Travelling to Port Orchard

Hi all....just a quick note before I leave for Port Orchard to do a trunk show and teach  at the West  Sound  Quilters' Guild.  It should be great fun to meet all the members and show them how to make Lone Stars and machine quilt.  This will be a new experience, taking the ferry to Kingston and driving south to Port Orchard.  I think I can find a new quilt shop to  visit, too.
I have been finishing up some quilts this week, just today a HUGE blue diamonds of all kaffe fabric.  It goes back to Pennsylvania.  The girls at Glorious Color have been very prolific of late!
I am working on my motorcycle quilt yet, and figure it will take all of my spare time till the end of May...gotta meet the mid June deadline for entry at the La Conner Museum Quiltfestival.   It is a juried show, so may not get in anyway, but I am having fun making the quilt all the same!!

The weather has warmed up a bit, but not too many sunny days around here yet.  The fish thought it was warm enough to say hi last week, but since I can't feed them for a couple month, I had to ignore them.  I think they look even bigger! 

Working on daddy's motorcycle quilt....got a long way to go...it is just in the embryonic stage at the moment.  Trying to figure things out!  The red plaid shirt was actually my dad's real shirt!

My friend Denise took my class last week and finished this  great quilt top.  She loves aliens and space fabric!

Hope you are all having fun with your creative endeavors....will let you know all about Port Orchard when I return.   Judy

Harley Girl!

Hi all, thought I would have some fun today and post of picture of me with my Harley....from another life!  About 1986-88 I had a  Harley, actually two.   The first  Sportster I got was a nice red one, and after awhile I got the Harley Hugger.  It was  a little closer to the ground for short people!  And it was a beautiful purple bike.  I got it with engine guards, and a windshield--keeps the bugs out of your face!  What a beautiful bike.  My mom and dad used to ride in the late 30's and early 40's. Daddy had a beautiful Robin's egg blue bike, said my mom...she rode behind him on the buddy seat.  Riding gear in that day was a far cry from today.  I will have to post pictures of them on the bike.  It  also had the suicide shift on the side of the bike.   They rode with some famous people back in the day, and my dad did crazy stunts and races.  I have some fabulous old black and white pix of their biking adventures.
I got a special made black jacket with purple fringe, and chaps too.  I always wore my leathers when I rode...I didn't think road rash was a great alternative.  Even in hot weather, the leathers never got hot.  A mystery of life.  I still have my jacket.
Anyway, since I don't think I have shared this part of my life, thought I would today....well, the  Harley T-shirt quilt I have been making gave me the idea to post the pix.  Well,  guess I will get these pictures posted, and get off to work.  Today I have a great applique quilt to work on.  It is Lollipops by Kim McLean.....a friend of LIza Lucy made it, and it is gorgeous.  I actually quilted one before made by Becka.....it is a quilt I would never attempt, but  a most beautiful  collection of applique and kaffe fabric.

Me, with mommy and daddy...I let daddy sit on MY bike...ha...

Hope everyone has a agreat day...we have some hail here.  Can't wait till the warm days of spring come back.   Judy

Merry Christmas and Happy New

Greetings All.....I just noticed my last post was Dec. 8.....where have I been, and how fast does time fly!   I have been quilting, cleaning the studio....neverending....and quilting some more.  I had hoped to quilt 3 of my own pieces over Christmas, but the one with peacocks took a week on the frame, so that idea went out the window!  I am finally putting the binding on the peacocks....my tired old eyes are having fits with black binding, black backing, and black thread.....not much fun.
My helper Trish came and we put in a counter I had stashed in the barn....trying to clean up around the design wall, or as I often call it the bulletin board.   Opal says that is my problem....I have to quit thinking of that space as a bulletin board!!   It is a great design wall...two sliding boards with insulation board covered with batting....it is a total of 8 by 8 feet...trouble is that I had about 18" on each edge plastered with important stuff!  So the design wall was slowly shrinking.....now I have it all clear so I put up the newest kaffe quilt...just have to add a row on top and bottom.   I had extra blocks so decided to make it bigger.  The more to quilt, my dear!

We had a quiet Christmas at home....went to my brother's the Sunday before Christmas.  Just rain...no snow....I am thinking good thoughts that we have not one flake of snow this year, or at least any that stays on the ground.
I got the Christmas cards in the mail DEC. 24....usually it is after Jan. 1...so this year I was ahead of schedule....just finished making my annual banket pastry, and will finish it up later today.   It is  a yummy almond paste pastry.  I got the recipe from my  lovely old Dutch ladies who could cook wonderful goodies.    I have had the recipe over 25 years already...can't believe it. 
I decided to make some Christmas cut-out cookies so got the dough ready last night for cutting and baking today.  It has been a few years or more since I did cut-out cookies....too many cookies makes for too much Judy.
Well, gotta get going into town on errands...will try to post pictures of the bake shop later! 

 one of my patriotic ornaments.....I have a huge collection and my tree is covered with red, white, and blue.

 who doesn't need some pumpkin pie?

