Welcome to susies-scraps.com, where a warm greeting awaits you! This website came to be thanks to my husband’s encouragement. He said, “You’re always creating something amazing – you should start a blog!” And here we are, nearly a decade later.
First and foremost, I want to make it clear that I’m not here to sell anything. This blog is purely non-commercial and there’s no shopfront to tempt you. I genuinely don’t want you to spend your hard-earned money, and I have no interest in collecting or selling personal information. My sole purpose is to share the joy of my creative adventures with you.
In the spirit of community, I offer these projects for free, as long as they are used strictly for personal enjoyment. However, I would greatly appreciate it if you could reach out to me if you intend to use my work elsewhere, such as in forums, blogs, social media, or community craft and church groups. Your consideration means a lot to me.
Please note that using my work for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. I kindly request that you respect my copyright in this regard.
About myself, I live in Australia. I started working from the age of 12. I am largely self taught when it comes to sewing and crafting. Sewing, creating, cooking and health have always been an integral part of my life. I have spent the best part of my professional life (43 years) as a Cardio-thoracic , Intensive Care and Operating Room Registered Nurse. I am recently retired.
All throughout my personal life. I have always been very creative. I made my own wedding dress at the age of 21. I have always been interested in sewing, painting, soap-making, cooking, knitting, crocheting, renovating, repairing, gardening, studying and quilting. I especially love antique and vintage quilts.
Fabric and food are a constant Inspiration for me. I am always creating something new and coming up with new ideas for quilts, baskets bags and scrap fabric projects. Barely a day goes by that I am not cooking up something with seasonal ingredients and creating new recipes and projects.
I love fabric scraps. I can not resist them. Pieces which might otherwise be discarded, are made into items of beauty.
Food and fabrics have endless possibilities. They can be turned into something really beautiful. Whenever possible, I will share my quilt stories and inspirations, recipes, free patterns and tutorials and tips for sewing.
I am very interested in antique and vintage sewing machines. I am no expert but I love to be able to make repairs, get them back to sewing and preserve their beauty.
I will share my experiences, in the hope, it will help you too!
Antique and Vintage sewing machines are a great tool for quilting and piecing as the straight stitch is exceptional. They really are economical, compared with modern machines! Did I mention, They look great too!
You can use them for quilting as well.
So join me and make something exciting with my projects.
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Welcome to The Art of Living.
Always sharing my inspirations and ideas for seasonal cooking and textile creations. Hopefully, I can give you some useful ideas too.
If you would like further information on any of these projects, feel free to contact me on social media or leave a comment on this blog.
I hope you enjoy my posts!
All the best and welcome!
I can always be reached via email (susie@susies-scraps.com) or on social media.
Susie
I happened upon your website while searching images on Google. I have a quilt in tatters my grandmother made. I was trying to indentify the pattern and found your picture of the hexagon star quilt you had been working on for a long time.
I have no idea when my grandmother made this but I think probably the early 1900’s to the 20’s.
I so wish my great aunt who it was made for had stopped using it before it was worn beyond repair.
I’m in Tucson, Arizona, USA. We are in the Sonoran Desert, which isn’t as desolate as it sounds.
Thank you for providing so much information for free. Pretty rare these days.
Hi Marilyn, thank you so much for your lovely comment. Your Grandmother’s quilt sounds beautiful. I would love to see it. Maybe you can still save it? Sometimes they can be repaired replacing some parts or reinforcing with fine tulle…..
I love your site. I was wondering if you would mind me sharing your webpage with free patterns to my online quilt group? I always share the site so others can join too.
Hi Kim. Thank you. That would be fine.
I found your site through pure chance, and what wonderful inspiration you give. I so wish I had kept my late Mum’s many skirts and blouses which she had made over the years. At that time, I had no idea I would become interested in quilting. Mum bought the most beautiful fabrics, including lots of Liberty (the was a store in Cambridge, UK, which she used to visit amongst others). Her choices included many vintage style prints.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Thank you! Oh those Liberty’s would have been beautiful.
They are all beautiful quilts . I am looking for a wedding quilt pattern.
Thank you. Did you have any particular style in mind? Also level of difficulty?
I just found you! Thank you for generously sharing your creative journey! I have inherited a vintage Singer machine which I hope to restore and use. Thanks for all your inspiration!
Welcome!
Wow! So many wonderful ideas! Thank you for sharing! I’m so intrigued that I signed up for you emails.
would love to be on your mailing list.
Hi Maryann. Welcome! You can sign up in the left hand column where it says sign up. Enter your email address and then you will need to confirm it a second time.
