My baby is 30 years old!!!!

Today my baby boy, is turning 30 years old!! It makes me realise just how the years are marching by. And now he has his own baby, although she is almost 3 years old, so not such a baby.

I went back over time last night and found a few photos to post, from such a little boy, to now,              a  6 foot4" dad, playing hide and seek under the bed, with Miss Bridie.

 I have collected Raylene from the train, and the girls are in the kitchen having lunch. This afternoon there will be more arrivals, including a couple of special ladies from Phillip Island in Victoria.

I am about to head out the door and travel to the Barossa for a family gathering to celebrate the 30th birthday of my baby,  and the girls at Number 8 will also have a birthday tea to celebrate Pauline's birthday who is here for the weekend.

Will be back to share more of the weekend later.

Blessings, From Jude

What a day it's been!!

Here at Number 8 today, it has been like Rundle Street! Now you probably have to be a South Australian to know what I mean by that comment. Rundle Street, (now Rundle Mall) was the main street of the city of Adelaide, and was a busy place to be, with people coming and going up and down the street doing their shopping and conducting business. (With the advent of suburban shopping centres, the busyness has reduced to what it once was, and it has been a long time since I have shopped in the city centre).  Here today it was busy, with people coming and going all day.

I shall start at the beginning.......My day commenced about 6am, (no not 4.30 this time) and after my first coffee, some brekkie and study time, I decided I needed to go and do some weeding and pruning in the garden. (Mainly because it was "green" bin day, and I could easily fill the bin, with what needed doing outside.) I came inside about 8am, made my second coffee, and checked emails, and internet stuff. I had a pretty free day until my 4pm appointment for my vaccinations, and planned to get 3 allover quilts done. I messaged Val, whose quilt I finished last night and told her it was ready, and then I phoned the roof guy, to come and investigate the noise on my roof, and check my TV aerial. Val messaged that she would be in "later". So I loaded quilt number 1 for the day, and started Max, and proceeded to prepare quilt number 2. Going well.
Heard a car in the drive, and looked up to see Jean. We have both been (too) busy for awhile now, and she thought she would come for  a chat, and have morning tea with me. I had already had 2 cuppas, so she had one, and we chatted and caught up on each other's lives, while I kept working.
My visitors all know that they are welcome to call in, and if I need to keep working, I do, and we chat while I keep on the job. And they know that a cuppa is always available if they call, even if they get it themselves.!!
I have to insert some more background here, and tell you that often it happens, that just after one person has left, another comes soon after! I always joke to them, asking if they wait on the corner, and watch to see when a car leaves, and then drive in!!
And so it happened, that shortly after Jean left, Val arrived!!

This was Val's quilt, called Modern Roses, that she had made at the last Pick A Case Mystery Retreat. We are very pleased with how this turned out, quilted allover with a Modern pattern. The pattern could go across the quilt, or up and down, as either way works.

She stayed awhile, and we chatted, she chose some binding fabric, looked at my weekend's designing work, and offered her opinions about fabric choices, and compared grandchildren photos. Although the new arrival in Val's life this week, is a great grand daughter. Val was ready for a coffee, and made one while I made a bit more progress on that quilt.

Next was Helen, although she did not wait "on the corner" and arrived while Val was still here. Helen had been around the corner for a cuppa with a friend, and thought she would call in. A big discussion was then had by Helen and Val about the drama that the Aussie cricked team is having. Cricket is not my thing, so I kept working.Val left for home, and will be back for the weekend with a few projects to do, including the binding on her quilt.

 Next it was Erica who phoned to see if she could come and pick up a quilt, and bring another one in.  She was expected about 3, before I had to go out.This is Erica's quilt, called Blocked In and was also a Mystery retreat quilt. This was quilted with an allover numbers pattern, as the border fabric had numbers on it.

Helen departed, and about 5 minutes later Pat turned up. (Pat is my faithful checking fairy that I mentioned in the last post). They live about 40 kms out of town, and her hubby had to bring their farm ute in for repairs, so she came too, so that she could check the cases that I had finished. I had no idea she was in town, so my day was getting interesting. 

Pat set herself in the next room and started counting. Next person was the roof guy, and after a chat with him, it was decided that he would take my aerial off the roof as I did not use it for TV reception at all. And then I would not have to worry about it being loose and falling in a big wind. (I had been quite concerned about the noise on Sunday, when it was blowing a gale). This took him about an hour.

