Christmas in July, 2014

Time for a posting to report on last weekend, which was another fantastic weekend at The Sanctuary. Before I could take the time to do this, I needed to finish the custom quilt that was started last week, and I am pleased to report that I reached the end last night. All the washing has been done, dried and folded, ready to go back “across the road”.
Santa left some goodies in the stockings for all the ladies, who had obviously been good this year! After my posting last week, about the stockings being made, I did receive a text message from one lady, telling me that she had been extra good this year!


The house had been decorated a couple of weeks ago, when my grand daughters stayed here, but some more decorations arrived, and you can see the red balls hanging above, which added to the Christmas atmosphere! When the Adelaide contingent arrived, they unpacked their luggage, and left again to check out the local shops, and “spread the tourist dollar”, was how Raelene put it. I was a bit puzzled about the photo below and just what was it?? A bag of green bottles, and some sticks with red paper on the end!


All was revealed when they returned, and you can see the gorgeous red flowers for more Christmas decorations.



We thought that the flowers would look fantastic, made in pink paper for decorations for the Pink Retreat which is planned for September 20-22. So another trip to the local shop, and a purchase of pink tissue paper, and then a lesson on how to make them.

The “teacher” was very strict, making sure that the creases were sharp, the edges were trimmed properly, and everything was folded accurately!! And Jean was appointed as the “person in charge of storage”, and they are put away in readiness to be unfolded for the Pink Retreat. One lady got a bit ahead of the instructions, and unfolded a flower, but you can see just how pretty they look. Thank you to Raelene for a great idea. And you can see that they all made different colour flowers after that. I am sure that there will be a lot of these flowers made for upcoming events.

It was not a weekend of great productivity, instead a lot of sitting around and lots of chatting, and many good laughs. Some great stories were told, which can’t really be told on the blog. A couple of ladies did achieve some sewing, and a few bindings were completed. It was very relaxing, and good therapy. Lots of sharing of life situations. Sometimes you think you are the only one dealing with things in your life, but there is always someone who understands, who is going through the same situation, or has been there before.

This was the creative, messy corner, no sewing, just glue! And you can see the creations below.

I was very fortunate that this year we had “city chefs”. Thankyou to Gay for cooking us this delicious Christmas Ham. And thankyou to Pauline for the loan of her weber barbecue to cook the ham in. I only had to do the vegetables to go with this. And thankyou to Raelene, who cooked the Christmas pudding, and my apologies for not taking a photograph before we ate it. It was a treat! And while I am saying thankyous, also to Pat for cooking us bacon and eggs for a scrumptious Sunday morning breakfast. And also to my granddaughters, who made us the gingerbread men, and the Rudolph biscuits.


Above, a few drinks before that delicious meal, and below, the obligatory group photo. I should take a least 6, as there is always someone not smiling, and this was the best that I could choose.

This was a funny demonstration from one lady, who shall remain nameless. But I shall say, that many times a day I remember this!

Some ladies achieved some show and tell, but sorry I forgot to take photos.


The girls who came from a distance, stayed an extra night and left Monday morning. We went out for Sunday evening meal, and then sat around the fire and chatted, and laughed some more before going to bed. All in all, it was a fun, very relaxed weekend meeting up with old friends, and making new friends. And some who did not know each other before, found out that they lived only streets away from each other!!
Thankyou for coming girls, and making it another good weekend. And also thankyou for packing away all the Christmas decorations before you left. Many hands make light work, I think is how the saying goes.

I did manage to get the binding done on the Pink Retreat raffle quilt, and will show photos of this soon.
Time to get to the shower, it’s much later than I thought. I have taken awhile to do this posting, but thought I better, before I get more reminders.
Blessings, From Jude

2 more quilts

 

While I am “away” across the road this weekend, thought you might like to see another couple of quilts that I quilted recently.

