It's Saturday night.....

and time for a quick update before the day finishes. The Statler Gathering is here, although due to sickness, our numbers are decreased. But that means that table space is enlarged for those present. There are 4 ladies who are being very productive and working on their own sewing projects. The camera has not been out much, but will post some after the weekend.

This retreat is one that I have gone into without any cooking preparations, and so "food" is happening "on the run". And in between I am working with Max on a hand pieced hexagon quilt, that needs to be finished before the end of the week.

Just so I have a photo or 2 for this post, I will show what I found in the honeysuckle hedge when I was pruning it last week. A bird had gone to a lot of trouble to build a nest, and over the next four days laid eggs. I guess that soon there will babies. And I think this bird in only a blackbird, so nothing too exciting.

That's all the newsfromjude for now, until later.

Blessings, From Jude

"How Great Thou Art"

Before I start, I need to tell you that this post is not quilt related, so if you came for quilts, I am sorry. It is a post I have been mulling over most of the day, and I hope I can express my thoughts as they have been in my head! This is more like a sermon today.

I had a journey to Adelaide today, 3 hours up the highway and back again, for appointments. I asked a friend if she wanted to come for the drive, and last night's message said yes. The message also asked me to bring some Christian CD's to play in the car, as she felt a need to be fed God's word. I found a few for the journey and we left about 7.30 this morning. It was a good trip and we listened to some music on the way. We were about an hour early for the 11.30 appointments, so decided to go in and wait, and read while we waited. It was a surprise when they called me in 15 minutes later for the first appointment. Then I waited a bit longer, and went for the second appt. And it was all over by 12 noon! Amazing. Time for lunch then, as I had fasted since 5am and was ready for food and drink.

On the way home we called into Murray Bridge, where I did some retreat supplies shopping, and we then went to visit my mum and dad. Therefore we were on the way home much earlier than had been expected. It was a lovely sunny day in the city, and quite warm as we headed for home. We played another CD, this time Hymns of Worship, titled How Great Thou Art. We turned up the volume, and sang loudly together the songs we knew, and hummed the ones we didn't! How awesome, and uplifting this was.

We were also watching the sky, and the variation in the clouds, and weather. We saw blue sky, and sunshine, clouds, and even a rainbow. When we were close to home, we went through a storm, with heavy rain, and hail. I slowed the car, and kept my eyes on the road.

And I realised how appropriate the weather conditions were, and how they reflected our journey through life. The good times, and the hard times. And the words we had been singing, just fitted so well.

......all the works thy hand hath made........thy power throughout the universe displayed.....

O what peace we often forfeit........because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.....

how deep the father's love for us.... how vast beyond all measure....

my hope is built on nothing less....on Christ the solid Rock I stand....all other ground is sinking sand...

I needed today, in the busyness of my life, to be reminded again to keep my eyes above. Our alleluia's were loud and heartfelt, as we tapped into that power.

And in the midst of all this musing I received a text from a friend whose day had been filled with anxious times, and asked for "one of my special prayers" for the situation. How timely that was, in the midst of our conversation!!

There endeth my sermon for today!!

Be back soon with quilting stuff.

Blessings, From Jude

Antelope Canyon Quilts

A few members from our group have been making the Antelope Canyon quilt this year, and I have posted most of the quilts, but wanted to do a post with photos of them all, so that you can see the variations. They were all hanging in the exhibition last weekend, but the lighting was not good in the corner they were hanging in, so I could not capture the detail I wanted.

This pattern was designed by laurieshifrindesigns, and is very clever. I love this quilt, and the options for putting it together. We still have some ideas for more variations yet. Marie has another one cut and I can't wait to see this one sewn up.

Following are the 5 quilts that were displayed at our show.

Marie used her bluey green hand dyed fabrics and a grey background fabric for this one, that she called Sea Foam. She stitched it together with the half circles on each border. It was quilted allover with a pattern called Over and Back Ripples, which gave it a wavy effect.

Val used her stash to make this quilt, with one background fabric, and did the circle in the centre layout. When she brought the quilt to me for quilting, she called it "Circling the Wagons". I thought this circle pattern looked a bit like a wagon wheel, and fitted the quilt well.

This version used the jelly rolls of the Garden Delights fabrics, and one background. I posted a few months ago about the making of this one. I thought the fabric was pretty and floral, so it needed feathers and flowers in the quilting.

I made this one and changed the colour of the fabrics in the points, hoping for the on point square to show up. The half circles and the large X through the centre also feature. I have called this Illusions.

Pat decided to make one also, and as expected put hers together in a different way. She also added sashing through the centre of the blocks, and a border outside to make it larger. She named her quilt, Twisted Canyon. The spine of the feather pattern in the background also gives a twisted effect through the quilt, as does the pattern on her border fabric.

