Crimson Tweed is Done, Done, DONE!

 As most Sue Spargo projects are, this one took quite a while. I've been working on this for about four years. The hand quilting alone took a little over two years, but I really only got to work on it on Thursdays during the hand sewing group at my shop.

I included lots of close up shots of the finished quilt below. 

The pattern is called Crimson Tweed by Sue Spargo. The pattern book is discontinued and I have already sold my personal copy of the pattern to a customer who wanted it. An internet search might turn up a couple copies of the book from an individual who is selling their personal copy or from a shop who might have a copy or two still in their inventory, but I don't have any copies of the pattern book any more.

If you get your hands on a copy be forewarned that this pattern is from 2010. At that time Sue Spargo was not doing as much embroidery on her designs as she uses now. Most of the embroidery I did on this is my own design. There were about 10 of us at my shop who did this project together. We all took ideas from each other and shared lace, buttons, beads and other embellishments within the group.

Home Sweet Holidays Sample :: A Finish

 It's all quilted, labeled and bound now.

The panel is from the Home Sweet Holidays collection as are three of the five fabrics that surround the panel. This collection is a Moda collection from last Christmas. It arrived really late last year (the week before Thanksgiving) so I didn't even bother making a sample with the collection last year. I have a few kits available using the exact fabrics shown in the photo above - no substitutions. 

The quilt finishes at 47 1/2" by 67 1/2". The pattern used is called Panel Squared Quilt. If you purchase the kit from me then the pattern is included so don't purchase it again!

The pattern is well-written and easy to follow. I had to adjust the inner border dimensions to fit this particular panel. If you purchase the kit from me then I include this information in the pattern so you don't need to figure it out yourself. 

Customer Show and Tell

 Cheryl bought our Christmas Wreath kit last summer. She's a fairly new quilter so she was a little worried about making the ribbon border, but she did great!

Cheryl and her husband are back again for this summer so she brought this in to show me.

Last week we had our the first Stella Bag and Wallet class. We had a full classroom but only one person got both the bag and wallet finished. 

Cynthia has made a few basic tote bags but this was her first bag "real" bag. She learned how to put in a zipper, both on the top of the bag and an interior pocket on the wallet. She learned how to make pockets and install a magnetic snap on the wallet. She also quite quickly realized how with a few skills should could make a bag her own. I think she's hooked!

Customer Show and Tell

 I took this photo a few months ago when I taught at Monarch Quilters in Poncha Springs, CO.

Laurie purchased the pattern, Family Tradition, and the fabrics from my shop. You can view the pattern and the fabrics we have left from this collection by clicking the following link: Home Sweet Holidays.

The next one is also a photo I took a while ago, but it is just too awesome not to share. This was made by one of my customers, Michele S.

Michele stopped into the shop for advise on this project. She had the wools she planned to use for the dog but needed a background fabric and finishing ideas. We found this awesome white print and Michele added the hand embroidery right over the top of the printing on the fabric. I suggested that she frame it and should found this shadowbox frame at a big box store.

This is the best part of my job! Getting to help customers make incredible creations like this one.

Crimson Tweed

 I am making progress again on my Crimson Tweed project.

All of the blocks are completed. I have them pinned to my design wall waiting for when I have time to sew them together. I still have to complete the borders. Two of the borders are plain; the other two require applique and embroidery.

Panel Quilt Series :: First One

I'm working on a series of simple patterns for panels. This is the first one.

The quilt top is made. Now I'm working on writing the pattern so we can kit this up.

Chinese Finger Puzzle Quilt

This is another top I've made in preparation for Sew a Jelly Roll Day coming up in September.

The top requires one jelly roll (40 2 1/2" strips) and that's it! Without borders, as shown, it will finish at 48" by 56". I used a jelly roll from Sweetwater's Cookie Exchange fabric line from Moda.

This is one of the free patterns I'll be handing out in my shop next month with the purchase of Jelly Roll or any of our 2 1/2" strip packs.

After the Snow Projects

I've completed another panel design.

This one is more a wall hanging. I thought about adding another border using the border stripe print in the fabric line, but ultimately decided against that. Instead I used the border stripe print and some extra star blocks to make a table runner.

The quilt will be 34" by 54" when finished and the runner will be 25" by 40". The runner does lay flat! I didn't realize how waffly the edges look in the photo. It's just because it is laying on the grass instead of hanging.

Love & Peace :: A Finish

I'm really happy with how this one turned out. To see it before quilting, click here.

I won't always have the time to do this much quilting on a shop sample but I love how it turned out. 

Here is a closer look.

It does hang straight although it doesn't look it in the photos. The wind was blowing just enough to ruffle the edges. I took several photos but the quilt was not still in any of them.

Love & Peace

Yes, it is another shop sample, but I do love this one.

The fabric arrived last week. We promptly cut kits and I got to work piecing one of them. I'm trying to get it quilted too. Here is a sneak peak of how I am quilting the center.

It is a Christmas line but doesn't have a traditional Christmas feel to it, in my opinion.

Christmas Quilt Finished (Photo Heavy)

I finished this quilt days ago, but wanted to wait to post pictures until after the recipient received it in the mail. They received it last Friday.

I did not have enough of a single fabric for the back so I added a little interest to the back since it needed to be pieced anyway. I also included a sleeve for hanging.

Here are the blocks, in no particular order.

I quilted it simply because the applique should be the focus, not the quilting. The finished size of the quilt is about 48" by 48".

The name of the pattern is Yuletide Joy. The pattern is by Susan H. Garman and was a block of the month from 1998. I was asked to finish the quilt by a friend. Her sister purchased all the fabric kits and block patterns, probably in 1998. She did the first four blocks and then quit. I completed the remaining 8 blocks using hand applique and machine piecing and finished the quilt for my friend.

This project was quite the learning experience for me. I learned that hand applique is extremely time consuming, at least for me. Each block took me an average of 8 hours of work to complete. I also gained valuable hand applique experience. In particular I learned that good quality fabric is much easier to hand applique than lesser quality fabric. This was also the first applique quilt I quilted. Trying to quilt it evenly was a challenge.

Despite the fabrics not being my style, I do like the finished quilt. It is not a pattern I would have chosen to do, but it is an adorable finished quilt. I particularly like how the blocks are set together. They are not laid out in a strict grid pattern and the pieced stars, squares and half square triangles are used to fill in the spaces in between the applique. There is just enough piecing in between the applique to set off the applique without overwhelming it. Even more of a surprise was the fact that everything went together very easily despite being made by two people over 16 years!

It was hard to send it off to its forever home after spending so much time with it. Knowing it will be well loved and looked after is a comfort.

A Pieced Back

I took the Christmas Quilt to show to my art group. They all said that additional borders were unnecessary. Which confirmed my feelings on the matter. So I've made a back for it.

Then I basted it and have begun quilting it. I asked for quilting suggestions from my art group too and got some good advice. When I have time to work more on this, it is ready to go.

Christmas Quilt Center Finished

I finished the last block, added all the embroidery and buttons to the blocks that needed them, and assembled the blocks over the weekend.

At the moment, this will finish at 48" by 48". The pattern calls for a small inner border and a larger outer border. If I add these it will finish at about 60" by 60". I'm undecided as to whether or not I want to add these. The best fabric I have in my stash for the wider outer border is a dark green tone-on-tone very similar to fabrics already used in the center. It will look nice but I'm not sure it will really add anything to the design. It will just make this bigger. I've emailed the folks I'm making this for to see what they want me to do. Until I hear back it will wait.