Free Motion Friday - How Many Echoes?

It's summer!  And I'm off!  Time to quilt.  I recently got back to working on my Peacock quilt.  I did some feathers around the edges.  Here's just the feathers.  I knew that I would at least one echo around it to separate the feathers from the background quilting.

Here's one echo.  This is my usual choice.

However, this blog is about learning new things, so I did a second echo.  I like it.

More on this quilt next week!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Clam Flower #5 - Part 1

I absolutely adore the leaves on this flower.  In my original drawing the leaf you see was about an inch wide at the left.  I decided it was too wide to be one piece of fabric.  So I drew an accent line.  Then randomly I decided to add two bumps to it.  So fun!  I love the result.  

While I was picking fabric for this quilt I decided I wanted the leaf to be dots so that the bumps made sense.  I am in love with the way it turned out.  I want to do it again soon!

All of Layer 1

The back of layer 1.  If you look closely you can see that the light blue was stitched in a smaller stitch size than the green to keep the emphasis on the green fabric.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wildflower Inspiration

We just got back from a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota and had a blast!  I took a ton of wildflower pictures for inspiration.  Here are a few.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Clam Flower #4 - Part 2

Here's the second part of Clam Flower #4.  I had a lot of fun playing with fabric to get just the right dark orange for this block.  

Here's the back at this stage.

And the finished block.  Silly me forgot to take a last picture, so here it is in the finished top. You'll have to wait to see the whole quilt!  You can see that I fussy cut a batik fabric that was green with orange dots for the bases of the flowers.  Fussy cutting is so much fun!

This picture also shows the finished shape of the blocks...indeed they are clam shells!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Inspiration - My Solo Exhibit!

I must admit that I don't have something new to show you today.  The end of the school year has been hectic as well as going on vacation.  So...I'm sharing my recent solo exhibit from the Minnesota Quilter's Show!

I was so excited to have a special exhibit of 20 quilts from my blog!  Here are pictures.  It's an amazing retrospective of the first 18 months or so of the blog.  And my handsome son who had his first quilt in the show in the youth category this year was happy to pose in a few of the photos.  

I'll be back with new Free Motion work next week!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Clam Flower #4 - Part 1

Here's the next Clam Flower.  I wanted to add some blocks that had more than one flower, so I decided to create some that had three flowers.

Layer One:

The back of layer one:

Layer Two.  It's amazing to see the difference a few pieces add to the block.  

The back of layer two

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Inspired by the Minnesota Quilters Show

I just got back from the Minnesota Quilter's Show in Duluth, MN.  It was a FANTASTIC show this year with lots of gorgeous quilts and great vendors!

Here are a few favorite pictures of mine.

Be sure to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook Group to see even more!

This quilt is two sided and was done using the quilt as you go method.  It was absolutely fantastic!  And gives me ideas....

Here's the front.

A close-up of the back.

The back...wow!

This is a quilt by Beth Nufer and Clem Buzick.  I met Clem at the show and she was wonderful.  The quilt is made of silks and it just glows...hmmm....more food for thought!  Enjoy.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy