Giving credit...

Well, one more try... I want to be sure to give credit to the beautiful quilts I posted. The one of the little girl belongs to Sue Utt...it is of her mom as a child. She takes Ruth McDowell classes quite often. then, the beautiful Asian quilt is by Diane Watts of Whidbey Island. She takes classes from me occasionally....the full quilt uses a panel with a geisha girl....I took a close-up of the edge of the quilt with the cranes stitched in gold thread. They are both beautiful.

MOre pix to fix the boo boo...

Hi gang...well, I did it again and posted two pictures of Moe...or Nosey...can't quite decide what to call him for sure. I hope he doesn't get a split personality because of all the names. I don't think he pays any attention, anyway.

The first picture, is a field of snow geese...when I opened the car window to take a picture, the noise was unbelievable. They really can sing. The fields near us are covered with snow geese this time of year.

OH, NO....more critters!!

Hi all....so long since I have written. Guess too much is going on at this time of the year. A week ago Saturday we got two new critters......2 alpacas. They are soooo cute, but love to steal the goats' food. It is quite a feat to get them all fed without the alpacas stealing the food.

Our friends at Over the Rainbow fabric....check out their website on my favorites...don't know how to put the link in the body of the letter!!.....gave us two little alpacas. They had names, but I think I will rename them Curley and Moe....or maybe Moe will be Nosey, which he is!

I feel sorry for them out in the rain. And we even had zero weather for about 3 days, but all the critters did just fine...I even found water buckets with heat in the bottom so the buckets of water did not freeze. It is amazing the fun stuff you can find at the farm store!

I will post the pix of the boys...the alpacas.

Now I am working on Christmas cards and some quilt projects. Hopefully, over the holidays, I will have time to do some really heavy organizing and cleaning in the studio.

Our new computer would not connect to the internet, and after much ado about nothing, we finally gave up and got a different one. Hopefully my hubby can get this one hooked up. I think the first one was hexed.

We had 3" of snow, but it melted off in the rain the very next day....yeah!! Then the weather warmed up and the koi started to come up to the top of the pond. Well, those poor guys will be waitng to April to be fed....no matter how sad their little eyes are.

I still hope to do some baking yet this week...have you ever heard of banket...a dutch almond pastry yummy. I should post the recipe. Ken made 17 pounds of fruitcake...he is famous for it. We have used the recipe for almost 45 years. I found it in the newspaper when we were first married.

Our big treat was to go to the Mannheim Steamroller concert here in Seattle. They are so great.

Well, guess that is all the news for now...have a wonderfully blessed Christmas season. May you have a joyful and peaceful Christmas. Hope to write again before the big day.

Love, judy irish

photo captions for latest blog....

Well, since I cannot figure out how I got two of the same picture, and could not delete one...there are two....that is my new rack for all the rolls of batting in my studio... I really like how it works. I got the rack at Costco. The teddy bears are some of the ones I had for sale this weekend at my cousin's sale...she was selling her beautiful wooden plates and bowls she does on her wood lathe. I sold nothing and she sold some bowls and such. This was a slow year even for her! Oh, well, it is a cuddly inventory to be stuck with...judy

Brrrrr....it's Cold!!

Hi friends....it is COLD in these here parts! Lots of heavy frost and cold weather. I even dripped the faucets in my studio tonite. My poor goat girls are pretty chilly too...I put more straw in their little house so they can snuggle up and keep warm. I think I should bring them some hot chocolate tomorrow morning. As for the koi, they are definitely down now, and there is ice on the pond. Ken put the pond heater in so there is a small opening on one end of the pond to let the air in. It worked real well last year.

Today we had a long-arm meeting. They are always fun, and we get to chat and do show and tell...share tips, and learn from one another. It is so great to have such a giving group of gals willing to share their business tips. We take turns going to each others' studios and enjoying how each one works.

We got some Christmas lights up tonite over our living room windows...inside. We will get the tree up and our outside deck light going soon, too.

I hope to make a few placemats for gifts and quilt on some more of Freddy's quilts this week, too. Other than that, this week will be a couple more quilt guild parties and work, work, work.

