping centre, the little man decided he wanted a ride in the blue car. He wanted big sister to come too, and you can see that there is not a lot of leg room for older people! They had a lovely ride, and pretended to do the shopping, which master "almost 4", hopped out and put in the boot of the car.
We are now home again, and plan to make some bikkies this afternoon.
Mum and middle sister will be home again tomorrow, and then it will be back to work, and hoping to finish that Lone Star quilt.
The weather is cooler than last week, and there are still fires burning is some parts of the country.

Next weekend there will be an Aussie Retreat at The Sanctuary, with a group working on there own projects, and all sharing the catering. Aussie food will be on the menu, as the 26th January is time to celebrate Australia Day. If you would like a weekend away, with other quilters, would love to hear from you..

Enjoy your weekend, and catch you later in the week.

Blessings, From Jude

On the road again

This was the view as I was leaving home late yesterday. There was smoke all around town, with several fires burning, some north of town, and more just over the border into Victoria.

Not sure just how much damage there was, as I have not seen any news this morning.

The exterior temperature outside my car was 35deg still at almost midnight last night, when I drove into Adelaide. Another hot day today, before cooler for the weekend.

I am spending a few days in the city, looking after grandchildren. Have successfully got the internet access to work on my new laptop, so am able to do blog posts while not home.

 

Have a good day,

Blessings, From Jude

Some like it hot and some don’t

I really was talking about plants, when I put in the heading above, but guess it could also apply to people, and food, and lots of things.
We have had almost a week of over 40, and it’s still going on. Today the wind has picked up as well. Lots of fires around the country and people heat affected.
Have been keeping up with the watering at The Sanctuary, with mixed results.

Jill’s Roses have curled up their petals, and look a bit sad, but the leaves are still green and it will revive.

This is my vegie patch, and is the first time for many, many years that I have planted any vegetables. So far, the tomatoes have survived ok, they were planted quite late, and only just have little tomatoes on them, so a long way to go yet. Looking forward to making some home made sauce, which I love!

And the bougainvillea (sp??) is looking like it’s loving this heat.

My poor old lily pilly tree was looking great, and made good growth in 2 years, until now!

And the good old petunias seem quite happy as well.
I had a few question marks re the spelling of some of the words, and just had the bright idea of using the spell check! Why didn’t I think of that before, as now those horrid blue lines have all gone away!!
Will do a big watering job tonight at both houses, and then heading off again.                  Tomorrow is over 40 again, and then we are expecting a cool change at 30deg.          Might almost feel cold!
Have had a busy day, washing clothes, watering, and packing stuff. Also got delivery of my new laptop, and had a frustrating experience of trying to get the USB prepaid internet connection to work. Have spent ages on the phone talking to a foreign voice, and still not sure if it’s working yet. I”ve turned it off and hope that when I turn it back on it will work!!!??
It is 45 deg outside, (113F), and the light is quite eyrie (sp?), not sure if it is going to storm or not?  (Added note, there are bushfires out of town burning, and that's why the sky is like it is, and outside, the ash is drifting over the town, even though the fires are about half an hour away to the north)
Better go, more to do, the quilting has gone on the back burner today, but do know what I am going to quilt on the lone star, when I come back to it next week.
Have a good day,
Blessings, From Jude

Customer quilts

 

Just a quick post, with a few more customer quilts for you to look at.

This was made by Ann for a granddaughter, and quilted allover with a swirl pattern.

The following quilts, all made by Di, for friends, and quilted with simple allover patterns.

Hope you are enjoying your week, wherever you are.

Blessings, From Jude

Far tooooo HOT!

I am starting to wish for a bit of that extreme cold that is happening in the North, well, not really, but cooler temperatures would be welcome!
Today reached a maximum here of 46.7deg C, tomorrow is forecast 46, then 47 and then on Friday 44, before it gets back to 30 for the weekend. And on the conversion chart, 46 is 114.8!!!! This is so draining, and hard to concentrate on work..... that's enough complaining, I should be thankful, and I really am, that I can work inside, that I have an air conditioner (although it's struggling), and that we have water on tap, the power has not gone out, that I do have a house to live in, and a bed to sleep in.  Now I have put the hot weather into a better perspective, I think I feel better.

I am working on a large lone star quilt at the moment, and the photo is of the screen setup of the diamonds of the star. It is slow progress, mainly due to the heat, and lack of motivation in the heat. Must have been standing too long, as my feet and ankles are swollen tonight, and I can't remember that happening since I was pregnant, and that is many, many years ago.
(And I can assure you, that pregnant, I AM NOT!)

That's all for now, had my whinge, time to switch off for some sleep, so that I can get an early start on watering in the morning. So far, my vege garden is surviving. Had lots planned for this week, but don't think it will all happen.
Hope you are staying cool, or warm, wherever you are.
Blessings,
From Jude

Been away again

 

Time for another posting, after a few days away. Seems to have been lots of family occasions lately, and this time it was an engagement party for DD3. Left late afternoon on Thursday, and was picked up by DD2 and family about 5pm and we arrived in Mebourne, down the other side, about midnight.

Photo below is our meal stop at the park in Horsham, and time for the boys to run around and stretch their legs.

There was time on Friday for a trip out to sea in the boat, and a bit of fishing.

These little boys, (and their dad), were hoping to catch a fish, but don’t think they stayed there long enough!

Saturday evening at the party, this is DD3 with 5 of my grandchildren. They love spending time with their Aunty.

My beautiful children, all grown up. It hardly seems any time since they were all little, like the grandies in the photo above. Don’t know where all that time went.

The happy couple cutting their cake.

Sunday was time to travel home, and this is the Big Koala, a tourist spot between Stawell and Horsham.

