This week's happenings....

It has been a busy week here with lots of happenings. On Monday I greeted 2 lovely ladies from the city, who came for a few days of R & R. They are my first "official" retreaters on this side of the road! They were joined by a few locals who called in to visit, and one local lady who came for 5 days of sewing. In between the chatting, the cuppas, and the visiting, some of them (maybe only one!) achieved a lot of quilting!  The weather has been very warm, and is now very HOT, with today's temperature expected to be 44 deg!!!! The mornings have been busy with keeping the water up to the plants in the garden, and enjoying the early morning cool. But this morning, there is not even a breeze and is stifling already. Needless to say, the airconditioner has been running a lot.

We enjoyed brekkie in the pergola 3 mornings this week.

I usually send out a few (?) Christmas cards to those on my database, and had hoped to finish this task weeks ago, before I went away for the wedding. But it did not happen, and they were all still sitting on the table waiting for my attention. Thankyou very much to the angels pictured below, who got busy and almost finished the job for me. 

And then another lovely friend called in to visit and here is the tub, all finished and waiting to go to the post office. Might just make it in time for Christmas now.

We have spent a part of the week birdwatching. I have put a birdbath and a feeder just outside the front window of the sewing room, and the birds have appreciated the water this week. In the photo below, it is a bit hard to see, but there is a honeyeater sitting on the edge of the basin. We have been visited by a parrot also, but by the the time I went for the camera, it had gone. There are lots of blackbirds and sparrows coming too. It's a bit hard to get sewing done when you keep watching the birds.

This week also saw the arrival and fitting of my new screen door. It will be so lovely to have the door open while I am quilting, and look out at the following view. Well, when the weather cools a bit it might be!

This is the view from outside, looking in to where Max is situated.

I have started sewing the "wedding quilt" together, in room that is a bit cooler in the afternoon. As you can see in the following photo, I bought a couple of new sewing chairs, which are a bit of fun.

This is what I am working on this week, but I have to admit that the weather is not very conducive to production, so it is taking me longer than it should. This is made by Sue, from Michele Hill's Renaissance pattern. The purple background and bright applique fabrics are a change to others I have seen.

Time to shift the water to the next area, and have my second cup of coffee, before I sit on my stool and do some more SID on the above quilt. With the expected temps this afternoon, I might retire to the lounge and find a book or just wilt. There is a family reunion happening about 2 hours from here today, but I decided that it was too, too hot to venture out. Which is a pity because 2 of mum's brothers from Queensland are in SA for a visit.

I can see the date is already the 19th of December, and except for the above Christmas cards, I have made no attempt yet to shop for Christmas. I am not even got the list out, so maybe next week I might need to do something about this.

Blessings, From Jude