Check it out!

For my quilting friends in blogworld -- check out a brand-new facebook page: Quilt With Judy.  Not much there yet, but stay tuned.  Judy Hasheider is a wonderful designer and outstanding quilter, she has taught me everything I know.  I'm just home from one of her retreats, where we persuaded her to join facebook so we can be in touch all the time.  She will post photos of her patterns along with general quilting info and chitchat.

I put together one of two quilts I started seven years ago.  It was my first (and so far my only) experience with "thread painting" -- wildflower blocks that are thread painted very realistically.  They turned out so well, but I hadn't made the alternate blocks and they just got put away.  I had made enough for two twin quilts (for when DH and I are in the nursing home -- a joke), and now one top is together (except for the border -- have to figure that out still).  Each quilt has sixteen flower blocks, and I still have to thread paint five of those for the second one as well as make the alternate blocks for it.  I'm determined those two quilts are going to be among my finished UFOs for 2010!

I have a crazy busy week, but afterward I hope to be able to get back to sorting out the blog issues (almost typed "glob" instead of "blog" -- which isn't far off!).

A host of golden daffodils

I've been on the run since getting home late Saturday, so this is just a taste -- I'll fill in more later.

Here are a few of the quilters at The Clearing last week; we had stopped at The Red Cup coffee house on Washington Island before visiting Sievers School of Fiber Arts which was having an open house. At the far right is Judy Hasheider, who teaches at Sievers and also at The Clearing.

One of the many treats of the week was the flowers, mostly wildflowers at The Clearing, but also all the naturalized daffodils around North Door, as the northern part of Door County is called.

We took several field trips to visit these -- just spectacular!

I finished all but two of the picky little sampler blocks I had hoped to do (could have done all but didn't have the fabric with me), and after making one or two of those stinkers, I let myself do a simple quilt top -- which I just love! Photos to come.

Thanksgivings:

a wonderful retreat

sublime surroundings

safe trip home

Sick and Grumpy

Wonderful retreat at the Jones Mansion in Mineral Point, WI last week, but two of the people had bad colds, another got sick while there, and now I am too. I had avoided getting a cold for more than a year, mostly by staying away from sick people. And it seems very unfair that a well person should have to forfeit the fee and stay home to avoid sick people who don't. So now I am sick. And grumpy.

However I got most of the piecing done for Coplan's quilt, which I'm anxious to finish so I can send all three children their quilts (including a brand-new grandson). If I felt better I'd probably have finished today. Maybe tomorrow.