4th Statler Users Gathering at The Sanctuary

 

I have just had the most delightful few days with other Statler owners from Thursday until Monday at The Sanctuary. We all achieved a lot, talked and laughed a lot, ate often, and had a few lightbulb moments, and made new, or renewed old friendships.Was great to talk with others who “talk” the same language.

I worked on my New York Beauty top, commenced in a class with Lessa Siegele. This is how I have joined the blocks, and thought I was finished, but what do you think, does it need a border of some sort??? The colours in this photo look a bit washed out, in reality it is much brighter. Opinions please.

This is Gayle, working on a project that she thought she might have finished this weekend, but no, took longer than she thought. Looking forward to the finished product, I think there is a November deadline?

And these blocks belong to Di, a hand pieced project, one of Lucy Boston’s, Patchwork of the Crosses.

Above, the obligatory group photo for the photo collection.

And another PHD I was working on, do you recognise this Michele??

Watching a DVD on the screen.

We were fortunate to have Naomi, who designs patterns, and here she is concentrating on creating a pattern for me for a quilt that I needed help with. She came up with some great ideas, so keep a look out for her new website which is coming soon.

And Libby had a “light bulb”  moment working on SAM, and is putting it to use.                 

And below the Aussie Statler Sibling badge that Libby had, and I remembered that “somewhere” I had one too. A search found it, but too late to wear it for the weekend.

Well, the washing is almost done, The Sanctuary has been tidied, and its time to get back to quilting again. My apologies for lack of blog postings, it seems to be either nothing for days, or a few often, and once again, there is a build up of quilt photos to show, so will be back soon.

Blessings,

From Jude

60th Anniversary celebrations

It has been a lovely weekend of family celebrations. Saturday night was the engagement party of my nephew and his fiancé, and attended by most of the family, although I did babysitting duty of grandchildren instead.
And Sunday was the celebration of my parents 60th wedding anniversary. It's quite a milestone, and they received letters from the Queen, the Prime Minister, and other members of parliament. We had photo albums on display for people to look back over their lifetime of achievements. Mum is keen on family history and has gathered quite a lot of information over the years. And the farm book was there, which is a record of the family farm, dating back to 1910, when it was settled by our family. One of my brothers still lives on the property.
My father was an only child, but mum was one of 10 children and 6 of those are still living. Below is Mum and one of her (older) sisters, and her younger brother on the left. The lady peering at the album, is one of the bridesmaids from their wedding. (Hello Joy, lovely to meet you, and as a bonus, to discover you are a quilter!!)



Two of my granddaughters, and my niece on the right. My niece is the daughter of my sister, and before you wonder at the age differences, I will tell you that I was almost 17years old before my sister was born. I always told mum that I wanted a sister, as I had 3 brothers (I was the oldest), and so along came the sister, but I was already left school and home, and was working before she arrived. This has meant that she is closer in age to my daughters, as my first arrived when she was 3 years and 9 months.
(This is probably all more than you really wanted to know of my family history).

The cake made by one of my clever daughters.

And this is the shot you don't normally see, of all the people lined up taking the photos.

Mum and Dad with all of their 15 grandchildren, and their 6 great grandchildren. 

Still looking good, and pretty fit still.

Mum and Dad and their 5 children. A rare photo to get us all in the same place at the same time!

Now it's back to work again, another quilt on the machine, orders for thread and other supplies done this morning, and menu planning happening for this weekends retreat.

The house is very cold, the fire has not been going, so better remedy that soon. The weather is so cold today and we have had lots more rain over the last few days. 
We won't complain, but I think the crop paddocks are getting rather waterlogged.
Spring must be coming, as I noticed quite a few of the wattle trees and canola crops coming out into flower while I was travelling on the weekend.

Enjoy your week, whatever you are doing.
Blessings,
From Jude

More quilts

I don’t think I have posted any photos of quilts this week, so here are a couple.

First is Cherie’s quilt, her first quilt, a sampler to learn different techniques. Quilted with an Anne Bright pattern, Buzzing Bees. She did a really good job, and used up the leftover bits with the border around the edge.

And this is from Jill, hexagon flowers hand sewn into strips. She wanted custom quilting on this, and as the floral fabric was so busy, I did geometric patterns, to give it texture.

Can’t believe that another week has gone already, and am looking forward to family celebrations this weekend.

The weather has turned very cold and wet again today, but we did see the sunshine briefly during the week. It was enough for me to go out in the garden and start attacking some weeds. A little bit at a time, and I may make progress.

