Hi there,

I'm Wendy and I suppose I should introduce and tell you a little about myself. I guess I'll begin after college. At that time I was already married and had my oldest son, Aaron. I knew that I was going to stay home and raise my family, so working outside the home became a distant memory. That was in 1976.
I began quilting in the 80's and, like everyone else, was hooked immediately. I remember thinking what a cool job it must be to teach quilting as opposed to a classroom full of crazy kids. I took every class I could to "fill my toolbox" and a few years later I found myself teaching 3 to 4 nights a week. I absolutely loved this, but found that constantly coming up with new classes to please the masses, was sucking the creativity right out of me. The teaching went on for about 15 years. It was a great run and it allowed me to do the constant extreme travel we had to do with my youngest son, Ryan, with his tier 1 hockey. My kids are quite spread out.  The oldest is 36, a daughter in the middle and the youngest is 23. He just graduated from college and is back home in San Diego with a job!
Fast forward to 1997. I bought a gammil just to allow me to finish my own quilts, as I am convinced quilting on a home machine is like wrestling an alligator. As most longarmers know, friends come out of the woodwork to offer you their quilts to practice on. Soon I realized this would be my new job. I have been lucky enough to have a great business with a terrifically talented clientele for 15 years.
While I am still quilting for others, I am forcing myself to do more of my own art, both in textile and graphite/paint etc. I made a resolution a few years ago that I would learn something new every year and so far I have learned to play the piano, am learning a foreign language and am constantly going back to take classes in all mediums of art. My philosophy is "the more you know, the more you grow"
While giving a program at the guild, I made a comment that I would like to make quicker projects like 12" blocks.  Barbara talked to me about this group and I was all in. This is a first for me. My usual projects are very detailed, extremely complicated and excruciatingly time consuming. I love designing and drafting and my masterpieces quickly become monsterpieces. So, this 12" block challenge is going to be great for me, forcing me to make quicker decisions and simplify my ideas.
Thank you all for welcoming me into what promises to be a wonderful experience. I can't wait to produce my first project.
I am going to try and upload a picture of one of my latest quilts so that you can see what I like to do. No guarantees.

Dream Doodle

Finally, after a fun day with family, here is my Daydream quilt!  My quilts usually begin with a bit of dreaming and "what if"ing.  I was looking for something on a shelf and happened upon a large quilted practice piece done on my longarm.  It gave me an idea to try a technique that I have wanted to experiment with for a long time.  I cut a 12" square out of the piece and took it to my painting room (my garage!).  I found some leftover Pebeo Setacolor translucent pearl paint and mixed in a bit of turquoise.  I really like how the paint lets the quilting show through!  The rest was hand stitched with variegated hand dyed perle cotton thread.  I love this stitch!  I think it's called the rice stitch or chicken scratch.  I did a lot of daydreaming while stitching!  Do you think I can get away with using this quilt for Spiral too?!