Almost another week has gone….

 

I can’t believe that tomorrow is Friday again! Where are the days going? We have now passed the shortest day of the year, and it’s fast forward to the end of the year.

The season seems to be a bit confused, because I have some daffodils that are flowering much too early, as spring is still some months away. And looking further into the photo, I think it might be time to do some weeding.

Early in the week my cousin and her family called in on their way through to Melbourne. Last year they came and shifted some furniture from my shed to their new home. Here they are laughing about their photo, that was published in my blog book.

I think it might have been fortunate thing that I was nearby this week, when I was pressing quilts and backings ready for quilting. Sometimes I leave the room to go to the laundry, or out to the wood shed, and leave the iron on, as it has an automatic cut-off and switches itself off after 15 minutes of not being used.The beeping is really annoying, but I learned to live with it. But now I am thinking that it was not a good idea to go away and leave it! I wondered what the smell was, and realised that my iron was smoking! It was quickly taken outside and left to cool down, and will soon be headed for the rubbish bin. It probably would have caught fire soon after.

I have been working on the paperwork, getting ready for the end of financial year next week. For once, I aim to be on time and up to date!! I had done up to February earlier in the year, so only have a “little” catch up this time.

In between all the above activities, I have been steadily working on this pile of quilts. Some are edge to edge, which gives me bookwork time while Max is quilting away. This is the first week for a long time, well it seems a long time!, that I have not had other appointments, or commitments, or a retreat to prepare for. It sure feels good to make some progress on the quilt queue. And with the cold days, it is nice to stay inside where it’s warm.

So that’s my newsfromjude for this week. I hope you are keeping warm wherever you are, or maybe you need to keep cool if you are in the northern hemisphere.

Blessings, From Jude

Another weekend is finished

The Sanctuary has again been home to a lovely group of friends, and the following photos show just a little of what they achieved. 

This quilt is very purple, and good progress was made as you can see in the second photo.

I loved this cup and saucer pin cushion. It has given me an idea for a project for a retreat. I think a few pink ones would be gorgeous.

I love the range of fruit and vegetable fabrics that are showcased in this jar quilt.

And this lady looks well set for some serious hand stitching!

A disappearring pinwheel quilt in red and whites looked great.

And another project well on the way. The wedges for a  dresden quilt, also in red and white.

And the lady in the corner was on a mission to finish a lot of projects.

Sorry this photo is sideways,and I don't know how to turn it now. Lots of presents happening in these Christmas fabrics.

It was lovely to have a visit by these 2 little guys. They were in town to catch up with their other grandparents, and spent a little time here. Mister 4 enjoyed some drawing and colouring on the floor in front of the fire.

Mister 6 is growing up so fast.

The Sanctuary guests left soon after lunch and the family not long after. The beds were remade, and the house half cleaned by mid afternoon. I put my feet up in the recliner by the fire, and intended to watch a DVD. But suddenly it was an hour and a half later when I woke from my nanna nap! It has been a big week, and tomorrow is all starts again.

Have a great week, whatever you are doing, and try to keep warm.

Blessings, From Jude

Quilt photo catchup

 

Once again it has been awhile since I have posted quilt photos. Life just seems to have had so much “other stuff” happening. These days this blog seems to be much more than quilts and retreats. I find it is a good reference tool when I need to check up on when something happened. So if you are here to see quilting, then today is your lucky day!

Just a few of what has “gone out the door” to their owners. Hopefully this week I can start to get a few more done for their owners.

First up is one by Jacci. A very simple, but effective use of colours and quilted allover with a pattern called Ocean Froth.

This one was made by Jenny, called Ford Mania, and is all fabrics that are car related such as Ford cars and tyres etc. A good man’s quilt, and quilted allover with a simple geometric pattern.

This is an ABC quilt, with Dick and Jane fabrics, and also made by Jenny. It is quilted allover with an ABC pattern.

This is a  jelly roll quilt, made by Jacci and quilted allover with Cotton Seed.

This Sampler quilt was made by Linda, and quilted allover with a Kerryn Emerson pattern called Pearl.

This was made by Pauline, with Oriental fabrics, and quilted allover with Gingko and Butterflies. Pauline made this for a wedding gift for her nephew and his bride.

