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