Catching up

Looking back in the photo folder, I found some that I had not blogged, so here they are. The first is Di’s quilt, quilted with and edge to edge through the centre, and SID around the hearts on the border. And just look at the amazing work in those heart blocks!

This is Pat’s Red Mystery quilt, very striking colours.

 

And Sherrel’s red quilt, must be the year for red quilts, as I have seen lots lately.

And another of Pat’s candlewicked quilts, she has 2 more to finish yet!

Above this was made by Jayne for Matilda, very pretty for a little girl, and below a first quilt made by a young lady for her mother, who likes horses.

Hope you enjoyed the quilt show, be back soon with some more for you.

Hope you enjoy your day, whatever you are doing,

Blessings, From Jude

Taking “time out”

 

For quite awhile now life has been pretty busy, and when I look back, not just the last few months, but years, a lot has been “packed” into the time. And it’s not just the being busy, but also the emotional happenings, that wear us out. And I can’t see that things will be any different in the near future, so it was time to do something. And just a couple of days out of the routine was something I could do. A  friend and I decided it was time to spend a weekend doing what we wanted, and so we are having a “retreat” at my house, filling up our tanks!

We started Friday evening, set up the sewing machines, and the TV nearby, to watch DVD’s while we were sewing. Must admit I did not even turn on my machine, but I did decide on a project to work on, one on the many PHD’s I have stored in boxes. And I did sort out just where I was going with it and what I was going to do next. Feels so good to do this, all my unfinished “stuff” is heavy on my mind.

Saturday morning we attended a Breakfast by the Lake, an event organised by a local church that have a group called “Ladies Lovin’ Life” each month. It was a very chilly morning, but our lake it a great place for time out. A peaceful place listening to the birds and watching the ducks. The lake was made in the “hole” left by the earthworks when a new road was built to bypass our town, a few years ago when they built an overpass over the railway line. The hole was filled with water and we now have a lovely area, with a walking trail around it, and an island in the middle. Photos below.

Breakfast was yummy, fruit, yoghurt, cereals, toast, bacon and eggs and muffins, with coffee or tea. Was a wonderful morning of fellowship.

A lovely message from Nell was very inspiring, and something for us all to think about, and very fitting for my weekend of “timeout”. The following verse was the start of Nell’s talk…..

Next time a sunrise steals your breath, or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, “Do you like it? I did it just for you”    (Max Lucado)

A great reminder to stop, slow down, and “smell the roses” and to really look at God’s great creation in the busyness of our lives.

And now a couple of photos of what’s happening. First is my messy work area, and second is Pauline’s tidy area. When she went to bed last night, it was all tidy and things put away, stuff in plastic bags and organised, compared to mine that was left just as it!

So, I have one more day, before I get back to the quilting machine. I am enjoying getting creative again. Lots of different threads, play with the stitches on my machine and spending time trying to decide which colour fabric to use.

I have even attacked a few spiders in the house, and wiped away some dust, and cleaned floors. And the gutter man has been and cleaned the gutters at The Sanctuary, and there is a bit of water in the tank! The weather is gloomy and there’s been some rain this morning. A good day to stay inside, with the wood fire going to keep warm, do some stitching and watch some DVD’s!

Hope you enjoy whatever you are doing today.

Blessings, From Jude

Exhibition Report

It must be time for a report on last weekend’s exhibition, as it’s a week today since we hung the quilts. Life has not let up since then, as I have a few very patient ladies, who were happy to wait until after the show for me to do their quilts.  And in between I have been trying to do some weeding in the garden at The Sanctuary. I am still waiting for the gutter cleaning man to come, but in the meantime we have had lots of rain this week, so I am sad to think about it all running “down the drain”, instead of in the tank. Note to self, organise the cleaning of the gutters more often, so that this does not happen.

Well, back to the subject of the exhibition, we had a good weekend, lots of lovely comments about the quilts, and a good catch up with quilters from other areas who visited. We raised a good amount for the local Chaplaincy Fund with our raffle quilt, which was won by a local lady, who will be pleased to receive it.

Last May we had our annual retreat at Pendleton, and the lovely Faye Packham came to join us, and Marilyn was working on a quilt that had been “in the works” for awhile, and has now been finished. Below is Faye checking out Marilyn’s quilt.

And this is Faye and Lauren in front of one of the Bedford quilts.

June in front of one of her heirloom quilts. She had 3 hanging, which she has made for each of her granddaughters. They were just beautiful. I just love to see these quilts finished, and have enjoyed teaching the techniques. I have some more ladies interested in the classes, so am planning time again next year to start some more.

And this is Jocelyn and her friend Marg, in front of Jocelyn’s heirloom quilt called “Memories”. The quilt included the horseshoes from her wedding, and pieces of fabric that were special, including leftover bits from Marg’s mother of the bride outfit. Marg (who is not a quilter), has been watching this quilt being made over the last 5 years, and has taken a keen interest in it along the way, but this was the first time she had seen it finished, so was very pleased. And the “icing on the cake”, was the fact that this quilt won Viewers Choice at the exhibition! – (Jocelyn is also a cake decorator!)

Pat’s Blue Diamonds, lots of candle-wicking and amazing embroidery in this very big quilt!

The Green and Gold, a quickly pieced quilt, and quilted using a Kerryn Emerson pattern, made by me.

A view of all our Bedford quilts, hanging in a row, and 2 general views of some of the quilts.

