March happenings so far.........Part 1

 It seems like another month has past the half way mark, so perhaps I better post an update of newsfromjude for March.....

March 1st saw us pack up the van and head off again and this was the first trip with the new vehicle towing the van and we headed north to the Riverland of SA.  

                                 

Waikerie was the host club for the Riverland Quilting Gathering for 2024. (It was 12 months ago that Pat and I were headed to this same Gathering at Barmera and were stopped by a meeting on the road with a kangaroo.) Barry thought it was a good opportunity to make a long weekend for the occasion and stay at the caravan park for a few nights.

We headed north along the Ngarkat Highway and our first stop was at Pinnaroo. I headed to the chemist shop for some cream to put on my knee which was rather unhappy after I fell out of my chair the evening before. ..... don't ask me how I managed to do this!!

Our next stop was at Paruna, for a quick look at this little town..... I loved this cute little post office!!...

................. and the campground was very quiet..........

.......not much traffic in the main street either!!

.............and this is the campground...........

Next stop was at Loxton by the river and we made salad lunch in the van.

The weather was very hot and humid, and we were thankful that Waikerie had a max temp of 43 a few days before we arrived!! We got to the caravan park about 2pm and set up the van on our site............

                             

We knew of other quilters who were heading to the Gathering, among them Pat and Alan, Jo and Tony, Faye and Kim and Heather and Brenton. We all enjoyed dinner at the Waikerie Hotel that evening........it was a lovely catchup with friends we hadn't seen for awhile.

The next day was the gathering at the Waikerie High School and was attended by about 130 quilters from many areas of the state and some from Victorian groups too. Lots of chatter as we met up with friends, and shopped at a variety of patchwork shops who tempted with their goodies......

There were guest speakers who spoke on a variety of topics.........

.......including Heather Ford, who is SA Quilters State President and also Convenor of the Appraisal Panel. The red and white projects that the Panel made were on display. The members made a 40cm square quilt in differing methods and they were each valued. It was a good way to see how the different techniques contributed to the differing values.

This is the SA Quilters table where members were selling tickets for this quilt.

While the women were at the quilting day, the men folk did different things. Barry and Alan did a tourist drive across the river and surrounding area, and Tony drove to the Barossa.

That evening, Barry and I enjoyed a meal with Jo and Tony and friends at their van..........

...and helped Jo celebrate her birthday which was  few days later.

Then time to enjoy another night's sleep with much cooler weather. My knee was slowly improving..... (The next couple of days will come in separate posts.)

Blessings, From Jude.

First half of February.......and also the rest of February!!!...........

 

The last newsfromjude update (not counting the quick quilt update) finished off with the following words..........That about fills up to the end of January. What will February bring??

And now it is March 5th!!! So just what did February bring?? It is just as well I do take a few photos to prompt my memory. In no particular order is a summary of February newsfromjude.......

The first Quilt Appraisal day for the year was early in Feb and I submitted 6 quilts to be valued. I have been fairly good in finishing some tops lately, but they are not really 'finished' until they have a label....and this is something I don't always get around to, unless they have been entered into the state quilt show or they are being valued....so this meant i had 6 labels to make and stitch onto my quilts before I could take them to Adelaide!! ..Note to self, make the label when you finish each quilt, as this will save a lot of time later!!??

                                            

Barry drove us to the city for the meeting and here is Pat, taking advantage of the time to crochet. (She finds it hard to sit without something for her hands to do!)

As I had made and quilted the quilts for the day, I was excused from attending the process, so Barry and I met up with a friend, drove to the beach and had coffee.

While we are continually attending Valuation days and should have an idea of the dollar value of our quilts, I was still surprised to find out that the 6 quilts I submitted totalled in excess of $20,000!! While that is not market value, it is only for replacement value but is a guide for insurance if something happens to your quilts and they are not assessed as blankets!! 

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Laurie, the fabric rep called in one morning and Val always likes to come and catchup with him for a coffee and chat.

