Category: My Life

My Life

Dresden Quilt Workshop Quilt-Along Week #6

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Week #

Please keep posting & sending me pics of your blocks!

If you’re not part of my Facebook group, Dresden Quilt Workshop,

head over there & sign up so you too can share & be inspired.

This week we will refer to

Argyle Retreat quilt, page 31.

I absolutely love the feathers that Tamara quilted into the alternate blocks!

This week we will be making 1 Argyle Retreat block.

Just make 5 Tiny Dresden blocks,

and sew them into 1 Argyle Retreat block as directed.

I have to warn you,

some of these blocks took me longer to decide which fabrics to use & where

THAN TO ACTUALLY MAKE THE BLOCK!!!

let’s see…

hmmmm…

well…

OK, finally made that decision!

But what colors for the centers???

Ahhhhhhh!

It’s fun looking back at what else was going on while I was designing & making this quilt last fall.

The last of our newly married son’s stuff got moved to his & his wife’s home.

I now have an entire closet to store my pattern sample quilts, yay!

I use the room to stage the packing of the quilts when I do shows & travel to teach.

Yes, I miss our son, but I’m fortunate that he & his wife live close so we get to see them frequently.

And the anniversary of losing a loved one.

Sad, but part of life.

I thank God for my faith & family!

Did I tell you that I’m now part of our church’s funeral choir?

What a blessing to be part of something so special.

You might think it would be all sad,

but oddly enough the bond our music group shares is very nice.

Many family members that we’ve served are so thankful for our presence.

Funny how doing something kind for others always

gives so much back in return.

FYI… if you’re not already,

you better get caught up this week.

I hear there may be a

give-away

in store for one or more DQWS quilter soon….

but you’ll also need to be part of our Dresden Quilt Workshop, Facebook group.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

Applique quilt projects, My Life, New quilt pattern, Tiny Dresden quilts

International Spring Quilt Market 2018 & New Patterns

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I ALWAYS come back from market with a million & one things to get done.

Top that off with the stuff that was ignored because of market prep (perhaps months worth of stuff) and before you know it I can’t even remember going to market so I forget to post any market photos or tell you of my new patterns.

Good Grief! I miss my brain!

So, our booth…

The best part of market was getting to spend time with both of our daughters!

Chloe has helped me lots of times, but this time Clare was able to go with us.

I have 14, yes, 14 new patterns!

I have been busy.

So, let me show you the first one, Baker’s Dozen.

It all started almost 2 years ago when I bought this American Jane, Bread ‘n Butter charm pack & coordinating piece of fabric…

I made fabric decisions; background squares vs. Tiny Dresden petal squares.

Taking pics like this helps me remember what I had decided.

Thank goodness for artificial intelligence!

Then I set to cutting.

I can cut 6 petals from each 5″ charm square.

In my pattern I show you how to do that.

14 Tiny Dresden plate blocks in the making.

Again, thanks to my phone for capturing and helping me to remember all of this!

I did all this the summer of 2016. At least that’s what my pics say.

And now I regret to inform you… I just found a bunch more images that I forgot I’d even taken.

You may want to get a snack or take a nap…

They are pretty however…

I started sewing petals… It was so interesting that even Dori (RIP) had to stop what she was doing to watch me!

Before long I had this beautiful pile ‘o petals.

Blake & I had recently gone to an estate sale where I found this adorable little iron.

I cut the string apart.

Unfortunately the iron is just a toy, but cute! I pressed with my un cute iron.

Then turned them all right-side-out.

Now you’re starting to see why this quilt, a mere 17″ x 21″,

took me two years to make, Lol!

Petals were sorted.

Then sewn together into pairs.

Then strung up over my cute little cutlery box (OH, GOOD GRIEF!).

Pressed & then sewn to another pair.

Pressed again.

Finally the complete plates were completely sewn.

But they still needed to be pressed ;)

This is where they get more Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

Next to make and applique the center circles, wet them to remove center templates & let dry.

And press again with more Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

Then what to do with the blocks once they’re finished…

For a minute I thought they may look nice around this beautifully stitched picture, but no.

Set with this cute sashing, but no.

Maybe with black cornerstones, no.

This is where my brain took a hiatus from this madness.

No more pics until Augusts, 2017!

I found this adorable metal box at Litchfield’s Picker’s Market and it inspired me to get the blocks out & finish a quilt!

I decided that I liked them set next to each other best.

Then I dreamed up these incredibly cute cornerstones.

That required a few more petals & circles.

But then what?

I needed a border.

The original pink polka dot that was part of the collections wasn’t “it”.

The black really set off the blocks.

Next, I pin basted & quilted it myself.

