A Forest begins with a Tree

My Inspiration:   April Calendar Picture:

Paris Street; Rainy Day    1877
Gustave Caillebotte   Art Institute of Chicago

A new  Project:

A Forest of Pieced Trees      - Spring Trees -  in a  paper pieced wall art  design -
                    included in    Paper Piecing 1/4 "  digital magazine  Issue 5  Ap-June 15   
                               by Janeen at Quilt Art Designs    (here) 

Fabrics:     Willow  by My Mind's Eye   Riley Blake Designs - light grays and yellows
                 Brussels Washer Linen Blended White (linen/rayon) - background

My first tree                            

My Spring Forest will be  made in low volume fabrics... 

 The plan is to make 4 trees in my  mini wallhanging.    
Come back soon to see the forest grow.


Fun Alert:   Want to see  LOTS of fun paper pieced  projects?       Click  HERE   
to view many of the projects included in this current Paper Piecing 1/4 "  magazine!  
If you like birds, fish, ladybugs and apples .... you'll love  this issue  !!!

Linking up at:     Can I Get A Whoop Whoop!  @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict   and
                         Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts   and
                          Paper Piecing Party @ Quilt Art Designs  and
                         TGIFF  @  Quokka Quilts

I'm off to my sewing room!

Pattern provided by QAD Publishing

My Finished Irish Chain Twist Quilt !

It's Finished!

Click  here  

I've always wanted to make an Irish Chain quilt, but felt intimated because they all look so complicated.  When I saw that Melissa,  from Happy Quilting blog , was have a Quilt-A-Long, with her excellent tutorials for each step, I knew that this was the time for me  to jump in and learn how to make an Irish Chain quilt!


I chose to make the lap size quilt:  60 " x 70 "

design layouts by Melissa @ Happy Quilting

I chose my fabrics:   a hoarded  FQ set -   This 'N That  by Nancy Halverson -  Benartex 

I cut the pieces:   

Components for the 3 different blocks    

Before I knew it, we had pieced together all of the blocks!

I decided to make the backing out of a large piece of Michael Miller Fairy Frost in a bright yellow,  and add a center section made from 4 more fat quarters from my bundle! I love my backing  piece , too!


I quilted long wavy lines, down the whole length of my quilt, using my walking foot.   
I actually set up a card table in front of my sewing table,  so that I could keep my quilt layed out flat,  in front of me , as I quilted along.   I used my 36 "  long  x 1 1/2" wide Omnigrid  ruler to mark off ( with pins) the column width , to keep my  wavy vertical lines within this 1 1/2" width.  My curves are very freestyle!   I wanted the distance between the curves to vary .  

** This is a huge step in my ' machine quilting' growth.    Up to now, I have done a lot of outline quilting, straight stitching,  and in- the- ditch quilting.   I will be using this wavy line machine quilting a lot!  It gives the right amount of quilting texture to my quilt.  And I love using my walking foot.  **

And yes,  I did have a few  "cat naps" along the way...
my quilty helper, Whiskers, insisted on taking her afternoon baths while I was machine quilting!

               I added some of the Riley Blake  Lazy Day teal hexagon fabric for my binding.
               (Machine sewn to the front, and then hand stitched to the back of the quilt.)

And here it is after a fresh wash and dry.... all bright and crinkly  and happy!

Irish Chain Twist Quilt         made by Susie's Sunroom

The back side -   You can see the wavy lines 

I am thrilled with it!

Isn't Melissa such a talented designer?!!  Guess what?   She has a new book out , called 

"Irish Chain Quilts: Contemporary Twists on a Classic Design "     {available here} 

It looks really awesome, and has 15 Irish Chain  patterns in it!

You can see all of our finished quilts in this Quilt- A- Long at   Parade of Quilts
                      on Melissa's blog today..... Happy Quilting

                                                                                   *  Flickr group

Instagram at   #irishchaintwistqal

                                               

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:   Sew Cute Tuesday @  Blossom Heart Quilts

"I think I see a thread , Mom !"

Spring Petals QAL

The Spring Petals QAL

Making a  Spring Petals Table Topper along with The Crafty Quilter

Guess what we are making over at The Crafty Quilter, with Julie?

A spring table topper!

We'll be getting the instructions and tutorials on  each Friday, to finish up the table topper on  June 7.

This is one of Julie's table toppers 

So, I am getting ready for Spring  at Susie's Sunroom !

Fabrics:      all from my stash!

          Petals-   16 selected 5 " squares from-   Charm pack of Summersville Spring   by lucie summers for Moda
              
          Background-  for low volume  -  a fat quarter left from a bundle of  This 'N That by Nancy Halverson  by Benartex  AND  some  Grunge   by Basic Grey  Moda  in a cream/gray

            Triangles-   Yellow  Bella  solid  by Moda

 16 charm pack petals  laid out on top of the low volume background
The yellow triangles will be on the sides

I felt that my  Summersville Spring charm pack was too busy to be used as the background fabric.  (Even when I turned them to the back of the fabric, as Julie suggested.)
So I looked in my stash and found this soft gray swirly fabric ( This 'N That) and the gray/cream fabric (Grunge).  I cut them into 5 inch squares ( 8 of each) and pieced them together in rows of 4. 