I hope you are enjoying this time of the year as much as I do. I LOVE the Christmas season and especially all the great carols. Then, there is always the baking and cooking....don't do so much of that any more....it makes me FAT!!....ha....well, hope to talk to again soon.....judy

Chocolate Chip Cookies...yum yum

Trying to get the pictures posted....why is computing so hard??

Chocolate Chip cookies...YUM-YUM

Greetings on this Monday morning. Rain again today...still better than snow. I have a quilt to get going up on the frame today...yellows and blues. My dear friend Stephanie is coming to sew with me, too. We always have a good time working on things together. I think one thing I must do is get the binding made for our guild raffle quilt. I plan to sew different jewel tones together for the binding. That will pick up the jewel tones of the stars on the front of the quilt. I will post a picture as soon as I finish.
The best thing I want to do today is post my favorite new cookie recipe. It makes gazillions of cookies too, and they are yummy.
I got this recipe from a mystery novel...I got hooked on Joanne Flukes little Hannah Swenson mystery stories. They are great airport books....but the best part is all the recipes she puts in her stories. I think she is working on just a recipe book for the future, which would be great. Anyway, I hope you try these out. They are fabulous.

DESPERATION COOKIES

2 cups melted butter (4 sticks) 5 C flour
3 C white sugar 3 C chocolate chips or combination of chips
1 1/2 C brown sugar peanut butter, white chocolate etc.
4 tsp vanilla 4 C chopped nuts or combination of
4 tsp baking soda nuts, coconut, crushed cereal, potato
2 tsp salt chips or dried fruit
4 beaten eggs

Melt the butter you can use the microwave
Mix in the white sugar, brown sugar...mix slightly, add the vanilla, baking soda, salt, and mix. Add the eggs, and mix it all up.. Then add half of the flour, chips and chopped nuts. Stir well to mix thoroughly and add the rest of the flour and mix thoroughly.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. (12 per sheet) I use a little icecream scoop. (I also did not grease the cookie sheets) If the dough does not handle well, chill slightly first.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or till lightly browned. Let cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet--which I did do! Remove and finish cooling. I put my cookies out on clean newspaper to finish cooling....I have done this since a child...I guess my mom did it this way, and it hasn't killed me yet! It works great. Yield...about 10 dozen I always put in coconut which makes these the greatest cookies ever! I hope you enjoy them too......

Well, guess I better get to the studio, so I can meet Stephie and get busy sewing.....love, jude

Happy Friday!

Good morning all! No pictures today, as I am on the lap-top and can't access pix.
Today is Friday and next Thursday is Thanksgiving already. Where does the time go....it seems like only a few days ago I was moving the koi from the old pond to the new, and that was back in August. With all the rain we have had, I will be glad for the sunny days of summer to come.
I hope you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving. We will have a quiet one with just my brother and his wife. My hubby will brine the turkey and then use the barbecue to cook it. THe turkey tastes great prepared that way. I should include my favorite salad recipe for you all too.
I always use it for the holiday potlucks as well.
We still have the goats..I hope they can stay permanently. They are doing fine in all this rain and chilly weather. Even the koi come up a bit when we have a warmer day. I will be glad when they stay down for good, then I don't feel so bad not feeding them. I even have a fish on lay-away at my fish place. So I brought them some food last week to keep him happy. He is in a tank with some friends for the winter. I did not want to add a new one so late in the season...he is a pretty yellow koi. I will have to come up with a name, since my other yellow one is called Sunshine.
I am still trying to figure out how to answer comments to my posts....I wish I were much more computer literate. Now our big computer is on the way to the junkyard, and we have my lap-top in the house and are using it instead. I have the keyboard hooked up though, as I think it is hard to use a lap-top keyboard with my old arthritis fingers.
I am getting 19 quilts from Freddy, and working on one right now. It has cute little girl figures and is done in Australian fabrics. I am quilting some really cute little kiwi birds in here and there.
Well, speaking of that, I have another hour to quilt on that one, and need to put in some fish and tropical plants yet....hope you all have a great day....judy
I will post my salad recipe next time along with a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. I want to get a picture of the cookies to post, too. Talk to you later, again! Judy

My Lonestar Quilt top!

