I am still here

 

It must be time for another blog update, and it seems like a long time since I have posted quilt photos. These are going back to last month, and as May is about to arrive I better get them out.

First is Val’s quilt, showcasing a range of fabrics, very simple piecing, but it looks great.

And this is Kath’s, and very simply custom quilted, as I find it hard to do an allover and quilt over all the applique.

And these 2 were made by Mary for a friend, and very pretty in pinks.

The weather has turned wintry this week, and it was fantastic to wake up one morning to glorious rain. Not sure how much we have had, but think about 25 mls or 1 inch in the old measurement. I think that will be enough to turn the taps at The Sanctuary back to rain water in the house, which will save buying cartons of water to drink.

I still have to write a report from last weekend yet, and it is coming. It was a great time, and the Paper Bag Mystery”s pleased them all.

Had a trip to Naracoorte today, another medical appointment, and while there, had another little shop up at the garden store, just a few more bits of colour to plant in the garden at The Sanctuary. Getting ready for an afternoon tea birthday party this weekend. I have been busy this week, with loads of washing, and a quilt deadline that needed to be done by May 1st. I just scraped in as i have taken the quilt off the machine tonight.

Well, time for bed, lots happening tomorrow.

Blessings, From Jude

The bags are ready….

 

for tomorrow when the mystery will be revealed. All the bags contain a quilt design, the instructions written out for it, and the fabrics cut and ready to be sewn. (And there are a few other goodies in the bags as well??) We have a few letters stuck on the outside, which could give a hint as to what is in the bag, and I wonder if anyone will be able to decipher the meaning of them?

I have nearly finished the gardening, and will be back there early tomorrow morning, before spending time in the kitchen preparing food for 9 quilters for the weekend.

The weather is lovely during the day at the moment, and we are still waiting for opening rains. But the nights are rather cool, so I think we may be lighting the wood fire at The Sanctuary for the first time this year. Might be a nice idea to put the feet up tomorrow evening, and maybe a little sip of something will go down well, and enjoy the company of quilters!

It is another public holiday here in Australia tomorrow, for Anzac day. A time to remember those who gave their all for our country. There will be lots of dawn services around the country in the morning, and some major towns have street marches of the returned soldiers.

Be back soon, with a report on how the “bags” are received and whether everyone will be happy or not?? It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I am now a bit anxious whether it was a good idea or not!

Blessings, From Jude

Another day out

 

Just another quick report this morning, while I am waiting for it to be daylight so that I can go over to The Sanctuary and do some gardening. I had a “little” spend in the garden shop last weekend, and bought some flowering plants to put into some empty spaces in the garden, to make it look nice for a couple of afternoon teas that are happening soon. So today looks like another busy one, as tomorrow the girls arrive for the “Paper Bag” Mystery Retreat. It is a public holiday here for Anzac Day, which means it is a very short week, because we had Easter last weekend. Not often that Easter and Anzac are so close together.

And add into that mix, a day trip yesterday to Mount Gambier for medical appointments, and the week has suddenly got much shorter. Had a lovely day out though, and did the tourist thing on the way home and called into Father Woods Park. I had often driven past, but decided to stop this time. You can read about the park on the photos below, and more info on various websites if you “google” it. (What did we do in the “pre google” days, if we wanted to know something??)

These statues have been carved out on the trees, with a chain saw!! And I think a good rain would be in order, to wash the remains of the birds from their heads!?

These statues are just north of Penola, which is where Mary MacKillop lived also, at the same time as Father Woods. Mary was recently made a Saint for her good works, and lots of the history can be found in Penola.

Well, the sun is up now, so I better get off the computer, and head “over the road”, and finish planting, before I come back and organise food for the weekend. I think quilting will have to wait for next week.

Have a good day.

Blessings, From Jude

The last two weeks

 

My apologies for not reporting in for over 2 weeks now, and thankyou to those who missed me, and either phoned, or emailed to check on me. It just goes to show, how time really does fly when you are having fun!!

It has been a really full on few weeks, even though I have not been quilting! Have had a bit of “time out”, although in reality, it was really “time in”.

I spent almost 4 weeks home, and not going out, while my face was “doing its thing”, and going through all the “not so pretty” stuff. I am pleased to report, that all the blisters are gone, and the scabs are off, and just a slight redness remains. I have nice new skin on my face now, and it will take a little while to “toughen” up.

So my time has been spent busily cleaning, sorting and decluttering some rooms of the house. Still not finished yet, but am getting there, and it sure feels so good. Amazing what I have been finding, and there are bags of assorted things, that will go home with each of my children when they next visit. I think it’s time for them to decide what they want to keep or discard. Old school books, and clothes, toys, and memorabilia.

And I don’t think I really should say just how many quilts I folded up into a cupboard this week. Maybe it’s time to offload some? Can anyone tell me if there is a market for them?

Also have spent a fair chunk of time getting things planned for the “Paper Bag” Mystery Retreat which is this coming weekend. I have made up 11 bags, which each have a different quilt design in them. It has been a good learning curve following the recent EQ7 retreat. Below is a photo of all my little piles of fabrics from which I started. Was a challenge to design something to use the fabrics I had purchased, which included jelly rolls, and layer cakes, and charm packs, and some yardage etc. I do hope the girls coming will like what I have chosen. There is a bit of an “allocation” process for each bag, which should be fun, and there are a couple of spares for anyone not happy with what they get.

Had a special mail delivery last week, of my latest blog book. This one is for the whole year, 2013, and arrived in just 2 weeks, from the date that I ordered it online, from the US.

Have been away for a couple of days and only arrived home tonight. My brother’s eldest daughter and her fiance were married yesterday at The Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. The weather was glorious, and sunny, and the gardens are beautiful.

This photo is of my much younger sister and her family.

We saw a lot more of the Botanic Garden than we intended, as our taxi driver dropped us at the wrong gate, and we had a hurried walk through from the back gate instead of the front, which is the photo below.

The reception was just across the road at Ayers House. A lovely setting, beautiful meal, and great family catch up.

At the reception they had organised a photo booth, and lots of use was made of this. We got to keep one photo and the other copy was for an album for the bride and groom, which we wrote messages in for them. Lots of fun.

Below are the photos that my sister and I had taken. We have not hardly ever had a photo of just the two of us. I am almost about to turn that number of “60” !!, and she is a babe of 43 years young. I had already left school and home before she was born. There were a few “props” in the booth, so we decided to be a bit silly and dress in the feathers for the photo.

And above are the 5 siblings, in the confines of this booth, which got quite warm with a few bodies in there!. Sorry for the poor photos, but they are a photo of the photos.

Well that’s all folks, time for bed after all the excitement, but I need to blog tonight, as the coming week is really hectic, and it’s already Monday evening now, and that’s one day of the week gone. The retreat starts Friday at 1pm, so that’s another day gone, and not too many days in between is there? And am back to quilting again this week too.

Be back again later in the week,

Blessings, From Jude

Another birthday in my family

 

Today it is 37 years since I gave birth to my second daughter. She made a quick entrance into the world, after being a long 15 days overdue. It was just less than 2 hours from when I knew she was “on the way”.

Wishing you a very happy birthday, lots of love from Mum.

And this photo was “snatched” from her facebook page today, taken with her eldest daughter, while they are on holidays this week.

I know I should have posted this much earlier in the day, but have been “out of town” for a couple of days, and will report on that in another post.

Blessings, From Jude

New Life and frogs

Back in the summer I was bemoaning the fact that I had lost my Lilly Pilly bush, and was thinking about what to plant to replace it. Just as well I had not chopped it out, as it now has lots of new green shoots! I gave it a trim up this morning and it looks good as new!

This is how is was in January.

Thought I would show you some of my collection of frogs. There are a lot more, scattered around strategic places in both houses, inside and out. Most of my friends know that I collect frogs, because FROG stands for Fully Rely on God. This week as I have been cleaning (in places that I don’t clean very often, I will admit), it has again reminded me to remember to keep on trusting Him above for all aspects of my life.

This fellow above seems to be rather laid back, and is beside the door at The Sanctuary.

These sit on the shelf above my computer at my desk. They are all nice and clean now.

And these sit on the window sill at the kitchen sink.

My KYB (Know your bible) study this term has been on Hebrews. This weeks lesson covered Hebrews, chapter 13  and verse 5….. to be content with what you have…..     spoke to me. Very fitting as I take time out at the moment to think about my life and where it’s going. And as I am trying to declutter and clear out “stuff” in my house and to get some organisation happening. And back to my word for the year as being Balance. Striving to live with less, rather than desiring more. Relishing what you have, rather then resenting what you are missing. Seeing God’s love expressed in what he has provided and remembering that money and possessions will all pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. I need to remember to Fully Rely on God, and know that he will give me strength and supply all my needs.
Is it that there is a big “O” birthday coming up, that I am thinking more about life where it’s really at, and is going, and where it has been?? I am feeling an urgency to “get things sorted”, and not sure why. That's probably enough of the deep and meaningful stuff!
Now it’s time to get back to filling more bags for the Paper Bag Mystery. It is a lovely sunny day today, and the end of daylight saving at last. I spent my extra hour, pruning and weeding in the garden early this morning. I still can’t go out in the day light without the face stinging, and the car has not moved from the carport for over 2 weeks now. Have stopped the cream, but my face is very tender, very red and scabby and very tight.
Hope you are enjoying your weekend, whatever you might be doing.
Blessings, From Jude

The end of another week

It’s a bit scary just how fast time is flying by. Not a lot of quilting happening this week, but lots of other things that were building up, so have had to take the time to do them. Very unusual for “Max”, my machine to be without a quilt loaded, or as one lady said to me once, it was naked!
Below is Lyn’s quilt, made with prints from her overseas USA trip. She wanted a simple custom, and no quilting on the fabric squares. I SID all the blocks and simple pattern in the sashes, and then star spangled banner pattern in the borders, although it was busy fabric, so hard to see.


This pretty quilt was made by Cathy, and we did a simple custom quilting on it, which she was very happy with.

 
This was made by Sherrel, it was in APQ magazine, and she used blacks and greys, instead of the reds in the original quilt. Once again, a simple custom.

And besides a lot of cleaning, and sorting cupboards, (and even washing walls!!), I have been getting organised for the “Paper Bag” Mystery Retreat,  which will be at The Sanctuary over the Anzac weekend. I am doing up all different Mystery quilt patterns, and we will have an “allocation” process, which should be a bit of fun. It is surely testing out my EQ skills, so is probably good practice after doing a retreat with  http://virtualquilter.wordpress.com/ recently. Thankyou Lois for your help today, I think we both learnt a lot. You can see I have one bag finished, complete with the fabric cut, and the instructions all printed out. Only 11 more to go. I have most of the quilts all planned out, but it’s the instructions and the samples for the photos that take the time.

You know what I’ll be doing for the weekend, as it’s the last weekend I have free before Anzac, so need to get it done soon. There’s nothing like a deadline to get one motivated is there?
Hope you enjoy your weekend, be back soon,
Blessings, From Jude

And now he is 3

Since this little man was born 3 years ago, there has been a lot of “water gone under the bridge”. And it only seems like yesterday. I remember that day rather well, as in addition to the birth of my 6th grandchild, and my 3rd grandson, I also took a tumble in the main street of the town where he was born. I was minding his bigger brother, and driving his parents car, and it stopped on the side of the road. I can’t remember just why, but this grandma was looking after a 2 year old, and had left home without the usual bag of things that a mother would take, like a drink, some food and a nappy change.!! (Must have been out of practice is my excuse). So we were walking to the closest shop to get a drink and something to eat, and I tripped and we both went down. And I don’t think big brother has forgotten yet either, as when they drive past that shop, he always says “that is where grandma fell over with me!”

And this is a recent photo of him with his cousin. Don’t you love those long blonde curls, and of course that cheeky smile! Happy Birthday and love from Grandma.


Those long blonde curls are not really modern are they, when you look at this photo below. This is my grandfather, on the right, with his older sister. The little man above is often mistaken for a little girl, although he is obviously dressed like a boy, but when you see this photo, it looks like 2 girls, with the coat and the lace and stockings my grandfather is wearing. This photo was taken about 1910, and this week it was 23 years since he died. I think there is a resemblance there, with the long blonde hair and the facial features, don’t you?

 

 

Update.... this photo was taken this morning after he opened his birthday present! I think it will be a tad noisy at their house for awhile, don't you?

Hope you are having a great day, I am scrubbing my kitchen, and sorting cupboards, and finding that one thing leads to another.....but it will be good when it is finished.


Blessings, From Jude

Looking above

 

A few days ago, I  happened to notice the clouds above. Not sure if I have never really looked at the clouds, but these seemed different. The sky was so blue, and the clouds looked so light and fluffy, just like cotton wool floating above, really white, and I am sure that they were much lower than normal. The photos don’t look quite like the real thing was, but I thought they were worth posting anyway. Maybe I need to look up more closely more often.

Life has been so chaotic lately, and I seem to have built up quite a bit of “stuff” in my work area, so today was the day to attack it. Have managed to get quite a lot into the rubbish bin, and filed more where it should go. Still lots to do, but I feel more organised in here for now. I am working in the kitchen now, and sorting things in some of the cupboards. It is a sorry state of affairs when you can’t fit everything in and there is “stuff” all over the place. You know when you go looking in the shelves for something and it is always at the back, and things don’t go back in like they were? Well it is time to do something and I know I will feel better. It has been a weight on my mind.

Tomorrow sees the end of my treatment, and then the healing can begin. I had put off checking some spots on my face for awhile now, and recently saw the specialist. I was quite relieved when she said they were only on the surface at this stage, as I  was having visions of something deeper which would have needed to be cut out. I am so thankful. As the area was quite large, all over the face and nose, I have been using some cream for 3 weeks, twice a day. (The doctor called it a chemotherapy cream.) I have taken some photos, but won’t post them. Suffice to say, the face, both sides, and the nose are very red, with blisters, which are weeping, and now scabs in lots of spots. When I finish with the cream tomorrow, it will dry up and mostly peel off. I have not been going out for awhile now, and thanks to friends for doing some shopping and mail runs for me. Even going outside in the sun makes the face sting. Hope it will look better soon.

Well, I better get back into the kitchen and clean up the mess still on the floor by the cupboard I have cleaned out. I have even written an inventory of all the food stuff, so that I can plan some cooking around what I have. And with the contents of the freezer, I could possibly not go shopping for quite a while longer.

Be back tomorrow with another post, I have another little boy with a birthday. Am also looking forward to the arrival in the mail soon of another blog book, the year 2013. It’s exciting to see it all in print, and is a great record of what’s been happening in my life. Even if no one else reads it, it is my diary. But I know that a lot of you call in, so thanks for coming.

Blessings, From Jude