It has been a busy few months.  (Okay... I see that I haven't posted on the Blog in 2 years.) I do love reading other folks blogs so I decided to post an update today. Summer is always busy but this fall has flown by. We had a Sew Days event, church camp this summer then time away from the shop taking care of my Dad.  My Husband ran the shop while I spent a month with my Dad.  Posted below is the pre-quilted version of the Texas quilt I made for my Dad. Basically I used Texas and farm themed fabric that I had sold in my shop over the past 10 years.  Yes I do buy a little bit for my own stash. I will be presenting him the completed quilt soon.

We have also purchased a new longarm quilting machine for the shop. Wow is there a learning curve for operating new equipment. My HQ Fusion takes up a ton of my classroom space so we are tying to move fabric out the door to make room for more sewing tables.

For the rest of 2018 we are updating our website to a new format and greatly reducing inventory for space in our shop to offer classes for quilters and sewers alike. The plan for 2019 is weekly shop sew-alongs and possibly even day retreats. 

Be sure and follow us on Suzzett's Fabric  Facebook to see what is happening in the shop.

Are the stockings hung?

This year has been a year of trying to catch up on computer work, running a shop, keeping up the household chores and just generally not getting behind any further. I always liked the old saying "The Faster I go the Behinder I get." This saying really describes me especially this year.

I have not hung the stockings this year yet and it is mid-December. I have not set the dining room table with my Christmas dishes.  Note: I still have a fall quilt on the dining room table from Thanksgiving. So what have I been doing the past few weeks?  I have  completed one of my Women of the Bible quilt tops. I can't post a picture yet because it is a gift. I have completed two table runners. I have made four aprons for Christmas gifts and am working really hard to get the Farm Fun panel animals sewn and stuffed for another Christmas gift. I also cooked three batches of sugar cookies  and decorated them all with the help of my husband for one batch and my son for two batches. I really love making sugar cookies.

I say all this to say that I have many products that have not been added to my website. What does this mean to you? It means you just need to come to my quilt shop located outside of Italy, TX to find all of the latest treasures we have stocked.  You can also shop the website www.SuzzettsFabric.com to see a sampling of the products we carry.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and do not stress about what Christmas projects have not been completed. Take a moment and reflect on the blessings the King of Kings and Lord or Lord, Jesus Christ gives you daily.

Lynch Syndrome Awaeness Day is March 22nd

It is time for me to talk about Lynch Syndrome again.

Those who know me, know I do tend to get on this soap box often. I strongly believe that anyone with a strong family history of any kind of cancer or multiple kinds of cancer as the case with my family, need to be aware of hereditary issues that can cause a predisposition to cancer. 

March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. Lynch Syndrome Awareness day is March 22nd every year.  Here is a link to a video that will educate you about Lynch Syndrome. Many states have proclaimed March 22nd as Lynch Cancer awareness day.

Be your own health-care advocate and research whatever medical conditions you have or suspect you could have.

Find a family physician who is interested in taking care of you and will coordinate all of your care. In the case of Lynch Syndrome, not only are you at risk for colon cancer and uterine cancer but also for ovarian cancer, skin cancer, urinary tract cancer, and essentially any gastrointestinal tract cancer when you have a defective gene associated with Lynch Syndrome.

Sometimes health insurance does not pay for the testing that is recommended by the medical specialty. When an adverse determination is made regarding a health benefit, appeal the determination. In most states there is more than one level of appeal level for benefit determination.  The second level of appeal is often reviewed by a case matched specialist. That means a specialist for the condition in question. Remember not all specialist know everything about conditions in their field. For example, endometrial, also known as uterine cancer, is one of the sentinel cancers for Lynch Syndrome. Many OB/Gyn. physicians do not know about Lynch Syndrome and don't know that any endometrial cancer for a woman under 50 years old would be suspect for Lynch Syndrome.