Next car to arrive was Erica, who was 2 hours earlier than expected. She collected her quilt (above) and brought another one to be quilted. We discussed this and chatted about the things that life throws at you, that she is dealing with. She sat with Pat, and they chatted while I loaded another quilt, as I had finished the first one. They made themselves a cuppa and settled down to talk about things that needed to be talked about. Erica had been planning to come for Easter retreat, but had to change her plans. 

I heard the roof guy outside talking to someone, and looked to see if he wanted to talk to me, but it was Pauline who had arrived next! Pat told her that the kettle had just boiled, so she made a cuppa and settled in too.  And then another arrival, and Helen had returned. (She had left earlier, with intentions to call Pat, who is President of our patchwork group, and heard that Pat was at my house, so came back to see her). Another cuppa was made and the 4 of them settled in for more talk.

After all of this, I decided that it was time for a cuppa too, and put the kettle on again, but was interrupted with a couple phone calls, and the roof guy bringing me the account for his work!
I did finally sit with a cuppa, and a brief chat, after Erica and Pauline had left. By this time I had one row of the quilt left to do, and it was time to leave for my appointment! I left Pat, who had to wait for hubby to come and pick her up, and Helen chatting and went to get my vaccinations and letter from the doctor for my medications. Another 2 things to cross of my list!!!!
I arrived back about an hour later, to find these 2 sitting in my lounge with another guest who had come to catch up with Helen. I finished the last row of the quilt, and sat for a chat with them.
Before long Pat's husband came to pick her up, and it was all quiet in the house by 6.30pm. What a day! But I did manage to get some quilting done, and prepped one for tomorrow. I am trying to get a few allovers done this week, as I have 2 big custom jobs I hope to do before I depart. (Do you think I should start counting the sleeps??)
I might only plan on getting 2 done tomorrow, as I have some shopping to do for the weekend, and maybe a bit of cooking as well. And I look forward to my cousin and husband staying for the night on their way to Melbourne for Easter.

Now it is time for bed, and will see what happens tomorrow.

Blessings, From Jude

Counting down

 It is just 3 weeks from early this morning that I will be on that plane, up somewhere in the great blue yonder! I was driving home from the city last week, and looking up into the blue sky, and thinking about travelling "up there". I have flown domestically in Australia, but always had land underneath, somewhere, and thinking about all that great expanse of ocean that would be "down there" ....... well I don't think I better think too much about it, do you??

It all is starting to be "real" now, as I picked up this last week. All the documents from the travel agent.

And today I collected the bundle of US dollars, on the left of the photo. This was my first time seeing them, and I was struck by how colourless they were, compared to our money, on the right. And they are all the same size, so I will need my glasses on to pick the right one.  I guess it is what you get used to, and I won't be too critical, but just saying......

I woke up at 4.30AM today, with lots on my mind. I have that list to work on this week, and hope to get most of it crossed off before Friday. I did manage to stay in bed until 5.30, when I got up and had my brekkie and the first coffee for the day. After my morning devotion time, I got to work with washing, and cleaning etc, as I have guests coming for the weekend. I had started in the kitchen yesterday, by cleaning out the fridge, and the pantry, and I will tell you that a container, that was dated 2014, has now been thrown in the bin! So all this was going through my mind, and I had a lot of phonecalls, emails and computer time to get through today. And of course, there were some quilts to be loaded and quilted. By 8am I decided it was time for my second cuppa for the day. Turn the kettle on, and get my cup, put in the coffee, and .......

whoops, this is not my cup! Do you think I have too much on my mind?

Anyway, I have to report to getting through a lot of jobs today, and crossing heaps from the list. And after tomorrow, when I have my final vaccinations, and get a letter from the doctor about my medicines and scripts, there will be more ticks on that paper!

In between all of that, there was not a lot of quilting, and I only managed to load the backing and wadding during the day. The top was loaded, and the machine turned on about 5pm this afternoon, and the quilt is now finished.

I also achieved a lot on the weekend, and have a few cases of Mystery quilts done, some to be checked, by my faithful checking fairy, and others on the way. I still have a couple more weekends before departure, and a bit of time when I return, so I am not too stressed about that now.

