Curved Needles for Tying Quilts
and April Free Quilt Block Patterns

Greetings Quilter -

Whew!

The t-shirt quilt is finished.

This was a really fun quilt to make, and it went together very quickly!

Plus, the entire quilt can be done on the machine. In the DVD, you will see how to:

* prepare your t-shirts so they are easy to sew and won’t unravel

* choose a quilting design

* layer and baste your quilt so it stays flat as you machine quilt - top and backing

* machine quilt this quilt on your home sewing machine

* bind your quilt and close the binding on your sewing machine

With Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, graduation and end of the year thank you gifts on the horizon, today is the day to get ready to make a fun t-shirt quilt.

And you can take advantage of our Introductory Special Deal. Wednesday is the deadline - midnight, Pacific Time. Reserve your copy and get in on the ground floor!

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.

For those of you who own quilt shops or have an online business, I have just finished my newest information package that is sure to boost your sales.

Whether you already have an online quilting business or are wondering what you can do with your website to generate some serious revenue, this resource will give you the resources you need to jumpstart the online portion of your business.

This is as simple as 1, 2, 3 to learn and do. And it can be done in less than about 45 minutes each week. Next week begins the telephone training, so get in on the ground floor and get personal guidance from me.

If you're not ready to invest in this great information, sign up to get Weekly Tips for free. You'll learn more about how the system works and how you can use it in your quilt shop or web-based business. This system works regardless of the type of business you are in - from quilts to school supplies.

Learn about the Online Quilting Business Success System.

In about 45 minutes a week, you can generate tons of online sales using my Online Business Success System. Tested and proven to work - this is the system I use.

Learn more - - -

And now for the rest of the news - -

Happy Quilting!

penny halgren

Who Else Has T-shirts by the Dozen
Just Waiting for the Perfect Quilt Setting?

Now You Can Create a Unique T-shirt Quilt
That Someone in Your Family will be Proud to Show Off
Instead of the Same-ole' T-shirt Quilt
Like Susie Down the Street Made

If your house is anything like mine, there are t-shirts all over the place.

There are drawers jammed full of shirts, closets with stacks of shirts on the shelves, boxes and bags of t-shirts in the rafters of the garage, and even a basket of t-shirts decorating the bedroom - all just waiting for the perfect setting in a quilt.

For years, it seemed like every time we turned around someone in our family got another t-shirt. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school clubs, community events, places we visited - just endless.

Each one of these shirts holds a memory by itself making it valuable, but not necessarily as a piece of clothing.

After all, some of these are toddler size shirts. Like the UCLA t-shirt my parents got for quilting daughter, Stephanie, when she was 2.

They were babysitting, and thought it would be funny to have her in the shirt when I got back from a visit to my alma mater, USC – big rival universities here in Southern California.

I laughed. Stephanie attended USC anyway!

The thing is, we all know t-shirts make great quilts. But the question is – how do you actually design and make a quilt using t-shirts?

Is there something special that needs to be done to the t-shirts so they are easier to sew?
What do you use for a backing on the quilt?

How do you finish the quilt – hand quilt, machine quilt, tie it?

What do you use for binding?

And, most importantly, how do you actually lay out the t-shirts and sew them together so they look good as a quilt?

Now you can learn how to create one of these fun t-shirt quilts just by watching a video! It's easy and in less than the time it takes to watch a movie in the theater, you'll know exactly how to create a fun-filled memory for a loved one.

I'm excited, tell me more - -

Quilting Tool - Curved Needle

Curved Needle used to tie a quilt

The first time I saw a curved needle in a quilt shop, I wondered what a quilter might do with it. After all, I thought curved needles were just for sewing rugs or something.

Then one day I decided to tie a quilt, instead of quilting it. And the light bulb went on!

As I struggled with putting the embroidery threaded straight needle down through the layers of my quilt and then grabbing just a small stitch, it occurred to me that using a curved needle would avoid all of that struggle.

These needles are not as sharp as other needles, but they are still sharp enough to go through multiple layers of fabric.

Then, when they get to the other side, you gently turn the needle so it points up, and magically creates a nice stitch.

The eye of the needle is large enough to easily thread 3 strands of embroidery thread, and it is strong enough to pull the thread through without worrying about getting stuck or breaking the thread.

When I finally figured it out, I bought a package of two needles – a large one and a smaller one. It was several years before I tied a quilt again, but when I did, I was happy to have these needles ready to go.

Tying your t-shirt quilt can be fun and get the quilt finished quicker. Espceially if you are a new quilter, sometimes it's nice to concentrate on sewing the pieces together and getting a quilt finished. Then work on the quilting part later.

Check out our brand new T-shirt quilt DVD instructions -

Postcard Quilts for the Troops

July 4th Roundup Next - Deadline JUNE 5!

The 4th of July 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.

The 4th of July Roundup is in full swing - the deadline is June 5!

It's not too early to start making patriotic cards for our 4th of July Roundup. This will mark our 4th Year!

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 4th of July deadline, get your cards to Diane by June 5

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

April Free Block Patterns

These free April quilt block patterns will make your St. Patrick's Day full of quilting fun. Most of these are 9 patch quilt blocks, and some are 9 patch quilt blocks.

Click here to download your April FREE quilt block patterns