For those of you reading this post that have a personal or family history of colon cancer be sure and get your colonoscopy as recommended by national guidlines.  The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends colon cancer screening beginning at age 50 for those in the general population but for a person who has a first degree relative with a color cancer diagnosed at a younger age it indicates it is reasonable to start colon cancer screening earlier. Here is the Link for colon cancer screening recommendation published by the US Preventive Services Task Force. The CDC addresses getting tested for Lynch Syndrome for every person who is diagnosed with colon cancer. Here is the Link for the CDC article on Lynch Syndrome testing for persons diagnosed with colon cancer. 

Studies have shown that early detection of colon cancer has a better outcome. For people with Lynch Syndrome is important to know that a colon polyp can turn into a cancer much earlier than for a person without a gene defect. For this reason it is important to get frequent screening to remove any polyp that can potentially cause a cancer.  

You can learn more about Lynch Syndrome on the Lynch Syndrome International Facebook page as well.

Thank you for letting me share with you the importance of early detection of colon cancer.

Time to get busy!

Where has the year gone?

A friend posted on Facebook the number of Fridays left until Christmas. I was like "no way."  Yes "way". 

There are only 9 Fridays left until Christmas now. That means it is time to get busy and get those Christmas gifts completed. I spend my fall weekend time sewing when the "boys" are out hunting. That means I have my own personal retreat when they go hunting. Bow season opens in October here in Texas so I completed my last project while they were on the hunt. 

Villa Rosa Design patterns are great little card patterns that I love to use to make a quick project. Many of the quilts use fat quarters, 5 inch squares, 10 inch squares, 2 1/2 inch strips or yardage. The nice thing about the patterns are that they are adaptable to whatever fabric you want to use.  I created a lap quilt for a silent auction for my high school homecoming using the Crimson Glory pattern.  The quilt is pictured below.

Give me a call if you need help choosing fabric from my website SuzzettsFabric.com for a Villa Rosa Design pattern that is in stock.  Here is the link to the Villa Rosa Design Patterns.

Christmas Projects

So this Christmas I found myself wanting to make quick lap quilts because to me the lap quilt size is the most useful. Don't get me wrong, I do love the large bed quilts but have found that the lap quilt size is perfect for just covering up with on the couch or in the Lazy Boy recliner.

What I did for the pictured Christmas quilts is use a Moda Advent box that I had left over from last year for each quilt. The box contains a dozen strips that are 4 1/2 inches wide by width of fabric. Using a Moda Dessert roll would yield a similar result. Sew 11 of the strips together. Square up the resulting large block and then chop off about six to seven inches from the top. Note, this is just a fun project with no math but do consider that the strip across the top that comes next will sew to 4 inches wide. You now have two rectangles from the original large block.  Take one more width of fabric strip and sew to the bottom of the smallest rectangle and then sew the strip to the top of the large rectangle for the resulting pieced block.  The quilt will now measure approximately 44 by 48.  I like lap quilts to be a little longer than they are wide so I added a 4 1/2 inch wide strip of coordinating fabric to the top and to the bottom of the quilt to give it some length. Since this is a Christmas themed quilt, I appliqued a few AccuQuilt cut trees along the bottom. For the quilt backing, I pieced a couple of coordinating fabric strips together for the long narrow piece of fabric. I then split the width of one long piece of backing fabric about 10 inches from the selvage edge and sewed the narrow strip to the two backing fabric pieces. I added another AccuQuilt applique tree to the narrow strip near the bottom. Just adding that extra strip of fabric to the fabric backing makes the quilt backing the perfect size for quilting and adds a bit of character to the quilt back.

For the second quilt, I sorted through the strips and grouped strips together in sets of three to make four strip sets for my rail fence blocks.  After sewing the set of three strips together, I cut off one selvage end then sub-cut the strips into three 12 1/2 inch strips. I retained the leftover 6 or so inches for the quilt back.  Play with the 12 blocks that you created from your four strip sets to make a pleasing layout. Sew the blocks three wide by four long. Add a border to all four sides. I think my border strips were 4 1/2 inches wide but you can make them as wide as you like.  For the quilt back, I created one long narrow strip by sewing together the four pieces I cut off the strip sets to make one long narrow piece for the quilt back inset.  I did have to add a few coordinating fabric pieces so the inset would be long enough.  I then split the quilt back as in the first quilt and added the long strip to the quilt back. 