First up is Maries quilt, made in a Westalee Ruler workshop. The first photo is the original fabric, with apologies for the cuts that you can see. This is all that Marie had left, and I thought that you can see how different it looks after being sliced up. It was a border print, and the butterflies were used in the sashings. Below is the whole quilt and then photos of only 2 of the blocks, so that you can see just what a difference there were in each one. I like how the little birds made a frame around the centre of one block. This was quilted with a simple custom design in each block and separate sashing pattern.

This is Pauline’s quilt, made at the “Paper Bag” Mystery retreat. The plain outside border was just “asking” for a nice pattern to show up on it, so this was also custom quilted. The centre was easy, with 2 different point to point patterns through the lighter and medium triangles. Pauline was pleased with her Mystery quilt, and has signed up for the next weekend which will be in October. I am working on another range of mystery quilts and fabrics. Would love to hear from you if you would like to join us.

We are having a lovely time at The Sanctuary, lots of discussion going on so far, not much work yet though. Heard some great stories last night, but sorry, they can’t be told here, as what happens at retreat, must stay at retreat!!We have a full house of 10 for Christmas in July, which is great. Will have the camera out today, with a report in few days.

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are, either in the cold south, or the warm north.

Blessings, From Judy

With apologies to genuine poets!

 

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,                                         

there is still so much not yet done,

there is still food to cook, and shopping to be bought,

the binding still needs stitching, and the quilt on the frame is not yet completed,

The presents are not yet wrapped, and the floor is not swept.

But, the stockings are finally finished,

and the house is all decorated.

The wood fire is burning to warm up the house,

and the beds are all made with warm cozy quilts.

And tomorrow I look forward to the arrival of quilters, from far and near,

for a fun weekend to celebrate Christmas in July”.

Time to put another log on the fire, and head to bed for some sleep. Tomorrow morning I hope to finish the rest of the jobs so that by lunch time I shall be sitting in front of that nice warm fire enjoying the company of old friends and new friends.

Will be back soon with a report of our weekend. I think it’s great having “Christmas in July”, with the cold weather, and not 40deg heat. Christmas roast and pudding tastes better when it’s cold, (the weather I mean!)

And thankyou to all those who sent me messages re the binding. At least I know that someone is reading my blog. I will have to ask questions more often. I have gone with the spot. It was a popular choice, and it was quicker than piecing the leftover coloured bits. And time has been a bit short around here this week.

Blessings, From Jude

Opinions please?

Today I have quilted the raffle quilt for the Pink Retreat weekend which is coming up in September. Now I am undecided about the binding. I don’t have enough of the outer border fabric left, which I would have used to make the binding. Do I use the plain black at the top left, the not so dark black at the right, or the spot in the centre, which is the backing fabric. Another choice is to join all the strips of coloured fabrics leftover from the sashing squares. I know I will have certain people telling me, that it is my choice, but I am asking for other opinions??? Would love to hear from you.

Hope you are having a good day. I am now off to the sewing machine to finish sewing the Christmas stockings for this weekends retreat. And then to fill them with some pressies, in case they have been good! I am looking forward to Friday, and would like to have the binding ready to hand stitch down over the weekend.
Blessings, From Jude

Quilt photos update

 

It’s past time that I showed some more quilt photos. I can’t believe that the year is flying by so fast, and it’s almost the end of another month.

First up is a quilt made by Joan, using oriental fabrics and quilted with an edge to edge called Gingko Garden.

This is made by Judy G, and quilted with Dancing Hearts pattern. I love blue and yellow quilts. I have a blue and yellow kitchen, and bought a house which is painted blue and white, so maybe I am drawn to blue?? I just love to see how people put colours together in their quilts, and even scrappy quilts work if you have one fabric to pull it all together. When I have finished all the PHD’s in my collection, I think I could be busy for many, many years just making scrap quilts with the leftover bits.

This was made by Jenny, and quilted with a simple custom.

Made by Raelene for a friend and a very open simple custom quilting job.

This is Lyn’s quilt, blocks of Sashiko stitching put together.

Above is Erica’s quilt made in the Paper Bag Mystery weekend retreat, and quilted allover with Dandy and below is her Hidden Wells, quilted with Seaglass.

