Fifty Thousand Copies Sold
Thank you to all the crocheters and people who love them who have bought my book, Crochet Bouquet! As of June 30, 2017, over 50,000 copies of Crochet Bouquet have been sold since its publication in 2008. I am honored by your support.
The book started with a trip to the mall in 2006. While my husband shopped at the big and tall store, our daughters and I sashayed in and out of clothing shops. Oh yes, you can sashay with a stroller. We studied the fashions and gave our considered opinions to each other.
Quite a few clothes had crochet flower appliques. I thought that was so cool! It was inspiring to consider that any crochet could customize clothing and accessories by adding a crocheted flower. But after seeing slight variations of one basic flower, over and over, I became sadly disillusioned. “I could do better than that,” I told myself.
Back at home, I searched the internet for crocheted flower patterns. At the time, there were some pattern leaflets, a couple of German and French crochet flower books, and quite a few single patterns. There was no book of crocheted floral motifs. This was before Nicky Epstein’s crochet flower book was published.
The absence of a flower motif book for crocheters was so glaring, even I couldn’t miss it!
I designed and crocheted some flowers and leaves, photographed them, and sent them out to a publisher. The proposal was rejected, so off it went to the next publisher on the list. That was Lark Crafts, and they accepted the proposal in the summer of 2006.
Designing, crocheting, and writing instructions for the flowers, leaves, and projects for Crochet Bouquet took about ten months.
Halfway through the process, we had some drama. Sterling Publishing, the parent company of Lark Crafts, was publishing another crochet flower book with one of their other subsidiaries. It was Nicky Epstein’s book that I mentioned earlier. She was (and is) such a well-known and loved designer, it seemed silly to publish a competing book by a mostly unknown author.
Luckily, we were able to convince those in charge that the books would have very little overlap. In fact, we thought the books would be different enough that customers might buy both of them. Thank goodness we were allowed to continue with the project.
In May 2008, Crochet Bouquet hit the bookstores, and has been selling steadily ever since. The book has also been translated into Spanish and Russian. Very exciting!
Thank you very much for your part in the success of Crochet Bouquet!
Four Days Left to See Celebrate Doilies
Don’t wait too long! You have only four more days to see the Celebrate Doilies exhibit at the Dora Lee Langdon Center in Granbury, Texas.
Art quilts, stories, and poetry fill the first floor of the historic Gordon Home, beginning with Constant Comets and Sweet Home, which greet you as you walk into the front door.
The two front rooms have fireplaces and bay windows, and I really like how gallery manager Joel Back displayed some of the posters on the mantels.
In one bay window, we decorated the grand piano with Sandi Horton’s family heirloom crochet and poetry.
In the other bay window, you’ll find posters about doilies of the past and modern doilies from Coats & Clark. They loaned designer doilies for us to display as well. The modern doilies are by designers Susan Lowman, Kathryn A. White, and Lisa Gentry.
Come ready to read Sandi Horton’s poetry and about crocheters of the past. Once you’ve been through the exhibit, it’s a short walk to Granbury’s historic town square, where you’ll find great food, coffee, and shopping.
SAQA Quilt Show Opens in Abilene
Today’s Quilts: Art in Stitch, a juried show of quilts by Texas members of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) opens today at The Center for Contemporary Art in Abilene, Texas.
I’m pretty excited about the show, because two of my quilts are in it. Gaudi Gaillardia and Antelope Horns are both fairly recent works, and more importantly, they do not include any doilies! All my doily quilts are in the Celebrate Doilies show. I’m glad I had something to enter.
We live about halfway between Fort Worth and Abilene. It’s a two-hour drive to either one, but we seem to head east to Fort Worth more often than not. The show is a good excuse to go west, young woman!
My daughter and a friend are coming along, and we’re going to shop at JoAnn Fabrics and a couple of quilt shops. Naturally, we’ll stop at Starbucks, and we might visit The Grace Museum while we’re there. Hey, you’ve got to take advantage of being in the big city!
The show runs through November 10, 2017, at the Center, which is at 220 Cypress Street in Abilene. An opening reception is planned for Saturday, September 23, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
After that, Today’s Quilts: Art in Stitch moves to Lubbock, to be displayed through February 2018.
Almost Christmas
Last August, I heard the first rumblings of “It’ll be Christmas before you know it.” I was feeling pretty happy at the time, because my Christmas in July project was well underway. This year, SAME!
Bucilla kit “Train—Wall Hanging” is coming along fine. The difference between last year and this, is that we now have a television that gets channels! So we watch the news and I sew sequins and felt. Just a little every week gets the job done!
Week 5. 
Week 6. 
Week 7. 
Week 8. 
I’m done with Christmas in July for the week, so today I’m off to the studio to quilt a wall hanging.
Chugging Along on Christmas in July
Week 2 of working on my Christmas felt kit ended with sequinning and sewing red stripes to the white rail that will eventually be sewn to the bottom edge of the train.
Week 3 was all about sequinning and sewing red stripes, too, because there were so many of them. It was good to finish this, so I could move on to a really exciting week.
In Week 4, the train transformed! I worked a little out of order, because I wanted to sew the appliques onto the green felt before sewing the entire piece to the background. It made sewing easier.
Every time I cut out a felt piece, I put the scraps into a bag for recycling. Bits of thread go into the bag, too. Next time I drive to Austin, I’ll drop the scrap bag (clearly marked “SCRAPS”) into an American Textile Recycling Corporation bin. To find out if ATRS has a bin near you, visit their website at www.atrscorp.com.
