Catching up..............

 

As promised here is the newsfromjude update............ it's not so easy to remember just what I have been up to when I don't report in as often, and I have to say that there is not a lot of photos to show for how busy life has been. But I will attempt to remember, and once again we might try the headings again as there seems to be lots of bits and bobs to mention.

I'VE GOT MAIL....

I always look forward to receiving my blog book in the mail. Even with the supposed delays in mail deliveries due to covid, this still managed to arrive from the US in just over 2 weeks! It seems to be fatter than normal this time, so perhaps I had too much to say for the last 6 months??

IT GOT HOT!

The temperatures for summer have been very liveable, but just occasionally we get a few hot days and the weekend before Australia Day the temperature went up and the air conditioner did overtime! The temp got up to 44deg, although it was only for one day and then cooler weather arrived again. We have even had good rains for January, which has helped the garden and the tank. Yesterday we received another rain and I drove home in the heaviest rain we had seen for awhile. I can't believe how some people just seem to drive at the maximum speed allowable when the conditions are so bad with water all over the road!! Many vehicles passed me as I slowed down.

AUSTRALIA DAY

As I haven't got back to having retreats again, Australia Day celebrations were much quieter here this year, although I did wear my Aussie shirt and there were a few callers in and out. The fairy came to stay just before Australia Day and was here for 2 weeks which was great. There was a lot of chatter around the table..............

..............and there might even have been a little nip or two!

BEING ANGELS........

The Gumnut Angels, our charity sewing group have not met for most of last year, and there was an accumulation of quilts waiting "patiently" in the queue for the quilter. These all needed backings and waddings to be cut for them and a few of the girls that called in for Australia Day got to work and did this, so we can hope that they will move to the front of the queue soon??

SEWING TIME

As mentioned Raylene arrived to spend some time and she started out sewing one of her own bindings while I sewed scrappy string blocks.

Val had started these a few weeks ago and there were 6 on the pile. I made a few more until there were 16 altogether. They have now been put away until I come back and sash and border them.

While sewing the blocks I had left out all the black and white strings and after looking at the heap on the table, Raylene and I thought they would make a good collection of their own with a grey added to the mix. This turned out to be Raylene's next project ........

We decided they looked pretty good and wondered about a sashing .........

.........of black and white stripes... with a little touch of red as cornerstones???

The fairy must have enjoyed doing these, as she made all 16 blocks in one day. We thought it needed to be bigger and there were still loads of strings in the tub, so a string border was sewn, edged in a little border of red and then a grey to finish. And there are still heaps of strings in that drawer, so perhaps there will be a kit made up for this?

This is now in the tub with a backing prepared, and waiting for the quilter!

THE HISTORY

I mentioned in a previous post that I was writing a 25 year history for our local group. This has been where I have spent most of the past 2 to 3 weeks and I can see an end in sight. So far there is almost 80 pages. As publicity officer I had accumulated a quantity of newspaper clippings of events, and inherited similar from previous publicity ladies. These really needed to be some organisation, and who is the "QUEEN" of organisation, but the fairy. She was very excited to get these clippings in some sort of order and what an amazing job she did!! They are all in a folder in dated order and now easy for all to look at. Even our photo albums have been sorted. Thankyou Raylene. 

STITCHES ARE OUT

Those 7 stitches are now out, and a good result eventuated. The margin was clear, although if the BCC had not been removed it might not have been so good. I now have an appointment to get a thorough skin check next month.

IN THE GARDEN.............

Much time has been spent outside in the last month or so, after many months of neglect, and progress has been achieved. I realise that gardens take a lot of maintenance and I hope I can keep it tidier now. Someone did say to me recently that you can't be in the garden and sewing too, but I shall try to manage both??

My dahlia's are flowering..........

........the hollyhocks...........

.............a pink mandala...............

I was quite surprised to see this bromeliad and how the flower looks...........

...and the agapanthus were passed their best by the time I had taken this photo, and a few days previously to this, I had watched the honeyeaters busy on these flowers, so perhaps that is why they look a bit weary?

Even the flowers on the kurrajong tree look pretty, although I can't say the same about the horrid pods that they drop on the ground.

Last Sunday morning I was out in the garden at the front attacking those wild violets that I have been trying to remove. After clearing and then watering this area, there were still some little shoots as there are a lot of roots still in the ground. 

I went around the back to get the green waste bin that was near my garage and lo and behold, what a shock I found!! During the night part of a tree had come down and crushed the fence and straddled the road!

This turned my next few days upside down as I tried to organise the clearing of the road and subsequent cleanup. The whole tree did not come down, so now I need to get the "tree man" to come in and take out the remainder which is unsafe and that happens this week. I have been cleaning up the garden area of my block and putting a lot of rubbish in my yard, behind the shed to worry about later. The fence is high, and the "stuff" is hidden behind it. I guess I gotta laugh because now my fence has been flattened, and all my messy back yard is "exposed" for the world to see!? Is there a sermon here somewhere? We can't hide anything from God, he sees all and knows us from the inside.

I will come back with another post of more garden photos and recent customer quilting, another day. 

It is well past my bedtime. 

Blessings, From Jude