Australia Part 1

It's pretty obvious that I have been home for a couple weeks since my trip to Australia.  The fact that it has taken me this long to blog about just part of my trip will tell you how crazy busy I have been since getting home.

Clint and I flew out from Las Vegas the end of September.  The skies were beautiful as we flew out, but I cried throughout the plane ride to our first layover in Honolulu. We would be gone for two weeks and it was killing me to leave the kids for that long.  We left them in good hands though, my sisters are lifesavers and I am so thankful that they took care of the kids while we were away.
 

Clint and I were able to stay in a hotel in Honolulu and spend a good time of the next morning waiting for our next flight out to New Zealand.  We spent time listening to the waves crashing and enjoyed the beauty of Hawaii.  I love that place!

We stopped in a Mauna Quilt store and I had fun looking at all the quilty eye candy.  I convinced Clint that I needed a quilted bag and we bought a yellow one.

Before we flew into Australia we flew through New Zealand and had to spend the night in the airport.  It was a long trip over there and I was tired, but I was able to adjust to the time difference fairly quickly.  I had 4 days of teaching 10 different classes.  I had the most amazing time and I have to tell you that the ladies in Australia are so sweet! They made me feel so welcome and I had a wonderful time.

So the view along the bridge in Adelaide is so beautiful, especially at night.  This area is just outside the convention center and Clint and I enjoyed walking here almost every night.

I thought it was pretty cool to see a Black Swan, since I have never seen one in real life.

As you know I love sunsets and this particular one was so beautiful.  It is amazing to think that every where I go, I can witness the beauty of God's creations.  I am so thankful for this beautiful world we live in.

Clint was adventurous and tried Kangaroo and Crocodile meat.  What we didn't realize when we went to the Stonegrill in Adelaide is that they let you cook the meat yourself on a hot stone.  Interesting experience, but I have to say - I like to go to a restaurant to have my food cooked for me. ;-)

So I taught Thursday, Friday and Saturday and had Sunday off.  Sunday is important to me and I do not work that day. I am grateful that every quilt show that I have taught at has worked with me and my scheduling so that I don't have to work Sundays.
 

So, we had the day to walk around Adelaide and Clint and I had a wonderful time. 
It is a beautiful city.

I found a lot of fun textures.  I love brick and stone work.  I imagine taking quilts and being able to photograph them in places like this.

 

I really loved this small door.  Clean straight lines are always inspiring when I think of quilting this type of design in my quilts. 

 

I think my favorite part of going to Australia (besides the awesome beauty of the city) was the people.  They were so kind and with all the traveling I have done, I have never had so many people ask where I am from.  It was so great.  Even the customs people at the airports were so nice.  I guess they like our crazy American accent!

 

 I love everything about this picture. The beautiful iron fence, the tree and the beautiful building.  

 

Quilting inspirations are everywhere, you just need to look.

We were able to enjoy this beautiful church at sunset. 

It was a trip of a lifetime and I am thankful to Tracey Browning for inviting me.  She hosted a beautiful show and I recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Adelaide!

Inspired by Libby Auction

So, I haven't posted in a while.  I was in Australia and New Zealand the past couple of weeks.  More on that later, still trying to catch up on some rest ;-)
I just wanted to make you aware of a wonderful cause that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of. Libby Lehman is a quilt artist and teacher who suffered a stroke last year and is going through a lot with her recovery.  The medical bills are adding up and a wonderful community of quilting friends have put together this project of quilts to auction off and all proceeds will go to Libby and her family.  You can follow this cause on Facebook here. Watch the video above to see all the wonderful artists with their interpretation of Libby's own quilts with their own projects. You can see mine at around 1:35 in the video. 

I made Solar Flares for my project.  I had a lot of fun putting this quilt together and I feel really honored to have been asked to be a part of this wonderful cause.

If you want to have a chance to buy Solar Flares or any of the other quilts in this project you can follow the auction here.  It starts in 6 days, so don't be late! Remember, all the money will go to support Libby in her recovery. You can see these quilts at Houston Quilt Market in a special exhibit as well as in Paducah, Kentucky for AQS QuiltWeek next year.

Red, White & Quilted. Cover girl!

 

I had almost forgotten about two projects that I quilted last year until I received this book in the mail last week.  I was so excited to see the quilt I quilted on the cover of Linda Baxter Lasco's new book - Red, White & Quilted!  This is a really fun book where she shares a collection of antique quilts that have been re-made and quilted.  The pieced patterns are available for each quilt and there are 12 designs to choose from.  If you love two-color quilts, this book is for you!

 

 

This is the Uneven Nine Patch that is on the cover.  I was able to take some pictures of these quilts before I shipped them off to Linda. I had a lot of fun with the quilting on this quilt.  The request was to have more "modern" quilting. 

 

This quilting actually went a lot faster for me than most of my quilts.  I didn't add as much detail as I normally do, but the end result is fabulous and fits the quilt perfectly.

 

The texture is just too fun! 

 

It is so rare for me to leave squares untouched without quilting, but I think the balance of the quilting is perfect in this quilt.  It really works for this design.

 

 

Love. 

 

In the book you find the antique quilt pictured on the left and the quilt I quilted on the right.  It is really fun to compare the two. I just love the thought of making quilts based off of antique quilts. 

 

I quilted two quilts in the book, Goose in the Pond can be found on page 72. 

 

The pictures I took of the quilt were at the wrong time of day, so I do not have as many pictures to share because you cannot really see the quilting.  But, I do hope you like the one picture that I think shows the quilting the best. 

Well, the next couple of weeks are going to be an adventure!  I am headed to Australia for the AMQ Festival and I am excited to teach and meet so many wonderful people. Quilting has really given me so many wonderful opportunities that I didn't even know were possible.  I am so grateful and excited!  Australia here I come!!

Some Great News!

If you have been following my Facebook and Instagram account you might already know this news, but I don't want to leave you blog followers out of the loop.  Remember when I quilted Fire and Ice for Kimberly Einmo?  Well, Kimberly submitted it to the Chattanooga AQS QuiltWeek show and it won "Best Modern Quilt!" So fun!  Congrats to Kimberly! What an honor it is to have been able to quilt this quilt. This is the first "big" win for me as a quilter and I feel really lucky to have been a part of this quilt!

Some other good news that I want to share with you is that I have recently signed a contract with AQS Publishing for my second book.  I will be working on this huge project for the next year, trying to fit this in with everything else that I am doing.  It won't be a small task, but I will keep myself organized to get it finished in time. The working title for the book is "Secondary Quilting Designs with Judi Madsen."  I cannot wait to share with you all of the designs I have come up with. It will be a wonderful addition to my first book, Quilting Wide Open Spaces - but please know that I will not repeat designs from the first book - they will all be fresh and new!  YAY!

Have a wonderful week!