Save 30% at Quilt In A Day!

As a thank-you to all participants in the Symphony of Quilting Challenge, Eleanor Burns is offering 30% off all non-sale items on her websites. Use the code BABYLOCK in the coupon code when you check out. Plus orders of $100 or more ship free, and orders of $50 or more get a free gift. This offer is valid through October 30, 2010, and can't be used on furniture, classes or retreats.

Her websites are QuiltInADay.com and EleanorBurns.com, where you can find books, DVDs, fabric and kits, thread, patterns, and many other quilting supplies.

Also, visit her website to download a free pattern. This page is updated regularly, so visit it often.

Quilting Arts Magazine - Free trial issue

If you love contemporary quilting, mixed media techniques, thread painting, embellishments, felting, hand-dyeying fabrics and more, Quilting Arts Magazine is for you. This colorful magazine is one of my personal favorites--it includes wonderful samples, easy-to-follow instructions, and amazing inspirational ideas that you can use on your own quilts, bags, wall hangings and more.

See more about Quilting Arts on their website.

You can get a trial issue here.

Free admission to the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival in Del Mar, CA!

Visit the Quilt, Craft and Sewing website to download a coupon for yourself (and all your sewing buddies) who are somewhat local to Del Mar, CA (just north of San Diego) for free admittance to the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival on May 20-22, 2010 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Bing Crosby Hall. This is a direct link to the PDF coupon. Free admission is part of their "recession busting efforts." You can also make a copy of the coupon.

The hours are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am - 5 pm. And they advertise early buying privileges if you arrive early on Thursday. Your ticket is good for all three days.

I attended last year, and they certainly had lots of fun stuff, included fabric, quilting kits, sewing and embroidery machines, other crafts and special deals. I think I'll try to go this year also.

New BasicGrey fabric by Moda

I'm thrilled to see that new BasicGrey fabric will be available this month (May 2010) by Moda. It's a lovely Christmas collection that matches their scrapbook paper line, called Fruitcake. Wonderful vintage colors and prints, the sample I show here is of course the property of United Notions/Moda.

Other fabric lines that are also available by BasicGrey are Eva and Blush. Eva is a lovely combination of brown, pink, rose and a pop of lime green. They contain prints such as stripes, woodgrain, florals, dots, large pheasants, lace, and paisley.

Blush is a wonderful blend of large leaf prints, florals,  birds, dots, swirls, feathered paisley, and elegant script. The colors are an antique feeling: blush, rose, powder blue, chocolate, burgundy, and just a hint of mint. Here is a link to a free pattern that uses the Blush collection.

More free quilt block patterns at Quilt Blocks Galore

There are lots of free quilt block patterns for private home use on the pages of Marcia Hohn of The Quilter's Cache.

Please be sure to read the Terms of Use page before downloading any of the patterns. You won't have the license to make any of your quilts for sale, or any other commercial use, when using these patterns. Read them carefully, and make sure you understand.

Bargello Christmas Tree Quilt

This is a Christmas quilt I made for a friend of mine, and almost didn't finish in time for Christmas. It was easy, though a bit time-consuming to come up with right fabrics (particularly the large and small scale pine prints), though that might be because I'm picky about my fabric selection. You can download the PDF file for the pattern for free here (it will take time to get it, since it's a full-color PDF file). I should note here: this is an outside link to Timeless Treasures' website, as the free pattern is copyright by Karen Montgomery and Timeless Treasures, complete with fabric recommendations and yardage requirements.

As you can see, I chose slightly different fabrics for a different feel for this quilt. My tree turned out a bit darker than the pattern, and I chose burgundy and lots of metallic prints for a little flair. (I also skipped the nutmeg colored tree shadow at the base of the tree.)

For quilting, I did a free-motion leafy pattern for the tree, and then a stipple pattern for the background. The back of the quilt is a Michael Miller Fairy Frost in dark brown. (I added a personalized label before quilt assembly.)

I also added some iron-on rhinestones for embellishment as a star topper ornament, and also throughout the quilt, after the quilt was complete.

Optical Illusion quilt

Inspired by an optical illusion book belonging to (and challenge by) my son, I designed the following pattern and quilt. I haven't used many batik fabrics before, so I thought I'd try my hand at these. Feel free to download my pattern and try it yourself. Let me know if you make one. I think mine came out pretty cool.
Keep in mind your dark and light fabrics have two have good contrast and they need to read as solid, or your quilt will blend. Your quilt will probably turn out pretty cool if it blends, but it won't have the same illusion quality.
Now, the construction is fairly straightforward, but I'm not the best at butting seams. So I used a cheater method and some Quilt-Fuse, which is used for watercolor and grid quilting. I pieced the entire quilt in an afternoon. See a product review here. It's a great shortcut, and it works like this:

1. Cut your squares (in my case, squares and rectangles) to size.
   
2. Line them up, right sides up (pin them in place if desired) on the Quilt-Fuse background (Quilt-Fuse is fusible lightweight interfacing with a printed grid, so it's easy to line up the rows).
3. Fuse in place with an iron.
   
4. Fold the fused quilt over on itself (with the interfacing on the outside, right sides together), and sew each horizontal seam. Be careful to keep an even seam allowance, using your 1/4" seam guide. Don't press yet.
   
5. Clip your seams at the intersection of the grids before making the vertical seams. This will allow you to to butt the seam allowances, alternating one allowance up and one down, at each intersection.
6. Now sew the vertical seams, maintaining the same 1/4" inch allowance, and being careful at each intersection that the seam allowances are butting as planned, as it goes under the presser foot (the top and bottom allowances should be going in opposite directions).
7. Finally, press the entire quilt.

I made half the quilt at a time and sewed the two halves together. The interfacing makes for very easy machine quilting--the needle slides right through--but it may be too thick for hand quilting, and this quilt is doesn't have the same soft drape that other quilts have. So be aware of this in your planning.
I added thin dark, medium and light borders, and then one larger medium border, and rounded the corners. I've never done this before--I used a rotary cutter and dinner plate, and pre-done binding by Moda (so easy it feels like cheating!).
It was also hard to figure out how to quilt this thing, without blending it too much. So I found some Sulky variegated thread and quilted a straight starburst pattern off-center throughout. You can see the center in the large, lower, left, light square. (And you get extra points if you can say that out loud.)

Interesting fusing plastic bags into fabric tutorial...

My husband found this link for me, probably in response to my ever-growing fabric budget. This person has posted a tutorial on fusing plastic bags, and using the fused bags to make totes and other items. Check it out!

Free quilting patterns

Where is the best place to find free quilting patterns?  Please post your links in the comments below.  I've found many fabric distributors and supply manufacturers have free patterns on their websites.  Here is a summary of my favorites:

• Michael Miller 
• Robert Kaufman (scroll about half-way down the page for free patterns)
• Moda (United Notions)
• Bernatex
• Timeless Treasures (check out Solar Flate by Karen Montgomery--it's gorgeous)
• Free Spirit (Westminers Fabrics)
• Carol Doak (well, she doesn't sell fabric, but she does manufacture supplies)
• McCall's Quilting
• Lucy A Fazely (author of Quilt Style)

Often, many retail outlets also offer free patterns to download or view online.  And there are sites which will sell patterns and offer free downloads before you buy.  Another quick list of my favorites:

• Home & Garden Network
• Free Quilt Patterns.Info
• Victoriana Quilting block of the month
• About.Com Quilting
• Fat Quarter Shop
• Free Quilt Patterns
• Scrap Quilts.com
• Free Quilt Ideas
• Patterns from History
• eQuilters

Please feel free to comment and add your own.  Have a wonderful quilting day!