This week I have................

In a recent post I showed you the first ever effort of Miss Bridie at the sewing machine and now I have turned her sewing into a pencil case, ...................

..............and used this bird fabric for the lining.............

........and then used the Alphabet stitches to sew her name, which I then coloured in.

It will go into the post tomorrow, and will be a surprise for her when she opens the mail.

This week I have also finished sewing her Paper Doll quilt together and even loaded it onto Max for quilting!! This BOM is still ongoing, and will continue to be released for months yet, but as the birthday is this month, I made do with the first 20 blocks and added frames and sashes to make it larger. 

This was how I had planned the layout, and in the process of adding the spot frame to each block.......

.......and then added sashing strips of 2" finished squares between the blocks

................... and the first row is done............

                                          .......... and then 2 rows together............

                             ............until there were 4 rows of 5 blocks.................and then I started to rethink                                       the whole process, as it was going to be used on a single bed!!

.......so up to the spare room and laid it out on the bed........... and I knew that it should be one row longer, and less blocks across, as there was still a border to be put on.............

It was back to the drawing board then, and one row came off the side and went onto the bottom to get it to a better shape..................( which then made my balanced layout of the different block colours very unbalanced!!) But I was not going to unpick the whole lot, so hope Miss Bridie won't notice it.
In this photo, I still had to add the squares to 3 borders.............

........as in this picture..........

                ......................and now the final 2 borders, which were chosen by DIL, are on!!

                            A backing was chosen, and it is loaded onto Max, all ready to go!!

.........and then I found this!! A leg that has not been stitched. Whoopsie, too late now, perhaps I will need to hand applique it after the quilting. (Note to self, hope I remember.)

I was debating about how to do the eyes, and after consultation with Bridie's mum, I have gone with buttons. And this non hand sewer, decided that after sewing all those eyes on, I have drawn the mouths with a pen. There are 18 blocks that needed mouths!! And because of the buttons, it had to be custom quilted. But I really would not have wanted to do allover quilting onto the little people anyway.

It's done, and time for binding, which is the spot fabric again. 

I thought this mottled coloured button would be great for the eyes, but in hindsight I wonder if it makes him look more like an alien?? Next time, I turned this button upside down.

This block is the nurse, wearing her mask, so is probably very appropriate for the year we are having. I shall make mention of this on the label that I make for the back of the quilt.

There is still a binding to be hand sewn, and I have almost 2 weeks to get that done, but I am very happy to have got this far. I still have the border to get onto the Piggy quilt for Billie. I have also managed to get another 2 of my quilts to the binding stage this week, so will be back later with a report on those. It sure feels good to be getting some projects on my list crossed off as done.

I have commenced work in my garden this week, while the sun has been shining. I kept looking out the window and seeing a blue sky, and decided go outside and spend time in it. We had good rains again last weekend, and there is more forecast this weekend, so making the most of the sun in between. I also took time out for my first visit to the hairdresser after 5 months, so the locks have been trimmed and the grey is gone again for now!!

That's all the newsfromjude for now. Will be back another day with more. I am rather behind in reading blogs also, so hope to catch up with a few of you soon. Stay safe, and stay warm, or cool if you are in the north of our world!

Blessings, From Jude

Weekend visitors..........

I have just realised it is Thursday evening and another week has almost disappeared, so perhaps I better report on last weekend's happenings before they turn into old news.

It has been quite a few months since I have had family to stay here, so I was excited when DS rang to say they would be in town and could they stay! And the added bonus was having time with the children after a few months of not seeing them. Miss Bridie is at a good age now, and full of chatter and questions! She wanted to know why I have all these things on my walls?? (meaning all the quilts that are displayed all over the house!) And why do I have so many chairs? Because there are 9 sewing chairs in the front room where the retreats are usually held! And why do I have so many beds in my house? I guess they are all valid questions from a little girl who does not know that Grandma works from home and it's all part of my business activities.

The rest of the family had other places to go on Saturday, so that meant we had special time together. There was time for drawing and colouring in, and there were cup cakes to ice and decorate.....

.................................................and after all the cakes were done, maybe I will eat some of the sprinkles that were left over?

Mr Tate was fascinated with the pigs, chicken and the sheep on Miss Billie's quilt, which has not been finished yet.

Miss Bridie is only days away from turning 5, so I thought that it was time to introduce her to the sewing machine. A footstool under the table brings the foot control up to the right level...........

and after a talk on the danger of putting her fingers too close to the needle, she was off! She tried out lots of different stitches and thread colours, and stitched allover the fabric.............. She knows her numbers so was able to change the stitches by herself, and all I did was thread the machine and watch for awhile............She enjoyed the sewing, so I do hope we get another chance soon, as school will happen next year.

This was what she ended up with, and it has been left here for me to finish off. I think I will fold it in half, add a lining and a zip and make it into a pencil case for her. Watch this space.........

All too soon it was time for them to go home..............

All the grandchildren have been introduced to the sewing machines (even the boys), and it is my hope that one day some of them might come back to it.

On Tuesday I travelled up the highway again, and took Miss 16 year old and her sister out for lunch. This pic was taken just after she had passed her test for her Learners drivers licence.

It certainly is different not going up and down the road several times a month as I used to. It was just dark as I drove back into town, and I saw the most amazing moon in the sky. I stopped for a photo, but this does not do it justice. It was very orange and huge, and appeared to be so close. It was not something I have ever seen before. I went outside later in the evening to look again, but it was not the same.

