Some more Pix

All of these quilts were from my guild in New York...the Northern Star Quilt Guild. I even got to do a trunk show for them at their show. It is quite a large regional show, and the gals make great quilts as you can see.

I guess I am rusty. I have some more pictures to post, so will try now. I just did not want to lose all that writing. I still cannot figure out why there is so much space between my paragraphs with a blog...when I write it, everything is all close, with no spaces between....gosh, blogging is too complicated for my brain!! Judy

BACK TO BLOGGIING!!

Greetings to anyone who is still out there. Can it be that it has been so many months since I have written on myblog.?? I don't think I have ever been this busy in years.

I had been working on Kaffe and Liza's new books, and it seemed that the pile of quilts only got higher the more I quilted. But, finally, the first week of August, I got the last one in the studio out to Liza....still a couple more coming I think.

I hope you will have a look at the new one...Quilts from Sweden....anyway, the quilts were all photographed in Sweden, and there are some great projects to make, not to mention fabulous settings for the pictures.

Well, my trip to CT and NY was great fun, especially hanging out with all my quilting buddies. And teaching at the City Quilter in New York City was fabulous. I met some great people there, and they did a wonderful job at machine quilting. Cathy has opened a great little gallery in part of her shop as well, so you might look them up on-line...the City Quilter in New York City. The gallery changes the exhibit so you get a really great look at some creative quilts by master artists.

The one day we went to the City to hang out was the biggest rain of the century. We looked like a couple of drowned rats, and it did not make walking around New York much fun, so we took a cab everywhere. I most sadly missed the big Red and White exhibit by one week. I hear that it may be a travelling show in the future, and if it is....you MUST see it.

My friend Becky owns the Quilter's Corner in New Milford, CT. You can check it out on-line too. I love her shop with all its bright and funky fabrics. I miss stopping in on a regular basis. On a sadder note, two shops in CT had to close while I was back there. A sign of the times I guess...so we have to support our shops as much as possible. I think they are all struggling a bit these days. I am happy to have some local shops near me where I can still teach. As a matter of fact I am teaching at one today, The Quiltmaker's Shoppe in Arlington, WA. Today's class is on color. It should be fun, since I don't get technical with color wheels and such!

Our summer was slow in coming to WA, but finally we have been blessed with some sunny days. My weeds were as tall as me this year, but some of them have finally been pulled.

I hope your summer was fun....I will write about my big exciting Featherweight Cruise on the next post. For now, gotta go and quilt on Stephie's quilt....she has a fabulous blog. I will try to get her blog to you next time. Have a great day.....judy

Off to the Big Apple and CT

This is my second try...the first time I bumped a key and boom....blog posted....I just can't get the hang of this blog stuff. I have totally given up on

facebook. This is my kitty ....Tommy Boy. What a handsome fellow, and a real character, to boot. He came with the house, and the older he gets the lazier he is. He mostly sleeps and eats...except when he takes a notion to whine to go outside at 5 in the morning. He does catch gophers, so he is a good hunter. I wish I could train him to pull dandelions and other weeds.

Today I leave for CT and New York. I will be teaching at the City Quilter in New York, so will be sure to get some pix of that fabulous shop.

It looks like the cruise to Alaska is moving along fine. I hope some of you will be able to come along with us. It is a featherweight cruise, and you can check it out at the Parkland Parish website. They are a great shop in Tacoma, WA. Sorry, but my blog skills are not good enough to post a link. I did once, but that was when Sharon was here to help!

I have been madly trying to get the book quilts out before leaving, but still have several more to go. Freddy Moran sent several and Kaffe and Liza too. They are really neat ones. Freddy is using lots of Kaffe fabric lately. I am starting a new kaffe quilt from the Provence book....it is called Mexican Party...and very fun and colorful. JUst my style.

I have begun to feed the koi once in awhile. Our weather is still pretty cool, but the water temp is up around 50, so that should be pretty safe for them to eat. I hope by the time I get home from back east, the weather will be warm enough to feed them daily. I love to feed and watch them.

I am working on another lone star, cowboy style this time. I will post a picture of it as I finish it. I plan to use it in CT when I teach the lone star there. I am also working on another lone star with funky Paris fabric....it is very fun...Timeless Treasures I think. It will give me a chance to put lots of funky fun colors together in the star points. I think I will make more pieces in each segment of the star, and use the Paris fabric for the background pieces.

Well, guess I better get back to packing for the big trip. FLying can be such a hassle these days. I am taking the red eye, so I don't waste a day flying. In the meantime I hope you all have a fun couple weeks enjoying spring, if ever it gets here.....judy

Off to the Big Apple and CT

Studio, Quiltshow, and Stuff

See, some of my Kaffe stash. I had to sort it out some after finishing the diamonds last week. Now I plan to do one from the Provance book...Mexican Fiesta....it should be pretty and fun. Nice and cheery fabric. Who would't love that Micahel Miller Orange and polka dot fabric...that is one of favorite all time pieces. I guess I should have bought the whole bolt. But I still have some in reserve for a couple more projects. Next is Stephie...holding some of her things, and smiling. She is such a great friend to have come and sew. I hope you checked her blog about her last trip. Stephanie Kwiltz. She will give you lots of inpiration. Well, today we worked on getting our Camano Quilt show hung for today and tomorrow. We got the studio sale ready. That is our flea market so to speak. You bring stuff, and change it for other people's stuff! Oh, I even swept the floor the other day in my studio. As you can see, it got swept, but still needs to go in the garbage can. Another thing I have been doing is quilting on my featherweight. I am practicing for the cruise where I will teach quilting on the featherweight. All you need to do is put an index card over the feed dogs...just poke a hole for the needle, and use a free motion foot....and quilt away. It works great as you can see. Well, gotta go and quilt on Kaffe's quilt for an hour or so....will write more about our quilt show. Hope you are enjoying your local quilt shows and getting lots of inspiration from them....have a great day. Judy

