Retirement continued !

Father's Day celebrations commenced with breakfast at home with the family, three generations were at the table, our little grandson is the apple of Poppy's eye!

After working as a nurse for 42 years, I decided in July to retire, I worked for NETS as a retrieval nurse and clinical coordinator for 18years. Leaving a career that I absolutely loved was a very hard decision, but after losing a couple of close friends who were only in their late fifties in a matter of a few weeks apart, I felt that there was more to life then work.

I had a wonderful afternoon tea with my sister present, many friends and colleagues.

My gift was a gold watch for my years of service, very touched by this sentiment.

August I attended the Hunters Hill quilt show which is held biannually.

In September I went down to Melbourne to have a sister and niece weekend, lovely sister time except for the vomiting from a gastric flu, which DH decieded to share with me.

We visited some fun stores, but did not go to the quilt show and we were right there, but not feeling well, I made the decision not to attend, maybe not the right decision, apparently it was amazing.

In September our daughter in law graduated with her PHD and now has the title of Doctor to her name.

Our little grandson had his naming day and first birthday

I will sign of with another quilt completed, Chris Jurd's,snowball quilt. This quilt is another large one, it is done with a lot of Tula Pink's fabrics, aptly named "Tula Snowballed"

Next post will be from India.

Retirement and OH my what a busy year.

Oh my! where has the year disappeared to!. I have not posted since my quilting retreat and Mothers Day.  I have been so caught up in what's been happening on the home and work front, time has got away from me.

Sometime balancing work, home and what life throws at you, can at times be overwhelming and it can be hard, to get an even balance in life.

As usual I have been very busy creating my own little masterpieces and finishing off a few hand sewn quilts as well as a few little projects along the way.

2016 has been a year of finishing off quilts that were started by hand the previous year.

My 365 challenge has been put on hold, it has been very hard to catch up after being on 7 weeks holidays. I will complete this quilt but not in 2016.

My version of Lorene Uriate, Opal Essence, is completed, I called my quilt, "Tumbles" all paper pieced, took 18months to finish and will be a Xmas gift to my son and his partner.

I also made myself a jacket from my leftover Frida fabrics.

DH requested a Doctor Who quilt for his birthday, so this is what I came up within a week, now quilted bound, and being used, I must say hubby was thrilled with it completion.

My first whole cloth quilt, fully appilqued and hand stitched, custom quilted by Rigebell Quilting and a Lynne Alchin design. This quilt was a small one for me, very pleased with the result.

My version of Kathy Dougherty's Garden Party, I have called this quilt "Blooms and as you can see it is another large quilt. Hand and machined pieced. I commenced this quilt in 2015, doing all the background, then putting it away for a number of months, then slowly worked on hand piecing the dresdens, wheels and star flowers. My design evolved with adding birds and critters to my design,  this is the end result.

Onto making more lace journal covers, a great use of doilies and lace.

I made a variety of items to take in August to a camp in Lake Burrendong at Ridgecrest Christian centre, a fun time had by all.

A new group of friends made and fun had by all. The camp was in August and very cold.

My project commenced was a stacked log cabin, still not completed.

I als commenced my La Passcaglia quilt this year, my progress so far, I just love fussy cutting fabric and getting some wonderful designs from my fabric selection.