                                 

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I was looking through photos one day and came across the one below. Many years ago (1977 - 1979) our family owned a semi-developed farm near Mundulla, about 20 minutes drive from here. I showed Barry the pic and was describing where the farm was located. He had not been on that road before, so the next day we decided to take a drive out there......

........and while the gate in the photo above is no longer there, the concrete post that I am leaning against and the timber struts are still there..... so I posed for a photo, some 46 years after the first pic was taken!! After that we did a tour around the district nearby.

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There has been more sorting, listing and selling of 'stuff' happening. This will be ongoing for a long time yet.

There was a QFO day, although no pics of what we worked on.

We did take photos of the quilts in the cupboard that are waiting to be donated, and I will post these soon.

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There was a Sunday afternoon drive up around the Ngarkat Conservation Park and nearby. This is one of the roads we travelled on, and the view of mainly scrubland............

.....and the clouds that day got my attention.........

The park is the green section on this map..........and the road from Bordertown to Pinnaroo travels through this area...........

We stopped at Pertendi Hut...........where there is a camping area.......... though no power.....

Hopefully you can read the following, which explains the regeneration of the bushland after a fire........

                                                 

We also visited Comet Bore, where there is also a campsite............

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Following the shed clear out, Barry has set up his tools and 'stuff' in there, and we decided another cupboard that could be locked would be a good idea....... and Mitre10 had one advertised in there brochure. I decided to order one to be delivered..... which seemed like a good idea at the time....... it looked good in the picture............but when it was delivered, we found out it needed to be assembled!!!??? Not mentioned in the ad though!!!.Pat came to visit at the wrong time, though perhaps it was the right time?? It took the 3 of us to work out how to follow the pictures on the instruction sheet!!!!..............

...............the box said Easy Assemble!!.... but we don't agree........

..although when it was finally assembled, it turned out to be a good cupboard!!!

Lesson learned......... when the price is as 'cheap' as the brochure stated, do NOT expect it to be assembled!!?? I will be wise next time.

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One of our original group members has given up her quilting and recently donated her remaining treasures to the Angels group and here is Betty showing us what she brought.

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I heard the sirens one afternoon, and they sounded very close. Looking out the window I saw 2 fire trucks and 2 police vehicles just across the road at the house I used to own for quilting retreat (The Sanctuary). All the fire guys jumped out of their trucks and headed in the driveway, only to soon return, get back into their trucks and drive away. Apparently there was no drama after all, which I guess was a good result, but it did add a bit of excitement (?) to the afternoon.

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Vehicle update.................. In the last post I stated that Barry's car would be repaired and sold, but the final outcome was different. Apparently there was more damage to the motor than originally thought and the car was not fixable. 😞😞😞

The new car has had the towing gear added to it now, and is operational. The van came out of the shed again and I will report on our first trip away when I start reporting on March activities.

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Recent blood results showed up low iron, which is not unusual for me, so it was time for another iron infusion.

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A recent purchase was a barbecue, and one Saturday night it was Barry's turn to cook. As he started to cook, Miss Bridie and co walked in the door. So we quickly thawed some more sausages...........

.and enjoyed tea with DS, Bridie, Tate and Miss Olivia. (Their mum was on a girls weekend with friends and Dad was on duty!!).

They stayed the night with us, and next morning Bridie was keen to do some sewing............

Miss Olivia is walking now, and here she is checking out the  new library bag I made for Tate now that he is at school.

There has been the usual run of family birthdays, but I won't be doing separate blog posts for them this year. They are all growing up so fast. Today Miss Billie is 6 years old, so a phone call will be happening later in the day.

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The last 2 weeks of February was time spent with Max working on a custom quilt. This is now finished, although not photographed yet. I will make this a separate post.

The last day of February was a bonus day this year, being a leap year. I spent most of this packing the van for another trip away, the first with the new car, and I will report on that soon.

That is the end of my February summary. I started this earlier in the month and the title was the first half of February, now I need to edit it. I shall try to keep up better in the future. I am also so far behind in reading other blogs and replying to comments. Thanks to those who still read.

Blessings,

From Jude