Fabric Field Trip Friday-Sew Central

I went on a little field trip last week with my friend Caroline to check out a couple of semi-local fabric stores. Saturday is Local Quilt Shop Day so I thought it would be fun to share my local shops with you over the next couple of days.   First up we visited Sew Central located in Merritt Island, FL. Would you like a tour?

 It is a little bit of a hike from me and I didn't even know it existed until we met up with the owners on the way to quilt market last fall. I'm so glad we decided to check out their store.  They have great thing going on over there. 

Of course they sell fabric but not just quilting fabric.  They teach a lot of garment classes so they have quite a collection of apparel fabrics as well. Sometimes it's hard to find good knits, and they have them!

They also have a sweet set up for their classes.  They point a camera on what the teacher is looking at so the students get a one on one perspective. What a great idea!

I loved this chart of all the ways you can finish a seam.

Here are a few more pictures to enjoy. 

 Notions galore!

All in all just a great store with a fresh take on your traditional quilt shop.  They have quite a variety of fun classes offered that would appeal to all ages. Thanks Sew Central!

 Keep inspiring people to sew. 

WIP: My Honeybell Quilt

Today I have a little work in progress to share that I'm kind of excited about and a little nervous too. I'm also kind of stuck on it so I'd appreciate any advice you can give.  I joined in the Mini Log Cabin Sewalong at Sew Can She and have been making little orange log cabins.

There is a little local Quilt Show here asking for submissions of Florida inspired quilts, so I thought I'd kill two with one stone and sew up a quilt inspired by the Honeybell tree in my backyard using the mini log cabins as the oranges.  Here is my little master plan.

So far I have the top mostly put togther and am adding white to fill up the space around the tree.

I like how it's turning out but I suddenly am worrying what I'm going to do once I have the tree done.  Do I put a border on it? if so what color? How should I quilt it? I'm not sure what I was thinking here, thinking I could design my own quilt and enter it into a quilt show.  I'm pretty sure my "I think I can do anything" curse has go me into trouble this time. But I'm determined to finish it so if you have any suggestions please I'll take them.

As I have been slowly piecing this together I've been contemplating why making quilts intimidates me so much.   I think its because they seem to be so time consuming compared to the other sewing projects I do.  Plus, there is so much I just don't know about quilting.  Is this even the right way to press these seams?

 So I decided to try to enjoy the process instead of thinking about how long it is going to take to finish.  And you know, piecing together a quilt is kind of relaxing.  That is, until my thoughts wander back to worry over how this one's going to turn out of course. :)

Thanks for reading!

Heart Wall Art Love

Hi there! After my Christmas decorations were all been put away the wall looked a little bare and ready for some fresh deco. I shamelessly copied Liz and printed up this fabulous modern heart from Caravan Shoppe.  You can learn how to make those adorable tassels from Anna Maria Horner's easy tutorial.

My heart pillow has been on the couch all year and now that it's time to decorate for Valentine's day it's perfect!

I have to admit it looks even more perfect with this cute photobomber.

I mentioned that my husband surprised me with a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas and it has been so fun playing around with it.  Now my kitchen wall has new piece of art work!

I ran across this sweet set of cut out's from A Little Hut when I was looking for Silhouette project ideas. I think they are intended to be box lids but I taped them up on the wall and I love them. 

Oh, and I added a little LOVE to my pom pom heart.  I just cut it out of cardstock and taped it up.  I still haven't tried cutting vinyl yet but I dream of all the labels and words I can put on my walls now. :)

We love life over here!

Over and out!

The Year of the Pom Pom

I'm back People! It was so nice to take a little Holiday hiatus.  We had a lovely Christmas and a relaxing New Year.  And now it's 2014!! I love January!  The clutter of Christmas is put away and everything looks a little emptier. I spent New Year's Eve with my husband's family and we rang in the New Year making Pom Poms and scouring Pinterest for pom pom love. I am in love with these little things!

 Liz tipped me off to this cute set of Pom Pom makers from Hobby Lobby.  And we can't stop making them at our house.  I think Pom Pom mus stand for a little Pop Of Marvelous color here a little Pop Of Marvelous color there.

This was our New Year's haul. I made a bunch of tiny ones with my fingers too on the drive home.

I added a few colors when I got home and strung them up along my window.

  I ordered a string of felt pom poms for my Christmas tree that came too late to use, but I thought it would be fun to string it up in a heart in my kitchen.  It is already time to decorate for Valentines day, right?

I think it would be cute to add a little LOVE cut out in the center of it. And I can do that now because I got a new Silhouette machine for Christmas!  I'll show my first Silhouette project soon. More Pom Pom Love  and yarn projects to come too. Now that I own every color of the rainbow I've got to find some way to use it up. ;)

Happy New Year!

We have a winner!

I big thank you to everyone who stopped by my blog last week for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!  It was so fun having those comments roll in and hearing about everyone spends their free time. There was a lot of sewing of course, but not for everyone. Next time I think I should ask everyone to comment about their favorite "go to" dinner. We'd all get a ton of ideas of what to cook. :)  Anyway, the winner of the Mirror Ball Clutch is Sarah of Dilettante Homemade who said "Sewing and gardening are a tie for first :)"  

Thanks for playing everyone!  I've being having fun being mom and enjoying the hustle and bustle of this holiday season.  I have some last minute family gifts to get together that need to be mailed tomorrow so I'm going to skedaddle.  But I will leave you with this little picture of a pile of ornaments our family made together to take when we went caroling to a nursing home last week. I love simple crafts!... and thank you Pinterest for making them easy to find.

Good Night!

Giveaway Day!!

Hello everyone! Today is Giveaway Day! Not just here on my blog but on lots of others too.  SewMamaSew is hosting this fun event where everyone with a shop or a blog can link up an item that they would like to giveaway. Which means there are A LOT of other things you can win around blogland.  The giveaways are open for one full week so you can take your time browsing around and getting to know other fun blogs too. Want to see what I'm giving away today?? It's a pretty fold over clutch (aka extra large zipper pouch) inspired by the gals at A Beautiful Mess. I only have one left though, the Silver Mirror Ball Dot clutch. A perfect accessory for the Holiday season right?

 I love the zipper on this one.

And the inside is the same as the yellow.  With 2 deep pockets so you can keep your phone from getting sloshed around with your keys and you can stay a little organized.

Want to win the Silver Clutch?  Just leave a comment telling me your favorite thing to do with your free time.  I'd love it if you'd follow me or "Like" me on Facebook too, but it's not required to enter. Make sure your email address is linked in your profile or leave it in the comment so I can find you.

If you are new to Blue Susan Makes, Welcome to my little corner of the sewing world!  You'll find me sewing handmade gifts, stuff for my kids and home, and lots of handbags. Let's keep in touch!

Little Flock of Bullfinches

It's December!! Oh my, we haven't decorated a thing but tonight will be the night we start.  We are going to put up our tree and I'll let the kids cover it in their handmade ornaments. We have a smaller 2nd tree that I have high hopes of covering with pinterest/blog inspired ornaments.  I'll pull it off if I have time.  Have you seen this adorable Bullfinch ornament tutorial?? I couldn't resist making a few.

As I snapped the picture I realized I forgot the eyes. Oops! Half the fun was dumping out my scrap bin and using bits of my favorite fabrics. I wrapped them up and gave away few as presents to friends at our Thanksgiving gathering.

My plan is to make a few more of these and then next on my list are these adorable houses.  I must make them!!

What about you? Are you making any handmade ornaments this year?

BTW: I'm thinking this up to these Parties! Monday Funday, Skip to my Lou, Show off Saturday, and Block Party