Learn How to Quilt: quilts made by children, free quilt block patterns

90 Minute Quilts, Quilts Children Can Make
and June Free Quilt Block Patterns

Jelly Roll / Bali Pop Quilt top - backing

Greetings Quilter -

With the Jelly Roll quilt top finished, it was time to figure out what to do for the backing.

Since I had a bunch of strips left over, I decided to create a backing "fabric" using the strips.

Each strip was 40-43 inches long, not long enough to cover the approximately 50 inches of the quilt top, so I knew I was going to need to piece the strips to extend their length.

I decided it would be kind of boring to just sew the strips together and then add pieces onto the ends to make the back large enough - although that would certainly have been an option.

Instead, I decided to sew the strips together into units of 5 and then cut them apart to make 10 inch squares (finished size). Once I had the squares, I placed them next to each other, rotating each block by 90 degrees. It makes a kind of Rail Fence quilt look.

While it is lacking some of the design features of a Rail Fence, it is more interesting to me than if I had sewn the strips together. A little more work, but since the quilt will be around long after I am gone - - -

Now, onto quilting.

Because this quilt is made using batik - a tightly woven fabric - and it has many seams in the back, and I am using bamboo batting, this quilt, too will be machine quilted.

Happy Quilting!

Penny

Fabric Postcards for Penny's Postcard Posse

Take a few minutes to create a small fabric postcard this week for a soldier in the Middle East. A few scraps of fabric is all it takes, and by making one a week - or every few days - you can brighten the life of our troops.

Just a few minutes is all it takes to create one of these small treasures and send it to Diane for shipment abroad. The letters and emails she gets back are remarkable and tell just how much these little treasures mean to the soldiers over there.

You'll find all the information below. This month I'll be sending additional information, including patterns and instructions for making these tiny quilts.

And now for the rest of the news - -

Happy Quilting!

penny halgren

90 Minute Quilts

If you are looking for a way to pass a summer afternoon, why not whip up a quilt?

It is not that easy, you say?

Quilter, artist, and author Meryl Ann Butler would disagree.

Butler’s book, 90-Minute Quilts, was published about four years ago. It is a great place for beginning quilters to find projects with detailed instructions and – as equally important – almost instant gratification.

The book offers instruction for 15 smaller projects perfect for quilting newbies and a few advanced ones ranging from a batik baby quilt to a silk shawl and lots of neat, quick projects in between.

Butler attributes her own large family into helping her find time saving quilting techniques.With limited time to quilt, these techniques allowed her to enjoy her craft. She says the idea for 90-minuite quilts came about when looking for a way to teach her 7 year old daughter to quilt.

With kids, you’ve got to give them a project that coordinates with their attention span plus lets them see results rather quickly. Butler knew this, found the technique, assembled the tools, and her 90-Minuite Quilts project was born!

When you glance through her book, you will see that Butler points out some of the quilts photographed are made by children. There is some nice fussy cut work created by a 10 year old and another great wall hanging made by an 8 year old girl.

Tips on tools and techniques are arranged in the book to be helpful time savers for the beginning quilter. For instance, one money saving tip she offers in the book is to save your old rotary blades.

Even if they just are not quite sharp enough for cutting fabric, you can use those blades to cut paper and templates. You get just a little more life out of your blades with this helpful tip.

Being a fiber artist, Butler finds innovative ways to present fabric in quilts and recycle fabric for them as well. The project labeled “Loving Memories” uses patches of old clothing. Look closely at the photograph in the book.

You will see that she has incorporated a pocked from Anne Klein clothing into the quilt top. How fun is that! This project reminds us that we can use lots of items from around the house – not just fabric from our stash – to create one of a kind quilts.

Butler gives fabric storage ideas, the notions that quilters need, and fabric pressing tips. Even more handy is the structure of the book itself. It is spiral bound so that the pages lie flat for crafters to use very easily while working on projects. No losing your place!

Before entering the world of quilting, Butler was an established artist. She studied for seven years with Harold Stevenson in New York. Stevenson was a student of artist Norman Rockwell. She ran her own art school for 10 years and began quilting in 1982.

Butler has taught numerous quilting classes at shops and shows all over the United States. Her quilts have been featured in tons of quilting magazines and she is a five-time Fairfield/Bernina Fashion Show designer. Her quilting art belongs in several notable collections including that of the Honorable Nelson Mandella, at the University of Peace in Costa Rica and at City Hall in Moss, Norway.

Meryl Ann Butler's art goes far beyond quilting. When you visit her website, you’ll see her wearable art, works from her private gallery, and her labrynth work.

And Speaking of Quilts Made by Children

I can't say that the reason my kids were including in my quilting was that I wanted them to become quilters or even enjoy quilts as adults.

Their participation was entirely selfish on my part. I wanted to be able to make quilts while they were awake and home as toddlers. And the only way I figured that would happen was if they were part of the creation of the quilts I made.

So, from very early, they chose patterns, helped me design quilts and chose fabrics for quilts.

They found quilts that I could make for them. And when they were in school, we made quilts for their teachers.

