And now it's Saturday!

Since my last post on Thursday, (only 2 days ago!),we have managed to fit a lot into the days. Yesterday we thoroughly enjoyed lunch at a local cafe, and sat outside gazing at the blue sky and basked in the warm sun. 'Tis something that I haven't been able to do for many weeks now, and it felt so good. To be able to sit and dine, and drink from a proper mug, and not out of a cardboard takeaway cup was amazing. Of course the weather added to the atmosphere. So many of our previous activities were taken for granted weren't they?

Friday morning the first lot of instructions were posted for Rachelle's Mystery quilt, and I have started on this. Step one was to make these units......

.............and step 2 is putting triangles on each side of this block. I have done a few to work out which method I prefer. Sitting for long periods of time is still difficult, to I will come back to this another time. The next step will not be posted until next Friday, so I have a few days. I am really happy with the fabrics and love my background fabric, which is really more pink than it shows in the photo.

This morning we had a socially distanced catch-up with some friends. Another activity that we took for granted.

This afternoon I was treated to an infusion of iron, as my levels have been dropping a bit low, so maybe I will be bouncing off the ceiling tomorrow!!?? LOL! (It would have to be better than sliding on the floor though?)

Time for some shut eye, ready for another day tomorrow. Time to "attend" church and feed on God's word. And then on Monday I have my first trip "up the highway" in 3 months, for my annual check.

Be back soon, (meaning I am trying to post more than once a fortnight!)

Blessings, From Jude

Tis Thursday already.......

I don't know how the weeks are speeding along so fast, when I am not even going anywhere much and lots of activities are on hold??? Not much has happened with Max this week on the quilting front. That quilt that I showed you has had no progress at all.

DS and DIL were in town last weekend, and visited for a couple of hours, which was special as I had not seen them since February. As it has also been some weeks since I have had any visitors into my house, I decided that a "bit" of housecleaning was needed. Out came the duster, and surfaces were cleaned, and floors were washed. All was going well, and things were looking much better. It is probably good that there was no video cameras in action, because it was soon after that I came unstuck, when I slipped on the still wet kitchen floor. Not a pretty sight, but I am very thankful that I don't have brittle bones, and there is plenty of padding where I needed it. As a result I am having a week off of the quilting, and doing a lot of sitting around on many cushions, with some medication. All should be well soon. And there won't be any serious house cleaning happening here any time soon.

Due to some of the restrictions being lifted, we were able to meet face to face, with social distancing, for KYB studies this week. It was very special for us to meet again after more than 2 months keeping in touch by emails and phone calls. 

Some of my time this week has been spent cutting more kits as I said in my last post. Standing and cutting has been easier than the sitting part. Here you can see that "my fairy" is here to help organise me, and it is lovely to have company again.

It has also been fun keeping up with Rachelle's Mystery quilt this week. The kit that I donated was auctioned and raised $160. More than $10,000 has been raised so far for Backpacks4kids, which is an amazing result.

Today I managed to cut my fabrics for this Mystery and here are my pieces, all ready for tomorrow's instructions. I shall keep you up to date with my progress. I know I still have not finished the grandies quilts, but just feel like a break from the applique for awhile.(I hope I can sit ok to sew at the machine.)

Thankyou to those who have visited my blog this week, and for those who have purchased from my "For Sale" page.

Time to finish for the day, so that I am ready at 9.30 in the morning for first part of the mystery.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

Going forward for now..................

If you had talked to me back in January or February, (when I was busy working on filling these little cases for this year's upcoming Pick A Case Mystery retreats), and told me the retreats wouldn't be happening, I might have wondered what you were talking about?? I was getting ahead for once, so that I wouldn't be cutting at the last minute as I usually do. It felt good when I had about 30 of these all finished. We did have one Mystery retreat back in March, and then the world turned upside down.

After that fantastic weekend, I still had 21 cases remaining, and 2 Mystery retreats planned for June. Well of course, with current restrictions in place, this is not possible. And there is no way of knowing just when weekend retreats will resume.

