Happy Dancing!!!

I opened my e-mail this morning and what to my wondering eyes should appear but an e-mail from the Fat Quarter Shop notifying me that I was one of the three winners of a $100 Gift Certificate for my Butterfly Bliss Quilt for the Somerset Mini-Charms Contest.  What!?!?!  Holy freeholy!  Knock me over with a feather!  Needless to say, I'm...

Happy Dancing!!!
Suzy

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 5 - Fast and Fun Four-Patches

The mystery is moving along quickly now.  We're at Clue 5, with Clue 6 coming on Friday.  I wouldn't be surprised if the upcoming clue was the final clue, along with the BIG REVEAL.  I'm so excited to see how all the puzzle pieces will come together.  Bonnie's mysteries never disappoint, so I'm sure it will be a stunner!

So here was this week's clue.  Fast and fun 4-patches.  Quick and easy.  I'm glad for it as I am itching to get moving on other projects.

 

Speaking of other projects, here's one that I pulled out this morning and arranged into rows before I hopped into the shower.  One of my girlfriends and I are teaching Bonnie's Scrappy Mountains Majesties in a class in March and I need to get this done.  We are both doing different versions to show the quilters a couple different variations that you can achieve by rotating the blocks.  This is mine using Civil War fabrics.  It will possibly get a border.  I'll know more once I sew the rows together and it speaks to me.  Hers is done with reds and whites with all the "logs" going in the same direction.  They are very different, but will be equally beautiful.

Oh -- and I'll have an exciting announcement in a separate post later today.  *Squee!*

Quilt on!
Suzy

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 4 - Time To Do More Dishes...

I usually hate doing dishes -- but when it comes to quilting it's a different story.  :o)

 

Clue 4 is more Broken Dishes blocks -- only in a slightly different colorway from Clue 1.  This Clue has two versions with different orientations.  I'm just about done with one version (ironing the seams now), and the other is patiently awaiting final assembly.  Shouldn't be long before I'm all caught up again.  My sewing room is a disaster area, but I couldn't be happier.  *grin*

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Suzy

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 3 - Hello Green!

Well, hello green!  I'm so happy to see you.  :o)

As happy as I am to see green introduced, I surely hope there's no more in this quilt -- I only have a strip left measuring about 4" x wof.  Yikes!  Talk about cutting it close.  No pun intended.  Lol.

This was/is a nice easy clue.  I've done one strip set so far and have the other strips cut and ready to sew.  Wanted to make sure everything was measuring up and oriented correctly.  I'm sure I'll be able to conquer this clue by the end of today.

Happy sewing!
Suzy

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Clue 2 - It's Not A Race; It's a Beauty Contest

I have to keep telling myself the little mantra that I tell all my quilting students:  "It's not a race; it's a beauty contest."  Just take your time and try to do your best.  There are so many people posting to our Quiltville Facebook Group agonizing over these chevron units.  I sure hope they realize there is no such thing as perfection before they totally give up on this quilt and, actually, the whole purpose of quilting...as our creative outlet, our therapy, etc., etc.  I hope they can just enjoy, and not let the pursuit of perfection take away the joy of the process.  After all, there is no deadline for this quilt.  We can just print out the instructions for each clue and tackle them as time and circumstances allow. 

Anyway, getting off my soapbox and back to our regularly scheduled program...

I have 32 completed units so far.  Just about a third of the way there.  Maybe I'll get more done today, maybe not.  I'm not worried about being all caught up before the next clue is out tomorrow.  And, nope, not all my units are spot on where the intersections meet.  But...  I'm going to enjoy the process, darn it!  :o)

Tomorrow I'm travelling with my Dad to go visit with my Uncle Dick (his brother) and my Aunt Mim.  It will be a fun day out.  Probably no sewing, but we'll see what the day brings.

Enjoying the process AND the mystery,
Suzy

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt Part 1 - Ready, Set, Sew!

Bonnie Hunter posted Clue 1 on Friday -- and the excitement around the world commenced.  LOL!  I hadn't had a chance to really sit and play until yesterday.  Spent the majority of the day cutting and sewing.  I'm happy to say I am halfway there!  50 blocks are completely done with another 50 ready to be assembled.  Using my Accuquilt made cutting all the units quick work.  That way I was able to spend more time sewing.  I should have the rest together hopefully by the end of today.  Wheeee!  :o)

As I mentioned previously, I am foregoing the scrappy route this time and making all the fabric choices constant.  I am really loving how they play together so far.

If you want to join in on the fun (if you're not already), Bonnie's instructions for this year's Mystery can be found here.

