A 6 month summary................

Well, it is the last day of June, and I am wondering how we are here already. It hardly seems any time at all since the start of the new year. 2020 arrived and everyone was full of optimism about what was ahead. There were lots of comments from many about 2020 vision, which the dictionary tells me is the ability to see perfectly! And how far from the truth has that been, as no one would have foreseen what was to come. Life as we knew it, certainly turned upside down. Australia has fared much better than so many other countries and I feel for them, and pray for our world.

 Restrictions are gradually being eased, but there is still a long road ahead, and talk of a second wave. Things are getting out of control in the next state, and the border has been closed now since March 24th, so we must not get complacent, but keep on taking precautions. Lots of events that were planned for 2020 have now been cancelled, including many state quilt shows, and sports are struggling to resume for this season.

So while some activities are resuming, it will be a long time yet, and perhaps never(?), before life is back to what was 'normal'. Will we ever be able to greet someone with a handshake again? Or give someone a hug to comfort and show we care? 

I have included the above details so that they are recorded in my blog book for this 6 month period. On a personal level, I find it is easy to keep looking ahead at what is on the "to do" list, and then lose site of what has been achieved. Thus I decided this morning to look back at my blog for the last 6 months, and will post a summary of that.

The year started "as normal", and I drove up and down the highway for appointments and family functions for the first couple of months.

Thankful that I managed to get all 10 of the grandies in one photo together, before things were shut down. They have all grown so much since then!

There were 2 retreats early in the year before life as I knew it stopped ..............

On the plus side, when travel and retreats ceased, I had extra time to work on my own projects. I started this kit during the above retreat, and soon had it finished. (It is still waiting for the quilter though!) And I did manage to get a few customer quilts done in this 6 months, and a third of them were quite large custom quilts too.

 I managed to finish this quilt that I made for a special friend. As I started piecing it in June 2019, it was well and truly time for it to be finished. 

And then I should have spent time working on the many UFO's I have waiting in the wings..... but I started new projects instead. First it was the Casa Felix Mystery quilt with the Quilters Guild 

of SA................

........and then I joined in with Rachelle Denneny's Mystery quilt.

In between the above I have been working on these applique quilts for some special little people.

This "Little Piggy" quilt, will be for Miss Billie, and still needs a border, and the finishing touches of eyes and mouths etc. 

This "Paper Dolls" quilt will be for Miss Bridie, and I am working hard to get this one done in the next month, before her birthday. I have finished all the machine applique and am now joining all the blocks. I will post more photos of this soon.

Our local patchwork group committee met last week to discuss the resumption of sewing days and we hope that this will happen soon. 

After a few months of our KYB group not being able to meet, and doing our studies each week by email, we have finally been able to meet face to face, although keeping with the distancing rules. We are hoping that our church can resume services sometime in July which will be great.

Because the retreats have been put on hold for this year, it has been disappointing to be not meeting up with those who have become good friends. Since I have been  introduced to Zoom meetings by Chookyblue, I have used this method to catch up with some of those people. While phone calls are great, it is better for a few of us to chat together and 'pretend' we are in the same room. There are still a few meetings to be scheduled yet.

I was going to show a few recent family photos, but am thinking now that this post is long enough. I also have a report on the group that was due to retreat here in June, that bought the kits and worked on them in their group, but that too can wait.

It's time to shut the blinds to keep out the cold evening air, and turn up the heat. We are in for another cold night, after a sunny day. (Well there was blue sky, but still very cold air!)

Blessings, From Jude