The Party

Last Saturday we celebrated GD2's 18th birthday in Adelaide, and I didn't take many photos, and some were a bit blurry.

Miss Billie was very intrigued with Mr Tate.

Miss Bridie had a nice smile at this stage.

                                                           My niece and Miss Billie

                                                        My sister and my mother.

 Sorry for the blurry photo, but I was trying to hurry before Miss Bridie took off, as she wasn't going to cooperate for a group picture, and soon after this Mr Tate was crying. It is a bit tricky getting 9 of them to line up, but it was good to have all 9 grandchildren together at the same time.

After my day trip to the city on Saturday, I had a quieter day yesterday, and even had a nanna nap after I got home from church. Some time was spent in the garden also, as I had a "little" shop up in Bunnings on the way home. It is time to plant my winter vegetables and tidy up the flower beds after a hard summer. I can only hope that the worst of the HEAT has finished. A little time in the early mornings is on the agenda this week.

Today I have spent time with Max, and stitched some more elephants and other detail on an African quilt that has been in the queue for too long, and needs to be finished. Hopefully by tomorrow, it will have finished talking to me!

Blessings, From Jude

Quilt Time again.........

It seems like it's time again for a quilt show, as it is 3 weeks since I posted any. Newsfromjude seems to be less about quilting lately, and more about my road tripping. I think I need to stay home more often. I am feeling a tad "jetlagged", and am off up the highway again tomorrow, and then again next weekend!! My plans are to stay put for awhile after that, but with some things that are "brewing" in the background, this could change at any moment.

 So without further ado..................

The first quilt up was made by Kathleen, called Garden Maze. This was quilted ages ago, and almost missed the show! Kathleen said for less quilting, than more, so you can see what I did in the following photos.

The sashings were quilted with freehand leaves, but as it's a busy fabric, it is hard to see.

Suzie made this BOM quilt and had the most detailed needleturn applique in the blocks. This was quilted allover with Baptist Fan.

Cheryl made this quilt, and also does amazing needleturn, and stitcheries. This is a very striking 2 colour quilt. There was lots of SID, continuous curves, and outlining to do on this quilt.

Helen's quilts are a contrast, and a great use of scrappy fabrics. She made lots of scrappy stars, and stitched them together and it was quilted allover with Stars and Loops.

She miscounted, and found an extra star after making the top quilt, so used it in the center of another scrappy quilt, and when I asked what pattern she wanted, told me to choose 'whatever', and lo and behold I do have an allover pattern called Whatever, so that's what we used! Surely her stash of scrap fabrics is seriously depleted now??

That's all for tonight. I probably should go for some "beauty" sleep as I have an early start in the morning. There is a celebration lunch tomorrow for GD2's 18th birthday, (which was 11 days ago). We sure have had lots of family time together lately.

 The angels were here yesterday for a sewing day, and were very productive, making string blocks to go to the Victorian bushfire relief. There has been lots of scrappy quilting here lately, but the stash does not seem to be shrinking.

I have been working on some custom quilts this week, and today there are lots of elephants walking around in my studio!!

That's all for tonight,

Blessings, From Jude

Another road trip!

It seems like that's all I do lately, pack up the car and drive to another place.

This time it was a road trip to Melbourne to attend the first birthday celebrations of Miss Billie.
It hardly seems any time at all since I was in Melbourne for her birth, but a lot of water has "gone under the bridge" in that year. There was the usual machine quilting to do, a trip to America, a bout or two of shingles, the usual weekend retreats, Christmas, the birth of another grandchild, and the wedding of my nephew. I think the world must be speeding up as I get older??

It was a lovely party attended by family and friends and there were lots of small children. DD3 hired a face painter which was a hit with the young ones, and she was kept busy. I did take a few photos of the painter at work, with a queue of children, but I had used my camera, which is still in Melbourne! I used my phone for some photos as shown below.

There were lots of balloons to put up, and thankfully they had been blown up before I arrived, because I can never get enough air into them to make them larger than a small ball!!

The balloons were all attached to some tape in a long trail........

........and attached to the stairs, which looked very effective. Miss Billie loved looking at the balloons hanging, when she woke up next morning, and kept pointing to them.

She was not too sure about the candle, and the singing by everyone!

.........................The cake was beautiful and very tasty.

Even the ice blocks looked very pretty with the flowers in them.

These little cakes were very popular too.

The only one missing from the grandchildren photo, was Mr Tate, who has been a bit unsettled and it was deemed not a good idea to take him on a 10 hour drive, so he and his mum stayed home.

This little man was excited to see his painted tiger face in the glass of the oven door!

                            Here are a couple of happy children with the faces painted...................

                     The face painting lady also made some clever balloons for the children................

Here is Miss Billie sitting in my car just before I left on Monday morning, pretending she was coming home with me. I do think that her parents would have not let me go too far before taking her back though.

After a lovely weekend and catching up with most of my family, it is time to get back with Max and get some more quilts done this week. We have another family gathering in Adelaide this weekend, with the 18th birthday celebrations of GD2, so I will be "on the road" again!

I will be back in a couple of days with some more newsfromjude,

Blessings, From Jude

9 years old

I can't believe that this young man is already 9 years old today. He is number 5 of my grandchildren, and the second boy.

Going back into the photo files I found this one that I like.......

.....and then this one was taken this weekend, although I did crop him out of the group one. It is always hard to get a good pic of a lot of children, or even grown ups. After a premature birth, and then spending his early life attached to an oxygen tube, he has grown up so much. And doesn't he have a lovely smile?

I hope you have a really great birthday today, and I will see you next weekend.

Love from Grandma.

Be back another day, with more newsfromjude

Blessings, From Jude

A big weekend

Just reporting that I have returned from my trip to Melbourne, and am ready for an early night. I have downloaded the photos from the weekend, but will come back soon with a report when I have caught up on some sleep and some other jobs that need attention.

Blessings, From Jude

One year old today!!!!

I told you it was a busy month of birthdays, and today it's time for Miss Billie to celebrate.
We had a video call this morning and will be heading to Melbourne this weekend to celebrate with them.

This photo was taken one year ago today.....and a baby she is no longer.

..............and you have seen lots of photos during the year, so will just post one from today.

There was a day trip today to visit the Aquarium, and it looks like Miss Billie was rapt.

I guess it won't seem like any time at all and she will be 18, like my oldest 2 grandies are now. It doesn't seem that long since my own children were born. It really does go by like the blink of an eye.

Be back soon,

Blessings, From Jude

18 years old today.........

March is a busy month for birthdays in our family, and today it is 18 years since my second grandchild was born. The years have certainly gone by quickly.

The first photo was taken at her graduation at the end of 2018, and doesn't she look so grown up! The next stage of her life commenced today with the first day of University. I am sure the next few years will go just as fast, and I look forward to seeing where life takes her. There will be a family celebration in 2 weeks, so I will have more photos then.

Of course, I had to look back in the photo files for some younger pictures and this is what I found.

As the eldest 2 grandchildren are only 6 weeks difference in age, there are lots of photos of them together. I love this one of them both in matching PJ's.

This is one of 2 little girls listening to their great grandma read them a story.

I hope you have had a great day at Uni, and wishing you many blessings in the years ahead.

Blessings, From Jude