Yesterday was also Palm Sunday, and I attended a lovely service at our church, which was decorated with Palm Leaves. Now it is time to think about the leadup to Good Friday and all that means, followed by the celebration of Easter Sunday. There is always a special sunrise service at the lake on Easter Sunday, which I will attend.

I will end this post with a couple of photos from Melbourne of Miss Billie. First is one of her wearing the little cardigan that her mother wore when she was a baby.

And this one is today, and she is 3 weeks old.

I hope to have some photos of Miss Bridie soon, as I will be visiting them to celebrate a special birthday for her dad. ( There are 3 Miss "B"'s now, as I have 3 granddaughters with names starting with B.)

Time for bed, good night.

Blessings, From Jude

The quilt show

Earlier in the week I seem to remember promising that I would be back in a day or two with some more quilt photos. Well, it seems like I should have said a day or three, as here we are at the end of another week!!

 I have been trying to finish a quilt that has been on the machine all week, and it's not that it is a huge, intense job, but that I have had a lot of interruptions this week, with appointments, meetings, a trip up the highway, and lots of time spent online. Tonight I have finally finished the quilt, so thought I would take the time to post the quilt photos, as my weekend is going to be spent with piles of fabric, and the computer again.

 I need to make an attempt this week to clear that industrious mess in my busy workplace! I thank you for your comments, to make me feel better. But it needs to be cleared, well sort of cleared, or at least more organised, to make room for the Easter retreaters who will arrive at the end of the week.

Meanwhile, on with the show......

First up is a simple little quilt, made by Jenny, with a piece of Toile in the centre, and with simple custom quilting.

A scrappy quilt, also made by Jenny, and I quilted this with a simple block pattern in each "square'.

This is a great way to make an I Spy quilt, with plain fabric borders, and sashed with more picture squares. It must have used up a lot of I spy fabrics.

Mary made this quilt to be used as a raffle quilt for an organisation, and it was custom quilted. I hope it raises lots of funds for a worthy cause.

Helen made this strippy quilt for a friend's birthday, using lots of Australian fabrics. I quilted it with gum leaves in each row, and crosshatched the border.

A week before her granddaughter turned one, Marie realised she did not have a gift organised, so decided on the spur of the moment to make a quilt. It was intended to be a doll's quilt, but she made an error in the measurements of the pattern, and the blocks turned out a bit larger than intended, so it turned into a design opportunity and a little girl's quilt instead. The printed fabric had owls on it, and I had an allover pattern with owls, which suited it well.

One of Prue's daughters has the nickname of Mouse, and Prue found some fabric with cute mice on it, so decided to make her a quilt.

I did not have any allover patterns with mice on them, but there was one called paws. They look a bit large for mice feet, but we decided that maybe they could belong to a cat, who was trying to catch the mice on the quilt!

There are still more quilt photos, but I think they can wait for another day. While I have been writing this post, I became conscious of a background noise, and thought it was the hum of the computer, and then realised as it became louder that it was the sound of rain on the pergola roof!! Shock, and amazement and no wonder I did not work it out sooner. It has been so long since I heard that sound. This is the first time in many years, that we have not had a decent rain over our summer. The country is so dry. So on that note, I will sign off, and head to bed to listen to the rain on the roof, before it stops.

Good night,
Blessings, From Jude

Messy or not?!

I posted the photo yesterday of my lists, and my table of mystery quilt progress. Pat was in today to help me make some decisions, about border fabrics, and colour choices etc. This resulted in a few more bolts of fabrics being pulled off the shelves, and laid out on all the work surfaces. I did mention that I had another table behind the one in yesterday's photo, so I took another photo today, showing that as well. I said to Pat, that it was a big mess, and looked terrible. But she told me it wasn't a mess, it looked industrious?? What do you think, a mess, or industrious?

And there is another lot on the cutting table, and this photo shows the whole room from the entrance door. If you were a new customer, bringing your quilt, would you be reassured, or dismayed by what you could see? I don't always work in such disarray, but when I am working on the designs, I have a few going at once, and it looks like this. I can't put things away while I am working on the designs, and still making choices. (Should I tell you that there is another room just off this one, with more stuff on the table?) I have another weekend ahead to work on these, and then I will have to tidy it all, and get ready for the Easter retreaters. I am looking forward to catching up with the girls again.