The last quilt I made was for my dad. I love the double sliced layer cake pattern so I used a civil war reproduction layer cake and added a paisley print for the quilt outside border and a little red stripe print for a faux piping inner border. I love just that little bit of color break a faux piping border provides for a busy quilt center. Since I think paisley prints are manly, I used a paisley print for the borders and the backing. I like to use mitered corners for my outside border which worked perfect for this quilt since I also used the paisley print for the quilt backing. Since I used the length of fabric for the border, I had plenty of fabric to piece the backing with one width of fabric and the remaining border fabric. Binding for the quilt was with the red stripe print used in the faux piping.  I thought the finished quilt looked nice with my dad's paisley couch. 

Having Fun with Fabric Panels

Fabric panels are fun to work with. I love the art work on the panels but as we all know not all panels are ready to quilt just as they are. At quilt market, I took a school house class that gave suggestions on what to do with fabric panels.  There were lots of great ideas that would transform fabric panels into just about any size project.  The art work of the  Joy fabric panel by Kate Spain is so fun and bright. The panel is a Christmas panel that can be quilted as is or cut apart for multiple projects. Using the idea of cut up the panel and add sashing fabric to the panel pieces; I played around with the panel cut outs until a quilt was born. I chose to use piecing and applique for the quilt that measures 40 by 50 inches which is a perfect size for a lap quilt great for snuggling up under on a cold December day.    Pictured is the fabric panel and the completed Joy quilt.

 

Joy fabric is available at Suzzett's Fabric

The white fabric used for the block sashing and background on the applique blocks is the Moda Muslin Makes Falling Snow on White which worked out great. I love writing phrases into my quilting designs and found this fabric perfect for the Christmas phrases.  Border and binding fabric is from the Joy fabric collection.  There were two large fabric blocks left from the fabric panel that are the perfect size for quilted placemats. 

Paper Piecing

Paper Piecing is one of my new favorite quilting techniques. Judy Niemeyer patterns inspired me to take a paper piecing class recently at the Our House in Milford retreat center. I loved the perfection that paper piecing affords. I started with a pattern called Desert Sky and created my first Judy quilt.  Choosing the fabric is maybe the hardest part of the project.

Picture of my Desert Sky quilt....someday I will quilt it.

 

 

My daughter found a pattern for me to use to make my niece’s wedding quilt. I didn’t quite like the entire pattern so I opened up Electric Quilt version 7 (EQ7) and went to work designing my own pattern.  After a bit of trial and error, I completed the design phase. Of course after sewing the first two blocks together I found out I had to go back to the design board and tweak the angles a bit to make the secondary blocks work better.   I used Carol Doak paper for printing my blocks and used the templates form EQ7 with an enlarged block to cut the individual fabric pieces using the stack and whack method as much as possible. Posted below is a picture of the flow for designing the quilt with a picture of the final quilt as well. 

 

 

 

 

Be sure and check out all the batik fabric on my website www.suzzettsfabric.com or directly at

Suzzett's Fabric Batiks



Strip Quilts from Stash

Scrappy Quilts just say "Nostalgia". How many of our grandmother's quilts were made from just left over fabric? Often the leftovers were from used clothing or even old flour and feed sacks. The folks at The Fabric Shop Network encouraged quilters worldwide to sew strip quilts for charity on World Wide Quilt Day held in March. Suzzett's Fabric, Quilts and More joined the campaign to get quilters sewing strip quilts for charity for the event. Quilters from the Italy, Texas area joined together to make 12 strip quilts for the event. Strip sewing seemed the way to go to put my large amount of stash to work for this endeavor so a couple of us broke out the Accuquilt Go cutter and cut 2 1/2 inch strips from my stash and some of my shop fabric. In total, we had six people sewing in the shop with two helpers assisting with pressing and keeping the strips from tangling. We completed 13 strip quilts for the event. As they say in the old community newspaper columns found in rural America, "A good time was had by all." I will use up more of my stash to make backings for the quilts and then perhaps have another workday to quilt the quilts. Most of the quilts will be donated to the VA Hospital in Dallas.

