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!

Second Try

Okay...why won't the image thingie work on this blog???? I am not meant for the computer age. I have tried signing in again, and that still won't work...so if I don't get any pix...I will just post my sad story without. I will never understand the computer world.....and to think some folks think I should send pix by phone and do texting.....now there is a nervous breakdown waiting to happen!! Well here goes again.....Well, no luck...will try again in the morning......judy

OOPS!

Okay....how did I get all the same pix???? Stephie said I should try to post a little something every day....see, that is why I don't.....I can never figure out why I goof up so much....anyway, I will try again...the oops was for all the junk that fell over in my studio when Opal was over sewing with me. Luckily it didn't land on us or her sweet Cinda Lou doggie. I am working on the quilt to the left. It is a challenge, and the challenge now is to put all those beads and buttons etc. on for embellishments. I am getting tired already, and have lots more to go. I tip my hat to those who sit and hand sew or do all that fancy stitching and embellishing. I did get the sleeve on my koi threadwork quilt, which I think I got posted....I actually quilted the sleeve so the stitching would match the back better than just a piece of black fabric. I rather like how it turned out.

Tomorrow I am hoping to finish a client quilt and then maybe another one of mine. Our quilt show is coming soon, so the embellishments need to get done right away. Well, since I need to go and work on that piece...guess I better get going....good nite, Stephie.....this one is for you!! Judy

Oops..double oops....I don't know what button I pressed, but I posted a title before I was ready.

OOPS!

Bronchitis Bug Bites

Hi All....gosh, I just lost 2 weeks with the bronchitis and asthma bug.....He got me good! And I hate having to be so down I can't even quilt....and worse, nothing tasted good...by taster was broken! Finally I am back in the saddle, having quilted 2 tops yesterday for about 7 hours total. The picture to the right with the moons was from Barbara Shapel's workshop in Oregon, where I also got bitten by the Bug! I was still ablt to finish my piece, I think it is the one on the right. All the gals had very neat fabrics and different looks to their pieces. I also included a picture of one of Barbara's herons. She is the most fabulous quilter and colorist. I hope you can take her class some time.

I also posted the unfinished piece I have to embellish for our QA quilt show next month. I have a bunch of beads and french knots to make on the piece, and some big stitches to do in the border. We are expecting snow tomorrow, so I cannot get out to get the special pearl cotton thread for some of my stitching.

There are also a couple photos to take of the koi stitched piece for APWQ show and the Quiltfestival at the LaConner Museum. It is hard to get a good photo for jurying, but I will give it a try.

Today I taught one of my patterns, In a Hurry quilt. It takes about 4 hours to make the top. This Friday is another class, machine quilting, freemotion. THat is always a fun class to teach, and I love to get the girls over their fear of freemotion!

We had crazy weather today, hail and snow, rain, sleet, and whatever else came along. Tomorrow there is supposed to be 5" of snow. I can't wait for spring. See the handsome heron there....that is Barb's! Well, I hope you are all getting lots of great things pieced and quilted.....in the meantime, I am catching up with all my projects after the big bug bit me!

Happy quilting....judy