2016

Dogwood Medallion

(45.5″ Sq)
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     (12/31/2016)
This quilt began as a single 16″ orphan antique block found, I don’t recall where, y-e-a-r-s ago. I admired the applique workmanship and dogwood design. I always intended to create a medallion quilt showcasing this block, but had a challenging time finding coordinating fabrics. Like fashion, quilting fabric colors change all the time. This pink reminds me of the original Bayer children’s aspirin color (not ‘pink’, not salmon… somewhere in between), the old muslin had yellowed, and the gray is also unique with undertones of brown. From time to time I would pull this block out again and look for fabrics to pair with it, and finally in 2016 I found these luscious fabrics. I am so glad to finally complete this quilt, including hanging sleeve and label, and get it photographed before year’s end… my last quilt of 2016.
I’m excited to add that this quilt earned a Blue Ribbon in the 2018 Virginia Quilt Show at the State Fair in the Virginia Quilt category.

Other Quilted Christmas Creations, and more…

(12/2016)
A quilted Christmas stocking for Ryker Kenneth Gauldin, made with love by this Mimi for his very first Christmas.

Wreaths…

And a wool applique tree skirt for my sister…

Van Gogh Irises Fractured

( 46″ x 37.5″ )
Fractured, pieced, thread painted, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     12/2016
From the moment I first saw this Van Gogh fabric in July of 2016, I knew it would be fabulous fractured! I completed fracturing and piecing the top on November 2nd, 2016… the day Cherrywood announced their next “challenge” – a Van Gogh Challenge… so this won’t be my last Van Gogh piece.  😉  By December 10th I finished thread painting and quilting it. What a cheerful piece! It makes me smile to look at it. Now, I must finish planning out my next Van Gogh quilt.

Sleep Tight in God’s Loving Care

(46″ x 33″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     12/8/2016
Made for the arrival of my first grand baby, may he never forget God and his Mimi love him!
Psalm 136:9 The moon and stars to govern the night; His forever, gracious steadfast love endures!

Farm Fresh and Free Range

(56.5″ x 39.5″)
Pieced, appliqued, embellished, and quilted by Sue Hickman    Berryville, VA     11/2016
Made in honor of our Hickman Hens… past, present, and future. Life in the country is grand!

Hens and Chicks 1 & 2

(27.75″ x 14.75″)
Pieced, appliqued, embellished, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     12/2016

Samantha’s Furry Feline Friends

(a.k.a Mod Kits and Cats 2 – 66″ x 46″ )
Designed, pieced, appliqued, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     11/2016
As in the quilt below, the fabulously colorful mod cat fabric became the inspiration for this playful quilt, made in the likeness of Northern Quilt’s Cats on the Roof pattern. Since this pattern was no longer available, I made my own setting kittens and cats to play with loop-d-loop quilting ‘yarn’ on the bright blocks.

Mod Kits and Cats at Play

(56″ x 46″)
Designed, pieced, appliqued, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     11/2016
The fabulously colorful mod cat fabric became the inspiration for this playful quilt, made in the likeness of Northern Quilt’s Cats on the Roof pattern. Since this pattern was no longer available, I made my own setting kittens and cats to play with loop-d-loop quilting ‘yarn’ on the bright blocks.

The A B C’s of Christmas 1 & 2

(61″ x 46″)
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA 10/2016
(Yup, there are two of these.)
I do enjoy the challenge of making modern looking quilts, however, making a traditional quilt, like this one, is comforting and “feels like home”… and there is no better place to be than home for the holidays where Christmas is the reason for the season.
It was fun to find a place for the little bit of antique fabric I’d found long ago with its rows of red snowflakes!
While some may see elements of an Indian Puzzle in this Friendship Star block, this ‘Dazzling Pinwheel’ was also inspired by a feature of Mosaic #14 (ca. 1938).

Window to the Sea

(50″ x 33″)
Designed, pieced, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     10/2016
One fish, two fish, coral red fish… and more.  Why?  Because, as Jacques Cousteau said, “The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

Fractured Floral #12

(14″ x 25.75″)
Fractured, pieced, thread painted, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     10/2016
Again, proving small flowers fracture fabulously.

Fractured Floral #11

(8.75″ x 6″)
Fractured, pieced, thread painted, and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 9/2016
This watercolor tulip, though small, cried out to be fractured. How could I not comply?

Christmas Wreath

(20″ sq.)
Quilted and finished by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 9/2016

Peace Cardinal Wall Hanging

(20″ x 8″)
Quilted and finished with tabs and grapevine hanger by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 9/2016

Joy Cardinal Wall Hanging

(20″ x 8″)
Quilted and finished with tabs and grapevine hanger by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 9/2016

Farm Fresh

Placemats
(13″ x 18″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 8/2016
Having just enjoyed our first summer with a “CSA” (Community Sponsored Agriculture) “share”, I was inspired to make these cute placemats. There is absolutely nothing like farm fresh fruits and veggies… unless it is using these placemats when serving them. 😉

Enjoying Wildflowers Along the Way

(66″ x 53″)
Designed and pieced by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 6/2016
Finished with long-arm quilting.
This quilt began with a beautiful wildflower batik fabric found this spring while on vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I loved the colors and the unique design repeated throughout the fabric. Once home, I fussy-cut each focus flower and considered how I would lay them out to highlight these beautiful squares. Simple ‘rails’ of two coordinating fabric with some plain green squares and a border completed the design.

Fractured Floral #10

(15″ x 14.5″)
Fractured, pieced, thread painted, and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 5/2016
When fractured, pieced, embellished and quilted, the subtle nuisances of this Nasturtium (Frond Design Studios – Stephanie Brandenburg’s Edible Garden flowers) are expanded, amplified, and intensified. Though small, the resulting image is bold and dynamic. (I’ve found a new favorite!)

Lighting The Way Home

(56.75″ x 33.75″  )
Fractured, pieced, thread painted, and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 5/2016
From the moment I saw this fabric (Wind & Waves by Douglas Laird for Wilmington Prints) I knew it needed to be “fractured”… and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
The inner border provides a “mat” for this “picture” quilt, and outer border’s quilting stitches highlight the grain in its “wooden frame”.
This quilt was one of the quilts showcased in a Solo-Artist “Art in the Halls” show at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA from October 18th, 2016 through January 22nd, 2017.

Memories of Spain, Tapestry and Tiles

(46″ x 39.5″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 5/2016
I rarely (if ever) have made a quilt from a “quilt kit”. I might once in a while buy a “kit” for its fabric and then create my own quilt using that group of fabrics, but this quilt kit, as is, “spoke to me” when I saw it. My husband grew up in Spain and has told me so much about the country… its Tapestry “factory” in Madrid and the lovely Spanish tiles of Valencia (and elsewhere across the country). One day I hope he will take me there and share with me his fondest memories. In the mean time, I made this quilt for him from AQS’s Valencia Tiles Quilt Kit using a Michael Miller Fabric Collection. I’m not sure the center fabric was intended to represent a tapestry, but I quilted it with “tiny texturing stitches” such that the birds are showcased like they might be if they’d been woven into a tapestry.

Black and White and Red all Under

( 40.5″ Sq )
Designed, pieced, appliqued, and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 5/2016
My husband just “loved” these geometric red prints when we stopped in a sweet quilt shop (Shoreline Handwerks) in Manteo in the Outer Banks of NC. (This was our first trip to the Outer Banks and, as time allows, I always like to check out the local quilt shops where ever we go.) The simple, traditional “Rail Fence” layout seemed a good place to start piecing, but once the top was ‘done’ it simply cried out for more. I prepared and whimsically arranged the black and white flowers, stems, and leaves until satisfied… and voila’.

Baby “G” Baby Quilts

Made in partnership with Grandma “G” from Carlisle, PA and Berryville, VA 5/2016
Once upon a time the Grohs and Gauldins each moved into half of a shared duplex on Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. The military made them neighbors. Hearts forged close by life circumstances made these fast friends ‘family’. In January of 1990, we started our first partnership quilt, and now as our boys begin to grow families of their own we again took to partnership on quilts for this next generation. These are to be quilts used daily, so we choose a simple pattern and fabrics that should always remind the recipient of their Grandma. We each pieced blocks for the tops, Nancee put the blocks together and added borders, I free motion quilted the tops (shown below before binding) and Nancee bound them.
These are the first two Baby “G” quilts, made with love and hopes we might be making more as time goes on.

We surely couldn’t have imagined that of our 5 boys, 4 would be making us “Grandmas” in the same year!
These last two Baby “G” quilts are alike and were completed in October 2016.

FLW Stained Glass

(26.5″ Sq.)
Designed, pieced, appliqued, and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 4/2016
Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s stained glass ceiling panels in the Ward Willits House, Highland Park, IL (1902).
I was first introduced to FLW when studying design in college. Trips to see his work at Taliesin West in AZ. and Falling Waters in PA. developed interest into a love of his stunningly simple lines and concepts. His designs ‘of old’ remain modern, even by today’s standards. This is, hopefully, the first of many FLW inspired quilts to become part of my “body of work”.
The gold and black fabrics in this quilt are ‘scraps’ of Cherrywood Hand-Dyes Fabrics remaining after making my Lion King – Circle of Life challenge quilt shown below. The suede-like characteristics of the hand-dyed fabrics were perfect used here to represent hand-blown stained glass.

Thoroughly Modern Mini 

(17″ x 13.5″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, Va 4/2016
While it may seem to be a paradoxical to call a quilt constructed of Civil War reproduction fabrics “Modern”, the simple blocks and overall design are definitely modern.

