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Leisure Arts Quilt Patterns are Great for Quilters
Tue 30 Sep 2008
If you are a quilter and have not yet tried your hand at Leisure Arts quilt patterns, stop by your local library or bookstore to see what you have been missing! Leisure Arts is one of the world's largest publishers of craft instructional guides. Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, Leisure Arts publishes instructional DVDs, books, leaflets, and newsletters in addition to its website, www.leisurearts.com. The company has many focuses from cross stitch to knitting, to Christmas entertaining. Leisure Arts'quilting patterns are some you will not want to miss. Mary Engelbreit fans will love the Leisure Arts quilt patterns book called ... Read More...
Mathematician Re-engineers Quilting
Tue 30 Sep 2008
Along the way she discovered a sewing machine that appeals to both her quilting and her engineering sides. A lifelong sewing enthusiast, Baker had not had much quilting experience. But looking for a creative outlet, she decided to focus on the craft and soon discovered that using the systematic approach of an engineer she could make the time-consuming process of cutting and sewing go much more quickly. Baker developed a method based on "strip piecing," eliminating the need to measure and sew together every small piece of fabric in a quilt top. Instead, strips of fabric are sewn together, cut ... Read More...
5 Million Quilts Need Restoration
Mon 29 Sep 2008
OMAHA, NE -- There are over 5,000,000 antique quilts in need of restoration estimates Nancy Kirk of The Kirk Collection in Omaha, NE. But there are less than three dozen quilt restorers working professionally around the country. Kirk is determined to change those odds and save more quilts by training the next generation of quilt restorers at two workshops in September in Nebraska. “On September 19 and 20 we offer a Beginning Quilt Restoration Workshop where people learn to repair patchwork and appliqué quilts,” said Kirk. Each person who takes the workshop gets to bring an antique quilt they are ... Read More...
Art Quilting - What is it Exactly?
Mon 29 Sep 2008
Art quilting has become immensely popular in recent years as more women and men take a step beyond traditional quilting and venture into this very creative field. But what exactly is an art quilt? An art quilt is most commonly defined as having the basic characteristics of a quilt, i.e. a layer of batting sandwiched between two layers of fabric and held together with stitching, however this is where the similarity ends. As with traditional painted art, an art quilt comprises the same elements and principles of design and is intended to hang on a wall, but because of the ... Read More...
Easy Baby Quilts Make Great Gifts
Mon 29 Sep 2008
Easy baby quilt patterns make great gifts! Moms can never have too many baby quilts and one made especially for her baby will certainly become a treasured heirloom, no matter how easy the pattern. It isn't necessary to spend hours toiling away on a baby quilt, easy baby quilt patterns make just as nice gifts! If you want to try quilting, an easy baby quilt pattern is a great way to start. The completed project is much smaller than a full or queen size quilt. Easy pattern plus smaller project equals a completed success! The applique technique is one of the ... Read More...
You Get What You Pay For
Fri 26 Sep 2008
So you bought some quilt fabric at a chain store for $3.99 per yard. It stretched badly when you tried to sew a bias edge. If you pre-washed it, it ran in the wash water and dyed other fabrics in the load. If you didn’t prewash it, it ran all over the neighboring fabric in the quilt top when the quilt was washed. Bummer. All that work for nothing. You have just experienced that old truism, “You get what you pay for.” Even though we don’t like to pay it, there really is a reason why “quilt shop quality” fabric ... Read More...
What Would We Do Without Needles?
Fri 26 Sep 2008
Think about it. What would we do if we didn’t have needles? We sure wouldn’t be quilting. Seems strange that a tiny piece of metal is all that makes our beloved pastime possible. Ever wonder how those little bitty #12 betweens we use so diligently in our hand quilting to get 12 stitches to the inch are made? Needles are fascinating in that they are still basically made by hand with the help of a few powered stamping tools in only five factories worldwide. The finest needles are still made in Great Britain. The other needle factories are located in ... Read More...
To Prewash or Not to Prewash
Fri 26 Sep 2008
This is a good question, but not one that can be answered easily. A lot depends on personal preference and quilting style. For example, I am an impulse quilter. I like to go to my stash, pull some fabric, get out my mat and rotary cutter, and start cutting. I don’t do a lot of preplanning. (Yeah, I know, it shows.) I don’t want to have to worry about whether my fabric has been prewashed or not so I prewash everything before it gets put on my shelves. I don’t want bleeding and I don’t like the feel of fabric ... Read More...
So What is Batik Really?
Fri 26 Sep 2008
Batik is very popular all over the country right now. It comes in many colors and patterns. The patterned batik is very different from the calicoes, florals, homespuns, and plaids we are used to. The colors are exotic and the patterns are unusual. So what is it really? Batik is actually a resist method of printing a design on fabric rather than the end product, though the word batik has now come to mean the fabric itself. To make batik some sort of agent is used to coat the areas of the fabric where the design will be. Many countries ... Read More...
Signature Quilts
Fri 26 Sep 2008
Our esteemed fellow member Lois Regan will be giving a talk on signature quilts to the Simi Valley quilt guild on May 17, 2003. Now I have never found signature quilts particularly interesting so I wondered what Lois could find to talk about for any length of time. Turns out that there is lots to talk about, especially if you can find the story behind them. As with most human endeavors signature quilts came into widespread popularity because of a couple of technical innovations, the steel nib pen invented in 1803 and the mass-production of permanent ink in 1830. Funny ... Read More...
