Happy Valentines' Month!
"Quilting is like love. Enter it with abandon or not at all."
Greetings Quilter -
With the popularity of the Quilt as You Go project DVDs, we thought it would be fun to do a live Quilt as You Go project in TheQuiltingCoach.com. This project is one week at a time, and includes how to create a Quilt as You Go block using a foundation pieced method (so your quilting and piecing are accomplished at the same time). Then we will add sashing with cornerstones and binding. This should be a fun project, and present some interesting challenges. After all, you said you were interesting in something a little more challenging! You’ll have plenty of time to make more than one for Christmas. Hang one on your wall, and give them to your family and friends at Thanksgiving so they will have new Christmas decorations this year! TheQuiltingCoach.com will be updated each week with a new lesson for the project. Quilt along with us, or watch and save the instructions for a future project. Jump into the Discussion Forum and let us know your progress. You can post pictures, too – of your successes or challenges! If you are not already a member, join today and get one month free. If you have purchased something from us recently and paid by credit card, your membership should be activated automatically. If you paid with PayPal, visit the site and enroll for your FREE membership. We just started, so it's not too late to join in - you will be able to catch up easily. This is a project you won't want to miss!
Happy Quilting!
Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation
This was a great call! Bonnie shared tips for keeping scraps organized and ready to make quilts. One thing she suggests is to keep them cut and sorted into size groups. She sorts all of the strips that are longer than 12 inches by width - 1 1/2 inches; 2 inches; 2 1/2 inches and 3 inches. Anything smaller than 12 inches gets cut into squares and bricks (rectangles). The squares are the same sizes as the width of the strips (1 1/2," 2," 2 1/2," and 3") and the bricks are cut into pieces that are 2" by 3 1/2," 2 1/2" by 4 1/2," or 3 1/2" by 6 1/2." And, because they are sorted, you can keep your stack of cut scraps next to your sewing machine and use them as starters and finishers as you are chain piecing. Just pick up a pair and sew them together, so you never need to cut threads from other sewing. Magically your stack of sewn-together pairs will grow, and when you are ready to make a quilt, much of the work will be done. In this audio clip, Bonnie talks about how to piece batting together:
Bonnie’s website is: www.Quiltville.com Click here to get more information
An Easy Potato Recipe - Especially if you Love Curry Madras Potato Curry Cut boiled potatoes into thin slices and set aside. Fry 1 chopped onion in 2 tablespoonfuls of butter. Add:
Let boil up. Add the sliced potatoes and a sprig of parsley chopped. Let simmer a few minutes and serve hot. Postcard Quilts for the Troops – All aboard for Spring!
There is still plenty of time to send cards for the Spring Roundup. To make the Spring deadline, get your cards to Diane by March 8. Please send your cards to: 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 Featured Block in Video
This week we celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, so the block is Lincoln's Hat. Although it looks like it would be challenging, it is really pretty easy. The black square around the center is made using a narrow bias strip. The video shows how to make it. While you're there, invest in Pattern Credits (minimum $54) and get a FREE DVD showing 6 different ways to sew Half-Square Triangles together. We've only got a few of these left, so get yours quick. Enjoy!
Quilting Tips – In case you missed our study in color value Every week I post a new video at QuiltBlockLibrary.com showing how to sew a quilt block together. The middle of January was Appreciate a Dragon Day, and the block I sewed was the DragonFly Block. For this two color block, I chose a bright green fabric and a light blue fabric, thinking that there would be enough color contrast to create the design in the block. After I looked at the finished block for a day or two, I suspected that the contrast wasn’t enough. A quick study in Photoshop, confirmed my suspicions. By creating the block as a grayscale, you can see that it looks kind of like mud. And while the dragonfly might like that, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted for my block. To further test my theory, I made another block, using the same blue and changing the green to a really dark green. Then I checked the block out in Photoshop as a grayscale block. It’s amazing to see the difference just one fabric can make. You can do the same thing on a copy machine. Just place your fabric or block on the screen where you would place a paper to copy, and then ask the copier to make a black and white copy.
February Quilt Block Patterns The February selection of free quilt block patterns includes some especially for celebrating Valentine's Day as well as some great quilt patterns for any time of the year.
Click here to download your February FREE quilt block patterns |
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