Simple, Scrappy, Star

(90″ x 90″)
Designed, pieced by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 3/2016
Finished with long-arm quilting.
Some quilts are meticulously pieced. Others, like this one, are simple. This quilt features mostly Civil War reproduction fabrics and a striking Star. When a friend saw it, she commented on my mitered corners saying, “You couldn’t just keep it simple, could you.” I guess I am always looking for how I can challenge myself, even in what generally is a simple, but stunning quilt.

Lion King – Circle of Life

(20″ x 20″)
Designed, traditionally pieced, hand and machine appliqued, thread painted and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 3/2016

This quilt was created for Cherrywood Hand-Dyed Fabric’s 2016 Lion King Challenge, done in partnership with The Disney Theatrical Production Company, producers of The Lion King on Broadway.
This was, by far, the most demanding quilting concept I’ve ever tackled. However, bringing three unique designs together within one quilt seemed the best way to summarize the Lion King’s Circle of Life story. I was artistically and technically stretched to figure out HOW to create 3-D pleated images using traditional methods and Cherrywood’s beautiful hand-dyed fabrics. After creating my own designs, I sequentially pieced strips of background on which I fused and appliqued the three separate images working with only ¾” of the designs at a time.
The left perspective shows strong angular lines of powerful King Mufasa (Father). Head-on, you see Sarabi (Mother) with cub Simba under a baobab tree in front of a setting sun on the Pride Lands. The soft curved lines of the right perspective show Simba grown, ready to begin leading a pride of his own, completing the Circle of Life.
The picture’s “mat” is defined by black borders and features 3-D double diamonds.
The picture’s scalloped edge frame is embellished with hand-appliqued simple elements, and hand appliqued on a black background which squares the quilt. To better showcase the picture with frame concept, instead of binding, an enveloped knife edge finishes the quilt.
304 quilts entered their challenge and 138 were selected as finalists. I am truly honored this quilt numbers among them! You can find pictures of each of the 138 finalists published in the Lion King Challenge commemorative book.
It was an absolute delight to work with Cherrywood’s luxurious hand-dyes fabrics and great fun to work through the designs and challenge of creating this one-of-a-kind quilt! I knew even while creating it that its unique features would require extra special handling. Upon hearing from Cherrywood that it had been selected as their “Cherrywood’s Choice” Lion King Quilt and that as such it would travel with them to shows in the coming year, I was thrilled to know it will travel safely in their care.

During 2016 and 2017, it will travel with Cherrywood and be on display in their booth at the following shows:
AQS QuiltWeek, Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 10-13, 2016
AQS QuiltWeek, Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 15-17, 2016
International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, November 2-6, 2016
Road to California Quilt Show, Ontario, California, January 19-22, 2017
AQS QuiltWeek, Paducah, Kentucky, April 25-29, 2017
Minnesota Quilt Show, Duluth, Minnesota, June 7-10, 2017
QuiltExpo Madison Wisconsin, September 7-9, 2017
Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara, California, October 12-15, 2017
Additionally, it was showcased along with the full Lion King Challenge finalists November 22nd, 2016 through January 3rd, 2017 at the Franklin Arts Center, Open City Gallery in Brainerd, MN.
I’m already thinking through the details of the next quilt I will make using the techniques that I created and incorporated in this quilt, and yes, I will likely, in time, be offering a class in this technique in Studio 2724.
To read more about this quilt and its travels, click here.

Scraps, Born Again

( 59″ x 53″ )
Designed, pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA     1/2016
This quilt was a lot of fun to make! I loved cutting the pieces that became these 220 colorful triangles. Throughout the process, many reminded me of the first quilt I’d made using that unique piece of fabric. I’d completed the top and quilted it and hung it on my design wall to photograph before I discovered the “cross” hidden in the overall design, and that made me love it all the more.

Nature’s Christmas Placemats

(17.5″ x 12.5″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, Va.
Yes, I’ve made these before, but this set is mine.
First 2 completed in 12/2013. Last 6 completed in 1/2016.

Pole with a Twist

Another tablerunner.
(14.5″ x 50″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman Berryville, VA 1/2016
Pattern by Lisa Moore, of Quilts with a Twist.

Forever Yours, Valentine

(~7″ Square)
Pieced, appliqued, and quilted by Sue Hickman     Berryville, VA     1/2016 Adapted from Anita Bradshaw’s ‘Swirl Heart Applique’ pattern from her Garment Applique Collection.
I decided to make some Valentine Quilt cards this year… with a “label” they are all set to be mailed. What does one “do” with a Valentine Quilt Card you might be wondering (besides enjoy the hand-made heartfelt sentiment)… these could be hung on the wall or used as a table-top coaster.

Pole with a Twist

Tablerunners (14.5″ x 50″)
Pieced and quilted by Sue Hickman, Berryville, VA 1/2016
Pattern by Lisa Moore, of Quilts with a Twist.