Julie provides an excellent piecing tutorial on her blog.  { here }  I learned a lot from the week 2 lesson!

The next step in the Quilt-A-Long:   I will be cutting  out and applying the fusible applique' onto the petals!

  It's not too late for you to sew your own table topper,   too!  There's even a variation of the pattern, which has no applique'.    {here }

Look , Ma!  No applique' ! 

I want to make this variation of her  table topper, too!  

I am so happy that it is Spring!

I'm off to my sewing room!

Zoo Animals

Zoo Animals BoM

BoM at Quiet Play 

March Zoo Animal :   Polar Bear   pattern (here)

Polar Bear     by Susie's Sunroom

One of my friends on Instagram told me that she thought he looks like he just woke up from a long sleep!


April Zoo Animal:  Walrus   *free pattern during April ! * (here)

Walrus  Zoo Animal BoM     by Susie's Sunroom

This little guy's  name is Moda. I think he is looking at you to see if you'll give him  a little fish snack!

January, March and April Blocks     

I'll be working on my February block, the Penguin, soon!      

I'm off to my sewing room!

                Linking up at:  Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop! @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict                         and              Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts               and
                                      Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts   
  

Easter Greetings

Easter Greetings and Fun Sewing-

Two fun little projects to share with you:

Easter Mug Rug  pattern  by The Patchsmith 

I made this sweet  little Easter Egg and Bunny mug rug for my mother.  With The Patchsmith's pattern and  superb directions, it took me less than 2 hours to make up this little holiday gift!  My mom just loved getting the little surprise in the mail.  Next year, I would like the make the Easter Cross Mug Rug. 


Next,  while I was all in the " Bunny Making Mode" .... and I made up these:

Basket full of Bunnies

Bunny Softy Pattern-          by Melanie  at The Crafty Cupboard  (free pattern!)

Size:      6 " tall   (after reducing the pattern to 75% of original size)

I ended up making 11 little bunnies, to give as little Easter presents, at my Aunt's house.  There will be 5 other ladies there, of all ages. I wanted to have bunnies in  a variety of fabrics, hoping that there will be a bunny that every person will like.  I made two scrappy bunnies ( for me if no one picks them!)
  

Can you figure out my "bunny boo-boo " ?

Yep..."some bunny" didn't put both fabrics right sides together
 before stitching them up !

He's still cute....  He's just playing it "low volume" on the back side!

I'm off to my sewing room!

      

Lucky Ladybugs

April's Across The Pond Sew Along Project

See our past projects  here

It's April  already...and  a perfect time to make a fun sewing project along with the Across The Pond Sew Along girls! 

Ladybugs/Ladybirds   photo by Wikipedia

Let's make Ladybugs... or you may live where you call these lucky little bugs,  ' Ladybirds.'

Here's a few project ideas to get you started...

***Disclaimer-    The following Ladybug projects may become highly addictive...  ***

Amanda, aka The Patchsmith, has "landed upon" such a sweet  little ladybug pouch project.This little felt pouch is a free pattern by Red Brolly.   

Amanda's  Ladybug Purse   

 It is so sweet, it doesn't even need that chocolate candy!!  
You will find a BUNCH of Ladybug patterns link  over on Amanda's blog... hop on over here!
  

Here is a  free block that I found :     

Ladybug on a tea leaf     photo by Quilting Works.com

 I am drawn to  the "tradional" style of this ladybug and leaf together!
{ Translation... you may see this again soon!}


And here is my  finished Ladybug project:

                                    Lady Bugs Mini Quilt/Wallhanging

Pattern -  from Paper Piecing 1/4"  issue 5  April - June 2015   QAD Publishing  {here}

Lady Bugs Mini Quilt/ Wallhanging     by Susie's Sunroom
pattern  {here}     

Mini Quilt size:   20 inches x 20 inches

Fabrics:   Sugar Hill    Tanya Whelan by Free Spirit

               Black and white polka dot,  tonal white, and blenders -  from my stash

          

These little paper pieced bugs were so fun to make!!  There are 4 different bug blocks, and a flower for the center!  I really loved the fabric with the tiny roses !

I also love the pink tones against the black and white bug fabric.

The  pale pink tonal fabric ( "underneath" wings )  remind me a a lady's petticoat!

I pieced scraps together (for a 5 inch square) for the corner pocket for hanging.

Folded squares in the corner tuck nicely into the binding... for easy hanging with a dowel rod

Oh, and just remember...  I gave fair warning that making ladybugs can be harmful to your "housekeeping and cooking" ??  

You could make another Ladybugs mini quilt, using traditional red and black fabrics, and get another look from the same design!

I already have planned  my next ladybug project to make...

This    Ladybug/Ladybird Mug Rug pattern   by  The Patchsmith :

My next ladybug project!!      { here }  The Patchsmith

We love to see and share when you make any Across The Pond Sew Along project.... 

here  at our ATPSA Flickr Group !   

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:   Paper Piecing Party @  Quilt Art Designs       and
                         Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts

"Fly away" little lady bugs....

Pattern provided by QAD Publishing