A LOT has been achieved in 22 days!

 

Since Raylene arrived here on the 27th March, it has been a hive of activity  at Number 8! Lots of cutting, sorting, stacking and packing has been happening. There has not been many idle moments, but we can look around and see that much has been achieved. After Easter we had the place to ourselves, and just as well we didn't have to share the space, because the 2 of us used all available surfaces. 

The Go Cutter has had a work out and earned it's purchase price many times over. We were struggling a bit at one stage with threads sticking in the blades and wondered if the blades were becoming blunt from overuse? We have since learned not to keep cutting with mats that are getting old and cracked!! It's a bit like using the rotary cutter and pushing that blade too long instead of replacing it with a new one. Our err derr moment was realising that a new mat solved all the problems!! (I now have spare mats of each size waiting in the wings!)

                                                                                                

I must admit we were too busy to take a lot of photos, but there are a few. I do have a few empty shelves and emptied out a whole drawer of strips. Cutting scraps also breeds more scraps, and it's a never ending task. I think I could spend the rest of my life sewing scrap quilts, without even making a dent on the bolts here.

These look a bit like sandwiches all stacked in heaps, but they are 4" finished half square triangles, already cut and paired with a light colour. I love sewing these, because they turn out a perfect size, needing no trimming as long as your 1/4" seam is accurate, with no ears to trim either! My fairy has worked out to sort the fabric into colours before going through the cutter, and then they are already in their colour sections.

Lots of fabric packs all bundled up ready to sell.

These are what is left of the 2" and 2 1/2" squares after packing scrap packs.

1 metre pieces ..................

........and embellished packs in various colourways.

These are 3" finished half square triangles.

Lots of Ready, Set & Sew kits.

After a busy time, my offsider has returned to her home this morning, but the task will continue and I have this lot sitting on my desk ready for me to process this week.

We kept a lot of the smaller pieces for crumb quilts, and the string bin is full to overflowing, but I have drawn the line at these bins full, which are destined for the bins tomorrow.

There are 5 more weeks until market day, so I might be occupied for awhile yet, in between some customer quilts waiting and other activities in the diary.

I have received the all clear from the doctor re my face, and ventured out for my first shopping trip last week! Have also been back to church and a few other social outings with friends, in between the busyness of cutting and packing.

On Thursday we enjoyed a day trip to Mount Gambier, and stopped for lunch at the bakery at Penola.

We managed to come home with a lovely bag of apples, which have now been peeled and stewed ready for some apple crumble desserts to put in the freezer.

The local garden store have commenced doing lunches this week, so Raylene booked a table for 4 and we enjoyed more time with friends.

We have also enjoyed visits with friends at home, including a lunch and celebrating a birthday with afternoon tea. After church on Sunday we attended the 25th birthday celebration of the Gum Tree Quilters and will save that occasion for a separate post.

Max managed to get quite a few customer quilts done during that time, (photos will be in another posts) and this week I am working on some of the donation quilts that Raylene and I made a few months ago that have been waiting patiently for the quilter. 

This is the black and white string quilt that Raylene made during her last visit and it was quilted allover with a pattern called Square Dance.

The binding fairy at work.

And another 16 patch scrappy quilt, quilted allover, also has been bound.

This rail fence quilt was quilted allover, the binding stitched on and has gone home with Raylene to be hand sewn.

Today's job was to load this scrappy trips quilt that I made during isolation in 2020. This has been quilted allover with a circle meander, and the binding has yet to be decided on.

Today was a catchup with some housework, put on a load of washing day, and clearing the sewing tables for the next cutting session sometime soon. Another backing has been loaded in readiness for tomorrow morning. I also hope to get some gardening time this week, to keep a few weeds at bay before they get out of hand.

It probably sounds like I have been working Raylene like a slave all this time. She keeps telling me that she enjoys all the packing and stacking but she really is the organising queen with her good ideas. In reality, she actually keeps me on the go, looking to see what is next on the list, and wanting direction. I look back and remember the TV ad that used to be on, advertising the Eveready batteries and the Energiser bunny that kept going and going when the others faded out!! I keep telling her she must have Eveready batteries in her! I do hope she will have an easier, quieter week now that she is home. I really  appreciate her special skills, her help and her friendship. We really do have a lot of fun in amongst the business.

Be back soon, 

Blessings, From Jude