Ideas for Making Money with Quilts
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| Light and Shadows quilt block for the Jelly Roll / Bali Pop Quilt. |
Greetings Quilter -
This was a week for amazing progress on the Jelly Roll quilt.
Once I chose the block, I zipped right through sewing the blocks together. It's amazing how quick the sewing goes when you don't need to cut the strips.
The block I chose is shown on the left - Light and Shadows. As I played in my EQ6 quilt design software, I compared what the whole quilts would look like using two different blocks, and decided I liked this one better.
Now the blocks are sewn together, and I'm ready to sew the quilt top together. As I calculated how much of each fabric - dark, medium, light - I would need for 30 blocks, I realized I wouldn't have enough of the light fabric strips.
I could have substituted medium for light, bought more fabric at the store, or just made fewer blocks. In keeping with my plan to use only the jelly roll for the quilt top (possibly excluding borders), I chose to make fewer blocks and have more for the borders.
Check in next week to see the center of the quilt top sewn together.
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!
Brand New - EQ7 Quilt Design Software
 This brand new quilting resource will make designing a quilt fun and easy. |
A few years ago we broght you E6 and included online classes showing you how to use this fantastic software to design quilts.
Late last week I discovered that the company has updated their software, and now EQ7 is just about ready for prime time.
The thing is that they are letting us in on a pre-order deal.
And the price on this is just amazing.
By getting in on the pre-order, you'll save enough to buy yards and yards of high quality quilting fabric.
And by investing in this software, you'll save years of time and untold aggravation (however that is measured!).
But time is limited. The reservation deadline is Sunday, May 30. Their deadline is firm.
Find out more about EQ7 - I will be doing lessons in TheQuiltingCoach.com, so you may want to take advantage of the special membership rate.
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
Making Money with Your Quilts
It’s May already and many people have planned vacations for the next month or two. That means people are looking for a little extra spending money to take with them as they enjoy some fun and R&R!
As a quilter, there are several ways you can make a little extra money. Naturally, you can make and sell a quilt. But perhaps the average public isn’t thinking about quilts now that the weather is warming up.
You can always zip together a photo quilt for a customer or two for Father’s Day. Some schools graduate in June, so quilts for graduates might also still be a good seller.
Make a summer quilt and sell it online. Use lightweight batting and summer colors. Or, make and sell baby or lap quilts using a summer themed appliqué.
Diversify a little. Make and sell beach towels that you appliqué or add a quilting motif. Make one or two as gifts for trendy friends and it’s almost as good as buying a commercial slot in the Super Bowl!
Other popular summer quilted items include large beach totes and quilted casserole carriers that are perfect for summer potlucks. Make a few and sell at a local summer festival for extra spending cash. You can also sell these online or person-to-person!
While quilting consumers may be weather-fickle, quilters don’t stop quilting just because the weather changes. Perhaps you can teach a short continuing education quilt class at a local community college or center to make a few hundred bucks. You might also be hired to teach a mini course at a summer craft camp for kids.
If you like designing patterns, try selling patterns online or to other quilters you know. If you can package them nicely, maybe your area fabric stores or sewing machine dealers will allow you to sell them in the shop.
Check with your local fabric or sewing machine store to see if they need crafters to make display items. In addition to making a little extra cash for your upcoming trip, you just might end up with some free fabric and a pattern to keep for yourself!
Another favorite money-making idea is to submit your best quilting tips to magazines for publication. Some, like American Patchwork and Quilting, pay $25 for each original tip they use…and they’re submitted by quilters just like us! Look in your favorite quilting magazine to see if they pay for tips.
To get you started online, check out the resources in the Online Business Success System.
Member Quilt - Eileen Ellis
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| Double Irish Chain by Eileen Ellis |
This Double Irish chain quilt was made by quilter Eileen Ellis.
Eileen has used a wonderful color combination of dark reds, greens and off-white.
You can see that she has extended the borders so they drop down the sides of the bed to the floor.
That's a fabulous idea, and easy to do - all you need to do is measure relatively carefully.
You may also notice that she has excluded the extra border at the head of the bed so the pillows will sit on top of the quilt.
Irish Chain quilts are fun and easy to make using strip piecing techniques. They can be made in any color and loved all year around - not just for St. Patrick's Day!
Nice job, Eileen!
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
These free May 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 May FREE quilt block patterns
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Buried Treasure |
Fish in the Dish |
May Basket |
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul |
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| Rock Garden | Spirit of St. Louis | Stepping Stones | The Pinwheel Quilt |
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| Wild Goose Chase | Wisconsin |
Click here to download your May FREE quilt block patterns
Hundreds of quilt block patterns to choose from. Patterns include full size templates and rotary cutting layouts. Click Here
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