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Judy Martin's Workroom
Judy's Life Story
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JUDY MARTIN'S LIFE STORY
Meet Judy Martin, author of The Block Book and The Creative
Pattern Book!
Judy Martin with her biggest fans—Will, Kate, and Steve.
Photo © Cory Hall Photography, Grinnell, Iowa.
The following is taken from The Unauthorized Autobiography of Judy Martin—by Judy Martin, of course!
Nineteen sixty-nine: the first lunar walk, Woodstock, the amazing Mets win the World Series, and Judy Martin makes her first quilt.
All right, so Judy's first quilt doesn't quite rank up there with the other events, but it does show that she has been making quilts for a long time, and she's learned quite a bit in the past three decades. Fortunately, she's not shy about sharing what she has learned. She has invented five quilting tools and contributed more than 635 original patterns to the quilt world.
Judy Martin has been earning her living solely from quilting for more than 20 years. From 1979 to 1987, she worked for Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and Quiltmaker, where she helped pioneer and popularize point trimming and machine piecing. As an editor, Judy was one of the principal pattern designers on staff, as well as the author of countless articles and six quilting books. In 1987, she left to start her own publishing company, Crosley-Griffith, with her husband, Steve Bennett. The company has published Judy's six most recent books. Its seventh title, The Creative Pattern Book, appeared in February, 2000. Crosley-Griffith also manufactures Judy Martin's Ultimate Rotary Rulers.
In 1993, Judy and Steve packed up their children, Kate and Will, and moved to Grinnell, a small town in central Iowa. Grinnell is a safe, friendly community and home to Grinnell College. It's a good place to raise kids.
Judy feels like the luckiest person in the world, because she gets to make her living from quiltmaking. She also loves volunteering at her kids' schools, sketching architectural and furniture designs, reading good fiction, watching good films, and eating good—and exotic—food.
Judy buys more fabric than she'll ever use, serves her family take-out pizza (which is excellent in Grinnell) when she gets engrossed in a quilting project, asks Steve to just pull on a sweater when one of his shirts loses a button, irons clothes only for weddings and funerals, and has gotten over feeling guilty about any of this. She encourages you to do the same. You'll live longer and be happier.
Five things that really rip Judy's seams . . .
- People who are so self-important they feel they can park in the no-parking
areas at grocery stores.
- Mall parking lots that are designed by people who don't drive and
hate those of us who do.
- Parents who do little or nothing to prepare their children for the
rigors of school and then complain when the schools fail to educate
those same children. If you're not part of the solution . . . .
- Campaign spin doctors. Just once Judy would like to hear one of these
sycophants say, "Our guy got whupped. If we don't turn it around soon,
we're sunk."
- America's redesigned currency. Judy feels the nation missed a golden
opportunity to vary the colors (how many times have you given someone
a ten, mistaking it for a one?), the size (how do blind people count
money?), and the honorees (does Ulysses Grant really belong on the fifty?).
And why are there no quilters on American currency?
Five facts that Judy finds oddly interesting . . .
- In 1939, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date
of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday in November, giving retailers
an extra week of Christmas sales. In 1942, Congress appeased an outraged
nation by changing it back to the fourth Thursday.
- Carlos May of the White Sox, whose uniform number was 17, was the
only major leaguer to have his birthday—May 17—on the back
of his jersey.
- A fashion book published in the 1870s stated that 10 yards of heavy
flannel were required to make a woman's bathing suit.
- April Fool's Day was first celebrated in 1564, when France adopted
the Gregorian calendar, thereby changing New Year's Day from April 1
to January 1. On April 1 some wiseacres played tricks on people who
had forgotten that April 1 was no longer New Year's Day.
- The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
A little quiz Judy whipped up, which you'll find fun but for which you'll win absolutely nothing . . .
Please answer "Way!" or "No way!" to each of the following questions.
Judy Martin combines an engineer's sensibility with an artist's vision to make the beautiful possible.
