Making Quilts from Simple Fabric Strips
and April Free Quilt Block Patterns

Greetings Quilter -

I'm back here in lovely La Mesa, California; and yes, I could do it again!

Take a vacation, that is.

Many thanks to m. mouse for filling in as my friend, Jim, and I sailed through the beautiful waters of Mexico.

The weather was perfect and there were many interesting sights to see and places to visit.

One of the most interesting things to me was the lack of good fabric for quilts.

Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but even the fabric shops didn't seem to have any high quality fabric that I thought would survive even one washing in a quilt.

Puerto Vallarta was the site of the "find" of the trip. Not fabric or a quilt, but a beautiful table runner.

I'll have more about it and other tidbits from the trip in future emails and newsletters.

For this week, I'm hoping that a picture of me on a tender with the ship in the background will satisfy your curiosity. penny halgren in mexico

Quilter Diane Malaznik is gearing up for a successful 4th of July Postcard Roundup, and we hope you will join in.

It's hard to believe that this will be Penny's Postcard Posse's 5th Roundup, and How-to-Quilt.com quilters have been responsible for more than 17,300 tiny quilt greetings being sent to soldiers in the Middle East.

Of course, what is even harder to believe is that our soldiers have been there for more than 5 years, with no short-term view of pulling out and coming home.

This all began as a small way to tell our soldiers that we appreciate everything they are doing to protect the freedom we enjoy.

To date, the project has involved dedicated quilters, neighbors, school children, senior centers, as well as quilt guilds and even quilt shops.

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.

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. Those who invest prior to April 11 will get in on a series of special live telephone trainings where you will get more details and get your specific questions answered.

These calls will be recorded, and those investing after that will get only the recordings of the training.

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

Featured Product from How-to-Quilt.com

I should probably change the name of this DVD Mentor to
Machine Quilting Magic - -

From Cutting to Machine Quilting and Binding . . .
Transform Your Fat Quarter Fabric Pieces
into a Beautiful Quilt – with ease!

I know it's a mouthful - The Machine Quilted Fat Quarter Quilt DVD Mentor.

It started out being about how to make a quilt using fat quarters. You know, those little pieces of fabric that quilt shops cut into shapes that measure about 17 inches by 22 inches.

But it turned into one of the most complete How to Make a Quilt resources on the face of the earth! Not that I'm bragging or anything - but everything went into this!

Working with small amounts of fabric causes us to be more careful about choosing a block, knowing exactly how much of each kind of fabric we need, and how to cut it.

Plus, I realize that not everyone has the magical, mystical quilt design software that creates templates and figures out your fabric requirements.

And, I know that quilters now want to finish quilts quickly using their home sewing machine - from start to finish.

So - in this resource, you will see:

how to easily figure out how much of each color fabric you need for your quilt - without the complicated math
how to lay out the patches on your fat quarter so you know how to cut the fabric without wasting any
how to create your own templates to cut fabric - they fit perfectly, they are any size you want them to be, and you can make templates for any block you want
shortcuts for sewing the blocks together to create the quilt top
how to create an interesting and easy border using a seminole design (sew and cut strips of fabric)
how to machine quilt on your home sewing machine - this is the most comprehensive machine quilting resource I have created, showing:
- how to layer and baste your quilt so you end up with pucker-free machine quilting
- how to choose your quilting design
- how to sew using free motion quilting and some of the designs you can create
- how to set the tension on your sewing machine - details, not just "do this" you see how to set the tension and what your quilting looks like when it is right and when it is wrong, and how to know how to fix it
- how to set up your practice sandwich to ensure perfect quilting stitches and thread tension

You can see that this is jam-packed with information way beyond just creating a quilt using fat quarters.

Truly I wish this type of information was available when I began quilting decades ago. I've spent more than 28 years gathering it all and putting it in one place in an easy-to-understand format, including video and written materials, so your quilting journey will be fun and stress-free!

Tell me more - - -

A Quilt Idea – Quilts from Strips

strip quilt that looks like stars It all started innocently enough. I found a pattern in a book for these slanted stars. It was a perfect quilt for the school secretary who was retiring, since it had tons of space for all of us to sign our good wishes.

The quilt went together very easily. I cut 3 1/2 inch strips of fabric – the white was a simple muslin, and then I used a variety of pink and blue fabrics.

Once the strips were sewn together and the seam allowances pressed to the dark side, I cut 45 degree triangles.

To save fabric, first I lined up the bottom of the triangle along the raw edge of the muslin, and then I flipped my ruler over to line up the bottom edge with the dark fabric.

For the star quilt, I used only the triangles with the dark tips. By sewing two of these triangles together, matching the muslin strips, you get a block with dark tips opposite each other. Then you simply lay these blocks out to create a quilt with these slanted stars. strip quilts

The next dilemma was what to do with the rest of the triangles.

I’ll admit that it took a few years for me to figure this one out.

One day I took the stack of triangles over to my flannel wall and started hanging them up.

Because I used a relatively limited number of fabrics, I was able to create the quilt on the right which has an overall design of crosses or Xs.

When you look a little closer, you can see some boxes in there as well. And the contrast between the dark and light pink and blue fabric creates some movement and dimension.

Trust me, when I started this project, I didn’t plan it particularly. I took some fabric that I had enough of to make strips. But basically it started out as a scrap quilt project.

Strip quilts are wonderfully easy to create, and it’s amazing how different they look – even using the same fabrics.

The pictures below show quilts using the same fabrics - the difference is the light and the camera when I took the picture - oh those many years ago. I never thought the picture would be used for anything other than a collection of pictures of my quilts.


In this quilt, use the triangles with the light colored tips	This quilt uses both the triangles with light colored tips and dark colored tips.

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