I just came upon you blog this morning. I too love antique quilting, I hand-quilt all my quilts. I use all my scrap material, save one-inch scraps and make baby quilts for my friend’s children. Always looking for new ideas in which to use my tons of scrap. I too, self-taught seamstress, crocheting, cross-stitch, embroidery, taught to knit and quilt. I especially love reproductive Civil War and 1930’s materials. I look forward to using some of your ideas for all my scraps.
Hi Beatrice. Welcome. Always love to meet like minded quilters!
I have just spent rather a long time this evening gorging on your wonderful tutorials.
I taught myself to sew on a little Singer straight sewer when I first got married and have progressed through to now owning a Pfaff.
I now have oceans of scraps which I keep using but don’t seem to make any impression on the cache.
I hope to spend many happy hours with your patterns and my scraps.
Thankyou for producing such lovely patterns for many hours of my pleasure.
Mary :))
Hi Mary,
Thank you for your beautiful email. I love to hear such Lovely feedback from my readers. Enjoy x
do you have to square it up each round.I am but if you say no I will do another and not square
Hi Debbie,
Perhaps you could tell me which block it is that you were working on. 😊
I love your quilts! I have been quilting since 1999. Even though I love all styles or categories of quilts.. scrappy quilts just make me smile. I stumbled onto your blog from a post on FB for a free tutorial you had made on the web. I feel it might be a “black hole” while looking thru your patterns, quilts, tutorials, etc. Thank you for sharing your art.
Hi Susie, I just discovered you and will sign up for your newsletter. We have much in common, I also have been creating from a young age and I love scraps, always looking for new ways to put them into a quilt. I am also a retired operating room nurse, but I do not share your love of cooking, wish I did. I have recently started quilting again after many years of garment sewing. I look forward to seeing your latest creations. I would love to visit Australia someday, I have a new rescued Greyhound who is from Australia, she is a retired racer.
Hi Anna,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Congratulations on your retirement and a new journey in life! Quilting is such a wonderful hobby and I am delighted that you will join me and all my friends and readers to come to visit. Let me know if you come to visit Australia!
Hello Susie
Thank you for a lovely crafting site. I go into a school in Wales to teach 9-11 year olds how to sew. In July this year the school is holding its annual summer fair, and I was wondering if I made up some of your doorstops would you be willing for me to sell to parents to solely to make money for the school. Thank you Heather Tomos
Dear Heather. That would be no problem. Glad you like them.
Hi Susi,
Love all your work – just beautiful and inspiring 💕
Now I wonder if you might know where I can get a globe shade for my Singer 99k – I just rescued this beauty and it is like new now that my husband has gone over it – but it was a beauty underneath. I rescue and use vintage Singers – I now have 3 x 99ks, 5 x 201k (some metal and some aluminium) a 306 and a 401G, but I love the old heavy ‘gals’ and use them all for charity quilting. I am 75 and new to quilting but love it.
Hi! I noticed you mentioned social media on this page & on Pinterest but do you have a Fb or Instagram page? I’m worried you will respond here but I will not see the email. Anyway, I have a question. I loved your (I thk this is the right term) diamond strip quilt tutorial. Since you said you love fabrics too do you thk it is possible to use pieces of baby & children’s clothes to make something like this? I can’t sew yet so I would be hoping to find someone to sew it but many ppl think the clothes would be too stretchy. Let me know! Thank you.
Just found your page. Im so excited to start quilting again. I recognized some patterns that my grandmother use to make. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Susie, thank you very much for all your fantastic, beautiful patterns!
I have an old Singer machine, it was my Great-Grandma’s – I think the machine now 150-160 y.o. But I love it and make my patchworks with it!
Have a nice week,
Best wishes
Marianne
Loving going down a rabbit hole of your posts. Your creativity is inspiring & your tutorials are very clear. Thank you for your generosity.
Hi Suzie. I’m happy to have discovered your website. I was looking for a different style of bowl cosy and found yours. I love your site as the combination of food and fabric is a win win for me. and you are Australian. I live in Tasmania
Thank you
Noelene
Thank you
I love the quilt above with the pot plant in the background – do you have a pattern for that anywhere as it is beautiful like all your creations and I love that you use vintage machines.
Thank you so much Helen. Here is the link to the pattern instructions. https://susies-scraps.com/2015/04/27/susies-roses-romance-quilt/
Hello Susie. My name is Marlz. (Marlene) Love your blog. Will be in constant contact I think. Marlz.
Looking forward to your blog–love what I see!!
Oh, Susie! I am thrilled to have found you by hap-and-stance!!! Where have you been for all of my life? This will be so very much fun. I love scraps, too! I have become the Scrap Lady who never turns down someone else’s throw-a-ways. Ah, the possibilities! It’s like Christmas to me. Things that I would never chosen myself come to me to continue their lives. Thank you for all that you share! Stay well & safe! pj stitches!
I came to your site through looking for a quilted tulip bag. Success!! I live in Australia and am usually wary of .com sites but once I read your welcome i was in. I am 73 years, old and took up patchwork in February this year. I have been inundated with friends and family bringing scraps of fabric and my backroom is full of bits, I am also trying to learn free motion sewing. Unfortunately, my husband died last year and now I fill my time doing those things I wanted to do and learn when i was younger.
Met you at AQA (Melbourne) and listened to you as our guest speaker. Well done, loved your quilts and your very helpful hints for sewing.
Now I have found your website, sewing, cooking, gardening, everything I love, thank you.
This is the BEST site! I’m 74 and wish I found it years ago.
This is what I call old fashion looks made easy. This is what
Quilting is losing.
Hi, Nancy! I simply had to respond. On May 25, 2023, I achieved 73 years. I am thrilled to have just discovered Susie’s site. This will be great fun! You are right in what you call “old fashion looks” that seem to be slipping away. I am all for making things easy; what would we do with our rotary cutters? It seems that all of the wonderful things that have come before should continue, adding the Modern & other new ideas. To each his (or her) own, without smashing the new directions that some quilters are enjoying to no end. I just passed by an Orange Peel quilt in my search; I have never seen one that struck me as being so beautiful. It is cool to be adding new directions, but I don’t want to lose sight of all that has gone before. I am getting off of my soapbox now…I have been involved with stitching in some manner since I was four. I became thoroughly consumed by quilting & all that it entails at the age of 14. Onward & forward without forgetting where all that we love has come from. (Darn. I didn’t get off of my soapbox, did I? Going now.) Best wishes to ALL quilters & what they enjoy & love to do! Going…. pj stitches!
Hello Susie – I ran across your blog by chance and was intrigued by all the scrap quilts. I am 86 years old, have made quilts for about 40 years, so have many UFO’s and scraps galore which I have been trying to use up instead of starting new projects. I have made some scrap quilts and am always looking for new ideas. You certainly provide many of those. Thank you. Between lack of energy & arthritis pain I can’t sit and sew all day anymore, but hopefully with some new motivation I can accomplish a bit more than I have been recently. I look forward to using lots of scraps with the help of your ideas.
Hi, Ann! I do so enjoy everyone’s stories. With your pain, would it work for you to stand part of the time? And switch back & forth to sitting? As my DD would say, “Just saying….” I wish you well in all that you do! pj stitches!
Hi Susie, I found your blog on Pinterest and I adore your style and the fact that you have VSM. I have several Singers myself, 1 in a treadle base a15, and a 99, and 2 221s. I can’t resist fixing them and using them, they’re so adorable and reliable. Thank you for sharing your sewing, quilting and cooking, I’m enjoying reading your blogs.
I stumbled across your blog and was immediately enchanted. So many ideas! Like you, I am mostly self taught in my hobbies, cooking and just about everything else, lol! I’ve had a delightful time perusing your many posts and discovering alternate methods of doing things. I also love vintage machines although I must admit to preferring my machines to be motorized as opposed to leg powered. I’ve a 75 year old Singer and a 75 year old Featherweight…both of which a fabulous workhorses…and an almost 40 year old Bernina and wouldn’t have a computerized machine if it was given to me. Looking forward to following along with you to see what you’re stitching up next!
A chance encounter has led me to your website & I immediately felt at home ..Look forward to popping in from time to time.
I also recently found and saved a machine much like the one in this post. I have the attachment box and needle plate but no knee or foot . I can even test it much like you. Do you think your source has another?
Please check out your local service centre. They may be able to help you. If not, look on line. That will give you a guide to price and availability.
I was exploring and ran into your website and I am so impressed with your blog. Keep up the great job and I will be following you forever…
Welcome and 💕 Thank you Joan for such a beautiful comment. Susie
Beautiful work. I am in awe of all of your project
I love your ideas for quilts, cooking and other projects. I wouldn’t use a vintage sewing machine if I HAD TO, it creates so much more work. I love my Bernina sewing machines because I can create anything with them and I highly recommend a modern sewing machine. I have also chosen “traditional” ways of being, Nursing, cooking, sewing, and it goes to show it can all be gone about differently with the same happy results.
Hi have you tried sewing on a vintage machine – changes everything. I have 9 singers from 1923 onwards an I quilt with them all plus a beautiful 2017 singer treadle.
Cheers Helen