🌿What's Inside This Week

• Getting quilts ready for my guild’s quilt show
• Ahead of the Curve: Bird of Paradise Design Club fun
• Watch the Appliqué Demo Days replays (before March 11)
• Gradations Quilt Along begins March 11
• Last week on Sewing in Slippers with Sue

🌿News from Sue

Hi Reader,

This week I’ve been busy getting ready for my guild’s upcoming quilt show.

Right now my sewing room table is covered with quilts as I finish sewing labels and sleeves onto the backs so they’re ready to hang in the show. It’s always a little bit of a scramble at the last minute!

Do you ever enter your quilts into shows?

For me, the goal isn’t really about winning ribbons. Of course that’s fun when it happens, but the real joy comes from inspiring other quilters.

Someone might walk by your quilt and think,

“I could do that.”

That moment of inspiration is one of the best things about quilt shows.

If any of you are in New England and are planning to attend the show, please reach out and let me know! I’ll be working on the show floor most of Saturday, but I would love to make time to say hello.

This same idea — inspiring other quilters — is also the reason I love showing my students’ quilts during Appliqué Demo Days.

If you watch the recordings from Demo Days in the article below, you’ll see one of my students who entered her Gradations quilt in a show in Punta Gorda, Florida… and won two ribbons for her Rotary Cut Appliqué quilt!

As a teacher, that’s one of my proudest moments.

Not because she won a ribbon, but because she felt confident and proud enough of her work to enter her quilt into her guild show.

hat kind of confidence is something every quilter deserves to feel. It’s also exactly why I’m starting another session of the Gradations Quilt Along on March 11. I want every quilter in the Gradations Course to have an extra level of support and motivation as they work on their quilt.

Below you’ll find the Demo Days recordings if you’d like to watch them.

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🌿Ahead of the Curve Update

The Ahead of the Curve community will be opening soon to welcome new members. As we begin our March workshops, we’re looking forward to welcoming a few new quilters before the April sessions begin.
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We had a fabulous time experimenting with making Bird of Paradise flowers and leaves during our monthly Design Club. Kathy wrote afterward:

“Thanks for reminding me about Design Club last night! It was probably the best one ever!”
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I think Kathy enjoyed the playful process of figuring out how to rotary cut the shapes needed for this block.
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These sessions are always so much fun for me. I love helping quilters discover a better way to make unusual shapes with Rotary Cut Appliqué instead of tracing a standard appliqué pattern and cutting everything out with scissors.

Each month inside Ahead of the Curve we explore new designs, experiment with shapes, and learn from each other as our quilts begin to take form.
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Our next two workshops — Four Seasons Trees and the Simple Daisy Block — are starting soon. You’ll find the details below along with registration links.
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And if you’ve ever thought you might enjoy a smaller, more personal learning environment, you can join the Ahead of the Curve waiting list so you’ll be the first to know when membership opens again.
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March 20 — CreativiTEA | 11 AM–4 PM Eastern​
Open sew • Community • Creativity
Come for relaxed stitching, conversation, and connection.
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​April 2 — Appliqué Design Club ​
Let’s play with more tropical blooms inspired by Hawaii —Ellie found a Lobster Claw Tree that will be exciting to try!
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🌿Did you miss Applique Demo Days?

If you weren’t able to attend Appliqué Demo Days this week, you can still watch the recordings this weekend.
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The videos will stay up through March 11, so you have plenty of time to watch them in pieces if you like.
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📽️ Watch the replay of Day One 📽️ Watch the replay of Day Two

If you’re short on time, I recommend starting with this moment:

✨ 29:20 in the first video — the Leaves Galore cutting demonstration
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This is where many quilters suddenly realize how Rotary Cut Appliqué works. When you see multiple appliqué shapes cut at once with a rotary cutter — instead of tracing and cutting everything out with scissors — the whole process starts to make sense.
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You’ll also see several quilts made by my students, and more of my trunk show. I love sharing my students’ work because it shows what’s possible when quilters discover a faster, simpler way to make appliqué quilts.
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And if the Gradations quilt catches your eye, we’ll be starting a Gradations Quilt Along on March 11, where quilters in the course will sew the quilt together step by step.
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Enjoy the videos if you decide to watch them this weekend!

🌿Sewing in Slippers with Sue

🧦 Watch Sewing in Slippers with Sue Every Tuesday Morning at 11AM on the Sue Pelland Design's Facebook Page ​​ ​Please note there will be no Sewing in Slippers episodes on May 26 or June 2 while I’m away in Italy. Last week on Sewing in Slippers with Sue I demonstratied how to free-motion embroider names for tmy stocking project. We used my standard sewing machine, not a fancy embroidery macihne! ​ This week, I'll be blanket stitching around the applique...and this will be agood one, becaue the points on the holly leaves are really pointy! So I'll show you some tricks to get nice blanket stitches, even though the points are so curvy ​ Then there are those pesky 1" circles to stitch. Let's tackle those too! See you Tuesday, May 19 at 11am on the Sue Pelland Designs Facebook page.

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