Saturday, September 30, 2017

I Wish You a Merry Quilt-a-long Block 5

Block number five was supposed to be a pieced snowman. Again, I didn't want to cut my background fabric so I decided to applique him.  I'm trying to stick with a red, white, and green fabrics, but the snowman had to have black eyes and mouth and an orange nose.  I close a dark orange so at least it's close to red.


One gal in the Facebook group for this quilt-a-long added a string of lights in her snowman's hands.  I had to do it too.  I fussy cut the red and green lights so they'd have a little gold at the top.

I also changed the snowman's hat from a top hat to a winter cap so that I could make it red instead of black.  I really love how this guy turned out!


Now to start on block 6!

 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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Friday, September 29, 2017

Free Motion Friday - Big Wins!

This week is Machine Quilters Exposition Midwest.  It's an amazing show I have entered in many times.  This year I had 5 entries.  4 placed one of which came in BEST OF SHOW!  I may have screamed when I found out....okay, I totally did!

 This particular show means a lot to me because the quilts are heavily judged on their free motion work.  Since that's one of my favorite parts of quilting I really value their critiques and feedback.

 Here are the quilts!

 BEST OF SHOW - Midnight Dreams by me, my mother Kathy, our good friend Janell and quilted by my friend Lorilynn King (she also won best long-arm quilting for this!)  This is the first Best of Show for my mom and she is so excited!

Kaboom! took second place it her category!




My new quilt, Hungarian Embroidery #2 which I am currently (and usually) blogging about on Fridays came in 2nd in New Traditions in Textiles at her inaugural show!


AND Inspired by Karen took 2nd in her category in it's inaugural show!  I seriously love the quilting on this one!



We fly down TODAY to go see the beauties!  I can't wait!  I'll share that experience next week!

 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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Wednesday, September 27, 2017

I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along - Blocks 4

If you follow my blog, you know that I have a hard time following patterns exactly.  I tend to adapt them as I go.  Block 4 was no exception.  It was supposed to have four hanging ornaments, but I saw someone fussy cut a fabric with a six pointed star in the center for the largest of the original ornaments.  It occurred to me that I could paper piece a star and make mine look similar.  So that's what I did.

 I'm also sticking with a red, white, and green color scheme and it helped me stick to my fabrics.  Since I'm using batiks it's hard to find a ton more to choose from.  Not that I'm complaining, I LOVE my fabrics I'm playing with.

 I love the fussy cut snowflake in the middle!

The final block.  

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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Monday, September 25, 2017

Inspiration Monday - My Prize from the MQU Contest

A few weeks ago I learned that I won 3rd Place in the inspired by Machine Quilting Unlimited Contest.  My prize?  A box of SewBatik goodies.  It came this weekend....check it out!  AMAZING!











LOVE these patterns....






I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Clam Flower #14 - Part 2

The last part of the last Clam Flower.  I guess I need to start the next project!

Here's layer 3.  I love the spikiness of this flower.


And the back.

And I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing.  Go figure.  It has one more dark layer and one more spiky layer to finish the block.

 7 days until I got to MQX (Machine Quilter's Exposition) in Springfield, Illinois.  I haven't been before and I have 5 quilts in the show!  I can't wait.  Is it Friday yet?!

 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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Thursday, September 21, 2017

Island Batik Ambassadors Back to School Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Today it's my turn to show a FABULOUS new line from Island Batik!  It's the Back to School Blog Hop and today I'm featuring Batiks Go Retro by Tamarinis.  I so enjoy being and Island Batik Ambassador and getting to share their wonderful fabrics with you!

 Batiks Go Retro fabrics are mainly large scale prints and so I wanted a large piece/shape to feature them.  I hemmed and hawed and finally decided to do Elephants by Laundry Basket Quilts which I purchased from SewTrendyMN on Etsy.  (Well actually, I went to her studio in Eagan, MN, but you can also buy from her on Etsy!)  The best part?  I also bought the stencil.  Yes!  A stencil for tracing all the elephant shapes on the fusible.  I can't believe how much time this saved!  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 These fabrics make such fun and cheerful Elephants.  I admit I did turn them to face each other and link trunks.  This is a deviation from the original pattern, but when I realized it would work I just had to do it!


Here is a picture of all the fabulous Batiks Go Retro fabrics!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the atomic burst fabrics and the chevrons.
Screen Shot 2017-09-10 at 12.11.02 PM

 After three projects using this line I have some left, but lots are very holey from fussy cutting.

Here is the picture I took after deciding how to layout the elephants to distribute the colors evenly.


 And lots of closeups of all the elephants.  I decided to quilt the background in one of my heart fillers, curly hearts.  You can also find this in my new book which you can order at the top of my page!

The elephants were appliqued with 50 weight Aurifil thread in matching colors.  I used a single blanket stitch.













This quilt was so much fun to make and it really shows off all the fabrics in the fun collection!

Island Batik GIVEAWAY DETAILS
We will be giving away three gorgeous fat quarter bundles at the end of the hop! Three different winners will be randomly selected to win bundles from the Captain’s Anchor, Batiks Go Retro, and Abalone collections. Enter by using the Rafflecopter widget.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am also giving away 4 fat quarters from the Batiks Go Retro line! To enter leave a comment below and I will use random.org to pick a winner from all the entries.