Than chose a binding fabric.

Those poor pink dots… I wonder whatever happened to them.

The perfect binding fabric I think.

Meet Baker’s Dozen.

12 Tiny Dresden blocks, with one more (in 4 pieces) on the corners.

Thanks for taking that trip back in time with me.

They’re now available on my website.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applique quilt projects, My Life

Robin’s Wreaths, An AQS 5 Part Quilt Series, Part 1

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I’m so excited I received my copy of AQS’s American Quilter magazine this week!

My very good friend, Robin Koehler has a stunning 5 part quilt series included!!!

Of course I have to make my own.

Today I made fabric selections 

then set to cutting & sewing.

Robin mentioned earlier in the week how the templates for the applique placement needs to be enlarged 200% because the size of the blocks is bigger than the magazine page and wouldn’t it be cool to make them the size of the printed page instead and then reduce the size of the whole quilt???

Robin mentioned it in her Facebook group today too… so….

That’s what I decided to do.

This afternoon I set to Best Pressing all of my fabrics and started cutting & sewing.

Soon I had all of the half-square triangle blocks made.

12 light/medium & 12 medium/light, Bazinga!

They’re all the same!

I just made 2 piles admiring beautiful fabrics & the precision of my blocks.

I know stupid quilter humor…

Then I made them into the pinwheel & square in square blocks.

Next, I made the tiny bias tubing.

I had a Clover 1/4″ bias tape maker,

but I literally had to wipe the dust off the package because I’d never used it!

It’s just as easy to use as the bigger sizes that I’ve made many times.

You just start with smaller size bias strips.

Don’t worry,

I’m only making mine this small to challenge myself &

to try something new,

the pattern actually uses the 1/2″ size bias tube maker.

Next, I copied the placement page & cut through it with my baby rotary cutter so I could draw through it with a pencil to mark the placement of the vines on each block.

I think it’s easier than using a light box to trace the design.

My Apliquick tool came in handy for turning & gluing the raw edge of the tube under before gluing it in place.

Before long I had all 6 blocks stitched!

Having precise instructions, nice fabrics & the right tools made this super easy & precise.

Perhaps you should make one too!

BTW, Robin has a FB group started for everyone interested in making the quilt along with her.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

My Life, Suzn Quilts

It’s Flag Day, So Make A Flag Quilt

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It’s June 14th, Flag Day.

If you start now you could easily have a flag made by July 4th.

I just happen to have some suggestions for flag quilt patterns:

Or a quilt that is reminiscent of a flag…

Perhaps you prefer a quilt that has ready-made flags on it?

Patterns for a little bit of everything don’t you think?

These all just happen to be available on my website ;)

SuznQuilts.com

Look on the

“Quilts”,  “Seasonal Series”, “Tiny Dresden” & “Quilt-as-you-go” pages.

Oh, just check out the entire website.

You might find something else you need too!

Happy Flag Day, &

Just Keep Sewing…flags!

Susan

 

Dresden Plates, My Life

Bedazzling Another Pretty Quilt…

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As I mentioned before… I see Dresden plates… where there are none!

Unfortunately you’ll have to take my word for it because I totally forgot to take a before pic.

This will have to do, sorry.

I picked up the lovely completed (or so Jody thought) quilt last week along with the gorgeous coordinating fabric. I had to buy the fabric to complete this project. Big ideas come with big pieces of fabric. You NEVER know just how much fabric a project may take, so you better get plenty so you don’t run out, REALLY!

I’ve been preoccupied with lots of things since purchasing this last Friday, one those things was having friends over for lunch today.

Well, you know how friends can sometimes be, well, opinionated? (What I have to say about opinions, “They’re like elbows, everyone has at least two!”) so the opinion today as they looked at my sewing table was that I shouldn’t put a Mini Dresden plate in the center of this seemingly complete quilt, but instead a Mini Dresden AND a Tiny Dresden!

They even demonstrated their idea.

I just happen to keep some orphan plates hanging in my sewing room.

They may be know-it-alls, but I agreed!

So after our lunch and a trek back to the same shop (criminals frequently return to the scene of the crime…) what can I say… I forgot these Friday!

And one might say, “Is that blue?” yes, temporary insanity? I don’t know why I bought a blue fabric. I never buy blue unless it’s for a patriotic quilt. But it caught my eye and it was on the $5 sale table. Actually it was all on sale.

Unfortunately, Mini Mall in Staunton is going out of business. Jody is retiring  :(

Anyway, I set to cutting.

I first made the Mini Dresden plate.

Then I cut and sewed the Tiny Dresden petals.

 It sure saves a lot of time to trim the seam allowance with a rotary cutter!

