Kantha Quilting

From Sashiko quilting to Bats in Austin, this is truly the week for exploration!

And since we’re on a roll, I thought I’d talk about Kantha quilting today.

This style of creating quilts is from India, and like sashiko is elegant in its simplicity.

It uses echo quilting (repeating lines of quilting) on beautiful cloths from India.

You can even use cookie cutters as your inspiration for quilting designs.

Discover more when you visit:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/5027-kanthaquilting.php

 

First Quilts and Choosing Colors

Should you choose the fabric first or the quilt pattern first?

Sampler quilt or something else?

Most experienced quilters have an opinion. And many will tell you that your first quilt must be a sampler – as if there were some kind of rule or law.

The truth is, there is no rule, no law, no “best way,” except the way that works for you.

Some beginner quilters love the idea of a sampler quilt since it gives them a taste of working with several different types of blocks without having to make a bunch of each one.

Other quilters think you should choose a design you really like, and get your experience making different types of blocks by making different quilts.

I’m in that camp.

Although I appreciate the experience of making different blocks, I never really found a sampler quilt design I liked, and I discovered early on in my quilting that if I didn’t love the design or colors I was working with, the quilt wouldn’t get finished.

Pepper Cory is an experienced quilter who shared her thoughts about how beginner quilters should get started – and how to choose the colors for your quilts:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/1475-first-quilts.php

Happy Quilting!

P.S. Become a Master Quilter and learn everything you need to know about how to make quilts using an organized, step-by-step method with the most detailed and easy-to-understand information on the planet:

 

http://www.thequiltingcoach.com/public/Become-a-Master-Quilter.cfm

 

 

Two Color Binding on a Quilt

Every once in a while, it’s fun to do something totally unexpected on a quilt.

The first time I created a “surprise,” it was the backing of a quilt.

Before that, I had always tried to choose a fabric that matched the theme or mood of the quilt.

Then one day, I decided I would choose a fabric that was completely different so that when you turned the quilt over, you would go “Wow!”

It did have that effect. Many people in my family thought I was nuts for choosing that particular fabric.

Well, at least they were talking about the quilt.

Another fun thing to do is use two-color binding – the reversible kind.

If you haven’t seen it before, it turns out that one fabric shows on the front side of the quilt and a different fabric shows on the back.

And, if everything works right, the seam is on the edge of the quilt.

You’ll see more about this technique and watch a video showing how it’s done when you visit:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/9016-two-color-binding.php

Bind a quilt using two different fabrics – one for the front and the other that shows up on the back.

 

Kite Quilt Blocks

Ah, the winds of March.

I do remember fun times flying kites with my dad – box kites, kites with big long tails, dragon-shaped kites, all different kinds of kites.

It turns out that March is National Kite Month – in addition to the month we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

In today’s article, you’ll see some ideas for kite quilt blocks as well as a quilt block for St. Patrick’s Day – that’s a little different from the traditional Irish Chain:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/1358-kite-quiltblocks.php

Kite Quilt Block

 

How Large to Make a Quilt

It’s easy to figure out how large to make a quilt when you are working from a pattern.

But when you decide to make a quilt without using a pattern, if you are making the quilt for a bed, you’ll want to figure out how large to make it and how many blocks you will need.

Many quilters avoid this altogether, especially if you’re not really “into” math.

It turns out that it is really easy to figure out, with just the few tips you’ll find here:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/2604-size-of-quilt.php

 

what is sashing anyway?

freedie and nietzsche here – the official how-to-quilt.com schnoodles

penny is working on a new quilt, which is kind of fun for us since she is explaining everything as she goes.

it’s almost as good as a quilt as you go project, but she is sewing all of the blocks together this time – before she layers and quilts it.

(see, we’ve learned at least that much!)

anyway, she made a bunch of blocks and then she added these little strips between each block and row on the quilt top.

we were curious, since the only strips we have seen around here end up being cut into really small squares and triangles.

she explained that these strips get to stay that way so they can separate the blocks, and they are called sashing.

as you can imagine, we were really confused, since we couldn’t imagine why the blocks wanted to be separated from each other.

or why quilters would want to separate the blocks.

after all, one of our most favorite places is our outside nighttime safe spot (where the coyotes can’t get to us), and it has some nice blocks stacked right next to each other – and it makes a great place to sit and tease the coyotes.

we can’t imagine what that would look like if it had little strips of fabric between the blocks (especially since the blocks are concrete).

it’s all very confusing to us puppies – we’ve got so much to learn.

