Another test

How is the quality of this photo on your computer screen??

Still playing around with different programs.

Blessings, From Jude

The final celebrations..............

 As promised, I am back with a report on last weekend's activities. It was an amazing time with 3 retreats one after the other. Friendships renewed and made for the first time, some lovely quilts made and lots of fun and games. After the departure on Thursday afternoon of the 3rd retreaters, Friday morning was cleanup and hanging quilts time. The table was set for afternoon tea of scones and other goodies, the urn was filled and cups put out.....

                             

              ................. .quilts were hung in strategic places around the house.................

............it was good to get some of these out of the cupboard, and give them an airing.......

..........and some on the beds...........

.....and on tables............

..........and the shelves behind Max were another good place to hang them.

                    There was a $10 donation for afternoon tea, and the fairy set herself up at the door to take                                           money and sell raffle tickets.............

There was much chatter around the table, and lovely to see some of the older members of our quilting fraternity.........and customers who supported Cornerstone Creations at the beginning......

There was a book being passed around for people to write messages in, and here is Kath, a longtime member of our patchwork group. Kath is 92 years old, and considers herself too old to be quilting anymore. She has made an amazing number of quilts over the years and would usually have between 10 and 15 quilts in our shows each time!! She wrote a lovely message in my book, and said how the quilts come to life after I had quilted them!! Thankyou Kath.

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On Saturday a number of us enjoyed a zoom sewing day that was organised by chookyblue. Ladies donated to their breast cancer organisation and it was great to see some from overseas join in. $406.38 was raised from the zoom session. 

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                       On Sunday afternoon another afternoon tea was scheduled........

These 2 ladies were having a catchup before their cuppa, and must have found something to laugh about..............

                                   .........and more chatter around the table with their cuppas and scones.

Monday morning it was time to take the black and bling decorations down and pack them into a box, just in case they should be needed again?? 

Brunch, and lunch was enjoyed in the pergola with the paper and a book.

.......and then it was time to head to the station to wait for the train.

I think Raylene dozed a lot of the way home and didn't even get her knitting out of the bag! I know I went home, shut the curtains and sat in the recliner for 'awhile'!! An early night was on the agenda, before I got to work with Max on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!! Friday was the scheduled delivery of my new laptop, and thus that quilt is still not finished. Today there were other events, and I will be back with news of that another time. 

If there is anyone else who would like to write a message to go into the book, I would love to hear from you so that it can be included with the others.

The 21% of sales for BCNA is still on until Tuesday, 28th February and then I will be back with a 'total of funds raised' post.

Blessings, From Jude

Another test...

 

As well as a new laptop, I need to find another photo editing program. I have been using Picasso which is no longer an option. I need to find something to crop and resize photos to post on the blog. This morning's effort was not a success as it took ages to load one photo. This one seems to be a better option and was quick. Will play some more. Ignore the wording on the photo, but playing with the watermark feature and used one that was already loaded, but not my name. 

If you have a photo editing program that you like, what is it?? I don't need too many bells and whistles. 

My accounting program won't move from Windows 7 to 11, so hope to keep my old laptop going for the time being.

Time to go and switch off for the day, An early start in the morning.

Will be back sometime on the weekend to report on the finale of the fundraising activities. 

Stay cool, or warm, depending where in the world you are.

I did manage to have some granny cuddles this morning with Miss Olivia, who is growing up so fast!!

Blessings, From Jude

testing

 just testing how to get pics onto my blog with my new laptop, a learning curve ahead.

Have a good day, and stay cool

Blessings, From Jude

Raffle quilt winner...........

 I'm sorry if you thought I had gone AWOL, but this week I have been in clean up and catch up mode!!

After 2 amazing weeks, my life has sort of got back to normal. Well, I am working on it!

The winner of the raffle quilt was Kerry Degaris from Naracoorte!! Congratulations Kerry. She has been notified and delivery will be made in a time to be arranged. Thanks to all those who purchased tickets and supported BCNA. 

