Thursday 21 August 2014

A BIG catch-up post


Once again, time has just gone, but not sure where! Thanks to those who have noticed my absence, and reminded me that a whole 11 days have elapsed since my last post. It’s nice to be reminded that someone is reading. Thankyou.
I have looked back through the diary and photos just to see what has happened, and will try to update you all.
I started to quilt an embroidered quilt, which has been “waiting” for awhile to be quilted, and I had intended to enter it in a show, and even filled out the necessary forms and posted it off. And then “life” took over, and things happened, and I decided I did not need to add to the stress in my life, so I made a phone call and withdrew it from the show. I am disappointed, but felt relieved after I made that decision. Better to come back to it when I can concentrate. This photo is the little progress I did make. There is a special story to this quilt, which I will tell at a later date.
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I have been teaching Embellished quilt classes all year, and there have been 9 lessons. I committed to doing a lesson 10, and suddenly realised that the scheduled class was up to lesson 9, so I needed to get busy. So that took 2 days of making a sample, and writing notes of the techniques, silk ribbon embroidery by machine. And then another 2 days of classes, which accounts for a few days. I forgot to take photos of the girls at work, but this is some of what they worked on.
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I have been visited by angels. Firstly an angel who came and pruned my roses. Thankyou to David, husband of one of the ladies who came for the weekend classes. It was another of my gunna do jobs.

And during that week it was Gumnut Angels day, when members of our patchwork group meet to sew quilts from donated fabric for local people who are not well or having treatment of some sort. We have given away lots of quilts over the last few years, and it’s always a good day of sharing and sewing.

These are the last 3 quilts we have finished.




And then another 2 angels came for a visit, and weeded my front garden, put down lots of mulch, pruned some trees, cleaned gutters and lots of other jobs. Since I purchased The Sanctuary, almost 4 years ago, the maintenance on this house has not been happening, as the priority has been “across the road”. And this has weighed very heavy on my mind and been quite stressful. What a great job they have done. Should have taken before and after photos. Thanks so much for all you have done.

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Another long overdue task, was clearing out “stuff” in the shed. As my children have moved out of town, one by one, they have left “things” in the shed, which also still contained the residue of farm things that we still had. And lots of sorting has happened in the last few days. What a relief to go through these things and we filled the skip bin and burned heaps more. Now there are organised heaps waiting for the family to collect or dispose of. There is also some old furniture in the shed that belonged to my grandparents, which I had been reluctant to get rid of. Back from the days when they made furniture properly, not this modern stapled together flimsy stuff. I am very happy to say I have found a home for this furniture, so in a couple of months, my shed should be very tidy. Open-mouthed smileAnother weight off my mind! And a trip down memory lane as well.

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Also in the last week I have had a visit from my cousin and her husband. It was great to see H and H again, as it has been a long time since we met up. Our mothers are sisters, and H and I are 2 of 45 cousins in our family.They have spent the last 2 years teaching in Cambodia, and were on there way to visit with their daughter in Victoria, and then heading to New South Wales to house sit for a friend for 2 months. They had their car packed fully, as you can see.
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H and H have just purchased a home, which is over 100 years old, and all the lovely old furniture in my shed will be going to their house after settlement in November! How good is that, their visit was very timely. (Not a coincidence, but a Godincidence!) And I was very happy that a couple of bags of clothes went with them. Some of the clothes that had been decluttered from my wardrobe. This sorting has been going on for a few months now, and it is such a relief to make some progress. But there is still lots to do yet. And I still feel an urgency to get this done, not sure why.

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I read an article I found on the net last week about the Psychology behind Messy Rooms and why the the most creative people flourish in clutter. So not sure if this de cluttering that is happening here will be a good idea or not! What do you think? Are people more creative in messy places? Or is it that while you are being creative, that you don’t take the time to clean up? Interesting subject, as I know that I often work in a mess.
Last weekend was also another UFO retreat at The Sanctuary. The photos below show some of the work that was happening, and most of us managed to finish some projects.

Pauline was finishing the quilt she has made for her grandson.
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Val was making her Paper Bag Mystery quilt larger, by adding 2 more borders.

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Helen was working on her Japanese Reflections Table runner.

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Jocelyn was starting her Bedford Quilt,

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and also put the last border onto her Paper Bag Mystery Quilt.


And I worked on my Head to the Border quilt, finished a block I had to make for a special quilt, and added a border to the brown quilt, which is now ready to quilt.
We have left the red flowers from the Christmas in July retreat on the tables to make the place nice and bright. They will stay until we need to put up the pink flowers for the Pink Retreat.
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I had a spur of the moment thought a couple of nights ago to play cards, while I had family here, and it has been a long time since we did this. It used to be quite a common pastime once. We had a lot of fun playing Frustration, and I came last. But it was still a good night. You can see it was a bit frustrating to get sets when I was needing a run of cards instead!

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And all good things must come to an end, and the family returned to Melbourne after their week’s holiday. I think they might need to go home for a holiday, after all the work they have done here. It was a busy, but very fruitful time.
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And a special parcel arrived in the mail today. Full of pink things for the auctions at the Pink Retreat. Thankyou so much Faye, they are fantastic.

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There is lots more to blog about, as we visited former homes, and had a trip down memory lane, but I will save that for another post. I have done some more quilts in amongst all of this, and have lots of quilt photos to post.

Be back soon, I promise,

Blessings, From Jude

1 comment:

Unknown said...

All this in 11 days? I think you are the one who needs a holiday xo
(sorry if i posted this already! I dont know if i was signed in or not)