My Weekend with family

I had a lovely drive on Friday to the other side of Melbourne for some special grandma time, with Miss Billie and her mum and dad. This little girl is almost 6 months old, and it was time to visit. 

The sun was shining and signs of spring were obvious. I would have liked to stop for a few photos, but was anxious to cover the kms without wasting any time, so photos would have to wait for the trip back.

It was special to see this little miss when I arrived, all dressed as in the photo below. I made this dress for DD3 when she was a baby, and had kept it for her, and now she has a little girl to wear it.

Of course I took a few more photos as you can see.............

The weekend disappeared very quickly, but we managed to fit in a few activities.

I have been watching the TV series of The Block, which is filmed in Melbourne, so it was decided to drive to St Kilda and check out The Gatwick,  the building that they are renovating. On the show the building is still covered in scaffolding and the side street is closed off, but things have progressed to the stage that the building has been painted and the street reopened. There were a lot of people around taking photos, although we were unable to go inside the building.

We even managed to "meet" Scotty, in the Block Shop, and he almost looks real, doesn't he?

After checking out the Gatwick, we drove down to the sea and had lunch at the Sea Baths, in St Kilda, and then walked along the board walk.

The sun was shining, but it was still very cold, and maybe I should have been wearing my sunnies too??

We spent our evenings playing cards, and this shows me in front, but it did not last and I was at the bottom by the third night. But it was good fun.

On Sunday we went out for brunch at a local eatery, and then went shopping at Frankston. I was looking for items for the auctions for the Pink Retreat. You can see I found lots to put in the trolley.

And another trolley full in a different shop.

In another shop I found these chairs. Would love to have purchased a couple to take home, but alas I don't really have any spare space for them.

Found this lovely tree in a Melbourne street, showing us that spring is not far away. 

All too soon it was time to travel home, after a lovely few days and lots of cuddles. It will be the end of November before I get back to Melbourne again, but I will get lots of photos sent, and a few video calls to keep up with Miss Billie.

I had a good drive back and did stop and take photos along the way of signs of spring. The wattles were putting on a good show......

.................and the canola crops starting to flower.

That's all the newsfromjude for tonight, it's time for bed, ready for a day back at the machine tomorrow. There will be lots happening for September, October, and November, so better get to it.

Blessings, From Jude

Another quilt show.........

Wednesday the 22nd --- Still at the computer and scheduling posts for the next few days. There is no quilting today, although I have loaded another one, that will be custom. Today has been baking, washing, and catching up on the stuff accumulating on my desk. Trying hard not to get disorganised, after the great cleanup of last week. And when I am on a roll trying to get a lot of quilts done, it is easy to get cluttered again. It would be nice to go outside in the sunshine today, and attack the weeds in the garden, but priority is inside I think. 

The first quilts was made by Jenny, and is a fantastic use of 2 1/2" squares. I can see one of these in my future. It was quilted allover with a pattern called Tracery.

Pat made 2 of these quilts, for grandsons, and both were quilted with an                                                     allover pattern called Inside Out.

This is Mary's Antelope Canyon quilt, made with the Texture Graphics range of fabrics, and was quilted allover with Over and Back Ripples.

Suzanne made 3 children's quilts, all using the same pattern. The first was for a farm child, and was quilted with a Trucks allover pattern.

This one had star fabrics, and was quilted allover with Stars and Loops.

 The last one had fish fabric around the centre block, and was quilted with a pattern called Fishes.

Jenny made this modern quilt and it was quilted with a pattern called Deviation Diamonds.

This quilt, made by Erica was quilted allover with Trees.

Erica also made this One Block Wonder quilt, and used Poppy fabric to do it. It was quilted with a pattern called Poppyfields.

Another one made by Jenny, and was quilted allover with Damask.

That's all for now, time to do some invoices and cut more fabric.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

A road trip coming up

I receive a lot of photos of Miss Billie, and these are from the last 2-3 weeks, and she is growing up so fast. I think it's time for some cuddles, and the bag is packed and an early night is in order, ready for an early morning take off. My house-sitter is on her way and I'll be back in a few days.

And just for good measure here is the latest pic of Miss Bridie for you!

I think there is more scheduled posts coming, so you won't miss me. Back soon.

Blessings, From Jude

Patchwork Days

 While I am in "office" mode, and on the computer, I am doing a few blog posts all at once, and will schedule them to post in the next few days.

In the last week there has been 2 patchwork days happening for our group. Last Thursday it was our normal group day, and when we knew that Heather Ford was going to be in town, President Pat invited her to visit and give a talk to us. Heather is from Adelaide, and is Coordinator of the Quilters Guild of SA Appraisal Panel, and a patchwork teacher also. (Heather also wears "another hat", in that she was the organiser of the recent Aussie Quilters Abroad trip that went to Paducah and the US.)

Heather gave us an informative demonstration on using the Twister Ruler, which was followed by a trunk show of some of her quilts that are made with speciality rulers in the classes that she teaches.

And on Saturday, some of our group braved a very wintry, windy, and wet day to drive to Lillimur to join with the Kaniva Windmill Stitchers for a shared sewing day. Kaniva is a half hour drive from Bordertown, and is just "over the border" into Victoria. Lillimur is half way between the 2 towns, and has a very comfortable hall, with heating, where we met. Every few months we get together to sew, and there will be another day in Bordertown in November.

There was a large variety of projects being worked on, as you can see in the following photos.

I took some cutting to do, for a special quilt that I need to make for a young man, but no photos. I did miss taking some of all the projects.

That's all for now,

Blessings, From Jude