This is not a good photo, the light was shining across, and I meant to go back and get a better one, but forgot. This is Lois’s Ring Cycles and my New York Beauty quilts, both started in March with Lessa Siegele, when she came to Bordertown. I am pretty pleased to have this finished, in less than a year! And I love the bright colours in Lois’ quilt, the circles really shine out. And I know that she is glad this is finished, was a bit of a rush job to get it done! There is something about a deadline, otherwise things seems to hang around, don’t they?

This quilt of Marie’s is very striking, and there were lots of comments.

This is Kath’s quilt, a Ginny Beyer basket quilt.

Linda’s quilt that she made for her daughter, which was also a very large quilt.

This is my quilt, Gone around the block, made in a mystery quilt workshop, a couple of years ago, and actually quilted this year!

Another of Linda’s quilts, called African Beauty, using fabrics that she hand-dyed in a class with Marie Holly, of Holly Hand Dyes. We have nick named this Licorice Allsorts!

And this is Mignon’s quilt, which was made from fabrics in her stash, and is very “Mignon” with the soft colours that she uses.

Heather Ridley has been to Bordertown to do a Kookaburra workshop, and this is Heather “checking” out 2 of the finished quilts!

This is the Christmas display which was in a corner of the hall.

A few ladies enjoying afternoon tea.

I had some lovely people staying at The Sanctuary and this is afternoon tea on the front verandah, enjoying the sunshine and watching the world go by!

That’s about it, hope you enjoyed my quilt show on the blog, time to have a shower and get back to the machine and finish the custom that’s half done. Just looked at the date, and realised that tomorrow it will be 2 months until Christmas! Where has the year gone?

Bye for now,

Blessings, From Jude

In 6 hours

What a difference 6 hours can make, photos from early in the day, to after lunch. Some lovely husbands, and school students put the frames up yesterday, so all was ready once the quilts were delivered this morning.
 All is ready for the Gumtree Quilters Exhibition, starting tomorrow and going until Sunday. It all looks pretty good, lots of different quilts, and a display of Bedford quilts and how different they can be.
Would love to see you there.
 

Have the feet up with a cuppa, and going for a long overdue hair trim later, and maybe an early night tonight, after a few late ones, and early mornings.
Looking forward to catching up with quilting friends, and doing duty as well.

Blessings, From Jude

Waiting for the binding fairy

Another day has finished, and only one more to get it all done.  Today I have finished quilting the New York Beauty, quilted an edge to edge quilt, put binding and sleeves on 2 quilts.

Also had the electrician here today to fix a few things, and look at my Pressure pump at The Sanctuary. Thought there was something wrong with it, as it was not pumping rain water into the house the other weekend. But, it turned out that my rain water tank was empty, and not the pump. Good that I don't need to replace the pump, but not good that there is no water in the tank, after a long, wet winter here. I think the trouble maybe in blocked gutters, from all the trees, so another call to the 'clean out gutter' man took care of that. I just hope that we get a good rain, after the gutters are cleaned out. Meanwhile, we have mains water into the house instead.

I have finished one binding tonight, and no Faye, you can't ask a white glove lady to look! My stitches are NOT dainty, but at the moment I just want it finished.  And I wonder if when I get up in the morning, whether the binding fairy will have been during the night and done the other quilt???


Above, the one waiting for the fairy, and below the one I have quickly done!

Good night all, catch ya another day.
Blessings,
From Jude

A lot has been happening

 

Just a quick check-in this morning, before I get to the machine. It has been a big week in the studio, have been churning out the quilts ready for our exhibition this weekend. Can’t say that I want to do this many hours all the time, the back is telling me, that there has been too much standing and bending, with lots of SID on all these quilts. Have one left to finish today, and then some bindings and sleeves to go on, and The Sanctuary to get ready for some special people who are coming to our exhibition.

Above is Mary’s quilt, Coffee and cream, a pattern from Patchwork Cow at McLaren Vale.

And this is Kath’s Basket quilt, a Ginny Beyer pattern, made for her daughter Jenny.

This was made by June, who has made quilts for her granddaughters, started in classes she has done with me, using our machines for lots of decorative things. Good to see the different ways they all put their quilts together, and the colour combinations.

And this one was started by Jocelyn 5 years ago, and finally done.

Another by June, mostly in creams, and gathered sashings.

Another by June, creams and pinks. Having 3 finished in a week, I think June would be busy doing bindings and sleeves this week, ready for them to hang in our exhibition.

Well, “Max”  is calling me to finish the quilt, so better get to it, and the washing machine has beeped, ready for another load. The house is otherwise silent, as the dust and cobwebs don’t call out, but I know that they are there, so soon, I need to give them some attention too. Never a dull moment, and I can’t imagine ever being bored!

Blessings,

From Jude

Some of this week's quilting

Just thought I would post a couple of this week's quilts before I head to bed. It has been another long day at the machine, but I am on schedule, which is really good. Am close to finishing another custom one, but think I will be fresher in the morning.
These are a couple of edge to edge quilting jobs that I have done in between lots of custom this week.

This is Lois' Ring Cycles, a Lessa Siegele pattern. Very bright, and I know that Lois is glad to see it finished, one for display in next week's exhibition.

And Michele has been struggling to get much finished this year, with lots of family issues to deal with, but was determined to get something to hang, so used a jelly roll and made a very quick quilt. And we are both pleased with how the quilt looks now it's quilted. An amazing change.

It's all actions go now, getting ready for next weekend. Hanging sleeves and bindings and labels are being stitched, forms filled out for the label, and this quilter is still finishing quilts. I know someone who will be putting binding on at the last minute, and I think that will be me. I am aiming for a couple of days to get some finished for me. Exciting prospect!
Good night, hope you have had a great week, and I shall be back with more photos soon.
Blessings,
From Jude