Isn’t it pretty?
Full of color!
It will look cute hanging in my booth with my coordinating quilts.
I can’t wait to put it all together.
So, what are you up to?
Been out at the quilt shops?
Seen the new “Odds and Ends” by Julie Comstock for Moda???
Have I at least enticed you to check your nearest quilt shop the next time you’re there???
I hope you look,
I hope you find it,
and I really hope you pick some up so you can make some of my new patterns with it!
Until next time,
Susan
Last week while I was in Bloomington, I found the Odds & Ends pre-cuts.
Ever since I designed my Charm Pack Garland pattern, each market I make new strands in coordinating fabrics to drape around in my booth. So…I bought a couple of charm packs.
The yardage always takes longer to arrive in shops, so I’m going to use a Moda solid that matches really well.
These are fun and fast since the cutting of the squares is already done for you.
Stay tuned, lots of new patterns are almost ready!
Until next time,
Susan
I don’t usually start three quilts at once,
but since these three quilts will be using my Quilt-as-you-go technique
and I need an extra set of hands to quickly spray baste the backing fabric and batting together,
first-thing this morning I got started before my second set of hands headed out the door for school.
I first taped the backing fabric wrong-side-down in my (freshly swept) garage.
I topped that with a light layer of basting spray.
Next is where #1 helper, Chloe, comes in with her second set of hands and helps to hold the batting off the tacky backing fabric until I can press it down smoothly.
1, 2, 3, Perfect.
Not a single wrinkle!
Years of practice…and I only use Warm & Natural cotton batting.
Sorry for the weird glare, that’s the sun rising.
Now when I start to “quilt-as-I-go” I won’t have to move any pins.
I love this technique.
Do you use basting spray?
I’ve never had a problem using it, but I know of others who have.
Usually it’s the brand, or the amount.
If you spray too much it will gunk (technical term) up your needle,
then it can’t pick up the bobbin thread.
Sparingly is a good term for the amount of spray that I use.
As I was working at the computer getting my instructions in order
my friendly UPS driver delivered these from Sulky.
Just in time to be included in these three quilts.
They match the Odds and Ends fabrics that I showed you yesterday.
C-O-L-O-R
A bit of 30 wt. for the piecing and some 12 wt. for the applique that’s going to help me “name” these quilts. ;)
Now, back to work for me.
I’m going to get reaquainted with my sewing machine.
Until next time,
Susan
Is it just me…
or could you too, sit and sew with these all day long?
I love color(s)!
This is more of Julie Comstock’s new Odds and Ends fabric line by Moda.
I’ve given you a couple of glimpses of it recently,
but yesterday I received a bit more for a few projects that I’m working on for market next month.
Yikes, that’s way too soon!
I noticed as I moved our
latte bowls from Anthropologie
from this serving (not tray, not platter, not bowl) whatever it is,
that the colors of some of the bowls matched the fabrics perfectly.
Color!!!
This is our kitchen table centerpiece this summer.
My daughter Clare and I bought these at Anthropologie last winter, one of every color they had.
When we brought them home,
they landed on this cool platter with wire base…thing.
How perfect to set our useless adorable little latte bowls on.
They make me smile, kind of like a new box of 64 crayons.
It would seem Clare has a few of my genes, she talked me into buying them.
Back to the fabric…
You can see the whole collection at Moda.
I like to go here and look at “Future Groups” to see what’s coming out.
Odds and Ends is due out this month, so check you local quilt shops.
I need to get sewing.
I’ve got some quilts to name (hint, hint). ;)
Until next time,
Susan
Thanks, to everyone who joined in the drawings yesterday!
The winner of the Quilts from 100 blocks issue is
Diantha Howard,
The two winners of a Suzn Quilts’ Pattern;
Karen in Breezy Point,
she requested my Old Glory in Mini Applecore pattern,
and Sandy D.,
she requested my In Season for Fall pattern.
Congratulations!
Those of you who didn’t win, please look for the magazine at your local quilt shop, or your nearest newsstand.
If you don’t see it there, it’s always at Quiltmaker.
Until next time,
Susan
Welcome to Quiltmaker’s on-line kickoff!
Once again, I’d like to introduce you to a new magazine.
The wonderful folks at Quiltmaker have come up with another volume of their new publication,
Quilts from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Fall ’12
To answer your question; yes, I have a quilt included in this volume!
If you remember, I introduced my “No Ordinary Flake” block from Volume 2 here.
I showed you what you could do if you made 16 of those blocks and set them together with sashing.
I still love the look of this quilt!
When Volume 4 was released I introduced you to my Santa block here.
I showed you how you could make a tablerunner with this block, remember?
For this new magazine, the folks at Quiltmaker
asked designers to submit designs
using multiple blocks from past 100 Blocks issues to make quilts, tablerunners, etc.
Since I love to sew for Christmas…
I decided a quilt using those two blocks would be a nice mix.
Just 4 Santa blocks & a few flakes and you’re on your way to a new quilt!
I almost forgot. I’m a centerfold.
Well, my pattern is.
When you get your magazine, you’ll see my quilt right there in the middle with the applique sheet.
