Month: June 2011

Hot Tips, My Life, New Pattern Sample

In Season? No thank goodness!

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This week I needed to make another sample to send out for a trunk show.  It’s a sample from my “In Season” series. When I booked the two trunk shows I thought I had two samples already, but as it turned out I started making two samples of each when I got to In Season for Christmas!  Darn!  I also need to go back now and make a second In Season for Fall before I forget I only have one of those again too! 

Maybe tomorrow, they’re quick!

In Season for Winter

No, I’m not at all ready to go back there!

These little quilts are actually fun for me.  A little bit of applique, a little bit of embroidery, a little bit of piecing, a little bit of quilting, a little bit of binding and you have a cute little quilt! You can purchase the pattern on my website if you’re not close to the two shops that are having trunk shows with my patterns and samples.  The first is at Pacific Fabrics & Crafts in Seattle, Washington (I’d like to hand deliver that one) and the other one will be at Byrne Sewing Center in New Britain, Pennsylvania, haven’t been here either.

I showed you a hot tip on how to do the stitching here last winter. 

So far I have 6 patterns in this series. I should have more soon.

I hope you’re getting some sewing time too.

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, New ideas

Hot Tip Hiatus…

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I know it’s been a while since I posted a tip for Hot Tip Tuesday and today is no different!  Sorry?  No, not really.  I’ve been consumed with “other stuff” these past weeks and now that my post-market business is FINALLY caught up, my son’s graduation and party have passed and I have no immediate obligations to tend to except the usual day-to-day family & business stuff, well, I decided to start a new project!

Over the weekend I had a bit of time before needing to go to a graduation party.

 I started cutting…

I cut 4 strips and layered them up. 

 With my new template you can cut 8 petals lickity split! 

Cut just 3 stacks & you’ll have enough petals for 2 plates (24).

After cutting, I started to sew…

Just sew, trim, turn, press, sew a bit more…

 

and before you know it you’ve got some pretty Dresden plates!

***Warning***

 This can be addicting!

At this point they remind me of lovely flowers.  I don’t know where this is going, so I’ll just keep sewing…

Until next time,

Susan

 

New quilt pattern

A New Pattern, A Charming Layer #181

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Last but certainly not least is a new pattern that is made just for those pre-cuts that you’ve been collecting the last few years but have never opened!  I know you’ve got them, they’re totally irresistible.  Ask me how I know…

This pattern uses 10″ Layer Cake Squares, Jellyroll Strips & 5″ Charm Squares! 

Of course you can cut from yardage as I did, but that’s just because I wanted a red & cream quilt for my booth and so I used these as shown to you in a previous post, remember?

This is what I did with those lovelies:

This quilt is twin size, but the pattern includes lap, twin, queen & king sizes.  It goes quickly and if you start with the pre-cuts as previously described it will go even quicker.

I hope you enjoyed my show & tell.  Please look for my patterns at your local quilt shop.  If they’re not selling them have them contact me for information to get them started.  They’re also available on my website.

Until next time,

Susan

New quilt pattern, Quick Little Projects

A New Pattern, Bits of Dresden Christmas Stocking

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I have another pattern that uses my new Mini Dresden Plate Template.  This one is a Christmas pattern, go figure, huh? 

It’s called Bits of Dresden Christmas Stocking:

Do you get the title now?  I used bits & pieces of a Dresden plate and appliqued them onto the stocking.  This was so fun to create!  I had the idea in my head as I was working on other designs for my booth at market and finally, by the time I was ready to work on it, all the pieces came together so to speak.  No pun intended, really!

It’s a generous sized stocking, so you can fill it with LOTS of goodies.  My kids would tell you there is no reason to make a small Christmas stocking and I would have to agree with them.  It is quilted so it is nice and sturdy too.  A great usable gift for years to come for sure!

The pattern includes a paper template for the Dresden petals, but as I explained in an earlier post, the Plexiglass template allows you to cut multiple layers quickly and more accurately.  You can purchase the pattern & template at your local quilt shop, or if they’re not carrying them yet, you can purchase them here.

One more pattern to go!

Until next time,

Susan 

New quilt pattern

New Pattern, A Pretty Plate #180

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New, new, new!  I love new!  Are you getting bored, or am I tempting you?  I hope I’m tempting you to shop and sew too.

My next new pattern I showed you in a sneak preview yesterday with the introduction of my Mini Dresden Plate template, remember?

So, without further ado, here’s A Pretty Plate:

The pattern includes both sizes shown, 54″x 66″ & 27″x 27″.  It’s a fun & easy pattern that is made more quickly by the use of my Mini Dresden Plate template. 

Here’s the smaller Pretty Plate hanging in our kitchen.

This quilt was inspired by 10″ layer cake squares, 5″charm squares and a jellyroll.  You can use these as I did (except I used one fabric instead of layer cake squares for the block background) or cut from yardage.

The fabric collection is Barbara Brackman’s Civil War Crossing by Moda.  It’s a couple of years old, but I love the prints and colors.  The block background fabric however is from Minick & Simpson’s Wicasset collection also by Moda. 

For those of you that don’t know me, I LOVE fabric.  I get my love of fabric from my mother! I’m inspired by and addicted to fabric.  I design from this inspiration. That’s how I roll. 

When I find fabric that speaks to me I buy it and then figure out what to do with it.  Anybody out there share this same affliction?  Anyone care to share???

Just two more designs to go!

Until next time,

Susan

 

 

New Quilting Template

New Template, Mini Dresden Plate #186

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Any time I can use a Plexiglass template it sure is a time saver and there’s no beating its accuracy.  I designed a mini applecore template a few years ago to go with my Old Glory in Mini-Applecore Flag Pattern.  

When I started working on a mini Dresden plate block I knew I would need to design a template for that as well. 

This template allows you to cut up to 8 layers of fabric at once, and its accuracy is great!

Introducing Mini Dresden Plate Template, ta-da!

The packaging includes instructions to make a 9″ finished block. 

The blocks featured on the packaging are from my pattern titled “A Pretty Plate.”

So far I’ve designed two patterns that use this template.  Guess what tomorrow’s featured pattern will be…

Until next time,

Susan

New quilt pattern, Quick Little Projects

New Pattern, Counting the days with Santa #184

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Remember how I said I just can’t get enough red & green, and Christmas too?  Along with the Christmas countdown, Santa’s Pockets, that I showed you last week, I’ve also been wanting to make another type of countdown.  Since my kids were little we’ve had a little Christmas chalkboard that you change the days with by drawing them in chalk each day.  I know there used to be a fabric that you could write on like a chalkboard and maybe it’s still available, but I wasn’t interested in that.  I finally thought about buttoning numbers to a small countdown that you could change every day until Christmas comes.

Meet “Counting the days with Santa”:

I know, redundant! 

 Get over Christmas already!

No more of Sweetwater’s Countdown  to Christmas, girl!

But isn’t it adorable??? Another one of my favorites!

I again used my new technique with the numbers using Sulky’s 12 wt. thread that I discussed here last week with “Santa’s Pockets”.  The little green “cards” for a lack of better term button off & on to change the number of days ’til Christmas for years to come.

The “Days ’til Christmas” is hand stitched with perle cotton thread. Everything else is fusible web applique.  Ahhhhh, I’m in heaven!

The cute little hanger that I used (perfect, huh?) is by Ackfeld Manufacturing.  No affiliation, just a happy customer!

Just one more Christmas design to go.

Until next time,

Susan

 

 

New quilt pattern

New Pattern, Clare’s Christmas Puppy #183

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I hope you’re enjoying this bit of show & tell!  I had so much fun this (very cold & long) winter.  It’s the perfect time to dream & design.  It was too cold to be out anyway, so why not sew? 

My next pattern I have to give credit to my daughter, Clare.  She is quite the artist.  She likes to draw, design, color, AND quilt too!  At 13 years old she is amazing.  2-3 years ago she drew the cutest little puppy.  It was so cute that I hung it on our frig for quite a long time.  I knew I wanted to do something with that cute puppy one day.  So, finally this design came to me and I made a table runner and little quilt.

Meet Clare’s Christmas Puppy:

Isn’t he cute? 

I can say that because I didn’t create him, I just made him into a quilt.  You can’t tell from this little photo of him, but I used wool that I felted.  I still used fusible web and machine stitched him with a buttonhole stitch.  In case you can’t tell the tag says “Merry Christmas.”  

Don’t be surprised if you see Clare’s puppy in other designs in the future.  I really like him!

Look for him at your local quilt shop, or you can purchase him here.

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, New quilt pattern, Quick Little Projects

New Pattern, Mittens on the Line #182

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I’m back with another new pattern that was tied with “A Pretty Package” for my best-selling pattern at market. Meet “Mittens on the Line”.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, quilters want quick & easy patterns and this is it!  It starts with a jellyroll plus a bit of yardage and it’s quilt-as-you-go.  It’s another quilt made with Sweetwater’s “Countdown to Christmas” by Moda.

What makes this speedy is that a lot of your cutting is done for you with the jellyroll. So, you make the little 9-patches and sew them into strips.  You applique the mittens, that by the way can be cut from charm squares, then you sew those strips onto your foundation. 

The jumbo rickrack is adorable, and if you’re not into a lap quilt you can get the look with a cute little table runner.  What’s not to like?

 Look for my new patterns at your local quilt shop or buy them here.

More tomorrow!

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, New quilt pattern, Quilt Market

New Pattern, A Pretty Package #179

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Some of my best-selling patterns are the result of my own quilt-as-you-go technique.  I’ve written a tutorial that you can see here.  Basically the backing & batting are cut to the finished size of the quilt, basted together and that acts as a foundation that the strips are then sewn onto.  Once the foundation is filled with strips, the quilt is complete.  Depending on the pattern you choose, you may need to add a bit of applique.  Apply the binding and label and the quilt is finished.

In the time since I created this technique, pre-cuts have come about.  They’re so fun to buy and design with that I couldn’t help but adapt them to some of my quilt-as-you-go lap quilts.  Today’s featured new pattern was created with a jellyroll plus yardage. The collection is Sweetwater’s “Countdown to Christmas” by Moda. 

Meet “A Pretty Package“:

As I mentioned earlier, these lap quilts are some of my best-selling patterns, here’s why: 

1. They are small enough projects that they can easily be completed in about 6 hours, maybe less if you choose one that can accommodate the pre-cuts that are available at quilt shops now.

2. They don’t cost a small fortune, so you can make and give them as gifts to friends & family.

3. Since they are quilt-as-you-go, once the strips are sewn on you don’t have to figure out how to quilt them (or pay someone to do it).

This pattern was tied for first place as my best selling pattern at market last month.  Can you believe the other pattern that it tied for first place with was another quilt-as-you-go lap quilt? It also began with pre-cuts!  You can see and purchase them here or at you local quilt shop.

While packing for market last month I realized that this quilt doesn’t have to be made with Christmas fabrics.  It would also look great as a birthday gift, baby gift, or whatever occassion you choose.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my other market best seller. 

Until next time,

Susan