Dresden Plates, My Life

Petal Work Progress

suznquilts

As of this morning, this is the progress that I’ve made

since showing you the 1,600+ cut petals

made with the New Hope Fabric by Jo Morton for Moda Fabrics.

 

There are 6 half Tiny Dresden plates in each stack,

48, half Tiny Dresden plates in all.

To keep the strings of petals tangle-free & wrinkle-free,

I’ve had Betsy holding them.

She’s very good at her job!

Each string started out as 4 jelly roll strips that I cut into the 41 petals each (160+/-).

This is a VERY busy corner of my room, eh???

This morning, I pulled another string from its resting spot.

See  how wrinkle-free they still are?

It makes them much nicer to work with when they’re not wrinkled or tangled.

Anything to make the task less annoying is what I’m all about!

A while back I started wondering why I still cut the strings apart with scissors… no more!

It’s much quicker to cut them apart with my rotary cutter (of course!).

I cut off about a dozen at a time

and trim the seam allowance with my rotary cutter, duh!

Why didn’t I do this earlier?

I don’t think I’m lazy,

I just like to do things the quickest

& least annoying way possible!

Once trimmed, the petals are tossed into one of many cutlery trays.

This keeps the petals from escaping to oblivion when I need to move them to the ironing board in the next step.

Next, I cut off another dozen or so petals from the string

and so on, and so on… until the sting of petals is gone.

All ready for the next step!

Now I must go press, turn, press again, then sew.

A great job for a cold, dreary day.

I think I’ll go pick out a movie to keep me company.

It will make this task more enjoyable.

What are you doing on this chilly day?

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

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

 

Dresden Plates, New ideas

I’m Making Stitches, Are You?

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I know I’ve been neglectful of this blog the last few months.

Besides having 12 new patterns for spring market,

helping with my son’s wedding this past July,

going on our family’s summer vacation

and then the release of my new book,

I’ve been busy & you must have thought that I had dropped from the face of the earth.

I had not.

In fact I’ve been working A LOT!

I don’t know about you,

but this time of year I pop my head up and wonder where summer went!

I’ve been stitching.

Besides the new sampler that I’m working on with Circulus & Lollies Sweet that I showed you earlier this week,

I recently finished a new Tiny Dresden little quilt.

I used an American Jane charm pack plus a cute black dot print.

I’ve also been writing instructions for these feathered star blocks.

I designed them just the right size to have a Tiny Dresden plate appliqued in the center!

So, are you intrigued?

Have you made a feathered star quilt before?

Do you think they’re hard or do-able?

I once thought they were extremely difficult, but no more!

You’ll think so too when you get one of my patterns, not any day soon though.

You’ll have to wait a while longer until I can get my quilt finished (designing & sewing…)

and the rest of the pattern written.

So far I’ve made 4 blocks

and I think that I have all of the step-by-step illustrations just about perfect!

Just as I was finishing those step-by-step illustrations, wondering if I was going a bit overboard, I got the nicest email out of the blue from Dana who had just finished making a quilt from one of my patterns:

Your pattern was very easy to follow . . . it was like you were sitting here telling me what to do next!! I like that!
Have a blessed day . . .
Dana

Needless to say, in my opinion, that’s the nicest compliment a designer/author can get.

It’s also the affirmation that I needed just then.

Knowing that I hadn’t wasted the weeks

I had just spent on those illustrations for just part of that pattern was nice.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what direction the quilt is going just yet,

hence the reason I put it on the back burner to work on my sampler quilt.

Stay tuned.

We’ll all be surprised together, Lol!!!

What have you been stitching?

I hope something fun!

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

New Quilt Book

Dresden Quilt Workshop Now Available!

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After much work, much wait & so much anticipation…

Dresden Quilt Workshop has finally arrived!

If you already have one or both of my little Dresden plate templates

Suzn+Quilts+Tiny+Dresden+Template                         Suzn+Quilts+MiniDresdenTemplate

(Tiny Dresden #216 & Mini Dresden #186)

you’re half way there.

Like all of my little Dresden plate patterns, the paper templates are included in the book, but the plastic templates make your cutting so much faster & more accurate.

I’m all about accuracy.

These are some of the 13 quilt patterns included in the book.

Every quilt in the book uses my Tiny Dresden template

and some of them also use my Mini Dresden template.

Dresden Quilt Workshop is available on my website now

and hopefully will be available at your local quilt shop soon!

If you’re like me and prefer to shop at your local quilt shop,

please give them my information so they can find

Dresden Quilt Workshop at their favorite distributor.

Get yours today!

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan