“In the Pink” Retreat’

 

The Pink retreat is fast approaching and next Friday there will be 10 ladies coming for a fun weekend. Maybe I better think about some food and do the shopping. And I better find the pink decorations and some pink balloons too.

I have a collection of pink items for the auctions, and I believe there are more donations on their way from some other very generous ladies. Thankyou so much to all who have donated. The proceeds from the auctions and the raffle quilt are donated to the Breast Cancer Network Australia, as a thankyou for the support I received from their service 7 years ago.

I have found the jar of pink fluffies, and it looks as though they are crawling out of the jar ready to be found next weekend.

And the purses are out, ready for the “money” to be added, so the ladies can “buy” at the auction. This is always a lot of fun.

And the quilt is waiting to be won by someone. If you would like a ticket just let me know. They are $2 each and the quilt is a single bed size.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone again for a great weekend. See you all then.

The special quilt

Last week I mentioned that I was working on a special job for the weekend. The following photos are what I did. One of the members of our group started hand piecing a hexagon quilt about 10 years ago. It was almost finished and only needed the edges to be done. This lady is undergoing treatment for some serious health issues and is not able to finish her quilt. Another member offered to finish the hand work on the quilt, and last weekend it was time for the quilting. Another member made the binding with leftover pieces of the colours in the quilt. And another lady has now taken it home to bind.

It seems to have been the year for hexagon quilts, as I have quilted about 5 this year, all hand pieced.

This lady is so pleased to see her work being finished, but also quite humbled.  It was a pleasure to do this for her, and just maybe, someday, someone will finish one of my quilts. It is a scary thought to think that I might not be able to sew one day.

A busy day today…

I loved one of the quilts that I did today, where the owner placed a tag on the backing, the wadding and the quilt top, telling me which was the top side. It saved me a lot of time trying to work out which way I should load the quilt. THANK YOU!

The sun coming in on another quilt, late this afternoon, and shining a nice side light onto the dancing hearts that I was quilting.

The pile that I managed to get through today!! I have to tell you that I was out of bed “before the crack of dawn” though, and I am rather tired tonight. I have been up between 4 and 5am all this week, as I need to get quite a few quilts finished before our exhibition in October. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can….

And this is the quilting machine tonight, with another backing draped over the rollers. If I spray the quilt with water, to dampen it and let in dry overnight, all the wrinkles are gone, and I don’t need to press!! Looks like this one got a bit more than a spray as it looks quite wet.

A touch of spring

 

A few months ago I mentioned the package of bulbs that had been “patiently” waiting on the pergola table to be planted. They had been so determined to grow that they were shooting in the package. I hurriedly planted them in a few spots in the garden at the house where I live. Last weekend when I was loading some wood in the wheelbarrow, I noticed that they were flowering!! We had a very heavy downpour of rain, which was over in a flash, but it was enough to send my poor daffodils almost to ground level. I decided that they were too pretty, so I cut them and “arranged” them in a vase on the kitchen table. My floral arranging skills leave a lot to be desired as you can see, but they smell lovely and look nice on my table. And one of my readers might recognise the table runner that they are sitting on. Thankyou Sue.

I had not realised that daffodils come in so many colours and varieties. I always thought they were just yellow.

Baby update

Gotta sneak in another baby photo occasionally, and this is a couple of weeks ago. I think I need to mention that I have not had a photo for too long. She is growing so fast, and is 6 1/2 weeks now. And a very serious little miss in this photo.

Quilting

Here a few more photos of recent quilting.

First is made by Annabel and very striking use of scrap fabrics, especially how she has coloured the diagonals. Annabel is one of our younger quilters, and it is good to see new quilters coming on.

Jayne is also one of the younger quilters, and has made this for her daughter, featuring Tinkerbelle fabric.

This is Lyn’s Head to the Border quilt. They are all very different, and I am looking forward to seeing them all displayed together.

Hope you have had a good week, and enjoy the weekend coming up. The weather is very spring like at the moment, and is warm enough not to have the wood fire burning. Do hope that we get some more rain, which is forecast for next week.

That’s all the newsfromjude for tonight.

Blessings, From Jude.

Quilting update

I woke up early (like 4am!!) this morning, so am spending a bit of time catching up on computer stuff, before I load the next quilt, which should arrive here about 8 this morning. A special job this weekend, which I shall tell you more about later. (I can see a nanna nap sometime this afternoon!)
First up is Pat’s Head to the Border quilt. This turned out to be very big, as you can see it is on a queen bed in the photo. After many years quilting, Pat has finally made a quilt for her husband, who is a farmer. The quilt has cattle and sheep in the fabrics, and even a brown and yellow border, the colours of his favourite footy team.


I have seen quite a few hand pieced quilts this year. This one was started by Linda many, many years ago. It was sitting in a cupboard at her house, partly hand quilted, with that lovely (?) thick poly wadding in it. She finally decided it needed to be finished, and she did not have time to finish it herself, so brought it to me. The hand quilting was unpicked, and we threw away the poly wadding and replaced it with wool/poly. The borders still needed to be mitred at the corners, and after this was done we decided on some patterns for custom quilting. Now the binding is on, and it is finished.



This quilt was made by Naomi, for her daughter. There were actually 2 the same, and they are her first quilts. Both quilted all over with a leafy pattern.

That’s all the newsfromjude for today. I hope you have a great weekend, whatever you are doing. The calendar tells me that spring has arrived, and although we have seen a little bit of sun, the days are still rather cool.
The quilt to arrive this morning is another hand pieced hexagon quilt. They almost make me want to make one for myself.(?). Really need to finish some of my other projects first.
Blessings, From Jude