Finding Life Valance
Now that the Celebrate Doilies exhibit is up and running. I’m taking a break to make other stuff. Yep, I can’t stop making.
We live in the country, and no one is close enough to peek into our windows. That’s why in the three and a half years we have lived in our house, the windows have been bare. As much as I like the no-fuss nature of bare windows, they do look a little austere. This summer, I decided to make valances.
A lady from Germany lived in San Antonio and loved to sew. When she died, her children went to their former German language teacher, Mary El-Beheri, asking, “Do you know of someone who would use and value our mother’s sewing things?” My mother, also a German language teacher, was Mary’s friend. Mary asked her if I would like the German lady’s fabrics and books.
The fabric and trim for our new red and white dining room valance comes from the German lady’s collection. Thank you to the children of the German lady, for so thoughtfully taking care of their mother’s possessions.
These filet crochet triangles must have been sewn to a table runner or dresser scarf. The crochet along the sewn edge was frayed, possibly when someone took out the stitching. But that’s okay, because those frayed edges are hidden in the fabric top of the valance.
This was a square table mat, which I cut in half to make the valance.
These are from a crocheted chair set—they were meant to cover the arms of an upholstered armchair. They make a lovely window treatment.
You can find the vintage instructions for making the crocheted pineapple chair set
here.
More curtains to come—we have a lot of windows!
Celebrate Doilies Opening Reception Today
We’re celebrating Celebrate Doilies today, July 22, with an opening reception from noon to 2 p.m. at the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council, 204 River North Boulevard, in Stephenville, Texas.
Just look for the big doilies on the front of the building. The one on the left is made from macrame cord from my mom’s stash. Thank you, Mom!
The doily on the right is from my dad’s stash of baling twine. Thank you, Dad!
A friend saw this photo of me with the baling twine doily and wrote, “You look so tiny.” That was sweet, and it gives you an idea of the relative size of this doily.
Once inside the gallery, turn to the right to find the Doily Panel, made by participants in a workshop at my studio on July 8–Anna, Ella, Janetta, Royce, and me.
And there’s more: doily heritage, doily art quilts, and doily poetry. Come and see for yourself!
Celebrate Doilies Opening Reception
We’re celebrating Celebrate Doilies tomorrow with an opening reception from noon to 2 p.m. at the Cross Timbers Fine Arts Council, 204 River North Boulevard, in Stephenville, Texas.
Just look for the big doilies on the front of the building. The one on the left is made from macramé cord from my mom’s stash. Thank you, Mom!
The doily on the right is from my dad’s stash of baling twine. Thank you, Dad!
A friend saw this photo of me with the baling twine doily and wrote, “You look so tiny.” That was sweet, and it gives you an idea of the relative size of this doily.
Once inside the gallery, turn to the right to find the Doily Panel, made by participants in a workshop at my studio on July 8.
And there’s more—doily heritage, doily art quilts, and doily poetry. Come and see for yourself!
The Week Ends on Wednesday
The week ends on Wednesdays for my 16-week Christmas in July project. I admit it’s a head game. The lazy part of me doesn’t like having the week end on a Sunday, because if for some reason I’m waiting until the last minute to finish, then I would have to work on the weekend. It’s silly, but it seems to make me more relaxed about the week’s work.
July will be underway for another 10 days, so there’s still time to start a Christmas in July project. Here is an outline for creating a Christmas in July project plan:
- Decide on a project.
- When does it have to be finished? By December 24th, just in time to give it as a gift? Or around Thanksgiving, so you can use it for holiday decorating?
- From now, count how many weeks you have until your deadline. Alternatively, simply decide how many weeks you want to work on it. I chose 16 weeks for my project, because it will be done in plenty of time for decorating, with leeway in case another urgent project comes up, like it did last year.
- Divide the work of the project into the number of weeks you have. Remember to leave time for finishing, like sewing blocks together, weaving in ends, blocking, starching, and so on. Be reasonable as to how you divide the work, because the idea is to finish without feeling burned out or overly stressed.
- Make a list with each week number, the date the week ends (like my weeks end on Wednesdays), and the portion of the project to be finished by the end of the week.
- Get started and enjoy yourself throughout the process.
- Remember this is a tool to help you. Don’t use it as a tool to beat yourself up.
I finished my work for Week 2 at the last minute, on Wednesday the 19th:
Christmas in July 2017
Pacing myself to finish a Christmas project worked so well last year, I’m doing it again this year with this cute felt kit by Bucilla.
Boringly named “Train–Wall Hanging,” Bucilla kit number 86365 features Santa driving a steam train engine decorated with toys, gifts and ornaments, with a snowman catching a ride.
The kit, which I bought at Herrschner’s, my favorite mail-order needlework company, has 147 pieces printed on felt. When you see a piece marked with a solid line, you consult the instructions to find out which stitch and floss color to embroider the line with. Dots show where to attach sequins and beads. Dotted lines show where other pieces are to be sewn.
It’s such an indulgence to have everything marked and thought out ahead of time by someone else! Kits like this include the felt, floss, sequins, beads, and needles. You provide a small amount of stuffing and other bits. “Train” requires chenille stems and cardboard for stiffening certain pieces.
For the next sixteen weeks, I’ll be working on nine or 10 pieces a week. And I’ll report to you here and on Instagram, which help motivate me to keep up with the plan.
And here’s the first week’s work finished:
Week one. 
For more frequent updates, follow me on Instagram @suzannthompson.