It is that time of the year when those who can, go north to warmer weather. Quite a few friends are travelling the country at the moment, in caravans, motor homes or some on a houseboat! And another friend goes overseas next week on a tour of China. Hello to Lois, Helen, Jean, Pat and Pauline. I look forward to hearing about your travels when you return.

That’s about it for tonight, enjoy your weekend, whatever you do.

Blessings, From Jude

Great reading

There are a few people whose blogs I follow, and today I read a great post of
Judy L, and thought how true her words are. She says it so well, that for the most part, you are the author of your own book of life. Sometimes we cannot change our life and/or our circumstances, but we can change our attitude.
It is our attitude that makes all the difference in our lives. Lots of people have difficult situations to live in, but we can choose how we react to those circumstances. I am not saying that it is always easy to do this, as I have my own "pity party" sometimes.
Thankyou Judy L for your post.

Lots has been happening for me recently, and I have felt overwhelmed by it all, and worried that I might not get it all done. Until I decided that I should not look too far ahead, take each day as it comes, and most importantly, to trust in my Lord for his continued provision.  And after reading Judy's post, I have thought about some small changes that I can make, little bit by bit.

Well that's enough deep and meaningful from me for this post, but thought it might make a difference to someone's life.

Blessings, From Jude

60 years ago

 

Today is the 60th anniversary of the wedding of my mum and dad. This is their wedding photo, taken August 15, 1953. They were married in the Murray Bridge Methodist Church. We are having family celebrations this weekend.                                             

I have travelled through time this week, as I searched for photos of them for a photo board for the party. I have lots of albums of photos from years ago, but since I purchased a digital camera in 2004, I have not printed any photos, as they are all on the computer. I know I need to do something about this, although do back up “occasionally” onto a separate hard drive. Just another time consuming thing to do, to print some photos and put them into albums, where other people can see them.

It has been quite a journey looking at the photos, lots of memories, some made me smile, and some made me sad. There are lots of faces that are no longer with us, and wedding photos of couples no longer together. Just a reminder of how the years have passed, and also how old I am getting!! But also a reminder of some good times too.

Today is also the date that I was engaged, 41 years ago.

Well better get to work, lots to do today, more quilting, and planning for the Statler Users Gathering on the 23rd August. Looking forward to that, spending time with girls from South Australia and Victoria who use the same machine as I do.

Be back soon with another update.

Blessings, From Jude

Naracoorte quilt show

Last Friday and Saturday the Naracoorte group held their quilt show, and a few cars made the journey from Bordertown.

A lovely day out, Saturdays weather was cool, but sunny, and we managed to find a few shops in town as well.

Below is Marie’s Licorice Allsorts, a quilt as you go, made in a workshop with Mary Williams.

And this is for you Faye, a row of Bedford quilts, made by the Naracoorte girls! There were a few more, couldn’t get them all in the photo.

Above is Marie’s jigsaw quilt, and made to showcase her hand dyed fabrics.  And below is another quilt of Marie’s, which is really stunning, and a great use of scrap fabrics.

And here is Marie, standing in front of her stall, where she had her fabrics for sale. The Quilters Guild of SA are holding a Quilter’s Market on September 7th, and there will be at least 20 tables of goodies for sale, including Marie selling her “Holly Handdyes”

So if you are looking for a day out, and need more quilting stuff (?), then head to Adelaide and 312 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Brooklyn Park, is the place to be.

I have spent quite a bit of time googling information this week, about the iron levels in various foods. Blood tests show that my iron levels are very low, and so I am trying to boost them, and looking for foods that are high. Also am taking an iron supplement, and will have another test in 3 months, so see if there is an improvement. Very interesting reading and finding out that other foods combined either increase the absorption of iron, or decrease it.

Well, that’s all for this post. Enjoy your day,

Blessings, From Jude

He asked and she said yes

 

It has been a busy week again, and lots to blog about, and I will get a few more posts up eventually, but the first bit of news is the engagement of my son and his girl.

They had a few days holiday and went to Sydney, where he popped the question. He had bought the ring a month ago, and he surprised her when they went out to eat Friday evening. Great news, although don’t think anyone is surprised!

Have had a busy week, working on a few custom quilts, and there will be more family news later in the week. Better go and get ready for the Bible Study meeting at 6.30am, where we are studying 2Samuel and learning about David.

Be back later,

Blessings, From Jude