Category: My Life

Dresden Plates, My Life, New ideas, New Moda Fabric Collection, New tiny Dresden plate quilts

Cutting Tiny Dresden Petals from Jelly Roll Strips

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I did it!

I cut my entire New Hope jelly roll by Jo Morton into Tiny Dresden petals.

But, before I started cutting I was wondering…

since I only need a 2″ strip for the Tiny Dresden petals & a jelly roll strip is 2 1/2″,

could I get more petals from each strip by not first trimming it to 2″???

So, I laid out a bunch of my Tiny Dresden Templates on a strip side by side as if I had trimmed the strip to 2″.

Then I laid out a bunch more of my Tiny Dresden Templates on another strip, staggering them to the edges of the strip.

Guess what?

I can get 5 more petals from each strip if I slide the template to the opposite edge of the strip as I cut!

Multiply that by 40 strips… 36 petals x 40 strips = 1,440 or

compared to 41 petals x 40 strips = 1,640.

That’s 200 more petals from the same amount of jelly roll strips!

That’s 16.6 more Tiny Dresden plates,

or 33.3 more half Tiny Dresden plates!

So, I stacked up 4 different color fabric jelly roll strips and started cutting.

After I cut a few I decided my 60 mm cutter might work even better than my 45 mm & I was right.

Here’s how I did it:

I lined up the template at the edge of the selvage and sliced it off the strip.

Then I cut along the top of the template.

Then I cut along the other side of the template.

I then rotated the template to the opposite edge of the jelly roll strip.

Then sliced it off the strip.

Then I cut along the top of the template.

Then I continued to rotate the template down the strip.

When I got to the end of the strips I opened the folds and stacked what was left of each strip and usually cut one more of each fabric. A few of the fabric strips were not long enough to cut one more petal, but the majority of them were long enough.

Voila!

A jelly roll worth of Tiny Dresden petals.

Now I’ve really got my work cut out for me, lol!!!

A great way to spend a super cold January day.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

My Life, new fabric collection

Starting This New Year, 2018, With New Hope!

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I hope this new year, 2018, will be a year of new hope for you.

Finally just today, I broke into my New Hope fabric collection

by Jo Morton for Moda.

I love every single fabric in this collection.

I’m pretty sure Jo designed if just for me.

It looks so cute with my new-to-me antique children’s sewing machines that I received for Christmas from David!

He did a great job of finding just what I wanted.

Now if I could just twinkle my nose & have my new quilts appear!

Not really, that’s the part that I love!

I can’t decide which design to start on first…

I know I’ll be cutting Tiny Dresden petals from the jelly roll.

I’ve been thinking about just taking the whole jelly roll, 4 strips at a time, (8 layers) & cutting petals…and not stop sewing until I have a bazillion Tiny Dresden petals made and see where that takes me.

Sound like fun?

It does to me!

This will also give me a taste of the whole collection, which then usually starts my creative juices flowing.

It will be hard to stop me then. New Hope will be in my veins.

I thought I’d start with my favorite fabric, but that’s impossible!

I’m just going to have to jump in & start cutting!

New Hope is shipping to quilt shops this month.

Thanks, Jo Morton!

Thanks, Moda Fabrics!

Wish me luck.

I wish you all new hope in fabric & life this new year, 2018.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

 

 

 

Applique quilt projects, My Life

Apliquick Rods Are Back In Stock!

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Did you come by our booth at

Quilt Festival in Houston

while we were sold out of Apliquick Rods?

Well, they’re back in stock, fresh from Spain!

You can order yours today on my website.

If you don’t already know how wonderful they are,

you can watch a short video demonstrating them below.

I don’t know what I’d do without mine!

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

Dresden Plates, My Life, New quilting book, Quilt Market

Fall Quilt Market 2017 Recap

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We’re back from Fall Quilt Market and Quilt Festival

and most of my catch-up work is complete, whew!!!

What a busy, tiring and fun trip.

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It took most of our kitchen to hold all the “stuff” that I packed into the van…

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Everything was labeled & packed tight for the 15 hour drive.

Nothing worse than listening to things rattle for hours on end.

Ask me how I know!

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My super booth helpers (market slaves), Robin (Nestlings by Robin)

& Chloe & I had the booth set up in no time!

That’s a bit of an exaggeration.

It did finally get set up Friday evening after

a schoolhouse session with Pepper Cory &   Studio e Fabrics & her Designer RSVP Blocks that

Robin & I participated in, making blocks with her Peppered Cottons:

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Yes, Robin the overachiever made 2!

Then, 2 Schoolhouse sessions showing my new Tiny & Mini Dresden plate book & patterns,

and then the C&T Schoolhouse session introducing the

13 new quilts from Dresden Quilt Workshop:

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Then there were book signings introducing Dresden Quilt Workshop.

A couple of mornings before market opened,

we walked part of the show to see what else came to Houston besides Suzn Quilts.

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Here’s a look at my fav… Jo Morton’s newest line, New Hope, yum!

I’m pretty sure Jo designed this collection just for me ;)

(Spoiler alert—-You’ll be seeing a lot more of this collection!)

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Betsy Chutchian’s new collection was very pretty.

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French General’s new collection was lovely too.

