Projects In Progress...

Three weeks later and my ribs are feeling much better.  Not 100%, probably more like 90%, but I can now spend quality time at the computer and sewing machine.  Here's what I've been working on...

This little applique project will finish at 16" square.  I'm not sure yet what I will do with it; whether I'll frame it, or make a pillow out of it, or maybe even the center of a quilt.  I'm still stitching around the shapes with a buttonhole stitch in black rayon thread.  I'm loving how it looks.  :o)

And this little (soon to be big) project is Bonnie Hunter's latest online mystery.  This week we are to make 192 four patches from 2" cut squares.  I'm following her color suggestions; just because when I pulled them from my stash they looked so pretty together.

I used my AccuQuilt GO! to cut all the 2" squares, which made that step go very quickly.  And since I have a touch of OCD (smile), I've arranged all like "twosies" together in piles and as I sew I am picking up one from the first pile and matching it with one from each of the other piles; then picking up one from the second pile and matching it with one from each of the other piles; etc., so I don't get two of the same "twosies" in a four patch.  That's why you'll see some of my "twosie" piles on the slant -- I've matched those with the others already.  I know that probably didn't make sense to you, but it does to me.  LOL!

It's only week 1, so it's not too late to join.  Come on in, the water's fine!  Click here for the mystery information, and here for the linky post to some of the other crazies committed quilters who are having fun along with me!  Hehe.

See ya next week with my results of the next step of Bonnie's mystery,
Suzy

Houston Pics

Hi all.  Finally getting around to posting the pics from Houston.  See, I broke my ribs the day after I got back from the trip.  Don't ask.  Stupidity on my part...  I'm slowly healing, but can't spend much time sitting at the computer without it aggravating them.

Anyway, suffice it to say we had a great time, although I'll never travel that distance in a bus again!  LOL!  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  I apologize for the blurry ones.  Must have been so excited that my hands were trembling.  Teehee.  The gorgeous red, white and blue quilt was the Best of Show.  Breathtakingly amazing.  I'd write more, but, well, the ribs thing.

Click here for the pictures!

Catch up with ya later,
Suzy

The Latest

Sorry for the lack of posts.  I've been busy.  Busy, busy, busy. 

I finished my two Christmas quilts.  I love how they turned out.  I had the quilter do overall pantos of holly and berries on the green one and poinsettias on the red one.  She did a wonderful job.  Two more gifts down...

I've also started another UFO and only have to cut and put the borders on it.  Sorry, no pic yet.

But, here's what I'm working on today...

Been watching Bonnie Hunter during her QuiltCam episodes as she puts her Bow Tie quilt together.  I'm loving the cheddar she used to ground all the scraps of the bow ties.  She made her bow ties from leader/enders, but I'm late out of the gate and with all the UFOs I've been completing (13 so far this year!), I decided I wanted to work on something new.  I want to set them differently and played in EQ to come up with a setting.

Me likey this setting and the open space it creates for potential quilting designs.  So here I am in my creatively messy sewing room zooming little 3" finished bow tie blocks through my machine.

 

And the mess shall stay here for a week as tomorrow a girfriend and I leave for the Orlando area where we will spend the night at a hotel so we can catch a charter bus at 3am on Wednesday morning headed for ... H-O-U-S-T-O-N!!!!

Yes, I am excited beyond the happy dance stage!  I'll be packing today for me and my dog, who will be spending the week with a neighbor friend and then my youngest daughter and grandson will be house/dogsitting over the weekend.  I'm bringing my iPad, so if I can find some time between the QUILT SHOW and sightseeing, I'll post and share.  :o)

Also, please pray for those impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  My dad, sister and her family, my two brothers and their families, as well as extended family and friends, are being directly impacted.  Luckily my dad packed up and hightailed it out of dodge (Toms River, NJ, right on the coast), to my sister's in PA.  Although they are still going to be hit pretty hard where she is, it's a safer alternative than my dad staying put.  I have a feeling when he ventures back home, there will likely be damage, but have my fingers crossed and prayers said.

In a quilt frenzy,
Suzy

Done and Done...



JuJu Beads

  

Whacked-Out Stars


Quilty Hugs,
Suzy

Design Wall Monday - Another Finish

My Keepsake Squares quilt is now completely done!  YAY!  I love how it turned out.  See, even the tiniest of pieces can become a quilt.  These little squares were from years and years back, when Keepsake Quilts offered their Gold members a 2" square of each of the different new fabrics of the season that they were carrying, as part of the membership.  Yeah, long time ago, right?  Even the flowers in the border were made from these squares, which I sewed into four-patches and cut into the flower shape.  I love the echo quilting around them.  Really makes them pop.  And yes, I still have more squares left over.  LOL!  The finished quilt measures 50" square.  Psst, if you look at my blog header, it may look familiar.  ;o)

I also have two more quilts just back from the quilter--my Whacked-Out Stars and JuJu Beads quilts.  I sewed the bindings on last night and started stitching them to the back.  Should be done in a few TV nights.  Hehe.  :o)

More to come,
Suzy

5D Quilt Design Creator

I have a new toy.  I recently purchased Husqvarna Viking's newest software -- 5D Quilt Design Creator.  I have a Viking Designer Diamond sewing/embroidery machine and already own the 5D Professional Embroidery software, so this was very appealing to me as I watched many YouTube videos of the software in action.  I was intrigued.  Needless to say, this software rocks (and no, this is not a paid advertisement, LOL!)

