July 31st.................

     One last post for the month of July.....and thought I would share this cartoon that I found online somewhere. If you are a quilter, I am sure you can identify!! And we all need a laugh.

                                        

I have been spending some time in the garden this week after hardly setting foot out there during the cold wet winter. It was rather overwhelming seeing the weeds. When I expressed this to a friend, they said just start in one place and do a little at a time. So I stopped looking at the big picture and followed this advice. Now the chrysanthemums have been pruned back and I can see the daffodils that are shooting............

                .............and another garden bed has been weeded and I feel much better................

..now working on the side section and made a bit of progress on Sunday afternoon until it started raining again................

..and this is some of what is ahead of me. While there is still a loooong way to go, I do feel that progress is being made.

Much has been happening inside also, and more fabric packs have been assembled. Some of the shelves seem to have less on them. 

This pile of quilts that are Raylene's and my entries for our local quilt show in October have had sleeves added. (There are still some of my quilts waiting patiently for the quilter to get her act together.)

My fairy is very skilled at clothes alterations, and has worked her way through this collection of my trousers and added her magic, pinning, trimming and sewing the seams so that they now fit me much better. And we have had a sort out in the wardrobes and taken much to the Op shop. Another job that had been hanging over my head for too long. 

MORE VITAMIN F.........

This lady had been talking about visiting for awhile now, and when the sudden opportunity arose, an impromptu catchup happened. .......

.......and then Pat also came to join in for some time out too. Has been a lovely few days, after far too long..............

 

.........and some more Vitamin F when Chooky scheduled a Zoom catchup one morning. It is so good to catch up with these ladies, from Australia, Canada, USA, Germany and Norway. And more special to have met many of these ladies at Scrub Stitching in Barradine in April.

And another Vitamin F picture, that DD3 sent from Melbourne this week! These kids love their scones, and don't they look so good, the kids and the scones!!

Finally the reason for this post on July 31st. Today it is 12 years since I commenced the newsfromjude blog. How fast has this time gone? The information from my blog tells me that this post is Number 1,375 and there have been 447,200 page views!! My blog started out as a way to promote my machine quilting and the retreats held at The Sanctuary, but over the years has evolved into more of my life, by adding in family and other activities. So really is a story of my life over the last 12 years!

To celebrate this milestone it's time for another giveaway. (Not sure what the giveaway will be yet). And I am happy to post overseas, so if you live in yonder countries, would love to hear from you too). Leave me a comment on the blog, and tell me how long you have been following newsfromjude and perhaps how you found me?? All names will be entered into a draw. Entries close August 7th. Look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings, From Jude

Customer quilt update............

Max has been busy in the last couple of weeks, so time to post a few more customer quilts.

The first one here is a scrappy I spy made by Prue. Lots of great fabrics in this quilt. Prue is making a collection of quilts to be ready for future great grandchildren.

This top was quilted edge to edge with a circle pattern called Asti.

Lyn pieced this cat quilt and requested allover quilting. I pondered the pattern to use and finally decided to use Paw Meander, .................

............to make it look as though cats were walking over the quilt.

This large top was made by Sue and she also requested an allover pattern. The pattern I used was a Jungle border design which fits with the tigers in the centre panel.

This is Pat's Moda Love quilt, made with purple fabrics. This was quilted with a modern design called Over and Back Ripples. Gives is some great texture.

Sherrel has been using up a lot of her scrappy stash and made this HST on point quilt and this has been quilted with Rhapsody feather pattern.

Another quilt to use up stash and also made by Sherrel is her Disappearing 9 patch quilt. This was quilted allover with Feathered Flowers.

This Storytime quilt was made by Val and also quilted allover with Rhapsody.

I unpinned the quilt and laid it out on the bed for a photo...............

....and then noticed this area!! Whoopsie, how did I miss this? Loaded back onto Max and all was fixed in 10 minutes.

This is a Jinny Beyer quilt pattern called Northern Lights. The fabrics were very dark, so I swapped out some for the brighter yellow and green. 

Ruth pieced the quilt and sent it to me for custom quilting and I have added lots of feathers.

That's all for this post. I will be back with another post tomorrow to finish the month of July.

Blessings, From Jude

Happy Birthday..................

 Here we are and another family birthday to celebrate. Miss Bridie is 8 years old today. Just where did all that time go?? It seems like yesterday that the ladies at the Christmas in July retreat at The Sanctuary were waiting for news of the arrival of my 7th grandchild.

I hope you have had a great day celebrating and that Dad has made you a cake!!

Love from Margar. xxx

Blessings, From Jude

It's almost the end of another month................

 .............so it's time for a newsfromjude update. Life has been happening as usual in amongst some quilting time. There are too many things I want need to get done, some days I don't know where to go first. Sometimes I start one job, and then go down a rabbit hole with another task that's on my todo list. And before I know it, there are many jobs on the go. Hmmm. But I have to say that I feel like there is progress.

I have a post almost ready with an update of customer quilts. Max has been very busy in the last couple of weeks. 

This week he is resting as the 'fairy' is here and we are cutting, packing and stacking fabric ready for our stall at the Sunraysia Patchwork Friends Quilt Exhibition  in September. Will have more to say about that later.

                                                    

I travelled to the city last Monday for my annual mammogram and am pleased to say I am now 15 years clear of the dreaded C. Praise God. Raylene met me at my appointment and has travelled home with me for a couple of weeks. She is getting me on the straight and narrow, and there is little slack time!! On the way home we called in to see Mum for a chat and cuppa.

I have been doing more sorting and decluttering of old files, which includes documents from our dairy farming days (1977 - 1989), and our mixed farming days (1990 - 2000). It is well past the time to clear the decks of most of this!!) Why have I not done this before? But it is not a job that can be finished in a day. There will be another bonfire soon. It definitely feels good to deal with all this.

I have spent a little time in the garden attacking the weeds. No photo!! It has been a very cold, wet winter in this area this year. We have had a glimpse of sun and blue sky on a few occasions, and the wattle trees are out in flower. This was the frost on the front lawn about a week ago. ( I do admit to not looking out the window most days until later in the morning.)

While deadheading the chrysanthemum plants this week, I noticed that the daffodil bulbs are shooting, so spring must be around the corner. I have also picked quite a bit of broccoli which has survived neglect.

The bottlebrush tree at the front of the house was very straggly and had a pruning back this week. There is a lot more light now coming in the front window.

A parcel arrived from the USA this week. The blog book I ordered for January to June 2023, arrived here in just on 2 weeks. Almost quicker than postage within Australia!!

I am very thankful for special friends who brought a load of wood to my shed last weekend. (More of that Special Vitamin F!!)

There was also a visit by Lyn and her brother Malcom while he was visiting SA from WA. 

There has been more exciting news from Sherrel who entered a quilt into the Victorian Quilt show last month. Our 2 person entry received a Highly Commended ribbon in the pieced section. Sherrel visited this morning and brought me my ribbon. Thankyou Sherrel for trusting me with your quilt.

I had not posted photos of this quilt until now. Sherrel's piecing was amazing! You may need to click on the picture to enlarge and see it better.

That's all for this post. The customer quilt update will come soon and there is also another family birthday coming up soon. August looks to be filling up fast. Catch ya next time.

Blessings, From Jude

A Bit of this and much of that catchup post..................

 Once again I have had hints from some people that a blog post is well overdue. What has been happening at Number 8?? The month of July is more than half gone, and I can see August dates on the calendar that are not too far off.

I can say there has not been a lot of quilting with Max. So if you have come to newsfromjude for quilting news, I apologise. There has been some stitching time, but only by Val who stayed and house minded while I was absent. There was a bundle of fabrics in the drawer that were leftover from a quilt kit. Val took the pieces and has made this QFO (Quilts for others) quilt that has now joined the queue and will be donated in due course.

She then set to work to make some string blocks. There is a plan going forth for these, so stay tuned.

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So what else has been on the agenda?? My end of June post made mention of going back into photos and memories from long ago. I won't go on too much about this, except to say that a lot of "stuff" has been worked through recently. I have sorted and cleared a lot that has been taking up space in my house and in my mind, for far too long...........

A symbolic burn. So am now feeling much lighter.

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In the process of the above, a lot of photos came to light, that had not been sorted. These drawers had been previously been used for fabric collections, but were now empty. Now they are being reused to sort a lifetime of photos, as I get back to writing more of my life story. In January 2019 I started this and it has been 4 years since then, and I feel led to resume this project. 

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VITAMIN F

Probably the most important part of recent weeks has been Vitamin F and there has been much of that. F stands for Friends and Family.!! 

A huge thankyou to those who have supported, listened and been there for me as I dealt with 'stuff'.

Below is photo of Mum, myself and my baby sister who I had a recent catchup with.

Miss Olivia received her new quilt last week.

A catchup with some of the locals, who look like they are solving the world's problems.

A recent evening impromptu catchup with these special Vitamin F's. We had such a good night.

The 2 Ruth's.

A recent catchup with the Melbourne family who came over the border for a few days.

Mum nursing her 22nd great grandchild. The 24th is due in September! A mighty effort for Mum -         5 children, 15 grandchildren and almost 24 great grandies. (She doesn't look 91 does she??)

Extended family.....

Mr Tate and his 2 grandmas.

There were other family visits, and some more photos, but either they are not on my camera. or good enough to publish.

Just one more pic of the progress at DS's block as earthworks are commenced prior to building. Exciting that there is something happening at last.

That's about all the newsfromjude for now. Max has finally been busy this week and I think I can finally report that my 'get up and go' has returned at last. Which is just as well, because the fairy is returning next week and there is a lot to do in readiness for the next market day early in September.

Blessings, From Jude