Quiltivate

Sewing Machine Needle Basics

Jen from Reanna Lily Designs posted a very informative guide to sewing machine needles. Check it out!

I've never changed my needle on my $48 sewing machine that I got from Wal-Mart six years ago. Maybe I should look into that in the near future, now that I have an inkling as to what I'd be looking at. Thanks, Jen! 

Also, thanks to @BettysQuilting for the tweet link to this article!

Jazzing-Up Quilting

Great article from the Hartford Courant today featuring Denyse Schmidt and her unique improv approach to quilting. 

It's no secret how influential Denyse has been to me. Almost a year ago, I got to attend one of her amazing improv workshops. If you can find a way to make it to one of these, you should make the effort! It's extremely worthwhile and fun. Here's Denyse's website and the listing of all of the workshops she has coming up. Sign up now - they sell out quickly!

Also, while we're talking about Denyse, there's a huge push on the web now to petition FreeSpirit Fabrics to run a reprint on Denyse's out-of-print Flea Market Fancy fabric line. I don't know why I never picked any of this up when it was originally available, but I'd definitely buy a stash of it if they run it again. Go to the Sew Take a Hike blog to help make it happen!

New Blocks - August Finale

It's been a while, but it's time for some new blocks to be added to the selection on Quiltivate. There's no rhyme or reason to this selection of five blocks other than the fact that I have them ready to share and use in the Quilt Builder:

Air Castle




Album Variation




Arbor Window




Arkansas




Arrowheads

Do You Pre-Wash?

Do you pre-wash your fabrics? Chloe from Blisstree.com gives some good arguments in favor of sudsing up your freshly-purchased fabrics. I also do pre-wash everything. I completely agree with Chloe's reasons why she does and here are a few additional reasons I do:

To lock in the colors. Especially if I'm using very bold fabrics with very light or neutral fabrics, I like to be sure they're all done bleeding out the spare dye before I put them all together.

To make them softer. For 100% cotton fabrics, I find they are softer and easier to work with if they've been washed and dried. They are all stiff and lovely when I bring them home, but when they feel soft on my hands, it encourages me to think of the recipient snuggling up to the cozy finished product, not some stiff, sandpapery sheet of fabric.

To get the fabric "used to" being washed. When I gift a quilt, I encourage the recipients to use it and wear it out - that's what I made it for. That includes washing it as they would any other bedding. I don't want them to feel like they have this nasty old quilt they're afraid to use or wash - it should be a valued and used addition to their home. So, let's get things started right and wash it before assembling and before presenting the final product to the recipient (after quilting). Right?

What are your thoughts on pre-washing fabrics?

I'm A Crazy Mom, Too!

One of my favorite quilting bloggers is AmandaJean (aka Crazy Mom Quilts). Since I've been following her for the past couple of years, she's had tons of really fun-looking and inspiring quilt-alongs. So, when she announced her latest quilt-along where she was going to be doing one nine-patch block per day for 70 days, I thought, "Hey - I can do that!" So I threw my hat in the ring, too. 

Well, since then, life has happened. We ended up going out of town for 10 days, then have had company at our house for the past 19 days. Let's add those up ... and we get 29 days of interruptions in my quilt-along! So I was reading AmandaJean's blog post today, and look what I saw:

Let's zoom in on that right-hand column:

That was seven days ago. In other words, I'm 39 days behind on my 70-day quilt-a-long. Yikes!!!!

I'm not a fast quilter. I have never made a quilt without a recipient in mind. I have a baby to care for and a house to keep in order. I need to spend my free time exercising and going grocery shopping. Trying to catch up on this quilt-along would be a little crazy at this point, right?

Well, I went up to my quilting closet and took a look at my measly excuse for a fabric stash and felt completely uninspired. I don't usually find anything to my liking at my local fabric shops, and who has the time to drive to the three corners of town and browse around anyway? So, I did the logical thing ...

... and ordered tons of beautiful, pre-washed, pre-cut fabric from Stitch Simple so I can start making blocks! :o) 

I first read about Stitch Simple last April. Although I don't mind washing, pressing and cutting my fabric, the hand-quilting is my favorite part of making a quilt. The fabric prep, designing, and assembling are the necessary preparatory steps I have to take to get to the quilting. So, I'm letting Stitch Simple do the fabric prep and AmandaJean do the design. I'll just get to assemble and quilt this one, and I can't wait!