After following a lesson in the user's guide and learning the in's and out's and what buttons and tabs do what, I decided to try my hand at designing my own quilt motif.  It was so fun!  I then downloaded it to my USB stick and popped it into my machine and stitched it out.  What you think?...

More fun to come,
Suzy

Christmas in August?

I was in need of a simple, fast, mindless piecing project.  This disappearing 9-patch using Christmas-print charm squares fit perfectly!  All pieced and cut in record time, I'm now assembling the rows together.  Fun!  I think a border (or 2 or 3) are in the near future for this quilt top.  I also think I'll be making another one.  Then I can keep one for myself and give one as a gift (or more likely, give both as gifts).  LOL!

Ho, ho, ho,
Suzy

Quilt Retreat!!!

Took me long enough to post about it, but a couple weekends ago my quilty friends and I had a three-day quilt retreat at a condo that one of us owns as a rental unit on Cocoa Beach.  We had a blast and made a lot of progress on some of our projects.  Nothing beats spending three whole days and two nights with your besties.  I am now on Block 24 of my Farmer's Wife blocks.  Only 88 more to go.  LOL!  I'll share those in a separate post.

Quality time with quilting friends = PRICELESS,
Suzy

Ready, Set, Sew!

All laid out and ready to go.  Today's goal will be sewing the blocks into rows, and then the rows together.  Tomorrow...borders.  :o)

Quilty hugs,
Suzy

Sunday Stitchin'

Today I pulled out another UFO called "Mai Tai's in Paradise."  This one is from my quilt cruise last year with Bonnie Hunter.  It's a big quilt with a bazillion pieces.  But it's fun, mindless piecing.  So I spent the day finishing up all the blocks, so tomorrow I can lay them out and start sewing the rows together.  :o)

Piecefully,
Suzy

YAY! Two More Quilt Tops Completed! :o)

I'm like Tigger bouncing around my room, so happy to be able to say I've completed two more quilt tops.  Yeah, go ahead and burst my bubble...they still need to be sent out for quilting...but progress is progress...right?  Right!  LOL!

Here's my "Whacked Out Stars" quilt top.  LOVE how it turned out.  Have to say that sewing that triangle border was challenging me a tad at first, but once I got it down, it was a breeze.  Only took me three tries, so not too bad.  They're not regular 45 degree "geese", I think they are something like 60 degrees.  But now I can say "been there, done that."  :o)

And, of course, I have to show off how awesome the points came out!  Wheeeee!!!

There are 52 different fabrics in this top.  All the stars are different, as are all of the background fabrics.  Plus the outer border and the backing.  I'm using this fabric to back it and I'll use the red from the outer border to bind it.  It will measure 65" square finished.

And here's my "JuJu Beads" quilt top.  Loving this one too.  So fun and bright.  I used Kate Spain's "Terrain" line.  ADORE it!  I think I have enough left to make another quilt.  But that's for another day.  LOL!

I'm using this beautiful floral for the back and binding it with this fuschia tone-on-tone.  I think it will be stunning once quilted.  It will measure 48" square finished.

To progress,
Suzy

Design Wall Monday aka Whacked Out Stars Update

Hi all.  I finally decided on a border for my Whacked Out Stars quilt.  I know I've told you before, but I couldn't function without my EQ7 program.  It really does make my life much easier.  Anyway, this is it.  I've sewn the center all together and printed out my templates for the border.  For this design, I just think it will be quicker to cut the inner border pieces with a rotary cutter using templates rather than rotary cutting instructions.  I'm hoping to make good progress on this today.

So what's on your design wall?  Pop over to Judy's blog and share!  It's so much fun to see what everyone is working on.  :o)

Have a quilty day,
Suzy

Fig Tree Frenzy

In case you weren't aware...I totally LOVE Fig Tree fabrics.  Well, today I got a shipment that I ordered from them -- 5 scrap bags and 4 background FQ packets of 6 FQs each.  Of course, I was so into the moment and getting my happy, excited little hands on all those scraps and fabric loveliness, that I neglected to take a picture of them as they arrived.  However, as I was looking at my recent acquirements and thinking of the several that I already had stashed away, I realized that I should be dedicating a bin (or two) to them alone.  So that's just what I did.  And I took pictures to share with you all.  :o)

Happy sigh,
Suzy

Design Wall Monday aka Whacked Out Stars Progress

I've been making some progress on my Whacked Out Stars quilt that I took a class for.  Considering I left the class with only two stars completed (and mixing in other projects that have side-tracked me), I've gotten pretty far.  Now I'm ready to just sew the 5 rows together to make the center.  Next up will be playing with ideas for a border/borders.  I'm not keen on the plain one that was designed for the class, so I guess I'll be getting in some playtime in EQ7. 

How are ya'll making progress on your projects?  Check in w/Judy to post and share.

Slow but sure wins the race,
Suzy

A Visit With The Farmer's Wife

I have a new obsession.  I'm enamored over the Farmer's Wife quilt blocks.  All 111 of them.  So much so, that I'm actually thinking of making a quilt out of them all and putting it in our next quilt guild show in March 2014.
 

Sigh,
Suzy

Morgan's Quilt Arrived At Her House!

Love priority mail!  Two days later and Morgan has her quilt!  She loves it and so does her Dad!  Imagine that!  LOL!  Doesn't it look great on her bed in her room?  Matches the walls really well!  I'm ecstatic! 

A proud Auntie,
Suzy