Michigan, Here We Come!

MICK DUNN'S quilt...Mick gave me the privilege of quilting her beautiful quilt she started in Margaret Miller's class...gorgeous....we each got a first place ribbon at QA quilt show.

I took that kinda blurry picture of a blue flower at Opal's house. Not sure what kind it it!

Just a shot of the Big Mac bridge that connects the lower peninsula to the UP......a beautiful part of the USA.

Hi all....well, today is the big day....flying out on the red-eye to Grand Rapids. Big 90th birthday party for my mom-in-law, teaching, and visiting cousins, friends, and a college friend from MSU.

It has been about 48 years since Lottie and I have seen each other. Boy, does the time fly. It should be great fun to catch up on 48 years.

I am looking forward to teaching two classes with a total of about 50 quilters. How fun is that going to be?? I love to hear the hum of those machines all making beautiful designs.

Of course, we have to drive to Mackinaw City by way of Traverse City, and home past our old cabin...which was totally torn down the last time we stopped by. Just a vacant lot. It was enough to make me cry. To think our family built the cabin board by board, and brick by brick.

Hoping maybe another cabin has been built for another family to enjoy.

We hope our Tommy Boy holds out well while we are gone. He is back on insulin, a tiny dose this time, and our wonderful neighbor will cat-sit for him.

Well, packing is about finished...all I have to do is get ready to meet Susan for a ride to Mukilteo Quilt Guild tonite. We are taking Colleen Wise to dinner. She is our speaker and a fabulous quilter and fun teacher. Check her out on-line. Then Ken will pick me up at the meeting about 9pm and off we go to Sea-Tac....oh, boy. I love all those lines and the security check!! Flying is not much fun anymore. We just have one stop in Minneapolis and then on to GR. Hope you all have fun these next few days. Even though I will be having fun quilting and eating whitefish in MI, I will miss my guild's studio tour and retreat....will write you a report about MI when I get back....judy

Good news, bad news....

Oh, my...Kaffe and Liza's quilt is much more beautiful in person...the latti are in 2 tones of teal/turquoise....very pretty combination. I am already collecting to make this one!

I made homemade scratch canollis this weekend for Easter dinner at Opals...yum...I will have to put the recipe on my blog some time. The blue and orange lonestar is Freddy's.

Oh, what a great night we had at the QA guild last night. It was ribbon awards night for our March Quilt show. What fabulous quilts were displayed in that wonderful new building at the fairgrounds. The light flooded in through the windows making every quilt sparkle and the space so clean ....with nice smooth floors so you didn't have to navigate bumpy cement! Anyway, several of my friends won ribbons, and I even did, too. With all those gorgeous quilts, it was really an honor to win...I got a couple ribbons for my quilting on friends' quilts and one for my You are my Sunshine. That was the good news. Earlier in the day I got a call that my class in CA at Empty Spools had been cancelled. Not enough sign-ups for a go...that made me kinda sad and disappointed as I was looking forward to teaching the gals about quilting. I guess it wasn't meant to be. But, on the positive side, I have about 50 students in 2 classes when I go to Grand Rapids next week...so that will be great, and we will have a blast quilting and thread painting.

Grand Rapids here we come!!

Well, with not going to CA in June, I can stay home and mother my koi, work in the yard, and clean my studio so the girls from Japan don't get buried alive when they come to visit.

We have had beautiful, sunny days of late, and that is a welcome sight. I hope your spring is warm and flower-filled! Is that a word...oh, well, who says you can't make up words. Gotta go finish a really cute story book quilt for Nita....she does beautiful quilts. Have a great day...judy

Guild Day today!

One of the last Lone Stars I quilted for Freddy...beautiful!!!

Fun thread pic of a few of the threads I used this last couple weeks.

Freddy's collage...how fun is that one??

Tommy Boy in his favorite posing...sleeping. ha...

Good morning all.....today is our Camano Island Guild meeting..the day meeting, that is! We are going to have Quilt University, where several of us will demo various techniques we use in quilting. I am going to demo how to use Angelina fiber. It is fun to use....give it a try if you have never used it. You can do some fun things with it, and it adds sparkle and dimension to your art quilts. It can look like water, snow, or anything else you want to spark up in your project.

I finished the last of Freddy's quilts yesterday. I will get more after my trip to Michigan, I suppose. I love to work on hers, they keep me smiling and cheerful with all those colors and shapes. Now I have a pile of charity quilts to do, as well as one for Kaffe and Liza as soon as the backing arrives.

I think we had frost this morning, if not, it sure looks cold out there. The frogs have been croaking so loud you can hear them all the way inside the house with all the noise of tv or radio going! There is a bullfrog adding to the chorus, so they sound very professional! I love to hear them, as it means spring may be coming. More rain yesterday, and more coming. I think we are about to float away.

Now I am working on things to mail to Grand Rapids for teaching. I will bring some of my Dazzling Doodle books for the girls to buy if they wish....and all my handouts for class. It will be so much fun to teach there. I am really looking forward to it, and meeting all those new machine quilters!

Well, I better get all my "stuff" gathered up for my demo, and get going. Hope you all have a fun day, and get lots accomplished....I hope to start a new quilt using Sara Nephew's new mini triangle ruler....peacocks....yeah! Then I can quilt peacock feathers all over the place...have a great day...jude