Quilting with Max has been on the agenda this week as well, and I am hopeful of getting some time in the long neglected garden sometime soon. I hope to have more news of the Paper Dolls quilt that I am making for Miss Bridie, and other quilt news, as well, so I will be back.

Blessings, From Jude

Family.............

I have been saving a few family photos that have been taken by me, or posted by family on facebook, so it's time now for that post.

DD1 and GD2 out for a hike in the hills near their home.........

................3rd child of DD1 who is pleased to be able to play football again.

(Sorry there seems to be no photo of DD1's 2nd child in this post, but as it is her birthday tomorrow, she will feature in a post then).

DD2 and her 2nd child, my 4th grandchild.................

........................................Basketball practice for DD2's 2 boys.....

                               I received a lovely visit from DD2's first child last week, my first grandchild!

DD3 and her 2 children, taken on the occasion of her 38th birthday last month...............

..................and now that Mr Jett is growing up, he is a good playmate for Miss Billie......

............time for Mr Jett's first haircut, and he seems pretty happy with the process.

                               I had DS and family visit for 2 nights last weekend..................

....................Mr Tate is growing up fast and now that he's on the move is a very busy little boy.

DS and family spent the weekend at the beach recently and the fishing was successful!

 I do have some more to share from their weekend visit, but will save that for another post.

Blessings, From Jude

Happy Birthday

Today my 3rd granddaughter turns 16 years old. Once again I have been back into the photo files to find some for this post. This one is from her first year,...........

and here she is on the right in 2009, and she was 5 years old.

A few years later and she made her own quilt, and we loaded it onto Max to be quilted..........

 .......and this one was taken at a Christmas in July retreat that was held at The Sanctuary for a few family members.

A more recent pic of a smiling trophy winner. 

I hope your day is a fantastic one, Luv from Grandma xx

Blessings, From Jude

A 6 month summary................

Well, it is the last day of June, and I am wondering how we are here already. It hardly seems any time at all since the start of the new year. 2020 arrived and everyone was full of optimism about what was ahead. There were lots of comments from many about 2020 vision, which the dictionary tells me is the ability to see perfectly! And how far from the truth has that been, as no one would have foreseen what was to come. Life as we knew it, certainly turned upside down. Australia has fared much better than so many other countries and I feel for them, and pray for our world.

 Restrictions are gradually being eased, but there is still a long road ahead, and talk of a second wave. Things are getting out of control in the next state, and the border has been closed now since March 24th, so we must not get complacent, but keep on taking precautions. Lots of events that were planned for 2020 have now been cancelled, including many state quilt shows, and sports are struggling to resume for this season.

So while some activities are resuming, it will be a long time yet, and perhaps never(?), before life is back to what was 'normal'. Will we ever be able to greet someone with a handshake again? Or give someone a hug to comfort and show we care? 

I have included the above details so that they are recorded in my blog book for this 6 month period. On a personal level, I find it is easy to keep looking ahead at what is on the "to do" list, and then lose site of what has been achieved. Thus I decided this morning to look back at my blog for the last 6 months, and will post a summary of that.

The year started "as normal", and I drove up and down the highway for appointments and family functions for the first couple of months.

Thankful that I managed to get all 10 of the grandies in one photo together, before things were shut down. They have all grown so much since then!

There were 2 retreats early in the year before life as I knew it stopped ..............

On the plus side, when travel and retreats ceased, I had extra time to work on my own projects. I started this kit during the above retreat, and soon had it finished. (It is still waiting for the quilter though!) And I did manage to get a few customer quilts done in this 6 months, and a third of them were quite large custom quilts too.

 I managed to finish this quilt that I made for a special friend. As I started piecing it in June 2019, it was well and truly time for it to be finished. 

And then I should have spent time working on the many UFO's I have waiting in the wings..... but I started new projects instead. First it was the Casa Felix Mystery quilt with the Quilters Guild 

of SA................

........and then I joined in with Rachelle Denneny's Mystery quilt.

In between the above I have been working on these applique quilts for some special little people.

This "Little Piggy" quilt, will be for Miss Billie, and still needs a border, and the finishing touches of eyes and mouths etc. 

This "Paper Dolls" quilt will be for Miss Bridie, and I am working hard to get this one done in the next month, before her birthday. I have finished all the machine applique and am now joining all the blocks. I will post more photos of this soon.

Our local patchwork group committee met last week to discuss the resumption of sewing days and we hope that this will happen soon. 

After a few months of our KYB group not being able to meet, and doing our studies each week by email, we have finally been able to meet face to face, although keeping with the distancing rules. We are hoping that our church can resume services sometime in July which will be great.

Because the retreats have been put on hold for this year, it has been disappointing to be not meeting up with those who have become good friends. Since I have been  introduced to Zoom meetings by Chookyblue, I have used this method to catch up with some of those people. While phone calls are great, it is better for a few of us to chat together and 'pretend' we are in the same room. There are still a few meetings to be scheduled yet.

I was going to show a few recent family photos, but am thinking now that this post is long enough. I also have a report on the group that was due to retreat here in June, that bought the kits and worked on them in their group, but that too can wait.

It's time to shut the blinds to keep out the cold evening air, and turn up the heat. We are in for another cold night, after a sunny day. (Well there was blue sky, but still very cold air!)

Blessings, From Jude