Monday, November 5, 2012

Fall Market Finds, Part II

I'm back to give you a few more treats-for-the-eye to enjoy from my trip to Market . . .






I've been following artist/painter Laura Gunn since her first Michael Miller collection release during Spring Market in Minneapolis a few years ago.




I can say the same about Patty Young who also designs for Michael Miller. I used one of her first collections (perhaps it was her first?) when I designed my Box of Chocolates pattern. Her Textured Basics, shown here, are adorable.


Two new collections for Robert Kaufman: The first is Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander, with quilt called Science Fair by Julie Herman, Jaybird Quilts (left). The second is Valentina by Valentina Ramos with quilt called Traffic, also by Julie.



One of my favorite designers, Sue Spargo, teams up with Wendy Morris with Folkloric Blooms for Robert Kaufman. Absolutely darling.

Close-up of the fabrics . . .


The other side of the wall . . .



A playful quilt using Sandy Gervais' new collection called Snap Pop for Moda.



And finally, gorgeous fabrics by a variety of artists for Anna Griffin and Anna Griffin's Blend division.

















What's your favorite? I'd love to know!

Hope you enjoyed your small tour of Fall Market. Sure wish I would have had time to spend taking more photos for you to enjoy. Next time for sure!

--Susan

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fall Market Finds, Part I

Some inspiring images for you to enjoy . . .


Amy Butler Design's booth showcasing Amy's newest collection called Alchemy (that's her sporting a ponytail!). Congratulations to Amy for winning a First Place ribbon for her booth design (red ribbon shown on banquette)!



I had the honor of making the quilt you see here for Amy's booth using Aurifil 50 wt. Mako Cotton thread. I ended up making two of them: One for Amy and the other for Westminster's main booth where they showcase sewn items from each of the designer's new collections.



This quilt was designed by Amy's husband, David Butler. Fabrics used are from Alchemy for Westminster/Rowan using Amy's new Quilter's Cottons. A free pattern for this quilt will be available through Amy Butler Design, soon!



I used Alchemy Organic Cottons for this version . . .



Meet David Butler of Parson Gray, introducing his latest collection called Seven Wonders for FreeSpirit. David is an artist on so many levels. In addition to being a fabric designer, he is an amazing photographer, graphic designer, and musician.



Anna Maria Horner's booth showing her latest collection, Field Study, for FreeSpirit . . . now in rayon, too! I had the pleasure of meeting Anna in person this summer at the Front Range Modern Quilt Guild meeting where she talked about her life as a designer and the processes she goes through. It was marvelous and she was so entertaining. We were very lucky to see a sneak peek of Field Study just as it was being released to shops, as well as several quilts she's made over the years, including her gorgeous new Feather Bed Quilt



Anna has a new book out on embroidery: Anna Maria's Needleworks Notebook. You can see a few of her embroidery designs, here.



I always love seeing the sofa Anna Maria brings to Market! The arms of this one show off one of her velveteen fabrics. I had to touch it, and it was so soft and pretty!



Moving on to Kaffe Fassett's booth, where color abounds! Kaffe's newest fabric designs can be seen on Westminster's web site.


I was sorry to have missed meeting Kaffe. I've seen him on a few occasions during Market. However, I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting him. Perhaps next time!



Check in with me next time when I share a few more photos from Market: Moda, Robert Kaufman, and Michael Miller!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Yellow Jelly Blog Monster: "Feed Me!"


 I was viewing someone else's blog quite by accident. You know how how it goes: you start out on a web page, click a link, then click another link, and end up somewhere where something inspires you? Well . . . that's what happened here.

And that's how I've invited the Blog Monster to my blog.

Illustration by Nacho Gomez
The nature of my business has me doing work that I'm unable to announce while it is happening; as I am working on a project or a series of projects (as I'm doing now!). Well, I guess I could talk about it, but my blog post would sound rather cryptic and would not contain images of what I can't really talk about. Actually, I think that as social media has become even more engrained in our daily lives, it's loosening up a bit.

Things will be changing, however, as the new year is beginning to approach. I will be taking on a few new projects that I'll be happy to announce when I can. And, I'm hoping to have more time to write here in my blog.

In the mean time, I'm so grateful that you've been a consistent reader and must admit that I am tickled each time a comment is left!

Have a beautiful day!

--SuzGuz

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Door Decor

Sometimes it's great to take a break from doing what I do for a living and create something different. This is my new Fall door wreath.




I bought all of the "ingredients" at Michaels a few weeks ago during one of their sales.

1 hot glue gun (I used a small glue gun)
2-3 glue sticks
1 wrapped (brown; resembles a tree branch) round of floral wire
wire cutting tool
2 unfinished grapevine wreaths, 24" diameter
1 length of grape leaves with "frosted" matte grapes vine
2 bunches of purple hydrangeas
1 bunch of green hydrangeas
2 bunches of tiny green berry sprigs

1. Lay grapevine wreaths on top of each other, then take floral wire and tie together. When finished, attach a looped piece to the back where you'd like to hang your wreath from.

 2. Take your length of grape leaves vine and position on top of your wreath; secure with floral wire.

3. Using wire cutting tool, separate then cut long stems of purple hydrangeas from each of the bunches and stick into your grapevine wreath base. Bend wire stems and secure with floral wire, if needed; glue in place.

4. Continue same process with green hydrangeas and green berries.

Tip: After Steps 1 and 2, I placed all hydrangeas and berries first, tied down with floral wire where needed, then moved leaves to get to the base to hot glue all in place.



I like to decorate non-traditionally and plan on leaving my wreath up through to Thanksgiving. At that time I will replace it with one of my hand made Christmas wreaths.

Note: If you were wondering what was in the package in the first image, it's a piece of fabric from Amy Butler's newest collection: Alchemy . . . I'm making the quilt she'll be showing in her booth during Fall International Quilt Market in Houston, TX. It's an amazing design and will be available as one of her free patterns available through her website before the end of the year.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Swarovski Elements First Ever Art Quilting Design Contest

I received some information this week from Kathy at PFAFF, the 150 year old brand of high quality sewing/embroidery machines, that I'm pleased to share with you. PFAFF is supplying awards and sponsoring a contest called, "Create Your Style with Swarovski Elements".

Although the contestant entry deadline was June 1, 2012, I thought this would be great information to share in case you'd like to look into this for next year's deadline.

The following explains the contest. The designs have already been narrowed down to 10 finalists and the top three candidates will be announced at this year's International Quilt Festival in Houston (Nov. 1-4, 2012) where you will also be able to see all of the finalist's quilts. Quilts will also be touring, however, a schedule has not yet been determined.



CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS
10 finalists for 2012 Quilting Design Contest

CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, the inspirational global design initiative for all those who delight in expressing their own style through crystal creativity has announced the top ten finalists of its first ever Art Quilting Design Contest. Initiated in 2011 to celebrate CREATE YOUR STYLE’s second appearance at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, the Art Quilting Design Contest 2012 challenged contestants to “be inspired by the “sound” of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS”.

CREATE YOUR STYLE Art Quilting Design Contest 2012
Applicants were asked to design an original quilt using SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS to express their individual design theme. Designs were to be submitted by June 1, 2012 after which semi-finalists were decided and instructed to submit their finished quilts to SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS for final selection.

Attractive prizes for top three contestants
The three top candidates are to be rewarded with very attractive prizes for their quilting creativity with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. The overall winner of the CREATE YOUR STYLE Art Quilting Design Contest will receive a check for $3,500.00, a gift basket worth the same amount containing SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS and CREATE YOUR STYLE merchandise and a PFAFF® Quilt Expression™ 4.0 sewing machine with a suggested retail price of $2,599. The second placed winner receives a $2,500.00 check, a $2,500 gift basket containing SWAROVSKI ELEMETS and CREATE YOUR STYLE merchandise and a PFAFF® Expression™ 3.0 sewing machine with suggested retail price of $1,939. The third placed winner receives a $1,000 check, a $2,000 gift basket containing SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS and CREATE YOUR STYLE merchandise and a PFAFF® Ambition™ 1.5 sewing machine with a suggested retail price of $1,299.

Expert Jury decide winners
The jury of leading industry experts met on Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at the SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS Creative Service Center in New York City to study the twenty-five semi-finalist’s pieces in detail. After careful consideration they selected a short list of ten finalists for the 2012 CREATE YOUR STYLE Art Quilting Design Contest.