I have had a lot of thoughts going around in my head for quite awhile now, and even before this crisis occurred, about my life going forward as I reach "retirement" age. It even goes back a few years, when I started talking about that word "BALANCE". This phase of isolation and staying home has certainly given me balance, without me even trying.

My plans had been to do less quilting, and still have retreats in "retirement". I don't plan on stopping all my activities completely, but would like to scale back. Well of course, now there are NO retreats, so plan A won't happen, and I need to think about Plan B. I guess it will all work itself out in time.

Meanwhile I had all these cases looking at me. One of the retreats planned for June was a group from the South East who have been coming for a few years now. They decided they would purchase the kits and sew them at their own group meeting. At the top of my blog there is a For Sale Page of kits and fabric packs. Last week I decided that the information on that page was old news, so spent a day loading up the current kits that I had so they could choose which kits to buy. In the process I also added 4 quilts that I had the fabrics sitting there to cut, which made 25 kits. And wouldn't you know it, they decided that those 4 were amongst the 10 they wanted!!!

Time for action, and yesterday my checking lady came for the day, and we cut, packed and checked those 4 kits and this morning I finished packing them all up into some different little containers ready for them to be collected. Thanks Pat, you do an amazing job, and I am very thankful.

That still leaves me with 15 kits remaining, and these are all listed on the For Sale page, as well as lots of little bundles of fabrics that would love to find new homes. If you are interested in any of these, I would love to hear from you. Email me: simmoja@internode.on.net for more details.
There will be more kits loaded as soon as I get them cut and packed, and have lots more planned. Perhaps your group would like to have a sewing session using these kits, all cut and packed and ready for you to start sewing.

I will post news of retreats on my blog when they will resume, but in the meantime we will see how this goes. Until then I will continue to put fabric together and design quilts, as there is plenty here for me to use up. Another bundle landed on my doorstep recently, so I don't think I will be sitting around twiddling my thumbs anytime soon.

When I found out that my weekends would be free for awhile, I thought it would be a good chance to get back to working on some of my own UFO's!! But no, what did I do instead? Started new projects didn't I? As well as working on those applique quilts for my grandies, I have been following the QGSA Mystery projects. I did make the first one, designed by Chris O'Brien, and posted my progress on this back in March/April. The next one was a Pick a Box with Lessa Siegele, and while I joined the group I did not make the quilt. The next Mystery is one that Rachelle Denneny is currently doing and the fabric requirements and cutting instructions have been released. This Friday the first instructions will be posted. I spent a bit of time trying to decide on fabrics to use for this, and had stuff everywhere.

I was looking for packs of fat quarters, and found one that might work, but then realised that there were 2 of each fabric in the pack, so instead of having 20 different fabrics there were only 10. That was disappointing. I could have gone completely scrappy, but that would take me too much time to sort through the drawers. And then I looked at brights......and got out lots of bolts....

..................and then I found a fat quarter pack that did have 20 different fabrics. This made it much easier to sort, and I just needed to choose a background........so spread them out on another surface..........

.........and have settled on this lot. The background is really brighter and prettier than it looks here. Of course, these have not been pressed, or cut yet, and Friday is fast approaching.

While the group is waiting for Rachelle to release the next stage directions, she is holding some auctions of various donated goods. Rachelle is organising this fundraising appeal on behalf of Backpacks 4 SA Kids Inc and you can find out more about this group by going to the following website....http://backpacks4sakids.org  So far well over $8,000 has been raised for this worthy cause. 

I have donated one of the Ready Set Sew kits for Rachelle's cause and tomorrow it is being auctioned.

Joining in with all these Mystery groups during isolation has been a lot of fun.

Well I think that's about all the newsfromjude for this time. Will be back soon, and hopefully have some progress photos of my cut fabric, ready for the start. I will try to keep up.

Blessings, From Jude

My Recent Sewing Time...................

Time for an update of the sewing that I have been doing for myself during isolation. Perhaps I should say Isewlation? I think I have mentioned that I was making a quilt called This Little Piggy from The Red Boot Quilt Company, and this will be for Miss Billie.  