And occasionally they made quilts for themselves. Engineering son, Bubba, decided to make a quilt all by himself that was a kind of universe quilt.

He cut out planets and zigzaged them onto a piece of fabric. To make sure that everyone knew which planet was which, he made labels and attached them near the planet (the little rectangle pieces).

This quilt was mostly his work, although I did supervise and do the light hand quilting.

He has fond memories of this quilt, even though it is tucked away safely in my closet.

bubba's space quilt planets of the universe

Bubba's Space Quilt - click on the image to see a larger picture of Saturn and Uranus

TheQuiltingCoach.com provides answers to your quilting questions; tips, techniques and shortcuts to make your quilting fun and easy; quilt block patterns with step-by-step instructions (including photographs of what to do); quilting projects; and tons more.

Beginning Quilters or more experienced quilters, we're anxious to have you join our community!

For this month, you can join for a special rate that will give you access to everything online in TheQuiltingCoach. You'll find hundreds of free quilt block patterns as well as quilt projects - including the new Jelly Roll / Bali Pop Quilt.

Visit: www.TheQuiltingCoach.com for more information. Click on this link for the special rate: Special Deal for TheQuiltingCoach.com

June Events and Holidays for Quilters

Summer is upon us and there are plenty of activities in June to keep us quilters busy. In the spirit of Flag Day (June 14) why not make June the month you quilt a patriotic theme? Try a new pattern or use your favorite quilt block pattern in red, white and blue fabrics.

Father’s Day is another important June holiday. In 2010, Father’s Day is on June 20. If you don’t have time to make a full quilt for Dad, try to work in a photo lap quilt with special memories of your family. If your time is really limited, quilt your father something small to hang in his office (or man cave), or make a quilted coaster and give him a new coffee mug to go with it. If you live far away from your father, mail him a quilted postcard you’ve designed especially for him on his holiday!

There are plenty of other holidays in June to celebrate. Nursing Assistants Week is June 10-17. Drop a fabric postcard in the mail to arrive at your favorite nursing assistant’s place of employment to make him/her feel extra special!

Watermelon Seed Spitting Week is June 24-27 and it is conveniently followed by National Prevention of Eye Injuries Awareness Week, June 28- July 5. If you watch where you spit those things, maybe you can help prevent an eye injury.

Quilters who enjoy creating Civil War replica quilts or love quilts from that era might be interested in knowing about a holiday known as Juneteenth. According to the Juneteenth website (here), this is the oldest celebration that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

Even though President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in January 1863, the people of Texas were not informed until June 19, 1865. Apparently, Union troops were not plentiful enough to enforce the proclamation everywhere in the country. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in April of the same year allowed the Union forces to grow in strength and to finally enforce the president’s proclamation. Major General Gordon Granger and his troop arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that the enslaved were free.

This era of the United States’ history is rich in quilting. Women on both sides of the issue made quilts for the men folk who were going to war. Quilts have been said to lead slaves to freedom, using special quilted “codes” to direct them to the Underground Railroad.

There are many more occasions to celebrate throughout the month of June. You can find a huge list of June celebrations here. Pick one and find a quilt project to go along with it and enjoy the month of June!

Postcard Quilts for the Troops

Halloween Roundup Next - Deadline September 29!

Halloween in Iraq or Afghanistan is just another day unless it becomes something different by virtue of quilters' intervention!

I wanted to do something to let the soldiers in the Middle East know that there were hundreds - even thousands - of folks here in the US who appreciated what they were doing.

Our first Penny's Posse Rounded up more than 139 tiny postcard greetings for the soldiers in Iraq for the 4th of July 2006.

Those fabric cards were sent through Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California, and pictures of fabric postcards sent in the first Roundup are posted on this site.

You can read the first webpage with the original idea here.

After the first Roundup, Penny received emails from several quilters asking if she would please do another Roundup so they could participate. And more Roundups were added.

As quilters, we know what those postcards mean to the men and women who recieve them. Some who get them receive no other mail from home. And for all of them, it's a reminder of the wonderful freedoms they are fighting for and the comforts they will enjoy when they return home.

Still others have fond memories of their mothers or grandmothers creating quilts to keep them warm and safe as children.

Now you can send postcards for our Halloween Roundup. This is just a fun time of the year - with Trick or Treat fabric, memories of Halloween costumes and marching around the neighborhood begging for candy.

You can bring those memories back for the soldiers stationed abroad by sending them tiny quilts - fabric postcards decorated for Halloween.

Check out the postcard patterns on www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com I will continue to add designs, and patterns for the fabric postcards are always free.

To make the Halloween deadline, get your cards to Diane by September 29

Please send your cards to:
Diane Malaznik
14215 Westmore St.
Livonia, MI 48154-4149

Diane is doing a fabulous job keeping the pictures updated, and if you have sent cards in, let your friends and family know that they can see pictures of them here: www.Fabric-Postcards.com

Remember you can get FREE postcard patterns at: www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com

June Free Block Patterns

These free June quilt block patterns will make your summer quilting fun. These quilt blocks include easy blocks as well as some that are a little more difficult.

Click here to download your June FREE quilt block patterns