Notice: Wednesday is National
Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day

"May all of your ups and downs in life be with a needle and thread."

Greetings Quilter -

Here at How-to-Quilt.com Headquarters, we love to celebrate most any kind of holiday - especially those that are not celebrated much.

Or are barely known about - like National Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day. It is Wednesday this year, and to celebrate, we've posted a Bear Paw Design Quilt Block.

The design of this block may come as a surprise to you, since it is know by several other names that might be more recognizable.

Anyway, have fun with the block!

Happy Columbus Day!

If you are in the US and want to mail a letter or visit a bank, you'll need to wait until tomorrow, since today is one of those fun holidays that seems to be celebrated by only a few government agencies and banks.

However, here at How-to-Quilt.com we are busy today, and will be announcing a special new product later today.

We are putting the finishing touches on our brand new DVD Mentor which will show you 7+1 creative ways to bind a quilt.

Our Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor has been extremely successful, yet quilters have asked for information about binding a quilt with curves or hexagons, or using French Fold binding, or different techniques for adding Prairie Points.

And we have responded with this fantastic resource: The Creative Binding Techniques DVD Mentor. We'll have more information later this morning, and the Bonuses are totally finalized, but you can get a sneak peek here: The Creative Binding Techniques DVD Mentor.

More information will come out later today (Monday) when everything is all set. If you happen to reserve your copy before it is all set, rest assured that you will get the final product. There may be things added, but nothing removed, and you'll get it all.

Stay tuned for the big announcement.

The Fat Quarter Quilt

As busy as we were with The Creative Binding Techniques DVD Quilting Mentor and the m. mouse continuing birthday party, progress was still made on the Fat Quarter Quilt.

Since the quilt was all layered and spray basted, the machine quilting began and many of the blocks have been quilted.

Designing the quilting pattern has been interesting. What I have discovered is that it is very difficult to quilt straight lines using a darning foot. That should come as no surprise to more experienced machine quilters.

As a result, I am searching for curved machine quilting designs for the spaces that have solid (not print) fabric - i.e., the yellow bars around the center square patches, and the sashing.

I probably will do some stippling in those areas, but I am still pondering.

The pictures below show you the quilting design for the squares.


Fat Quarter quilt block with quilting design. Click on the image to see a close up of the quilting design in a corner triangle.	Last week's picture of the Fat Quarter Quilt

Until later - - -

Happy Quilting!

penny halgren

If you missed any previous online newsletters or daily emails, you will find them on my blog: www.quilterpenny.wordpress.com

A Quilt Idea – Trick or Treat at the Haunted House

Trick or Treat at the Haunted House Halloween Quilt

Are you ready for Halloween?

This quilt is so easy to make, it can be ready to adorn your house in time for Halloween – easy!

I was never one for a sampler quilt. It seemed kind of boring to me to make one of each of a different block, just for the sake of making different blocks to practice or learn a quilting skill.

Then along came one Halloween. And this quilt developed. It didn’t start out being a sampler, but simply a quilt with blocks that had a Halloween theme.

It tuned into a great quilting lesson – in addition to a fun Halloween quilt.

This quilt includes 4 patch and 9 patch blocks, made in the size that was the best for each block. For example, the 4 patch blocks are 8 inches square, and the 9 patch blocks are 9 inches square.

Then, of course, there is the difference in size between blocks that is caused just by sewing the blocks.

To make all of these blocks fit together, I decided to make it look like an Attic Windows quilt, and all it Trick or Treat at the Haunted House – since each of the windows is a slightly difference size.

Then add a candy corn border – easy to make as well – and your Halloween quilt is ready to go. This quilt still needs a backing and quilting, but is still great at a Halloween decoration.

You can get the pattern with step-by-step instructions - Trick or Treat at the Haunted House

BOOK OF THE MONTH

My Stars: Patterns from The Kansas City Star, Vol. I

my stars quilt book If you have an interest in quilt blocks that were originally published in American newspapers, you will enjoy My Stars: Patterns from The Kansas City Star, Vol. I.

The paperback book was written by Kansas City Star Quilts and published by Kansas City Star Books in mid-May of this year.

The patterns are redrafts of the ones actually published in the newspaper between 1928 and 1961. The Kansas City Star published quilt patterns weekly during the years leading to and after the Great Depression in the United States.

Eventually as interest in quilting diminished, the newspaper dropped to monthly publication of quilt patterns before deciding to stop publishing them all together. In the more than 30 years that they did publish quilt patterns, the Kansas City Star printed more than 1000 quilt patterns!

In My Stars: Patterns from The Kansas City Star, you will find templates, fabric requirements and assembly instructions for several quilt blocks that were originally published in the newspaper. An added benefit to all those who love quilt history is that the history of each block is also included. Just a few of the patterns you will find inside are Pine Tree, Sunbonnet Sue, and Carrie Nation.