 AND be sure to check out all the other Island Batik Ambassador's AMAZING projects with the new fabric lines!

Monday, September 4 - Beaujolais - Tina Dillard, Carol Steely
Tuesday, September 5 - Country Dozen - Cheryl Lynch, Linda Ramrath
Wednesday, September 6 - Bonsai - Alison Vermilya,
Thursday, September 7 - Sakura - Nancy Scott
Friday, September 8 - Empress Garden - Jessica Caldwell, Laura Piland
Monday, September 11 - Fresh Pick’ins - Marlene Oddie
Tuesday, September 12 - Lotus Blooms - Kathy Bruckman
Wednesday, September 13 - Olivera - Joan Kawano, Vicki Schlimmer
Thursday, September 14 - Rise & Shine - Turid Bakken, Sally Johnson
Friday, September 15 - Diner Days - Anna Branch, Karen Overton
Monday, September 18 - Seas the Day - Bernie Kringel, Marlene Oddie, Janet Yamamato
Tuesday, September 19 - Vineyard - Jennifer Fulton, Jeanette Jones
Wednesday, September 20 - Abalone - Pamela Boatright, Sharon Denney Parcel
Thursday, September 21 - Batiks Go Retro - Suzy Webster
Friday, September 22 - Captain’s Anchor - Nan Baker, Bea Lee
Monday, September 25 - Cherry Berry - Connie Campbell, Maryellen McAullife
Tuesday, September 26 - Lobster Bake - Marian Pena
Wednesday, September 27 - Solstice - Barb Gaddy, Joyce Mullis
Thursday, September 28 - Sour Apple - Kate Colleran, Connie Kauffman
Friday, September 29 - Zen - Terri Vanden Bosch, Stephanie Beritcs

 I'd also love to have you join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group for Applique fun and links to all my blog posts.

 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Carol of the Bells - Christmas Carol Row Along!

It's time for a Christmas Caroling Row Along brought to you by Marian at Seams to be Sew!  Each designer has picked a Christmas Carol to design a row for.  My favorite Christmas Carol is Carol of the Bells.  Each pattern is free for a week, after that mine will be available for purchase on Craftsy.  


Here's my row for Carol of the Bells. You can click here to download it for $5 from Craftsy.

I started by tracing all my shapes onto Steam a Seam and attached them to my fabrics.


I centered my leaves on this gorgeous snowflake print from our wonderful sponsor Northcott Fabrics. 

 This fabric is from their 'Tis the Season collection.  It's fabric 21741M-76.


I also used a Northcott fabric for the ribbons connecting the bells.  Isn't this pretty with all the gold detailing!  This fabric is also from their 'Tis the Season collection.  It's fabric 21740M-24.



 And here's my final row before quilting.  I decided to connect the music note pieces during the quilting process.  The gold fabric is from Northcott's Toscana collection and is color 9020-53.



And here's my row all quilted up!




I have an AMAZING giveaway for one lucky reader today!  It's a Hoffman 15 Fat Quarter Bundle from the 1895 Bali Watercolors Line.  It can be shipped anywhere with shipping cost to be paid for by the winner. 


Northcott Fabrics is the main sponsor of this row a-long and has generously provided some fabrics to each blogger for use in making their row.   Thank you so much Northcott!

In addition, Northcott is sponsoring a weekly giveaway throughout the Row A-Long, as is Calibre Art.  Click HERE for more information on these giveaways and the links to enter both of them.  
These are the amazing bloggers participating today:

And here is a listing of all the participating bloggers -



The Christmas Caroling Row Along Schedule


Thursday, September 14, 2017
Barbara Dieges
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
The Quilted Snail
Ms. P. Designs USA
                                                        (sponsored by Just Let Me Quilt)
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Cheryl LaPlante
                                            (sponsored by Quilt In Piece)
Morning Glory
Pampered Pettit
Fun Threads
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Show and Tell Day
Bloggers will be announced at a later date
Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways
Please take the time to read it.
  1. Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.
  2. There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.
  3. You’ll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways. Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew.
  4. I will start announcing winners on September 12, 2017, and finish announcing winners on October 12, 2017 with the exception of the Calibre Art giveaway, those will be available after each featured day, starting September 06, 2017.
  5. In most cases, the blog where you won at also will announce their winners.
  6. You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me, loses the ability to win automatically.
  7. With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.
  8. You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don’t do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.
  9. If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.
  10. In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway… do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and…
  11. Thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don’t win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.
  12. No purchase whatsoever is necessary.
  13. You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.
  14. You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.
  15. All winners are chosen at random.
  16. All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.
  17. Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.
  18. This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
  19. Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.
  20. The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.
Most of the giveaways are international shipping this year
in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.
I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only.
If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping.
All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home within 48 hours of my having heard from you.
An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first class which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.
Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an air tight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.
Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven’t received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.
Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. I do not want to hear you didn’t read them, they will be posted on my blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
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