Pendleton retreat

 

And again, I must offer my apologies for a lack of blogging. I will tell you that I sat down last Tuesday morning, and spent AWHILE spouting forth about our group’s recent weekend retreat, and clicked the Publish button and it told me there was an error!!! Was not happy, I can tell you, so have sulked all week, and thought that today I better try to catch up, or there will be another 2 weeks without posting. I managed to find all my text in the drafts file, but no photos, so not sure what that means.

I will try again and hope that it works this time.

A lot has happened since the last post, have churned out a lot of customer quilts, had a trip to the city to see family, been to our group retreat, worked on more customer quilts, worked on the planning for future Sanctuary retreats, and started cooking for an afternoon tea that’s coming up.

Our annual group retreat,attended by 28 ladies, is held at Pendleton Farm each year and is always a good time. It is only 20 minutes drive from here, and enables some of our girls to attend just for a day if they prefer. Lots of girls were finally able to finish some PHD’s (projects half done), and there is always advice from other members. This year we were joined by some from the Naracoorte group and also some Adelaide friends!

Below is a finished top for Pat, a candlewicked quilt made for one of her daughters, (she has 5, and they will all receive a quilt).

Below is Heathers quilt as you go, a workshop from Mary Williams workshop in Bordertown last year.

Pat is laying out her Bedford quilt, from a few years ago, and is colour blending her blocks.

Above is Lois, trying out her new Bernina machine, and below is a group of ladies, hard at work!!

And Jean looks cozy, while stitching the binding on her dotty quilt.

Lots of advice for Rae in the layout of this quilt.

And above, another group offering advice and opinions.

Saturday evening and time for a wine or two.

Saturday evening meal was a delicious Chinese Banquet, which you can see displayed above, and below the happy diners tucking in.

Well that was it for another year, we all packed up and returned to reality, and having to think about what’s to eat and cleaning up the dishes again.

I think that’s about all for now, I do hope this posts ok, and I shall try to get back a bit sooner with a back log of quilting photos.

Blessings,

From Jude

May 16, 2013

 

It must be time for another blog update, have been rather slack in that department I know.   The days and weeks are just flying so fast. But then, maybe I am trying to fit too much into them. It seems it is almost a month since I posted photos of customer quilts. So today is the day.

Below is Pat’s quilt, a mixture of candlewicked sunbonnet sue blocks, and other techniques she has tried in a dyeing workshop, sashed with her hand-dyed fabrics.

Above and below is Ann’s quilt, made for her granddaughter, top the front and bottom, the back of the quilt.

Above is Jean’s jelly roll quilt, quilted with Kerryn Emmerson’s Square Spiral pattern.

Below is Valda’s quilt, one of Michele Hill’s designs.

Above is Kerry’s quilt, made for her son, and quilted all over with Tropical Fish, which you can see below, on the backing.

And this is Jocelyn’s quilt, also quilted with Square Spiral.

The day is almost gone, and I have not had a quilt on the machine today. Been busy though, with admin type stuff, and checking in at our local groups patchwork day. It is our AGM tonight, so time to write annual reports, and sort out my folder. Am getting final numbers for our group’s annual retreat next week and collecting final payments. We are looking forward to our retreat at Pendleton Farm, with 28 ladies attending this year.

Hope you are enjoying your day, wherever you are, and whatever you are doing. We have been very blessed to have received 30ml of rain this week, which is a good start to the season. The garden’s have been grateful and I know a lot of people who were very low on rain water.

Blessings, From Jude

May 5th, 2013

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day for a drive around the countryside. And what a better place to go,
a quilt show of course! A car load of us from this side of the border (South Australia), headed over the border into Victoria and 2 hours later we were in Horsham. We did do some shopping before we found the quilt show, mostly we were very restrained, but one lady who had no intention of buying anything, came out of the shop with more boxes than anyone else!!

Then we found the place where the Horsham Quilting group had their exhibition.
What a delightful display it was, the theme was Retro, and they had lots of props for that. Bit of a trip down memory lane for some ladies, to remember the electrical appliances we used, the colours that were "in", the linen, and of course the clothing!!



I do remember so well the lovely (?) orange furniture, and have to confess that our first kitchen chairs were orange, and I did have orange curtains that I very proudly made for our first house.

The group challenge was a pin cushion and above the amazing variety.

One of Fayes quilts on display above.

And I did smile at the label on this by Kaye, made because she wanted to!! I hear so many quilters say that they can't start another quilt, because they have no where to put it, but why do we need to have somewhere for it? If we were painters, we would not need a reason to paint another painting. And we are artists too, and it's our creativity. I recall Bonnie Hunter making a comment something like that in one of her books, I shall try and find it.

There was even Retro music playing in the background, and a few tunes certainly got the feet going. Above you can see the lady in the green shirt, who was dancing down the room! Sorry you cant really see  the movement, I should have had the video! And I must admit to feeling like dancing along with her!

A display of retro linens. There were more tablecloths on the lunch tables, and one had corners of a crinoline lady in orange, with cross stitch in the centre of the cloth. Sorry I forgot to take a photo.

I remember my grandmother had tablecloths on check fabrics, with cross stitch patterns. Was a day to take us back in time, and show our ages too!

No zips in sight on these suitcases. And now that I say that, I remember that people in Queensland would probably call them "ports", at least I remember my cousins used to.  

These Women's Weekly magazines are certainly collector's items.

And the white glove ladies kept with the retro theme, with their lovely yellow aprons. I don't think I see anyone wearing aprons any more.