kind of like quilters of all ages!

so today, we thought we’d let you know about an article penny wrote that kind of explains sashing and has links to other articles, too:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/1209-sashing.php

Baby Quilt with Simple Sashing

 

consistent seam allowances in quilting

freedie and nietzsche here – the official how-to-quilt.com schnoodles

finally we got to watch penny do some actual sewing on a quilt the other day.

before then, all she’s been doing is moving stuff around the house – new things came in, the things we’ve been enjoying in our house for years now found other spaces to rest.

as you might imagine, it’s been quite traumatic for us boyz who don’t like change so much.

anyway, jim and penny kept talking about sewing quilts.

but none of it made any sense until the other day.

we told penny that we are committed to learning, just like jackson did, and so she said she would teach us, starting kind of at the beginning.

our little paws aren’t really ready to use a rotary cutter yet, but we were interested in the sewing machine and seeing how penny sews her patches together.

she told us that it is really important to sew accurate seam allowances – which means they should be about 1/4 inch wide, and all the same.

if the seam allowances are not right, it might make you blocks all different sizes.

we wanted to share some of the things she told us about getting our seam allowances right.

that way, we’ll be ready when she lets us use her nice little featherweight sewing machine.

here’s the scoop:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/2079-seam-allowances.php

 

Rotary Cutting and Weekly News

When I began making quilts many years ago, the tools were pretty much the same as they were when quilters were creating quilts 250 years ago.

The scissors were a little bit sharper than our quilting sisters used then.

The patterns were a little bit more plentiful, and we didn’t have to rely on newspapers, magazines and word of mouth as our sole sources for quilt block patterns.

And some people were actually beginning to make plastic templates instead of having to rely on sandpaper, cardboad, manila file folders and the like.

The best, first invention for quilters in decades was the rotary cutter.

In this week’s news, you’ll see a video showing rotary cutting techniques and download your free quilt block patterns:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/newsletter/beginner-quilting.php

 

Sewing Machine Needles

So, there you are, a new quilter trying to decide which needle to buy for your machine.

It should be easy, right?

Then you notice some strange fractions written on each needle pack, like 80/12 or 110/18.

Those numbers really are not fractions.

They denote two sizing systems — Metric and American.

The American number is the smaller number and it is sometimes listed first.

The number refers to the diameter of the needle’s shaft.

Knowing that much you would think it might be easy to choose the right needle, wouldn’t you?

Yet, it’s not quite that easy.

The good news is that often the package of needles gives a kind of hint about what types of fabric or projects the needle is made for.

For example, Denim needles are heavy duty and are great for denim rag quilts.

Topstitch needles are made to sew through several layers of fabric and make great machine quilting needles for your home sewing machine.

And for piecing, I use Universal needles – a kind of medium weight needle.

For more information about sewing machine needles and how to choose the right one, visit:

http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/6095-sewingmachine-needle.php

 

Thread for Quilting

freedie and nietzsche here – the official how-to-quilt.com schnoodles

we are so honored that penny is allowing to share our newly-learned quilting wisdom with you.

we understand that we have big paws to fill – what with m. mouse and jackson, the quilting kitties, having provided years of quilting information to you.

and, as you can imagine, we are still learning about quilts (just like some of you), since we haven’t ever been around them being made.

in the past, we’ve just enjoyed sleeping on them and bunching them up – like other kitties and puppies.

as you might imagine, this ‘computer’ stuff is new to us as well.

before penny arrived, we spent our time sleeping and chasing squirrels – in addition to barking at folks (and puppies) walking down the street.

now we are also learning about computers – but have a long way to go, including learning how to make capital letters on the keyboard.

penny tells us that the kitties had trouble with that as well.

so, we hope you will understand.

penny thought it would be a good idea to start with something fun like thread.

of course, the kitties like to play with thread a bit more than we do (we prefer our little pull toys that look like monkeys and ducks), yet pulling thread off a spool sounds like lots of fun.

anyway, today we learned that the weight of thread means a lot when you are sewing quilts together – but you can’t count on the label on the end of the spool of thread.

that’s because every thread manufacturer can make it up – there are no rules!

(we like it when there are no rules!)

plus we learned about cones of thread and spools of thread and stands for cones of thread.

all of that information comes to you from a thread expert, bob purcell – who penny interviewed a while back.

we hope you enjoy reading all about it:

http://www.how-to-quilt.com/articles/6503-thread-weight.php

nietzsche and freedie