Art by Jill Burns

http://sphinxgah.deviantart.com/

Something New for great designs!

Here is a great link to printing your own free graph paper. A great help when working on your own new designs!

http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/

Be versatile… be creative!

Quilt block patterns are versatile. As you learn to quilt, you will learn to change the look of a block by changing out the color patterns, fabric prints, and even fabric materials. I have mentioned in the past that as a new quilter starting with cotton is best. That advice still holds true but as you learn and start to branch out on your own you may at some point try mixing fabric choices. It could be a “just have to have it” purchased fabrics, clothing that you recycle or a UFO (unfinished object) your best friend pawned off on you. What ever the case try it out. Learn something new. Share it with us!

A good choice for using some of the odd fabrics in your stash is make a scrap quilt. A scrap quilt has almost no rules. You can mix all those fun fabrics you purchased on a whim and even cut down the ugly ones to an almost unrecognized print to hid in the blocks. The fun thing is you may be the only one who ever knows what each block started out as!

Here is a tip for making this type of a quilt. Make two blocks identical or hid in one special fabric block. The next time a child is sick as they are laying under the quilt challenge them to find that one special part of the quilt.

Most scrap quilt use one or two block patterns such as a double 9 or four square in 9. This make the quilt simple to design. You don’t need many cutting instructions and often you can use a simple block pattern you learned in class.

Try a new variation of your block. Make that double nine and add a border. A border of other blocks, squares, triangles or mix it up. Add a sashing or not and tie it all together with a scrappy border.

 

making a change can change your whole quilt.

 

 

How a quilter keeps a clean house.

Image via Wikipedia

I find I am spread out all over my house. I leave a lot of threads or fabric tips everywhere I go and they don’t vacuum up well. I use painters tape to place plastic store bags in the areas I am most likely to leave threads. One to the left of each of my sewing machines. One on the Iron Board. One to the left of my couch when needed. The painters tape is not so sticky and cleans well. My cats are not tempted to eat the thread and my vacuum works better for it.

Art by Jill Burns

 

http://sphinxgah.deviantart.com/