Well, there you have my confession for today, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Do you work like this, or are you one of those who can manage for everything to look tidy, and still achieve?

Max has been switched off for the night, and tomorrow I head up the highway to the city again for another appointment, and some travel stuff shopping.

I promised a quilt show, so will be back in a day or so with that. It was lovely this morning to receive a video call from DD3 so that I could see Miss Billie having "tummy time" on the round play mat that I made. This is the good side of modern technology, as I have also had "talk" time with Miss Bridie this week as well.


Blessings, From Jude.

Miss Bridie sings

Not sure if this will work????

Edited.......
I posted this video from my phone, and looks like it did work. This is Miss Bridie, just out of the bath, in her jamas, hair not done, "helping" daddy decorate mummy's birthday cake, and singing. Hope it works for you.

Blessings, From Jude

Yikes, 4 weeks to go!

It was a scary thought this morning when I realised that in 4 weeks time, we will be winging away across the oceans, to the other side of the world! When I decided to do this trip, it was "next year", and that was ages away. Suddenly it is this year, and now in less than a month. There has been no quilting today, although there is one ready to load for the morning.

This is my desk top and all the papers and lists I am sorting through. I spent quite a bit of time this morning on the computer and the phone.

And this is the desk at right angles to the other one, where I am working on Mystery case quilts, in preparation for 2 retreats in June. I am hoping to make good progress on these before I leave the country. Another pile of fabrics are on the other desk behind this one.

This afternoon I have been to the dentist, again, and now there is only one visit left before I go. And they have saved the worst filling for last! 😩

This week I also have a GP visit, and another blood check with the specialist in the city. So that list is getting things crossed off!! I have ordered a flue clean and a load of wood, to keep my housesitter (s) warm while I am away. Organisation plus, has not happened like this in a long time. I am gradually putting clothes on the bed in the spare room, and sorting luggage. (I might have to shift it all back to my room before the Easter retreat girls arrive though).

That's enough for tonight, better head to the kitchen for some food, but the mouth is still a bit numb, so will need to be careful what I eat. Maybe a poached egg?

Will be back soon with a few quilt photos, just so you know I am still doing some work!

Blessings, From Jude

Baby competition winners

Sorry I have taken so long to get around to doing this little task. It has been a week of ticking things off the list, and I feel like I am making progress. Of course, it does help to stay home and not gad about the countryside. The quilting queue has been considerably reduced, mainly of allover quilts, but that has enabled me to do admin stuff while Max has been earning his keep!? I have sorted names for retreats, made lots of phonecalls, emails to overseas contacts, ordered a load of wood and booked the flue cleaner for the heater. Started looking at luggage options, and ordered travel money cards, so things are happening around here.

There were 4 parts to the baby competition, so there are 4 winners, and I have 4 cases of goodies ready to send out. Thanks to all who entered.

 Only one lady guessed the correct date, of the 5th of March, so congratulations to Jean McGee.

The weight of the baby was 3.525, and some of the entries were in pounds and oz, so I had to do a bit of Google search and convert them back. And the closest guess for this was Sue SA, who said 3.5kg. (for us older mums, this translates to just over 7lb 12 oz.)

There were 3 entries with a correct middle name, (which was Carmen), and the name drawn "out of the hat" was Alison Bacon!

7 entries guess that the baby would be a girl, and these names were also put into a draw, and the winner for this was Jean J.

I will be sending these prizes out next week.

This is part of my week's work, all ready for collection. (Some had already gone). Photos of these will be posted soon.

That's it for another day, and right now sleep feels like a good idea. There is a small custom quilt on Max for the morning and then a larger custom to load.

Blessings, from Jude

Happy Birthday

March is a rather busy time in our family for birthdays, and this little man has one 8 days after his sister. And then his cousin was born on the 5th. Later in the month his auntie and uncle have birthdays too. We can add to all those, one of my brother's, and 2 nieces and a nephew's birthday.

This guy is my 5th grandchild, and his birth came 6 weeks before his due date. As a result he spent a lot of his early life attached to an oxygen tube. 

And you can see that he has come a long way, and today is 8 years old. Hope you have a great birthday, and it was lovely to have an afternoon treat with you on Friday.

Be back soon, with another post to announce the winners of the competition.