Now that i am home again, I have caught up on some sleep, watered the garden at The Sanctuary, been to the Post Office, the bank, and the shops, made some phone calls, and now I intend to spend the rest of today sitting at the desk. Tomorrow I will get back to the Lone Star quilt on the machine.

The weather here this week is tipped to be 40deg and over for the whole week, so it will early mornings in the garden, keeping up with the water, and the rest of the days inside, hoping that the power stays on, and the nights cool down enough for sleeping. It seems so strange that we are having such heat, and the northern hemisphere are having unusual freezing temperatures.

Be back with some more quilt photos soon,

Blessings, From Jude

EQ Retreat and more quilts

 

Just a quick reminder this morning about the EQ Retreat with the Virtual Quilter that is coming up in February. More details are on the scheduled retreats page of this blog. I have some names already, but still room for another 2. Would love to hear from anyone that is interested. Let Judy help you get more from Electric Quilt, in a relaxed, informal setting at The Sanctuary.

Now for some more customer quilts, completed recently.

Below is a scrappy quilt, completely hand pieced by Mon, and quilted with a very simple block pattern. The border was crosshatched, but it is hanging over the bed and you can’t see it.

This was made by Linda, for a very special baby, and simply custom quilted.

This quilt was made for Jayne, by her mother, who has an embroidery machine, and quilted with an all over pattern.

This was made by Yvonne, and the blocks are from the 2010 Bedford Mystery and set on point with the plain blocks, and a motorbike was quilted into each of these.

That’s all folks, time to get busy for the day, the plants in the pergola at The Sanctuary need a watering this morning. The weather has been unseasonally cool for the last few days, and a few showers again yesterday. It’s unusual to need the jumpers in January, but mind you, I am not complaining.

Enjoy your day, whatever you have planned.

Blessings, From Jude

A busy weekend

 

My guest has gone home, and the house is back to quiet with only me here, unless I talk to myself of course!  (And sometimes I find myself doing just that!) Not that I am saying she was noisy either. It was lovely to spend one on one time with one of my grandchildren.

She had a busy time, and finished the border on her quilt, so we thought that maybe it could be quilted. So it was duly pinned on, and I thought perhaps she should have a practice on “Max”, and the first photo is a picture of concentration. Computer is unattached, and freehand will be the way to go, and practice fabric loaded. By that time, the afternoon was moving along, and we decided that it should just be basted for now, and quilted when there was more time. Second photo is the quilt, with the chosen bright pink backing that you can just see. So the quilt has been unzipped for another time.

This little girl is rather creative, and always loves to play with the stuff in my studio, and usually organises the pin cushion and colour coordinates the pins, can you see the clown, with his bow tie on? I always find it a bit hard to actually use the pins after she leaves. And the lady on the left is made from fabric scraps, an empty thread cone, and some thread hair! After this photo she was blessed with arms as well.

And another idea I found this week, were cards made with fabric scraps, and these were the results. From the Strawberry Patch is where I found this idea. Thankyou. A great way to use up scraps, although not much of a dent was made to the collection.

Well, time to get back to the book work, lots to do yet before I catch up.

Be back soon, with another quilt show,

Blessings, From Jude

A weekend guest

Last night I received a special delivery of one of my granddaughters to stay for the weekend. We have had a very busy day, and could not believe just how quickly tea time came around.
We started out with a shopping trip to purchase some buttons and craft glue. Somewhere on the "net" this week I saw a great idea, and I would give credit if I knew where! So, if you know, thankyou.
The first photo shows the big decisions in working out what buttons to put where, and this was after drawing and colouring the tree.


And this is the result, and I know if she doesn't remember to take it home, I shall be quite happy for it to stay here! Fantastic effort I think, don't you?

And now she is at the sewing machine, putting the border on a quilt that she started last year when we had a special retreat at The Sanctuary.
It is lovely to spend time with the grandies on my "home ground", and as they all live 3 hours from me, it happens rarely.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend, whatever you are up too.
Blessings,
From Jude

A new door opens

I had planned a posting for January 1st, and now I see it is already the 3rd day, so better late than never. I have been on a mission this week, quilting a few customer quilts, and housework as well. All my front windows have been cleaned, and floors washed, and some rearranging of furniture in my studio! I hope it is going to be more user friendly, and will help me to be more organised and up to date with the book work. I know that last time I got behind, I said that I was not going to let it happen again, but....... woops, it did!  And in the process of moving things around, I have sorted and thrown lots of papers, and "stuff"! Feels really good, might have to keep going through the whole house.

 The door of 2013, which included highs and lows, has closed, so we can leave behind the past, and work at making 2014 a better year. This year will be a year that includes quite a lot of significant family events, so looking forward to most of them.

At the Christmas catchup at my sister's house, I received a parcel from my mum, which included lots of photos for me to look through and decide what I wanted to keep. (Looks like mum is sorting out "stuff" too!) And another box contained some diaries of my grandmother and great grandmother to read. The one I really loved reading was my great grandmother's, Lousia's diary entries from 1913 until 1919. I felt a great affinity with her, actually seeing her writing, and reading what she had written.(I wonder if my great grandchildren will be reading my writing in years to come?) She also had a great faith, and quoted the Bible in lots of her writings. They lived on a farm, and lots of entries were about the weather. I can't help but compare the excess we have in these times, compared with how tough it must have been for them. No electricity, a wood stove to cook on and candles for lights.



Now it's time to switch on Max, and finish what I started yesterday.
The weather is cooler for a few days, and we had 24pts rain the last 2 days. Nice for the garden and a bit in the tank.

Enjoy your day, wherever you are, and thankyou to all those who visit my blog, and follow my life.

Blessings, From Jude