Quiltivate

Simplifying Straight-Line Quilting

Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio shared some ingenious ideas for simplifying straight-line quilting. Her tips are directed at machine-quilters, but I am going to try the tape idea for this current quilt I'm working on hand-quilting. Marking long, straight lines on huge quilts is particularly tedious and leaves lots of room for errors. I'm going to make a Home Depot run tomorrow ... for quilting supplies. Ha! I love it. 

Thanks, Jacquie! 

8 Machine Quilting Tips

Lenna Green posted 8 easy machine quilting tips on The Stitching Cow blog. Even if you're a seasoned machine quilter, you might find some of Lenna's ideas helpful and refreshing - check them out!

Thanks, Lenna!

Quilt-As-You-Go Idea

Here's an idea from Julia's Place: if you find quilting the entire quilt all at once is a hassle, try quilting as you go. Julia details how she goes about it with helpful images of her recently-completed Dear Jane quilt.

Do you quilt as you go or do an entire quilt at once?

Quilting Labor Day

I can't think of a way I'd rather spend my Labor Day than with laboring away on something I love to do: quilting! If you're looking for some fresh machine quilting ideas, or just some information about how to get going on a machine-quilting project, WhipUp.net has put together a round-up of some of the latest and greatest machine quilting links from around the web.

So, what are you up to today? Doing any quilting?

Free-Motion Pebble Quilting

Check out this quick video tutorial on Handmade by Alissa on how to do free-motion pebble quilting by machine. Love the contrasting pebbles to the hexagonal quilt top Alissa made. Thanks for another great tutorial, Alissa!

Feet for Any Occasion

Have you ever wondered how to get all three layers of your quilt through your sewing machine at the same speed or how to get perfect 1/4" seams every time? I definitely have, and now I need wonder no more! 

Florence from the Flossie Teacakes blog did a very helpful post on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog this week explaining some of the sewing machine feet available and how they might be useful for different projects. 

I have the cheapest sewing machine money can buy and I've often thought that meant that I'd be limited on what I can sew. But, I have yet to try different feet for my machine and I'm beginning to think that might make all the difference. I am particularly interested in the Quarter-Inch Foot. 

Speaking of the Quarter-Inch Foot, the Craftzine blog linked to another helpful post from Rhonda at the Joyce's Daughter blog on how to use the 1/4" foot and seam guide. 

Thanks, all, for the helpful foot tips this week! 

Free-Motion Quilting Tips

Elizabeth of the "Oh, Fransson!" blog is almost through a quilt-along with her followers and today's post has to do with free-motion quilting. Be sure to check out her tips if you're thinking of trying free-motion quilting. 

While you're there, you should definitely look through her back-log of posts. She is an incredibly gifted quilter and a great instructor. Don't miss all of the free tips on her blog, tutorials on her website and several lovely patterns for sale in her Etsy shop!  

Machine Quilting Basics

Thanks to the Craftzine blog for pointing out this thorough set of tips for machine-quilting that was put together with fantastic tutorial images from the Anyone Can Quilt blog! Don't stop at the end of the post -- some of the comments are extremely helpful as well.