Take a look at my latest video recording. It helps take the guess work out of using a color wheel. Learn to use one, and you will never have trouble matching fabrics again!
I do apologize for the choppiness, I had trouble with the stream the night I recorded this. I did it several times and this was the best one. Let me know what you think.
Online Video provided by Ustream
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Computer software and quilting
You obviously have a computer, or you would not be reading this blog. You may have found my blog because you are also interested in quilting. Well today I want to talk a little about both of these......Computers and Quilting.
In todays technical world the two are definitely merging. Quilting used to be done out of necessity to keep warm. But today we make quilts as works of art for not only our beds but our tables, and walls too. We even where our quilts! There have been many fashion shows for these quilted garments.
With all this talent we had to move into the next phase. Which is to use our computers to aide us in design and construction. But how do we use our computers? That is the real question. I know of a quilter who simply wanted to see how a block looked repeated, for a quilt she wanted to make. So she drew the block, colored it, and then scanned it into her computer. Then she simply made a "tiled" wallpaper from her block. It gave her an idea of how it looked without sewing a stitch. The next step she took was cutting out fabric and gluing them to paper to make a mock block. Then scanned that into the computer and did the same thing. She now was able to see her design in fabric. Still not sewing a stitch. Pretty creative, I thought.
That is just one simple use for the computer with quilting there are so many others. We can now print on fabric right from the computer. So you can draw and design your own one of a kind fabric! You can print your favorite photos on fabric. And don't forget about your children's drawings. Talk about preserving the moment and making them feel like they are really special. After printing these works of art, you can frame them or make a quilt that they can show off to their friends. Pretty impressive right? What grandma or grandpa wouldn't cherish a home made gift like that.
There are even computer software programs available today. These programs can give you total freedom from the old fashioned graph paper and colored pencils. You can design your blocks, sashing and borders. Letting you see the finished quilt and allowing you to make changes as needed. Try out different colors, or fabrics (some programs come with their own fabric libraries). You can play with different borders, and block layout. Printing out fabric requirements or cutting instructions eliminates some of the stress in buying fabric or assembly. If you like to paper piece many of these programs even give you an options to print out your foundation blocks in any size you need.
When it comes to design, the sky is the limit. You can use traditional blocks from their library, modify them or design your own. All with out ever touching the sewing machine. Now that is modern quilting at its best. Of course if all you want to do is design, then you will be in heaven and may never leave your computer. But if you want to actually sew the quilt, you may find you will have to turn off the computer and turn on your sewing machine.
If you are one of the lucky ones to have found a great computer use for quilting, why not share it with us by leaving a comment here. I would love to how you use your computer to better you quilting.
In todays technical world the two are definitely merging. Quilting used to be done out of necessity to keep warm. But today we make quilts as works of art for not only our beds but our tables, and walls too. We even where our quilts! There have been many fashion shows for these quilted garments.
With all this talent we had to move into the next phase. Which is to use our computers to aide us in design and construction. But how do we use our computers? That is the real question. I know of a quilter who simply wanted to see how a block looked repeated, for a quilt she wanted to make. So she drew the block, colored it, and then scanned it into her computer. Then she simply made a "tiled" wallpaper from her block. It gave her an idea of how it looked without sewing a stitch. The next step she took was cutting out fabric and gluing them to paper to make a mock block. Then scanned that into the computer and did the same thing. She now was able to see her design in fabric. Still not sewing a stitch. Pretty creative, I thought.
That is just one simple use for the computer with quilting there are so many others. We can now print on fabric right from the computer. So you can draw and design your own one of a kind fabric! You can print your favorite photos on fabric. And don't forget about your children's drawings. Talk about preserving the moment and making them feel like they are really special. After printing these works of art, you can frame them or make a quilt that they can show off to their friends. Pretty impressive right? What grandma or grandpa wouldn't cherish a home made gift like that.
There are even computer software programs available today. These programs can give you total freedom from the old fashioned graph paper and colored pencils. You can design your blocks, sashing and borders. Letting you see the finished quilt and allowing you to make changes as needed. Try out different colors, or fabrics (some programs come with their own fabric libraries). You can play with different borders, and block layout. Printing out fabric requirements or cutting instructions eliminates some of the stress in buying fabric or assembly. If you like to paper piece many of these programs even give you an options to print out your foundation blocks in any size you need.