Quilt Show Coming

Good morning quilters...it looks like the rain has stopped for the moment here. I was just about ready to get the ark built. The rivers are high and everyone's yard is a big pile of mud and water. My poor critters are slogging through the mud like crazy. I will be so happy to see some sunshine and warm weather. Our Camano Island quilt show is this weekend. It should be great, and the vendors and quilts will make for a great weekend. I have to get things loaded into the car for my part. Hopefully the rains will stop long enough for that.

I hope the diamond quilts cheer you up....I just got that one pieced. It is from Kaffe's last book about stunning quilts from simple shapes...I will be teaching it in Woodinville, WA this quarter. I had a chance to use lots of my Kaffe stash...you can never have too much Kaffe....by the way, they are starting a new book. I just got about 5 pieces to quilt. They are going to do a lot with stripes and shot cottons this time around. I decided to use foundation muslin to strip piece my diamonds instead of just fabric and spray starch! It is a little heavier, but it does make it fast and easy to piece.

The Alaskan quilt is for the cruise to Alaska. I hope to be teaching this August on an Alaskan cruise. It is sponsored by Parkland Parish Quilt shop in Tacoma, WA. You can check their website for more information. Since I can't figure out links, I can't put one in my blog...so sad....and for all of you who are kind enough to leave comments...I don't know how to respond the them either. Yikes....I was never meant for this electronic age. My buddy Opal is trying to get me to text...don't know how, don't want to figure it out. Besides, my phone is way old, and if it goes kerflooey, I am in big trouble. I don't like those new skinny phones with pictures flying all over the screen. I was looking at electronics yesterday for a new tv remote....all I saw was i pods, iphones, some kind of games thingies, and more stuff than I knew existed for computers and phones...oh, and those funny new electronic books....as for me, I like turning real paper pages....and smelling the smells of a book. I still have not gone into libraries since they did away with card catalogues. Something about those cards and smells....but I did buy a card catalogue at U of Washington when they sold all theirs from their libriaries. I love it and use it for all my small threads and goo gahs.

Well, gotta slog over to the pasture and feed the critters and then work on a Kaffe quilt. I hope to mail it today.

Have a great day, and for all you local folks, hope to see you at the Camano show this weekend.

Happy quilting.....jude

Sewing Day and QuiltShow

Well, this week was busy with museum board meetings and our big guild quilt show! The quilt at the left was made by Deborah Haynes...who makes phenomenal quilts. This was inspired by Sara Nephew. I can' believe all the piecing, and it was a HUGE quilt to boot!
I was helping my friends Linda, Carol, and Danielle do the lighting at the show, a pretty big job. This is our last year to do that job...yippee.....We are going to let the young kids do all that hard
work in the future. We don't want them to feel cheated out of such a fun job.
There were lots of great quilts at the show, and our challenge this year had over 5o pieces. What clever and creative artists we have in our guild.
Our show lasts for 3 days, and we have quite a lot of vendors too. I did try to restrain myself and did a pretty good job of it if I do say so, myself!
Our next show will be the Camano Island show in early April. That should also be a great show. We only do that one every other year. It is smaller than the QA show mentioned above, but the fabulous quilts are still there in great number. We will have a smaller number of vendors and quilts, several demos of quilting techniques, and a studio sale where we bring our "treasures" to sell to raise money for the guild.
Then we are finished with shows for awhile.
We had fun sewing at my studio last Friday...that would be Opal, Susan, and Stephanie. Stephie made the cute little house in the picture from scraps of Freddy Moran's pillow we made for her. Stephie is soooo creative, and she even put her little heart inside the box.
As you can see Opal likes to take pix of what we do, including the Flat Stanley clothes we made for her grandkids. Opal made a couple little quilts to go with Stanley and they will go home to CA in Monday's mail. I was working on my new Kaffe quilt that will be a sample for a class next quarter. It is from his newest hardcover book...Stunning quilts for Simple Shapes...I think that is the correct title. There are many great quilts in that book, and several more that would be fun to teach.

Here is Opal hard at work as our official photographer! We really enjoy our Friday sew-ins and come away with many new and creative ideas. Everyone needs a little group to sew with, and hang out for creative refreshment. It seems like there is lots of creativity exuded from our little groupl
As you can see from the photo below, Stephie has done it again. I am so blessed to have these gals in my life. We are thinking of a group project to start in the coming months.

See the dapper outfits we made for the 2 Flat Stanleys. They even have hats! Well, we couldn't send them home without a proper wardrobe.

I think I will look for some good recipes to post in the future.

I think spring may be coming to our neck of the woods at last. Just lots of mud and rain now and then. Hopefully the snow is really gone for good.

We have much to be thankful for, and I hope we will remember those in Japan and other places who are suffering with earthquakes, floods, and wars.

Let's keep those creative juices flowing! Till next time.....judy

My cute little house made by Stephie. If you take the roof off, there is a little heart hanging from the roof....such a clever girl!