Recent quilting........

Even though February was taken up with 21st birthday celebrations, March has been catching up on the customer quilting queue.

Yazmin made 4 small quilts for soon to be born babies in her family and I was able to quilt 2 of these at a time on the one backing. They were all quilted edge to edge with a pattern called Modern Geometry.

Val made these 2 quilts for new grand babies using the Forever Magic fabric range.

They were both quilted allover with Swirls pattern.

Jenny made this quilt for her grandson's first birthday, and each square had simple embroidery. This was custom quilted.

Pat made this quilt, called Ajasai during one of the Mystery retreats in February and this was quilted allover with a pattern called Feathered Flowers.

                                       

Jo made 2 quilts from Bonnie Hunter's patterns and they are both great scrap quilts using lots of little pieces. I used an allover pattern called Flower Spray.

            

                                                      
Notice the back of Jo's quilt, and how amazing this has been pressed. Such a lot of tiny pieces and the seams all pressed well!!

This is the other Bonnie Hunter quilt made by Jo, which also had many, many pieces and again all pressed so well. This quilt was quilted with the pattern called Popcorn.

                                                   

Lois made this quilt for a family member, who requested a man's quilt. 

This was quilted allover with a pattern that had fish, called Koi.

Kerryn made this Trip around the world quilt, for a friend. It was quilted allover with a pattern called Paisley Feather, as some of the fabric had Paisley.

This quilt was made by Sue, and is Aurora Rose, a Rachelle Denneny pattern. I love the fabrics that Sue has used and the newsprint fabric backgrounds. I did start this quilt back in January and had planned for it to be finished by early February, but plans needed to change and I did not get back to it until very late in February. It's not often that a quilt will be on Max for that many weeks, but finally it was finished and I was very happy.

It really is a bit hard to see that quilting, so you might need to click on the photo and enlarge it.

While I was on a quilting mission I delved into the QFO queue and pinned 4 of those onto Max. I quilt all of these with the same pattern, called Easy Loops, and sometime I load 2 backings together.

While the quilting mojo was in action, I decided to load my Churn Dash quilt. I will need this for Show and Tell soon. I really would have liked to custom quilt this one, but in the interest of time, I decided to quilt an allover pattern, a swirly baptist fan. I thought that finished would be better than still in the queue??

There is another couple of quilts that I have managed to get done, but one of those is a show quilt, so there will be no photos of that one for awhile yet. 

As of today, there is no quilt loaded onto Max, but I think that might change next week.

Tomorrow I will be spending time with a friend who is coming to sew, so hopefully I can get some QFO quilts kitted up and some sorting of the scrap drawers might happen??

Be back with a bit more March news soon.

Blessings, From Jude

An amazing life!...............................

                                     

Yesterday there was a gathering at the local RSL Hall to farewell and remember my neighbour, Nic, who passed away in February at the grand age of 94 years!! He had managed to stay in his own home until the last week of his life, although with some home help, which is the ideal way to do it. 

I have known Nic since we moved into this house in the year 2000. He was a great neighbour, and always looked out for things when I was away. In earlier years he fed the cat, watered the garden, and sometimes even pulled out the weeds. And even up until the last week, he would pick up my paper from the lawn and place it by the front door. 

Nic was an early riser, and he used to walk every morning, with his dog, picking up the papers for a lot of people and put them by their doors. Sometimes there would be fruit or vegies left out for him in return. One lady told me that he would stand at the window and tell them what the weather was like before they got out of bed!! A few years ago his dog died and he was devastated.

                             

I have been thinking about writing this post for a couple of weeks now, and yesterday his nephew, Alex made a speech at the gathering, and I acknowledge that these are his words.... THANKYOU Alex.

Nic had a very interesting history............He was born in the Ukraine in 1929 and landed in Fremantle, WA in July 1950, after emigrating from a devastated post war Europe. He was just 21.

Like many migrants he saw an opportunity in a new country unscathed by war, and after a short stay at the Army camp migrant centre in WA, he was flown to Adelaide with many others, to help relieve a post war labour shortage there.

He ended up working as a labourer on the transcontinental railway, to pay back Australia for his assisted passage, an apt job considering he told Australian officials in Austria he was a coal miner.

He was in fact a professional ballet dancer, trained at the Moiseyev dance school and toured with the company's National Folk Ballet. Under the Stalinist Soviet regime, members of the Ballet company were coerced to spy on each other, so Nick - who was around 16 or 17 - escaped across the border to Czechoslovakia and managed to get a Czech passport with the help of his brother.......A dancer on the run, and on his way to adventures abroad.

Eventually Nic managed to get moved back to Adelaide. Now free to pursue life his way, Nick returned to dance - teaching and performing in the Ukranian Folk Dance Ensemble, where he met the love of his life.