Should You Get Your Quilt Appraised?
Fri 26 Sep 2008
If you have a family heirloom or an expensive art quilt this is not a hard question to answer. Of course you should. But there are some other quilts you should consider having appraised besides grandmother’s masterpiece. Have you made or received as a gift a quilt with lots of beautiful hand quilting? Or maybe one with elaborate embroidery or other embellishment? If these quilts were lost or damaged they would be very expensive or even impossible to replace? Maybe an appraisal would be appropriate for these special quilts. Now that I have talked you into considering an appraisal, you ... Read More...
Rose of Sharon
Fri 26 Sep 2008
I have always liked the Rose of Sharon block and its many variations and I think the name is as beautiful as the blocks themselves. The name, of course, is from the Song of Solomon in the Bible; “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Rose of Sharon is even the name of a character in the John Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath, set in the Bakersfield area during the Depression. They call her “Rose o’ Sharn” in their Oklahoma accent. The Rose of Sharon pattern was used in textiles, china, wallpaper and crewelwork long ... Read More...
Quilts and Grief - Bereavement Quilts
Fri 26 Sep 2008
September has been a hard month. My eighteen-year-old cat who traveled the world with my husband and me died September 5th and then September 11th followed. I did what a lot of women down through the eons have done. I cried and quilted. Quilting has always offered comfort to grieving women. In colonial and pioneer days, death was an ever-present shadow. Women died in childbirth. Childhood was a hazardous journey. Rare was the family that didn’t lose at least one child to the grim reaper. Quilts were used to wrap the deceased and drape the coffin. Sometimes they were used ... Read More...
Quilt Kits: Guilty Pleasure?
Fri 26 Sep 2008
Quilt kits have been around for a long time. Some of the first kits were offered in The Modern Priscilla magazine in 1916. These were appliqué quilts with the pattern placement stamped on a plain white background. The quilting pattern was up to you to figure out. Twelve blocks and a border cost $3.50. I guess you provided your own fabric for the appliquéd pieces. This type of quilt kit was very popular for many years and is still offered today in mail order catalogs such as Herrschners and Lee Ward. Once derided as “sew-by- numbers” not “real” quilting, kits ... Read More...
Quilt Judging Comments
Fri 26 Sep 2008
Batting must fill binding. Corners should be 90-degree angles. Edges should lie flat and smooth. No ripples. Quilting to the edge of the quilt should solve this problem. Most quilts could benefit by adding more quilting. Especially in wall hangings, which need lots of quilting for support. Judges looked at the effects of techniques used to see if they would stand the test of time. Wanted the quilt to “tell a story,” meaning the title, the choice of fabric and the quilting assisted each other to make a complete idea of what the quilt was about. These judges liked to ... Read More...
"Perfection"
Thu 25 Sep 2008
I was surfing the Net the other day looking for the bunny in the Fab Shop Hop and came upon a charming web site for The Quilt Haus of New Braunfels, Texas. In the process of exploring the web site I found this letter written by the owner of the shop, Deanne Quill. I immediately e-mailed her to ask for permission to print it in our newsletter because of its universal appeal to all quilters. She graciously allowed me to share it with you. Dear Friends, My “summer resolution” was to make time for more personal quilting. With time at ... Read More...
Painted Quilts
Thu 25 Sep 2008
I’m a little disgusted. No, actually, I’m more than a little disgusted. I am really disgusted. So you get to hear about it. Sorry. But I think that you might be as disgusted about the subject as I am. What has me all upset? You can tell by the title of this little piece, painted quilts. I don’t mean quilts embellished with paint or ink. I mean quilts that are really nothing but paintings with batting and a back. Several of these painted quilts won in major categories at the Houston quilt show in October. How could this happen? I’ll ... Read More...
New Year's Resoltions for Quilters
Thu 25 Sep 2008
It’s that time of year again. Time to sit down with paper and pencil in hand to make a list of all the things you want to accomplish in the new year. Don’t worry about losing weight or trying to get along better with your mother-in-law. I’m here to make some suggestions to make your list doable. (Is that a word? Must be. The Spellchecker didn’t have a fit.) Since I don’t like to make my life any harder than necessary, I’m sure that you will like my New Year’s Resolutions. They are especially for quilters. First Resolution: Make the ... Read More...
Label Your Quilts
Thu 25 Sep 2008
I have discovered an interesting phenomenon. Maybe you have experienced it too. I made a wedding quilt for some friends who got married in Colorado last year. They loved the quilt and thought it was gorgeous. But what really impressed them was the small label I had sewn on the back of the quilt. Other quilters who have had this same experience have said to me, “They (the quilt recipients) liked the label even better than the quilt.” Interesting. My opinion is that they like the label because it makes the gift even more personal. It tells the world, “This ... Read More...
Just the Quilt Facts
Thu 25 Sep 2008
Every three years Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine and the International Quilt Market & Festival conduct a survey called Quilting in America. The survey was first conducted in 1994 to see how many quilters there were in the U.S. and how much time and money they spent on their hobby. A core group known as dedicated quilters was used to determine the statistics. Here are some of the most interesting results as reported in the 2003 survey published in the January 2004 issue of Quilter’s Newsletter. The average dedicated quilter is defined as: 99% female, 58 years old, well educated (76% attended ... Read More...