How a bobbin works

Candace at Crafty Daisies posted up this animated graphic that shows how a bobbin catches thread in sewing machines.





How cool is this!

Extend the life of your rotary cutting blades!

As quilters we all know how beneficial the rotary cutter is to our craft. But if you have been quilting for a long time, then you know it can get quite costly to keep replacing those blades! Well I have a way to help you get twice the mileage out of your blades.

One of the most obvious ways to tell if you need a new blade is when you are cutting and you get little bits of fabric, sometimes as small as a thread or two that did not cut on the first pass with the rotary cutter. This is a sign that you may have a nick in your blade. In most cases it is time to change over to a new blade. But wait there is a solution to this problem........

All you need is a blade sharpener. This article explains pretty well why you need one and how to use it.

Check this page out to see some of the choices and places to buy a sharpener.

I must tell you I personally have one and love it! It really does extend the life of my blades. One last tip for you, once you have sharpened a blade, take a permanent marker and put a dot or X on it so you know the next time it skips or doesn't cut properly you may need to finally through it out. Sharpening can only go so far, eventually you will need to replace the blade.

I have a plastic container or small jar with a lid on it to put the old blades in. Just because they are too dull to cut fabric doesn't mean they won't cut skin! So use caution when replacing or sharpening your blades!

Quilting Basics Explained

Look what I found! A web page that explains all the basics to quilting.... and they have done it so well that I just had to share it with you.

I know that I try to provide you with "free" lessons here, and this is about as good as it gets. The site is called "Sewing Center" Take a look. There are 3 pages of definitions with great pictures and explanations for all the basics to quilting.

Enjoy, and I love finding sites that do all the work for me! I am sometimes too busy to write here on my blog. So taking shortcuts to great sites makes my job a bit easier.

Thank you Sewing Center!

Get a grip on your quilt.

When machine quilting it is important to get a grip on your quilt. In the picture below, you will find "quilters gloves" (the white gloves) these are found at most quilt shops and run about $10.00 to $20.00. The blue ones are those on size fits all kids gloves with the grippers on the. You can get them for about $1.00. The little finger tips, are found in the office supply stores. They are called secretary tips. I just put them on my thumb, and first two fingers and they work great. Some times the gloves get warm. A alternative to the secretary tips, are ordinary rubber gloves, (you know the ones you use for cleaning or doing dishes) pretty cheap to purchase, and all you do is cut the tips off and they work the same as the red ones, for less money!

This should help you get a grip on your quilts when machine quilting!



If you like tips like these stay tuned to my blog as I will be posting many more helpful quilting tips and free quilting lessons in the up coming weeks!

Take care and happy quilting!

Quilters tip of the week!

Starting this week, I am sending a tip of the week to all my students at Quilting Weekly, by e-mail. I hope they will enjoy them.

I know many of my readers are not members of my online classrooms site, (which is ok)So to keep you all up to date I will post the tips here as well. Not sure how I will organize them on the site. Still need to figure that out. But in the mean time as I send the tips to them, I will post one here too!

So the first tip is one that is very important for all quilters to remember.

The proper way to press your quilt blocks
Take the block and lay it wrong side up on your pressing surface, then set the iron on the block. If you need to move the iron to cover the rest of the block, then lift a set it down again.

Do not slide the iron side to side like when pressing a shirt. If you slide the iron you can run the risk of stretching the block.

Check back Next week to see the next tip!

A BIG thank you to CyberQuilters!

Thank you Cyberquilters!

I recently joined a wonderful group of dedicated quilters through yahoo groups called "CyberQuilters". I have really been more of a looker so far, with only an occasional post here and there. But this group has provided me with some wonderful sites to add to my every growing bookmarks. (thanks alot ladies, as if I am not spending enough time online LOL)

But seriously I love getting the e-mails, with all the helpful sites you ladies seem to find. (I say ladies, as I have only seen posts from ladies so far. So if there are gentlemen in this group, my apologies to you) If you are new to quilting, and want to join an active; helpful group of quilters dedicated to finding sites with tips, and lots of free patterns I suggest you check this one out.

But the real thank you goes to one of their members, for posting a link to my blog! I was so surprised when I saw it in the posts today. And of course now my blog views have really jumped today! So I guess many of the members there are peeking in now, and I couldn't be happier. {{grinning from ear to ear}}

I just hope I can meet your expectations for being one of those helpful sites you have so graciously have been sending to me in my own e-mail. (If you have any ideas, please post them in the comments, or e-mail them to me and I will see what I can do!)

What makes you subscribe to a blog?

Why I started this blog
I started this blog, as a way to reach out to more quilters in the world. I have a strong desire, and I feel truly passionate about quilting, and teaching quilting. And I want to reach as many quilters as possible so that I can share my knowledge with them.

In discovering my passion, I joined forces with two lovely people who happen to reside in Australia I however live in the USA, to create our online classroom website. So of course you will see references to my website all over this page. It only makes sense to self promote while I am here.
Not required to do anything at all!
As a subscriber to my blog, you are not required to click any of the links that lead you to my classroom website. I won't even know if you did or not. You can stay and read all the other little bits of information that I provide here absolutely free! No requirements to ever visit there. Ok enough with the self promoting, I don't want to loose you just yet!

Please tell me why?
As a blogger, my only real goal is to gain readers. As a new blogger, I am unsure of how to gain your trust enough that you will subscribe. So indulge me here and comment on this post and let me know a few things.

What makes you subscribe to a blog?

Do you use a feed reader, or just bookmarking of a site?

What are your favorite blogs and why?