Before long I had the Tiny Dresden plate finished.

Then I made the center with a pretty green fabric.

I glued then stitched the center to the Tiny Dresden plate.

I got it wet to release the glue on the template so I could remove it.

Next I pressed it nice & flat again with Mary Ellen’s Best Press and glued it to the center of the Mini Dresden plate and stitched it down.

Then I glued that to the completed quilt & started to stitch it down.

This is where I remembered that I hadn’t taken a pic of the original quilt!

I sure miss my memory!

And isn’t it pretty?

Now you see what I kind of saw when I first laid eyes on the pretty quilt for sale.

Careful, you may just catch whatever I have!

Just Keep Sewing… Dresden plates!

Susan

Dresden Plates, My Life

Patriotic Runner Bedazzled

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I found this lovely, 100% complete

red & white table runner for sale at my local quilt shop this morning

after our club meeting.

It caught my eye because of course as soon as I saw the stars,

my brain instantly started seeing little Dresden plates inside them.

I just can’t help myself!

I could tell the centers were a bit too small for one of my Tiny Dresden plates

(they’re usually appliqued onto a 4 1/2″ finished square)

but I knew I could make something work.

So, I bought the runner and a fat 1/4 of a pretty blue.

If you know me, you know my blue stash is VERY SMALL!

The only time I use blue is in patriotic quilts.

This afternoon I cut a couple strips of the blue fabric.

I decided on 1 3/4″ strips not knowing exactly what the finished size of the plate would be,

I just wanted the challenge of playing with the concept.

Notice I used the narrow end of the template.

This is the end that goes to the inside of the plate.

Had I cut with the outside edge of the template,

I would have only been making the center hole larger,

not the outside diameter smaller.

Since there are 3 stars on the runner,

I cut 36 petals to make 3 Dresden plates.

Of course I had plenty of reds to choose from for the centers.

Aren’t the 3 3/8″ Dresdens adorable???

The perfect addition to Tamara’s perfect stars!

I think they’re perfect for my new patriotic table runner.

What a fun project this afternoon.

I hope Tamara doesn’t want it back!

What are you sewing this summer?

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

My Life

Dresden Flag Fun

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This Saturday June 2nd,

in Jacksonville, IL

I’ll be teaching my little Dresden plate pattern, Dresden Flags.

You can choose which quilt you would like to make,

either the the larger, 30″ x 42″

or

the little 10″x 12″ which fits the cute little stand.

Both quilts will be adorable additions to your patriot decor for years to come!

Either way, it’ll be a fun day!

Wanna join us?

Contact Sue at Times Square Sewing Complex.

217-245-5445

timessquare@mchsi.com

Just Keep Sewing,
Susan

My Life

Observing Memorial Day 2018

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Thankful for our freedom not just today, but every day.

Thanks to all who make that possible.

I’ll be teaching my Dresden Flags quilts (below) workshop

this Saturday, June 2, In Jacksonville, IL.

If you’re interested in joining, I think there are a few spots left.

Contact Sue at Times Square Sewing Complex

217-245-5445   timessquare@mchsi.com

Tiny Dresden fun included!!!

Just Keep Sewing,

Susan

My Life, New Pattern Sample

More Rainbow Progress

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Since I last posted,

I’ve spent more hours at my sewing machine

with my Grunge Seeing Stars fabric.

Remember the Tiny Dresden blocks?

They’re each now the center of a star block.

How appropriate that the fabric collection I chose for this design also has stars?

The sewing went quickly since I did all of the cutting at the beginning,

as shown to you earlier this week:

Here are all of the tiny Dresden blocks sewn into star blocks:

Do you like my colorful new rug (& cute booties)?

I couldn’t resist leaving them in the pic!

Next, I quickly added the pre-cut sashing.

Originally I designed a simple white border,

but while I sewed the star blocks,

the colorful stack of leftover corners

trimmed from the flying geese blocks

kept speaking to me!

I couldn’t resist using the leftover rainbow…

So, back to the computer I went

to see what kind of border I could make using the

8 half square triangles of each of the 16 star fabrics………….

This is what I decided on,

and quickly sewed BEFORE I CHANGED MY MIND!!!

The possibilities are practically endless, right?

This was a quick, painless & pretty clever addition to the quilt

(if I must say so myself, Lol)

and I feel good about using most all of those triangles!

I next cut the backing & batting,

then took it to my quilter, Tamara, yesterday so she can do her magic.

On to the next thing!

(which has been cooking for my family’s Easter breakfast & dinner)

I hope you’ve enjoyed my rainbow journey this week.

Hopefully the pattern (which remains nameless at this time) will be ready mid-May.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan