Cousins, cards, car, coffee and more...........

Here we are again, and almost a week has disappeared without a blog update. And once again, I am racking my brains to work out a title for the post. I should just date them, that would be easier. It is like trying to find a name for a quilt, sometimes it just comes easily and others it does not. A lot has happened in the last week, and I need to decide if I will cram it into one post, or do little posts??? If I haven't taken photos, it is sometimes difficult to remember just what the week has been filled with.

Last Tuesday afternoon my cousin Helen and hubby Harold returned to spend the night and I posted a photo of Helen sewing the binding to her quilt. After the binding was sewn on, we spent a fun evening playing cards.

My patient with the bandaged hand joined in, and, (sort of), managed to manipulate her handful of cards. One person, who shall remain nameless, helped her when it was her turn to deal out, or pick up from the pack each round. And during the conversation, we heard a few phrases, such as "do you need a hand?", or "gotta hand it to you"!

A photo of the finished quilt.

They left on Wednesday morning and I headed up the highway to Keith to get my car serviced. It was a bit overdue, and something I had been putting off for awhile. While the car was being done, I enjoyed a coffee with a quilter friend from Keith, and had a great chat. We had a lot to talk about, as both of us had been down the "C" road, (the c standing for cancer.)
While I was in Keith, Pauline was taken to Mount Gambier to see the specialist about her hand. She got a good report, and a new bandage, which is a bit less restrictive, but is still limited in what she can do for awhile yet. (She has now gone home to see how she can manage.)

Thursday was our patchwork group day, and I was hostess, so took morning tea and opened up and set out the coffee, tea and cups etc. While I was there, my car was getting a couple of new tyres, so that's another job ticked off the list! And I spent my morning tracing patterns onto vliesofix for a quilt that has been patiently waiting in the "to do" list for awhile now. I purchased the "Dear William" kit by Michele Hill last year sometime. I have quilted so many of Michele's patterns for other people, that I decided I would like one of my own. It feels good to have finally started, and I managed to trace the patterns for the first 3 months. Lots more tracing and cutting out in my future though!

I had been telling Pauline, that I was expecting my cousins, Chris and Max to visit for the weekend, and I think she thought that they were a couple of guys. But Friday afternoon, Christine and Maxine arrived! It is a long time since we have caught up, and the photo albums came out, and we spent a lot of time reminiscing and catching up on events since we had last met. Our families spent a lot of time together when we were young. I don't think we stopped talking the whole time they were here.

In my house, it is probably no surprise, but I have quite a collection of quilts, that I have made over the years. Not everyone admires, or appreciates a patchwork quilt, but when I meet sometime who does, I have been "offloading" a quilt or two. (I figure it will make things much easier for my children, one day, if there are less to "dispose" of!) And these 2 cousins, were happy to choose something they liked, although they deliberated long and carefully about which ones to pick.

I received an email from Chris, with a photo of her quilt, on the bed at her house, showing how she had changed the room around to suit the quilt. Maxine chose a wall hanging, and a couple of quilts that Chris is holding. I don't think they made much of a dent in my collection, but I am pleased that they have gone to homes where they will be used and not stored away in a cupboard.

On Saturday, Christine went to the Open Gardens in and around Bordertown, and Maxine and I went to Kaniva to their Quilt exhibition. I took a few photos, mainly of ones I had quilted for members. It is always good to see them again, as when they leave here, they don't have bindings yet. The following quilts were all made in "Pick a case" Mystery retreat, that some of their members have attended here.

And the following photos are of others that I had quilted.

The next 3 are quilts made with the Quick Curve Ruler. Our group are doing this workshop on Saturday, so I will finally be able to try out the ruler, that I bought a few years ago. (I wonder if I might find some fabric in my stash somewhere?!)

This quilt was made by Lyn, I have not blogged it yet, and can now do this. I was pleased to get the distance photo, as on my bed it was just too close. The label below tells about the quilt. Lots of little pieces went into the blocks of this quilt.

After Maxine and I had visited Kaniva, I did the tourist thing and showed her around Bordertown. She learnt about the White Kangaroos that Bordertown is famous for, and we drove to the lake, around town, and then out to Poocher Swamp, which is full of water this year. The cousins left early Sunday morning, where the early morning temperature had been 1 degree with a frost on the lawn.

I think I will end my post here and tell you about my Sunday drive in another posting.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude