Hello my loyal blog fans, I wanted to let you all know where I have been for the past few months and explain why you haven’t seen much new content here lately.

My dream of owning my own quilting business started about 5 years ago, and has led me down many paths trying to find out what I wanted to do with my business. My primary goal has always been to find a way to teach quilting to anyone who was interested in learning. I focused primarily online, as it allowed me to reach more people quicker than I could in person.

When I started this journey I didn’t even know what a blog was, let alone how to create and market one. However now I not only have a grasp on how this is done, I have done it with multiple blogs……at the same time! But as you can imagine that is a lot of writing, editing and marketing to keep up with.  Therefore I have come to the decision that I need to narrow down my time spent on all these blogs so that I can focus on my business.

My business is what started this journey, and it is what I need to focus on now. The last 5 years have been a fabulous and enjoyable learning experience for me. I have met some wonderful quilters along the way, most of which I would not have ever crossed paths with had I not started blogging. I also discovered how much  I really enjoy writing, which really surprised me. I may not be the best writer, or the most entertaining writer, but I have a good following here, and on the other blogs so I must be doing something right!

As for the business goes, it started with a partnership with a wonderful lady who I met online and we set off to build an on line quilting classroom website/community.  We had a pretty good run for about 3 years, and then I felt it was time to go on my own.  Not as easy as I thought it would be that’s for sure. However I am not through yet! I have lots of ideas and plans for my new site which I hope to see unfold over the next few years.

This new site (built by me!) will be a work in progress. I still have a lot to learn with regards to being a webmaster, but if you’re at all curious about my new site, check it out at http://www.learn2quiltonline.com and while you’re there you should also check out the new blog at http://www.learn2quiltonline.com/blog

These two web addresses will be where you will find me from now on. This blog will remain up, as there is a lot of great content, but I will no long add new content here so I encourage you to check out the new location, re-subscribe or bookmark it so that you can stay in touch and continue to enjoy my quilting lessons and blog articles.

Thank you for being here for this part of my journey, and I hope to see you soon at the new location!

In honor of “National Sewing Month” here is a great tutorial I found on the nationalsewingmonth.org website for making a Kindle or iPad cover. In this video she shows you how to attach a pocket to your project which includes a zipper. A nice bonus feature on this cover which will give you a place to keep keys, money or your cell phone when you are out and about with you kindle/iPad.

Here are the supplies and written instructions (pdf download)

If you want to “up-cycle” an old suit coat into a a laptop cover that’s for that man in your live, then take a look at this tutorial found on “That’s my Letter”.

Don’t have a wool coat to cut up? You can find plenty of them at your local thrift shop or yard sales. What a cool way to re purpose old suits. I love this idea! This would be great to make and send with your college student to protect their laptops as they walk between classes.

Make it personal by appliqueing the outside with initials, names, or favorite sports teams!

Here is an awesome easy to follow tutorial (video style) on how to make a small wristlet or make up pouch with a zipper.

video by The Crafty Gemini – She is one awesome girl full of great ideas and video tutorials.

Here in Chicago we are officially into the warmer weather and outdoor activities are in full swing.  As you move from spring to summer, you probably don’t want anything to do with the indoors, unless you’re looking for some cool air conditioning & a break from the heat right? So how do you keep up with your sewing projects then?This is a question that comes up a lot for me and  many of my readers here so I thought I would share a few tips on how you can enjoy the weather and stay ahead of your projects at the same time.

We love our sewing / quilting in the cooler weather when there isn’t much to do outside (unless you’re one of those people who like winter sports). But with gardening, outdoor carnivals music fests, along with all those great craft & art shows to see who wants to be indoors! Not too mention the backyard cook-outs, picnics, bike rides and if you have a pool you only get a few months to use it, so quilting is the last thing on your minds. Or at least it is for me.

Keeping up with projects isn’t hard if you do a little planning and schedule it into your day. Here are a few tips on how you can do this without much effort.