Lord's Acre Quilt

Well plans change. I finished the Lord's Acre quilt that I had planed but hubby just didn't really LIKE it so we went to plan B. Hubby found a quilt called "Walk Around the Block" by Connie kauffman in a Quilters World magazine from 2009 that uses a Jelly Roll and border fabric. He knows how much I love Kansas Troubles fabric so he said just use one of your KT jelly rolls. Well I only had one left that was not a Christmas jelly roll so I just went and cut strips for the quilt from about 30 fabrics from various KT fabric lines so I could control the medium hues a bit more. I have been collecting KT fabric for several years so I had a good stash to use besides pulling fabric from my shop. I really like how the auction quilt turned out. We don't see much of fall here in Texas but I love it and was determined to make a fall quilt.

Houston here we come

It is time for the annual pilgrimage to Houston for fall quilt market. Lindsey has an Ipad now and hopefully will be updating the blog to show you what beautiful finds there are for the coming year. We get so overwhelmed and excited with all the new gadgets and fabric that appear every year. I am wrapping up projects in the shop before we leave and am hopping to get my Lord's Acre quilt on the quilting frame before we leave. I am currently ripping out the border which just was not saying anything but "ugh" to me. Sometimes no border is better than an ugh border. I guess this just means I will need to make another project with the border fabric. I sure don't want any beautiful fabric to go to waste. I will try to post pictures later today of the Lord's Acre donation quilt.

Turning Twenty Quilt Completed

Hurray! The turning Twenty quilt I started a couple of years ago is finally completed. The queen size quilt, made for my neighbor, took a little longer than I anticipated. Sometimes "Life" gets in the way of completing projects. I used Martinuqe fabric designed by 3 Sisters for Moda including regular cotton fabric as well as the chenille and pintuck fabrics from the fabric collection. I hope my friend will be pleased with the fabric she chose for her quilt.

Be a Previvor!

September 26th is National Previvor day.

So “What is the world is a previvor?” you might say. Cancer previvors, according to www.bracnow.com glossary, “are individuals who are survivors of a predisposition to cancer but who haven’t had the disease.” Many people are aware of the BRAC genes that predispose a person to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. There are many other genes or syndromes that can predispose you to cancer. One such syndrome is Lynch Syndrome which predisposes you to many different gastrointestinal tract cancers such as colon, rectal, gastric, hepatobillary, and pancreatic as well as endometrial, ovarian, ureter, renal pelvic, skin, prostate and some subsets of breast and brain cancer according to the LynchCancers.com website. If you have a family history of colon cancer or endometria/uterine cancer, especially at a young age, you could be at risk. I encourage you to read more about Lynch Syndrome if you have a family or personal history of any of the above cancers.

I am a previvor of colorectal and uterine cancer. I was first encouraged 11 years ago to have a colonoscopy by my family physician at the age 43 when I told him my sister who is just older than me was diagnosed with a cancer. I of course, being an oncology nurse for over five years, knew the importance of early diagnosis of colon cancer. The colonoscopy was performed and I was found to be free of polyps or cancer by a gastroenterologist who had taken my detailed family history which included three generations of colorectal and or endometrial cancer. I was told to have another colonoscopy in five years. Recommendations for colon screening for Lynch syndrome is every two years prior to the age of 50 and every year after the age of 50.

