Kids Quilt Camp 2017

I had a fun, yet exhausting, time this past week volunteering at Kids Quilt Camp.  One week every June we have approximately 40 students descend upon us eager to get their hands on sewing machines and make their very own quilt.  We split them into groups based on sewing experience -- beginners (1st year), intermediate (2nd year), advanced (3rd year) and T-Shirt Quilts (3rd year or better).  At noon on Friday, we hold a "show and tell" with parents present, and each child shows off their masterpiece, which are amazingly all completed (including labels).  Some are tied, and others actually quilted using a serpentine stitch either diagonally or across some rows, as time allows.

Beginners are one-on-one with a quilt volunteer, while later year students are 2-1 or even 3-1 and we make our rounds to make sure everyone is comfortable with what they are doing in the process.  I was with the intermediate kids this year.

I have quite a lot of pictures that were taken throughout the course of the week and you can see by the happy, yet concentrated, faces, that the volunteers get just as much out of the week as the kids do.  I must really be showing my age now, because by the time I got home each day, I was beat! Don't know how I held a full time job before I retired 9 years ago.  LOL!

Each one, teach one,
Suzy

Helping Our Community . . . One Quilt At A Time

Yesterday was our Guild's monthly Community Service day. The weather was terrible (thunderstorms and downpours), but what better way to spend it than with your quilty friends making quilts for needy children.

Blessings,
Suzy

QOV - Stars and Stripes Pattern

Here is the PDF for the Quilt of Valor I recently designed -- click on the link below the photo.

It's not a formal pattern, but the pages as I printed them from my EQ7 software file.  I think it's pretty straightforward to figure out.  I have a few too many irons in the fire right now to take the time needed to make a professional pattern, especially since I am providing it as a free download.

Quilt of Valor - Stars and Stripes


Just make sure when you print it, you are at 100%. This is especially important for the fusible appliqued Star.

Happy Memorial Day!
Suzy

Razzle Dazzle Progress

Our Guild had a Sit-and-Sew day on Thursday at a nearby church. I was able to get all my Razzle Dazzle quilt blocks done and arranged!

Now I need to figure out what fabric I want to use for the setting and corner triangles and the inside border. I already know I want to use my floral fabric for the larger outer border from this earlier picture I took during a recent retreat.

Feeling dazzled,
Suzy

Quilt of Valor Top

Our guild has a few women who own longarms and volunteer their time quilting tops for Quilts of Valor. So I was playing in EQ not long ago and designed this quick to make top. I'll bring it to our meeting on Wednesday and "pass the baton." It's always fun to see something I designed on the computer "come to life."

Salute,
Suzy

Retreat Fun With Friends

Our Quilt Guild hosted a two-day retreat on Friday and Saturday in nearby Cocoa for the first 20 members to sign up. I was able to sign up, as well as a few of my friends. It was a fun two days, and much sewing/quilting was accomplished. We arrived each day at 9am and sewed until 4pm. Morning goodies and a wonderful lunch each day was provided.

I worked on my Razzle Dazzle quilt which was already in progress, and managed to finish all the colored blocks and am halfway done with the alternate gray blocks.

The wonderfully colorful floral fabric with the gray background is earmarked for the outer border.  I'll have more pictures later as the quilt top progresses.  :o)

Here are some fun pics taken during the retreat.

Hope you get some quilty time in today!
Suzy

Let's Talk Scraps

Hi.  My name is Suzy and I'm a scrapholic. 

I guess you can look at it a few different ways:  (1) I need an intervention. (2) I'd better get my butt sewing. (3) I'm one lucky quilter.  😋

It took me two whole days to sort, sift and organize my scraps. I really had to cram some of those scraps into the bins. As it was, I had to use two bins for the blues and three bins for the neutrals. Luckily, my dog is very well trained and doesn't bother with anything I leave laying around.

Scrappiness is happiness,
Suzy

It's A Juggling Act

Life's a juggling act ... and sometimes a ball is dropped.  Well, my blogging is one of those balls. Sorry about that.

But I've been juggling lots of other fun stuff in the meantime and will catch you up on some of the goings on.

First, I finished my "Christmas Sparkle" quilt and it is now in the hands of McCall's Quilting Magazine. It will be in the September/October 2017 issue, which will hit newsstands on July 25.  I'm so tickled!  McCall's will now do their professional photo shoot of my quilt and said they will send me some pictures that I can post on my blog.  They will also be sending me a couple complementary copies of the magazine as well, and I will be having a giveaway once that happens.  Wheeee!

I've also started working on my "Razzle Dazzle" Bonnie Hunter quilt that was supposed to be the project during our Mediterranean Cruise in August but didn't happen because the company that was to supply the machines went belly-up.  We worked on hand projects instead.  I'll have more on my "Razzle Dazzle" quilt progress in a future post.

I do have something to share here now, though. I've done my first ever Bargello quilt.  We had a Quilt Gathering in early March and several classes were given.  The Bargello quilt was one of them, so I was in.  It was fun and I liked it a lot, but I think if I didn't have other irons in the fire, I would have made my quilt wider.  Just looks too long and narrow to me.  But not bad for a first go-round. Lots (did I say "lots") of seams!  Now to quilt it...

On another note, I've been approached by several members of my Guild to head-up the Block-of-the-Month this coming year (May-April).  They wore me down...  Well, since I'm in charge, I've decided to make it a Mystery Quilt and have a Clue-of-the-Month instead.  I've run the idea past several people, and everyone I've spoken with thinks it will be a ton of fun.  My main goal is to have as many people as possible participate, so I wanted to make the finished quilt eye-catching but with easy-to-assemble units so that it is also beginner-friendly.  I also wanted to make it so that it will look good in many different colorways -- that way participants can make it in their preferred color scheme, just substituting the color I reference with an alternate color of their choice, although there will be lights and darks that will need to stay the same value in order to achieve the final effect.

So far I've designed the quilt and broken it down into parts to make it easier to write the clues.  Still in the midst of actually writing the intro and preparing the actual clues.  I still also have to make it myself, and I also have a helper who is also going to make it following the clues I provide in advance, just to double-check for errors (hey, they happen).  I would share a picture of the quilt here, but there are a few people from my Guild who read my blog, so I don't want to ruin it.  Only two people know what the finished product will look like -- the Guild President and my assistant.  They both are really excited with the finished product and I believe that if the participants (especially beginners) looked at the finished product, they would think it was beyond their skills.  But it's not! It's completely made of squares, half-square triangles and corner-square triangles!

All that said, would any of you out there in cyberspace be interested in following along on the Mystery Quilt?  I could always post the monthly clues here on my blog so you can join in on the monthly fun...  Let me know.  :o)

Juggling is another art form,
Suzy