Suggestions for Quilt Panels

What's the easiest way to make a quick quilty gift? By using a quilt panel, of course!

You may've heard them called cheater quilts, but I prefer to think of them as "helper" quilts since they help a quilter to whip up a baby quilt, a lap quilt for a sick friend, or any have-to-have-a-quilt-made-now project. 

Quilt panels come in all different sizes and some may need a little extra help to get to the size we might want them to be. With some panels a border or two will suffice, but others may need to be cut up and have some fabric added to make it large enough.

Some quilt panels are really just too small to be made into a bed-size quilt - the panel would get lost in all the fabric that you would have to add to it to make it large enough. Keep this in mind when you are trying to decide what to do with your quilt panel. Not every quilt panel was made to be a king-size quilt!

This panel is so small that it is really only ever going to be a wall hanging.

A larger panel may just need a border or two added to them. That's a really simple way to quickly make a lap quilt or even a bed quilt.

Some panels can be cut apart and you can have lots of fun with these ones! You can add additional fabric vertically or horizontally - or both! If you think that it would add to the panel, you could add pieced blocks, rather than just solid fabric. This would take a bit more time to do, but could be quite effective.

This panel would be easy to cut up and insert some coordinating fabric.

If you are cutting up a panel and adding additional fabric, consider where you want the main part of the quilt panel to be so it will be highlighted to its best effect.

Click on the image below to watch a video on my YouTube channel which gives more information on options with quilt panels.

Creatively,

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How to Organize Information in Your Quilt Studio

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: “Out of sight, out of mind”. If you don’t have something right out in front of you, you forget that you have it or where it is. This is certainly the case in my quilt studio: if a project is packed away in a cardboard box, I can completely forget that I have even started it. Okay, this may be because I have so many WIP”s that I have trouble keeping track of them, but it’s definitely because they are not easily visible.

It’s the same way with information that I want to have in my studio. Maybe it’s notations about changes I want to make to a pattern or an idea for an upcoming YouTube video. While I eventually will enter video ideas into a Word document on my laptop, this isn’t the case for information about projects I’m working on. I often write out this information on little pieces of paper which are then scattered about my office or studio, which makes them very difficult to find again, and very easy to lose. I need a better system.

These notes could be managed much more efficiently.

Enter my favourite place to get quilting furniture: Ikea! I love how Ikea designs a product for a specific purpose, but then we quilters dive in and use it for something totally different! Product in point: cork trivets. These come in packages of 3 and are quite inexpensive, not to mention handy. I like to use these for mini cork boards. I find that they fit on the back of the doors to my cabinets – I just stick them up with double-sided tape – and I can then pin up little bits of information or reminders about projects. They are hidden inside the door, but every time I open up the cabinet, there is the information I need. I could also put them up on the wall, so they are more visible, and I have done that too, but they are less distracting when hidden inside a cupboard or cabinet.

This is what I'm talking about!

While these cork hot pads are fantastic for pinning small pieces of paper to them, I also like using a Peel & Stick whiteboard product that I found. These are repositionable sheets that you can write on with a dry erase marker. Once you’ve no longer need this information, you just wipe it off. I really like these to keep track of daily tasks and they can be put up on the wall or – yes, you guessed it – inside cupboard doors. If you want to put them inside doors, be sure that they aren’t touching fabric as the dry erase marker can rub off on it.

4 sheets to a box and easy to stick on and peel off!

Both of these methods work well for me, because they are “out of sight, but NOT out of mind”.

For more information on how you can use both these items, click on the image below to watch a video on my YouTube channel.

Let me know your best tips for organizing information in your quilt studio. Write your helpful hints in the comments below this post. I’d love to hear your ideas.

Creatively,

P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive FREE emails full of quilting goodness? Just click here to receive FREE content directly in your email inbox every few weeks from Chatterbox Quilts. I know you'll be glad you did!

Book Review: Walking Foot Quilting Designs

One of the problems that many quilters have is how to free motion quilt their projects. If you are one of those quilters, I can reassure you that you don’t have to. What?! Yes, you do have to get your quilt sandwich stitched together, but you don’t have to do this with free motion quilting: you can quilt your projects using your walking foot.

I recently discovered “Walking Foot Quilting Designs” by Melissa Marginet and wanted to share this book with you.

