Suzi Soderlund, Fiber Artist

Pavers is an easy 45″ x 56″ quilt.  Double the yardage for a Twin and triple for a Queen.  It is best to use a minimum of five different fabrics for the blocks.  But I think ten fabrics would look great.  Or even a scrappy one would be fun and us up all those scraps that seem to pile up.  But currently I’m into a Blue/Purple phase.  The next step is to get some kits put together for my website.

This piece I have a little of a Love/Hate feeling about.  I love how it turned out, but it took a few false starts to get it to where I was happy with it.  I Love the color combinations,  I wanted it to be bright, sunny, happy,  summer feel to it.  I used mostly hand marbled fabric for the hummingbirds, hand dyed and batiks for the background.  I tried several white fabrics for the white flowers.  Finally decided to use a white ultra suede.  At first I stitched on it with white thread and really reminded me of an exploded marshmallow.  Think of the original Ghostbusters movie and the big marshmallow guy that get blown up at the end.  Not really the look I was going for.  I Then re-stitched using a black variegated thread and added some embroidered flower centers and that took me to where I wanted to go.  It just makes me happe to look at it.  And yes I sell the pattern on my website.  Come visit!  www.marbled-arts.com

Finally a new post!  I had gotten bogged down with life.  Another of the small pieces that is really wonderful for using scraps.  I used hand marbled and hand dyed fabric for the flowers and leaves.   I’m still enamored with my rust printed fabric used for the fence.  I used french knots made with embroidery thread for the flower centers.  Just a sweet little piece that is easy raw edge applique.

Haunted tree is made from the pattern The Dancing Tree.  The pattern directions call for the use of fusible web, but I thought that I would use a little black thread to add texture.  The next thing I knew I had add texture to the entire tree.  Then the leaves appeared and the trunk need a bit of color to make it more 3D.  My husband wandered into my studio and said “Haunted trees always have a knot hole.”

Below is a close up of the tree trunk.

Fly Away Butterfly is made from the pattern Urania Ripheus.  I used mostly Hand Marbled fabric to add an organic feel and motion to the butterfly.  It’s one of those pieces that doesn’t quite feel finished, but I’m just not sure where to go with it.

The one thing I really am very pleased with is the butterfly body.  I started by using an invisible thread in smoke to follow the line of the marbled fabric to give texture to the body.  And followed up with a Brown/Smoke variegated thread to add the hair.  

After I posted a photo of the last two small pieces, I thought I should post a photo of the three together.  They are not necessarily a set but they are fun together.  I used Chocolate and Two Green Hand Marbled fabrics, Rusty Bits fabric and the border fabric in all three.  They are quick and easy and can use scraps for the most part.

Everyone loves the boot.  My mom has had an old boot planted with flowers for years.  It’s old, cracked and has tons of personality.  I used Hand Marbled, Rusty Bits and some Hand Dyed Black fabric to create my boot.  I stitched in the cracks.  The flowers grew out of the boot.  It’s Spring and it makes me happy.

Also known as Double Birdhouse by Patch Abilities.  During my twenty years of guiding in Alaska I built a few birdhouses every year.  After all Violet-Green Swallows eat lots of mosquitoes, they come back every year and so do their young.  So you want to do everything to encourage then to live nearby.