Time to get busy and decide what the ladies at The Sanctuary will be having for lunch. The little people in my house have just woken up so I think I can make a noise in my kitchen now. DD2 and family are here for the weekend. I can hear the piano being played. It seems the only use it gets these days, is when the family come visiting and the children play it. Seems a shame doesn’t it. I remember my school days and having to go for lessons in my lunch hour, and the endless practice sessions after school at home. I know I did a lot of grumbling, and my dad would say, “you will thank me one day”. I had lessons for 5 years. I guess it is good that I can play, but I hardly touch it these days. And I can’t play without the written notes in front of me. Maybe one day I shall have the time to practice.

Have a good day,

Blessings, From Jude

This and that

 

This week has been a bit different to normal, and started with me spending the best part of 3 days sitting in the recliner by the fire, snoozing a fair bit of the day away. Life has been pretty hectic for quite awhile now, in fact a long while. Maybe it is only when we are brought to a halt that we really sit up and listen. The last couple of years I have been attempting to get a balance in my life, and not really succeeding. But with the health issues going on, maybe it’s time. The quilting queue is still there, but I have consciously tried to try for more of this “balance” thing, and have spent time just sitting and watching the world go by.

Today I have had a trip “up the highway”, and came across the aftermath of this accident which happened last night.One lane of the road was closed for the cleanup, and  it was single lane traffic passed the accident site, so there was quite a delay.

If you click on the following link, Swanport Road accident you can read the details of last nights accident which occurred about 2 hours from here. The first photo was in the linked news report, and the second photo is one I took this morning.

A 61 year old lady died in this accident, and this has really hit home to me, as I am the same age. It just reminds you of just how quick life can end. And we just don’t know when we will be taken. My trip up the highway takes 3 hours there, and 3 hours home again, and is possibly the only time that I am not “busy”, and can do a lot of thinking. (In between concentrating on the driving of course!) I am not one for fancy words and lots of deep and meaningful stuff, but today I kept thinking of the futility of so many things that we get all stressed over, and worry about. Not just about ourselves, but about other people and what they do and don’t do. And really, why? Because in the grand scheme of things, will it matter in 5 years time? All that really matters is that we live a life that is pleasing to God and not ourselves, or other people.

A few weeks ago I had some visitors, and as they were leaving I noticed a card taped to the dash of their car. I like the sentiment of the following quote…..

TOLERANCE   The most loveable quality any human being can possess is tolerance…. It is the vision that enables one to see things from another’s viewpoint…. It is the generosity that concedes to others the right to their own opinions and their own peculiarities… It is the bigness that enables us to let people be happy in their own way instead of our way.      (Anonymous).

Well that ‘s about it for tonight, and my bed might be nice and warm by now. The fire has gone out and the house is cold. Tomorrow I have to get things ready for a lovely group who are coming to The Sanctuary for the weekend. Will light the fire to warm up the house, do some shopping and plan some food for them, attend a meeting and keep a doctor’s appointment. In between I would like to finish the quilt on the machine as well, but in keeping with the balance thing, maybe that might keep until the weekend.

Another quote also from the same person is How important is it really?? SMILE

Blessings, From Jude

80 Years young

Today is a special day for this lady as she celebrates her 80th birthday. A few of us met this morning for coffee and cake at a local cafe. I think that this very humble lady would have liked to slide under the table when we sang happy birthday to her! She is not one to make a big fuss and prefers to be in the background. But I thought this day was worthy of a blog post. She is photographed below with 3 quilts that were exhibited in our group’s last exhibition, almost 2 years ago now. These were made in the classes I teach on Embellished quilts, and have been made for her grandchildren. I love to see my “students” take my notes and go with their own ideas. Often I learn from them as well.

Wishing you a very happy birthday, and many blessings in the year ahead. I look forward to see what you are working on next.

Blessings, From Jude

Happy Birthday

 

to DD3, who is 33 today. Those years have gone by so fast.

I remember that I blogged about you being born in the drought year of 1982 in my post for your 32nd birthday, so better not go into those details again this year.

This year has been very busy for you, since you have started your ebay store, as well as still flying international flights. And into the mix there is a wedding being planned. I hope you are enjoying the hot springs that have been organised for today’s celebration and your evening out tonight.

Lots of love from Mum.