Four years later my oldest sister was diagnosed with endometrial cancer just as my mother and maternal grandmother had been in their late 40’s early 50’s. Bells went off in my head since my mother’s sister had also had a female related cancer in her 40’s. I consulted my personal gynecologist and told sure you can have a gene test to see if you have a predisposition to cancer. I was given a phone number that did not work. I subsequently changed gynecologist because he was found to be clueless about Lynch Syndrome. At about the same time, I had a skin lesion removed that was suspect for Muir Torre syndrome. Subsequently I was put in touch with a genetic specialist nurse who referred me to the chief of Gastroenterology at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas for genetic testing. Genetic test showed I do have a gene mutation that predisposes me to Lynch Syndrome cancers. Shortly thereafter I had a hysterectomy to prevent endometrial/uterine and ovarian cancer and annual colonoscopies which led to a colon cancer scare when I was told I had colon cancer. Fortunately the polyp found at the time of my 2nd annual colonoscopy, though highly suspicious for colon cancer, was not diagnostic for cancer. Subsequently I had surgery to remove the suspicious area and have routine diagnostic procedures annually to evaluate for gastrointestinal, urinary tract and skin cancers.

I have had two skin lesions that turned out to be Muir Torre related cancerous that I probably would not have had evaluated if I had not been tested for the Lynch Syndrome gene.

I consider myself a Colorectal Cancer Previvor since the precancerous polyp was removed before it turned into a full blown cancer at the age of 49. I hope my story encourages you to evaluate your family history for the possibility of a familial cancer syndrome.

Lynch Syndrome genes are dominant genes meaning that you have a 50% chance of having the gene if one of your parents also had the gene. Remember! You are your own best medical advocate.

I apologize for being so wordy. I think it is important to know your family history. My sweet Mom died seven years ago from breast cancer. My aunt died 2 years ago after having being diagnosed with ureter cancer which is a Lynch Syndrome related cancer. My two sisters are healthy because they too get frequent followup and screening for Lynch Syndrome related cancers.

Team Hooker Silent Auction

Team Hooker Silent Auction is 9/21/2012 at the Italy HS football game. Details are available on this Italy Neotribune link about the Hooker family.

Several ladies were in my shop from the local 'Our House in Milford' quilt retreat center shopping for Moda Layer Cakes recently. They told me all about the 'Double Slice Layer Cake Quilt' pattern. You can find a how to video on youtube. I watched the youtube video by the Missouri Quilt Co. At any rate, I loved the quilt pattern and knew it would be perfect for a fabric line with several different colors. When I read about the Team Hooker silent auction I knew I had to make something for this sweet lady and her family. I spotted a Flora Layer Cake in the shop and went to work Friday sewing up a fun bright "Wake you up in the morning!" quilt. The quilt measures approximately 65 by 73 inches and is quilted using random heart and squiggle doodles. The backing is a coordinating green with tiny orange flowers circle print from the fabric line.

If you are local be sure and support Team Hooker by bidding on items donated for the auction on Friday, September 21st.

Here is the picture of the quilt on the front porch rocker.

Twisted Lasagna

My daughter likes the lasagna strip quilt so much that she put a new twist on it. She took one of our new Simply Color Junior Jelly Rolls and made the lasagna strip quilt. This junior jelly only has 20 strips of ombre fabric so it was an odd shape. My brilliant daughter decided to cut it up into 16x16 squares. She then turned them different directions added 3 inch sashing. I think it turned out really cute and I love the colors.

iCozy

My daughter wanted to make an iPad cover so she got online in search of a good pattern. In her search she found some patterns by Whistlepig Creek Productions. She could not decide so we ordered 3 different patterns. She chose the iCozy pattern to start on. She chose 2 coordinating fat quarters from the Sofie line. She was so excited when she finished because this was a fun and easy pattern to complete. I think it turned out cute.



The inside has a cute pocket and elastic corners to hold the iPad in place.

Terrain Fabric line by Moda.

Fall Quilt Market 2011

Well we are on our journey home from market. We saw so many wonderful things this year. We are very excited for all our new treasures. Here are a few of my favorite things at market:

American Jane always does great work.


We loved all the great patterns from Creative Sewlutions.





Can\\\'t wait for the new lines from Moda to come in.





And finally a view of the market floor first thing this morning.

