Happy Birthday to you…..

 

Happy  Birthday today to DD3, who was born 32 years ago! How quickly the years have gone by. I remember it like it was only yesterday. My blood pressure went up and I was put into hospital to rest, and a week later you arrived. It was June and the season was very cold and dry, with heavy frosts each morning. Even my hibiscus bush was burnt off with the frosts. And for the first 3 weeks after we went home from hospital, we slept in the lounge by the wood fire it was so cold. And I watched lots of Wimbledon tennis in the very early hours of the mornings! It was the drought year of 1982.

I wish you all the best in your future, love from Mum.

Blessings, From Jude

June long weekend UFO Retreat report

 

I know this report is a few days late, and I had intended to do this earlier in the week. The week has turned out not as planned, and with the holiday on Monday, it has made for a very short week. Realised this morning that it is Friday already, so better get too it this morning before I load the next large quilt.

The UFO weekend was just such a blast (??) and we all had a great time. Lots was achieved, the company was great, as always, good food and lots of laughs. One lady finished her quilt, and left on Monday afternoon with it quilted and even with the binding on!  A couple of girls went for lots of walks, and one caught up on some sleep. We listened to some great music and sat around the backyard fire for lunch, and toasted marshmallows. One lady ate her toasted marshmallows between 2 tim tam biscuits! (Sounds rather sweet and sickly to me??). We had visits from some special people throughout the weekend, namely Helen, June, Mignon, Michele and Larry. Thanks for calling in. We even had a special performance of “Dancing Queen” by Abba!! It was a shared catering weekend, and each person had one meal to cook for, which worked out great. I think the following photos speak for themselves with out captions!  Thanks for coming girls, and I look forward to doing it all again one day!

I managed to fit in some quilting at home in between walking over the road to sew, and I quilted my Bedford quilt. And the darling Faye offered to bind it for me, and it has now left town to stay with Faye for awhile until the Bedford Mystery Days have finished. Thankyou Faye. It is very unusual for me to actually make, finish, and quilt one of my projects in such a short time. And I can’t blog any photos until all groups have held their Mystery Days.

I am also working on blocks for the raffle quilt as a fundraiser for the BCNA for the Pink Retreat which is happening in September. I will blog more about that soon.

Must be time to get dressed and start my day, it’s almost 7am, and the dressing gown might not be a good look for anyone dropping off quilts today!

Be back soon, with another posting for a special occasion today.

Blessings, From Jude

A 2 week “catching up” post

The last 2 weeks have gone by in such a hurry, it’s hard to remember what’s been happening. But I have been reminded by people that check in on me that its time for a report.

Our local patchwork group had their annual weekend retreat at Pendleton Farm, which is a 20 minute drive from here. We were joined by Lessa Siegele and Deb Nichols, who helped us with the Bedford Mystery Quilt. Sorry I can’t post photos of our quilts, as it is still a secret for some groups, who are yet to do it. A good time was had by all.

Above, our annual group photo, on the log, which was covered with ants, but a few brave souls decided to risk it for a quick photo. And below, is Brian, owner of the farm, feeding the resident camel.

Above is one of the cottages and below the main building where we sew and eat. There is also a bunkhouse for alternative accommodation, and little “tent like” houses as well as a caravan site, so it caters for all.

Above is another cottage, and below one of our group busy sewing!

Below are 3 photos of quilts made by Pat S, quilted with allover patterns.

And this is a photos of Michele’s quilt just before I returned it to her to finish with her gorgeous feathers in that basted border. And I have to say that I saw the finished quilt yesterday and it is just amazing. It will look fantastic on the bed at Thorngrove Manor.

Last weekend was another 2 days of Embellished quilts classes, and sorry, but I forgot to take any photos. There is such a variety of quilts being made, and I had intended to take photos, of the different colour ways that are happening. I think I was so flustered because I was running a tad late with my preparation for the class, that I was caught out still printing off the notes when some ladies arrived early for the class! Lately I continually feel as though I am running behind.

I have also passed another milestone, and can tell you that my recent mammogram showed “nothing new and sinister”, as the specialist report stated. That is 6 years clear!

The last fortnight has seen 12 quilts “walk” in the door, to join the queue that is already here. So I think that means I need to step up the pace on the quilting side, don’t you?

This week has seen the departure to “warmer” places of 2 lots of  friends, who will be travelling northern Australia in their caravans. It is the time of the year for the “grey nomads” as they are called to be on the road. Does sound lovely, doesn’t it?

This weekend The Sanctuary is “home” to a lovely group of ladies for a UFO retreat. They are all working on different projects, and I look forward to seeing what they finish. I shall remember to take photos for you. It is a “long” weekend here in Australia this weekend, so they have 3 days to sew. The holiday on Monday is for the Queens birthday, and I am not sure why it is in June, because her actual birthday is in April??

I have also spent time this week working out the retreat schedule for the next 6 months. Lots will be happening, and I shall post about soon, but have updated some on the scheduled retreats page.