Somehow my lonestar did not get on the blog...but I did get 2 of the same....I guess it is hopeless with me and the computer!

Rainy Day...again!

Hi dear quilters....

It is already nearing Thanksgiving, and I am soooo behind. It has been way too long since I have written....this time of year not much goes on except quilting. It is too wet and cold to work in the yard. The fish are supposed to be sleeping, except today I noticed about half of them were near the top and looking for food. They have a long wait till May, or if they are lucky, maybe April. I miss seeing them and feeding their happy little mugs. The Goatgirls seem fine....when I try feeding them, they are good at knocking the scoop out of my hand and wasting their food. We fixed their shelter to try to waterproof it a bit more. But since they are critters, I have to remember that they are probably pretty warm even in the rainy weather. I fixed their house with some nice clean straw, which they promptly dragged outside onto the grass.! Goats are silly litle critters...but I am definitely attached to them.

I taught a couple classes recently...one my Asian pattern, or I should say a pattern designed with Asian fabric in mind...but anything would work. The girls did a great job. One new quilter got her top all pieced in the one day class. Then, my mystery quilt was great fun, with 11 gals all hanging out and piecing. We did some funky techniques and the girls put their own blocks together in their own way. I love to teach things like that...no pattern, and no plan. I know it can drive some people coo coo....but that is my favorite way to work.

I also did a couple more Freddy style pieces...bright colors, of course. I will post my last one, and get the others done, so I can post them, as well. My patterns are for sale, and even some of my quilts. I should post some of them, so you can see what is available.

I hope you all are having a great fall, and thinking about Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife will visit us....other than that, we have no family near by. You should feel very happy and blessed if you have a big family to share Thanksgiving with this year.

My goal is to get busy and dig out a whole big section of the studio. I plan to put in a rack to hold several rolls of batting. It is getting way out of hand...all the batting, not to mention all the scraps. I have to get busy and donate some more. I use some of the off-cuts for wall-hangings and small projects. I want to make a few more lone stars....I think I have a bee in my bonnet for lone stars right now!

Freddy and Gwen are sending more quilts for a new book, so that will keep me busy. I have been trimming 1 1/2" selveges from fabric to use in a selvage quilt. Freddy inspired me to finish one. I have been collecting for a few years, and better get busy. I did do one block.

Well, not much other news. Just have to get busy and plan classes for next quarter at the local shops. Of course, machine quilting will be one class. I have some other ideas, like maybe lone stars!

Will try to be more faithful with the blogging...and trying to figure out if someone writes me. I am having a hard time figuring out the Facebook thing. I just don't have enough hours in the day to do all that computer stuff! Have a great week, and I will write later....Judy

Fun with Freddy Moran

Freddy teaching at Aunt Mary's.

Freddy's string quilt..it is fabulous!!
Me with Freddy! I plan to use this green leaf as an inspiration for my challenge quilt. I took lots of leaf pix at Fred Meijer Garden Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Hi at last......where does the time go?? Too much work to do and not enough time. We have been trying to get all the winter chores done...getting the fish ready for bed and the goats a little better shelter for the winter. I think everything is pretty well battened down for now. We have even had several good frosts...scraping the car windows type frosts....which I don't like, but that means spring is just around several corners!

What a great time we had with Freddy Moran when she came to teach at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop. Freddy was her usual sparkling and fun self. We had three days to play with lots of techniques from her new book, Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again. In fact, Gwen is with Freddy now in CA where they are creating some wonderful new quilts for another book....maybe string quilts or who knows what wonderful surprises they will come up with. They will surely have fun in the process.

I made a whole lone star quilt, as well as parts to two other quilts. I am working with a lot of orange in one, and can't wait to get that one done. I found the most fabulous Michael Miller fabric with oranges and polka dots...what a find!!! It will be perfect for a border...I wasn't planning much of a border originally, but this is too good to pass up, and will look fun and happy in the quilt.

Now I want to make about 3 more lone stars. I have the fabric already picked out, and it is from my stash...even better.

Freddy inspired me to apply to teach at Asilomar, which I must get busy and do. There are always those pesky deadlines to deal with. I would also like to apply to teach at The Road to California. That would be great fun I think. So, I have to get on the ball and get going. There is also a Machine Quilting show on the east coast I would like to try for, and now they are going to have a show in Portland....MQX. Check it out on the web.

Well, time is a flying by, and I have to get into the studio...shame on me for not writing sooner, it just seems like finding time for everything is getting harder and harder. I am hoping that after vacation, Quiltfest, and Freddy, things will even out and my old routine will return. I hope you all are finding time for everything, especially creating some new quilts. This year I hope to get at some projects that have been in utero for some years! I will post some pix from my recent activities....have a great day! judy

LaConner Quiltfest 2009

Beautiful seacape...not sure of the artist...but is was spectacular!

Kathy McNeil's sea otter quilt....so cute. This is just a detail!

A detail of Anna Fustino's Fisherman's widows quilt. Partly painted and beautifully pieced!
Check out her book....Simply Stunning Woven Quilts

This quilt was truly unbelievable...the last name of the artist was Thom. What a masterpiece!

Well, the show is over! We had a smashing success at the 2009 Quiltfest in La Conner. We are soooo blessed to have this great museum in our midst here in the Pacific Northwest. There are only a dozen or so such museums in the whole country

The quilts on display were fabulous and certainly gave each viewer plenty of inspiration and enjoyment. These quilts had all been ribbon winners in a juried show, guild show, or regional fair. There were some by Kathy McNeil.... I especially love her monkeys and the sea otters. Then some great comtemorary type quilts that were ablaze in color and texture with threadwork and other embellishments. One seascape was especially fun and loaded with embellishments and such.

Not to mention the two with geckos or lizards....I am not a biologist! But suffice it to say, the beadwork was truly unbelievable. Next year we will be celebrating applique. If you get the chance to take classes or come see the show, you must come!

I was privileged to teach 2 classes at Quiltfest this year....one on weaving fabric/collage, and another called Bag of Tricks, with some fun things and products to try when making contemporary/art type quilts.

The vendors had the usual wonderful array of goodies....marbled fabric, beads, Hawaiian and other applique, and fabric, of course. Even the weather cooperated.

I can't wait for next year!

SuSan Reidel was our show chair, and her wonderful husband prepared a yummy lunch for the vendors, volunteers, and students....just so we wouldn't starve! Cheesecake anyone???

Check out the LaConner Quilt and Textile Museum website for next year...they are already beginning to post things for that show. In the meantime, happy quilting.

And even more excitement!! Freddy Moran is coming to town. She will be at Aunt Mary's Quilt shop teaching and inspiring us with her colorful and whimsical style. Welcome, Freddy!

Back From Michigan and Arkansas

The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.

Ken and Judy by the lake...Huron.

THe 5 mile long Mackinaw Bridge.
Lumberman's Monument

WOW!! how can it be that September is gone and Oct. is nearly half way gone as well. It seems like we just left for our big trip to Michigan and Arkansas, and here we are home again with noses to the grindstone. (By the way, there is a city in the "thumb" of Michigan called Grindstone City...or was....my I have a picture of my mom sitting on a huge grindstone in about 1940 or so!) Just some trivia. The grindstone is hard to push, with all those quilts hanging onto it!

Have a quilt to finish today, one of my first customers from 12 years ago, and very cute baby quilt from Bekah Lynch in Houston....she does the most phenomenal applique, and then another Freddy quilt....Freddy will be at Aunt Mary's Quilt shop next week for 3 days...yeah!!

Our trip was great...even the reunion for my hubby's 50th highschool...Grand Rapids Creston High School. How did we get this old?? There were almost 100 returning grads and spouses...finished off with a fabulous fireworks, too. It was interesting to see how all those young lives turned out. We felt so blessed to still be alive and well, and have had such a great life all those 50 years.

