See Susan Quilt

Hooray, all of  my unfinished quilts have been completed and are back in my possession.  The last two quilts were my mother’s koi kaleidoscope quilt and the Japanese double start quilt.  I also snuck in finishing three pillows to match the grey Tana Lawn strip quilt that lives on our bed.  Here are the pillows: Here are the front and back views of the koi kaleidoscope quilt that will be getting shipped to my mother in West Virginia later today. Thank-you, Jennet, the quilting (as always) is great. Here is the double star quilt that I made from some fabulous Japanese fabrics I purchased several years ago from Michelle at Kallisti Quilts.  Sometimes you just have to wait until the right pattern comes along, don’t you? Wow, this means it is time to actually start planning, selecting fabrics and cutting the pieces for some new quilts… too fun. Susan

There is nothing like satisfying your inner project manager and finishing up some of those "UnFinished Objects” or UFOs in your sewing space.  Finally, finally, I have managed to complete three of those UFOs with two more close behind in the pipeline.  Of course, finishing something isn't complete without a little sharing so here are my first three of five completed UFOs for your viewing enjoyment and comments. Thanks to Jennet from IcePurplePenguin for her fabulous quilting and binding services. Where would I be without you? UFO #1: Heather Ross Mendocino Quilt 2 This is the second quilt I made with Heather Ross Mendocino fabric. This quilt is very different from it’s bright and sassy sibling, the Chain Reaction quilt . Of course, kitty had to get into the picture of the quilt back, looking up at me as I was standing on the stairs to get the photo. UFO #2: Day of the Dead Bear Paw Quilt This might be my current favorite, a traditional pattern and a

My mother’s koi quilt top is moving along and finally pieced, at least the smaller pieces.  I am currently contemplating what to do for the borders and for the back of this quilt so I can get it finished in the near future.  Here is the current state of the quilt top, complete with some little boxes (what fun!) and a diagonal stripe of the original koi fabric so you can actually see what the fishes look like swimming around. Stay tuned! Susan

I recently finished piecing the quilt top for my Day of the Dead quilt, and I really like the way it came out. Of course, now it’s tie to do something fun for the back of the quilt, too…  Have a quick look at the finished top from a distance and close up and let me know what you think. Happy quilting! Susan

Well, here are some photos of the completed blocks for my bear paw patterned "Day of the Dead" quilt. My mother already has dibs on the finished product. I am still constructing blocks while I am trying to decide how to put these pieces together. I have two really cute Alexander Henry skull fabrics from 2006 that I may use to separate the blocks - they contain multicolored confetti and tiny skulls on either a black or a white background. This crazy quilt is going to be fun to put together! Any thoughts, comments or suggestions are welcome. I bought way too much fabric for this quilt, so I am going to have to make a few other things to use some of that fabric up (the fabric is way too cute to tuck away somewhere for another project!) It is always fun to get back to piecing and quilting after spending a lot of the summer in my flower gardens. Happy quilting! Susan

Never let it be said that you can’t start one or more new quilt tops before you have officially finished your current quilt project!  I have had some black and red (with a little bit of orange and grey in there) Japanese fabrics for several years and finally decided to make something with those fabrics.  I found a double star quilt block pattern with a small star inside a larger star, and made some test stars in the smaller size just to have a look.  Here’s what “the look” looks like:      I have also wanted to make a Day of the Dead (DOTD) quilt for some time, but have had trouble finding a block pattern that works for me. My stash of skull and skeleton fabrics from Alexander Henry and others has far exceeded my storage space, so now seems like as good a time as any to get the DOTD patchwork underway. I decided to try a sample block using a Bear Tracks pattern just to see what I think.  Here’s my initial sample block, it is about 14 inches square. I am not quite sure what I t

Here is a peek at my second quilt top using the blocks I made early on. That was way back when I was using the "Honey" pattern then but just could not make it work out the way I wanted. However, I figured it out and here is my modified result... And here is a close up so you can see all the little fishes lined up and happily swimming!

Well, it took me a while with the holidays taking me away from the sewing machine, but my first of two Heather Ross Mendocino quilts is finished.  Thank-yous go to Jennet at Icepurplepenguin for again providing the long-arm quilting services to make this patchwork quilt complete.  As mentioned in previous posts, I ended up using the Chain Reaction pattern with the long OOP Mendocino fabric.  This quilt is a very loud but satisfying end product.  The finished quilt measures out at about 90 inches square so it should fit a queen size bed with ease. I also had a lot of fun using scraps for the back of the quilt, check it out.       Amazingly enough, I still have a lot of Mendocino fabric left after this project so I am using the original “Honey” pattern triangles that I made early on to make a second, much “calmer” quilt top.  More details about that project in a later post!    Happy quilting and three cheers for the Broncos beating the Chargers this afternoon in Denve