Susan caught the quilting bug

Susan McKelvey caught the quilting bug in 1977 in a quilting class in Greensboro, North Carolina. Since then she has continued to publish in this area of interest.

Her first class assignment in 1977 was to stitch one Dresden Plate block. Susan was so excited that she made twenty, used up all of her scraps, and found herself hooked. Although quilting was not a part of her family heritage, it has become a part of her children's lives – they grew up under her design and sewing tables.

In 1984, Susan wrote her first quilt book, Color for Quilters, and many have followed. Susan has indulged her passion for quilts and fabric as an artist, author, designer, and entrepreneur. Through her company, Wallflower Designs, she has produced many patterns and tools for quilters.

Books and reviews:


Friendship's Offering: Techniques & Inspiration for Writing on Quilts
Edited by Nadene M Hartley

Published: 1990-08. ISBN: 0914881302. Number of pages: 95. Publisher: C&T Publishing

Baltimore's Country Cousins: Album Quilt Patterns
Author: Susan McKelvey

Published: 2006-03-15, ISBN: 1574329057, Number of pages: 64, Publisher: American Quilter's Society
Review: Great book, nice patterns, easier than the traditional Baltimore Album type quilts but very different.

Quilting and Color Made Easy
Author: Janet Wickell, Susan McKelvey

Published: 2002-07-05, ISBN: 1579545548, Number of pages: 256, Publisher: Rodale Books

A reviewer commented: I originally borrowed this book from the library but was so engaged with the exercises and worksheets that I had to order a copy of my own. This book is an excellent tutorial addressing color and fabric choices to help you make your quilt into what you were actually hoping for, whether it's calm, eye-popping, or traditional. The authors go through the color wheel, complementarity, hue, dominance, all in an easy interactive style using photographs of quilts as examples, as well as exercises and workbook pages. They also address variety in prints, floral, geometric, novelty, pattern size/scale, types of prints, etc. You can cut samples from your own fabric collection to cut and paste into a color wheel, complementary color pairs, and into index pages that are organized by color for a personalized "table of contents" of your own fabric collection to use when planning projects. I have found it to be such a great tool for choosing fabrics with success, which can be a scary "unknown" to those of us that aren't natural artists. Even if you feel you don't have an eye for color, you can do this.

The Classic American Quilt Collection: Creative Ideas for Color and Fabric
Published: 1996-05, ISBN: 0875967264, Number of pages: 122, Publisher: Rodale Pr

Reviewer said: This is an excellent book for a beginning quilter. Informative and easy to understand. I recommend it highly.

Fancy Feathered Friends for Quilters

Published: 2003-03, ISBN: 1574328123. Number of pages: 112, Publisher: American Quilter's Society

Reviewer : Some lovely appliqued blocks in here, batics are the order of the day, full size designs, wallhanging ideas, embellishment information and adding colour to give graded shades to flowers is included. If you like Baltimore quilts then this could give you some additional blocks to use.