• Schedule a sewing day. – Check the local weather forecast for the week, and sew on the days when it is going to rain, or is just too hot to be out doors.
• Sew daily by picking a set time a day. Give yourself an hour each day to work on a project. If your household are late sleepers and you’re up early instead of cleaning the house do some sewing.
• Sewing at the end of your day can be done as well while everyone else is watching t.v. go down to the sewing room and unwind with a project or two.
• If you like to do hand work, keep your bags packed and ready to go with you! Zip-lock bags with pre-cut fabric ready assemble doesn’t take up much room in your purse, and you can put needles and thread into a small recycled prescription bottle or metal pill box. This is one of the best ideas I think, as you can be sewing/quilting while you watch the kids sports games, or while you’re at the dentist / doctor appointments. You can even work on projects while you sit out in your yard just enjoying the beautiful weather.
• Make yourself a small tote bag with  a few pockets to carry with you for larger projects like hand quilting a larger quilt if you like. If the bag is packed with all your supplies a head of time and near the door or your purse  it will be ready to go with you when you leave.
• If your lucky enough to have someone else driving you to your outdoor festivals, and craft shows you can be quilting in the car while they do the driving.
• Traveling on vacation? No problem, as you pack your bags for the trip make sure you pack a quilting bag too! You can sew on the plane, in the cab or as you unwind in the hotel.

You can have the best of both worlds with a little planning, whether you like hand work, or prefer to use your machines. Get out and enjoy the weather and all the outdoor activities, but don’t let those quilting projects lay unattended till fall. You will be much happier if you make time for them all year long. Besides it has been proven that quilting is relaxing and can lower your blood pressure, so stay healthy and keep quilting!

Have any other suggestions on how you stay ahead of your quilting projects when there is so much more to do outside? Please share your tips by leaving us a comment.

Quilting and embroidery how do you combine them?  I bought a new machine about a year ago with the intent on using the embroidery options it came with in my quilting projects. However I have yet to do that.

At first I was intimidated by the idea of using embroidery. I love watching the machines stitch out designs every time I visit a shop. But the idea of doing this myself was scary.

Figuring out what design to use, and what stabilizers to use, and then the threads…….do I have the right colors?? And let’s not forget about what am I going to embroider? Should I just do squares and how big? Or should I add designs to ready made items like clothing, towels or bags?

This is where I got stuck. The funny thing is my daughter (all of 19 yrs old) has been using my machine more than me!! She has made patches, (which you may have read about previously on this blog and more recently she decided to add designs to her tee-shirts. In fact this weekend she sold one of her shirts for $30.00 at a show! (Which she paid $6.00 for originally).

So today I want to figure out how I can incorporate my embroidery with my quilting projects. I need your help to do that. I am asking for your ideas here. If you own an embroidery machine can you please share you ideas with me?

• What are your favorite items to embroider?
• What designs do you prefer to use?
• Do you use embroidery in quilting? and if so how?
• Are you familiar with applique in the hoop? and if so, do you like it?
• Any tips on stabilizers you care to share?
• How big do you cut your squares if you want to embroider them first?

Oh the questions could go on forever if I continue to think about this. Please leave me your comments and answer any of these questions you like, or add your own suggestions/tips. Help me get past fear and move to creating with embroidery so I can stop feeling guilty about buying this expensive machine and not using it to its potential.

 

Comfort Quilts for Japan – a post I am seeing all over the web now on a variety of websites and blogs. If you are a quilter or belong to group and want to get involved in sending quilts to Japan, you may find a few issues in getting these quilts into the hands of those who need them. Beyond the expense of international shipping costs, or customs costs there is the fear that they  may never get distributed once they do arrive.

I was personally very moved by an email I received which was a call for “Comfort Quilts” by Naomi Ichikawa,Editor of Patchwork Quilt tsushin, in Tokyo. And I felt the need to do something to help. After writing about this in a post on my other blog looking for ideas on how I could get involved. I was concerned about how I could collect and ship quilts overseas. This seemed like an impossible task. But since my initial post I received several comments with suggestions and numerous emails with ideas on what to do. I then put together a permanent page on the blog which will now be dedicated to this cause which I will update as I find new information.

I have included links to trustworthy organizations that if you feel you want to send financial donations to you can. There is also important tips on sending quilts overseas. Please take a minute today and read it.

http://learn2quiltonline.blogspot.com/p/comfort-quilts-help-those-in-need.html

I have also created an article that includes 2 free patterns, tips on what or what not to do when shipping quilts to Japan. It also includes address for 2 donation center in the USA that will handle shipping your quilts for you so you don’t have to deal with the expense of international shipping. If you happen to live close enough there is information for sending them to Naomi Ichikawa,Editor of Patchwork Quilt tsushin who is in Tokyo. Please download this free pdf file and consider helping.

http://www.learn2quiltonline.com/Lessons/Comfort-Quilts-For-Japan.zip

Thank you for your time, and  may God bless you and your family.

Today I received another interesting question in my email. This one came from a reader here who posted the following in my comments section of my Quilting Help page here on the blog.

I think I am posting this in the right spot. I have made one patchwork quilt for my son. It turned out ok..My 2nd project is one for my best friend adn I want to make sure I am doing it the right way.
I have fat quarters and I am putting pig 4 inch squares around them and then going to put strips of fabric between them. My question is how do I sew the smaller squares to the big one and how is the best way to sew the material between the “big squares” as a separater strip,have no idea what it is called. Thank you for your help

Now as you can see, this might be a bit more challenging for me to answer especially in an email. However I love a challenge and think I have met this one today and would like to share it here with you as there may be others reading my blog who might have the same questions.

Here is what I wrote in my reply:

Hello,

Thank you for visiting my blog, and for leaving  me you question.

I will see if I can answer it. Although without actually seeing the quilt pattern you are creating this might be more challenging.

If I am understanding you correctly, it sounds like you are using a fat quarter (18 x 22 inch) as your large square, and you want to sew smaller squares around these. right? If so, then what you need to do is a bit of math here to make things line up and fit properly. Because 18 and 22 are not divisible by the same number equally you will only get frustrated trying to make this work. I suggest you trim your fat quarter to a size that is divisible by the same number. Example 15 x 20 (both are divisible by 5).

Important: Before you start cutting up your fat quarters make sure you include a seam allowance of 1/2 inch. In quilting we always use 1/4 inch seam allowances, therefor we always add 1/2 inch to all cut measurements.

I sent a pdf file with my email showing her how to attach the squares. but for the sake of this post, I am inserting the images which I wasn’t able to do with my email program.

This is an example of how it would look if you used a fat quarter with smaller squares sewn on.

To accomplish this, you first need to make sets of the smaller squares. I suggested she cut the center at 15.5 inches and cut her squares 5.5 inches.

Next she would need to join 4 of the smaller squares to form the side strips, and then sew them to each side of the larger square, like in the following photo.

Once you have done this, you can now repeat the process for the top and bottom strips of small squares. The only difference is you need to use 5 squares instead of 4. Simply repeat this process for all of your (fat quarter sections).

The second part of your question was asking about adding strips of fabric in between these sections when you join them. This is called “sashing strips”. Determine the width of your strips and then measure the length of the block. In the above example it should be either 25 or 30 depending on which way the sections are oriented. Cut strips of fabric for your sashing and join them as follows:

Create the quilt in rows
fat quarter section, sashing strip, fat quarter section, etc. Making sure you start with a fat quarter section and end with one. Repeat this process for each row you are making in your quilt.

Join the rows
Now you will need to join the rows with a longer sashing strip. Use the same width as you did for the ones between the fat quarter sections, but this time the length is determined by the length of your row.

Sew the long sashing strip to the bottom of row 1, and then add row two to the sashing strip. Continue this process until you have added all the rows and sashing strips. To finish off the outer edges add a final strip to the top and bottom, and then each side.

Example of how the finished quilt could look using this technique

 

I hope this helps answer your questions, and please feel free to contact me directly through this email if you should have others. For more helpful tips and lessons visit my new blog Learn 2 Quilt Online. This blog is dedicated to teaching new quilters and is loaded with plenty of free tutorials, video lessons, patterns and resources all designed to inspire you and guarantee your success in quilting.

Finding a quilt with mold or a musty mildew smell is something that sends chills down my spine. Knowing how much time and love goes into making a quilt it breaks my heart to get an email like this one:

Hi, do you have a proven solution to cleaning/removing mildew/black spot stains from quilts.
It is an applique quilt with lots of different colours.
I have tried soaking it in nappysan – this didn’t work, if anything it made it worse.
Really annoys me as the quilt took aaaages to make.
Any help you could suggest would be appreciated.

Disclaimer: I personally have not had to deal with this problem on my own. So what I am about to share must be taken with caution. I have not tested any of these methods personally, therefore can not guarantee the results and do not want to be held responsible for further damage.  That being said,  if you check these links and read through them entirely beforehand; test on small areas you might just find something here that would work for you.

Additional tip: Before trying any of these, you might want to take your quilt to your local quilt shop or if you have a museum who deals with textiles in your area take it there and see what advice they can give you. You might find someone who had dealt with this issue first hand, and can give you more guidance.

Here is what I found on the web on this subject:

Read through each process first and then decide which one you think would be best for you.

E-How to clean mold off quilts E-How offers many useful tips on a variety of subjects I have found their information helpful many times over and feel they are a pretty reliable source.

Here is a list of multiple methods that were sent in by others who encountered this problem.  I found this list on a site called “the dollar stretcher” I am not familiar with this site, co can’t say how reliable the information is.

Quilt History also has information on how to handle this problem. Another well trusted site where I found useful information.

This link will take you to YouTube.com where I did a quick search on this subject. This link will pull up a list of videos on how to remove mildew/mold from fabrics. You might find something here that is useful as well.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=removing+mold+or+mildew+from+quilts&aq=f

Of course preventing this from happening in the first place is best.

Protect your hard work and keep your quilts safe from stains, mold or  mildew is important. And precautions should be taken to avoid the problems described above. So much time and care goes into making a quilt that you should take just as much care in protecting them so that they can be enjoyed for generations to come. I know many quilts are made for the sake of making them, and are expected to be used until they fall apart. And that is fine, but if you make something special or if you are lucky enough to have possession of an antique quilt, you will want to take the proper precautions to protect it from damage.

Here are a few helpful links I found on the web regarding how to protect and store you quilts.

Eight tips for storing your quilts (from Quilting 101)

Storing Antique Quilts (from About.com)

Quilt Care (from GLQC (Great Lakes Quilt Center)

Storing your quilts (from E-How)

I hope you find this information useful and if you have other suggestions on this subject that I did not address, please feel free to leave me a comment. Share your stories of how you solved the issues of mold/mildew removal on your quilts so that others can benefit from them.

“Hope you can help! I want to make a quilt as a bedspread for a twin bed (standard height….not giant high like the newer mattresses) but also be able to use it on a queen bed with a dust ruffle. Can you suggest a length and width for me to make this quilt? Or am I asking the impossible….like trying to put a square peg in a round hole!”

Sue

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This was the question I received today in my mail box as it was posted in the “Quilting Help” section of this site. My quilting help page is a place where you can post quilting questions and get answers, either in the comments section there from me or in most cases a personal email is sent to you directly if I have your contact information. Please feel free to submit your questions if you need a little extra help. I don’t claim to be an expert, but if I don’t know the answer I will do my best to search the web for the best place to direct you to for the answer. Just call me the “dear Abby of the quilting world”

Here is what I had to say about Sue’s question:

Sue,

I don’t think you are asking the impossible, although it is unusual to make a quilt that will fit both twin & queens size beds with one quilt. I can’t tell you what size to make your quilt you will have to decide what is best for your own needs. I will however give you some of the standard sizes for various quilts, and give you some ideas on how to measure your beds to find a size that will fit both. As you know a quilt for a queen size bed, will be larger than needed for a twin. But if you don’t mind the quilt being over sized on the smaller bed, then it can work.

Sizes below are based on standard mattress sizes (in inches)

* Crib size = 23 x 46
* Twin size = 39 x 75
* Double / Full size = 54 x 75
* Queen size = 60 x 80
* King size = 76 x 80
* California King size = 72 x 84

Now when you measure your own mattress here are the areas you need to consider. (using the larger bed in your case)
The width = measure across the bed side only. Just the surface of the bed
The length = measure from end to end, across the surface of the bed. **If you plan on putting the quilt over the pillows with a tuck under the pillow you have to add that as well. **Instead of measuring just the mattress surface, you need to measure over the pillows and then down to the foot of the bed. Then add the extra length needed for the tuck. If you want  a full tuck (all the way under the pillows)  add 20 inches.  If you want a shallow tuck (half way under the pillows) add 10 inches to the length of the mattress.

Next you need to decide how far you want it to hang over the bed (using the larger bed)
Comforter length = Measure from the top edge of the mattress to the bottom edge (do not include the box spring)
Coverlet length = Measure from the top edge of the  mattress to just past the edge of the frame.
Bedspread length = Measure from the top edge of the mattress to just above the floor.

I hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for visiting my blog and for asking such an interesting question. Good luck with your project and if you like, you can send me a photo of the finished quilt. I would love to see how you accomplish this dual purpose quilt!  After all there may be others considering this idea too, and you might just help to visualize the possibilities.

Take care, and happy quilting.

Chris Dahl
Learn 2 Quilt Online – You can learn to quilt, and right from the comfort of your own home!
Online Quilting Blog – Got quilting questions? Let me try and answer them for you!

Pat Sloan is always full of great information! This short video she put together helps you understand the various weights of Aurifil thread. Shares tips on how you can identify each type of thread and also share some ideas on how to use the various thread weights in you projects. A good video to watch no mater what level quilter you are.