I would love to know. All those who reply to this post will be put into a drawing for for a free fat quarter. For every 5 responses I will draw one name! So you have a 1-5 chance of winning!

I must limit this to responses from today (02-12-08 through 02-29-08)

One response per person, and only one fat quarter will be sent per address.

Winners will be contacted by e-mail (so please provide one in your response)I will not sell or misuse your e-mail or personal address in any way, I can assure you of that.

Winners will be posted (03-01-08)

Free heart patterns, for quilters

Ok, valentines day is just around the corner. Do you have your heart pattern for you quilts yet?

Here are a few sites with great patterns, and the best part is they are all free!

Scroll through this page for lots of different style hearts.

Here is a paper piece pattern

How about a heart in hand block

This page shows you how to make an entire quilt, with one heart block.

You can make wall hangings, table toppers, or runners think small and quick and you will have no problem completing them in time to display for the holiday or leave up all year long. As hearts never really go out of style.

No time for a quilt you say? How about making a few valentine themed postcards. They are small quick projects that are truly fun to make. And when you send them to you special person in the mail, they will be amazed.

Here are two of examples of heart postcards with directions

This blog has some great "eye candy", as there are several postcard examples here.

This should get you off to a good start! May your valentine bring you love, peace and happiness........or at least some chocolate and flowers!

You say you want Quilting FAQ

Quilting FAQ (FAQ stands for frequently asked questions) But then you already knew that.

This is something that every quilter, new and old alike are looking for right? I know there are hundreds of pages out there on the internet today with plenty of helpful tips and tricks for quilting. I could just give you a long link list to go through, and I already started one on a previous post.

Linking to other sites is helpful and a great way to share traffic, but I thought it might be nice to have my own list right here on the site! That way you don't have to leave and go to the other sites only to have to add yet another site to that never ending bookmark list. If you're like me your bookmark list can get pretty long at times.

So for those of you who want to use the bookmark system of existing sites, read my post from January "Do you need quilting tips" and there are some great sites to view. Have fun!

And for the rest of you, I will be creating a list of my own tips over the next few weeks. So watch for my FAQ PAGE coming soon.(oh that means bookmark my site, or better yet subscribe to the rss feed)To subscribe just look for the "subscribe to: Posts atom " link at the end of my posts or use the feed reader buttons on the right side of the screen.

If you have a tip you want to share with me, please use the comments section or send them to my e-mail address which is located on the top and bottom of the site. I love a good tip..............Do you have one?

What was I thinking with this quilt?

Do the words "what was I thinking?" ever come out of your mouth, when you look back at some previous quilts you made?

Well they just did for me. Take a look at this quilt top I took out of my UFO pile. The top was not bad, but I started adding some applique, and beading to it......and maybe went too far. What do you think?

As I said the background was not bad, and even some of the embellishments were ok, but I should have put it down at some point before it got out of control. {{grin}}




What's the problem you say? Well let me give you a better look at some of the crazy ideas I had on this quilt.

Ok, here are some fun applique's with letter beads on them. One says "Quilt" Duh like you don't know that already! The other says "Sew" ok, yes there is some sewing needed to make a quilt. But what is that above a spider? a flower? not sure but it was fun to add anyway.



How about a surprise......or is it surprize? guess my beading doesn't have a spell checker in it! LOL






Here is a star explosion or something. Not really sure what I was thinking on this section of the embellishments.





Here is another corner of the quilt top. Again, not sure if these are flowers or what. The one on the top, reminds me of that little one eye monster on that movie "Monsters Inc."






Now this really says how I feel about quilting.............as it gives me such JOY! But looks like this is a spaceship heading off into cyberquiltspace.....up up and away!


Anyway hope you enjoyed laughing with me on this project. It had some potential at one time, but I am not sure how or if I can quilt it now that there is so much on the top. In the future I think quilt first and bead later. I know if I attempt to quilt this it will be a challenge to go around all the beads now. HELP! Any ideas or comments on this would be great.

Finishing quilts can feel good!

I finished my rag quilt which in a the previous post you saw. This project was for my next class. And well I have to tell you I really liked making that quilt. It was so much fun and a fast project.

I never really ever attempted a rag quilt before as I felt it really wasn't my thing. But I have to tell you...........it may be my thing and I know I will make another of these soon.

In addition to the rag quilt I am almost finished with my landscape quilt! Now that one I really enjoyed doing and must make more of. I started this one before I started my blog. So I did not take many pictures during the process. I can only show the final result. {{sigh}} Who knew it would turn out so well for the first attempt.

I promise to make another and record the steps better to show you how to do this. It is loads of fun and gives you total freedom to play. If you have not tried this yet, you should. It really allows you to be creative and there are no seams or points to match so it can be done by anyone. {{smiles}}

I have been spending so much time working on the computer lately that I forgot about how much I like to quilt, I need to spend more time in the sewing room, and take more pictures to share with you all. Take care, and go and create something today!!

For The Love of Denim

Finally, a new class opening! Registration is going on now, so don't wait head on over to Quilting Weekly and reserve your seat in the classroom.

This class is on making a rag quilt, with raw edge appliqué. Perfect for Valentines Day! This is a fun and fast quilt and the best part is you can recycle your old denim jeans and flannel shirts! Which makes this an inexpensive quilt to make, perfect for all budgets.

Here is a picture of the quilt!



Since this class is totally done online, there is no worry about being late to class, and no lugging of your machine to class either. Once you register for the site, you can then register for class and get your materials list. The rest of the materials will be made available to you starting February 9th. If you have questions on this or any other classes we offer, please send your questions to me by e-mail chris@quiltingweekly.com.