 Part of my matrushka dolls I collected from my Russian mission trips....early on I traded some m and m's for them!   I am thinking of doing a qiult!   (in my spare time!)

 I used to make mohair teddy bears....fun.

 Another kaffe quilt...headlights!

 This peacock quilt was made using Sara Nephew's  triangle ruler....super 60.....the peacock feathers took forever to quilt.

Have a wonderful few days before the new year.   I hope you get some piecing in between all the parties and foodies.....judy

HI Jenny

Hi Jenny......just checking to see if you are reading my blog....since you gave me  a  jolt to write again!  Jenny is one of our youngest members...a busy mom....expecting a little boy in February, and a very creative and talented member of our long-arm group. 
We had our long-arm meeting today, about 14 gals who love to quilt and share and EAT!!
Always good foodies at our every other month meetings.  If you are a long-armer, I hope you are able to meet with other gals in your area...we are truly blessed here to have that privilege.  We share lots of ideas, ask for ideas, share books and classes we have enjoyed, and just plain  encourage each other in many ways.  I have been a part of this group almost 10 years, since  moving to WA. 
Today Jenny Pedigo shared more about her trip to Houston and her great ruler.....makes curves and a myriad of designs can be created with this fantastic ruler.  I will try to figure out how to post her blog info....I think if you just type in Jenny Pedigo up will pop all kinds of great info....sewkindofwonderful might do the trick, too. 
JoAnn Blade shared her great new felt foodie patterns for kids....and big kids too.   They are great fun, and can be easily made on the long-arm. 
I guess I am the oldest, longest quilting member in the group now...Barb Dau has quilted a year longer than I have!....we started in the days when we had no classes, no books, no manuals for our machines, and no nuthin!.....it is sooooo much better today from that standpoint.
I am still quilting on a 16 year old machine with no stitch regulator, but I do have the needle up and down...which I love.   I have never done pantos....just   quilting designs totally free-hand and no marking.....well, I guess the new computer machines would put me over the edge for sure.   I tip my hat to all those young kids who can figure them out  and make all those amazing designs with them.
Today we spotted a little snow on our way to the meeting...don't like that one bit.  

This week will bring a couple more guild Christmas parties, a class, and  a field trip with my Goof Balls to the La Conner Museum and the Material Men exhibit.
I even quilted two of my own quilts  in the last few weeks, and have one of Freddy Moran's ready to start on Monday morn....will try to remember to post a picture.  It is a big, colorful tree!

One of Stephanie Davis' quilts....the modern style! 

Another Freddy chicken!

A goofy flower I created for the museum challenge last Quiltfestival.  I covered the whole top with black tulle just for fun!

Decided to share an old sunset shot that I thought was so beautiful. 

Hope you all have a great week, and will try to post some more pics of my messy studio as my friend Trish comes Monday to help organize another area....I think it is hopeless.....have a great week....judy

HAPPY AFTER THANKSGIVING

How the time flies, and what can transpire in a few short weeks!!
  I guess the most momentous would be the successful surgery my sister-in-law had for a benign brain tumor.  You would never know she even had surgery....the miracles of modern medicine do surely give us much to be thankful for.  She is recovering and has a little therapy to work on for her right arm.  Then my other sister-in-law had a successful gall bladder surgery!  I think we have had enough surgery for awhile!
I have only been quilting and teaching, and staying quite healthy for an old woman!  I managed to get a few tops done and the backs as well.  Now I only have to quilt them.  Had a fabulous time teaching at the Woodinville Grange for Gathering Fabric this past Saturday.  What a great little group of gals that is....and so creative.  We plan to meet monthly over the next several months.  We picked up one new gal and she was working on a great little  square using Kaffe fabric.  I started Headlights and still have that one to finish!
I must get going on my challenge quilt, and a Pelican that has been haunting me for years to make.  I hope that one gets finished this year.  I even got most of the fabric already!
Well, now I have to figure out how to change the red color in my blog for easier reading...thanks for the suggestion, Sally...Sally is a quilting friend who is a FABULOUS quilter in one  of my guilds. 

 What a messy worker I am.....that is my workspace at the retreat..what FUN!!

Opal brought tubs of scraps for sharing and we made a quilt to donate to Camp Brotherhood where we "Retreated"  Didn't make a dent in the scraps!

My spider web quilt in process.  All finished now.

Speaking of spiderwebs...got this picture early one frosty morning...didn't have a great camera for close-ups, but tried anyway!

Well, I better get going....today I have a 12 Days of Christmas quilt to start and hopefully finish by tomorrow for shipping...I hope you all have some quilting time this holiday season.....will post pix tomorrow or asap......judy

I Do Set my Bow in the Cloud......

