Cottage Quilt Designs June 2007 |
In This Issue: Houston International Quilt Festival, Tip of the Month, and Quilts on Sale |
Houston International Quilt Festival |
Our exciting news for the month is that I have been invited to help Patti Oakley from Murry, KY vendor in her booth at the quilt show in Houston from November 1-4. Patti buys traditional Batik fabrics from Indonesia and sells them in her online store, Batiks by Design. She put out a call to designers for patterns. She sells these patterns on her website, http://www.batiksbydesigns.com , along with kits and the gorgeous fabrics she offers. She is buying some of my patterns and I am making samples from the patterns for her to display at the quilt shows. She'll also have kits made up of the the sample quilts plus lots of fat quarters and yard pieces. It takes two people to man the booths so I am so happy to help her out and see what it takes to vendor at the major quilt shows across the country. She is making room for my own quilts and pattens too. So if you are planning on coming to the show Nov. 1-4 stop in and say hi! We both would love to meet you! |
Quitler's Tip |
It is important before you sew your block that you decide how you are going to press the seams when you're finished sewing it together. For an example, if you have decided to press your seams open then you will do that at each joining of two layers instead of clipping and pressing them open when the block is done. Are you sewing black fabric to white fabric? Then you should plan on pressing the seams towards the dark fabric so no shadowing will show through the top when it is quilted. Will you have a number of points meeting in the middle? Then you should plan on pressing the seams open so that you preserve your crisp points. I even heard a quilter say that she pounds the intersection of points with a hammer to get them lie flat! She is a machine quilter and bulk at the intersections are hard to quilt through even with a machine needle. When it's time to sew the rows of blocks together, alternate the direction of the seam allowances between the rows, keeping the seams pushed up on the first row and the seams pushed down in the second row at each intersection. The seams on the third row would be in the opposite direction of the second row and so on. Doing this helps greatly in preparing to press the whole top before quilting it because the seams on the back are organized and will easily lie flat. Remember these tips next time you sew and you'll find it makes the process much easier! |
Email me with any questions or suggestions you may have for us to serve you the quilter better. Check out our blog on the website that is updated each week. In it we include news about Cottage Quilt Designs, recipes and anything we think you might find interesting. |
Blog |
Visit our blog on the website weekly to find out what is new, see photos, and find out what this designer is up to! |
Pattern on Sale |
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To celebrate the month of June we are putting the Strawberry Swirl Wall hanging pattern on sale for .00. This is a fun way to use novelty strawberry fabric and combine your piecing and applique skills! The baskets are paper pieced and the pattern has full scale layouts and drawings to help you with each block. Check out the Timeless Teasures website for the beautiful strawberry fabric they have at http://www.ttfabrics.com. They have a guide for quilts shops in your area if your local quilt shop doesn't have the fabric. Click here to view the quilt pattern. |
Visit our website to see the new patterns and the variety of designs we offer. First time customers receive a free pattern. When you send us your order we will email back asking which pattern you would like to receive free in your shipment. It's that easy! |