When it comes to design, the sky is the limit. You can use traditional blocks from their library, modify them or design your own. All with out ever touching the sewing machine. Now that is modern quilting at its best. Of course if all you want to do is design, then you will be in heaven and may never leave your computer. But if you want to actually sew the quilt, you may find you will have to turn off the computer and turn on your sewing machine.
If you are one of the lucky ones to have found a great computer use for quilting, why not share it with us by leaving a comment here. I would love to how you use your computer to better you quilting.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Time is a funny word.....
Time is a funny word. And something that I wish I had more of in a day. I know I am not alone here with this. We seem to want to do more, and have more time to enjoy it! But how can we do it all?
My kids last night said something that made me laugh and get mad at the same time. Now mind you my daughter who is 16 and just started working. Her first day of work was last night. My son who is 19 and is still living at home, while he works and goes to college.
We were having a discussion about things that needed to be done around the house, and my son was giving his sister a hard time.
"You never do anything around here" Matt said to her.
"But I worked today, and then went straight to dance" she said back.
"Oh you poor thing, what you started work at lunch time, big deal!" Matt replied back.
And I said. "Matt give her a break, working is new to her, and to her defense she did dance from 4:00 to 10:00pm she is tired." "And besides what did you do today?" Knowing that he has been working almost 40 hours for the last few weeks since school got out and this was his only day off this week.
"Oh this is my day off, except for going to school tonight." Was his reply. His summer classes started this week, so now he has to keep up the work schedule and school again.
My replied was "oh poor baby, you work all day and have to go to school all night, why don't you try my schedule for awhile!"
This is the part that was funny and made me angry at the same time. They both said at the same time. "Mom you have a day off everyday, you don't work!" "So what are you talking about?"
"Are you kidding me?" "A day off everyday?" It's true I don't have to leave the house to drive to another building to punch a time card, but I work everyday with more job titles then I can list. But don't get me started I said.
I know if you are a stay at home mom, you can relate to that statement. In addition to all the hats we wear for our mom/wife jobs, many of you are running business from home too. I am one of those who has been working to get my internet business going for the past year now while still keeping up with the mom/wife tasks.
So trying to manage all the tasks we need to keep a household running, keep our businesses going and still find time for ourselves.........that is the real challenge. Time is a funny thing it keeps going and so do we.
My kids last night said something that made me laugh and get mad at the same time. Now mind you my daughter who is 16 and just started working. Her first day of work was last night. My son who is 19 and is still living at home, while he works and goes to college.
We were having a discussion about things that needed to be done around the house, and my son was giving his sister a hard time.
"You never do anything around here" Matt said to her.
"But I worked today, and then went straight to dance" she said back.
"Oh you poor thing, what you started work at lunch time, big deal!" Matt replied back.
And I said. "Matt give her a break, working is new to her, and to her defense she did dance from 4:00 to 10:00pm she is tired." "And besides what did you do today?" Knowing that he has been working almost 40 hours for the last few weeks since school got out and this was his only day off this week.
"Oh this is my day off, except for going to school tonight." Was his reply. His summer classes started this week, so now he has to keep up the work schedule and school again.
My replied was "oh poor baby, you work all day and have to go to school all night, why don't you try my schedule for awhile!"
This is the part that was funny and made me angry at the same time. They both said at the same time. "Mom you have a day off everyday, you don't work!" "So what are you talking about?"
"Are you kidding me?" "A day off everyday?" It's true I don't have to leave the house to drive to another building to punch a time card, but I work everyday with more job titles then I can list. But don't get me started I said.
I know if you are a stay at home mom, you can relate to that statement. In addition to all the hats we wear for our mom/wife jobs, many of you are running business from home too. I am one of those who has been working to get my internet business going for the past year now while still keeping up with the mom/wife tasks.
So trying to manage all the tasks we need to keep a household running, keep our businesses going and still find time for ourselves.........that is the real challenge. Time is a funny thing it keeps going and so do we.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
3 more hot quilting tips for you!
