Thursday 2 February 2017

Time for another catchup of newsfromjude


I woke up early (4.30am) this morning, so decided to get up and start my day. So am taking the time to catch up on the blog with what's been happening this week, and earlier in January.

The Aussie Retreat was another great time of friendship, and some sewing. It was a bit longer than usual, as the last of the stayers left just after lunch on Sunday. We had some day girls, as well as those who stayed. I did manage to get a quilt onto Max one of the days, and this is Pat's quilt, A Touch of Teal, that she made in a "Pick a case Mystery Retreat" last year. (This design was based on a design by The Virtual Quilter, and used with her permission, although it is quite different now.) This was quilted allover with a pattern called Modern Eccentric.


And this is Julie's quilt, which she has made in my Embellished Quilt classes. She is very happy to finally have the top together, and only needs to add a final border. The centre was made in Gloria Loughman, Playing on the Surface class, a few years ago.


And Jocelyn is very pleased to have this Bedford Mystery quilt to the topper stage.


These bags were the result of an unplanned project, after they saw Marie's bag. I think there was another made by Pat, but she went home before I could snap a photo of hers.



On Saturday DS and his friend came to install the air con in my sewing room, and this is an action shot, when they weren't looking. It was rather hot while they were working on this, so we were happy when it was switched on. (And they were happy when the job was finished.)  Monday was very hot and humid, and it got a good workout, but I have to say, that the weather has been much cooler since, and yesterday, I even had to put a jumper on. Very strange weather for February 1st. But I won't speak too soon, as I don't think we have seen the last of the hot yet. But I know it will be very comfortable in my work room, and the front sewing room, when it does.


A few years ago I started the task of getting some order into my fabric scraps, and was following Bonnie Hunters Scrap Users System. I know that this should be done at the end of each project, but something happened, and life got in the way. So I have ended up with scraps and leftovers, in quite a mess, as I don't throw anything out! Although I have not made a lots of quilts for myself recently, I have cut a LOT of quilts for the mystery retreats, which added to the chaos. Last weekend I decided to try and "tame" this chaos, and get it into some order!??

I started by sorting the strips into their colours.



These are what I had cut "back then", and I hope to add to this.


 These are mostly strings, which could be used in String quilts.


I am still working on this lot, and this in only one of 3 drawers full that I had accumulated.


And I still have these 4 plastic bags which will stay there until I sort the rest!!


I have until next Thursday to get this into some sort of order, as I will need to the table space for the Angels next week!!

The following quilts, are some of those I finished in January.

First is a jellyroll quilt made by Lyn, which she then appliqued a heart shape ring of flowers onto, and quilted with an allover pattern.


This Pink Scrappy Trips quilt was also made by Lyn. This was made at the Pink Retreat in 2015, and also quilted with an allover pattern.


This roses quilt was made by Christine, for her mothers 90th birthday, and quilted allover with Roseleaves.



This Embellished quilt was started in my classes, many years ago by Ann. She had made a few blocks, and it was unfinished when she passed away. Jean took on the challenge to finish this quilt, even doing the gathered sashing as we knew Ann had wanted. It has now been quilted, and bound and will be sent to family members in Ann's memory.




This very large quilt was made by Kath, with embroidered blocks featured throughout the quilt. We did not want quilting over the stitchery, so I quilted an allover pattern, and trimmed out the stitched blocks.



I will finish this post with a couple of family photos that I "borrowed" from their facebook pages.




Will be back soon, with another post.

Blessings, From Jude

3 comments:

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Goodness, you were up early! Love the bags - any idea what pattern it is? Would love to make one :) So glad you have an a/c in your sewing room now, that should help a lot. I am sure there is more hot weather around the corner, though I am certainly enjoying this cool change! xx

Sue SA said...

Lots of lovely quilts, especially liked the quilting pattern on the first one. Glad you have some air conditioning in your sewing room now, not sure how you survived previously!

Susan Smith said...

You've certainly been busy lately. Love some of those quilts and good luck with sorting those scraps. Maybe when you've finished you'd like to do mine. (just joking) Take care.