Still sorting "stuff"

Instead of "baring" the contents of my cupboards in this post as I did awhile back, this time it is the contents of "those" drawers. I had a cutlery drawer here, plus the drawer with all of those other things you "need"! And at The Sanctuary I also had a cutlery drawer and one of those other drawers! And the kitchen dresser that has now been consigned to the shed, also had a drawer, with "good" cutlery things, that were wedding presents all those long years ago.

Yesterday the guys were here tiling, and also the plumber fitting the kitchen sink and taps. The power was on and off during the day, which meant that quilting was going to be a bit difficult. So I took the opportunity to do some more sorting. The first photo shows the contents of all those drawers spread out on the dining room table! I might add that the "good" cutlery from over the road was not in this photo, as it is already in it's new drawer in the kitchen. But I was still left with all of this!!

How many can openers does one need, and how many of them even work well??

And this little pile of stuff, and I did not even know what that lime green thing was for! Until one of the tiling guys happened to walk past and recognised it. Apparently this was a project in the year 8 plastics class, and is a can opener. Who knew? I shall pass this on to DS for him to add to his collection.

And all of these wooden spoons. Obviously some have been well used, and others not at all.

And plastic spoons? I do use a few of these when serving meals at retreats.

My collection of knives is a bit sad. I mainly use 3 of these, one is small, one is a bread knife and the other is that large one in the centre. That was a wedding present back in 1973, and came with a carving fork, and a bread knife, which sadly was lost in the paddock years ago when DH was using to cut the strings on the hay!!

The collection of tongs, which I shall mostly keep.

What about all of these souvenir teaspoons?? They all come from places that I have never been to, but were given as gifts from others who had been. They have been put into their own container and will be dealt with "one day".

My collection of bottle openers, which I have little use for, and the cork screw which is hopeless to use, has been culled.

Another wedding gift of  silver dessert forks and spoons, which has languished in the drawer for 42 years, and had little use. And you can see that they have not had much attention either, because they are very tarnished. Must be time to polish the silver!

 My parents gifted us a cutlery set for our wedding present, and this is all that remains! Where has the rest of it gone to? Is there a cutlery heaven?

More wedding gifts, which have not had much use. I have kept some and culled the rest.

Rolling pins, of which the only one I use is the tupperware one at the top. The little ones were for the children to use, and had some use over the years and the other large wooden one was from a friend  who moved into aged care.

My collection of biscuit cutters which have had a lot of use in years gone by, but not sure how much in the future??

 And this is what I have condensed it down too. They will stay in the these containers until  April 9th, when DS will be back to fix a few things in the kitchen. I mentioned there were a few problems, and one was that the backs of the large drawer units were cut the wrong size. There were a few other things, which will be corrected and will wait until DS is back in town.

In the next couple of days the tilers, and the plumber will finish their jobs, and by the weekend I will be in!!  I shall blog the construction photos and the finish (except for the drawers) sometime on the weekend. Then it will be time to study the new stove manual and work out how to operate it. Almost need a uni degree I think. I need to practice in preparation for the next weekend when I have the first group coming to try out the "new" house. I can see some new saucepans in my future, as the book says I need stainless steel for the ceramic cooktop. I did not know what my saucepans were even made of, but I am told a magnet will stick to stainless steel, and a magnet does not stick to what I have now! The Sanctuary saucepans are still almost new, so I think they might be getting sold. Who knew that a set of cookware could get so complicated!

Better get busy with Max, and finish this custom which has been on too long. 

Blessings, From Jude

Update

It's time for a few more quilt photos and a brief update on the weekend just gone.

First is Sam's quilt, which was quilted with an all over butterfly design. Very bold colours with the black and looks good.

This quilt was made by Louisa, and is her first quilt, and all hand pieced! Well done Louisa. This is to go overseas for a friend, and was quilted with 2 patterns, alternating rows of gum 

leaves and music notes.

And this quilt is Marie's one block wonder, all made of triangles, set into hexagons and stitched together. A few of the hexagons were dyed red, which adds that bit of interest to the quilt. Very striking, and quilted al lover with modern waves.

After a very busy long weekend, I now have an almost funtioning kitchen! I will come back with a more comprehensive report and photos of the process later when I have more time. There were quite a few errors made by the suppliers, and DS managed to fix some but not all. That means that it will be awhile before he is able to get back here with new sections. Hopefully the tilers will be here soon to do the wall tiles, and I shall be contacting the plumber today to let him know he can come and connect the water and install the dishwasher. I have been filling cupboards, and still have a few boxes left to sort, although as I have no drawers until they are fixed, I will be keeping some things in boxes for awhile yet. The power is all connected and I have a functioning stove. And I love my new kitchen. Thankyou to DS and DSIL for an amazing job.