Blessings, From Jude

1 Year ago........

One year ago today we were celebrating the marriage of these 2 special people, DS and his bride. The year has certainly gone quickly and lots has happened in our family in that year.

Congratulations to you both, and wishing you many more years together.

This is just a quick post tonight, and I shall be back soon with birthday wishes for a special little man, and I will soon announce the winners of the baby competition.

Today has been another quiet day, and after arriving home from church, I have been working on the bookwork, and am pleased to say I am up to date. Another task on my "to do" list is to prepare another lot of Mystery Cases for the next Pick a Case retreat.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

Hitting the wall.....

It must be time for another blog post, as another weekend is here. In South Australia we have a public holiday on Monday, so it is a long weekend. (And would you believe the holiday is for a horse race??)

My "holiday" has been taken today, as I confess I have achieved NOTHING! (Unless you count 2 loads of washing, as something?) I had great plans when I woke up very late this morning, of loading a couple of allover quilts and getting them done, but..... those plans went somewhere, but not here! It has been a day of recovery, and a nanna nap in the chair, with the feet up, a few phone calls, and not  much else. 

I have about a week's supply of daily papers here on the table, waiting for me to read, and see if anything vital has happened in the world that I should know about!? I guess that I would have heard by now if the world had ended. I do like to check out the "hatched, matched, and dispatched" pages though, and will do that before they are disposed of. There is a state election here next weekend, and the papers are filled with lots of promises, that you can't believe anyway.

When I look back at the previous 2 weeks, I think I can work out why I have come to a halt today. First there was more than a week, working on that very large quilt, that I finally finished about the 1st March. My friend Jean and I drove to Murray Bridge last Saturday, and delivered that quilt, and took the chance to visit with my mum and dad, who are photographed with Jean. That was a 2 hour drive there, and 2 hours back home again.

And then it was the next day, Sunday morning when DD2, the boys and I drove to Melbourne to await the arrival of the baby. This was a 5 hour drive, with stops on the way, which stretched it out to 7 hours. I did post about the Melbourne visit in my last post, but here is one more photo of DD2 and her boys, standing on the Eureka Tower platform, and looking out over Melbourne. I am not too sure if I would have been able to stand on that platform, and look down!!

We drove back to Bordertown, on late Tuesday, arriving at midnight, after another 5 hour drive.

I had 2 days then to get another quilt finished so that I could take it to Adelaide on Friday. Friday morning I left at 6am and drove 3 hours to the city, to attend a Judging training morning. This was a very interesting morning. Then it was time to deliver the quilt, and enjoy a lovely lunch, and the company of another good friend. After that I had an appointment for a blood test, and will go back to the specialist in 10 days for the results. Next stop was the home of DD1, where I picked up these grandies for an afternoon tea treat, to celebrate the birthdays of 2 of them. I had about 2 hours of city driving from one place to another. And then it was another 3 hour drive to home. Do you think I might have some "jetlag" today? 

It was Angels day here on Thursday, with a lovely gathering of girls. It is always a good day, sometimes very productive, and sometimes more social, which is also very valuable.

This week I also received the dreaded blue screen on my computer, on 2 different days. The second time recovery did not happen, and thankfully my computer guru was on the spot very quickly, and I now have a new hard drive, and things are good again. We are so reliant on all this modern technology aren't we?

 And here is the good part of modern technology, with photos sent at the click of a button. Once upon a time you had to wait for the film in the camera to be developed, and if the photos were not good, you did not know until the envelope came. (I remember a time after we moved to another house, and I took lots of photos of the before and after of some renovations that we did, and guess what, there was not even a film in the camera!!!!!!!!!!) Now you can see straight away, and with a couple of clicks they can be sent to family in another state, or across the other side of the world. I don't know if I will get to see this little girl any time soon, due to this overseas trip coming up, so I am glad to be kept up to date. In this photo, I think maybe Billie has a lot more hair than her dad!!

And this is the photo that came this morning, with the message, "Good morning, Grandma!"

Well I think it might be time for an early night, as I have had a lot of late ones this week. (I don't do well on late nights). I have missed some Sundays of church lately, so tomorrow morning will be taken care of. A bit of admin work will take care of the rest of the day, and the allover quilts will happen on Monday. Next week, I hope to start crossing things off my list, in preparation for this trip. It is only 5 weeks away, and there is lots to do yet!

Blessings, From Jude