TIS FINISHED!!!

My early morning update of newsfromjude is pleased to report that I have finished that marathon quilting job!! Sorry there are no photos this morning, but I think I better wait until my customer sees it before I show the world. I am anxious to see her reaction when she comes to collect. I love my job, and love to see all the quilts, especially after the quilting when they look so different. It gives them another dimension, and reminds me of that saying, it's not a quilt until it's quilted! But I have to confess, that if they are on my machine for more than a week, I am "over it". And while I did not work on this one for the whole 2 weeks, it was "in my face" for that long. And when this happens, I need to get some distance between me and the quilt before I can see "objectively" again. I took the quilt off the machine on Tuesday afternoon, and yesterday I looked at the back while I was trimming the drag threads from the back, so this morning I might be able to see it in a new light??!

And now I feel like a weight is off my mind, and I can move on again. Another quilt is on the machine, and I am working on cases of fabric as well. More about that later.

Winter has well and truly arrived here this week, with some rain, and lots of wind earlier in the week. The wood heater is burning and the house is cosy.

I have had the computer man here this week, doing some long overdue housekeeping on both my computers. They have had a 'clean up', and updated virus protection, and as my backup duties were way behind, I now have a separate hard drive set to backup everyday. That is peace of mind in case of a scenario I don't even want to think about. Let's just say that without my computer, my job just would not function!

Monday I had a quick trip to the city for my annual mammogram and check up with the specialist, and I can say I am now 8 years cancer free!! I can breathe for another year now.

When I checked back into the photo files, I found lots of quilts that I have not posted, so maybe a catchup is in order this morning.

First is made by Jenny, and quilted with an allover pattern.

Also made by Jenny and quilted with a simple custom.

This was made by Jean, for her daughter and quilted with an allover flower and butterfly pattern.

This was made by Liz for a teacher who was leaving the school, and moving to a house near the sea. It is made in sea colours, and quilted with an allover pattern called curling waves.

The initials of the school and the years that she was there, have been quilted along the top edge.

A pretty little quilt, made by Linda and quilted with an allover pattern.

This was made by Helen for a friend's birthday and I loaded it sideways and quilted a leafy pattern in each row, so that I did not "run over" the ricrac.

This was made by Pam for a new grandson, and quilted with a modern pattern.

It's time to head for the shower, and to get busy for my day. There are little bundles of fabric sitting all over the tables, some waiting to be scanned into EQ7, and some waiting to be cut. I enjoy playing around with these and working out what to design, and being able to see how it looks before any cutting happens. I am especially thankful to Pat for being my assistant with the designing, and then she checks my instructions and counts all the pieces in each case. Thankyou Pat.

Blessings, From Jude

This and that and this and that......

It has been another full week, and it's time for more newsfromjude. So just a quick catchup is in order, with a few photos as well!

Here are photos of Merridy's quilt, which she picked up yesterday. I think she was happy with how it turned out. Let's just say that the quilt did not come together in the way she thought it would, which is a long story that I won't go into now.

The quilt had very wide borders on the sides and the bottom. The background fabric was a linen.

Thursday evening it was the AGM for our local patchwork group. There had been quite a few apologies before the night, so we were very relieved when enough ladies arrived which gave us our quorum. I have relinquished my job of workshop convenor, and now have the position of Assistant Secretary. Should be a lot less work for awhile as we have a very, very efficient secretary.

 Here is Past President Pat, handing over the position to New President Pat!!

Last year our group held the "Head to the Border" project, and as that finished at our last exhibition, we needed another challenge for the members. It was decided to have a "PHD Project Pledge". We all have unfinished projects in our cupboards, that really need to get done, and this is just the motivation we need. This week, 23 members have signed the Pledge and declared what they hope to finish. Lots of things came out of the cupboards, some that have not seen the light of day for a long time. I shall elaborate more on these in due course. (We thought that a PHD sounded much more intelligent than a UFO!)

This weekend Number 8 was the venue for a member's retreat. There were a few stayers, and a few day trippers, and some that popped in for a cuppa and chat. It was a lovely weekend, such a delight to see people get to know each other better. And the conversation is always interesting, with lots of laughs and life stories shared. Each person brought food to share, which was very yummy, and there was lots of  recipes shared.

Marie is showing us the results of her rust dyeing. Some girls are now searching all over for rusty items!

 The sewing room at lunch time!

The reason for the empty sewing room.

One lady who was so pleased to finish this quilt over the weekend, and doesn't it look great? 

I have to confess that I don't have THAT quilt finished yet, but have done all the intense SID and outlining now, and some of the borders. Mainly the freehand feathers to go now.
There has been some progress on the Mystery Cases, and a few design made. Pat and I have worked on these for the weekend. They need to be finished in 3 weeks! Yikes!

I had an interesting "visitor" one morning this week, when a bird came down the flue of my fireplace!
I don't "do" birds, so that was fun, NOT.

I can hear the rain on the roof, so I hope it brings a decent fall this time. Our farmers and the gardens are in great need of rain.

That's all the newsfromjude for now. I can't believe how time is flying and we are rapidly approaching the month of June.

Time for bed,
Blessings, From Jude

I am still here.....