Answer: Way, big way! You might say she was genetically programmed for such a function. Judy's father was an engineer, her sister is a NASA scientist, her brother works for Boeing, she was valedictorian of her 1,000-strong high school class, she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a social-science degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and she has artists up and down the family tree. If you're looking for someone to give you commonsense advice, uncommonly beautiful patterns, and sensible instructions, who better than Judy Martin? Her pedigree is unsurpassed.
Judy Martin was a child TV star who played the love interest on Spin & Marty.
Answer: No way. Was there a love interest on Spin & Marty? If there was, we doubt she grew up to be a quilting icon.
Judy Martin, author of The Creative Pattern Book, has designed more original block and quilt patterns than anyone in history.
Answer: Way. Judy Martin is to quilt designs as Bill Gates is to computer operating systems, as Scott Adams is to comic strips, as Cher is to fashion excesses, as . . . you get the idea.
Judy Martin is the author of a total of twelve great books, including Scrap Quilts, The Block Book, and Judy Martin's Ultimate Book of Quilt Block Patterns.
Answer: No way, but it was a trick question. Her thirteenth, The Creative Pattern Book, was released in late February, 2000.
Judy Martin's career defies simple categorization.
Answer: Major way. It's hard to pin a label on Judy. Is she the block lady? She's written three books on classic blocks. Is she the scrap lady? Most of her quilts are scrap quilts, and her book of that title is one of the most popular in history. Is she the Log Cabin lady? She wrote the definitive book on the subject and continues to make dazzling Log Cabin designs. Is she the Lone Star lady? Is she the rotary-cutting lady? Is she the pieced-border lady? And has publication of The Creative Pattern Book made her the Wedding Ring lady? Probably. Check out the five versions of a new Wedding Ring design in that book! (Three are pictured here.) Plus the Irish Chain variations, plus the Flower Garden variations, plus the 1,000 Pyramids variations! We could go on and on about the wide range of beautiful quilts in The Creative Pattern Book.
Grandmother's Wedding Ring Variations
Judy Martin once spent six weeks canoeing through Ontario, Canada.
Answer: Way, but it was long, long ago. And those who know her now suspect it was in a parallel galaxy far, far away.
Judy Martin's 10.25-inch rotary-cut LeMoyne Star blocks are an amazing seven times more accurate than other designers' 12-inch rotary-cut LeMoyne Star blocks.
Answer: Way. This is just one illustration of why Judy Martin's patterns go together so perfectly. She hears from satisfied quilters all the time. If you're having trouble with fit, perhaps it's not your sewing—it might be your pattern.
Betsy Ross used Judy Martin's Ultimate Rotary Rulers to cut out the pieces for the first American flag.
Answer: No way. If she had, she could have done far more than just make red-and-white strips and a big, blue rectangle. Can you imagine an American flag containing prisms, trapezoids, kites, and Peaky and Spike? Dear Ms. Ross could have done almost anything if only she had used Judy Martin's Ultimate Rotary Rulers! Oh, well.
Judy Martin actually enjoys math.
Answer: Way. Most quilters tend to treat math like some traveler's disease, but Judy prefers to think of it as the cure. Aren't you glad there are people like her, who do the math so you don't have to? She never uses trial and error to determine whether a pattern is correct. Instead, Judy relies on complex trigonometric formulas to be certain her patterns are the most accurate they can be. You, the quilter, are the lucky beneficiary of her love of numbers and attention to detail.
Judy Martin's husband, Steve, costarred with Eddie Murphy in the comedy Bowfinger.
Answer: No way. Judy's husband's name is Steve Bennett, though he'll remain polite when people on the phone address him as Mr. Martin. Both Judy and Steve love Steve Martin, particularly in Roxanne and All of Me, and they were anxious to see Bowfinger, but it never came to Grinnell.
Judy Martin writes the books other quilt-book authors read.
Answer: Apparently, way. Judy's original designs appear in more than 30 current books by many of today's top authors. If top quilting authors look to Judy Martin for designs, ideas, innovation, and inspiration, shouldn't you?
Judy Martin has a dog who can type.
Answer: Way. Who do you think typed this?
So, how did you do? Got 'em all right? No way!
Continue on to:
Learn Judy Martin's Designer Secrets
Print Judy Martin's Free Patterns
Purchase Judy Martin's Products