Lending their expertise to judging the event were Caroline Weaver, VP of Global Marketing & Communications for SVP Worldwide; Martha Sielman, Executive Director for Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.; Amanda Schlatre, Special Exhibits Coordinator for the International Quilt Show; and Stephan Toljan, VP of Sales for SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS. When making their selection, judges considered the creativity and uniqueness of the design, the successful incorporation of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS into the quilt, the quality of the workmanship and the overall presentation.

Finalists to attend 2012 International Quilt Festival
The ten chosen finalists will now be invited to attend the 2012 International Quilt Festival in November where their finished quilts will be displayed and the top three candidates will be announced.

CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS
The designers’ choice since 1895, Swarovski is renowned for its excellence in the mastery of precision-cut crystal as well as its numerous collaborations with fashion’s leading creators. Today, Swarovski, as an Austria-based fifth generation family company, employs 20,000 people and enjoys a presence in more than 120 countries around the globe. Swarovski launched CREATE YOUR STYLE with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS in 2004 as a global initiative to promote the joy of creative personal design.  CREATE YOUR STYLE specifically focuses on the endless possibilities offered by SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Swarovski’s varied and versatile line of crystal items that are available in a myriad of colors, shapes, sizes and styles. CREATE YOUR STYLE strives to ignite the inspiration of all those fashion-forward enthusiasts who delight in expressing their own style through crystal creativity.

In 1895, Daniel Swarovski, a Bohemian inventor and visionary, moved to the village of Wattens, Tyrol in Austria, with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewelry stones. From this beginning that revolutionized the fashion world, Swarovski has grown to be the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystal for fashion, jewelry and more recently lighting, architecture and interiors. Today, the company, still family-owned and run by 5th generation family members, has a global reach with some 26,100 employees, a presence in over 120 countries and a turnover in 2011 of 2.22 billion euros. Swarovski comprises two major businesses; one producing and selling loose elements to the industry and the other creating design-driven finished products. Swarovski crystals have become an essential ingredient of international design. Since 1965 the company has also catered to the fine jewelry industry with precision-cut genuine gemstones and created stones. Showing the creativity that lies at the heart of the company, Swarovski’s own brand lines of accessories, jewelry and home décor items are sold through more than 2,200 retail outlets worldwide. The Swarovski Crystal Society has close to 300,000 members across the world, keen collectors of the celebrated crystal figurines. And in Wattens, Swarovski Kristallwelten, the multi-media crystal museum, was opened in 1995 as a celebration of Swarovski’s universe of innovation and inspiration.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Suz-A-Palooza Grand Prize Winner Announced!

Dear Friends:

It has meant so much to me that you participated in my first ever Suz-A-Palooza month-long weekly giveaways. It was such fun for me, and I hope the same for you!

Please forgive me for my delay in posting the Grand Prize winner. I injured myself earlier this week and am finally feeling somewhat better. It has actually been a crazy week for both my husband and me. He tore a muscle in his calf and I had a couple of things go awry. Though, all is fine and on the mend; honest!

I hope you'll stay tuned to my blog and Facebook Fan Page as I'll be writing about a myriad of topics and hopefully, figure out the best time to begin the BOM/Sew-a-long, and announce it in more detail.

So here goes . . .



The Grand Prize winner of my very first Suz-A-Palooza is:  Andrea B.!

Congratulations, Andrea! You should have an email message from me already.

Thanks to everyone for participating! Your feedback, comments, and sharing were priceless, and I enjoyed every link, recipe, and comment made! You were amazing!

I love to hold giveaways, so please keep me on your radar for future events!

My best to you, always!

Susan

Monday, August 27, 2012

Suz-A-Palooza Week 4: The Grand Prize Week!

I'd love to tell you all about our trip to the Denver Modernism show this past weekend, but due to some unplanned interruptions today, I would like to get our last week of The Palooza's instructions out to you sooner, rather than later. ;)

Friends, please be sure to rack up those extra entries, as this is the week that counts the most for the Grand Prize giveaway!

The Grand Prize . . .

Grand Prize compliments of AURIfil and SuzGuz Designs.

Here is what is included in the Grand Prize package:

Carry-all by Amy Butler.

Fat Quarter Bundle: Fairy Tale Friends by American Jane for Moda. Includes 40 Fat Quarters!

4-pack 50 wt. 100% cotton thread by AURIfil.

3 SuzGuz Designs Patterns.

Stationery designed by Amy Butler.

Samples from the entire line of Sugar Hill by Tanya Whelan for FreeSpirit and small fat quarter bundle from Rouenneries Deux by French General for Moda.

Total retail value of Suz-A-Palooza Grand Prize package: over $260.00.

You may recall me saying earlier that the Grand Prize was worth over $150.00. I decided to add a few more items and hope you like it!

How to participate in our Final Week Grand Prize Giveaway:

1. Please answer the 2-part question found on my FACEBOOK FAN PAGE. (worth 2 entries)

2. All month long, we've had the chance to learn lots of new things. I hope you've enjoyed finding out about new projects, new ideas, or perhaps even a new collection of fabrics you'd like to incorporate into your next quilt!

For your final BONUS entry, please leave a comment on this blog post, below, letting us know what most inspired you during this month-long giveaway. Please contribute anything that made you take note of, such as a new project or fabric collection you'd like to try--or buy!, a new recipe that appealed to you, or perhaps a new skill you'd like to take up!


Sugar Roses I, designed by Susan Guzman of SuzGuz Designs. Image compliments of McCall's Quilting magazine.
Finally, just a quick reminder as to why I decided to host Suz-A-Palooza . . . There are two more issues of McCall's Quilting magazine that will include Part III and Part IV of the 4-Part Sugar Roses Series Quilt project. Please be sure to pick up the first two parts (McCall's Quilting July/Aug 2012 issue and McCall's Quilting Sept/Oct 2012 issue) if you haven't already done so, here! The Sugar Roses quilt you make could become a treasured gift for someone you love or to keep for yourself.

A heartfelt thanks to my sponsor, AURIfil threads.





Suz-A-Palooza: Week 3 Winners Announced!

Insanely busy morning. I've been thrown off task more times today than I'd like, as I have winners to announce! Living in Mountain Time doesn't fare well for the East coasters, as they've been waiting an extra two hours . . . so very sorry for the delay, my friends.

Can you believe it is already the beginning of the final week of The Palooza?! I sure can't . . . Wow, has this month flown by! Before announcing the winner's of Week 3 prizes, I wanted to add how beneficial it is to participate each week. Almost HALF of this week's prizes are going to people who have participated consistently. Therefore, they've racked up many extra entries. Extra entries equals a higher percentage to win, and it has definitely shown in who this week's prize winners are!

As always, I use a random generator to "pull" the winners of the prizes. Here are this week's winners:

Prize 1: Once Layer Cake from the collection called "Full Circle", by Kathy Schmitz for Moda.
Congratulations! Winner: Emily C.!


Prize 2: One Layer Cake from the collection called "Dilly Dally", by Me & My Sister for Moda.
Congratulations! Winner: Peggy M.!


Prize 3: Designer Roll from the collection called "Nest", by Tula Pink for Moda. (this is one of my all-time favorite collections!)
Congratulations! Winner: Pauline F.!


Prize 4: Sun Blooms Bound Journal by Amy Butler.
Congratulations! Winner: Jenelle B.!


Prize 5: One package of full size 50 wt. 100% cotton AURIfil threads (approx. retail value: $38.00).
Congratulations! Winner: Sally M.!


Prize 6: My pattern for SuzGuz Designs called "Peppermint Candy" (retail value: $9.50).
Congratulations! Winner: HueiSei O.!


Prize 7: My pattern for SuzGuz Designs called "In the Neighborhood" (retail value: $9.50).
Congratulations! Winner: Barbara M.!


Prize 8: My pattern for SuzGuz Designs called "Candy Bar Road" (retail value: $9.50).
Congratulations! Winner: Suzanne N.!


Prize 9: My pattern for SuzGuz Designs called "Box of Chocolates" (retail value: $9.50).
Congratulations! Winner: Janet F.!


The Grand Prize with an approximate retail value of over $150, will be given away this week!

I do hope you are enjoying Suz-A-Palooza! Please be sure to participate this week for your extra chances to win the Grand Prize!