Lunch time visitor

 

I heard a funny noise while I was eating lunch, and when I investigate I found this little fella, (well it might or might not be) stuck between the glass and the screen door. He seems to have extricated himself now and left. It is a very hot, windy day here today, and even a few spots of rain. Tomorrow promises to be cooler again, and then warm up later in the week. The forecast for Saturday for the wedding is for mainly sunny and 33deg.

After spending Saturday in the garden, yesterday was spent in my house sorting, cleaning, making curtains, doing floors and generally relocating “stuff”! This morning a lot of containers have gone to the shed, hopefully to find new owners in the new year sometime. I can now walk around my house without falling over boxes. It feels so good to have this done, and it’s only been 2 months today since the move from The Sanctuary! I guess I will have another sorting job in a couple months when the kitchen reno happens and all that stuff needs to be shifted. I will be so glad when all this is done, and I can get back to normal. Well a new normal. And really, what is normal??

Time to get back to work, lots of SID happening with Max today.

Blessings, From Jude

This and that and the before and afters….

 

First is a photo of the cactus flower at Mum and Dad’s place. The flowers only last for a few hours, so I was lucky to see it. There looks to be a few more buds that might flower too. I had a day of shopping yesterday and called in to see them on my way home. I went shopping to choose new floor and wall tiles for the bathroom renovation, to purchase more garden stuff, pick up new work room chairs that I had ordered, and buy couple of things for my wedding outfit.

These 2 birds were early morning visitors to the back lawn this morning. I had to cross out the early, because I was not up early this morning, due to being home very late last night. I might have to put out a feeder in the back yard, to encourage these to visit more. Once I started work outside they did not stay longer.

This next 2 photos are of the garden at the side of my house, before the fence went up. The poor roses had a struggle with the wind, (and probably a lack of attention and water as well). This side was exposed to the north winds.

Now they are all cosy inside of the fence, which now has the gates on. Did I say I love my fence? I might plant more agapanthus to go down the side of the fence, as I have some that need to be relocated from their present position.

This photo shows the whole side of my block, and you can see that this fence matches the one at the back corner of my block. That fence was erected by my husband back in the year 2000, and the new one in the year 2015. You would not know that there is 15 year difference would you?

And you can see that the roses are loving it now, and blooming. Still some planting to happen in this garden bed yet.

This is the photo I took of my new garden bed by the fence back in October.

And this is today, after I put up the bark rollout edging that was attached to the low fence above. I hope I have attached it securely enough to withstand strong southerly winds. I might get some more and attach it to the neighbouring fence too. Another job is a brick edge to the lawn on the right.hand side. That might be a while yet though.

This is the view I used to have looking out of my workroom door, and you can see that I could see right down the street………

and this is what anyone driving up the street could see, and my work room is in that green door.

The posts going in for the fence, last month.

The mess in my pergolas with all the pots waiting for the fence to go up.

And this is the view I now have from my workroom door!! I am getting a screen door put on the green door, so that I can open my door, and look out at this view, while I am standing at Max quilting. I never used to want to open the door, or the curtains of the window before. Now I might feel like I am outside, and enjoy the lovely weather, while I am inside working. And I can see a lot of lunch times in the pergola too. Did I say I love my new fence?? I laid some pavers along the existing shadecloth of the pergola, and you can walk down into the new garden, and there is another gate at the end, which goes to the carport. In another year or so, I hope to have a roller door put on the carport.

All the plants seem very happy in their new garden, and I still have space for a few more yet.

This photo taken from the gate and looking back towards the house. You can see the purple patches, which is the flower petals from the bougainvillea which blew off in the strong winds that we had on Wednesday.

This is a photo of the tidied up pergola, which was taken from my green door.

These 2 photos are taken of the view from my lounge room door. And I still do not know how to stop the black birds from coming in and leaving their calling cards! They are so cheeky.

I am very pleased with the transformation of this space in the last 2 months. There is still a lot of work to happen in the rest of my yard, with new garden edges to be put on the front beds, and a total redo on the laundry side of the house. That will have to be a work in progress over the next few months, as I need to get back to some inside sorting and find a home for the boxes of The Sanctuary stuff. And we have a very special event next Saturday to prepare for too.

This week I also attended a special dinner to celebrate with good friends who have been in business 25 years. It was a brave move by Barry and Marg to venture into a new path  after being farmers. They still have their farm, which is run by their son. It was a privilege to attend their celebration and congratulate them on a very successful 25 years.

Wednesday of this week was a very windy, hot day, and a fire in the mid north of our state got out of control and has burnt a great area of farmland, destroyed houses, crops, sheds. Many people have been injured, and there have been 2 deaths. This fire burnt very close to the town where some of my family live, and they had ash falling onto their roofs. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this fire.

Well, I think that is about all the newsfromjude for now. Be back soon.

Blessings, From Jude

More quilts and other stuff….

 

It’s time for a few photos of recent customer quilts that have been done.

First up is Raelene’s Pink Scrappy trips which was the Pink Retreat project that I “encouraged” her to make! Quilted all over with a pattern called Whatever, because she told me to do whatever I liked on it.

The next quilt was made by Margaret for a little girl and quilted all over with Dancing Hearts.

This jelly roll quilt was also made by Margaret, and it was quilted all over with Curling Waves. Some of the blue fabrics had fish and boats on them, so seemed like a good choice to me. And Margaret also gave me freedom to choose the pattern. (She actually told me….’you be the boss”! Margaret was the winner of the last giveaway and she will receive a $25 discount on the cost of quilting for her prize.

The next 2 quilts were made by Sally for grand children, and were quilted all over with a stars and moon pattern.

This quilt was made by Marion, and the blocks had embroidered cats on them. And many of the blue fabrics in the sashings also seemed to have a lot of cats. I think that Marion likes cats! This quilt was simply custom quilted.

For the last few months I have been so busy, that I have ignored things that should have been investigated. My desktop computer has been a bit noisy, and it wasn’t until a friend commented on the noise last week, that I really stopped and thought that I should do something. I was a bit daunted about how to get inside of the tower, and had been hoping to get some handy person to do it. Finally I decided to actually look at how to get the side off, and decided it was not that hard after all. And this is what I found inside! Sorry it is a blurry photo, but you get the idea. No wonder it was making a noise!

And after doing the desktop, I decided to look at the computer tower on my Statler. Had to get down on the floor to check that one, but it also was easy to get the side off. And found some more dust and fluff, but not as much as above. I was feeling quite proud of myself by this time, as a handyman I am not. I just like everything to work when I switch it on, and leave the mechanics to the experts. (But my computer expert is away at the moment).

I had also been ignoring a problem with the movement of Max. Just keep on quilting and hope for the best!! But last week it started to make quite a clunking when I was moving the machine along the track. So, boosted by the above results, I started to investigate the actual spot where the noise was coming from!! Narrowed it down to a couple of spots and took a cover off, and hoping I could get it back on again!!! But I could not find any problem, so put it back on again, and checked a bit further. Another spot not far away, and had to take off another silver cover thingy, and I could see all this thread, wrapped around a post thingy, which had a belt going around it. And this is what I managed to pull out of under all that!! It was no wonder it was clunking. And after I managed to get the silver cover thingy back on, Max moved so smoothly along the table!!

Boosted as I was by all of the above, I decided that I should give Max some long, long overdue maintenance. I changed the check spring, the felt pad, and the blue spring, and oiled in all the places and cleaned off the dust and the tracks.( I need to tell you that I always do the oil thing, in case you think I haven’t done that in years either.) It sure feels good to catch up on some of these things.

Last month I ordered blinds for the bedrooms, and kitchen and my work room and this week they were installed. I made block out curtains for my work room when I started back in 2002, but as you can see in the first photo they had seem better days. A few months ago I purchased some new curtains to replace them, (in the second photo), but mistakenly bought thermal, and not block out fabric, so there was still lots of light and cold coming in the window. After I had the room extended back in 2007, I hung something temporary in the other window on the right, and so they had never matched. I did purchase 2 sets but never put the others up. I have vertical blinds in the other 2 front windows, and now have the same all along the front of the house.

I shall try to sell these hardly used curtains, and the other packet still unopened.

I am very happy with how these look, and now I need to sort all the “stuff” in front of the window. Can you see the tall pile of quilting magazines that I will be passing onto someone else??

It feels so good to finally be getting some sort of order in my house and garden. There is still a long way to go though. I have spent quite some time out in the garden this week. I have been laying pavers for a path in my new garden inside the new fence. A lot of dirt has been shifted by the wheel barrow load to fill the area. And all those pots of plants that were waiting patiently are nearly all in the ground now. Photos will come in due course. After a couple of very hot days in the middle of the week, the weather cooled to a lovely temperature. I have enjoyed having lunch in my pergola area and listening to the bird song. That balance that I have been looking for might be on the horizon.

That’s all the newsfromjude for tonight.

Blessings, From Jude

The Pre wedding party report

Sorry for the delay in blogging, and I know it is 8 days since I reported in.

Life has been a bit full just recently, well no, not just recently, but for ages now. But progress is being made and this “balance” that I am seeking is coming!!

Now for a report on last weekend’s activities. I arrived on Friday evening, after the main group had gone out to eat, and this is how the table in the rooms was set up. Looks as though a party was going to happen! This was a very well prepared weekend, and the wedding party did a lot of work. It was a lot of fun, with some games and competitions. Even a video of the groom on the TV answering questions about his soon-to-be bride. I am impressed about how well they know each other. The theme for the weekend was black and bling, and you will see that everyone dressed accordingly. The black bags on the table contained all you might need for a day touring the wineries, for example, some panadol, a bandaid, bottle of water, a glass and some lollies etc. The glasses were even printed with the occasion and the date!

Saturday morning, this “vehicle” arrived at the door to pick us up for a day out touring the wineries of the Barossa Valley. This is the bride posing, and then the “paparazzi” taking photos.

The bride and her attendants.

And then a photo of the rest of us, all set for a day out.

A toast to the day on the way. It is a different experience to travel in a stretch limo, and watch the people on the street stare as we drove by! ( in case you are wondering, I declined the offer of what was in the flask!)

First stop was at Rockford Barossa, and I loved the old stone buildings and walls at this place.

Next stop was for lunch at Artisans of Barossa. Lunch was amazing, and was lots of different platters to taste some of each. They just kept coming, and then there was dessert too.

The scenery through the windows was lovely, and the weather was just perfect.

Next stop was at Penfolds winery in Nuriootpa. Here is the bride with both her mothers.

Penfolds was only a couple of streets from where these 2 little guys live, so they came for a visit to see the limo, and scored a can of drink each, before waving to us as we drove off to the next place.

The next and last stop was at Seppeltsfield. The scenery here looks as though we could be in another country. It was a gorgeous day to sit under the trees and drink coffee, while some were doing the tasting thing.

And another photo of the wedding party, before they went out for the evening and all the “fun” that went with that. I have to say I declined that part of the day and had a quiet evening. I did see some photos of their evening, and am not sorry I did not go!

Next morning it was pack up time, and I delivered 2 very “tired” ladies to the airport for their flight back to Melbourne and headed for home. I called into see my parents on the way home and had a lovely visit with them. I have been “up the highway” 4 times in 3 weeks, and need some time at home to catch up.

It was heads down on Monday morning, and all week, and I will blog about all that in further posts.

Blessings, From Jude