Education · General Information Quilting

Chicago International Quilt Festival Thursday – Saturday

Its that wonderful time of the year where the quilt show comes to Chicago. If you plan to see the show (March 28-30, 2019) please check out the Open Studio instructors. I will be there each day with something new. Please stop by and say hi.

Festival will have educational opportunities for free on the show floor including our popular Open Studios™ and the new Learning Lounge in lieu of traditional classes and a class catalog.

Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, located at 5555 N. River Road, Rosemont, Illinois 60018.

Show hours are 10 am-5 pm

Admission are $10 adult daily, $8 seniors 65+/students/military and $25 full show pass Children 10 and under free.

Education

No Measuring Borders Tutorial

If you want better borders, so they are not flopping in the wind or somehow out of wack, but really hate math and measuring, this is for you. This is the method I have used since I started quilting and still use today. It works for me, give it try and you won’t be disappointed. Any questions, or unsure of any step, PLEASE contact me. I want you to have fun while making a better quilt!

Make sure your quilt top is nicely pressed.

Find center of the quilt top. Do this by folding the ends and marking middles with a pin, iron tap the center, or use a chalk mark.

Cut border fabric for the first two sides you will be applying. Make sure you go longer than your quilt top.

Line up border fabric on the top of each other, and find the centers of these pieces in the same manner. Mark them.

Match the center points of the border with the center of the quilt, pin them together well.

Gently, without pulling, lay the border strips down the middle of the quilt, keeping them all in line. Mark borders with pin, chalk or finger press where the borders meet the end of the quilt.

Trim your borders where marked.

Find the centers of borders by folding in half and iron press center ,this will help with registration marks.

Match centers of borders with center marks on ends of quilt, (PIN) right side together on top of quilt.

Match ends of borders to end of quilt making sure you have 90 degree angle in corners and pin.

Pin more of the borders on the side making sure they will not shift in sewing. Add more pins to hold border as you sew. Ease in any fabric (if needed) between already pinned points. Now Sew! Do not sew over the pins.

Now that you have your two borders applied, press.

Now find the center again and mark.

Again, find your center on the borders to match to your center on the quilt top. Gently bring across the quilt. Mark the ends where they meet the end of your quilt top and trim.

Find your centers again and pin in the same manner as you did the others. (if quilt is large, fold into quarters for borders and quilt) this will help with registration marks.

Finished, square and no trimming needed.

General Information Quilting

Thank You & Now For The Fun

Now for some FUN!

Some of you have come by and saw my presentation in Open Studio 2017, also so my Giant…16 inch wooden needle with a notch to hang on a wall. I was so pleased to have so many people interested, and all the wonderful questions.

So….. what I would like to do, is anyone who follows me, will have a chance to own the wonderful Needle. I will randomly chose one person on April 30th!

Will it be you?

Customer · General Information Quilting · Modern Quilting

Finding The Right Design

Have you ever had a task that you found to have a brain block on?  Maybe mine was temporarily away or just taking a break. My customer and quilt friend, Janice H. had brought me her quilt top to enhance with longarming the right design. She really liked her fabric with the crows and liked the folk feel, this top was giving her.

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I looked at many digital designs; okay hundreds.  Auditioned various designs including a leaf design, but didn’t want to make the finished quilt too seasonal. Found a design by Debra Geissler and Designs by Deb, that had a great design with a pear but adding a bird would be better for this quilt.

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Okay, so if we could just add a crow……hmmmmm. I contacted Deb , sent her a close up of what I was hoping to achieve and 2 days later, DONE.

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Deb was open, fast and right on the money with the design.

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Happy Quilter = Happy Customer!!!!

I must say, this is the second time I have asked for a tweak, or something special from Deb and she has been a pleasure to work with.

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