That’s about it for now, I need to do a bit more of the quilt on the machine, before I head across the road.

Hope you enjoy the weekend, whatever you are doing, and where ever you are in the world.

Blessings, From Jude

What I have been up to this week…

 

I have been following the blog of Michele and watched her progress with a quilt she has been making. You can read about it on her website. It is rather large, and she had a timeframe to finish it in, so I thought I could help out and offered to baste the quilt on my longarm for her. I picked the quilt up on Monday, when it was decided that I would actually ditch stitch all the applique, which would in effect “baste” the quilt, and then Michele would finish the quilting. We discussed how she was going to quilt it, and a comment was made that some crosshatching would be one idea. Michele’s reply to that was that it would take her weeks, which she did not have. So, it was decided that I would crosshatch some for her, and she is to finish the quilting on the rest of the quilt.

All loaded on Tuesday morning, ready to start.

The outer border with the crosshatching complete and the applique “ditched”.

And this was earlier today, Thursday with the end in sight. Tomorrow morning will see my part finished, ready for return to Michele to add the final touches.

This is a beautiful quilt, with amazing applique, all machine stitched in Michele’s usual high standard. When you read her blog and realise she only started to design this quilt a few weeks ago it is amazing. Check out the whole quilt on her blog, and you will see how much applique there is in the centre. Thankyou Michele for the privilege of working on your quilt. 

Time for lights out now, and an early start in the morning. A quilt to finish, and weekend classes to prepare for.

Blessings, From Jude

I am still here

 

Again I have been reminded about no posts, so shall just update with a quick post.

Life has been very full, with quilting, retreating, medical appointments, continuing decluttering, and much more.

Just a couple of photos of Kath’s quilt that I quilted last week. I have done a very simple p2p pattern in the triangles, which stitched out easily, giving the quilt a custom look. I picked a pattern for the border, and when I went to quilt it out, realised that the top and bottom borders were wider than the sides, so changed out my ideas. I used an Ann Bright matching set, with the wider pattern on the top and bottom, and the leaf pattern on each edge. Kath and I are very pleased with the way it turned out. Just a bit more than the edge to edge she asked for, but very little extra effort.

Am about to load a very special assignment, so will be a tad busy for a few days, so will catch you when I come out the other end!!

Blessings, From Jude

More quilts

 

Have found some more photos that have not been shown yet, seem to have had too much other “stuff” happening around here lately. I certainly am feeling a tad, no very weary, and am having time today to do “not much”. I did start a mammoth job in my bedroom this morning before I went to church, and have not made much headway this afternoon, and doing a lot of procrastinating. Pulled all the clothes from one of the wardrobes, and they are mostly still sitting on my bed, so I either have to finish the job, or move them somewhere else before I can go to sleep tonight. Not sure just how to tackle this task, as I have so much. I have accumulated a wardrobe in 4 different sizes, which is my dilemma. I probably should chuck throw what I can’t wear, but maybe I could wear them one day??? This decluttering business sure is hard. The rest of the house was easy, although I have not got into the sewing part of the house yet!! And when I start on the photos, I might just be in that room for years!!??

Pauline made this jelly roll quilt for her sister’s birthday.

Jacci’s quilt, quilted with a block pattern in each square.

Made by Helen, quilted with an e2e leaf pattern.

Thankyou to all those who sent birthday wishes, and lovely gifts. I am very blessed to know you all. Now better go back to the bedroom, if you don’t hear from me, you will know where to look for me.

Blessings, From Jude

Celebrating 60 years

It has been a very busy few days here and at The Sanctuary. And now that my blog is about more than quilts, and includes bits of my life story, I need to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, and tell you about it.
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day here in Australia, and it also happened to be my birthday on the same date this year. I had not really intended to do any celebrating, as I have hesitated about turning 60! Maybe it’s where you look back at your life, and wonder if you could have changed things??? I know that I have given it a lot of thought. It was decided that we would have an afternoon tea for family and friends at The Sanctuary on the Sunday afternoon. That sounded simple enough, so I agreed. I know it was a bit tricky for some,who needed to be with family that day, and I was fortunate that I could combine both at the same time.
This post has lots of photos, most of which don’t need comments. First up is one from the garden of the only tree I have which loses its leaves in autumn. It wont be long now and they will all be on the ground, but it does look pretty.

We had a bit of time sitting around the fire the evening before. There is something really peaceful about watching a fire, but only when it is contained, and a few drinks usually bring out some good stories. It is amazing what things your children tell you about, that happened in their childhood, that they would never have told you back then.

Preparations underway on Sunday morning, making sandwiches, decorating and arranging flowers. A lot of these photos were not taken by me, I was banned from being there.

 

       

After the bonfire the evening before, I was woken by a knock on the window…. “Mum, I need the stapler!”… I did not ask why, but next day I could see. And don’t the chains look very festive decorating the pergola at The Sanctuary.