Blessings, From Jude, …………..who is trying to ward off something that is making me feel rather ordinary. Tomorrow will be a very quiet day doing not much at all in my chair by the fire, where I have spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of days.

Another successful weekend retreat

 

It’s time to report in about the weekend, before I get back into the usual routine. The washing is almost done, the house is partly tidied and all my “stuff” has come back across the road. This morning I am doing admin and catching up on a few jobs that were left from last week. I was in bed really early last night after a big weekend.

There were a few close to finishing, with only borders to add, and one totally finished, and even quilted!

Sherrel made good progress, and here you can see she is working on the flying geese units.

Some of her finished blocks waiting to be put into rows, which were all on the diagonal of the quilt.

All her sashing rows and block rows, ready to be sewn together.

The centre of the quilt completed, and now waiting for borders. There are 3 borders, which she will sew as one, and then mitre the corners. Sorry that the photographer was not very good at centring the quilt!

And Lyn’s Turkish Delight was a slow journey. All the (120 of them,) little 2” four patch units took quite a long time to make. Here is one block put together.

Lyn spent a lot of time bonding with the iron!

Here is the finished pile of Block 1. There are 4 different blocks to make for this quilt. She had quite a few of the blocks done, but no rows sewn together, so sorry a photo will have to wait. All of the tedious work has been done now, so the rest should come together quickly, when she gets time to finish. Then I hope that she will feel the “delight”! At the last Mystery retreat, it was Lyn who went home with a finished quilt top.

Erica’s quilt is close to being finished. The centre was quick, but there are quite a few borders.

The first and second borders are on.

Progress on the check border, taken at the end of the weekend. So a finish is close.

And a very happy Rosie held up her blocks each time she finished one. Rosie has done a lot of sewing, and made some smaller patchwork items, but never finished a whole quilt. So she was just ecstatic with her progress.

A lovely pile of her blocks under the table.

The blocks laid out on the bed. There are hearts being appliqued on the light part of this quilt, and I am sorry I did not take a photo as she was doing them. Now she has finished that, the blocks can be sewn together and then it is just the borders to go.

This is the smile that was on Rosie’s face all weekend. It was great to see her enthusiasm for making a quilt.

Helen made good progress and had a nice pile of blocks.

This is her quilt with the first of 3 borders added.

Pat was the speedy lady for the weekend, and did not take long to have her rows of blocks put together.

A little massage therapy by Gayle, that helped the shoulders. It is usually Pat who is giving the massages at retreats.

The borders have been added and the corners are being mitred.

The finished quilt, which was later quilted. Sorry the quilter forgot to take a photo before the quilt went home. Hopefully Pat will bring it back when it has been bound. We are pretty happy about the way this one turned out.

Gayle made good progress after she finally finished her 144 half squares triangles

She managed to get the centre of her quilt completed, and I look forward to seeing her borders, (and there are a few!), added soon.

We had lots of visitors during the weekend. On Saturday Marie came to check out the progress, and as her husband was playing golf, she stayed to have lunch with us.  And Helen called in a few times over the 3 days also. On Sunday my brother and his wife called in and had lunch at The Sanctuary. They were on their way home after a trip to the Grampians and Ballarat. And on Monday we had a visit from Faye and her husband Kym, who were on there way to Naracoorte. You can see their “rig”, which almost took up the whole road!

Time for an inspection. Faye, it looks wonderful, and we hope you have many happy travels together in your retirement.

Kym found a cosy seat by the fire, while Faye checked out everyone’s progress

Faye took the group photo, that was taken before lunch as the Melbourne contingent had to leave soon after.

And here are Gayle and Lyn, leaving with their little cases.

And then later in the afternoon, it was time for Rosie, Pat, Erica, Sherrel and Helen to pack up and leave.

So that’s another great weekend at The Sanctuary. Thankyou girls for coming, and we missed the girls from Adelaide who could not make it. But we look forward to seeing you, Jean and Moya at the next one.

The next “Pick a Case” Mystery retreat will be held from Friday August 21- Sunday August 23. I have a few names already, and would love to hear from anyone interested in joining us.

Time to head to the post office and send someone a birthday present, and then the last load of washing to be done, and a quilt to be loaded. Lots to catch up on.

Blessings, From Jude