The last two weeks

 

My apologies for not reporting in for over 2 weeks now, and thankyou to those who missed me, and either phoned, or emailed to check on me. It just goes to show, how time really does fly when you are having fun!!

It has been a really full on few weeks, even though I have not been quilting! Have had a bit of “time out”, although in reality, it was really “time in”.

I spent almost 4 weeks home, and not going out, while my face was “doing its thing”, and going through all the “not so pretty” stuff. I am pleased to report, that all the blisters are gone, and the scabs are off, and just a slight redness remains. I have nice new skin on my face now, and it will take a little while to “toughen” up.

So my time has been spent busily cleaning, sorting and decluttering some rooms of the house. Still not finished yet, but am getting there, and it sure feels so good. Amazing what I have been finding, and there are bags of assorted things, that will go home with each of my children when they next visit. I think it’s time for them to decide what they want to keep or discard. Old school books, and clothes, toys, and memorabilia.

And I don’t think I really should say just how many quilts I folded up into a cupboard this week. Maybe it’s time to offload some? Can anyone tell me if there is a market for them?

Also have spent a fair chunk of time getting things planned for the “Paper Bag” Mystery Retreat which is this coming weekend. I have made up 11 bags, which each have a different quilt design in them. It has been a good learning curve following the recent EQ7 retreat. Below is a photo of all my little piles of fabrics from which I started. Was a challenge to design something to use the fabrics I had purchased, which included jelly rolls, and layer cakes, and charm packs, and some yardage etc. I do hope the girls coming will like what I have chosen. There is a bit of an “allocation” process for each bag, which should be fun, and there are a couple of spares for anyone not happy with what they get.

Had a special mail delivery last week, of my latest blog book. This one is for the whole year, 2013, and arrived in just 2 weeks, from the date that I ordered it online, from the US.

Have been away for a couple of days and only arrived home tonight. My brother’s eldest daughter and her fiance were married yesterday at The Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. The weather was glorious, and sunny, and the gardens are beautiful.

This photo is of my much younger sister and her family.

We saw a lot more of the Botanic Garden than we intended, as our taxi driver dropped us at the wrong gate, and we had a hurried walk through from the back gate instead of the front, which is the photo below.

The reception was just across the road at Ayers House. A lovely setting, beautiful meal, and great family catch up.

At the reception they had organised a photo booth, and lots of use was made of this. We got to keep one photo and the other copy was for an album for the bride and groom, which we wrote messages in for them. Lots of fun.

Below are the photos that my sister and I had taken. We have not hardly ever had a photo of just the two of us. I am almost about to turn that number of “60” !!, and she is a babe of 43 years young. I had already left school and home before she was born. There were a few “props” in the booth, so we decided to be a bit silly and dress in the feathers for the photo.

And above are the 5 siblings, in the confines of this booth, which got quite warm with a few bodies in there!. Sorry for the poor photos, but they are a photo of the photos.

Well that’s all folks, time for bed after all the excitement, but I need to blog tonight, as the coming week is really hectic, and it’s already Monday evening now, and that’s one day of the week gone. The retreat starts Friday at 1pm, so that’s another day gone, and not too many days in between is there? And am back to quilting again this week too.

Be back again later in the week,

Blessings, From Jude