What a week it has been!!

 Here is the weekly update of newsfromjude. If I start from last Saturday which is actually 8 days, I have already posted re the day trip with Mum to see all the family. And then I have posted a couple of times during the week, with a birthday post for DD1 and then the news of the birth of Olivia! Here is a recent photo for you of DS and his 2 girls!

That takes me up to Wednesday, so only half way through the week. Thursday was a day for some housework, which included some vacuuming ready for my fairy to come back for another visit!! Oh and also a hair cut and just a bit of recovery from the jetlag of 2 long trips in a few days before there was to be another one on Friday.

I knew it was going to be an early start Friday as the alarm was set for 4am, and departure was scheduled for 5am. Lois came with me for the trip to the city for SA Quilters Festival of Quilts, which was held in conjunction with the AMQF. (Australian Machine Quilters Festival). I had received a phone call to notify me of the Awards ceremony to commence at 8.30, hence the early start! I had stated last month that I didn't think I would make the trip, as already knew that week would be busy. But, I thought about it, and knew that I would have FOMO if I didn't go. I had not entered any of my own quilts this year, but there were some customer quilts entered. I decided that a day trip was in order, although that decision did not factor in being there so early.

It was an easy trip and we made good time, arriving in the city about 8am, and then it wasn't so easy trying to find a car park. We drove around and around for 20 minutes without any success. I made a phone call to someone who knows the city better than me to see where else there might be a park station close by? This lovely lady came to where I was, and took my car to find a park so that Lois and I could get into the award ceremony by 8.30! THANK YOU Robyn.

I took lots of photos of quilts on the day, but I don't have permission to post them all, so will just show you a few from the show. There was a real buzz in the room with quilters being able to get out to a show and meet up with each other. There was a great variety of quilts and some wonderful work on display.

Pat's quilt, Bee Mindful won the Patron's award and here is Pat receiving the ribbon.

Pat had other quilts entered, and the next 2 I did get photos of, but missed seeing the other 2.

Louise's quilt won first in it's section, Pieced, small, 2 person, and there is another blue ribbon there for me.

Lois entered the quilt that she had made for her Grandson James. When she told him he could have it after it came back from the quilt show in Adelaide, he asked where and when the show was on. Lois was thrilled when he decided to come and have a look. He received an education on quilt making in the 2 hour visit, and even to seeing the quilting machine that is like mine that quilted the music notes on his quilt. (He is a piano player, hence the music notes for the quilting pattern). 

A few months ago I said I was working on a special project and would come back later with more information. This project was a Professional Development project for the SA Quilters Appraisal Panel. I did photograph the information  and hope you can read this. If not, I will come back and do another post on it another day??

This was the display of the completed items, with a description of techniques used and the resulting appraised value. As expected this caused a lot of discussion amongst the viewers.

It was hard to photograph the laminated descriptions alongside each quilt, but here are a few of the quilts......with some of the valuations that can be read......

Sometime back in September I showed these 2 photos of my start with this project. I had deliberated far too long about what technique I should do for this. I should have immediately stated I would do a wholecloth machine quilted one, which would have been done in quicker time, but then decided to get out my collection that was leftover from an embellished quilt I had made years ago. .........

......there was quite a mess on my table while trying to decide what threads and fabrics to use.....

..and this is my finish...... called Plum Crazy, that took me much longer than expected.... which resulted in a value of $610! (Machine pieced, machine embroidered, hand embellished, wing needle and pintucking, machine quilted)

We met up with Raylene, aka the fairy, at the show, and she minded all our bags for us while we had photos taken by the quilts. I won't call her the bag lady!? (She is now in residence at Bordertown for the next week.)

This quilt was made up of so many tiny stars, and did have the information on the label, but can't read it now but you can get the scale of those stars! Made by Cindy Massey and won a red ribbon.

Cindy is the queen of scraps and had a display of many of her quilts and was demonstrating how she uses scraps in many of her projects. Sorry I didn't get pics of this, but if you go to the SA Quilters facebook page you can see photos of Cindy and many of the quilts at the show.

I loved this quilt made by Chris O'Brien, and her quilting was amazing. She deserved her ribbons, which included first in the category, the Machine Quilting Award and also Runner up to Best of Show.

The Best of Show award went to Adriana Newton for this quilt, Snow Country.

All too soon it was time to head for home, after finding out where my car had been parked. This was the view near the car park of the River Torrens and the Adelaide Oval in the background. It was a very peaceful scene on Friday, but a storm rolled in on Saturday and things were very different.

On the way home we called into Mum's for a cuppa and enjoyed many laughs and great conversations. 

Saturday was recovery day, and a bit of time was spent with Max and we enjoyed the company of some friends that called in. The weather had turned much colder and wet again, and it was time to light the fire again!! A fire in November?? This morning it was church time and this afternoon time on the computer. The next 2 days will be more sorting and packing, ready for another trip up the highway to be "the shop" at the SA Quilters Daytime meeting on Wednesday!! That will make a total of 4 trips in 10 days! Just as well I like driving.

That's all for this post. Have a good week.

Blessings, From Jude

Number Eleven has arrived!!.....

 There has been much excitement this week with the arrival of my 11th grandchild! Miss Olivia Hazel arrived this week, a little bit before her due date. This Grandma has driven the 4 hour journey there and 4 back again to have some cuddles. 

 Miss Bridie is so excited, but Mr Tate has reservations and wouldn't even look the first day!! I believe he is getting closer though.

I am sure there will be many more photos to come. They grow up so fast. 

I love this old building that is now the hospital where Olivia was born. I am sure it would have a history, but can't tell you. Perhaps I shall have to consult Mr Google!?