This was a lovely showcase of pink fabrics, made by Liz, very simple but effective and quilted allover with a Meander.

That’s all folks. Sorry about the lengthy delay in showing quilting photos. I have been doing some quilting in between all the other activities. And I am sitting by the heater on another cold day here, thankful that I have a warm house to live in. Now I really need to get motivated and finish a project I am doing for next weekends Christmas in July retreat. I am looking forward to another good time at The Sanctuary, catching up with old friends, and meeting some new friends.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

Some family time

 

I know there are a few people waiting for this blog post, so better get it done before I get any more reminders! Sorry for my absence, but I have been at The Sanctuary, having a few days with DD3 and GD1, 2 and 3.

There is a “Christmas in July” retreat at The Sanctuary later in July, and one of my granddaughters asked me ages ago, if she could come and see the house all decorated for that weekend. After thinking about it for awhile, and seeing that they had school holidays earlier in July, I decided that we might have our own “Christmas in July”. So I worked out some dates and an invitation was sent. The girls put the decorations up after they arrived, and have helped make some yummy christmassy treats for them and the weekend coming up. We have been very busy, and it has been a very special time with them. Daughter number 3 drove over from Melbourne to spend time with them too, and 3 granddaughters arrived, all on Saturday. The weather has been so cold, but we were very cosy by the wood fire, and there is no shortage of quilts for the beds!

First job on the agenda was for the 10 year old to quilt her quilt. I blogged about this quilt, back in January. First we had a lesson on how to operate the machine, which she picked up very quickly. Then it was choosing a pattern, and she found one that had flowers just like in the fabric that she used.

Then she thought it was a good idea to watch the machine from underneath! I know I could not crawl down there anymore.

Then time for just watching movies on the TV by the fire.

Amazing how much warmer you feel backed up to the fire!

We had “high tea”, using my grandma’s cups and saucers, and ate some yummy scones and jam and cream. One morning we had pancakes for breakfast, but sorry, no photo. We had the traditional roast for Saturday evening, and Christmas pudding as well.

 

The group photo to put up on the wall.

Last January, Miss 10 made herself a button tree, which she took home. This time, she made one for me to put on the wall at The Sanctuary. Sorry I forgot to photograph the finished product. Will remember to do that soon. I love her tree. She is very creative.

You can see how busy we all were.

Time to make some “Rudolph” biscuits which were very yummy. They also made gingerbread men. We have managed to save some for the ladies weekend.

We tried to light the fire outside, but things were just too damp. So they decided to try toasting marshmallows inside, but don’t think it was real successful.

Monday morning I had to take my car up to Keith, which is about 40km away, and it was very cold. The exterior temperature while we were driving there, was 8deg. And that is a very cold day for this area, even in the winter. Fortunately we found a warm spot in the “Henry and Rose” cafe, and had some warm drinks and a bite to eat by their warm fire.

And these are photos of our crafty activities.

DD3 decided to sew a Christmas stocking for her dog, Kiki. You can see the name on the stocking. And she found some dog biscuits in a shop at Keith, to put in the stocking. And it was so lovely to see her actually using a sewing machine, and I thought I took a photo as proof, but it is no where to be found!??

And after the quilt was quilted, it was time to put on the binding. Here is the finished result, although the binding has not been hand sewn all the way around yet. I am inpressed with her sewing skills. She worked out how to do the mitred corners on the binding just by looking at the one corner I had stitched for her.

And here they are on the last night, just keeping warm and watching a video. And lucky Auntie is getting her hair done.

I took the girls back to Murray Bridge on Wednesday to meet their mum. We had a lovely time, and I enjoyed having them on my home ground and doing crafty things and cooking with them. Now it’s time to get back to some quilting and later in the week to cook for the next Christmas in July weekend. We have a full house of ladies for that weekend, and I am looking forward to that also.

Be back soon, have lots of quilts to blog about.

Do hope you are keeping warm if you are in Australia, even in the northern parts they are experiencing colder than normal temperatures. I am so glad I have my wood fire.

Blessings, From Jude