Another Beginning

Well,  it's been a while since I last posted on a blog--I guess about three years.  So long that I couldn't continue the blog I had in place--Carolina Musings.  So, here I am with a fresh start--new title, same love of quilts and nature.
Why am I posting after such a long space of time?  Why,  indeed! The real answer is because I had an a-ha moment at the Asheville Quilt Show this past weekend--or rather, my husband gave me one that evening at home.  You see, I did a demo at the show on Quilting On A Regular Sewing Machine and this was the first time he had ever heard me do this sort of thing.  He listened to me as I talked with the audience while demonstrating various quilting techniques and he watched them as they responded to that and asked questions.  His final impression of that demo was that people seemed to enjoy my method of teaching and sharing my love of quilting and that I should do more teaching with quilters who want to learn how to quilt their own quilts.
I HAVE done that quite often in the past but had pulled back from it in more recent times.  Various things had stepped in the way--mainly life itself.  You know how that can be.  But life moves on and attitudes change and some things look brighter--and you sometimes realize that life can still be full of surprises.
SO---here I am and, hopefully, some of you will find me after such an extended absence.  I hope so.
And, if you are interested in having me come to your Guild to teach Machine Quilting or to do a Trunk Show, you can contact me at judyheyward@gmail.com.

Coincidentally, I won a major award of Best Machine Stitching for my quilt, Patience, at the Asheville Quilt Show.  I was really surprised by the award because the competition was pretty stiff--and am quite grateful for the honor.  And so very many people made a point of finding me and telling me how wonderful they thought it was.  Such graciousness is humbling.

This quilt took me over a year to complete.  As I've said many times in the past, I try to listen to what a quilt has to to tell me as I go along.  Sometimes, I don't  listen closely enough and have to start over in some sections--but I'm almost always glad to have made the changes I think are necessary.  And when it comes to the quilting itself, I sometimes consider myself to be the Queen of picking out stitches and starting over.  Yes, it's tedious and time consuming, but I'm the one who has to live with it--so I just pull out the trusty seam ripper and go for it.  And in the creation of this particular quilt I had some of both things happen.

This second quilt, Sunshine Makes Me Happy, also won an award--2nd place.  Again, a surprise.  I really love to make log cabin quilts and this one was mainly a project of using some of the thousands of strips that I had "over-cut" for a project I ended up not making.  I added the curved black bias binding strips and red circles to add some additional character to the quilt and was pleased with the outcome.  And it DID remind me of standing in the sunshine and feeling its warmth on a cool spring day.  AND it made me happy!
And now, I'm back to a blank design wall in my studio--waiting for that next idea to present itself.  I feel a couple of things beginning to nudge me a little and, hopefully, they'll show themselves before too long.  Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon.