Quilt photo update!

I have been talking about uploading quilting photos for awhile now, and here we are almost the last day of February, so it's time!

I do admit that there has not been lots of customer quilting happening lately, but I have been busy working on quilt designs, and cutting fabrics for Mystery retreats. I have more than enough done for next week's retreat, but have 2 more later in the year, so want to be ahead instead of rushing at the last minute like I often am. I have a few other "to do" jobs on my list, as well as a few quilts that have been waiting "patiently" in the wings.

First up is a quilt made by Erica, for a child. Rather cute forest animal fabrics, and it was quilted with an edge to edge leaf pattern.

This banner quilt was also made by Erica, and custom quilted. The binding was a red and white stripe fabric and really finished the quilt nicely.

Kerryn made this simple quilt, which showcases the pretty fabrics, and it was quilted allover with a pattern called Rose Leaves.

Di made this striking quilt, with interesting fabrics. It was quilted allover with square dance.

This Unicorn quilt was also made by Di, for her granddaughter, who just loves unicorns. I am sure she was very happy with this.

Cathie made this quilt, called Sienna in a Mystery retreat last year. When she came for the Aussie Retreat in January, she brought it back for quilting. The allover pattern is called Curling Waves.

Marg made this quilt called Fandango, and wanted Custom quilting on it. I was pretty happy with how this turned out, and so was Marg.

This is another Pick a Case Mystery quilt, and made by Lynda. The quilt was just asking for a nice pattern in the empty squares, and the chains had straight lines through the diagonal.

Jeanne made this Antelope Canyon quilt, in the Garden Delight fabric range. A very pretty quilt, and was quilted allover with a floral pattern.

 Pat made this couch quilt as a wedding gift for friends, and the colours just asked for an allover ripple pattern.

Cheryl is a very prolific quilter, and does lots of hand piecing. This quilt was quilted allover with Rose Leaves as all the octagon fabrics are Roses.

 Another quilt made by Cheryl, that is a Sue Daley pattern. Very soft, pretty colours, although they don't show up as well, because it was late in the day when I took the photos.

That's all for now. There were a few more finished this year, that were shown at the Kaniva exhibition, and of course I blogged about Michele's quilt, called Bee Mindfull. This year, I have tried to find that balance that I have been talking about for quite some time, and even enjoyed reading a book!

Time to get back to the quilt designs and the piles of fabric in front of me. 

Blessings,

 From Jude

A quilt, a wedding, and family time

In my last post I said that I had an important job to do, and Thursday and Friday I did a bit of overtime to finish this task. If you check out the blog of  Michele Hill  you will be able to read all about the special quilt I worked on. 

My visitor was Michele Hill, who brought this quilt to Bordertown for me to quilt. While I have chatted on the phone, or emailed with her, it has been 2 years since we have caught up in person, so it was a special time. Raylene was still here too, and we had many laughs in between the work.

Michele is well know for her William Morris quilts, but this time we have an Australiana theme and you can read more about how this quilt came to be, on her blog. The quilt is called "Bee Mindful" and will be raffled to raise funds. Following that, it will be available as a Block of the Month quilt. 

Michele has added her magic touch to this quilt at home, by adding stitching to the bees and filling in a few empty spaces with more quilting, as well as the binding.  Her design work is amazing, and she worked on the patterns while I quilted, making some adjustments where needed. All the stitches around the applique are so neat and perfect. It has been an amazing achievement by Michele and her helpers in just over 5 weeks, from start to finish!!

Michele left late Friday afternoon, and then it was time to switch Max off for some rest, and start to think about packing my bag, and what I might wear to the wedding the next day.  Saturday's weather was a beautiful summer day, with blue sky, and "not too hot" sunshine. I almost felt like I had been "let out of school" as I drove up the highway. Note to self: I should do this more often. I usually take the highway through to the city and cross the river at Murray Bridge, but this time I needed to cross the river at Wellington, on the ferry. There was a long queue of cars and caravans waiting  to cross over, and I had to wait for the second load before getting on. 

Before the wedding I drove further on to Strathalbyn, where I had to deliver a quilt to a customer. I also had enough time to visit with my cousin and her husband which was good, as I had not seen them for a couple of years either. Then it was back to Langhorne Creek, to attend the wedding of my nephew and his bride. What a beautiful setting for the wedding, on a shaded, lawned area, beside the vines and the creek...................

                                     ........................and under this lovely gum tree.

DD3 and SIL flew over from Melbourne for the wedding, and the children attended the wedding and were babysat during the reception by GD2. Miss Billie had some rose petals to throw.............

...............and here is the latest family photo. Miss Billie is about to turn 2 years old, and Mr Jett is almost 5 months now. They are growing so fast.

                                 DD2 and SIL attended the wedding, and left their children at home.

  It was a good day for taking photos, while everyone was dressed in their "glad rags", and here is DS and DIL posing for a picture.

I had been looking forward to catching up with all my children, but DD1 was not well and could not attend the wedding.

Apparently "someone" snapped a pic of me from behind, having smiles with Jett.

After the wedding ceremony we all went back to the reception venue for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles. The lawn area outside was set up with comfortable seating, including lounge chairs for people to sit around and chat.

Long tables were set up inside for us...............

............and decorated with these floral arrangements..............

.............and each person received a named biscuit, as well as a bottle of Bleasdale Tawny Port, with the couple's name and date on the reverse. The district of Langhorne Creek is well known for it's grape vines and my nephew's family farm includes vines as well as cropping.

After the wedding, I drove to mum's house to spend the night, in lieu of a 3 hour drive home. Sunday morning I joined mum at church. It was a good time of catching up with quite a few people that I knew many years ago. This was the area that I grew up in, attended school and sunday school and church, and then was married in the church. I then moved away from the area, and I am sad to say that the old church was knocked down, and a new one built. I guess they call it progress?

This is a drawing of the old church, that holds a lot of memories for me.

After church, mum and I went to visit with Dad, who always has a smile, and a few jokes.

Following this there was an impromptu family lunch with my sister and one brother and families. Most of my Murray Bridge visits are usually short, as I am travelling through on my way to or from somewhere, so it was nice to have a leisurely time to spend catching up.

Well, that's about all the newsfromjude for this time. I have spent this morning going around in circles and not really achieving very much, so will declare the rest of today as a day off, and pick up a book and relax. The work will still be there tomorrow, won't it?

Blessings, From Jude