See Susan Quilt

Sometimes you have to take a break from the larger projects and make something small!  Here's the result of my recent break from the Broken Dishes quilt piecing - a new sewing machine cover for my Bernina. I had some really cute Yuwa Japanese fabrics with buttons, scissors and sewing stuff on them hanging around in my stash from way back when.  Combining them with an Echino green stripe fabric for the trim made for a fun sewing machine cover. I used a very easy and straightforward pattern from Empty Bobbin called Cover Up . The pattern recommends measuring very carefully, and I know for a fact that is great advice! My original cover was a little too short so I added a quilted edge in the green stripe at the last minute to make it fit correctly. Happy sewing!  It's back to quilt piecing for me for the rest of the week! Susan

The Wonky Star Quilt top and back are officially finished and ready for quilting and binding.  It's always fun to finish one project and start with the next one, isn't it?  Here is a picture of the quilt top to the right with all of its many pieces sewn together. The back is a wide Echino green dots print with a strip of leftover Echino squares from the front. All of the squares on the front are made from Echino prints. Now it's time to have fun with my next project.  I have been waiting to do this particular project for a long time. It's Kaffe's Broken Dishes Quilt from his book Kaleidoscope of Quilts .  Many years ago I bought most of the fabrics for this quilt and put them away for future use!  I am so glad I did that way back when. The picture to the left is of Kaffe's finished quilt straight from the book.  Isn't it gorgeous? I am using Carla Miller's mint green chicken scratch as my quilt back. The fabrics I was missing (so...

Finally, my Wonky Star Quilt is ready to be put together.  Here's a picture of all of its bits and pieces on the floor prior to beginning the work. Wish me luck! Happy quilting! Susan

I think I am the world's slowest quilter.  However, I am happy to report that I finished the back of my Tana Lawn string quilt and it is ready to be sandwiched and quilted. Here are my final pictures of the quilt front and back.  The back has all of the extra squares I did not use for the front.  Some of them had fabrics I wasn't quite so fond of, and some of the blocks on the back of the quilt were just left over for no good reason at all. So, here is the front of the quilt... who knew Liberty Tana Lawn came in so many shades of grey? And here is the back of the quilt.  I used a solid grey Tana Lawn for some of the pieces on the back, but there are no solid pieces anywhere on the front of this quilt!  I will package up the quilt front and back and send them off to Jennet at Icepurplepenguin .  She uses her long-arm quilter to my advantage when she finishes these monster quilts for me. Well, it's back to piecing the Echino wonky star quilt fron...

Well, wonky stars are a new experience for me and I am having fun.  It's going to take some time to do them all, but here are the first three. The Echino fabrics and Essex linen make a good combination, and I am looking forward to having all of the blocks finished up! Here's a closer look at my current favorite, the chocolate brown Echino leopard on turquoise blue! Happy quilting!  There are a zillion wonky star blocks calling my name! Susan

Hooray, I have finished the blocks for my Tana Lawn strip quilt and it's time to sew up the quilt top.  Here's a look at all of the blocks for the top arranged on the floor before I get started sewing it all together this afternoon... I am also starting a wonky star quilt in a very different color palette!  I have decided to do Elizabeth's Sparkle Punch Quilt-Along and have been cutting up my pieces.  The colors of these fabrics are so cheerful, especially compared to the greys in my Tana Lawn strip quilt!  Here's a quick look at my piles of 3 1/2 inch squares that I have cut from my stash of Echino prints from various years. It's really cold, windy and snowy here today, although the sun is peeking through the clouds now.  Happy quilting, everyone! Susan

It's always fun to have enough blocks to play with.  I randomly laid the completed blocks out just to see what the quilt might look like one day.  It looked pretty interesting although I am still missing some pieced squares around the edges.  The dark edge will be completed with half triangles all around the edge of what you see here.  I haven't pieced those guys yet! I need to decide if I am going to enlarge this pattern a bit or perhaps get creative with the edging and binding to add a bit more size in the end. Here's a close look at the shading effect, which is the key element of this very grey quilt! I am really pleased with how the Liberty Tana Lawn greys shade from light on the inside to the much darker border. The medium shades were the hardest ones to come by and I think a few more medium tones might have added a bit more contrast to the gradual fade. I am happy with this project so far, now it's back to piecing more blocks and deciding what, if an...