.........and working on this quilt. I can tell you that there are 108 flying geese, that all have a little space between them. They are all being stitched in the ditch, one at a time, and changing the thread colour to match each one! And there are lots of stars, big ones and little ones, with lots of points, all being stitched in the ditch as well. The quilt is slowly "talking" to me as I go, and I have done my share of unpicking when I quilted something I was not happy about. I was told to quilt it as I liked, but could I match the thread colour to the fabrics. I have printed lots of pages of the quilt, and drawn on them for months now. I  should have bought shares in the Epson Ink company!! Hopefully it will all come together soon. A few more days to go yet.

I received a text message from GD1 last week, asking for some help with a school project. She had to make a pair of pyjama pants, and Saturday morning was the time. She did a very good job, so I will be curious to see how she scores with this assignment.

Saturday afternoon I went to Murray Bridge to attend the engagement party of my niece and her fiance. The party was held on the family property were I grew up, that my brother now owns. Sorry there are no photos of the official proceedings at the party, because I left soon after main course to head back to mum and dads. Just before I had arrived at their place that afternoon, my mother had fallen and hit her head, so they did not attend the party. I stayed with them for the night, and made sure that mum had no further injuries. Things could have been much worse, and thankfully there were no broken bones. I won't tell tales about what she was doing when she fell, but will just say that I don't think she will be doing that again! This photo was taken on Sunday morning when lots of family came by to check up on mum!!

I arrived home just after lunch on Sunday, in time to be picked up by a friend who had invited me to the pictures as a birthday treat. We saw the film "Eddie the Eagle", which I thought was a great movie. It was one of those "feel good" films, that had a lovely story to it. I was disappointed to note that not many people attended. The shorts of other movies that were shown before the main film were full of fighting, violence and high drama, and I can't help but think that if this is what a lot of people fee their minds on, then our world is in a sorry state. (Here endeth my sermon for the day).

After a couple of very intense days of quilting, and more yet to come, I am off to bed.

Blessings, From Jude

Wild weather, wild animals, and more.....

The week that was, started with some very wild, windy, and just a bit wet weather. The whole state was under a weather alert, and there was a king tide around the coast. I have seen lots of photos in the news, of damage to jetty's and shacks, and flooding due to the weather. I feel that my little bit of damage is really very inconsequential compared to those reports. My brush fence that I put up in my back yard has been blown down by the strong winds. I did know that it was not really secure, and should have done something about it, but..... it was one of those "gunnado" jobs! I think the plants have survived though.

The following photo was taken in October last year, when this garden was first planted.

And this one was end of November, when the bark fence went up.

And a pergola full of leaves was easily fixed with the broom. Could have had trees down and lots more damage, so am very thankful.

This is the view in my back, back yard, which was hidden by that brush fence. It was out of sight, out of mind before, but not any longer! A lot of this is rubbish from the renovations, and trees and garden stuff that could be burnt. Which is another "gunna do" job. When this is cleared, maybe I could dig up the yard and plant some vegetables?? A girl can only dream, can't she?

Everything, including the kitchen sink!

These are the last photos of the African trip, as they arrived back home on Wednesday. It was an amazing trip they said, and they saw and learnt so much. These photos were taken on their phones, and the ones on the camera are much better, and number about 2,000 so I look forward to seeing those.

Another year has turned over for me this week, and I received lots of lovely cards, flowers, phone calls, presents, and visitors. The years are speeding by, and it hardly seems like any time since my "0" birthday 2 years ago.

It was also Angels sewing day the next day, and the girls brought lunch and a cake for me. BUT, those 2 candles in the middle, just did not want to blow out!! Thankyou girls.

I have done a few allover quilting jobs, and today I loaded this beauty. It might be on awhile, and I can see lots of SID in my future! I am hoping it will "talk" to me as I do the stitch in the ditch.

I also spent time today sorting out forms for Quilt Valuations. The Quilters Guild of SA Valuation Panel are coming to Bordertown in June to value quilts here. We have about 34 on the list to be done, and I am collecting the paperwork for this.

While I was standing at Max this afternoon, I looked outside and this was my view. The sun had come out today, after a gloomy weather week, and it looked so nice with the sun glinting in the garden. (Is glinting a word??) So I decided it was time to walk outside and catch the sun. Took the camera and snapped some flowers while I was out.

This swing has been around for 42 years, and I have been told not to give it away. So as it hardly ever gets used, it is now a pot plant stand!

We did have one little person sit on the swing a couple of months ago, and if she comes back, I think I could remove the plants pretty quickly. Might need to get the oil can out too!!

A lone dahlia in bloom.

Ranaculi are just coming up through the ground, and I am looking forward to these flowering.

Lots of bulbs, (and a few sour sobs) in amongst the violets, as well.

These primulas seem to be very happy where they are planted, right outside my door.

I am glad I worked hard to get the garden mostly planted, as it should be full of flowers soon. There is more work to be done outside "one day", but now I have quite a few inside jobs for awhile.

That's all the newsfromjude for this week. I am expecting a visit from GD1 in the morning for granny to give her some sewing help with a school project (?) Be back next week. Enjoy your weekend, whatever you might be doing.

Blessings, From Jude