Aussie Retreat Report

I can't believe that another week has gone, and I am overdue for a blog post. A friend told me yesterday that she had been checking, but there was nothing to read! Usually I look at the photos, to tell me what has happened, but my camera has had a slight "slack attack", and not been out much.

There has been no quilting happening for a couple of weeks now, as I have been trying to get the cases prepared for the Pick a Case Mystery retreat, which is happening in February. It is my plan to write up the one I am working on now, and then turn Max on later today. There are still more to do, but I will have enough done for February. There are 2 more Mystery weekends in June, so will get more done in the next few months for that.

It has been a bit like "revolving" doors here in the last week, as DS and DIL stayed here after the Melbourne trip, and left the next morning. On Wednesday night DD1 and family spent the night, on their way home from Melbourne. It was lovely to see them, and some time was spent looking at photographs from years ago........

......before the luggage was "squeezed" into the boot for their journey home!

And not long after they departed, the first of the Aussie Retreat ladies arrived for another weekend, of chatting, a little sewing, a lot of relaxing, and much laughter. We flew the flags, and ate some Aussie food, and had a lovely time together. I did find a few photos, but seemed to have missed a lot of the happenings. There were some "stayers", and quite a few "day girls", and not everyone was here all at the same time.

Julie's quilt has recently been quilted, and now that she has sewn the binding on, she brought it for "show and tell".

Julie is now making a wall hanging for a friend who has moved to a seaside town.

Val is a cricket fanatic, and made herself comfortable to watch, in between some sewing time.

Erica preparing to embroider names on this album quilt.

Jan's show and tell, which needed some hand sewing done.

The prize I received last October, for one of my quilts, was this Frivols tin with fabric to make a quilt. There was one lady who didn't seem to have a lot to do this weekend, and I wondered if she might like to make this??? We think it will make a good raffle quilt, for the Pink Retreat later in the year.

It does pay to read ALL of the instructions before starting, and this I did not do. I will state that I don't think they are very clear, and I hope what I write is easier to understand than these were. Consequently, there was a "stuff up" with the finished size of the half square triangle units. But all was not lost, and after finding a bit more fabric in my "shop", (?)  the finished quilt will be quite a bit larger than the original!! 

I "found" this on the internet somewhere awhile ago, and printed it off for my notice board. We all thought it was very amusing, and quite accurate..................

 ....................but, maybe they should add a line.... you know you are a quilter, when you are seen clutching bundles of fabric!

And of course we had to have a group photo, but it was too hot to go outside for it. Sorry everyone was not here when it was taken.

The temperature has been up rather high for the last few days, and reached just over 44 deg on Sunday. But it was lovely and cool in my house with the air con going. Yesterday was a bit cooler, but the humidity was up to 70% which is high for here. Last night there was rain, and today is much cooler, and I am almost cold this morning! (But not complaining.)

That's all folks, it's time to finish writing the instructions for another quilt, and then I shall turn Max on to finish the quilt on the frame that has been there for more than 2 weeks!

Blessings, From Jude

A day trip........

Just a quick report on a "little" day trip we took yesterday, and a few photos taken along the way. It was an early morning start, and we (DS, DIL and I) were on the road before the sun came up. And we "lost" half an hour of time when we crossed the border in Victoria soon after.

Here is the sunrise, and I apologise for the blurry photo, but you get the idea. The car was moving and the photo (using my phone), was taken through the window.

It was a lovely sunny morning, and we were surprised to see this view, which looked quite wintry, with the clouds very low over the Grampians.

We had minimum stops along the way, and a few delays with road works and one traffic jam, and arrived at our destination by 12 noon.

The purpose of our journey was to join with DD3, SIL and their family to celebrate the Life of Carmen. The service was a lovely tribute to a beautiful lady, and they have many good memories. Carmen was laid to rest in the peaceful Bunurong Memorial Park at Frankston. This is a fairly new establishment, with lovely lawns, trees, and a lake in the centre, which makes for a very serene setting. 

Our journey home was fairly uneventful, with only one stop for fuel and food, and no traffic hold ups. And a few hours later, it was time for sunset, and this photo was taken through the dirty windscreen, again with the car moving.

DS and DIL departed for home early this morning, and the morning was spent getting my head around work again. There has been a couple of quilt deliveries, and a few phone calls. And this afternoon I have declared that a "holiday". By Thursday, the Aussie retreat ladies will start to arrive.

The weather is looking to be very warm, to HOT, with a maximum on Saturday of about 44C!! As long as the power stays on we will be fine. Otherwise we might all be outside on the lawn with the sprinkler on. Will be back to report in later, but in the meantime, I will leave you with a photo of Miss Bridie, who stayed with her Nana while we went on our journey.

Blessings, From Jude

Happy birthday

A quick phone blog to wish GD1 a very happy 17th birthday lots of love from "granny"

Friday again....

I know that some have been waiting for a post, and even my mum said today that she had been checking. I have been thinking about it all week, but the camera has not been out, no quilts finished and not a lot to show for my time. I mean, who wants to see photos of dust bunnies, and cobwebs? Or washing on the line?

Earlier this week, while the weather was comfortable, I have made progress on the "deep clean" in my house. All the bedding including quilts, has been washed, and all the furniture moved for cleaning. I will admit that the furniture is not moved that often, and a clean usually happens "around" it! But in preparation for retreats, which start again next week, after a 2 month holiday break, it was time. Even some windows have been washed!!

But I have come to a halt, although there is still some to be done. The weather has gone downhill, and today the temperature reached 45deg C!!! I was thinking that was about 108 on the old scale, but did a "google" for a conversion, and suddenly felt hotter when it said 113deg!!!!!!!! I am so very blessed that I can work inside, and don't know how anyone can manage to be outside in those temperatures. I know we are so spoiled these days with our airconditioners. And if you read Michele's blog you will read about the big bike race in our state capital this week, and the heat they are participating in!

There was a visit to town, by DD2 and family, and it was lovely to catch up with them. There has not been much quilting happening, but quite a bit of fabric cutting and instruction writing, ready for the next Mystery retreat in February. I have loaded a large custom quilt, and made some progress today.

And the low of the week is the news from Melbourne of the passing of DD3's mother in law, at the young age of 66 years. It has been a 6 month journey since her diagnosis last July of that horrid "C" word. A lovely lady who will be sadly missed, and sadly, 6 weeks before the arrival of "Bro". Words cannot convey our feelings. I found a photo in the files of DD3 and her 2 mums, which was taken at the engagement party 3 years ago.

That's it for now, it's time to finish off and tidy the desk, ready for another day tomorrow.

Blessings, From Jude

Another week has gone!

Here it is and another weekend is here. I thought 2017 sped by, but 2018 seems to be going in the same direction. I can't imagine ever being bored in this lifetime. My time this week has been shared with Max, and those piles of fabric. I think I am making progress, but still a way to go yet. I woke early this morning, so have done a few jobs, and now decided to do a blog post, before I spend a few hours in the chair at the hair salon, having a long overdue cut and colour.

And I see there are a few quilt photos in the files, some from before Christmas.

First is a quilt made by Jenny, and quilted allover with a pattern called Sassy.

This Christmas quilt was made by Veronica, and I did manage to get it finished before Christmas!

Helen made this quilt, and it is her first quilt! Very pretty colours and she did a good job for a first time. This was quilted allover with "Floppy Daisy", with custom in the applique strip.

Here is another Christmas one, made by Jenny, who is going to use it as a table runner.

Sherrel made this churn dash quilt, called China Blue, in a Pick a Case Retreat, and this was quilted allover with a pattern called Luna.

A lovely purple quilt, made by Marion, with simple custom quilting.

Julie made this quilt for her bedroom, to match her curtains, which are the burgundy fabric around the centre square. The centre was her project in a Gloria Loughman, "Playing on the Surface" workshop. Julie then designed the rest of the quilt around this. (Julie is a quilter, who won't start another project until she has finished one, so now she can start something new!! I am not too sure that I could do this, in fact I know I couldn't, and don't!)

That's it for now. Time to open EQ7 and start work, until I leave for my appointment. I will be back soon, (?), well sometime, with another update.

This weather is very strange, as last Saturday reached a high of 43 deg, and today is forecast to be 21deg!!! Less than half, and so very changeable. But I won't complain, because I know that a lot of areas are having a week of 40 deg temperatures, and we are only getting the occasional day in amongst lovely living weather.

Have a good weekend, whatever you may be doing.

Blessings, From Jude

Organisation!!

In my last post I mentioned the sorting of lots of scraps, so will continue the story tonight.

I have had the Go cutter for quite awhile and used it on a few occasions. I like the 2 1/2" strip cutter for a quick way to make strips, which are always useful, but have not used it for 2 1/2" squares until now. I marked lines at right angles across the board............

.............and lay the short strips of already cut 2 1/2" short strips across the die..........

...................and up to 5 layers thick........turned the handle, and rolled it through the cutter.........

...............and, voila, lots of lovely 2 1/2" squares!!!!

We only did this with the shorter lengths, as for a quicker project I like to strip piece, but these will be good for a scrappy quilt, and at least they are no longer sitting in the corner, not used.

Below are all the empty containers, that previously held the leftover scraps! Boy, did we feel good when we got this far!

BUT...... there was more!!!!!!...... I was walking behind Max, and noticed these containers, that I had totally forgotten about, that contained more scraps, and many from a long time ago.

I was a undecided about whether to look in these bags this weekend, as I did want to get to the quilt designing. But late on Saturday evening, I did open one bag!...... and Sunday morning we kept going again. But we did quit with one bag not touched. This will keep for "one day".

2 overflowing bins full later. We were getting quite ruthless by now, and anything less than 2 1/2" was out. Some was poly cotton. For 2 people who always kept scraps, "for one day", it was hard to look at the bin, and see a piece that might make a 2" square. I think Val did bring some back. We don't like waste, but I don't think I shall run out of fabric anytime soon. (Maybe the kindy would like these scraps!??) I know there are all sorts of creative, arty things that could be done with all this, but at the moment I don't have the time.

We kept cutting until we got this far. And then I decided that these would be sorted, but not cut.

The top drawer contains smaller pieces that will be cut into squares. The second drawer contains width of fabric strips of varying widths, that can be put through the strip cutter. These have all been pressed ready for use, and are no longer screwed up in a bag. Starting to feel good again. 

In my sort out, I found fat quarters all over the place, and they are all now in a drawer, where I can see them easily.

In bags, all over the place, were also partly pieced blocks, that were left over from quilts, or were made as a test block to check measurements for the quilt packs. These are all now with their "friends" in a bag together. It would be a good jigsaw puzzle for someone. If you are interested, contact me PLEASE. Once again, I hate waste, and just cannot throw them away.

This is my collection of precuts, (and I did have some of them from years ago, when I must have had lots more time), and the result of a few days work from 2 of us. The 2 little boxes on the right were cut years ago, and are 2" and 1 1/2" squares. Seeing it all laid out like this, it doesn't look that much, but there are a lot of squares in those piles. (But I am not going to count them!!)

Val left at lunch time today, and we thought we were finished. As I was cleaning up, I found this bag.
The leftover brights from 3 projects that I have done. One was my Mariners Compass, another my New York Beauty quilt, both of these with Lessa Siegele, and the other a Celtic Knot workshop with Gina Burgess. A lot can be squashed into a plastic bag, and I tipped it all out........

...... a few useable bits to cut squares out of.............

some precut curved units, (and I think I have loudly stated that I will not be doing anymore curved piecing in my future???).................

and lots of 4 patch units, maybe enough to start something small????

But can you tell me just why I had hung onto all these tiny, odd shaped pieces, for all these years???? They are now in the bin, with the other scraps.

All neat, and back in the bag now, and not put with the others as these are such a bright contrast to all the other scraps. Once again, I would be happy to hear from anyone interested in making use of these.

Now that I have cleared a lot of stuff from my room, and my mind, I am now ready to move onto the next project. It's time to work on designing and cutting the next lot of Pick a Case Mystery quilts, that need to be ready for mid February.There are groups of fabrics on the desk..........in the cases.......

..........and in each of these bags, under the table. Some I have plans for, and others still need to talk to me!!

Quilting starts again tomorrow morning, and I plan on edge to edge quilts in the mornings, and designing and cutting in the afternoons.

At least the weather has cooled a bit after yesterday's maximum of 43deg. Early mornings in the garden, keeping the plants watered is usually the best time of the day, and then I am inside to work.

Blessings, From Jude