This is one that was sewn together in the days leading up to the show, but not quilted. I had this on display on my table, with fabric kits and the pattern to sell. (It will now wait patiently in the queue for my quilter to get to it!)

Following are a few close up photos of the above quilts, showing the detail of the quilting patterns.

I had kits of the Texture Graphics and Garden Delights options available for purchase at the Quilt show, and these were very popular, so I expect we will see lots more of these quilts around soon. There will be more cutting of fabrics for more orders. I am selling the packs with the strips wof already cut.

Sorry that the photos are not as clear as I would have liked, but the lighting was not good. I think that is about it for the quilt show report, and Max has been busy again this week. Tomorrow I am off up the highway again, and then it's time to get things ready for the Statler gathering this weekend. Looking forward to some time to chat and talk the same language.

Be back soon with more newsfromjude.

Blessings, From Jude

Part 2 - photo overload

(Note, this post was "edited" the next morning, after a good night's sleep!)

This was the action late this afternoon, and it is amazing how quick everything comes down, compared to how long it took to go up! Many hands make light work, is what they say, and the system worked well, with about 160 quilts packed away in just over an hour.

And this is how my world looked, just before I picked up the computer, in my "office", aka the lounge room. I need to finish my show report tonight, as tomorrow it will be back to it again.

Now  I will post a lot of photos, some with comments, but mostly not. I did not get all the quilts photographed, and even after walking around a lot of times over 3 days, I still saw something new.

I hope you enjoy the following quilt show.

I think Lessa, and Faye were pleased to see some Bedford quilts hanging in the show. Here are 3, but I think there were some others.

This quilt, belonging to Linda, The Grassy Quilt, was Kim's Gentlemen's Choice vote. (Sorry Kim, your vote was not enough.)

Prue was pleasantly surprised to receive a ribbon for her "Itty Bitty" quilt. This quilt is made up of lots of fabrics that have memories for Prue. The pieces were cut out years ago, using templates and scissors. She told me that this quilt will be used on her bed, in a nursing home one day!

Helen received a 2nd in Custom quilts, for her quilt "To Michelle, with Love". This quilt also won 2nd in the Viewers Choice votes. I have posted about this quilt last year, that Helen made in my Embellished Quilt classes.

 Louise received a Judges Commendation for her Merino Dreams quilt, made with Kaffe Fasset fabrics, an original design, and quilted on her domestic machine.

Jan's quilt won 1st for One person's work, and it was all hand quilted.

I was surprised that my quilt, Floating Hexagons, won 1st in the Modern category.

Made by Val from a Jenny Bowker's Shimmer pattern.

Also made by Val, in one of my Pick a Case Mystery retreats.

This is another of the Mystery retreat quilts, made by Mignon.

Marie's "One Block Wonder" quilt.

This quilt, made by Beth, won 2nd in the Gentleman's Choice vote.

Pat's Irish Chain quilt, won 1st in the 2 person Large category.

Another quilt from the Pick a Case Mystery retreat, made by Val.

2nd in the One Person's work was Rosemary for her silk gown, all hand sewn!

This quilt, made by Pat, for her daughter Robyn, won a Judges Commendation award, and also received 1st in the Gentleman's Choice Vote.

And last, but certainly not least, is this quilt made by Pat, which won 1st in the Custom quilt category, and also was Best of Show. I have not posted photos of this quilt on the blog before, so here are a few now.

Lessa also brought a few of her quilts to display, and showcase her work, and you can see these displayed on the stage below. (Obviously the gentlemen in the picture have their eyes on something??)

There were many smaller items, displayed in the following photo.

The President's challenge was a tablerunner, and you can see the variety of entries below. This was won by Kaye, with the Christmas runner at the bottom of the photo.

Another display around the edge of the hall, was of our first quilts. I haven't got photos of them all, but this shows my first quilt, on the right below. This was rather ordinary, compared to some of the first quilts, but I guess it shows how much progress I have made. You can see that it is not even quilted, and the fabrics used (leftovers from sewing children's clothing) have frayed, and some faded.

 These are some of the others along the wall.

The local Embroidery group had a small display in the hall as well.

This lady on the right came from New South Wales. Her "over 90 year old" father used to be a Lutheran minister in Bordertown, and they were on a "memory" trip, taking him back to places he had been.

Local members were demonstating different aspects of quilt making.

I think I need to finish here for now, as I am starting to go around in circles. I still want to show photos and talk about the Antelope Canyon quilts, but that will wait for the next post.
I did post photos last week of the Garden Delights Antelope Canyon quilt that I made, and I was very surprised today to receive the Viewers Choice award for this!!

Thankyou if you have read through all this. Time for a good sleep.
Good night.

Blessings, From Jude