I have got it to this stage now, and still have a border to add, and that decision is still to be made. And then of course, I wonder how long it will be in the quilter's queue? I need to make sure she gets it before she gets too old to think it's cute? By she, I mean Miss Billie, not the quilter?!)

I have also been working on another quilt, Paper Dolls, also from The Red Boot Quilt Company. This is a free pattern which is being released over a few months. I do want to get this together before the patterns are all released, so will be adding my own touch to it. This quilt will be for Miss Bridie, who has a birthday in July. Better prepare the quilter for this one first.

All the animals in the quilt above, and the people in this one need eyes on them. I was a bit concerned about buttons for little people, but their mum's seem pretty happy about buttons, so that's what it will be. But there is another dilemma regarding the mouths, and those nostrils for the pigs above!! If you have been reading newsfromjude for any length of time, you will know that I am not a hand sewer!! Have to decide if it's time for me to try, or it will be quicker I think, if those details are drawn on with a pen???

This is where I am up to now, having 12 blocks fused, with 8 stitched down, and 12 to sew. I will add sashes of squares between each block to make the quilt larger, and then a border fabric has been chosen. (I will arrange the blocks differently after I have finished the stitching.)

This is a messy job, all this tracing, and fusing and cutting, before I even get to the stitching.

I suppose this is what the kindy rooms look like at the end of each day. Just as well I have the whole room to myself, and no-one coming to see my mess.

After these 2 have been finished, I have another of Red Boot's patterns called Windy Hill Farm, that I purchased to make 2 quilts for Mr Tate and Mr Jett. This might not happen until next year though, as I might be "appliqued out" for awhile. It is a fiddly process, although they are cute. I might need some quicker "piecing" fixes after this. I need to make good use of my weekends, that are now spare, while there are no retreats happening at Number eight.

As a change in scenery in the middle of all the above, I wanted to make something for a friend's birthday. After having this machine for 18 months, I had not really had much of a play with the lovely stitches it has, so I wanted to try them out. I had a plan in my mind of a crazy cushion cover, and was looking for just the right fabrics, and in the dark depths of the shelves, I found a panel of Bible verses that was meant for a fabric book. I had purchased it with intentions to make it into a wall hanging, but it had turned out to be one of those "gunna do"jobs that had not happened yet. And it even had the matching fabrics with it, so my plans changed. As it turned out, I really only got to try one stitch out, as it is slower than straight stitch, as this "queen of the last minute" only had a couple of hours to make the cushions as the birthday was the next day!! - Probably just as well I did not start a crazy patchwork cushion cover, because I wouldn't have done that in 2 hours.

I did enjoy the process, and hope my friend will enjoy them too. (Note to self - make time more often to just play).

 It has been a quiet Sunday, spent inside by the heater with my morning spent "going" to a few church services. You really have to take note, when you hear 2 sermons from different places, and they both give similar messages. One was about "The Promise Keeping God", and another saying that "God's Promises do not change", even in our ever changing world. They are true, we can rely on and trust them, and they are the same yesterday, today and forever. And for that I am very thankful. Amen.

That's about all the newsfromjude for now,

Blessings, From Jude

Custom quilting

A fair amount of my time recently has been spent with Max to finish some lovely customers' quilts, that are shown below. (There was also another one,but as it's a show quilt, I can't post photos of that until later, and in this current situation, most of the State shows have been postponed and rescheduled later in the year.)

The first one is a Michele Hill William Morris design that was made by Robyn. Some of the blocks had more applique in than others, so I treated those differently. 

The border fabric was very busy, and I used a simple oval piano key design for this, to give it texture and not create another busy design.

This pretty sampler quilt was made by Cheryl. There were 72 small blocks plus a centre piece, and a border. Some of the blocks were pieced, but a lot were hand pieced and appliqued to the background.

I now have another large custom quilt on Max, and have a fair bit of work ahead with this one. Lots of amazing needleturn applique. I appreciate the work involved in this, but can't say it's on my bucket list any time soon. (Says someone who can't even hold a needle except to do bindings, and then uses what the other girls laughingly call a crow bar!!) All I have done so far is to ditch all the block seams as I go down the quilt, and now need to go back to the top and decide just what I am going to do with the rest. This customer likes lots of quilting, so I might be here for awhile!