Tip 1 - Handling the thread tails when satin stitching
Here is an easy way to handle the thread tails when machine satin stitching your appliqué pieces down. Insert the needle into the fabric and using your fly wheel (needle up button if you have one), grab the top thread and the bobbin thread should come to the top. Now lay the thread tail next to the appliqué piece and satin stitch over the thread tail. After several stitches the tail should be secured, you can then cut the tail and it will be completely hidden!
Tip 2 - Keep your quilting even over the entire quilt
Keep it even whenever you quilt. By this I mean your quilting in any given area of a quilt should be the same as any other area. If you quilt heavily on your blocks, then all your blocks should be quilted heavily. And remember to keep your borders quilted using the same density as you did the center of your quilt. When areas of a quilt are unevenly quilted, the less quilted parts tend to ripple and bulge.
Tip 3- Finding paper for creating your quilt designs
Don’t limit yourself to your quilt shops when looking for paper to design your quilts with. Try the grocery store for waxed paper, freezer paper or even shelf paper. If you can get you hands on some of that paper the doctor uses on the exam tables that would be a real treat. Ask the next time your at the doctors office you never know. Art supply stores are great for getting larger tablets of tracing paper. The other paper that works well is newsprint which can be obtained from your local newspaper. Just ask for the ends of the rolls. They tend to throw these out anyway if they are too small. (but may not be too small for quilt projects!)
Here is an easy way to handle the thread tails when machine satin stitching your appliqué pieces down. Insert the needle into the fabric and using your fly wheel (needle up button if you have one), grab the top thread and the bobbin thread should come to the top. Now lay the thread tail next to the appliqué piece and satin stitch over the thread tail. After several stitches the tail should be secured, you can then cut the tail and it will be completely hidden!
Tip 2 - Keep your quilting even over the entire quilt
Keep it even whenever you quilt. By this I mean your quilting in any given area of a quilt should be the same as any other area. If you quilt heavily on your blocks, then all your blocks should be quilted heavily. And remember to keep your borders quilted using the same density as you did the center of your quilt. When areas of a quilt are unevenly quilted, the less quilted parts tend to ripple and bulge.
Tip 3- Finding paper for creating your quilt designs
Don’t limit yourself to your quilt shops when looking for paper to design your quilts with. Try the grocery store for waxed paper, freezer paper or even shelf paper. If you can get you hands on some of that paper the doctor uses on the exam tables that would be a real treat. Ask the next time your at the doctors office you never know. Art supply stores are great for getting larger tablets of tracing paper. The other paper that works well is newsprint which can be obtained from your local newspaper. Just ask for the ends of the rolls. They tend to throw these out anyway if they are too small. (but may not be too small for quilt projects!)
Monday, June 2, 2008
Check out our latest quilting class
Quilting Weekly has a new teacher and a new class this week.
The new class teaches a technique that will give your quilts a 3-D look. This is called trapunto. If you are not familiar with tapunto and the great effects it can have on ordinary quilts, then you need to check out this great class. The best part is it is only $37.50 for a full 2 months subscription. That's only $1.60 a day, come on you spend more on coffee each morning don't you?
Take a look at Trapunto'd Box of Chocolates, and while your there, join us for our weekly discussions in the general discussion forum. (they are free and so is site registration)
Ok, enough of a sales pitch for my business. Now onto something fun which will be in my next post. I would like to think I will get it done tonight, but more likely it will be tomorrow.
The new class teaches a technique that will give your quilts a 3-D look. This is called trapunto. If you are not familiar with tapunto and the great effects it can have on ordinary quilts, then you need to check out this great class. The best part is it is only $37.50 for a full 2 months subscription. That's only $1.60 a day, come on you spend more on coffee each morning don't you?
Take a look at Trapunto'd Box of Chocolates, and while your there, join us for our weekly discussions in the general discussion forum. (they are free and so is site registration)
Ok, enough of a sales pitch for my business. Now onto something fun which will be in my next post. I would like to think I will get it done tonight, but more likely it will be tomorrow.
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