The 96 page book is a paperback, easy and lightweight for us quilters to use for copying patterns and having directions handy. It also makes a great gift for anyone who loves quilting, newspapers, history, or any combination of the three!

The book is priced at about $22.95 in most retail outlets, or you can find it on amazon.com:

A Bit of Quilting History - Quilt Patterns in Newspapers

National Newspaper Week begins October 4. You might not realize it, but newspaper and quilting share a rich history in the United States.

Once upon a time, newspapers published quilt patterns for their readers. The pattern was printed in the newspaper and could be snipped right out. Some patterns were presented as a series, with a new block provided each week.
quilt block patterns from history
Publishing quilt patterns was a service many newspapers provided during The Great Depression. These were especially common in rural America. The newspapers were very inexpensive, giving quilters the “luxury” of new patterns to use up their scrap fabrics, feed sacks, etc.

Newspaper quilt patterns had their longest run in The Kansas City Star. The Star began printing quilt patterns in 1926 and continued until 1961. The Kansas City newspaper printed patterns every week in the beginning. As the decades wore on and interest in quilting diminished, they changed to monthly before dropping the patterns from publication all together. More than 1000 quilt patterns were printed in the Kansas City Star in the 30+ years they ran them.

The quilt patterns published back during America’s Depression helped preserve part of the country's heritage while boosting the morale of quilters. Florence LaGanke Harris wrote a newspaper column back in the 1930s that accompanied the weekly quilt patterns. Her column was actually a fictional story about a quilting group. The quilt block the fictional group worked on was the same block printed that week.

Many blocks printed in newspapers in the 1930s were appliqué blocks. Blocks based on nursery rhymes were popular. Redwork, embroidery done as an outline in red floss, was also very popular on quilts.

If you would like to learn more about quilt blocks that were printed in newspapers, see this month’s book review! It’s full of patterns that were published in the Kansas City Star.

Postcard Quilts for the Troops – Thanksgiving Roundup!

turkey in the straw fabric postcard

We are sliding into a season that is busy for everyone, especially quilters. It seems as the holidays wind closer, we have more projects we intend to complete to give as gifts, home décor, or to help share our love for our craft. Please make time during this busy season to quilt a postcard to contribute to Penny’s Postcard Posse this fall.

There are many service members who are away from their families, working in our military branches to keep our country safe. They will be away from their families this season so we can enjoy time at home with our own. As they and their families make this sacrifice for our country, let’s join forces to show our appreciation in a special way.

Postcards for Thanksgiving are due by October 23. We will send our batch of quilted postcards to reach them in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you have never made a quilted postcard before, there isn’t a better time or reason to start! You can find size information and other details, along with quilted postcard ideas at http://www.fabric-postcards.com/.

Many traditional quilt patterns can be transferred to a postcard quilt pattern easily. Applique postcards are also a nice touch.Use traditional pattern or design your own. Please write a note to our service members on the back side. They appreciate a word of encouragement and thanks from home and we appreciate your help in our effort.

This is a great holiday for fabric postcards. You can create some cards quickly and get them on their way to Diane before the Christmas rush begins.

You'll find the Turkey in the Straw fabric postcard pattern along with other free quilt patterns when you visit: www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com

The deadline is October 23. Send your cards to:

Diane Malaznik
14215 Westmore St.
Livonia, MI 48154-4149

Diane will send a box of our postcards to be distributed to soldiers on Halloween. Remember, if you have sent a postcard already, you can see pictures of it at www.Fabric-Postcards.com. And, as always, free postcard patterns are available at www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com.

Make your holiday card list to see how many you will need to create, then have fun with the free patterns at www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com. Be sure to make a few extras to send as last minute gifts or just to be a step ahead for next year!

Fabric postcards are also a very special way to say “thank you” for the holiday gifts you receive.

Featured Block in Video

Bear Paw Quilt Block - plus see the list below of other names

bearpaw design quilt block

This 9 patch is known by several other names such as: Churn Dash, Double Wrench, Bride's Knot, Hole in the Barn Door, The Crow's Nest, Maltese Cross, Monkey Wrench, Pioneer Patch, T Design, T Quartette, Wrench, True Lover's Knot, Aeroplane, The Broad Axe, Dragon's Head, and Alaska Homestead. And who really knows if that is the complete list.

Whatever you call it, it is a fun block to put together, and is relatively easy.

Get a free download of this quilt block pattern at www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com and check out the other patterns there, too!

Our Trick or Treat at the Haunted House quilt pattern includes step-by-step instructions, and is available only during the month of October.

Enjoy!

October Quilt Block Patterns

The October selection of free quilt block patterns includes