Walking Foot Quilting Designs is a small book that is packed with helpful walking foot quilting designs. As it is coil bound, you can have it right next to your sewing machine so you can easily refer to it as you are stitching out one of the designs. I really like this idea, because it is so very helpful to have the quilting information close at hand.

Melissa includes information at the beginning of the book about using your walking foot to quilt your quilts so you can get yourself and your machine properly set up. The book itself is divided into sections so you can quickly go to the one in which you are interested. You’ll find triangle designs, spiral designs, etc.

Each design is broken into several steps so you know exactly how to create it on your own sewing machine. The first lines that you’ll be stitching are in red in Step 1 and then these lines are shown in black in Step 2 to indicate that they have already been stitched. This makes it obvious which part of the design has already been stitched and what your next stitching will be.

Melissa also includes variations of the different designs as well as designs appropriate for borders and corners.

I think that the book will be helpful for both beginner quilters and more advanced ones: beginners could choose to stitch the initial part of the design, while more experienced quilters could do all of the steps for added complexity.

To see more of Walking Foot Quilting Designs, you can watch the video below or on my YouTube channel.

Using your walking foot to quilt is a great way to become familiar with the technique of quilting a project and to build your confidence so you are ready to eventually tackle free motion quilting… or you might just stay with walking foot quilting.

You can get your own copy of Walking Foot Quilting Designs from Melissa at http://www.melissamarginet.ca/.

Creatively,

Download the free Get Out of the Ditch! guide to learn how to start free motion quilting by clicking here.

P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive FREE emails full of quilting goodness? Just click here to receive FREE content directly in your email inbox every few weeks from Chatterbox Quilts. I know you'll be glad you did!

Revised Blogpost: Best Quilting Gift Ideas for Christmas

There was a bit of a problem with the links in the initial blogpost, so I'm resending it to you with everything corrected. Sorry about that!

Ho Ho Ho!

With Christmas fast approaching, I'm sure you are almost done your shopping, right? I'm not hearing a lot of positive responses. I am still at the beginning of my Christmas shopping, but as long as I have a list, that's okay. It's when I haven't a clue what to get anyone that things become stressful. Like this year...

If you're struggling to come up with ideas for the quilter on your list, stress no more. I've come up with a selection of gifts to fit every budget and every quilter. 

If you're looking for a practical stocking stuffer, you can't go wrong with a set of snips or a magnetic pincushion. There never seem to be enough of these around my house.

Maybe your friend loves quilting books. I've included a few of my favourites for the holiday season. Whether they love to paper piece or appliqué or just plain piece, I've got you covered.

For the free motion afficionado in your circle, you can't go wrong with a set of Machingers or a Supreme Slider: both essential to make free motion quilting the easiest technique ever.

Now, maybe you don't need to get a gift for a friend, but want to hint at a gift for yourself. Just direct your favourite quilter enabler to the list.

I hope this helps you with some quilty gifts for Christmas. Happy shopping!

Creatively,

I am an Amazon affiliate and as such will receive a small amount of monetary compensation should you purchase products by clicking through the links in this blogpost. Thanks for helping me to continue to create free content and videos.

Best Quilting Gift Ideas for Christmas

Ho Ho Ho!

With Christmas fast approaching, I'm sure you are almost done your shopping, right? I'm not hearing a lot of positive responses. I am still at the beginning of my Christmas shopping, but as long as I have a list, that's okay. It's when I haven't a clue what to get anyone that things become stressful. Like this year...

If you're struggling to come up with ideas for the quilter on your list, stress no more. I've come up with a selection of gifts to fit every budget and every quilter. 

If you're looking for a practical stocking stuffer, you can't go wrong with a set of snips or a magnetic pincushion. There never seem to be enough of these around my house.

Maybe your friend loves quilting books. I've included a few of my favourites for the holiday season. Whether they love to paper piece or appliqué or just plain piece, I've got you covered.

For the free motion afficionado in your circle, you can't go wrong with a set of Machingers or a Supreme Slider: both essential to make free motion quilting the easiest technique ever.

Now, maybe you don't need to get a gift for a friend, but want to hint at a gift for yourself. Just direct your favourite quilter enabler to the list.

I hope this helps you with some quilty gifts for Christmas. Happy shopping!

Creatively,