Excitedly awaiting Clue 2,
Suzy

Another Contest Entry...

Well...actually two contest entries.  Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts is having a contest ending November 30 using their new Aurifil threads and the included mini-charm pack of 2-1/2" squares of their new Somerset line.  She is challenging contestants to design a quilt (must be an original design), using only the thread, mini-charms, background and a border fabric.  She will pick the winner/winners and they win various prizes, including the possibility of having their quilt pattern published.

Kimberly, from Fat Quarter Shop, is adding to that challenge by hosting her own contest in which you can use that original quilt to enter, but the stipulation is you have to buy the Aurifil Thread Pack from her shop.  This one is a "most votes" contest and the top three winners receive a $100 gift certificate to her shop.  I'll let you know when they post the top 10 quilts for a vote.  I'd be so excited if one of them is mine!  :o)

I drew/designed my quilt using EQ7 and EQStitch (of course, LOL).

I call it Butterfly Bliss.  It measures approximately 24" x 24".

Fingers crossed,
Suzy

I'm Ready!

 

Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt for 2014/2015 is here!  It's called Grand Illusion.  She posted the colorway and yardage the other day so we can get our ducks in a row in preparation for the first steps in the mystery set to be unveiled in late November.  I decided to not do scrappy this time (G-A-S-P!!).  Main reason was I want to use up my stash as much as possible and when I went to pull the grassy greens, found I was lacking.  Had plenty of hunter greens and limey greens, but it wasn't what I was looking for.  Me being a scrappy kinda girl, I was shocked but pleased to find I had plenty of yardage in the suggested colorways, so my quilt colors will all be constant this time around.  I even have a really cool multi-colored fabric for the backing.  :o)

Raring to go,
Suzy

Beach of Dreams

The quilt I made as an upcoming Christmas gift for my elder daughter and her new hubby is now done!  It's called Beach of Dreams and I had my wonderful longarm quilter use a really sweet pantograph with seashells and starfish.  I really like how it turned out.  I did a scrappy binding and I think it gives it a little more zing.  I hope they love it...  :o)

Christmas is closer than you think,
Suzy

Savannah

Here is my latest completed quilt top.

It's called Savannah and is made from some of the small scraps left over from my Farmer's Wife quilt top.  It measures 30"x30".  Yep, some of those pieces are little, but not insanely so.  LOL.  I'm really pleased how it turned out.  A few of the intersections are just a hair off, but there are so many small bulky seams.  This is another one that I designed in EQ7.  I know I always say it, but I would be lost without that program.

More fun to come,
Suzy

12 Days of Christmas and Trip to Bali

More progress has been made.  My 12 Days of Christmas quilt is now done.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  I've been learning a lot while quilting my own quilts.  Like letting them sit open on my cutting table for however long it takes while the quilting ideas marinate really works for me.  For this one, I ditched around the embroidered muslin blocks, quilted holly leaves and berries in the red and green 8-patch areas, wavy stitched the triple border strips and quilted a floral feather in the cornerstones.  It measures 30" x 33".  It will make a really cute wallhanging. 


My Trip to Bali quilt is also now quilted!  I love it.  I had the longarm quilter (WAY too big for me to attempt to quilt myself!) quilt a "Hawaiian flower" type pantograph in variegated thread.  The binding is on this monster, but I still need to hand stitch it to the back.  It measures 92" x 110".  Great for a bed!

Quilty goodness,
Suzy

Beach of Dreams

What?  Not a Christmas quilt?  Well...actually it is.  :o)  It's a Christmas gift for my older daughter and her new hubby.  I call it Beach of Dreams (they love the beach) and I will be putting a poem on the label. 

This quilt came about because I L-O-V-E Pinterest and I'm always pinning quilts for inspiration.  There was one that was very similar to what you see here, and my daughter actually "liked" it.  I know she's a big Pinterest fan too....but, knock my socks off, I didn't even know she checks out my Pins.  Needless to say, I had to make one like it for her, even though I changed it up a bit and made it my own (smaller, lap size (40" x 58"), for her sofa and using bali/batik fabrics in the beachy colors of her home).  I'm excited because I know she will love it.  :o)  And, no, she doesn't read my blog, so I'm not hesitant about showing it here.

Anyway, this was an easy one-day quilt top; and now that the top's done, I will be taking it to my long-arm quilter when I pick up the Trip to Bali quilt from her that she is working on.

Back soon,
Suzy

Merry Little 9-Patches Is Now Quilted!

Yay!  Another Christmas project is totally done!  Here is Merry Little 9-Patches...

Next up for quilting...The 12 Days of Christmas.

Stay tuned,
Suzy

Getting Back In The Groove

I can't believe I've been MIA for three months.  I had to deal with a serious family crisis. Things are much better now, so here I am.  I have been doing a little quilting, though not as much as usual.

My Christmas project-a-month basically got put on hold, but that's okay.  I'm still ahead of the game with three tops completed, since I didn't have any when I started in January.  Well, actually I finished one of the quilts -- all quilted and bound -- and another is partially quilted.  I'm still working on it.  The third is basted and waiting it's turn.  I have a fourth still in the piecing process.

Here is the finished quilt:  Tumbling Toward Christmas.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I'll have more to show and share hopefully later this week.

'Til then,
Suzy

Playtime

I've had a lot of fun playing today.  I don't have a definitive idea for my next Christmas project, but decided to play in my scraps and pull all the red and green medium to dark ones.  It took me awhile, since I have three (yes, three) LARGE bins full of scraps.  But it sure was fun to reminisce over some of the really older ones.  Wheeeee! 
 
Anyway, here is the huge pile of red and green scraps that I pulled.

I don't understand it, but my bins are still as overflowing as they were before my scrounging.  Go figure...
 
Then the ideas started flowing and I took a stack of my newsprint paper and cut them into 3-1/2" x 8-1/2" strips and just started sewing and sewing and sewing.  I didn't care if the fabric strips were straight or a little wonky.  Just went for it.

 

 

I removed the paper before I trimmed them, since I basically used the paper to make sure they would at least be 3-1/2" x 8-1/2" once I trimmed them to size.
 
Not sure what they will wind up being after it's all said and done, but it sure was a fun day.  I think the quilt I make out of these will be quite large because I don't see me stopping any time soon.  LOL. 

And probably when it's all said and done, the scrap pile will still look like I never touched it...
 
Scrap happy,
Suzy

Tumbling Toward Christmas

So far, I'm still on track regarding my Christmas-Through-The-Year resolution.  Here is my March project, called "Tumbling Toward Christmas."  It measures approximately 26" x 33".  Of course, that's before quilting.  :o)

 

It was made using my Accuquilt GO! Cutter, two charm packs and less than half a yard of fabric for the border.  The charm packs I used were Nature's Gift by Deb Strain and Swiss Holiday by Sentimental Studios.  The polka-dot border is a Bunny Hill by Anne Sutton fabric.  I think it's from her Lily and Will line.  I adore the holly and berries on the corners.  And...all the fabric was from my stash.  *pats back*

This quilt is my own design, but you can duplicate my little quilt by using the following GO! dies...

Tumbler 55015 (for center)
Holiday Medley 55043 (for the holly and berries)
Strip Cutter 3-1/2" 55032 (for the borders)

The center takes 81 tumblers/charm squares set 9x9, so you will have three charms leftover.  Just leave out two green charms for the holly leaves, and one red charm for the berries.  Although for the berries you could use some red scraps left over after cutting out the tumblers.

I still need to buttonhole stitch around the holly and berries, but that won't take me long.  Then it's on to the quilting.  Yes, I still need to quilt the January and February projects too.  *sheepish grin*

More later,
Suzy

Sad News

At least for me it's sad news.  I won't be putting my Farmer's Wife quilt in our Guild's quilt show in March.  Complicated story.  Guess it will have to wait for another show.  :o(

Luckily, I am able to swap in another quilt at the last minute in the same Pieced - Collaborative category.  I'll be entering my Scrappy Trippin' quilt instead.  Nowhere near the same caliber, but at least I'll have a quilt in the show.

Bummed,
Suzy

More Quilt Show Preparations

Every Wednesday my quilting friends and I get together to work on whatever personal projects float our boat.  We get a lot done during the day, which begins at 11am until usually 5-6pm.  We've named our little group "We Come in Pieces" and usually float house to house each week sometimes bringing bag lunches or, if the hostess chooses, she fixes all of us a wonderful lunch.  :o)

Yesterday was the last Quilt Show business meeting, and since a few of our gang are on the board, we decided to all meet up at a restaurant for lunch located next door to the Library where the meeting took place.  For the afternoon, we had reserved the room where the board meeting had taken place for us to gather and work on badges for the Quilt Show.  Our group decided to tackle that project together as a contribution to the Show.  Badges are made for all Seaside Quilt Guild members to wear during the show.  We have 300 members in our guild, but usually only 200 or so actually participate actively in the guild.

Here is our clan working diligently constructing 220 badges as designed by our friend, Laurel.  They are sooo cute.  The prototype is shown, but the final badges we went with have less scallops (5 as opposed to 7) to help save time.  I'll post again once they are all completed.

Everyone took parts and pieces home to work on, which I've been doing on and off during the day today.  I'm sewing pockets to the backs so there is a place to put a credit card or whatever.  :o)

Making progress,
Suzy

Quilt Show Preparations

My guild's quilt show this year is March 7 and 8.  Preparations by our members are now getting hot and heavy.  It seems like such a long way away, but if you think about it, it really isn't.  Judging is at the end of February and the show is the following week.

I usually make at least one small quilt (15 x 15) to donate to our small quilt raffle.  We also have several other areas in our show, such as our boutique with items made by members (in fact a couple of us got together this morning to work on some cute things), as well as a silent auction.  You can read more about our show here if you are interested.  Just click on the Quilt Show 2014 tab.  Our guild also makes a large raffle quilt for the show.  The proceeds go to charity -- this year it is the Children's Hunger Project.

My small quilt this year is "Baby Baskets."  It is a collaboration between me and my friend Laurel.

I designed the pattern in EQ7 and pieced it, and she quilted it.  BTW, she's the one who is quilting my Farmer's Wife quilt that I'm putting in the show.  Anyway, we finished this little quilt a couple months ago, but today is the day I finally got around to making the label for it.  I used my EQ program to make the label and printed it on EQ's fabric sheets.  Love them!  I stock up when they go on sale, as they are kinda pricey, but the end product is worth it to me.  Isn't the label darling?

 

Where is the time going?
Suzy

This and That

Have my latest Christmas top now finished.  I love how it turned out.  Now I have two Christmas tops to quilt...  :o)

Today I taught a member/teacher Scrappy Trips class (with prior permission from Bonnie Hunter, of course) for my Seaside Piecemakers Quilt Guild.  This is the second class I've taught.  The first one was in July and there is a limit of 20 in a class.  It was so popular, the waiting list was about 16 deep.  So I decided to go ahead and teach a second one in the winter, to also accommodate the snowbirds.  We had a total of 21 and had a blast.  You always know it was a great class when the "students" come up to you at the end and tell you how much they enjoyed it.  I'm psyched.

I also noticed from going back in my blog a bit that I never posted the final pictures of my Scrappy Trips quilt all quilted.  So I'll share here...

The woman showing the back of the quilt is my wonderful longarm quilter.  She does awesome work.

I titled my quilt Scrappy Trippin'.  It finished at a large queen size and I even used up some ugly fat quarters on the back, alternating the rows so I didn't have to agonize over matching seams.  This is a truly scrappy quilt.  Everything came from my stash.  Hehehe.  I'm very pleased with it and it was bonus to hear all the ooohs and aaahs from the other quilters.

'Til next time,
Suzy

It's Always Fun To Meet New Friends...

Especially the quilty kind! 

I've been following Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for some time now.  I knew she lived in FL, but didn't realize how close she was in proximity.  Then we met in person at an EduQuilters gathering when I thought I recognized her from her picture on her blog and introduced myself.  We never really had an opportunity to just sit and chat because we were so busy sewing charity quilts.  But it was neat knowing that another blogger lived in my area.

Well, a few days ago she blogged about her finally fixed Bernina and how she had a new table for it.  Since the table for my Bernina has been broken for some time (good ole painter's tape), I asked her if she had gotten it at a local quilt shop and whether she knew if they sold them individually.  She wasn't sure, but mentioned that since she had the new one, her old one was available to a good home.  How sweet was that!  So, I took her up on her kind offer and we finally truly met yesterday when I popped by her house to pick it up.  Since this is the weekend with my grandson, he was towed along as well.  But he wound up a very happy camper because Angela has a son around the same age and they seemed to bond quickly.  Kids are so great like that.

So while the kids played, I got to peek into Angela's "lair" and see her stash and several of her beautiful quilts.   It was like a private little quilt show and so fun!  Her mini blocks are to die for!  Plus, she's also a Bonnie Hunter fan.  Then we mentioned that since the boys got on so great, maybe we can get together and sew/quilt while the boys played.  I think the kids aren't the only ones who made a new friend.  :o)

Isn't it funny how things happen in life,
Suzy

Happy Little Hourglasses

Yesterday it was merry little 9-patches.  Today it's happy little hourglasses.  Actually, last night it was happy little hourglasses.  My Accuquilt GO! made fast work of these little suckers.  One crank for all the ecru pieces and one crank for all the black pieces.  They went together like magic with the little corners already notched.  :o)

 

You'll notice I didn't use polka dots -- nothing in the stash I liked.  But I did scrounge up these Christmas prints as a compromise.  I like them a lot.  They play together well.

Today I sewed the 9-patch and hourglass units together and the center is now complete.

 

 

Next up -- the borders.  There is one block border and two strip borders.  I'll probably spend the remainder of the day in and out of my sewing room constructing the block borders.  But first I have to cut them.  Back to my GO! cutter.  Wheeeee.

Hope you're having a quilty day too,
Suzy 
 

Merry Little 9-Patches

Aren't they cute?  28 merry little 9-patches that will measure 3" finished.  Hey, Merry Little 9-Patches...sounds like a cute name for a quilt, huh?  Funny how things come about...  Of course, the picture is supposed to be oriented sideways, but Blogger is acting up again...ugh.

Anyway, so, I played in EQ7 yesterday and came up with this little quilt.



32" x 32"

 

Not committed to it yet, as I haven't dug through my stash to see if I have the polka dotted fabrics, so if I go with it, there may be fabric changes.  But this is what I have for now.  What do you think?  Good thing is, this quilt only needs 25 of those merry little 9-patches.  :o)

To future possibilities,
Suzy

I'm Baaack...

Hi all.  It's me again.  I know I've been MIA for awhile now.  Went through a little depression, and just wasn't up to blogging.  I've been quilting though.  We all know that quilting is good therapy.  I'm back to my usual self and should be good to go now.

I've got a few projects to share with you all.  Hope you're all in the mood for picture overload.  :o)

First, after spending a year and a half on and off with my Farmer's Wife quilt, with the months of August and September pretty much focusing on that solely to get 'er done for our upcoming show in March, I needed a quick and easy project.  Here is Cuzco.

 

 

Isn't it pretty.  I used a jelly roll from Kate Spain's line (Cuzco, duh) and had a blast.  This pattern was from the book Jelly Roll Dreams by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  It was exactly what I was looking for as far as a fast and easy project.

Next, I had precut strips for log cabin blocks in Civil War fabrics that I bought at Houston in November 2012.  I put those together for a table topper.

 

Love those fabrics.

Then, this past November, I bought myself an early Christmas present.  A Baby Lock Ellissimo Gold II.

I wasn't in the market for a new sewing/embroidery machine as my Designer Diamond works perfectly fine...but I fell in love with the camera feature for embroidery placement.  You see, I want to be able to quilt using my embroidery machine, and with Baby Lock's camera feature for P-E-R-F-E-C-T placement, it takes all the frustration, angst and time out of having to perfectly hoop your project.  I'm in LOVE!  Only thing is, I now have a Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond and all it's accessories for sale.  Anyone in the market?  LOL.

Anyway, my first embroidery project?  My log cabin table topper!

 

 

Let's put it this way...I quilted this baby the DAY AFTER I bought my Baby Lock.  It turned out PERFECT in record time.  Yes, I had to hoop it 12 times (for each of the 12 blocks), but there was no down time involved in having to place it in the hoop exactly.  I just hooped it however it landed, and the camera found the center perfectly EVERY TIME.  Can you tell I'm excited?  LOL.  Yes, I still need to put the binding on it.  :o)  By the way, I digitized the quilting motif using EQ's new EQ Stitch program.  I highly recommend it -- especially for beginners.

Then, with the coming of the New Year (Happy and Healthy New Year Everyone!), I realized after attending a party at a friend's home in late December, that I absolutely have no, none, nada, Christmas projects/quilts made by me in my own home.  Yep, I guess everything Christmas I've ever made has been given to family and friends.  Well this year is the year to spoil myself.  I have officially declared the year 2014 -- Christmas Throughout the Year.  Especially since I have three bins full of Christmas fabric!  Soooo, I am aiming to make one project a month for the entire year.  Then I shall have 12 wonderful, fun projects to decorate my home with at Christmas this coming year.  So, if you love looking at Christmas projects no matter what time of the year, this is likely the place to find some.  *giggle*

My first project?  Why yes, I have it right here...

The 12 Days of Christmas.  The past two days have been so fun embroidering the blocks and putting it together.  Yes, I used my EQ program to design the quilt.  Love that program.  And just to let you know (disclaimer, here), I am not affiliated in any way with any of the products I have linked.  I just wanted to share the information with you in case you are interested in learning more about them.  :o)

Anyway, back to my 12 Days project.  Got the top done in only two days...even taking my time.  But I found I had several strips left of my rail fence borders...soooo...

I cut them up and now have 68 units ready for another project.  I'm imagining making opposite units to make them into 9-patches.  Needless to say, I'll be spending some time today playing in EQ coming up with another Christmas project for next month using 9-patches.  *grin*

May you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year,
Suzy