                          

Back in January I loaded a large custom quilt, and unfortunately it is still on Max, so the days of this week have mostly been spent bonding with Max!! I am making progress, but still have a lot more to go yet.

I will be back with a post of the weekend's events, and tally of funds raised. the 21% of sales for the BCNA is on until the 28th February, so you still have time to purchase from the Blog Pages if you wish. The support has been amazing, Thankyou to all.

Time for bed, ready for another big day tomorrow, hopefully most of it will be in the studio with the airconditioner going as the temperature rises to 40deg. 

Blessings, From Jude

Retreat number 3........Midweek Mystery............

 Time for more newsfromjude, before another day elapses. There has been so much happening that I have to stop and think about what day it actually is. I think it is Saturday, but it feels like Sunday. There is another event tomorrow afternoon and then I can get back to some sort of normality, whatever that is??

After the departure of the second retreat ladies, it was into action with laundry and remaking beds, some cleaning and another think about the menu. 

It was Tuesday afternoon when cars started arriving and another group of ladies unpacked their machines and luggage and moved into Number 8. For some reason I don't seem to have as many photos to post this time?? There was a lot of 'other' things happening in the background, and there was the last minute loading of the For Sale pages of the blog.

The starting procedure was the same with the allocation process of Bingo for them to choose which quilt they wished to make. After choosing there packs, it was not long before they were all set up and stitching away. This time there was one space vacant at the table. Unfortunately one lady had to cancel at the last minute due to a family illness.

Chris picked the Up, Down and Across quilt and was soon into her strip piecing.............

...and crosscutting them into units............

.......to be joined together..........

The centre of the top was assembled before home time and Chris will add the borders at home.

Margaret was the most 'senior' member of the group, and was also the first one to finish her top!! She worked on Carnaby Street............

.......almost ready for borders............

...and Ta Daaa, it was done!!

Alison chose Hydrangeas, which was a log cabin quilt.............

............and got to this stage before home time, all ready for the borders to be added at home.

Jenny chose Hawaiian trips, a scrappy trips quilt in batiks.

Here are the blocks laid out on the bed, and opinions were sought as to placement..........

Here the blocks are being sashed...........

and Ta Daa!! If you looked closely at the blocks on the bed, you might notice that this layout is quite different. Ask for opinions and you will receive many!! 

Raylene chose a simple quilt, called Stepping Stones.... a lot of strip piecing.......

..and of course when you have all your blocks cut you lay them out on the fabric shelves don't you??

On the bed........

.and Ta Daa, borders added and finished. (Well ready for the quilter anyway).

Sherrel chose In the Pink for her quilt.............

...............and ready for the borders to be added at home.

Pat was making Ajaisi............

                         .............and thought she was ready for borders at this stage...............

..but there was a couple of whoopsies in the photo above, so some time in the chair with the unpicker was necessary!!

...........and here is her finish, on the table. 

We enjoyed another special roast dinner one evening, and they all dressed for the occasion. Thankyou to all the girls at each retreat for joining in.

Once again Pat got them out of their seats to stretch the muscles.

On Thursday we received visits from special people who enjoyed birthday cake for morning tea, and also joined us for lunch. Thanks for coming to visit, we loved having you. (Note there is no rest for Raylene, who has to keep working even at coffee time!)

And of course, here is the obligatory group photo, taken inside as it was over 40 deg outside!!

We also had many competitions and games with lots of prizes from the treasure chests again. Not long after this photo was taken the bottom was revealed.

All too soon it was time for departure and the end of another wonderful time of laughter, fun, friends and stitching. 

Later I received this photo, from the lady who had to cancel, with the message......"I had picked these from my garden for you. I'm sorry I didn't get to deliver them."  

Aren't they beautiful? And we were sorry that she had to miss coming.

That's all for this post. There are still 2 open afternoons to chat about, and a zoom session, so it is not all over yet.

The For Sale page is open to end of February with 21% of all sales still donated to BCNA. Thankyou to those who have purchased already. The raffle will be drawn tomorrow afternoon, so you only have a few hours now to purchase tickets. 

Blessings, From Jude.