Some pampering

Some time out with a good book and some relaxation while I have a long overdue hair appointment..... 

Blessings from Jude

Family time

It was back to work on Monday, after 3 days off. It was lovely to spend time with my Melbourne family. Miss Billie is growing up so fast, and it's great to watch her personality developing. She has lots of words in her vocabulary and is a real chatterbox.

We put out lots of toys for Miss Billie to play with, but it seems that the contents of the kitchen cupboards is much more interesting.

A lot of the weekend was spent inside by the heater as winter had brought daytime temperatures not much over 12 deg, and heavy frosts each night with readings of -3 deg. We did venture out for a couple of drives including one down memory lane to a farm that we owned 40 years ago. (This was before DD3 was even thought of.)

While on the subject of my Melbourne family, I better show this photo, from a few months ago. This picture arrived and if you can read the fine print, it says, Only Child, until October 2019! A very special announcement that Miss Billie will have a brother, or sister, and that my 10th grandchild is on the way!! This year sure is turning out to be very busy indeed.

Time to get back to Max, and to finish loading a custom quilt, after doing a few allovers this week. I am also sorting my fabric shelves, and planning some more Mystery case quilts that I need to get done for the Mystery retreat planned for November. And as it's the end of the financial year this week, there is another job waiting in the wings. In July there are quite a few trips planned for "up the highway", and before I know it, it will be August! Our local exhibition is planned for October, and in between there sometime a baby will arrive. Meanwhile, one day at a time sounds like a good idea.

Blessings, From Jude

Rendelsham Group Retreat

As promised I am back to report on last weekend's Pick A Case Mystery Retreat. These ladies live further down the South East of our state, and arrived by 4pm Friday afternoon, all eager to see what quilts would be in their case. (There were still 17 cases remaining from the previous weekend, so still plenty of choice.) After the allocation process they all set to work, and only stopped for meals, and some sleep, during the weekend. Some weekend retreaters "retire" to the lounge in the evening, but not this group. They were on a mission and it was close the the middle of the night both nights before they stopped.

These were the quilts that were picked, and you can see the variety and different colours. Some girls were up for a challenge, while "some" wanted easy.

Karen chose this quilt, and the fabrics are very different to what she would normally sew. It was a range of Cotton and Steel fabrics, called Poolside. You can see the palm trees and the sunglasses.

The first bag had squares of fabric to be made into 4 patch units...................

                    ........which looked quite "non descript" until the corner triangles were added!

Of course, when you run out of room on the table, the floor is a good place to store the finished blocks, isn't it?

All the blocks are finished, and laid out on the lounge floor.............................

.................until they are joined into rows. And some lubrication helps the job along, doesn't it?

.....and of course, it is good to "slip into something more comfortable" for an evening of stitching.

(I did get permission to blog this pic!)

This was the progress photo when it was time to leave on Sunday, and there are still borders to be finished.

And this is a photo I received yesterday, now that it's done! Doesn't that blue border add something to the whole quilt? Thankyou Karen.

Next up is Lynda's quilt, called Chains of Red. This quilt is mostly strip piecing, and not a triangle in sight, which was just what she wanted. Of course, it helps if you like red too.

And it also helps if you check which way you sew the strips before they are sewn!

This was the progress photo on Sunday after lunch, and still 3 borders to go.

And another photo received since they went home, of the finished quilt. Thankyou Lynda.

Lyn's quilt, called Graceful Moments, (after the range of fabrics used), was more challenging, and had LOTS of flying geese, in quite a few different colourways. I think Lyn might have been making geese in her sleep each night, but I think she will be good at making them now.

There were a few 9 patch units thrown into the mix as well.

It's now time to sew the blocks into rows........................

            ............and of course you use the floor space too!

Lyn was staying with relatives in town, and left each day late afternoon, so her sewing time was very limited. In fact this added up to about 10 hours less than those who sewed late each night. (I think there might have been a night sewing fairy who helped Lyn get to this stage!?)

And then on Sunday morning, it was time to sew the borders on. There were 3 borders altogether, and they were stitched together and sewn on as one border.........................

...........and this is where Lyn had got to by the time to go home. She still had to mitre those corners, and perhaps she has done this by now?

Sandy picked this quilt that was called Sunny Days, and decided to mix the fabrics in each block, so needed to lay all the pieces out before she started sewing. In the design process I thought this would be a good idea, but did not take the time to do it "on paper". I was pleased that Sandy decided to mix up the fabrics.

A finish before departure, and a lovely quilt in pretty colours.

When I scanned the fabrics for this quilt, called Lilac Storm, (which was the range of fabrics used), the colours came out quite dark. When Laurie chose this quilt, she was unsure about the colours on the card, so I showed her the actual fabrics, which convinced her to go with her choice. And if you check out the picture of this quilt in the photo above you will notice how different the colours appear in reality. There was lots of strip piecing to start the quilt.

Not quite finished, with 2 more borders to do, but time for home. I hope I get a photo when it's done. We both loved how this came together, and I do have fabric left, to make another kit.

Kathy picked the quilt called Twilight Time, which turned out to be rather purple. She coasted along pretty quickly..................

...............until she got to the 3rd border which slowed her down...........

.........but a finish was achieved well before lunch on Sunday.

This quilt, made by Marg, called Up Hill and Down Dale, involved a lot more piecing, with all 4 patches and half square triangle blocks in the quilt. 

This was the result at departure time, with 2 borders left to stitch.

Sandy was hoping to do a project with the group using solvy and threads, and asked the girls to collect their threads for the weekend. I think she was a bit shocked when I brought all these bags out and asked her if she wanted some more threads!! I have collected all the threads from the quilting that I have done for many years now, and bagged them up, ready for "one day" when I had some projects in mind. A few years ago I gave some bags to a friend who also had some ideas to use them. But the collection has grown, and I decided I could spare some. (I have kept some for "one day"). Of course, it does free up some space in my room, although I'm sure something else will take it's place. I am just looking at the photo, and wondering how many quilts it took to fill up those bags??

With late night sewing sessions, this was the action in the sewing room early the next morning!!

And of course here is the obligatory group photo, of a happy group of ladies by lunch time on Sunday. Thankyou girls for coming, and another great weekend.

It has been lovely to quilt some edge to edge quilts this week, and do some catch up jobs. After an early night last night, I woke at 5.15 this morning, to find it was a very frosty morning. The temperature was down to -.3 deg and more of the same is forecast for the next few days. I am sitting in the lounge by the wood fire, with the laptop on my knee, and can still feel a chill in the air. I guess it is the middle of winter, so it's to be expected. At least it doesn't snow during winter here, and I am not too sure how I would deal with that. It's good weather for making quilts though.

That's all the newsfromjude for now, but I am sure I will be back in a few days with more news. I am looking forward to this weekend, when Miss Billie (and her mum and dad) are coming for a visit.

Blessings. From Jude