Studio Tour

Most of you know that we have moved from Charleston, SC to Hendersonville, NC. I am VERY glad to be here but, amongst other things, I left behind a WONDERFUL studio. My husband had it configured especially for me and my quilting when we remodelled the house we bought from his mother.

The house we are currently living in is less than ideal for many reasons (and this may not be our final stop) and I would put my studio into that category also. However, it works and, truthfully, is better than many I've seen. So I'm not complaining--I'm just trying to make it work as well as possible and I thought I'd share a few pictures so those of you who have seen my old studio can kind of have an image of where I am now (and those of you who've never seen my studio can also have a look!).

In my Charleston studio, I had a wonderful work table comprised of 10 cabinets and a custom top. The first thing we came to terms with when we were trying to move was that we were just going to have to throw away the top as it wasn't going to hold up to the move. And the other thing we realized was that not all of the cabinets were going to fit into the new space. Only six will work--but I'm really enjoying them and being able to put away things. Smokey made a "temporary" plywood top (we all know how "temporary" often becomes "permanent"!) and it is working great. And you can see some of my fabric in the background.

And here is some more of my fabric and shelving. We got these shelves at Lowe's several years ago and would liked to have gotten more but they seemed to have discontinued the white version. They have been really sturdy and have held up to a couple of moves.

And here on the right is my computer station. I am sort of "camping out" for now and will bring my "real" desk up after our house sells. It's kind of a thrill to use the printer as the little table it's sitting on shakes, rattles and rolls when it starts to print!

And, finally, here are two shots of my sewing area. I have another sewing cabinet that will be brought up in one of our many trailor load trips. I'm in the middle of quilting the quilt that I pieced at out TTT retreat this year and the shot on the right shows my "puddling" method. I like to quilt with a lot of flat space around the machine so that it doesn't pull on the stitching as I'm quilting.

And for those of you who may have sharp eyes and have noticed the machine I'm using, yes, I DO have the new Bernina--and am loving it. I was able to get it because we just settled my mother-in-law's estate and I think of it as my present from her. She gave me my very first sewing machine the first year Smokey and I were married and I know that she would be glad that I used some of her bequest to get this. She was always so proud of my quilting and made quite a point of letting the ladies at the retirement home see pictures of my work. I'm naming the machine "Miss Susie" because that's what her husband called her.

One final picture: This is my working drawing of my next project. I'm beginning to pick out the fabric and am just about ready to get going on it. I know you can't tell a lot from this picture but, hopefully, you'll see something a little more "colorful" in the near future.

I Know, I Know--It's Been A While . . .

You know what keeps happening when you're not paying attention? Life! Well, life has been going on pretty fast and furious this past month or so. Between going to 2 quilts shows, one quilt conference, back and forth to Charleston several times and having company . . .well, time has sailed past with hardly a notice. And I can tell you that I don't really like to live that way. Our time on this earth is so short and so precious that I really like to notice it as it's happening.

So, anyway, here are a few pictures to comment upon.

While my sister-in-law and her husband were here, we did a lot of different things and enjoyed all of them. Two days we went hiking and each day we saw beautiful waterfalls. The first trip was to Dupont State Forest. The hike was a moderate one (but enough to make us stop to rest a couple of times along the way) and the river had numerous rapids along the way such as this one. There has been plenty of rain this year so the rivers are full and running.

This second picture is of the falls at Chimney Rock. The walk to get there was a steady climb but well worth it. The water fall isn't especially wide but the height of the drop is impressive. While we were at Chimney Rock, we also took the elevator to the top of the lookout. The vista was incredible. Everyone up there was having a great time that day and offering and asking to have pictures taken. Someone offered to take ours and here it is:

Smokey and I are the ones on the left. You can tell our visitors are out in the sun a lot more than we are!

Next on my schedule was the Asheville Quilt Show and since my sister-in-law was still in town on the night of the Awards Ceremony, she got to go along with me. I kind of felt sorry for her because she really isn't into sewing (she's really into tennis) and had to sit and listen to "quilty" talk for quite a while. But once the ribbons were disbursed and we got to go look at the quilts, she was as interested as anyone there.

I was fortunate to have won ribbons for both of the quilts I had entered--Swamp Hibiscus and Say It With Flowers (can be seen on my website: judithheyward.com). And here are a few pictures of the quilts I liked:

This first one--Birch Trees for Benjamin--by Veronica Von Zwehl was really interesting because the detail of the birch trunks is ALL thread painting. I think she had fantastic control as she laid out the detail of the quilting.
This next quilt is an applique quilt by Gail Sexton. Her applique work was wonderful and her quilting was great also. Both of her quilts in the show were noteworthy.

And here is a prize-winning quilt by Betty Dalton--QEXI A Taste of the Lowcountry. Betty was supposed to take my class last fall in which I taught A Taste of the Lowcountry, but she ended up sick and couldn't come. But she was not held back by that. She not only did the work on her own, she also figured out how to do it in a way that could take advantage of her own strengths. She didn't feel that she could make all of the small jasmine leaves that were on my design SO she digitized her own interpretation and machine embroidered them around the entire outer border. I was impressed. And she earned two ribbons for her efforts. Good work, Betty!

This small pieced wallhanging on the left is called Bamboo and is by Diana Ramsay. She said that it was inspired by a photo of a section of bamboo fence. If you look closely there are a LOT of tiny strips sewn together. I'm always impressed by the way quilt artists can look at a piece or section of something and then interpret it in a new and different way and I think Diana was quite successful in her effort on this quilt.

And, finally, here is a quilt by Norene Goard called Ahinahina--a fine example of Hawaiian applique technique. Both the applique and the quilting were done by hand. Although this wasn't an award-winner for Norene, she won ribbons with her other quilt (I didn't get that photo). I have always been fascinated with this style of quilt because I think you have to be so precise with your placement since its elements are supposed to be balanced in relation to each other. Sometimes I'm a LITTLE too casual in my approach to be very good at this style--so I really admire it.

In my own work lately, I've been sort of at loose ends--moving my studio from Charleston to Hendersonville, trying to find a place for everything, and just so much going on. BUT, I finally have gotten an idea for a quilt and have spent the last couple of days drawing it out. It feels good to be going forward once again. Hopefully, I'll be ready for some "show and tell" in the near future.