After attending a party last weekend, and listening to speeches and formality, I went home a bit worried. A public speaker I am not, and suddenly I was confronted with the thought I might have to say something! I had not even considered this possibility when I agreed to the ”simple” afternoon tea. So there I was, trying to go to sleep and all these things going around in my mind. Lots I wanted to say, but couldn’t, so maybe I could write something instead. So I got out of bed that night, turned on the computer and started to write it down. And then when I finally went back to bed, I went straight to sleep. Lots of times I plan a blog post at night, and think about doing it next morning, and then I have lost all the words. Perhaps I shall get a notebook in the drawer by the bed?
So I had my words all written, and thought I would add a bit of humour and tape all my pages together and fold it up accordion style and just unfold it, making people think I had written a book! But even then, I could not say the words, so fortunately DD2 read it for me.



Following are just a few photos taken during the afternoon.

                                   

           

  And the last photo of my beautiful family.

It was a beautiful sunny day, made to order for the occasion, and a fantastic afternoon with family and friends. And as this posting is to be a record in my book, to be read by my family in the future, I will include a copy of my speech……

When you are young, you dream about growing up, leaving school, working for awhile, getting married, having kids and living happily ever after. (Maybe it’s not quite in that order these days, but this was 60 years ago). And when you are young, you think that someone who is 60 is old, well that’s the scary part, because I am there now. It did not seem to take very long either. And we all know now that it does not really happen like that. “Stuff” happens that you did not dream about, or even know about.

 It started out pretty good, and I married the love of my life, who I had met and dreamed about from when I was age 13. By 19 years I was married, after which the next 4 loves of my life, our 4 children, arrived. During those years a lot happened, I lived in 12 different houses, I was married to a stock agent, who then decided to be a dairy farmer. Now I shall let you know that, even though I had been brought up on a farm, I had no idea that cows needed to have a calf every year so that they could produce milk. And I only ever got caught once, with that warm, thick, brown stuff running down my body, when I stood underneath a cow in a herringbone dairy. Then we moved onto the farming life, and started out by buying our sheep for $15 per head, and having to shoot them by the end of the same year, because there was no market for them.
Each property we bought needed work on it, and every house we moved into had to be painted. Then I spent 15 years working as a cook at a roadhouse. And all this time, our family was dealing with the associated effects of a husband and father who suffered and was eventually defeated by depression. And then more recently, a few of my health issues, dealing with breast cancer and other surgeries.

But, in amongst and in spite of all these things, there have been some amazing blessings. You just have to deal with each day as it comes, try not to stress about what is yet to come, and to leave the past behind. As a child I was blessed to have and still have my parents and 4 siblings. Thanks mum, dad, Doug, Geof, Dean and my little sister Beverley Jayne, who arrived in the family after I had left school. Love you all lots. As children, and living on a farm, there was not a lot in the way of material possessions, clothes were handmade, or passed on from cousins, toys were few, but very special, often home made also.

 But we had what mattered most. Neville and I were blessed with 4 beautiful children. He was, and I am very proud of them, and I love you all lots. It is hard to let your children grow up and leave home, and watch them make their own life choices. I guess it was like that for my parents too.

And now I am also blessed to have 6 lovely grandchildren, to watch their characters grow, and to watch them do the same sort of things that their parents did to us!
 We were blessed to have wonderful neighbours, who supported us when times were tough. I especially remember the time when our neighbours stepped in and did our whole shearing for us. It was a very humbling experience. Thank you so much, and for being great friends as well.

There is a saying in the quilting world…… When life gives you scraps, make quilts. And so I did. It was a place I went to when things were pretty hard, and it was my sanity at the time. I started making quilts, and this led to me starting my own business, Cornerstone Creations Machine Quilting. A whole new world has opened up, where I have met some wonderful people and new friends. I have been blessed to win awards with my quilting, had quilts published in magazines, and travelled Australia to quilt shows, conferences and attend classes. And now this has led to me buying The Sanctuary, which is another house that needed “doing up”, and painting. This has been the venue for some great weekend retreats. It has all kept me “off the streets”, and enabled me to work from home. And a special thankyou to those lovely friends, and family members, who helped me with this place, and propped me up when the going got tough, and dragged on so long.

Through all of this, I can say that God has given me peace in all circumstances, and provides the strength for each day. He has led me thus far, on this journey of life, and will continue to as I trust in him for the future, whatever it holds.
 A big thankyou to the family for all their work in putting on today. You have done a great job. So thanks for listening so far, possibly more than you wanted to know.
 Thankyou all for coming and for whatever part you have played in my life. Love you all lots. THANKYOU.


 It must be time to finish the post, I have been sitting here for a long time doing this, and if you have read this far, thankyou very much.
Tomorrow is another day, the excitement is over, the family have all gone home, and it’s time to get back to quilting again.
Have a great week, whatever you are doing, or whatever part of the world you live in. Thankyou for reading my blog.


Blessings, From Jude