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Lella Boutique also very pretty.

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Tim Holtz, always super cool!

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Jen Kingwell, WOW!

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Her newest collection, more yum!!!

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Oh, & a new book…

a little close-up in case you’re not sure what I’m pointing at, lol!

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Then there was Festival!

That will have to wait for another day.

Until then,

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

My Life, new fabric collection, New Pattern Sample

New Fabric, Circulus & Lollies Sweet

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I found a magical fabric collection!

It’s Circulus & Lollies Sweet by Jen Kingwell for Moda fabrics.

There are lots of dots,

but the cool part is all the stripes from just a handful of prints!

Each stripe will accommodate my Tiny & Mini Dresden petals and my Tiny Dresden background squares too.

It’s not my usual color pallet you might say, but I sure am loving the bright variety of these fabrics!

New ideas are in store for you here on my cutting table!

These are some Mini Dresden petals.

A nice bold, fun contrast don’t you think?

I’m working on the new pattern samples but it’ll be a bit before they’re ready for you.

Look at this sweet mess!!!

I can’t wait to show you all of it!

In the meantime, what are you up to?

I hope it’s something fun.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

My Life, My Sewing Room, New Moda Fabric Collection

Timeless, New Fabric Collection

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As the sun streams through my sewing room windows this morning I’m not sure which I’m enjoying more, this lovely new “Timeless” collection by the extremely creative and talented Jo Morton for Moda, or the extra light in my room so early in the morning.

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The colors and designs are very “Jo Morton” I think.

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Pretty, creative and new, yet they feel like the civil war prints that I also love.

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Coming to a quilt shop near you soon I hope!

You can see the whole collection here on Moda’s website.

I’ve got work to do.

I’m dreaming of Dresdens.

But today is my mom’s birthday, so I’m looking forward to spending this day with my parents and whatever that entails… hopefully ice cream!

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

My Life

My Tennessee Souvenir, A Feedsack Quilt

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We traveled to Pigeon Forge, TN last week for a much anticipated summer vacation.

We love going there!

Dollywood, white water rafting, outlet mall shopping, lots of good restaurants & tourist shops & this year plenty of antique shopping & a trip to The Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, NC!

Early in the week I spotted an old quilt with lots of feedsack prints in an antique mall.

They closed at 5:00 and we showed up at 4:50, but the woman offered we could shop since there was another couple already shopping so we took a quick look around.

Whoever made the quilt had done a nice job & the quilt was most likely not used but had been washed (probably by whomever had it for sale).

I wasn’t crazy about the binding on the quilt so I didn’t buy it.

The rest of the week I couldn’t stop thinking about the quilt,

so Friday, Chloe & I ventured back to the shop to see if it was still there.

It was still there and so I bought it!

If you didn’t look closely, it was perfect.

But alas, I’m a quilter so some things are blatantly obvious even from a distance…

This binding was horrid & not original to the quilt!

So while sitting on our back porch with this wonderful view, I set to work removing the ugliness from my quilt.

Fortunately I had a small pair of scissors along with me in my hexagon go-bag.

I had made a couple of these in some down time on our trip.

In less than 2 hours all signs of ugliness were history!

On our drive home we stopped at one more antique mall and I found the perfect replacement binding fabric from the same era as the fabrics in the quilt.

It was even on sale!

No comparison…

With the removal of the binding, the smallish size of the quilt and the odd binding made a lot more sense.

You don’t see many quilts of this era that aren’t bed size

unless its’a baby or doll quilt & this is a bit smaller than twin.

I knew there had to be a story.

There ALWAYS is.

Look how the unbound edge of the quilt is so ragged.

Someone took scissors to it.

I don’t know if a dog got hold of it or something else tore into it.

In two places the edge of the quilt had bites out of it that would not be covered by typical binding.

Instead of putting a wide binding on it like the previous “quilt preservationist” did,

 I went to my feedsack stash & pulled out a piece that would work OK and appliqued little patches in those two areas.

It’s by far not a perfect (or even a really close) match but after I had them on,

I couldn’t tell where I had put the patches because all of the fabrics are so busy;

the reason I was drawn to the quilt in the first place.

I straightened the edges of the quilt & sewed on the new binding that I had made.

As I was photographing it I noticed this cutie patootie print.

How cute is that Jack-in-the-box?

Now I love it just the way it is.

I can’t wait to look at every patch of fabric in it

& when I do I’ll look at it I smile instead of wanting to rip the binding off!

What are you doing this summer?

I hope it’s a fun time.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

 

My Life

Learn a little more about me while we wait for Dresden Quilt Workshop to arrive

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I can’t wait to share with all of you

my tips, tools  & techniques for perfect little Dresden plates.

Just look at the pretty cover models!

It will be here soon

(not soon enough for me),

but while you wait you can learn a bit more about

me from today’s blog post over at C&T.

Just click the link below:

http://www.ctpub.com/blog/interview-with-susan-r-marth/

Here are some snippets of some of the 13 projects that are included.

 

August 30, 2017 cannot get here soon enough!

 

You can pre-order your copy today on my website

SuznQuilts.com

& be the first on your block to own your very own copy!

Until then I guess we will have to

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan