Finishing up a quilt project – Quilting my way through life!

Last we were together I was up to my eyeballs in these.

Aren’t the little piles of alligator teeth too cute?

(easily amused, yes I know…)

With a little help from my favorite vices…

I was able to complete all of the half Tiny Dresden plates from the 1,600+ petals!

This is all of them sewn;

the extra petals set aside for another project down the road.

The little rows just make me smile!

(again, easily amused, yes I know…)

I was able to make 6 half Tiny Dresden plates from each of the 40 jelly roll strips

of Jo Morton’s New Hope by Moda Fabrics.

During our annual retreat to local quilt shop, Rosemary’s,

I got to work making blocks from the half Tiny Dresden plates for my next quilt.

This is my work space all set up & ready to sew.

My cute little Dritz Mighty Steam Iron showed up just in time to travel with me.

What a great find!

It’s the perfect little Dresden plate iron!!!

It’s extremely light-weight & just the right size for pressing my little plates.

I wish I’d known about them sooner!

I was so impressed that I’m now carrying them on my website for you to purchase here.

Don’t let the small size fool you.

It gets super hot!

It’s great for pressing small half-square triangles too.

I also like it for pressing block parts.

Choosing the center circle fabrics is a bit like choosing which Barbie shoes should complete her ensemble, lol…

Love, love, love each step!

Can’t wait to show you the finished quilt,

but that will have to wait for another day.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

Dresden Plates, Finishing up a quilt project, My Life, New tiny Dresden plate quilts

Cutie Patootie Christmas Stocking

November 17, 2015November 16, 2015 suznquilts

Several months ago (I’m not telling how many…)

I bought this pretty Barbara Brackman charm pack & two coordinating prints. Suzn+Quilts+Richmond+Reds This is what I had in mind.

Suzn+Quilts+Tiny+Bits+of+Dresden+Stocking#231+RGB

I LOVE these stockings!!!

They’re fun to make & so darn cute!

I cut the charm squares into fourths making 2-1/2″ squares.

Then I made this.

Suzn+Quilts+Tiny+bits+stocking+patchwork

I love using a stripe fabric for bias binding.

It creates a nice barber pole effect around the perimeter.

How cute is this hanger?

Suzn+Quilts+Tiny+tape+hanger

Instead of my usual binding loop,

I used an antique-looking twill measuring tape ribbon for the loop.

You can purchase this twill measuring tape ribbon on my website, $2.00/ yd.

Totally cute for a sewist friend, don’t you think?

Perhaps you need a secret sister gift idea?

Well, you have a special friend or two at the very least!

This is what I’ve been up to.

What about you?

Just keep sewing…

Susan

Applique quilt projects, Finishing up a quilt project, My Life, New Pattern Sample, quilt as you go lap quilt, Quilt Market, Suzn Quilts Patterns

Best selling pattern, A Pretty Package Follow-up

April 11, 2014 suznquilts

Well, I got busy and forgot to let you see my progress on the latest A Pretty Package, sorry!

I finished sewing the strips on and then fused the bow pieces.

Next I stitched the applique with my Sulky 12 wt. thread.

This is a close-up of the buttonhole stitch.

I had a call last week from a quilter whom I met at Houston Festival last fall.

We discussed this stitch that I use almost exclusively for my applique.

She remembered we have the same older Bernina machine

but she could not find the buttonhole stitch anywhere.

Well, it’s actually called a toweling stitch on our machine.

So, if you look around you might find it on your machine too (if you’re lucky)

but perhaps with a different name!

I finished the hand-work on the binding at Rosemary’s tips club yesterday.

Here is A Pretty Package in its completed state.

It looks pretty good on my favorite rocking chair, don’t you think?

I know where this quilt will land after market next month!

Winterlude fits perfectly in my living room.

Perhaps it will fit in yours too?

You’ll be seeing it in shops in June.

Until next time,

Susan

Family Time, Finishing up a quilt project, New Christmas Quilt Fabric, New Pattern Sample, quilt as you go lap quilt, Quilt Market, Suzn Quilts, Suzn Quilts Patterns

Best Selling Quilt Pattern, A Pretty Package

April 8, 2014 suznquilts

What am I up to?

Today I am making another sample of my best selling quilt pattern,

A Pretty Package!

Since my booth in Pittsburgh next month will be full of “Winterlude”

I decided to show my best selling pattern, A Pretty Package, decked out in to too!

So far, I’ve prepared the “foundation” and started sewing strips.

Layered bath towels are the best pressing surface.

I can press the entire strip at once with no draping & distorting.

It’s very important to press the seams flat as sewn first,

then press them open.

This keeps them straight all across the quilt.

The MOST IMPORTANT step is to measure, measure, measure.

If you sew a strip on crooked, then sew a bunch more strips to it, a little more crooked each time, well… you will have a very crooked quilt indeed!

Next, pin, sew, repeat…

Now I’m prepared to sew the top strips in the same fashion.

This is where I am tonight.

I’ve had a few interruptions so I didn’t get as far as I would have liked today;

getting Nemo from the groomer,

dinner,

The Voice with fellow family members,

followed by August: Osage County from Redbox.

I love Merle & Julia, but that movie was a bit much…

I’m going to continue sewing,

but as soon as chickadee #2 gets home I’m done for the day.

Tune in tomorrow to see the rest of the story!

Until next time,

Susan

Finishing up a quilt project, New Pattern Sample, New Quilt Book, New Quilt pattern sample, Quilt Market, Suzn Quilts Patterns

New book, A Christmas Sampler

June 15, 2013June 11, 2013 suznquilts

Now for my new book!

This is my new Christmas Sampler that is written as a 12 step block-of-the-month.

I love this pattern and it is only $20!

I sold out of these at market last month!

Do I need to tell you that it is made with Deb Strain’s Christmas Countdown by Moda?

There is applique and piecing and the instructions are broken down into 12 steps so you won’t be overwhelmed.

If you’re like me you’ll just want to jump right in & stitch this sampler as quickly as humanly possible,

but I know there are a lot of quilters out there that like the option for quilt shops to cut kits for them in the block-of-the-month fashion.

Each step is printed on its own page(s) that are perforated for easy tearing out and each applique step has full-size, reversed templates ready to trace.

The last step has detailed illustrations and instructions for sewing all of the completed segments together to make the finished top

and the last page is devoted to kitting instructions for quilt shops.

The back cover features another version of the quilt.

I chose the fabrics for this sample from my stash.

It has a more primitive or country feel.

I also left off the outer border; partly so you could see how it still looks good smaller,

but most importantly because I want to hang it in my kitchen for Christmas on the hanger my late father-in-law built for me

and this is the perfect size!

The quilt features more holly buttons by Just Another Button Company on the mints like on my Peppermint Pizzazz pattern

and the holly berries and snowflakes are actually more Hillcreek buttons.

Have I enticed you yet???

I hope that I have.

If your local quilt shop doesn’t have them, all my books and patterns are available on my website.

I had a lot of fun piecing both color versions

and I enjoyed going back the last couple of months with you remembering my sewing journey!

Thanks for following.

Until next time,

Susan

Finishing up a quilt project, New ideas, New Pattern Sample, New Quilt pattern sample, quilt as you go lap quilt

Tired of Singing La La…

April 5, 2013 suznquilts

I can only partly remember the story my grandma used to tell us, but the part that has lived on in my memory is “I’m tired of singing la, la.”

So the story goes…

She was rocking someone to sleep and to help lull them she was singing, “La, la. La, la.” over & over.

Apparently the little tyke she was singing to wasn’t tired enough to be lulled to sleep, but instead into annoyance, when they announced, “I’m tired of singing “la, la!””

Well, it’s a story that hit my grandma’s funny bone and she told it over and over.

Consequently, as I was growing up, when someone in my family was tired of doing something we would announce

“I’m tired of singing la, la!!!”

Among other designs that I’ve been working on with my “Christmas Countdown” fabrics,

I’ve been making a whole forest of trees.

Big trees,

Little trees,

Pretty trees,

(special trees, Here comes Winter book…)

Don’t get me wrong, they’re quick & easy, but I made so many prototypes

and then designed a few quilts to make with the blocks.

Now that I’m getting to make the finished blocks for the pattern sample

it feels a bit redundant…

..more & more trees, 44 trees…

(Dr. Seuss book…)

Pretty sure I could make trees in my sleep!

Perhaps is delirium? sorry…

The quilt will have 36 medium trees, 40 small trees and a bonus table runner will have large trees,

but that number has yet to be determined.

I’ll be putting these into one of my signature Quilt-as-you-go lap quilt patterns.

Now to start counting sashing strips.

What are you working on?

Until next time,

Susan

Finishing up a quilt project, My Life

Finito!

August 9, 2012 suznquilts

Here you have it, all finished!

I didn’t have to stay up all night. I was done before 10:00.

I love it!

It’s not what I originally intended, but it looks pretty good in my rocking chair in the living room…

Perhaps it will be a gift to me?

It sounds good, but so does having a gift for an upcoming birthday.

Now, on to Rosemary’s Club and to see what might inspire me next.

Umm, Houston’s Fall Market is just 2-1/2 months away.

Perhaps I should start dwelling on that?

Hope you’re sewing today!

Until next time,

Susan

Finishing up a quilt project, My Life

Bring on the movie!

August 8, 2012 suznquilts

Well, when I got up this morning I didn’t head first to the dishwasher or computer.

Nope, instead I decided to choose quilting thread and bobbin thread and start sewing in the sunshine!

With Rosemary’s Club tomorrow I decided this was the day.

This is the Thimbleberries lap quilt that I started way back here, before life got in the way…

Isn’t the sun shining in your quilt room the most beautiful sight?

These are the days I yearn for so often come January, February,…

Not that we’ve not had enough sun shiny days this summer, we have.

Just look at that brown grass in the distance!

It’s just that I’ve not had the opportunity time-wise, mental-wise or otherwise to sew.

Since this is going to be a gift and not a pattern sample, I decided to “age” it a bit by putting it in the washer and dryer.

While it was aging, I cut & pieced the binding.

As soon as it comes out of the dryer, it will be trimmed and the binding sewn on, then look out, I need a movie to watch!

Oh, well, that’s after we make a run to the plumbing store for a replacement handle for an outside faucet, and while we’re out I will probably think of a few other tasks that we need to stop for, BUT THEN!!!

I’m thinking Legally Blonde. We’ve not watched that in a while.

Of course dinner will need to be made and then there’s the budget meeting for quilt guild tonight.

But this quilt will be done by 8:30 a.m. tomorrow if I have to stay up all night!!!

Until next time,

Susan