Weekend Report........

As promised I have returned, although not as soon as I had hoped. I have had a large custom show quilt on Max, and I had to finish that and "clear the head space" before I could take the time needed to write this report. I did download all the photos on Monday night, and that took me a couple of hours, deciding which ones to post, and by then I decided I needed sleep. In fact, I have picked up the laptop a few times since then with the same intention, but each time the eyes got heavy and bed won.

But last night I finished that quilt!!!!!!! And this morning I was out of bed by 5.30am, ready for another day, and lots of catching up. By 4pm tomorrow afternoon I will have another house full of eager quilters, ready for another mystery case weekend. (And there needs to be some shopping done, and food prepared for them yet!) Today it is Angels sewing day, and perhaps this quilter needs to work on some of their quilts in the queue??

But, I digress, so back to the topic for this post.

I try to vary the "allocation" process each time, and what we do, and this time it was a bit quicker, so they could get straight into sewing. The first to "choose" a quilt was Alison. They don't really know what they are choosing, as the cards with a picture of the quilt, are all upside down on the table. They all received a pick, in turn, and then could decide whether they are happy and want to keep it, or swap, or have one more pick. I think there was only one person who changed. I do want them to be happy with what they choose, so give them this option. (This still leaves a good range of choices for the group coming this weekend.)

Time to open their cases, and see what they have. (We did have the allocation process while they ate their evening meal of soup, to save some time).

These were there choices.

This was the first finish for the weekend, and no, it's not a mystery quilt. Alison came a day earlier than the others, for some needed "time out", and stitched her Antelope Canyon quilt together on Friday. (Mine is hanging up so she could see which bits to sew next, instead of looking at the instructions each time! And I have just discovered that it is 2 years since I made mine, and surprise, surprise, it's still in the queue, waiting to be quilted!!??)

I shall post progress photos of each person and what they were sewing.

First up is Chris, who came for her second mystery retreat. When she chose this quilt, called Bear Lake, she was rather concerned about the half square triangles and perhaps it was too difficult for her? But as the weekend went on, she was very happy that she kept it, and gained a lot of confidence as she worked her way through the case.

Friday evening everyone was keen to keep sewing, and it was almost 11pm when the last ones stopped for the night. (Maybe this is why I needed some earlier nights this week?)

It was easy to look at this picture, and think of how many HST blocks there were in the whole quilt, but the key is to work on one block at a time, which is what Chris did. (There were 256 hst!!)

It was Monday, and after steady progress, it was time for the final border!

Alison's quilt was made up of lots and lots of 2 1/2" squares, 297, in fact! I have called this quilt Stacked Scraps, and is inspired from a quilt that I saw online somewhere. Sorry I can't remember where, and if you know the origin of this, I would be very happy to acknowledge that. There is a great array of all sorts of fabrics in this, but it works.

Pleased to get the borders on, and call it done!

And because she finished earlier, Alison had another project to work on, and competed a Pokemon shirt for her son!

Margaret picked a card with a quilt called Letters from Grace. This was a quilt pack that I brought back from the US, and I used the fabrics, but adapted their pattern for use as a Mystery case. The fabrics showed up as quite dark in the scan, and Margaret was not too keen when she saw the picture on the card, but after I showed her the actual fabrics, she changed her mind. (Mostly the fabrics scan true to colour, but these were not so good).

Not long after this pic was taken, some serious unpicking was needed. Note the cream arrows in the top photo, and the dark ones in this one?? They needed to be cream!

                                             This is better!

                              A very happy camper with the borders on!

A queue at one of the ironing stations, was a good chance for a chat and a laugh.

Sadie's quilt involved a lot of trimming, and as a result was not finished when she went home. I have received a photo since of an almost finish.

Val was off to a good start, making her 4 patch units for her quilt called Twinkle, Twinkle..............

..............and then she was slowed down when the next bag told her to make 85 of these units........

                                           ............and a star is born!

This striped fabric was put to use for a border. It was in a jelly roll pack, that were used for the 4 patch units, but I didn't want to use this stripe in those, as it would be a bit "in your face!" So I decided to use it for a border. But, there was only 4 pieces, and not enough to go all the way around. (I did have another pack that had another 4 lengths in it, but only needed 2. And I was reluctant to open the other pack, just for 2 pieces!) So I added green to each end of the borders, as you can see in the photo below, and it worked great. Sometimes a problem with fabric quantities, works out to be a great design idea at the end!!

                                 Time for the final border.....................

.........................and a finish! Don't you just love that striped border? (I do!)

There was time for cuppas, in between the work,.........................

