A quick checkin.........................

 

It seems like it's another week since the last post, so while I am sitting here at the computer I thought I would check in with you all. (Just in case you realised I hadn't posted for a week! LOL!)

This churn dash quilt made by Donna, was custom quilted with a block design, a sashing pattern and another design in the setting triangles. 

Hope all is well in your world, and the weather is treating you well. Probably just as well we can't manipulate the weather events as some want rain, some don't, some want warm weather and some like it cooler. I can see a blue sky with gentle clouds outside the window today, as I type this and I think the temperature is nice, but I have to confess that I have not ventured outside yet to find out.

Be back soon with an update on my week.

Blessing, From Jude

Zooming along...............

 Here it is the middle of another week, so it must be time for a post. I have been standing with Max for 2 days and finally finished a large custom job this morning. Photographs have been taken and I am ready for a sitting job before I launch into some other jobs. I am also very behind in replying to blog comments but I will get there, I think.

Since my last post on Friday I have been zooming along on a few different things. On Saturday it was time for another Zoom sewing day, organised by chookyblue with bloggers from all over the world. Bloggers were from various states of  Australia as well as New Zealand, Canada, Germany and the USA. These are a great time and we are all very productive too. Some of the girls do hand sewing while chatting, and some do machine projects. It is always great to listen to the conversation and join in when you wish. We all have the common interest of quilting to talk about, and the conversations are quite varied and of course includes the virus situation and how it affects each country. As we get to know each other, more of our lives are shared, and this time even the political events of the USA got an airing. There were about 15 - 16 on at anyone time, but 25 in total logged on at some stage of the day.

                   Clare from New Zealand had this amazing cross stitch for show and tell. I can't imagine the                                                 patience needed to do this by hand!

I spent the morning sitting and listening to the chatter while cutting some small scrappy pieces that have been languishing on my desk for too long. It was a quiet job to do as I was worried about the noise of the sewing machine disrupting conversations.

But after lunch I decided to test out how noisy the machine would be, although I am able to mute the sound coming from my end, and still listen to everyone else chatter. So I went to the string drawer and started zooming along with the citrus strings! Apparently there was little noise unless I put my foot down hard on the pedal and zoomed fast. I do have a lot of other projects that need finishing, but I was looking for something easy that did not require a lot of thinking. It wasn't long before I had 8 blocks made and stitched together.

And then there were 12 blocks done......................

By this time I was ready to call it a day and said good bye to the girls. I had come into the meeting at 6.30 am, and Chooky was already there, and she stayed until 9pm!! Sylvia from Germany managed to stay up until about 3 a.m. her time, and went off for some sleep and came back again later. The US and Canada girls were on Friday afternoon and evening time when we are already at Saturday. It was so fun to compare each others time zones.

Sunday morning I spent some time in the garden, zooming around with the wheelbarrow and offloading bags of compost and fertilizer onto the garden bed I am preparing for the dahlias. This still needs to be dug over again yet.

While outside I thought I better take a photo of the first roses of the season, and you can see we had some rain over night and those light spots are actually water drops.

After church and then lunch I debated about the next job, and decided that I would like to see the strings put together. I needed some more squares of vilene, which is what I use for the base of the block as it does not need to be removed like paper does. I also cut more sashes and cornerstones ready for action

I have all these end of thread rolls that don't get used on Max when they are this empty. They are used by me and for the Angels sewing days to piece the quilts and for bobbins.

So that I could get zooming at full speed with no interruptions I wound a few bobbins. And this time I did put my foot down and speed.

After making about 12 blocks yesterday, I still had this many strings left in the drawer!! 

 And it wasn't  long before I had a few more blocks ready to be pressed and cut.

The quilt is now at this stage, and I really want another 4 blocks yet before I add borders to make this a single bed size quilt. Life has got in the way now and it will have to wait for some more free time. In my head I am thinking about string piecing the borders as well???

Since Monday I have been zooming along with Max and have put in some long days to get a custom quilt finished. Sorry but photos will have to wait on that too.

Now that I have had a "rest" it is time to zoom to the rest of the house and put some order where it's needed. Some cooking is on the agenda as well. I will be zooming up the highway again on the  weekend. News is not real good with my Dad so some family time is needed.

After all that talk of zooming, I thought perhaps i should actually look up the meaning of the word!? It tells me that to Zoom - to move quickly, with great speed and energy, to change from a long shot to a closeup.  

Now I know why I feel rather tired, too much zooming!? Be back soon

Blessings, From Jude

Customer quilts

 As promised here is the post of recent customer quilts. While the Pink fundraiser was happening, quilting took a back seat but I did manage to finish a few.

This is Sue's Mysolation Mystery quilt that a lot of people made a few months ago with Rachelle Denneny. Sue picked out a star pattern called Wish upon a Star.

This is Jenny's Roses quilt, and it was quilted allover with Swirls and Feathers pattern.

