See Susan Quilt

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 sq...

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 th...

Hooray, I have finished the hexagon piecing. Time to put on the solid, hot pink border and start thinking about how to piece the back of the quilt. Here is a look at the top hanging on my design wall. It is about 7 feet square and is too big for the wall now. And now I have the front borders on, too! Time to figure out what the back will look like... All suggestions welcome! Susan

Recently, I decided to make some patchwork dish towels as my contribution to our local quilting guild craft show table. I used prewashed and pre-shrunk white Huck surgical towels as the base. Some of the patchwork is Liberty Tana Lawn hexagons. Other towels are made with some Heather Ross Mendocino scraps. There are some Christmas reds and greens in the Tana Lawn striped versions as well. They certainly make my work table look pretty, don't you think? Susan

Well, the Mendocino quilt has undergone a tremendous transformation from what I planned to do and what I am finally implementing.  Alas - I really, really like the pattern I started out with for these precious fabrics, but I just could not come up with a way to organize the Mendocino blocks and show them off the way I envisioned. The good news is that I have many other fabrics for that pattern project, so a Honey quilt is still in my project queue. Enter the Chain Reaction quilt pattern by Jen Kingwell.  I really was set upon showcasing the Mendocino fabrics and this pattern certainly provides me the opportunity to show off the fabrics.  Well, the Mendocino version of this pattern certainly is a different colorway, but I am very happy with the progress so far.  I decided to use all of the "major" prints such as the mermaid pairs, the swimming mermaids and the wonderful giant octopus fabrics in the hexagons for maximum visibility.  I think I can have eac...