Marking Your Quilt for Machine Quilting
and February Free Quilt Block Patterns

Greetings Quilter -

January just flew by.

We've had our share of rain here in normally-sunny Southern California. Or, more correctly - more than our share of rain. It seems like perfect weather for making quilts.

I'm lining up t-shirts for my next winter storm quilt.

I'll be sorting through a collection of shirts from engineering son, Bubba's, childhood. I'm sure to find some t-ball shirts as well as high school marching band shirts.

The difference in size will present some interesting challenges, but with the many resources for making t-shirt quilts on hand, I'm sure to come up with a solution.

Stay tuned for progress on this project.

In the meantime, Fabruary is jam-packed with fun holidays that lend themselves to great quilt blocks.

Of course, Valentine's Day is coming up, and also during the month is: Groundhog Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Chinese New Year (this is the Year of the Tiger), Love your Pet day (February 20), and National Tooth Fairy Day (February 28). I've left many out, but these are a few you will be hearing more about during the month.

To get a jump start, you'll find some videos showing how to create quilt blocks that for some of these holidays. These are videos that were shown last year, and instead of repeating them, here are the links for the pages showing the videos. You'll need to scroll down the page to get to the videos:


Lincoln's Hat Quilt Block	Chinese Lanterns Quilt Block (for Chinese New Year)	Valentine's Day - Heart Quilt Block	Washington Star Quilt Block

There will be more during the month.

And now for the rest of the news - -

Happy Quilting!

penny halgren

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Quilting Tip - Quilt Blocks Using Squares

If you are new to quilting, you can benefit from this tip: make your first few quilts from squares. The shapes are simple, it is easy to cut on the grain without a lot of thought or effort, and you can still get a beautiful product in the end.

Stitch your first quilts with squares that are at least four inches. Go bigger if you can, but don’t start with anything smaller. The four inch square is great for beginning quilters because it allows plenty of room for seam allowance practice. Anything smaller must be exact when it comes to the seams. So, a four inch square gives the beginning quilter a little wiggle room for minor mistakes.

With squares, you won’t have too much worry about getting them pieced at the proper angle. It is easier to butt a square up against another instead of making sure two triangles are pieced together correctly.

If you work with a template, finding the grain for your square patches won’t be difficult either. Just lay the template on the fabric so that it lines up with the threads in the cloth and chances are that you are on the grain.

There are plenty of beautiful patterns that use squares. The Checkerboard pattern is made up of squares on point (set at a diagonal). Country Lanes, a Nine Patch Scrappy Heart, and Homeward Bound are also good choices based on a basic square. Squares and Square and Squares within Squares are other good choices for beginning quilters.

You can find tons of patterns for quilt blocks using squares at: www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com, including the ones shown below:


Country Lanes Quilt Block	Autumn Tints Quilt Block	Scrappy Heart Quilt Block

Quilting Product - Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer

Machine quilting something other than straight lines or stippling requires that I trace the design on the quilt top, which presents its challenges. I am always looking for something that is easy to use and easy to remove once my machine quilting is finished.

Not long ago I was wandering around Rosie's and found this product called Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer. One of its uses is to guide you as you machine quilt.

It is a plastic type of product that you mark your quilting design on. Then you place it on your quilt top, machine quilt (right on top of the stabilizer), and then once you are finished, just peel the stabilizer off.

I found it easy to use. It didn't tear as I was machine quilting (as paper does when I machine quilt), and once I was finished, it was easy to remove. I didn't need to test its water solubility - it all peeled off. But, if it doesn't all peel off, you simply put water on it, and it will dissolve.

Nice!

February Quilt Block Patterns

The January selection of free quilt block patterns includes a variety of 4 patch quilt blocks, ranging from the easy to make to some that are a little more complex.

Click here to download your February FREE quilt block patterns