The weather has turned cold and drizzly this week, so being inside by the heater is a good place to be. I am spending the day at the computer and updating some of the pages on my blog. More news on that soon. Stay safe, and warm, well that's if you live down under, otherwise you may be looking for the cool!!

Blessings, From Jude

Where has the last 2 weeks gone?

My intentions have been good about doing a blog post, and realise that it will be 2 weeks tomorrow since I did post. So this morning I will try to sort out just what newsfromjude there is to report on. I do have a few quilt photos to share, so will start there while I try to remember what else there might be to include in this post.

First is a Cat in the Hat quilt, made by Jacci. This was quilted allover with a pattern I have called Cat in  Hat, and features many of the features of the fabric.

Jacci also made this quilt with the remaining fabrics, and I just used a texture pattern for this one called Inside Out, as the quilt is so busy on it's own.

Pat made this small child's quilt, using fairy fabric, and I used a pattern called Angel Wings for this.

Mandy made this quilt with pretty floral fabrics, and it was quilted allover with a pattern called Roseleaves.

This quilt, made by Lyn, and features paper pieced dolphins. It was quilted allover with a pattern called Curling Waves.

I do have some more photos of customer quilting but will save that for another post.

I recently posted this photo of a bag full of scraps, that had been sitting in my studio for many years. It was one of those "one day" jobs, to sort out the contents. As it was something that I wasn't going to have time for anytime soon, I gave it to a friend, who told me what a treasure it was.

She has spent many hours sorting, pressing and cutting these pieces and found a teddy bear print in the dark depths, so used this as the centre piece for a child's quilt.

 Much later she showed me what she has made with just some of those pieces. It just goes to show how one person's "leftovers" is someone else's treasures! Now I just have to work out what else in this well stocked house of mine, that I can pass on to someone who will make good use of it. When you really stop and think, those little pieces of fabric all add up to the same price per metre that we pay for a whole piece of fabric. I do hate to throw bits out, which is why it was still stored in the dark depths of my room.

In between getting some customer quilts done, I have also loaded some of the Angel's quilts onto Max. They have now been given out to other angels to add the binding and labels and will soon be ready for donation to someone. We still have a small stock here, even though the group has not been meeting during our isolation time. One day, perhaps things will start to open up again? (But that will mean I have to clear up my mess and put my machine away again!!)

I do enjoy time in the kitchen, but don't really need to cook that much with just me in the house, and no visitors staying over at present. So it is good to be able to pull food out of the freezer to give to others, so I had a bakeup of scones and biscuits.

 It was lovely to receive a visit from DD1 and 2 of her children on Mothers Day. I have not seen this family since January, so it was very special that she drove 3 1/2 hours to here,and then back home again. We had afternoon tea outside in the pergola with more than adequate social distancing and enjoyed our catchup. It was a good opportunity to take some of that cooking from my freezer to send home with them. (I have not seen the rest of my family since the wedding we attended back in February!) Am waiting for a big family catchup, one day!

I received this ceramic cup from DD3 for Mother's Day, and it sure does keep a hot drink hot for longer than the time it takes to have afternoon tea. I don't think anyone else will think this belongs to them, do you? (Unless their name is the same as mine, that is).

As well as Mother's Day celebrations, I have also turned another year older, and we shared a cuppa with morning tea. Thanks girls, it was lovely to be able to have other people into my house for the first time, as some restrictions are gradually being lifted.

 I received some lovely gifts and cards, and one friend thoughtfully gave me a 12 pack, in case there is another shortage one day!! (I have now reached that age when the government classify me as an 'Old Age Pensioner')

In between all of the above, I did spend a couple of hours in this place one evening, but after a tablet and an injection, things settled down. A good night's sleep helped and thankyou Pauline for being there for me.

I better finish off this post and get to some work. I have another large custom quilt loaded onto Max, so need to make a start. I WILL be back soon with another post of some of my own sewing that I have been doing, and some more custom quilting photos. 

Blessings, From Jude