Another of Jenny's quilts was this called Under the Australian Sun, and it was quilted edge to edge with Aussie Wattle.

Erica made this quilt with Christmas fabrics, and it was quilted allover with a Holly pattern

Erica has been busy finishing off quilts during isolation and this is another one  made from Charm squares featuring bees. It was quilted allover with Buzzing Bees...........

.....................and here you can see how the bee in the quilting pattern managed to land on the bee in the fabric!!

This quilt was made by Helen with Lessa Siegele in a facebook group (Pick a box Mystery), during the shutdown. There are lots of half square triangles in this quilt, and there were many different ways to sew them together so that everyone's quilts look so different. It was quilted allover with a pattern called Square Spiral, which gives it a great texture.

Liz has been collecting Liberty prints for awhile and made 2 large quilts featuring these. This one was colourwashed and quilted allover with a flower pattern.

                 This is the second quilt and is quilted with the same pattern.

This is Dot's Casa Felix quilt, which was also a facebook group mystery quilt of the Quilters Guild of SA and designed by Chris O'Brien. Dot used a lot of her Batik fabrics for this quilt, and it was quilted edge to edge with a leaves pattern.

Here are another 2 quilts made in similar colours by Helen for family members and both were quilted allover with a pattern called Robinia. 

That will be enough for this post, and there are more for another day. I have had a good week with Max and have a few more ready to be picked up by their owners. 

I think it must be time to head for the shower and get on with my day. There are a couple of custom jobs coming up next, so that will slow the process down a tad. And I am still working on that garden, and the house cleaning is a work in progress too. 

Have a good weekend whatever you might be doing.

Blessings, 

From Jude

Family times...........

My last post was finished just before I walked out the door for a drive up the highway on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful spring day, although a chilly start of 7 deg at 7am. The wattles were still flowering in places, native plants on the roadside are blossoming, the bottlebrush trees are coming into bloom and a lovely blue sky appeared as the day progressed. I had decided to take another day out and visit the members of my South Australian families. First stop was Murray Bridge to pick up my mum for the journey. 

About 3 1/2 hours later we arrived at the home of DD1 and family and enjoyed some time sitting outside under the trees with them, while enjoying some of those scones that I had baked the day before. The chorus of the birds added to our conversation.

Our next stop was about an hour's drive away at the home of DD2 and family, where the sausage rolls you saw in my previous post were put straight into the oven to heat! You might even be able to see another plate of scones!

It was only a 5 minute drive to the next stop, the home of DS and family. 

We even managed a 4 generation family pic.

 Family times have been very limited this year, and while the numbers of active covid 19 cases in our state are negligible, I decided to act. It is rather disappointing that our day could not include a visit to DD3 and family, due to the distance of course, but also that border being closed!

It was certainly a great week for family gatherings, creating memories, and photos for the blog book.

I had great plans for Sunday which involved time in the garden, and I did spend some time there before church. "They" say that all plans can be changed, and I have to admit that some of the afternoon included a nana nap in the lounge chair. Perhaps I can blame "jetlag"? After a year with a lot less highway trips that normal, perhaps having 2 in one week was a bit much?

This week I am on a mission to work my way through some of that quilting queue and pulled out some of the plastic tubs with quilts and put them in view!! (Some of those tubs have more than one quilt in them, so I do hope I am not too ambitious?)  It's Tuesday evening and so far, so good. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, and a committee meeting on Thursday, but in between Max will be busy. 

While I am writing this post, the birds outside in the trees are singing in full voice. It must be spring time. I will be back with a post of customer quilts real soon.

Blessings, From Jude

A very quick checkin.............

 In my last post I did promise a customer quilt blog, and I am sorry that has not happened yet.

I travelled up the highway on Wednesday to attend an appointment with my mum. I did say that I hoped to get a car wash while driving in the rain and it worked.................at least the dust was washed from the outside, but the inside still needs a clean!

 We also did some furniture shopping for her spare room, and had lunch with my brother and some of his family.

The state of my house and garden has been stressing me a bit, no a lot, and so I decided to ignore customer quilts for a few more days and attack some of those jobs that needed doing. I thought that the vacuum cleaner should be working a bit better than it was, and this is what I found!! Perhaps I live in a house with lots of threads??

We have had a lovely rain this week, and it was the perfect time to get out in the garden and do some weeding and digging. I have been shifting the plants that were in this area to another place and digging this ready for planting dahlias next month.

I packed these 3 cases with 3,000 x 2 1/2" squares and posted them off to the purchaser, and that is the last of the orders to go out from the BCNA fundraiser!

I spent time in the kitchen baking goodies to take with me on another journey today.

.......................And this is where I ended up last night.

The house is not quite cleaned yet, but I have  made progress and it feels much better. 

I am heading off out the door right now, for another day off today, and will report on that soon. I think we might even see the sunshine today.

Have a great day, whatever you are doing.

Blessings, From Jude