Dear Friends....where does the time go????   We got home from Grand Rapids and all the fun I had teaching to  quilts piled up for me to do, and finally the rain....(note the photos I posted this time).   Our fish are getting ready to go to sleep with the colder weather and water temp dropping.  Soon the will get not a kernel of fish kibble till next May, or April if the weather warms up.
I will not miss my early morning trudge to the pasture to feed goats and alpacas, altho I do miss those little guys.  It seems strange with no Tommy Boy running around....we miss him.....altho I took a peek at cats for adoption the other day.  Nothing spoke to me.  I think I want another black kitty again.
I have been quilting like mad for my customers, and working on  about 4 of my own piecing projects...tomorrow is our Camano Island Quilt Retreat....and boy, do I have things to work on....including two projects from about 12-15 years ago...one from CT and one from when I first moved to WA.   I want to get them finished some one of these days!!
I finally got my new little light weight Janome....it is great, and even has a thread cutter and lots of special stitches.  I especially love the one double blanket stitch on it.  I want it for teaching instead of carting around my 40 pound Bernina....it is feeling more like 400 pounds the older I get!
Well, when I get some of these projects finished I will post them on the blog.  I just finished a couple of  great ones  from one of Freddy Moran's students...these are the collage type she has been teaching of late.

 These rainbow pictures were taken last week right after a big rainstorm.....I couldn't believe how beautiful they were....there were two rainbows, and you could see the complete curve from end to end.  The colors were so bright, and they lasted quite awhile...in fact, I drove home on the free way, and lo, and behold...there was the end of the rainbow right at the exit of the freeway....I drove right through the mist....(my hubby wanted to know why I didn't bring home the pot of gold...but after driving through what appeared to be the very end of the rainbow, a little further down the road was the rainbow again.  It was the absolute best rainbow(s) I had ever seen in all my 70 years....
The last picture is the view out the window of the beautiful lodge building where I taught machine quilting for the Cama Beach Quilters on Camano Island.  It was such a beautiful view in spite of the clouds and rain.  The Pacific Northwest surely has a beauty of its own!
Well, hope you enjoyed the rainbows...much prettier in real life! 

Well, since I have lots to do, I guess I will close for now....happy sewing to all of you!   judy

Back From Grand Rapids

Hi all.....what a busy couple of weeks.  We flew to Grand Rapids, MI for a week of helping my hubby's 90 year old mom...she had been in the hospital and is now home recovering very well.  She is amazing!
Also got to teach again at Smith-Owen sewing center...what fun!!  That is fabulous store....you should take advantage of the classes and great class-room, not to mention the great fabric and notions, etc.   I hope to come back again next time I am in GR.    I sadly missed the local guild show, and a few weeks before that the AQS show that was held there.  Watch for it next year.    Check out the Tentmakers from Cairo...what quilts they are!
Teaching more  machine quilting here on Camano Island  tomorrow....there is a beautiful campground with a very rustic log building for our class.  The girls work there every month and make quilts for the cabins at the State Park there.   We look out over the water, and the woods....very beautiful.
Then on Saturday I teach in Woodinville, WA....a regular group where we meet at the Grange and sew Kaffe quilts or other projects.   I hope we get more to join us.  We will also have a class on Nov. 24...Saturday after Thanksgiving. 
My friend Jenny Pedigo taught a class at our Mukilteo guild last Saturday.   She has a fabulous ruler she designed and it makes a gazillion different patterns allowing for your own creativity, too.  Jenny is a great young quilter, and I wish her well as she goes to Houston to demo her  ruler at market.  I hope she  gets lots of orders.
The weather is turning colder and we even  had a hail storm the other day.  My fishy boys are getting ready for the long winter.   Soon they will get no more food and start to hibernate for the winter.  They grew a lot this last summer.
And, last but not least, we went to Portland last Friday to help my friend Opal pick out her new long-arm....she got an Innova.   Wow, will she have fun quilting, now.  The quilts displayed were beautiful, and the machine quilting only gets better and better....very creative, and some funky artsy type quilts were shown.  Of course I got some more thread, and added to my already HUGE supply...always a new color or brand or something.   I LOVE thread....hope you are all having a great fall...the weather really says....Quilt, Quilt, Quilt!

 My Imari Plate quilt that I have now finished from Kaffe's book....and the Lone star below is called Big Bang, also from Kaffe's Book.....the biggest one I have quilted...126 inches square...made by my friend Bekah in Houston....I want to to that one too, but not quite so big...ha.

Some of the beautiful fall leaves in Michigan.

We checked out our space for our fall retreat for CIQ guild the first weekend in November...it is a huge open room...lots of space for all to spread out.  We each should have our own table!  I hope you will find lots of time to get to your projects, too.....until later....judy