My blocks will be a bit bigger than AmandaJean's plan calls for (I ordered pre-cut 3" x 3" squares for $0.11 each), and I'll have to do some extra sewing up-front since I'm not doing the strip piecing. But I think it will be worth it.

I am so relieved that I'm not only getting fun, inspiring fabric, but it will be 100% ready to be stitched together. I can literally take my box upstairs when it arrives and start sewing with zero prep time. Don't worry - I'll keep you posted on how things progress, but I'm ridiculously excited for the fabric and the quilt-a-long!

Snipper or Whomper?

Wren Stratton posted a funny and insightful article on the MuskogeePhoenix.com blog a while back. She says:

"My mother, Ruth Box, says there are two kinds of quilters, “snippers” and “whompers.” She’s a proud whomper. Snippers take lots of time and pay attention to detail while whompers are bold and whomp that quilt together, fast and furious."

There's no doubt about it: I'm a snipper! I definitely wish I could "whomp" sometimes, but I am too detail-oriented and nit-picky about my own work to fly through anything. I think I'm usually pretty pleased with the quality of my finished products, but I often lament the fact that I get only one project done in the amount of time it would probably take a whomper to make two or three perfectly acceptable items!

What about you? Do you find you're sometimes a snipper and sometimes a whomper, or always one or the other?

Same Block Experiment - Fruit Basket

If you've been around quilting for a little while, you have probably seen this block at some point:

It's called Fruit Basket. One of the more traditional ways to fill this block in is as the name implies it should be filled in:

Looks like a basket of fruit, doesn't it? And how about a whole quilt of Fruit Baskets?

  

Are you shaking in your boots yet? 

I take no issue with any quilter using the Fruit Basket block and filling it in the traditional way to make a traditional Fruit Basket quilt. If I received this quilt as a gift from a friend or family member, I would undoubtedly and without hesitation treasure it and display it proudly in my home!

However, we all know that each person has their own unique tastes and styles. I am not afraid to admit that the "themey" version of the Fruit Basket block is not one that would ever cross my mind to make for myself or my friends. I like to think of myself as a "modern" quilter and blocks like Fruit Basket are SO NOT MODERN, right?

Well, what if we take this fruity block and assemble it in a not-so-traditional manner. Like this: 

Then we can do all sorts of fun things, like this:

Or this:

Or even this:

In fact, if we take another look at the fruity version, what happens if we rearrange it and put it in the same format as that middle quilt above? Check this out:

Or like the first one above:

Even with a whole quilt of fruity blocks, the outcome is significantly different when we just change the block rotation, isn't it? I'm blown away by this and find it really fun to try new ways of using traditional blocks to innovate my quilts.

:: :: :: :: ::

Want to play around with this block and others? This is exactly why we built the Quiltivate Quilt Builder! Innovate traditional quilting in your own way today using the Fruit Basket block, or pick another block now to get started!

Quilting Terminology Glossary

Like any craft, trade or hobby, quilting has its very own jargon. Even if you're not new to quilting, you may run across a new-to-you term from time to time. Quilt University put together a Quilt Glossary for just such occasions. Be sure to bookmark it for future look-ups!

Triangle Man, Triangle Man

I used to think triangles were intimidating ... until I tried to actually make them for a quilt top! Now I think they're fun - and it's a good thing, too - it seems like most blocks use half-square or quarter-square triangles. And they really are pretty simple. The Tech Editors from C&T Publishing break it down for us.

You can also follow C&T Publishing on twitter @ctpublishing, and you can follow us at @quiltivate! Do you tweet?

Using A Color Wheel to Design Quilts

     

Jan Myers shared this color wheel and posted an article on Stitching Junkie about the usefulness of a color wheel when selecting fabrics for your quilt. 

I whole-heartedly agree! 

That's why we have this color wheel integrated into the Quiltivate Quilt Builder anywhere you're selecting fabric colors. I appreciate choosing my colors before I go fabric shopping or begin invading my stash so I can have an idea of how the colors will interact in the end. 

Do you use a color wheel (or a similar tool) when designing your quilts? You can try it right now and for free - start by picking a block!