How-to-Quilt.com

May 2007 Newsletter

This issue includes:

1)  A Tidbit of History – More about Color

2)  Tools, Tricks and Quilting Tips – Deciding on Fabrics for your quilts
   
3)  What's in a Name? – Learn about a traditional patchwork quilt block that has many different names.

4)  Recipe for Quilters – Any Kind of Nut Shortbread
   
5)  Newsletter News – Special Gift Idea for Mothers’ Day

6)  Quilter’s Trip – 9th Quilt Nihon Exhibition - Tokyo

7) Quilters Fun Corner - Old Wives’ Tale or Sure Cure?

8)  Fabric Postcards for the Troops – Second Annual 4th of July Roundup

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http://www.how-to-quilt.com/newsletter/archive/index.shtml

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Join today: TheQuiltingCoach.com

1) A Tidbit of History – More about Color

Frankly, I hadn’t thought about a color wheel very much until last week.  Oh, I have one or two, and it’s interesting to see the differences between them.  To me, those differences point out that there is no perfection to color or a printed color wheel.  It simply represents a picture of the relationships among various colors.

Then last week, I discovered the Ives color wheel which made my experiences with fabric dyeing make more sense in terms of the difference between the traditional color wheels I had seen which showed red, yellow and blue as the primary colors and the Ives color wheel (and fabric dyes) which feature magenta, turquoise and yellow as primary colors.

Tonight as I am perusing through a book about natural fabric dyes, I discovered yet another color wheel, and the interesting fact that this is the very first color wheel.  It was created by a scientist named Moses Harris in 1766. 

Because of age and the quality of the ink, the colors on his wheel are somewhat subdued from other color wheels I’ve seen.  And what is especially interesting is that his color wheel is one of the only that includes black.

He demonstrated that mixing the three primary colors together will make black.  So, in the center of his color wheel, he shows three triangles – blue, red and yellow – and where they intersect, it creates a black triangle.

Turns out that Sir Isaac Newton got in on the color study, too.  In one of his experiments, he passed a beam of light through a glass prism and proved that white was the combination of all colors.  He also proved that each color has a specific wave length and are arranged in a specific order – notably the order of the rainbow.

His color spectrum included red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo, with red having the longest wave length, thus appearing at the top of the rainbow.

I’m certain that this exploration of color is just beginning.  One resource I can heartily recommend is Joen Wolfrom’s book, ColorPlay, Easy Steps to Imaginative Color in Quilts.  It’s available on our site: http://www.how-to-quilt.com/products.shtml or from amazon.com

2) Tools, Tricks, and Quilt Tips – Deciding on Fabrics for your quilts

If you are having difficulty deciding which fabrics to use in your quilt, try draping the fabrics over a sofa or large chair for about a week.  Add and take away fabrics as you are deciding and eliminate some.  Try to keep what is showing of the fabrics in proportion to the amount you think you will use in your quilt.

3)  What's in a Name?

Early in the 1900s, as more women became interested in quilting and wanted to expand the variety of blocks they used in their quilts, they would write to magazines and newspapers for ideas.  Publications would list the requests in one issue then publish the answers in the next issue.  The blocks would be published with instructions and a picture.  Often the blocks were renamed to sound more current or to give credit to a city or state, and one block would end up having several different names.

9 Patch Checkerboard

Checkerboard

Old Mail

The Queen's Favorite

Thanks to Maggie Malone's book 5,500 Quilt Block Designs for this information.

For your present (or future) quilting enjoyment, here are the May Patterns

4) Recipes for Quilters – Any Kind of Nut Shortbread

We’re not talkin’ crazy people kind of nuts, either.

This recipe has been in my family for about 4 generations now, although I’m certain it isn’t all that unique.  When my mom and dad went to Hawaii in the early 1950s, they “discovered” macadamia nuts.  Although she eats them plain out of the bowl, when she feels she has extras, she adds them to this yummy shortbread:

Cream: 1 cup butter
            1/2 cup powdered sugar

Add:  2 cups CAKE flour
            1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Do this with your hands:
Add: 1 cup chopped nuts

Press the dough on a cookie sheet 1/3 inch thickness.  (It will be one solid, giant cookie!)  Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes at 375º.  Take it out of the oven and cut it into squares.

5) Newsletter News – Heart Rag Quilt - New Step-by-Step Guide

Have you thought about Mother’s Day yet?  Are you looking for a great quilting gift for a mother on Mother's Day?

This may be just the thing for you.  It’s quick, easy, fun and will show off your quilting talent – even if you are a very beginning quilter. 

There’s a special deal between now and Mother’s Day, May 13, so there’s not a minute to lose:
http://www.rag-quilt-instructions.com/heart.shtml

6)  Quilter’s Trip – 9th Quilt Nihon Exhibition - Tokyo

The deadline is approaching to enter one of your fantastic quilts into the 9th Quilt Nihon Exhibition.  Entries will be accepted between July 1 and July 31, 2007, for the exhibition that will run from February 6-11, 2008.

7) Quilters Fun Corner - Old Wives’ Tale or Sure Cure?

As I was unpacking the boxes from my recent move, I ran across a book.  Well, lots of books actually.  But this one in particular.  It is a collection of tales, stories and maybe even some superstitions.

As I glanced through it, this about a cure for a cold caught my eye.  P-nut, the boxer dog, came home from the doggie hotel sporting kennel cough, which I understand is the dog version of a cold.  I’m thinking I might try this on her:

Take a woolen sock (not a polyester one, but a sweaty nasty cotton or wool sock) that came off the foot of a healthy person.  Turn it inside out, so that the most sweaty part is on the outside.  Wrap it around the neck of the person with a cold.  If they have a sore throat, be sure that the foot part of the sock covers the worst part of the sore throat.

Secure it and leave it there all night.  Try to get a good night’s sleep.  This may be entirely possible, because you will stink so much, you will be sleeping alone.  Remove the sock in the morning and your sore throat, runny nose and fever should be better.

The magic is in the moisture of the sock.  The moisture of the healthy person is absorbed through the skin of the sick person helping to cure their cold.

I wonder how P-nut would do with that.  On the other hand I think I will continue to wonder….

8)  Postcard Quilts for the Troops - Second Annual 4th of July Roundup

Our next Postcard Posse Roundup begins today.  The occasion is the 4th of July.  This will mark 1 year for this project, and it’s going strong.  To date soldiers have received more than 1600 fabric postcards from our quilters and school children.

If you have a school or teacher who is interested in the project, let them know that I have fabric I will happily send to them for the project.  All they (or you) need to do is tell me how many children and where to send it.  Right now I have some beautiful bright yellow – not red, white and blue, but still a nice sunshine color for a background.

http://fabric-postcards.com/christmas.shtml

Have a fabulous Month!

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
www.How-to-Quilt.com
Inspiration and Education for Beginning Quilters

www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
Where Quilters Meet

www.Rag-Quilt-Instructions.com
Fast, Fun and Funky Quilts

www.Fabric-Postcards.com
Quilt Mail Across the Miles

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