Sew Day with Opal!

What a cute boy....this is my Tommy Boy, doing what he loves best...sleeping!

You can almost see bottom by my mailing center....I hope to re-paint the little stand to the left.

The fish are waking up for the season...but it is still too early to feed them, poor guys!

Freddy's happy collage quilts..they are so colorful and cheerful....have a great day!!

Oh, today should be fun, as my quilting buddy Opal is coming to quilt with me. She is going to machine quilt on my fabulous Juki, while I work on my long-arm doing one of Freddy's collage quilts. I even cleaned my studio a bit by the door, so I can actually get into my shipping center! WOW, a miracle!! I had fun teaching yesterday at Pacific Fabric, two classes back to back on machine quilting. We had a great time, and the gals did really well with the quilting.

Friday I am doing a machine quilting demo at Bill's Janome shop...Smokey Point Sew and Vac.

That is always fun, and there is a great Janome I want to get some day for classes, very light weight and it even has a thread cutter button....I love those thread choppers!

Well, gotta get going and get Freddy's quilt up so I can get those collaged flowers stitched...Freddy has an exhibition coming up in a few weeks. I hope you all have a fun day whatever you are doing....judy

Quilting Fun in Grand Rapids

You are My Sunshine....I had fun stitching and painting this piece for QA show....I used Stewart Gill paints...they are fabulous, and available on line.

Sally LeBoef made this cute ladybug quilt from a panel...pretty clever, eh??

The Navajo quilt to the left was made by Joan Dawson...she is also an excellent applique quilter...

How fun is this piece..didn't get the name of the quilter, but I think it is soooo fun. What a great show.

I hope we are all inspired!

In April I will be teaching in Grand Rapids, MI....it should be loads of fun to meet all the gals there....all 40 plus...two big classes. I was surprised by such great interest in machine quilting, but soooo happy to be able to share what I have learned. Hey, gals, if you have questions about the class feel free to write me and ask. I am working on some fun designs..maybe peacock feathers...of course, koi!.....any suggestions??

By the time I get there for classes on April 19th and 20th at the Smith Owen sewing center, it should be great spring weather, with the flowers poking their heads up and the forsythia blooming. I do miss the back east springs.

If anyone has a particular design they want help with, get in touch with me so I can be getting it ready for you....I hope we have a big turn our for my quilting class at Empty Spools Seminar in Asilomar, CA this June. We have a 5 day workshop for quilting every day....lots of time to work on some designs, stitch length, and a few finished beautiful pieces of thread work. I hope to see many of you in my up-coming classes...we will have a great time...NO PRESSURE...just hanging out, quilting, and having fun. If you need to email me..... wildirishrows@yahoo.com

In the meantime, have fun, and I hope lots of you are getting inspired to try your hand at machine quilting...Judy

Quilters' Anonymous Quilt Show

My koi challenge in process...my friend Mick Dunn's poppies...she pieced and I quilted it....my ooh la la lone star with fun fabric, and the last one is a great pepper made by one of our members...just a taste of some of the quilts!

Hi Bloggers....well, what a weekend. We had our guild quilt show, and it was really something. This year we held the show in the new building at the Monroe Fairgrounds...and what a fabulous building it was!

The windows let in all that glorious light...notice I did not say sunlight! Well, we did have some sun on Friday! The quilts were so colorful, creative, and inspiring. I came home with some ideas for many more quilts than I will ever have time to create. Of course the vendors were great. We found some Marsha Derse fabric...check it out. And I even got an honorable mention for my koi quilt in the color challenge. The challenge quilts were phenomenal, so getting a ribbon was really an honor. I had fun doing a machine quilting demo on a little featherweight machine....just like magic!!

