Finishing up a quilt project, My Life

Finito!

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!

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

Family Time, My Life, new fabric collection

Summer…Vacation???

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

My Life, New Quilt Book

R(est) & R(elaxation) Sewing

Whenever market is finally over, it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things.

I work so many hours getting my designs ready for market that at some point I stop doing everything and do just the bare minimum day-to-day and let things go. I still cook, and clean, but not the deep stuff.

After market I have to retrace my steps and get back to whatever is “normal.”

Then, such as now, I need to sew!

I bought this book this year to get back to my “roots” of sorts.

Although my first official quilting project with quilt shop fabrics was with Debbie Mumm’s Sunflowers, and now that I think about it, it was 20 years ago this month that I started quilting…my first love (addiction) was Thimbleberries!

I collected MANY pieces of Lynette’s fabric (a bit of an understatement???).

This sits near my computer in my sewing room.

It’s a lot, but not even close to all of my Thimbleberries stash.

The rather large Longaberger basket is full of Thimbleberries scraps from projects past.

There are some suitcases around the house that have my reds, blues & creams, and some bigger pieces that could be used as backings if only I could bear to cut them…  Oh and then there are the storages boxes… I also have a suitcase full of my Thimbleberries patterns.  I know, it’s an addiction!

Many of my early patterns used Thimbleberries fabrics;

My “Signs of the Seasons,”

Old Glory in Mini Applecore,

and An Old Fashioned Merry Christmas, to name a few.

This dear, antique shopping cart, although in plain sight for over 10 years, has definitely been neglected.

Yesterday I decided to make a project from the new Thimbleberries book and use my beloved stash!!!

It’s a lap quilt.

Last night with Clare at my elbow on the computer, trying to find some new recipes, I began to cut the fabrics that took me all day to select…

This morning I began to sew…

The fun thing about Thimbleberries patterns is that they are quick and easy.  The 6, 12-1/2″ blocks are already sewn.  I need to cut the sashing and assemble the top next.

Rosemary’s club meets next Thursday.  I hope to have this done for show & tell then.

Time will tell.

My nephew is getting married the 16th and I have family coming in town Monday night and I have Christmas fabric coming for a project that is getting down to the wire for the deadline that will definitely take precedence, but I’m determined to get some R & R sewing done just for me!!!

What about you?

Do you have a first love in quilting???

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, Quilt Market

More about Kansas City Spring Market

As promised, a bit more about Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City.

International Quilt Market is held at the convention center, downtown.

This is a neat convention center, because you can drive right under it.  You enter on level 2, so the main convention center is on level 3… it was a bit confusing in the beginning.

I vended my very first market here in 2005.  What’s really amazing is how much more I know now than I knew then.  Getting early to the dock to unload.  Asking the dock parking team the best (and cheapest) place to park once the show starts…Where the nearest Starbuck’s is for some people…  The nearest Subway sandwich shop for others…

My friends and neighbors:

Robin in her Nestlings by Robin booth,

The Quilt Branch ladies, Mary Jane & Susan

Celine & her daughter, Molly from Perkins Dry Goods,

& lastly my daughter, Chloe & me in our booth.

Lots of standing and handing!  It makes for a very long day when you stand in basically the same place from 9:30a.m. until 6p.m. for three solid days (4p.m. on Sunday).

Then when it was all over we had to kick it into high gear and pack it all up and haul it all out to make it to Mass at the Cathedral, luckily just a block away.

And yes, this is my photo!!!

What a beautiful cathedral, and the music was wonderful.  The organist must have been a professional, no kidding, it sounded on the level of Phantom of the Opera, wow.  The soloist too seemed like a professional. Chloe and I were very glad it was air conditioned and not too crowded.  It was very hot that afternoon and we were sweaty by the time we made multiple trips to the van with all of our booth “stuff!”