This morning I need to get back to the quilting, and have a custom loaded onto Max.

Blessings, From Jude

A trailer load of kitchen

was delivered here last night.

Unpacking the contents of the boxes above.......

And stacking them in some sort of order......

in little piles according to upper and lower etc etc.........

and another section here......

And in the last photo are the some of the pieces for the corner pantry cupboard.

Today it is action stations and I am taking progress photos. I think I might need sunglasses in this new kitchen, it will be so much lighter than what I had before, although the splashback tiles will tone down the white. It seems to be a bit like making a quilt, trying to get all the pieces in the right place and sometimes they don't fit as they should! I was watching for awhile, but have made myself scarce now that the power is back on, until it is time to make lunch for my workmen. DS and DSIL are both busy out there. I am very blessed to have them do this for me, as it would not be happening if I had to pay tradesmen to do this job.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are.

Blessings, From Jude

Yesterday.....

.......was rather a busy day here with people coming and going all day. First thing in the morning at 7am it was our weekly KYB (Bible study) group. About 10am the Gumnut Angels starting arriving for our monthly day of making quilts for those who need to know someone is thinking of them, for whatever reason. Other members of our group donate fabric to us, and it is an interesting exercise to make scrap quilts with this. Especially when there are a few opinions flying around too!

This is a box where we have stored "partly pieced" donated items, and it has been sitting around for ages. It is usually easier to make something from the start, rather than to finish off what someone has started, or had leftover from a project. Sometimes we can easily see why it was discarded!!

This is what we found yesterday in the box, and ideas were soon flowing as to how to make use of these pieces. Bit of a jigsaw puzzle trying to work out what to do next, and then try to coordinate it with fabric that we have in the stash!

Early in the morning I received a message from my cousin and her husband who live near Melbourne to see if I was home, so they could call in on their way through town. So about 11am I fitted in a quick chat and coffee out in the pergola, and then a tour of the renos before they left.

I finished my custom quilt that was on Max,  loaded an Angels quilt on the machine and then it was lunch time.

And  mid afternoon, that bus load of about 40 ladies who were in town for the State CWA conference arrived to watch Max working and see what the Angels were doing.

Someone else had the camera for me, and it looks like I was busy telling them something in the photo below, and then below that Helen is explaining something else in the next room. We must have both been making a point with our hands up??

 And all too soon it was time for them to get back on the bus for the next stop. Thanks for stopping by ladies. I noticed CWA badges that stated they were from Tanunda, Ceduna, and Whyalla, so lots of them travelled a fair way for the conference. There were more towns, but I did not have time to catch up with them all.

This morning I have done some paperwork and loaded another quilt, and processed another quilt that was delivered, and been to the shops for food for the weekend.

I was a tad excited this morning about the weekend ahead, but then I received a phonecall with tragic news which has taken me down. The daughter of long time good friends, who has been battling cancer for 8 months now, passed away yesterday. She was in her early 40's, and leaves behind a husband and a nearly 3 year old son. I feel so upset for the family, and my prayers are for them, and it is one of those times when you have to ask "why". I know we can't see the big picture and I just have to trust and know that one day we will understand.

That's all the newsfromjude for today. I will be back with progress reports and a few more quilts soon.

Blessings, From Jude

Faye's quilt

Just a quick post this morning before I get on with my day, or my mother might tell me again how many days since I posted!

This Metro Medallion quilt was made by Faye, using the Quick Curve Ruler (QCR) that the girls from "Sew Kind of Wonderful" have designed. I know the rulers are obtainable in Australia and there are lots of different quilt patterns to be made using them. I have to confess to having one of these rulers, but not used it yet. If you want more information google the above, as last time I tried to put in a link I goofed it, (as you might have noticed in my last post).

It was an interesting process working out how to quilt this and Faye just left it up to me. I searched for patterns that had been made for this design and did not come up with much. I contacted Sharon Perry from House of Creations in New Zealand and after about 30 emails going back and forth across the sea, we settled on the following patterns. It is a mix of modern and traditional as there are 2 patterns used in the blocks, and another for the "sashings" in black.  Thankyou Sharon and also Faye for trusting me with your quilt. I know we are all very happy with the end result.

It has been a very hot week here, with the temperature getting up to 42deg on Tuesday. I have woken up this morning to steady rain, which is lovely, although it is quite humid.