A trip to Traverse City, Mackinaw City, and Mackinaw Island, of course.....just reliving old time places we like to visit. It looks pretty much the same. Mackinaw Island is always fun for walking, and the weather was absolutely fabulous. I had to pick a few rocks from the lake and bring them home for my pond and stream. I love the Great Lakes. The water is always so blue in the North part of the state. We had to go to East Tawas where I spent lots of time as a kid, camping and then visiting from our cabin later. We now have no cabin...the new owners have torn it down and it is a bare lot. It was sad to see, since we built the cabin when I was just a wee kid! And brick by brick...using old Saginaw bricks...I remember chipping off all the old mortar. They were free! I even brought a couple home one trip..heavy to carry and get up on the check through for hand carry. (The days before 9-11) No trip to our old cabin area would be complete without a stop at the AuSable River and Lumberman's Monument. THey also had some information about the CCC camps. My dad served when he was a young guy before he met my mom. That was interesting to see.

Had fun visiting friends and family in Saginaw, a depressing town with all the lack of work, and a downtown that is virtually empty. It could be such a great town...right on the river and beautiful old mansions from the lumber era of Michigan.

After visiting in Michigan, we headed for Arkansas, to see my sister-in-law. I had been asked to do a trunk show for her Northwest Arkansas guild and then a workshop...what fun!!

And what a great group of talented gals, too. Actually several men were in attendance, too. Well, I had not been in Arkansas for any length of time before, so it was interesting. Lots of trees, and some rolling hills. Had to stop at Lamberts, house of throwed rolls on the way down...I had eaten there once before and had to take my hubby. It is fun, just watch for flying rolls!! You better hope for an extra stomach to hold all that food, too.

We had great weather, and lots of fun. But now it is time to get back to work. I actually started to get a little bored near the end...not when I was in the quilting mode in Arkansas. I guess I will have to find something to do for handwork. I never really like handwork too much, but I mayhave to give in and try to find something that I will enjoy.

In Grand Rapids Sue Spargo was doing a workshop, and then, when I got to Arkansas, there she was again. I don't do that kind of work, but it sure is beautiful, and the wools are great colors.

Guess I better go check the applesauce...my hubby picked the remaining apples from our trees, so I have been making a batch of applesauce every morning. Hope you and yours are enjoying this beautiful fall. We have already had a few frosts. I will write about our big Quiltfest at the LaConner museum next time. Have a great day!! Judy

runaway goats and horses!... BON VOYAGE

Well, after moving day, chasing fish around a pond, what more could we have loose? I think I told you about the ducks....that was one exciting adventure chasing 16 ducks into a cage so they could go back home where they belonged......then a week later, coming home from church...there it was!

A tree leaning on the hood of my poor old Suburban. Thankfully, no damage to the car, but the tree is now firewood. We don't have many trees in our yard, proper. They are all down in the pasture and around the perimeter. So, even tho this was just a scrub alder, I hated to see it go. It had grown about 20-30 feet tall just since we moved in about 7 years ago. ....not to be outdone, out of the corner of my eye are 2 horses running around our back yard and orchard. It seems the neighbors' horses had escaped their fenced in pasture. I bet they had some tummy ache after eating all those apples and plums.!! It was quite a trick to lure them back inside so we could re-attach the fencing. Let's see, missing goats??? Well, after the horses were put back....then the neighbors goats got out...seems they finally chewed their way through 10 feet of blackberry hedge and into the neighbor's garden....home again.....let's see, I don't think we have any more critters that can escape for the moment. I certainly hope not, as we leave in an hour for Michigan.

Hopefully, that will be a most uneventful trip...just fun visiting family, friends and old familar places. I am looking forward to seeing Mackinaw Island again...one of my favorite place. I also want to see if a new cabin was re-built on our old cabin site. Last time the whole cabin was gone, and all that was left was a bare lot. It was quite sad to see.