(Sorry for the quality of this pic, but it is taken through the glass frame, but you get the idea)

They married and moved to Bordertown in 1955, to take up a business of dry cleaning. (He had worked at a Dry Cleaners, while living and dancing in Adelaide.) Nic and Anny made Bordertown home and in 1956 became Australian Citizens.

Later Nic studied podiatry part time in Adelaide, eventually graduating and setting up practice locally. He then began teaching ballet to the local Bordertown children, in the RSL hall. He loved the community and was a member of many local groups. ..........

Anny and Nic did not have children, and so it was one of his nephew's, Alex who was there for Nic when he needed help in the last few years. Thankyou Alex, he would have been lost without you.

I have a few photos of my own .........

Nic dressed as Santa for one of the Gum Tree Quilters Christmas parties, handing out the gifts and playing Christmas songs on his guitar for us..............

                                         

When I opened The Sanctuary for retreats, there was an afternoon tea to raise funds for BCNA and  Nic came to play his guitar and entertain us............

                                        

..................there was a Christmas in July retreat, and he entertained us with Christmas songs........

                                      

   .............and our teacher, Faye, was also entertained!!! (What is the rotary cutter for Faye?? Did he get too close??)

                             

Nic was a very proud Australian, and always had his flag flying on the front fence every Australia Day. One morning I met him as he came back from his early morning walk, very frustrated with Australian people as hardly anyone had a flag flying. He thought we were a rather apathetic people, and perhaps he was right. Because we had not lived through the devastation that Nic had known??

                                

There were a few New Year's Eve gatherings at Number 8, and we enjoyed Nic's company. Here he is proudly wearing his Ukranian shirt, with the front embroidery.

.................and another evening's entertainment as only Nic could do it.

Sorry this pic is a bit blurry. Anny spent time in the nursing home after she developed dementia, and Nic would visit every day and usually play the guitar for her and the other residents.

Anny passed away in 2010, and this left Nic devastated. 

I will finish with Alex's words again...................He is remembered for his love of life, his resilience, and his ability to make you feel important when you were in his company..............

You will be missed Nic.

   BLESSINGS, 

   From Judy, (your neighbour)!...when I phoned him to check if he was ok, if the paper was still on the lawn, and he asked who was speaking, and when I told him, he said, oh, my neighbour!

Another birthday..........

 Happy birthday to my 5th grandchild, who turned 13 today. Hope your busy day has been fantastic. 

Was lovely to have a chat tonight. Enjoy your teenage years.

Luv Grandma xx

Blessings, From Jude

An amazing result!!!...........

 I know there are some who have been 'patiently' waiting for this post, so before another day goes by, I better get to it.

Firstly I would like to say a big THANKYOU to all who have supported this fundraiser and CCMQ in anyway. 21 years of Cornerstone Creations Machine Quilting has gone by so quickly and has been quite a journey. (You can read more of the background of CCMQ by clicking on the Background Info page at the top of this blog.)

The celebrations in February were a lot of fun, and I have reported on them in detail in previous posts, but will just recap a bit here.....

                                           We had cake!! THANKYOU to Chris for your work of art.

Funds for BCNA were raised in a few different ways..........

  We had 3 retreats where part of the cost was donated to BCNA..............firstly the Statler girls..............

                                      ...........and then the Weekend Mystery retreaters.................

........and then the Mid Week Mystery Retreaters................

..........and thankyou to all for being part of the fun and dressing in your Black and Bling!! Don't they all look grand?

We had 2 open days where those attending enjoyed a cuppa and scones and laughter and reminiscing about CCMQ......................

                                         

      There was a raffle quilt with all proceeds donated to BCNA..and this was won by Kerry DeGaris.

Sales of fabric packs and kits were made, both by personal shoppers and also through the blog pages online and 21% of all sales was donated to BCNA.............    THANKYOU to all.

Many people made donations, either personally or to my account which added to the above totals. Thankyou to all for your generosity. 

As a result of all of this a total of $3,260 was donated to BCNA this week!! 

How amazing is that!

In addition to all of the above there was also a Zoom Sewing day organised by Chooky. THANKYOU to all who took part in this, especially Chooky who took time out from her busy schedule to take names and send out email invites to zoom. To join in with the Zoom session donations were made to BCNA or a similar organisation in another country. It was great to join with overseas and  Aussie girls for a chat and sewing session. 

A total of just over $400 was raised from the Zoom, and when added to the total above comes to over $3,660!! 

                                      

Once again, THANKYOU to all for your support and encouragement throughout my journey. I am humbled and appreciative, and saying Thankyou seems so inadequate. I am sure that the funds raised will help and support others in their Breast Cancer Journey as it did for me back in 2008.

Blessings, From Jude