Lovely dolls pram, made of cane!
Thankyou to the Horsham girls for a lovely day, and great to catch up with you all.

And on the way home, we did the tourist thing and went off the highway for a change.
Came back a different road.

This is the lake at Natimuk, west of Horsham. There were hundreds of ducks in the water, and lots of swans.

Photo taken from the Natimuk Lake looking back to Mount Arapiles, which is used by lots of rock climbers and especially schools in the area. The land around it for miles is so flat, and there is this rock outcrop in the midst of the flat. 

Winter is almost here, although we have had no rain, you can see that the water level in the lake is out at the moment. Don't think it would be a good idea to jump off the end of this jetty.

A few years ago, it was a common occurrence for us to go for drives around the countryside, especially as farmers we liked to see other areas. So I was interested to observe the changing countryside, firstly close to Horsham, that the land was mostly used for cropping and sheep and cattle were hardly seen. Then as we got closer to South Australia we saw more sheep and a few cattle. But we did not see any lambs, which surprised me, being the autumn season. Just before we got to the border, I took a wrong turn, and headed in the wrong direction. So I turned back, and found this paddock of new lambs! As it was a day of nostalgia and reminiscing, perhaps it was appropriate that I took the wrong road, as otherwise I would not have seen these lambs. Mostly I don't miss the farm and all the worry about weather, prices, health of stock etc etc, but when I see the little lambs frollicking around the paddocks with their mums, then I feel a bit sad for what we don't have anymore. So maybe it was a 'right' turn and I was meant to go that way.

All in all, it was a lovely day, I have had 2 days out this week, as on Wednesday I went to Penola with some friends to Green Triangle Day. This is a day where the patchwork groups in the SE of South Australia and the West of Victoria gather together once a year for guest speakers, show and tell, shopping, and eating and chatting. I feel like I had been "let out of school" both days, and now need to get my head down this week and back into the quilts! And I do have lots of quilt photos banking up to show you. But that's for another day.

I had a lovely visit this morning from my son and his girlfriend, who were here briefly. Good to catch up with them.
Better finish off now, and as it's Sunday, I shall take the rest of the day off, and put my feet up by the fire and maybe read a book. Have a quilt loaded ready for the morning.

Blessings, From Jude

May3, 2013

Another week has gone by, so time for another report. The weeks are just going so fast, it's approaching the half way mark of the year, not sure how this has happened.

Last Sunday, our local patchwork group (Gumtree Quilters of Bordertown) held our annual "afternoon tea" to raise funds for the Cancer Council. Morning Teas are held all over the country to raise funds and are usually held in May or June. We try to have ours a bit earlier, as it's usually held in a member's garden, so it's outside and we are hoping to hold it before the weather gets too cold or wet. We were fortunate last weekend that it did not rain, (although we really need for it to rain,) but it was overcast and a bit cloudy.
We hung quilts up around Linda's garden and served a cuppa and plate of goodies and had a quilt raffle. It is an "annual airing" for the lovely cups and saucers that are too good for general use.
A few photos of the afternoon follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quilts on the wall above were made by some members and others in the town to celebrate International Women's Day. These are now hanging in our local Civic Centre.

 

Last week was also my friend Helen's birthday, so we had a bit of a fire and some pizza in the backyard at The Sanctuary. There is something about sitting around a fire and watching the flames, It very relaxing to watch the fire. (As long as the fire is contained, and not raging out of control, where it can be very damaging.

Have managed to get out some quilts since then, but also another day out in the middle of the week, which I shall post about next time.

Blessings, From Jude

April 27, 2013

Time for another update about what’s been happening. I have been AWOL for a few days, been on a retreat with some of my family at The Sanctuary. I went without telling local friends, and some came looking, as most know that if I am not home, sometimes I am “over the road”!

Of course it could have been the smoke signals we were sending, as we had the fire going, and I also took the opportunity to burn some piles of rubbish. I was helped by the grandchildren, who raked and helped move stuff. It was a rare opportunity for the city dwellers to get a bit of dirt on them and we all smelled a bit smokey after!!                

We fitted in some sewing time also, some marshmallow toasting, cooked the snags in a frypan on the fire and ate outside. It was a visit to grandma’s house, but with a difference, as it was grandma’s retreat house. And all too soon, the time was over and we still had lots of things not done. Maybe next time??

Sorry the photos below are not in the order I had planned for, must be a trick I haven’t learnt yet.

This little man above was excited to see the fire burning.

Above the start of a Jelly Roll quilt, and joining all the strips. Hopefully next time all will be revealed. And below, continuing with what had been started another time.

And this is where 2 of my creatures are now established at The Sanctuary.

Above, a very proud almost 9 year old reached this stage of her quilt.  She commenced with a layercake, has done all the sewing herself, with help by Grandma with the cutting. It will have a plain border next, (colour to be decided) and then another border of the leftover pieces all sewed together…to be continued another time.

Above is Grandma and the girls toasting marshmallows, I have to confess that this is the first time I have ever done this! Bit of a learning curve to know just when to take them off, when they are nice and toasty on the outside, and before they fall off the stick!

And below my little man who wanted to help  water the flowers in the wheelbarrow. He was also very amused with Bones, my tin dog in the doghouse and tried to give him some food! (The photo of Bones was taken last year, the quilts are NOT normally hanging there).

That’s about it for this time, it was a lovely few days, and good to have them on my home turf. Today has been a pack up and go home day, a few loads of washing, and putting things away and getting my head back into quilting mode. It will be a busy week, but more about that later.

Blessings, From Jude