Since I am doing a trunk show and class in Arkansas at a guild, we are lugging lots of quilts. With our up-grade to first class, we can each take 2 suitcases, so that helps with all the quilting stuff. Well, I guess I will have to write when I get back and post some pictures of the sights we see....hope you all have a great beginning of this fall season. It is hard to believe it is already September. I will sadly miss Innovations this year. That is all for now...but will write when I get back....judy

PS...the pictures are of the run-away ducks....my attempt at landscaping around the pond, and from the Ricky Tims seminar....me with Ricky and Libby Leman....they are so gracious about their work and pictures. What a fun 3 days that was. (Got saddlesore, for sure!!)

Moving Day and more!

Hi friends! It has been way too long since I have written you on my blog. Too many things seem to have gotten in the way of my getting time to write. But here goes....

The pond project took lots of time in the past month. We finally got the liner in and the fish moved. It was much easier than I thought. With the help of several friends, we rolled out the liner, lined it up side to side and front to back on the ground...each took a spot and walked it right over the hole and dropped it in. There you have it, the liner was in!! Of course, nothing goes right the first time...the liner was fine, but the koi toilets (bottom drains) ended up leaking. When I checked the water level the first morning after adding some water, it had gone down quite a bit....oh, no....a problem...We finally figured out we had a leak, so had to drain all the water, take out the koi toilets, and re-seal them....we added lots more silicon sealer, and tried again. This time the water didn't leak! YEah....

It took several days to get the pond about half full, and thanks to our neighbors letting us use their water and ours, we got the pond full enough to add the fish...

My hubby's boss lent us his waders and a special net for catch and release....it worked really slick and didn't hurt the fish. It was a great rubber net. THe waders were amazing..you don't get one bit wet. What an amazing invention. So I caught the fish and hubby ran them over to the new pond and dropped them in. Surprise!! There were two new fish in the pond that we had never seen....a baby catfish about 3" long and a little butterfly fish, that I hope is a koi. We cannot figure how they got in there....maybe the butterfly is a baby from eggs the fish laid, but the catfish is another story. We only have one catfish in the pond and he is about 1 foot long and 3 years old...what a mystery. I named the baby catfish SPike, and the little orange butterfly is Pee Wee. They come up and try to hold their own eating food with the big fish.

Well, we have been busy working around the edges of the pond, and trying to figure out about the waterfalls and stream. It is still a big job to come, but we are so happy to just have the fish moved for now. By November we will no longer be feeding the fish, and they will begin to hibernate till spring. For now it is such fun to watch them. I think they are growing already in their new home. I posted pictures from the big move. Next time I will write about the RIcky Tims' Seminar, and the case of the missing ducks....till then....have fun in your neck of the woods...judy

A COOL Day!

Hi All...It is a cool day here today, weatherwise, that is! It may be a cool day too, of working on the pond. It is always "cool" to do that. I can remember when I was first teaching that the word "cool" was in, so to speak. Everything just gets recycled, even before it was the thing to do!

Today my hubby is home, tax season over, means Fridays off sometimes. YAY!! We will work on the pond, but first I have to finish my quilt for the show. I am using a pesky metallic thread which keeps breaking. I don't know why, as it usually sews forever without breaking. Anyway, I keep forging forward. I am glad it is just a small wall-hanging. I have to bind it and another quite large one yet before WED. Yikes, I better get going. Then I can start Liza and Kaffe's remaining quilts for the new book.

Our pond project is nearly ready for the lining next Sat. Today we have to finish leveling the edges and get the pipes all covered with dirt. I can't wait till that is all done so I can finally plant my plants around that area.

Yesterday we went to the LaConner Quilt Museum...my Goofballs and I. The Goofballs are my little group that comes once a month to sew. We have a great time. Anyway, there is a great museum exhibit of contemporary quilts mostly made with hand dyes! It is great....check out the website to see if there is any info on it. We could not take pix, so I can't share, but suffice it to say, it was inspiring, and gave me some ideas for my 3 tubs of hand dyes.

