The end of another month already!! .... and churn dash July report.........

 Last week started out with a trip up the highway to the city. It was time for my annual mammogram, and I am pleased to report that it was all clear, 14 years 'down the track'.

I also had some quilts to deliver for customers and some to pick up. One of the deliveries was to Kerryn, who is organising queen for the Quilt Encounter committee. This is the raffle quilt for this year with proceeds going to a cause close to my heart. (Breast Care nurses in country SA).

Lunch was enjoyed with 3 of my grandies before my appointment later in the day.

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 If you had read Joy's post on Monday last week, she stated that ........ I’m off on another road trip, this time to a five star, super luxurious, all inclusive, holiday home……….

I had to laugh....because she was coming to visit me at Number Eight!! Five star, super luxurious??? We worked out that it was August in 2019 when she was last here. While I have not scheduled a lot of organised retreats I am happy if anyone wants to come and spend some time doing what quilters love to do. So when Joy contacted me a date was set for the last week in July. It just so happened that Raylene had planned more time here too. We have had a lovely few days stitching with a lot of laughs and sharing. Unfortunately another friend was prevented from joining us due to illness.

Joy unloaded her car with many projects that she brought to work on, and she managed to tick most of them off her list. She is another organised person, and has a lovely folder with all her projects and things to do listed........

   This link takes you to her post about  Planning pages if you want to get more organised. Raylene, the organising queen, was impressed with Joy's book as she throws up her hands in despair at my 'more casual' system of pages in a notebook and my daily diary. 

It must work for Joy because she managed to get lots of different things done over the next 5 days. 

Her Go Baby was used to cut out all the half square triangle units she needed.....

There are lots of churn dash blocks being made.....

Notice the nails match the fabric!!

Joy must have done a lot of sewing as this is what she found when investigating her noisy machine......

The fairy was busy as well, helping me to get supplies ready for a couple of markets that are coming up later in the year............

A few more kits are all packed neatly in the bags................

........and making some bowl cosies for a fundraising evening............

....and sorting out the multitude of ribbons that I have 'inherited' from a shop that closed down.

........and also a multitude of zips from the same source.................

........and who needs a pin cushion when you have one 'built in'?

There was only one quilt left for the binding to be hand sewn, and now we have another collection to be donated somewhere one day.

Val called in for a visit and cuppa one morning ............

..............and I had to laugh at this, Raylene gave Val her cake on a paper towel and not a plate?? This is certainly not what you would expect at 5 star, super luxurious accommodation is it???

This is Val's show and tell. There are 2 quilts like this that have been made for great grandchildren, and just need the outer border stitched on now.

I managed some sewing time as well, and this is the churn dashing photo I posted the other evening.......... Mine on this side and Joy's on the other.............

I can now report that all my blocks are made...............

This is my report for July and as I am ahead of making the blocks, and even made more progress, I shall leave a report on the next stage for August.

I found a bag with the remaining bits from a quilt I made some time ago, and thought I might make some cushions to match that quilt. 

There were lots of bits left and I managed to make quite a few blocks of 4 patches and hst and came up with this, which is larger than I need for cushion..........

These pieces were also in the bag, more leftovers.........so the next challenge will be to work out how I can incorporate them into borders???? For now, they have been folded up and put away for another day.

I spent a fair bit of time designing and cutting for some more kits ready for the checking lady. Joy and I enjoyed some time playing on EQ. It's a bit tricky because she is still using version 7, and I have 8 and forgotten where all the buttons are on 7. We hope to spend some more time 'one day' with EQ and learning more.

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All too soon it was time for Joy to leave and here is her luggage stacked by the door. Just as well she didn't have to share her car with anyone else.

The weather has been rather cold, with frosty mornings, but the warmth of the wood fire has kept us warm. The days have passed by quickly, and except for picking up the paper from the front lawn in the mornings, and collecting wood from the shed, we haven't ventured out "into the world". 

That's all the newsfromjude for this post. I will be back with a customer quilt report and a separate post of my churn dash quilt which has been finished.

Blessings, From Jude

7 Years Old Today!!.........

How did this little Miss get to be 7 years old already??? It only seems like yesterday when the Christmas in July retreat at The Sanctuary was anxiously waiting for news. Here we are 7 years later, and she has been at school for 2 years and growing up so fast.

