Friday, February 27, 2015

Fabric Postcard Pear

A Paper Pieced Pear 

I've always wanted to make a fabric postcard. 
And guess what I found  when looking through the latest issue , #4 ,  of Paper Piecing 1/4 "  digital magazine?


Click here to go to Paper Piecing 1/4"  digital magazine

Yay!  A pattern for making a paper pieced pear post card !

(Try saying that 3 times fast !)

**  Maybe you'll  want to just look at the pretty paper pieced pear postcard pictures from now on, if you are getting tired of my alliterations!


 This is a fun pattern... it comes out to be 4 " by 6 ".    

A Pear fabric postcard       pattern by Janeen at Quilt Art Designs
  from Paper Piecing 1/4" digital magazine issue 4 (here)



I found this biscotti jar when I looked for a snack  around in my kitchen  for some items
to 'pose' with my pear postcard !






Back of postcard: 
  { or alternate title: The posterior paper pieced  pear postcard preparations: } 

I found a free postcard template online, and saved it to a file.
Then, I used Print Artist software to import:
                                 ~  my Susie's Sunroom button as the stamp



                                 ~  and the text , "This is a postcard made at Susie's Sunroom. "

I printed my customized  postcard template on a  Printed Treasures fabric sheet . (here)  Two fit onto my Printed Treasures fabric sheet.
{ Note:   I had trouble getting all of the paper backing off of the sheet.  It is not a problem with making a post card. Could it be because my fabric sheets are older? )
Yay! There is one back ready to go for another fabric postcard!







Just pondering...Would anyone be interested in a fabric paper pieced  postcard swap ?


Oh, and just a reminder that next week-  March 2-8 - begins the
        " Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop"

                                      right here at Susie's Sunroom !



We have a whole week of talented and fabulous quilter/designers lined up , to share their own versions of my Simply Striped Accent Pillow Pattern { available in my Craftsy Store}

I will be having a GIVEAWAY  ,  and some of the bloggers will be having their own giveaways  as well!

Hope you'll stop in to see what everybody is making!



I'm off to my sewing room!



I am linking up at:  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict   and
                             Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio    and
                             Paper Piecing Party @ Quilt Art Designs  and
                              TGIFF  @  Persimon Dreams  and
                             Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways




Pattern provided by QAD Publishing

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Guest Blogging

I'm a Guest Blogger

Hello!  Today you can find  me  over at  Blossom Heart Quilts Blog! 
 I am a guest blogger.



Click here to go to Sew Cute Tuesday


Alyce,  the super talented quilter and designer of Blossom Heart Quilts, is having fun attending  QuiltCon in the USA.  How exciting for her!!  

Take some time to read  her blog...there is always something exciting going on there!  She has many  beautiful tutorials and a pattern shop.  


The Bee Hive blocks

I am especially  enjoying her monthly The Bee Hive Blocks  tutorials... these blocks are perfect for making blocks in a bee.

See you over at Blossom Heart Quilts!!  { here}

I'm off to my sewing room!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

A Start and a Finish


A Start and a Finish

Don't you just love those days where you get a lot accomplished in sewing and finishing up work !!

My Start:

I actually began to put together the first blocks in my  Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long quilt.


Sewing along happily with Melissa at Happy Quilting

                                                       
I am making a lap size quilt.  The size will be 60" x 70 ".  

The quilt layouts in various sizes   by Happy Quilting
My  fabrics:

They are :  A FQ Bundle  of  This 'N That  by Nancy Halvorsen  by Benartex 

(  am so glad that I waited for "THE right project"  to come along, to use this lovely gift bundle!)


For the backing-  I will use 4 other fq left from the bundle, plus some Lazy Day (by Riley Blake) floral fabric, and some yellow Michael Miller stash fabrics. It will pieced ... for a fun look.


This ' N That FQ Bundle  plus  some Riley Blake Lazy Day flowers



I was happy as a clam,  after cutting out all of the blocks for a lap size quilt!  
Melissa gives wonderful tutorials and charts , for figuring out the block pieces.  Thank, Melissa!


Last week, we began to make the X Improvisational block units.


I am in love with these aqua fabrics!



84 blocks , saying to me.... "Well here I am!  Ready for you to sew !"  

And then, this week...  after some trimming , and being "wonky"  cut on purpose...


Now they are 21 Improvisational X Blocks





Some blocks are wonkier than others!  All of them make me happy!
I am so glad that Melissa showed a picture of the 5 1/2 "  Bloc-Loc ruler that she used to trim her X blocks.  I realized that I had one , too, and that made the trimming go so smoothly. 

Now, I have a cold and wintery Saturday to sew, and have to wait until next Thursday to work on the Twists on Tradition blocks!  


My finish:

My "Pink for February"  Red Letter Day Mini quilt  #177
               Design by Camille Roskelley  of Thimbleblossoms



Meet block #4  


"Tinkled Pink"       Red Letter Day mini  15 " x 15 "  by Susie's Sunroom






In case you were wondering.... 
Yes, I did have to use my seam ripper AGAIN!  
But only for turning around two HST's this time.  I must be HST dyslexic.


I'm off to my sewing room!

I am linking up at:  Can I Get A Whoop Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                             Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio and
                             Irish Chain Twist QAL @ Happy Quilting  and
                              Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilting



Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Simply Striped Pillow Blog Hop

A Blog Hop Is Coming...


A Blog Hop here on March 2 to March 8 !


Guess what?!  There's a Blog Hop coming here on Monday, March 2!

Six talented and amazing  quilters are coming  over to Susie's Sunroom, 
to share a pillow that they make, using  my new pattern.... 
                       the Simply Striped Accent Pillow !   {on Craftsy here }

Click here to go to Craftsy


It's  a tutorial style pattern, with directions for sewing up a 13 " by " plump pillow.  

I have showed you two of my pillows so far...


My Valentine's Day pillow  using a Patchsmith applique pattern   {blogged here}

The Simply Striped  accent pillow... as a mate  for my
Quilt Art Designs winter snow star block {blogged here}
Oh, and did I mention that there will be a GIVEAWAY  or two  that week, too?!

I hope you will be stopping by during the blog hop to see the latest pillow ideas!!


The Schedule-                                     their  blog links


March 2   Elaine    Summercrafter        http://summercrafter.com/

March 3   Susie  Susie's Sunroom      http://susiessunroom.blogspot.com/

March 4   Geta      Geta's Quilting Studio     http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.ro/

March 5   Sheri   Sunshine in the Attic         http://www.sunshineintheattic.blogspot.com/

March 6   Lara    BuzzinBumble          http://www.buzzinbumble.com/

March 7   Amanda    The Patchsmith    http://thepatchsmith.blogspot.co.uk/

March 8   Amy  Amy Made That!     http://eamylove.blogspot.com/

*********************************************************************************

Red Letter Day Mini blocks-
           
                       
I completed a third mini Red Letter Day block, in pink:

Three  pink blocks for February  (7.5 inch )



 Pattern  Design by Camille Rosskelley  - Red Letter Day #177                                                                                                                      at Thimbleblossoms

Yes, I made the same mistake again !  Four of the half square triangles were put in wrong again, and had to be ripped out.   (Serves me right for getting a little smug, until the 4th row.)  But it ended up well.  ( I looked for the errors sooner this time, so there was less to rip out.)
I am ' bound and determined'  to not make the same mistakes in the fourth block!  We''ll see how that goes....




I'm off to my sewing room!

Friday, February 13, 2015

A Pink Letter Day

It's a Pink Letter Day!  

Do you ever "fall in love" instantly with a pattern when you see it?

I couldn't resist buying this mini quilt pattern... it was  so cute!




Thimble Blossoms   mini  Red Letter Day  #  177

I do have some of the super cute Miss Kate fabrics now...

But as  Valentine's Day approached,  I began to envision  the four  7.5 inch blocks to be made with different shades of pink fabrics from my stash.... to make a sweet little February mini for my kitchen.

Here is what I have made so far-









Two out of four are finished.   They are a little addictive to me...

....even though they have 57 pieces in each  7.5 inch block. 
AND....  I had to use my little seam ripper (and magnifying glasses) a lot  in both of the blocks.  Usually, I learn from the mistakes in my first block.  For some reason, I still turned the half square triangle around when forming the rows in the second block again.   I had to partial seam at least 4 of the HST triangles in each block.  No LOVE here!!
I resorted to repairing the second block with hand stitching.  This worked surprisingly well.   {Note to self:  easier to repair  a "completed " block by hand stitching.}

My blocks aren't perfect...



.. but I am still "tickled pink" with them!!


Happy Valentine's Day, dear friends!


I'm off to my sewing room!


I am linking up at:    Can I Get A Whoop Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                                Fabric  Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio  and
                                Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts  and
                               Sew We Craft Together @ And Sew We Craft

Sunday, February 1, 2015

February Hearts

February 's Across The Pond Sew Along Project


See what we have made in ATPSA
It is still winter here, but I love seeing the  bright pink and red decorations that  will be popping out all around us this month.   The decorations just make me  feel warmer, even if there is still snow on the ground!

February's Theme for the Across The Pond Sew Along  -    Hearts    
That can encompass a lot of ideas and projects, can't it?!!  And "melt" a lot of snow !

First Project:  A Valentine Hearts  Pillow

I wanted to make a pillow with appliqued hearts and incorporate some tiny pink organza flowers in some way....  I  decided upon a merger of The Valentine Hearts Mug Rug pattern and the Simply Striped Accent Pillow pattern.

 inspiration-  The Valentine Hearts Mug Rug  pattern  by The Patchsmith  {here}


Valentine's Hearts Mug Rug pattern  by The Patchsmith


I  printed out the applique hearts on paper, and then resized the pattern:   when copying it -  reduced  it to 60 % -  by using the copy options .

Then I made a pillow, by using this new  pattern designed  by me,  Susie's Sunroom:

                  The Simply Striped Accent Pillow  available on Craftsy   {here}



Simply Striped Accent Pillow  #SS05   
Making the pillow-

-Turn the pillow 90 degrees to create a horizontal stripe

-Make two sets of the reduced- size applique' hearts

- Sew the hearts on to the middle accent strip of the pillow , according to The Patchsmith's pattern instructions 




- Add three little fabric flowers to the middle, with a few crystal beads for flower center embellishment   ( I got the flowers at JoAnn fabrics)

- Add some simple horizontal quilt lines to the front




-Make  the  envelope style pillow back  ( according to my pattern instructions)




 -Stuff the pillow with a 14 inch square pillow form, so it's nice and plump








My Valentine Hearts pillow      made by Susie's Sunroom
I just love how easy it is to adapt a Patchsmith applique pattern !!




Second  project:    A Fabric Heart Wreath

              inspiration-  Coat Hanger Rag Wreath       by Claire at Rustic Pig Designs
               
I used 3 different   fabrics 

         
         I like the look of the fabric strips...     This heart shaped frame was purchased at a local JoAnn Fabric shop.  It has 3 rows to attach the fabric strips to. 
 I made the fabric strips 1 inch x 7 inches.  I love the fullness of it.


Fabric Heart Wreath 







Third "heart" project:    Valentine Lips Mug Rug   

Aren't these paper pieced  lips so fun and cute!!   ...
     Ok, I know they aren't technically a heart... but a kiss  comes from the  heart, right?
(See , aren't we  easy to get along with in our Across The Pond  group?!!  )

                              Valentine  Lips Mug Rug    by Janeen  @ Quilt Art Designs
                from the Issue 4  "Paper Piecing 1/4 "   " digital magazine  (available here)
 -

I went  "all out" and used my Hot Pink Cheetah fabric for the lips!!
This pattern can be made into a mug rug.  That was my plan.

Until I began to feel the tiniest bit guilty,  and thought I should add at least  one little heart to the project.   I remembered  the small paper pieced hearts found in my book by Carol Doak. 

 See how cute they look.

Little 3- inch paper pieced hearts    pattern by Carol Doak

And then , look how fun they look next to Janeen's  Valentines Lips  pattern!!



Hearts and Valentines Lips    made by Susie's Sunroom

I'll be finishing this project up this week.   <3 <3

I looked back last year, and found a few  more Heart patterns to share with you ....

The Hugs And Kisses  pattern - I made the heart into a pincushion  (blogged here)
                            Design by Soma  @ Whims and Fancies  (here)


A paper pieced heart pincushion      


And...last year ,  I also made a Valentine's Table Runner using Soma's heart design-  (go to blog)




Would you "love" to see more heart projects?   You can simply hop on over to The Patchsmith blog and see what Amanda has been making! 

And, we'd love for you to make something along with us, and add it to our ATPSA Flickr Group  { here










May you be able to sew to your heart's content this February!


I am linking up at:   Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict   and
                               Paper Piecing Party @ Quilt Art Designs  and
                                Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabrics Studio  and
                               Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts
I'm off to my sewing room!




Pattern provided by QAD Publishing