.................and a visit by Erica, who was unable to attend the weekend, but managed to come and say hello.

Sherrel's quilt, was made of soft floral fabrics, called Cottage Garden, and made with the scrappy trips technique.

Time for the border...........................

and a finish!

All the girls had started their quilts on Friday evening, and were well on the way. Saturday morning I received a phone call from Jean, asking if I still had a space at the table? Yes. Did I have any purple quilts in the cases? Sure do. So we added another lady to the table and Jean came to sew a quilt called Mystic Garden.

Another bit of unpicking occurred, and I think most of the girls "bonded" with their unpickers at some stage of the weekend. 

                             More stars are appearing.

Due to a later start then the others, Jean still had 2 side borders to do when it was time to depart on Monday. I am pleased to see this quilt come out of the case, as it has remained, not chosen, since last year.

This was Pat's quilt, called Atomic Garden, and named after the range of fabrics in the quilt.

Pat did not sew with us on Sunday, but still managed to get this far by Monday afternoon. She still had to sew her mitred corners but happily held it up for the photo.

The cutting table was busy place most of the weekend.

And of course we had to have a group photo with a group of very happy ladies.

There endeth another fantastic weekend where friends gather and friendships are made or renewed. The range of topics discussed are many and the world's problems are solved! Maybe the world's leaders should attend a quilting retreat and listen to the conversations??  But mostly there is lots of laughter and fun, and everyone goes home refreshed and ready to face reality again.

I am pleased to report that after missing out on rain recently, we have had good falls this week, and their is almost an inch of in the rain gauge. ( About 23 mls in the metric).

Be back soon, with another retreat report.

Blessings, From Jude

A quick check in..........

I have downloaded photos from the weekend retreat, and saved them onto the blog. But I need an "earlier" night and some catch up sleep, so will just post this pic and say that it has been another amazing few days. 

The beds are all stripped and the washing is on the line, in the lounge by the fire. It should all be dry in the morning. I shall return soon, with a comprehensive report and lots of photos of our long weekend.

Be back,
Blessings, From Jude

A woman of faith..........

Yesterday was the day we said our farewell to a special lady from our town. The church was packed with members of her family, and many friends. It was a service of thanksgiving for a woman of faith, who lived for her Lord. She was born 6 weeks premature, 86 years ago, and despite living with a heart problem and asthma, defied the odds to live a long life.

Many years ago when our family first moved to this district, I remember our first visit to our local church and a lady who came up and welcomed us. This was Betty, and she has faithfully kept in touch, and remembered birthdays and anniversaries ever since. Life has not always been easy, but she has always come out smiling. All the photos shown at the funeral displayed that lovely smile. She was an example of a wonderful Christian lady and will be missed.

Betty and husband Barry have been in nursing home care for the last 6 months, and I took this photo just prior to Easter, and despite her failing eyesight and hearing, she still had that smile. But we know that she is now with her Lord, can now see and hear fully, and we rejoice.

Blessings, From Jude

(will be back soon with a report of our Pick a Case mystery retreat, where there are 8 ladies busily sewing, and making some lovely quilts)

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

 Today is the 87th birthday of my dad. Just a few photos that were taken yesterday when some of the family gathered at the home of my niece to celebrate with him. You can see the "little ones" were happy to see the candles on the cake. (I don't think there were 87 candles though!) Dad, I hope you have had great celebrations, and enjoyed the cake.

(It's hard to see your once strong, fit and able father growing old, and I am so fortunate and thankful to still have my parents.)

Yesterday was also a special family day with the addition of another family member. My nephew and his wife welcomed their first baby, a son, which makes a total of 15 great grandchildren for my parents.

I did not go up yesterday as I had been up on Friday to see Dad, do some shopping, and also visit the Barossa and the family there. I needed to sort out some issues that I was having with my mobile phone, so had to go when the shops were open. I now have another learning curve, trying to work out the new one I have. They are getting to be too clever in the things that they do, and I certainly won't be using even half of it.

Today has been a day of this and that. Time with Max, working on another custom show quilt. A visit from the plumber to unblock some drains. Lots of phone calls planning quilt deliveries and pick ups. Some cooking in preparation for the retreat, and also for a family who has lost their mother this week. A few callers, including my checking lady who counted some more cases. And once again, I have the laptop on my knee, and sitting beside the fire and writing newsfromjude.

Now I need to search for some patterns that will work with the quilt I am doing. Sorry, no photos, until after the show. This is the 5th show quilt I have done recently, so there will be a few more pictures later.

Blessings, From Jude