 

                                            

                            

It is a tradition in their household that Dad makes the birthday cake, although last night I received a video of Miss Bridie mixing the cake batter and helping Dad. I look forward to more photos of the finished cake.

Blessings, From Jude

Churn Dash progress

 

Some late night Churn Dash sewing happening here tonight. Lots of fun with Joy and Raylene,

Blessings, from Jude

What's been happening??

 Wow, it seems no time at all since my last newsfromjude update, but I see that, except for a birthday post and a Churn Dash post, there has been no blog post since June 20th!! How did this happen, and what has been happening in that 'more than a month'?? So it was back into the photo files, and the diary to see what I can tell you........

I can tell you that much time has been spent with Max, some being the donation quilts that were in the queue that I showed last post........this pile has reduced to only 2!

These all have been quilted and even have the binding on them already!!

While the usual binding fairy has been absent, I did have the help of another binding fairy.......

............and a few Zoom sessions with Chooky gave me some binding time for the others!!

Binding also happens while watching Netflix movies in the evening.

Tate's quilt has been quilted, the binding machined, but not yet finished, and also needs eyes and other embellishments too..............

...and this one is waiting for the binding fairy to come back...... which will be very soon!!

Max has completed a few custom jobs in that time too...... I will save those customer quilts for a separate post.

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Our group, the Gumnut Angels, that makes quilts for others has been meeting here at my house for 15 years and a decision was made recently to purchase a cupboard for the storage of their 'stuff' at the meeting hall. This happened last week and 2 members showed their handywoman skills to assemble the cupboard...........

............and shelves will be added to the other side soon, and the remaining things moved as well. The Angels quilts will now be sewn at normal patchwork sewing days.

And then I had some vacant shelves, although I will admit that the space is filling up fast!!

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I have been working on my Churn Dash blocks, and am happy to say I have finished my total of 25! A photo will come in due course. A decision of sashing etc still has to be made, but at least I am ahead of the schedule!

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There have been a few medical appointments to sort out ongoing health issues and I also had lunch with a friend which was lovely.

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In an effort to declutter 'stuff' in my house, I decided that I would clear out the KYB (Know Your Bible) books that have accumulated in my desk and beyond!! I don't really know why I have kept these, but the time was right to clear them out and as I had written in them, they would be of no use to anyone else. It did make me stop and think when I stacked them all up, and had a count. I realised I have been doing the studies for 32 years!! I guess they will accumulate again.

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The weather has been very cold this winter, and most days have been grey and cloudy, with many morning frosts, so it was a lovely surprise to see this out the window one day.

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There has been much activity with EQ8, scanning fabrics and designing quilts for the Ready, Set and Sew kits. Every available surface was taken up with fabrics in assorted piles...........

Pat came in one day and did what she does so well....... checks my calculations and counts all the pieces for the quilt...............

......and now we have this lovely pile of cut fabrics all ready for the fairy to do what she excels at............packing!! Meanwhile I shall keep designing and scanning fabrics, and working out the cutting plan.

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Early in the month, I did get to spend some time in the garden...........

The chrysanthemum garden was weeded, and the daffodil bulbs in between are poking their leaves up..........which must mean that spring is coming.......

I have dug all the dahlias out of this patch......hoping to plant something easy care in this spot......

...and they will be stored in the shed............not sure what I will do with them??

The pumpkins were very late in flowering and forming fruit (?), but the frosts came and the leaves were dying off, so I have been clearing them....... you can see how they took over this daisy bush underneath..........I have picked about 8 pumpkins and stored them to finish ripening.  (I hope).

....and look what I found nestled in the top of the daisy bush!

It has been lovely to head out the back and pick some greens to cook, especially with the high prices of vegies in the supermarket.

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It was rather exciting to receive a message this week from a customer to tell me that 'we' had won a blue ribbon for this quilt, in the Melbourne Quilt show which is on this week! Thankyou Sherrel for the opportunity to quilt this. It was an amazing quilt, all pieced with triangles.

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I have spent the last 2 days doing a "spring" clean in my house, and I haven't finished yet. I have to confess that this is one job that has been sadly neglected recently. There is nothing like the motivation of house guests coming to spur one into action!! Hopefully I shall have more news soon.

Be back in due course...........

Blessings, From Jude