Desire to Inspire - November Challenger - Meet Judy Wright

Meet Judy Wright- She took on the challenge of using "Blush and Blue” by Kim Diehl in the month of November 2019

I live near Payson, IL.  It is a rural area in west central Illinois.  Payson has about 1000 people.  It is a great place to live, full of lots of caring people.  Payson is close to Quincy, IL and Hannibal, MO.  We are about two hours north of St. Louis, MO. 

My daughter and son-in-law live in the Dallas area with their five children.  I have made red and white quilts for each of my grandchildren.  My daughter always wanted red and white baby quilts.  The quilts are bigger that your normal baby quilt.  She wanted the kids to enjoy wrapping up in the quilts as they got bigger.  I love seeing the quilts in use when I’m there.  I have made clothes and toys for the grandchildren over the years.  If they were closer, I would make lots of clothes for them, but it’s hard to do the fitting long distance.

I am a retired music teacher.  Quilting was my therapy when I was teaching.  I could come home after a rough day and lose myself in the project of the moment.  I made several quilts to hang in my classroom throughout the years.  They made the room warm and inviting.  I’ve been retired for 7 years now.  It is so nice to have more time to sew.   I live on my family’s farm, close to my brothers and their families.   I’m not involved with farming, but I enjoy being close to the activity. 

A friend and I have traveled a little in the last couple of years.  I always have my eye out for the quilt shops along the way.  I have a few small projects to finish from our trip to Alaska.   Along with the shops, I love looking for inspiration as we travel.  I have several pictures from our trip to Charleston, SC that will make their way into some quilting designs when I find the right place to put them. 

I started quilting in 1980.  I took a class at The Hickory Stick in Hannibal, MO-still one of my favorite quilt shops.  We sat among the bolts of fabric and learned to piece by hand, and then to quilt by hand.  I have never finished that quilt.  It’s close-I’ll finish it someday.  I’ve never pieced another quilt by hand.  My mother taught me to sew and I made lots of clothes through the years.  My grandmother loved making quilt tops and she made many of them.  I remember her opening a box of pre-cut squares for a Trip Around the World quilt-she made at least a dozen of those.  I didn’t fully appreciate that box at the time.  The pieces must have all been cut by hand and then perfectly stacked in the box.  (She would have loved today’s pre-cuts!)   I do remember being drawn to the colors and the fabric.  I guess I should have known at that point that I would be making quilts myself someday. 

I make mostly traditional quilts.  Mainly machine pieced, occasionally appliqued.  I love to hand quilt.  It is so very soothing.  I do enjoy learning new techniques.  I am learning to machine quilt.  Both of my projects are machine quilted but I’m not fully comfortable with it yet.  I am fascinated with needle-turn applique and English paper piecing.  I have done some of each, but I have a lot to learn.

 I belong to the Hannibal Piecemakers Quilt Guild.  We have so many talented quilters in our guild.  We have monthly workshops to learn new skills and also bring in teachers from outside the area a couple of time a year.  I also belong to a smaller group that meets twice a month to work on our own projects.  Once a month I meet with a group at A to Z Quilting in Quincy, IL.  We pick a certain type of project to work on for a few months.  We share what we have done and discuss any issues we may have had.  It is always inspiring to see how others approach the same project in a different way.   One of the best parts of all the groups I belong to is Show and Tell.  It is incredible to see all of the different projects. 

This summer, my family and I have been cleaning out our parents’ home.  It was a bittersweet time.  There were lots of memories.  Some of the younger family members had not heard the many stories, so it was good to share with them.  My mother’s 1956 Singer came to live at my house.  I learned to sew on that machine.  I also carried home sewing supplies, button boxes, and wooden spools in a jar.  One of the pieces of furniture that I claimed is the youth sized bed that was my mother’s when she was a child.  My projects are for that little bed. I didn’t know what I was going to put on the bed so that my youngest granddaughter could sleep in it at Christmas.  Now, she has two brand new quilts.  I need to get some pillows made, maybe with the scraps left from these two quilts.  Thank you so very much for the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful fabric.  

Judy's Quilt Made with "Blush and Blue" by Kim Diehl

View the Full Collection Here

Download Quilt #1 Here

Download Quilt #2 Here