Great Bandana Quilt Challenge

Are you up to the challenge of creating an original 'Bandana Quilt' for the "Great Bandana Quilt Challenge?" You will need to incorporate at least one Cherish Bandana as well as one of the ez Quilting Simpli-Ez Pink triangles, squares or the Pink Ribbon template into your quilt that must measure 45 by 54 inches. The first place prize is being valued at $1000. You need to get started soon because the entry must be received by Simplicity by July 1, 2011. More information is available at www.suzzettsfabric.com. Click here to access the website page with information about the "Great Bandana Quilt Challenge".

You will see on my website a picture of my sweet Mom who died from breast cancer six years ago this May. I know that many of my quilter friends have experienced firsthand the challenge of breast cancer. I want to encourage you all to make a quilt, pillow or something fun that would encourage a special person in your life who is battling this disease. You could use your sewing talents to donate a quilt to use as a fund raiser for a friend who is raising money for the Susan G Komen 3-Day Cancer Walk.

You can also create a quilt for a Relay for Life fund raiser. Speaking of Relay for Life, I am donating all proceeds from the sale of the Sweet Cakes Cupcake products found on my website to Relay for Life from February through April 2011. Click the Sweet Cakes Icon to see the Sweet Cakes products.

Fun Flower Gifts

I am having fun making gifts using my Fun Flower Fabric from LakeHouse Dry Goods by Holly Holderman. I created an apron using a free download pattern found on the All People Quilt Website.
Using a towel and fabric remnants I made a hand towel to hang on the fridge.

Join the Brownie Point fun by checking out the Holly Blog where you will find a different shop featured daily.


Order the Fast Flowers Quilt Kit on SuzzettsFabric Website to be eligible for a Fat Quarter Bundle of Fun Flowers fabric.



A donation to the local SPCA will be made for each Fast Flowers quilt kit purchased from SuzzettsFabric


Pictured below are my three Border Collies getting ready to play a little basket ball. Scooby, the red collie I am petting, is the ball handler as well as the lead cow dog.

Holly Holderman will be hosting a Fun Quilting Event on her Blog featuring the quilt she calls "Brownie Points" found on the Quilts & More magazine, Winter 2010, website as "Fast Flowers". The pattern is available as a free download on the magazine's website All People Quilt LINK HERE.

You can see the quilt which will be available when the Brownie Point Fun begins December 13th by clicking HERE. Keep watching the Holly Blog for the fun prizes from Holly's personal stash. I will also be offering a Fun Flower Fat Quarter drawing on my website so watch for details.

Pictured below is an apron I made using Fun Flowers Fabric. Inspiration for the apron was from the Purdent Baby web site tutorial called Fat Quarter Apron. I chose to use a half yard of fabric and large pink ric rac.

Time to be Thankful

Thanksgiving Day is coming soon. This is one of my favorite holidays. My daughter is making some cute aprons using fall fabric and a maple leaf applique using my AccuQuilt Go Cutter.

Yeah! I was able to get my serger working to ruffle the fabric for the apron. My serger has been sitting idle for a while waiting on me to find the manual to figure out how to thread it correctly. Hubby keeps saying "I told you to buy the one that threads its self." What does he know right? I wish I had listened to him. At any rate, I was able to use the ruffle feature successfully. I see new ruffled pillow shams in my future. So, I suppose I am thankful for the intelligence to be able to get my serger working for all the fun projects I would like to complete. Simple things like the machines we use to get our projects completed are often taken for granted as is the God given knowledge to operate these tool. Take time to be thankful for even these little things that make our life simpler.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

I am Thankful for UPS....

My UPS friend just delivered a new shipment of the chocolate brown Fun Flowers fabric prints from LakeHouse Dry Goods. McCall's Quick Quilts Dec/Jan and Quilts and More Winter 2011 both have quick easy quilts made using this great fabric line by Holly Holderman. Be sure and watch Holly's Blog for more information about fun quilts using the Fun Flowers fabric line.