I plan to have a dye workshop here at my studio on Aug. 14, if you want to come, and live close enough! Well, gotta go, my hubby is making pancakes with sour cream and strawberries...one of my favorites! Talk to you all later....Judy

Quilt and Garden show a smashing success

Hi All....

We had the Mukilteo, WA quilt and garden show this last Saturday. It was a smashing success. The garden I worked in had 29 quilts displayed. We had a huge garden, and it was begun 40 years ago when the homeowners built their beautiful home on the Puget Sound looking toward Whidbey Island. Ferry boats and freighters ply up and down and back and forth. Not to mention all the sail boats and power boats. Anyway, it was great fun. I even met a couple from my hometown of Saginaw, MI. What a small world.

I only got to visit about 3 other gardens on my lunch break, but one was really packed every square inch with flowers and shrubs and greens of every kind. The secret is to pack it in to keep the weeds out! He had a couple little boardwalks across the dry creek as well. It was great for ideas that I can use in my pond project. Maybe you are in a group where you would like to try a quilt and garden show. It was well worth the hard work.

Since the last time I had trouble with getting titles by my pix, I will just say that the pictures in this post are from the quilt and garden show, with one of our pond project at the end. We hope to put in the liner on August 1...yeah!! Then we will slowly have to fill the pond and move the fish. It turned out to be a much bigger and longer project than we imagined.

One of the goat girls figured out how to escape through the fence. After two escapes, we finally figured out she was slipping between two fences that didn't have enough closures...these goats are way toooo smart. Well, now they are in for good, we hope!

I have to quilt a show quilt today. Hope to finish, because the next Kaffe and Liza quilts are waiting for completion for their next book.

Hope you all are having a great summer. Judy Irish

HOME FROM SISTERS

Gee's Bend challenge quilt made by one of the gals from the Stitchin Post in Sisters. I think it is a great one!

Gee's Bend quilt made by one of the gals from Gee's Bend.

What do you think of this quilt? I think I need one for my Suburban! I
Only one of the many beautiful views as you drive towards Sisters.

Freddy on the right, me in the middle, and Gwen Marston on the left. Pretty exciting!

Hi All!

We are back from Sisters. What fun. THe weather was a bit hot in the high 80's, I think. I have been there in much hotter weather, so it was ok. We got there in time for the Friday night picnic in the park. Freddy and Gwen spoke, and the Gee's Bend quilters did some singing. It was great. I think Freddy and Gwen could go on the road as two broken down comedians. They were funny, and the quilts fabulous. Freddy even introduced me as her quilter and had me stand in that huge crowd. That was pretty exciting. She is such a great lady.

I met one of my clients, Linda Jenkins, from Oklahoma. She is a fabulous applique gal. What great work she does. I am hoping she will come to the Quiltfest in La Conner in 2010. It will be all applique. Ellie Senkiewicz will be the featured artist.

We spent the day looking at most of the 1300 quilts hung around town in Sisters, and I did a little bit of shopping. Got just a few half yard cuts and a book or 2. I have enough fabric and stuff in my studio it is downright shameful!! Anyway, I don't need a snitch more of fabric.

We left and went to Salem, OR for Saturday night where we visited with friends we knew from the Bay Area. They have retired to Salem. It was fun to see them and their beautiful yard. Bill is a master gardener. I got some more ideas for my little garden near the pond.

Our ride home took about 2 hours longer than it should have...traffic, traffic, and traffic. We got home to our critters and everyone was fine.

One exciting adventure, more water/well problems. It turned out we needed a new tank in our pump house, so that is now replaced, and hopefully some of our water problems will be solved.

The goat girls are begging as usual. I am looking forward to doing some landscaping in my new pond area, and we have set Aug. 1 as pond liner day. Yeay!! Then we can fill the pond and move the fish!

I hope you all have a great week. Today I teach machine quilting in our local shop. This weekend coming is the Mukilteo Outdoor Garden and Quilt show, so I will be working at that.

I will get some pictures to post next week. In the meantime, gotta go quilt for an hour before teaching. Have a great day, and I hope you can get at least one visit to Sisters. It is such a fun experience. Judy Irish