Our hotel was across hwy. 70 from the KC Royal stadium.  Nope, we didn’t go see a game, but one night we had the pleasure of watching fireworks from our window.

Not sure what they were celebrating, they lost…but the fireworks were nice!

The real cool thing about staying near the stadiums was this car,

pretty cool, huh?

All in all a very good market.  It’s a whole lot of work, preempted by a whole lot of work, then it seems like a flash and we’re on our way home!

My new patterns are now on my website, so check them out.

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, New Pattern Sample, New Quilt Book, New quilt pattern, quilt as you go lap quilt, Quilt Market, Suzn Quilts Patterns

Home again, Home again, Jiggety jig!

…and I’m so glad and so exhausted!

There’s a lot of physical labor required for attending market, both as a vendor & shopper.

I was fortunate enough to have my daughter, Chloe help me out again.

This shows our booth after everything was moved in and the drapes were hung.

Since we drove a short 4 hours to Kansas City this year, we could bring along some fun props.

This is a photo of the booth almost set-up, Chloe filing a broken nail?  Lots of that happening!

You would not believe all the compliments we got on the hanging chairs!!!

Market was great, with lots of shop owners walking the floor & shopping!

We handed out over 600 brochures.

Here are some of our first shoppers.

I’ve said it many times before, but I’ll say it again. There are so many nice people in the quilting industry!!!

We had many compliments on our booth and the quilts.

Of course my favorite part is taking orders and sharing the weekend with friends that I’ve met over the years while attending market.

More photos of market neighbors & friends to come.

Until next time,

Susan

New Quilt Book

Another New Book, Baby Love

This book title has put the Supremes’ song in my head, over & over, & over…(even now!)

but this is Suzn Quilts’ Baby Love.

This book includes 5 generous sized baby quilts, plus a bonus quilt/pillow pattern and a baby bag.

I’ve used more Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket for Moda and other Moda fabrics in these designs.

I always have to add more fabrics to make the designs “just right!”

My friend, Cindy tested several of my new patterns for me as well as my friend Robin.  I could not have gotten all of this done without their help, or Judy’s help with the quilting of many of the samples. I’d also like to thank Matthew and Josie, my Toddler Towne models, Philip, my photographer and Wood River Printing for getting my books, covers and brochures printed so quickly and so well, thanks!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my “new stuff” introductions.

Look for them on my website soon.

I’ll be home soon with market photos.

Until next time,

Susan

My Life, New Quilt Book

New Book; Toddler Towne

I’ve been wanting to do some little boy patterns.  It just seems like there is always an overabundance of little girl patterns out there, but not so for little boys.  Keep in mind though, when I asked for the help of a little boy to sport some of the items for photography, I learned that his little sister is in love with cars as well, so she joined the photo session too!

Well, I got started and couldn’t quit, so it turned into a book.

Included are a twin quilt, a growth chart, a birthday counter, an apron & hat and a backpack.

I used a lot of Cosmo Cricket’s Salt Air by Moda, plus a bunch of other Moda fabrics.

You will also see the jumbo rickrack that I’ve fallen for, so cute to use for a road, huh?

Judy Bishop quilted this twin quilt for me.

Lots of ideas for the car lover in your life…

One more new design, and it’s another book!

Until next time,

Susan

New quilt pattern

New Pattern; You are my Sunshine

Next is a bright, cheery design.

You are my Sunshine, is the perfect size for a baby quilt or wall hanging.

I used my Plexiglass Mini Dresden Plate template to cut the petals. It allows you to cut 8 at once!

You will find them both on my website soon.

Until next time,

Susan

New quilt pattern

New Pattern; Sharing my Joy

This is yet another new quilt-as-you-go lap quilt as well as table runner and place mats.

I love the graphic impact of the design and colors of this one, how about you?

I decided to make the runner or skinny quilt and place mats quilt-as-you-go too.  It makes their construction really fast.

This pattern will be available soon on my website.

Until next time,

Susan