Since I last posted I have finished the painting, and put it all away, (until I get motivated outside). And all is ready for action in the kitchen this weekend!! (I might be just a tad excited about a new kitchen, but then I look at my "camp kitchen" set up and wonder, if I have managed for 3 weeks like this, whether I need a "proper" kitchen at all??)

Monday I went to Murray Bridge to attend the funeral of my uncle, who was 78 years old. He packed a lot into his life, and had many interests, including photography, gardening, pistol shooting, woodwork, sport and of course his family. As much as a funeral is a sad time, it is also a catchup time with family that you don't see very often, and it was good to catch up with a few cousins.)

This morning I have Bible Study meeting here at 7am, and later it is the Angels sewing day as well. And sometime this afternoon there will be a bus load of about 40 ladies coming to check out my quilting machine, as part of the CWA conference that is in Bordertown this week. They are touring the district and visiting a few business.

So it is time to sign off, and get organised. There is a quilt on Max that needs to be finished so that I can quilt a few "Angel's" quilts this afternoon.

Blessings, From Jude

Waiting for paint to dry, again.....

Just having a little break, and another coffee and some toast, while I am waiting for the first coat of paint to dry. I know it would not take long later in the day, as the temp is expected to be 39deg, but this early in the morning it is a bit cooler. Hopefully this is almost the last of the painting inside, for now anyway. I did the kitchen ceiling yesterday morning, and the walls this morning. I don't have to do the whole room, as the cupboards will cover lots of wall. There will not be a lot of wall to see, but some wall will be visible behind the fridge opening. And then I need to do the timber around the window, and I can put it all away. I have to admit that it has taken a lot of motivation to get to this last bit. While I don't mind painting, I think I might have pushed myself a bit in the last 2 months. A little spell now until I get the urge to paint the brown wall outside that needs to be done.

My work in progress, one coat done, and the end wall is not getting done at all. The plumber has been and moved the taps and added pipes for the dishwasher. The wall needs to be replaced under the sink, because it was not a pretty sight. Must have been a major leak in that wall sometime in the past.

This is my painting trousers, and as you can see it is where I wipe my fingers if I get paint on them!

And this is samples of my cupboards, benchtops, wall tiles and the cupboard handles. I am looking forward to how it all comes together now. A trailer load of  "kitchen" will arrive here on Friday evening, ready for action on the weekend.  I am told there will be a day of electrical stuff to happen before any cupboards get put in, The stove is being moved from the back wall to the side on, so that is major work first.

TIME OUT

Yesterday after I painted the kitchen ceiling, I went to the car wash and cleaned my car, which was a long overdue task. Then I ventured up the highway to the Cockatoo Downs Farmstay retreat to visit a group of ladies who were there for a sewing weekend. They had lots of projects to work on, and had the whole hall to themselves which meant plenty of space to spread out. A few photos follow of what they were working on.

Sue was trying to make some decisions about how she is going to finish this quilt. Sue is a very productive quilter and you can follow progress of her work on her blog, http://motherpatchwork.blogspot.com.au.

I think it's time to do the second coat now, and hopefully finish in an hour so that I can get to church this morning. Will be back later in the week with more quilt photos.

The weather is supposed to be very hot for the whole week, so I will need to be very productive in the early mornings before I wilt in the afternoon. Tomorrow I am up the highway again to Murray Bridge (2 hours away) to attend the funeral of my uncle. And I need to pick up the kitchen tiles while I am there.

Keep cool this week.http://motherpatchwork.blogspot.com.au/

Blessings, From Jude

Blue Stars

I think it's time for more quilt photos again, instead of renovation news. You might think I have given up on the quilting, but there are still lots of photos in the files. Quite a few custom have been done in the last month or so, and this is one. 

It was made by members of the QGSA Valuation Panel, as an exercise to see just how long it took us to choose the fabrics, and cut and sew the block. We each did one block and this quilt was made using them. It was interesting to see the variation in times from us all.

Hope you enjoyed the quilt show this morning.

Yesterday I attended a funeral to farewell the father of my son in law. It was a very moving service in the local Lutheran Church, of which he was a member.  He was a farmer, and had achieved a lot in his 83 years, and was very active in restoring old machinery and cars. And it was nice to see DD2 and her family although it was brief.

Time to get to the shower and start my day. I have some all over quilting for the next couple of days, and then it will be time to paint the kitchen. Am on a count down now until it is all over, as I am almost over it!

Blessings, From Jude