Had such a good time Friday, that my friend Opal and I had to come back to make sure we didn't miss anything, including voting for our favorite quilts. Well, suffice it to say, you all must have guild shows, too...so I hope you enjoy yours and enter your work for others to see. I think I will have to go to bed and ponder all those quilts in my dreams! More later...judy

Apartment Available

Here is a bird's nest already to go for some lucky bird...we had snow flurries again today...leaving a slushy mess, so I guess we won't have any new tenants for awhile. Maybe they won't use the same next two years in a row!

This is a piece of fabric I dyed for my guild challenge. We picked a color ship...I chose blue/green. We could also use tints and shades of the complement. This will be the background. I guess you have figured out I hope to make koi and water lilies...we will see how it turns out. I may spray some darker blue green dye in the lower right corner...just a taste!

Oh, Stephie..another winner. Stephie will be posting the whole quilt on her blog I think...check it out. It is for a challenge.

Well, today we had some slushy snow flurries and cold weather. I am getting ready for some sunshine and warm weather. I miss feeding my koi. I even miss going out in the snow and feeding the alpacas and goats...well, maybe a little bit.

I met a great gal on the phone yesterday....Julie, from Florida....she is going to send me a quilt inspired by the fabulous red and white show from New York last spring. It was fun chatting with here...we discovered we are both Michiganders and love to travel, and quilt, of course. Quilting is the BEST for meeting wonderful people. We have grand opportunities to make friends all over the world, and are even blessed by meeting in person sometimes. I would love to meet Julie! And then I met Jean from Jeancreates...she has a great blog, too.

Well, I have been working on a floral quilt for my friend, Mick....another great quilter. Yesterday I spent most of the day working on my wholecloth thread play for the guild show. I still have lots to do, but it is finally getting near done. Then just the color challenge!

Well, guess I better eat some leftover spaghetti for lunch and get back to work. Too much to do and to little time.....have a great day....jude

Good Morning!

My Kaffe Fassett Lightning quilt in blues.....it will be used for a teaching sample. I also finished piecing another sample with Laurel Burch Flying Colors...You can never have too many lone stars...next is a peacock lonestar. I can quilt peacock feathers in the border!

Hi all...it is a good morning...no sun, but just a good morning. Every morning is a good morning! And since I was able to post pix on my website yesterday, I was a happy girl. Jan came and helped me...the pictures posted right up. I was trying to add some pictures of my students' work for my Asilomar/Empty Spools page. I hope to add more all by myself. That will really be a big deal if I can do that. I also figured out how to add a link to my blog...so I added Stephie's and Jeancreates. Today I will add Opal's and hope you check out her very creative work.

Today I have to work on my guild show quilt for awhile, and then get back to my customer quilts.

I checked the koi yesterday, but they were all way down hiding. Too cold, and it was. Our old pond looks like it is almost back to normal...I have to lower the water lilies so they don't get too dried out. It looks like they are starting to send out shoots already. But we had snow Sunday morning again...only about an inch, but it seems like the plants are raring to go.

Well, guess I better get going myself...have a great day...judy

YIPPPPEEEEEEE!!!

Ok...what little mouse got into that red velvet cupcake....someone had to make sure it wasn't tasted ok...I made red velvet cupcakes (Paula Deen's recipe on-line) and also yummy coconut cupcakes from the Barefoot Contessa...also on-line...they are the most delish ever...try them for yourself....

I finally got some pix posted....what a fiasco....I think I will just stick to the quilting. It is soooo much easier. I spoke with Freddy yesterday, and Gwen Marston was visiting. I bet we will have some new quilts soon. I think Gwen is teaching here in the Northwest soon. Stephie is signed up for a class...Quiltworks Northwest, I think...check Gwen's schedule on line.

I will post a few more pictures for celebration and then get to the studio for an hour's quilting. Most of yesterday's inch of snow seems to be melting away. Have a great day...judy

Trying again....

My water lily project in Barbara Shapel's mystery class...FUN

Pictures of the big Haystack rock and the tide pool. That is the first time I had ever walked in a tide pool and there were actual living starfish stuck on the rocks. Pretty neat!!

Let's not give up....I think it is about the 5th try...oh, my!