Better finish this post now, and head to the kitchen and get ready for an early night. My alarm is set for 4am!! More news on that will come. 

After not travelling far in my car for the first 14 months, I seem to be making up for it at the moment. 

Blessings, From Jude

 

Happy Birthday

 

This post should have gone up yesterday, sometimes the scheduling doesn't do it's thing, but better late than never??

Happy Birthday to my first baby, who now has 3 of her own and they are growing up fast. How the years are going by, and it only seems like "yesterday" since you were born.

Hope your day was as special as you, and lovely to see you last Saturday and chat yesterday.

Luv from Mum xxx

                                       

Blessings, From Jude

The week that was.......

 Today's great idea is to try and do a weekly post instead of leaving it all to the end of the month and then trying to remember what has happened. Surely I can't forget the last few days??

As stated in the last post, my week has been working on that appliqued custom quilt. I am almost at the finished stage, and will post photos in due course. The patchwork newsletter went out on time, and I made some progress on updating blog pages and today I have even caught up on replying to blog comments!!

QFO DAY

Last Wednesday was the monthly QFO (Quilts For Others) day and we had a very productive, fun day with lots of chatter and the whirr of machines.

Some were working on strings....................

and others were adding borders..............

...and no, Val is not putting her finger up at me, she was making a point in the story she was telling.....

                                                           

                          Here are 2 more tops, that need backings and then will be added to the quilting queue.

This was my progress for the day. To be continued...... one day.

Friday was a day for kitchen duty. I haven't had a good bake up for awhile and sausage rolls, biscuits and cakes were all on the list. Sorry, no pics this time, but you all know what they look like.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS DAY

Saturday came and I packed all the goodies in the car and headed up the highway for a day out.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the paddocks are still green. How good does that feel after all the cold and wet we have had. I even stopped just out of town and took this photo!!

I picked Mum up from Murray Bridge and headed to the city to visit DD1 and GD3. DD has a birthday next week, so we enjoyed coffee and cake with her. GD3 is about to start Year 12 exams and has been studying hard. It was a lovely day to sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Congratulations to Miss GD3 on receiving an Academic Excellence Award. You have certainly worked hard and put in the effort, fitting in school work, a job and other activities. 

Then it was off to the Barossa to visit with DD2 and family and catch up with their news. GD1 has finished her nursing studies this year and is excited to be heading off overseas for a holiday soon. GS at the back is making us all "look up" to him now.......

...............and I don't think there will be any sport played in the near future??

And then it was to visit with DS and family of 4, and very soon to be 5! Watch this space for further news!!

Miss Bridie is getting very tall too and is up to my chin! She is getting very excited and will be a very good "big sister".

We also managed to fit in a visit to these friends, who are recovering from a recent accident as they were travelling through NSW enroute to Brisbane. There are many what if's in this story, and seeing photos of the crash scene, and the first pic from the hospital, is confronting. But the reality is that they are expected to make a full recovery. There is much to be thankful for and lovely to actually see you both in person, and not just in the photos.

After doing the full circle it was back to Mum's place where the roses are putting on a great show. It was good to catch up with almost all of the family for the first time in awhile. I managed to see 6 of the grandies.

By 9pm I was home again, and I slept well last night. This morning I went to church and this afternoon has been spent with the computer. Tomorrow Max will be turned on to finish the quilt and the rest of the week is scheduled to be full once again. 

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

October summary.....

 I had great intentions of doing this post a few days ago, before November actually arrived, but alas....it was not to be. 

As already stated, much of the month was spent on market preparation and there was little quilting. After Max was turned on again early this week, I noted that it was 24 days since the last quilt was done!! But I am back on the job again now, with a large custom.

The weather turned back to winter, and we have had a lot more rain and cold. Perfect weather to be inside stitching by the heater.

As soon as the Kaniva show was over it was time to get out the facts and figures and prepare the financials for the accountant to do my 2021/2022 tax return. This meant a trip down to Naracoorte, which is about 50 minutes away. I have a 4 drawer filing cabinet which is full of papers, and I have realised that I hardly touch it. All the information I had to access is stored 'under the desk'. So as soon as my appointment was over I went home and started going through all of those folders in the cabinet. This could take me a loooong time, but I have made some progress. It is also a trip down memory lane doing this as there is a lot of history in those drawers.

Even the shredder got a 'workout', well once I unblocked it!! It is a messy job and there were bits of paper all over the floor.

One Sunday in October we helped this couple celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. This is quite a milestone these days, congratulations and well done, Pat and Alan.

Much time has been spent updating pages of this blog, and is a work in progress. Also more preparation for the next market day for Cornerstone Creations which is only 2 week away now. Perhaps life will ease a bit after that?

In the background of all this is other life events of friends..... 2 of whom have lost brothers, another's husband is in palliative care and other friends were involved in a vehicle accident. 

There was also a quick trip up the highway to deliver quilts for the Adelaide quilt show, which were to be dropped off at Sit and Sew day. It was lovely to catch up with a few familiar faces....... 

Love Faye's houses quilt!!

We also visited the fabric warehouse and may have been tempted with a few goodies.

That takes care of the newsfromjude for October. This week has seen much progress on the custom quilt, and today is get the patchwork monthly newsletter done. I have also been on kitchen duty this morning, having a bake up of goodies to take to family tomorrow. It will be a day out for Mum and I, visiting family. 

The forecast is for a mostly sunny day, so that sounds lovely for a drive in the country!!

Be back sometime with a few customer quilts that are still in the files and other news.

Blessings, From Jude