Don’t you love the bright, cheery Christmas fabrics?
They are Northcott’s Christmas Classics by Deborah Edwards.
If you’d like a chance to win a copy of the new issue,
go up, up, up,
to the top of this blog post and
leave a comment including your email address today.
For a chance win more fun stuff, go to
Quiltmaker’s blog, Quilty Pleasures.
From there be sure to visit the other bloggers participating too.
If you’d like a chance to win a free Suzn Quilts Pattern,
just subscribe to my blog.
In your comment let me know which of my patterns is your favorite and if you win I will put it in the mail to you.
You can view all of my patterns by visiting my website.
I will choose two winners for a free pattern.
If you are already a subscriber, let me know that and I will enter you in the drawing.
Thanks for joining in the fun.
Look for the new magazine at your local quilt shop or on your favorite newsstand today.
If you can’t find it, go to Quiltmaker.com and purchase it there.
Good luck!
Until next time,
Susan
According to Wikipedia:
Labor Day celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.
Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887.
It became a federal holiday in 1894. (my condensed version)
I grew up on a farm, so every day was a day of labor in some way!
School had already been in session for a couple of weeks and the Monday holiday was always welcome!
The highlight of Labor Day weekend was attending a local carnival.
Cotton candy, snow cones, corn dogs, carnival rides, etc.
Everyone was there.
During my younger years, our 4-H club had a lemonade stand.
Cooler years we also served hot chocolate.
This year, thanks to Isaac, it has been raining since Friday, before the carnival even opened.
This happens some years.
No cotton candy, no fish sandwich…No shooting out the star for my oldest child (my husband)!
Instead, this year was spent homecoming dress shopping for my youngest,
working on new quilt designs,
little 9 patch quilt revisited,
getting ready for lottery blocks for the guild,
new pattern ideas for my Lincoln laser-cut silhouette, plus other uses for those lovely civil war charm squares,
and look, I even took the shrink wrap off my odds n ends pre-cuts,
fortunately it’s not too wet to design & dream,
and I made more applesauce.
Next year it’s back to cotton candy, fish sandwiches & carrying a huge stuffed animal around!
Until next time,
Susan
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
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
Absence does not mean lack of doing, but in this absence I’ve not even been thinking about quilting, much less doing it.
I did finish this top before T-berry Club (a.k.a. Rosemary’s Club) ummm June meeting, but still it sits all basted and collecting dust more than a month later.
I can’t believe I got these more than a month ago,
a new Moda collection, Odds & Ends by Julie Comstock. Lovely colors & cute designs. Yes, it’s still in its shrink-wrap. I’m not allowing myself to remove it until I’m ready to sew.
I received these Christmas fabrics from Northcott and made a cute sample for a magazine.
It was made in such haste I barely remember what it looked like!
More on that to come.
We traveled 2,600 miles to take in Myrtle Beach,
Charleston,
& Gatlinburg last week,
and not a single yard of quilt fabric was seen!
I was however wowed by these on Fort Sumter at Charleston, SC.
This is the Palmetto Guard Flag (what’s left of it). It’s under glass and I did not get a good photo. You can get close enough to see the little applique stitches, cool!
And this is another flag there.
It’s Fort Sumter’s battle flag, it’s 10 feet by 20 feet! This flag was flying during the bombardment on April 12-13, 1861.
It was impossible to stand back and photograph it without the spindles and rail in the photo. It actually sits lower than the floor where we walked because it’s so large.
Unfortunately we only had the day to see Charleston, minus the 2+hr. drive each way so we didn’t see nearly enough there. I would have loved to check out the quilt shop(s) there. I’d bet they have an excellent Civil War section… Perhaps next time?
I was particularly impressed with all the old architecture there. We took a city tour that took us by many centuries old homes and city buildings that were very impressive to say the least. Did you know part of “The Notebook” was filmed there? Our tour guide was wonderful, but we decided she might be a bit forgetful when she asked us for the 3rd time if we’d seen the movie! It’s now a family joke… I think vacations are good for that!
We took in no less than 4 Tanger Outlet malls. I got a new Fossil purse. It’s purple!
We do love to shop, me & the kids and David is good at finding something to do while we shop.
Have no fear, my sewing machine is still working. When we got home I had to take in a sling top for Clare to make it fit “just right” and then I had to put a few stitches in a side seam of Chloe’s maxi dress that was made in West Pango Pango, or mostly made… At least they were both made with black thread!
We’re back home now and today, after a trip to the orthodontist, Clare and I took in Sweet Annie’s sale.
That’s a local shop in Troy, IL.
Then we did a bit of regular ‘ole shopping and got these needed notions.
Where does the time go?
Clare will start high school 3 weeks from today and Chloe and Blake will be back to college the following week.
Aside from the many 100+ degree days, this summer seems to have not even existed. I guess I’m getting old, time is just passing by too quickly.
I hope you’re getting some quilting in during this extremely hot summer.
My hat goes off to all those caring for family & friends, the sick and the aging.
Don’t forget to add a bit of sewing in every chance you get!
Until next time,
Susan
Quilting my way through life! 