Quilting Designs Without Marking

For today's project I thought I would share a really neat trick for quilting designs without marking. This works just as well for hand quilting as for machine quilting, and I've used it a number of times with great success. This totally avoids the problem of not only marking but removing your marking afterwards, which makes me very happy because sometimes removing the marking is worse than making the marks in the first place.

The main material you need for this is contact paper. For this example I didn't need to mark my contact paper, I just cut out a triangle with my rotary cutter. If you are making a design that needs to be traced you can make a template with template plastic and trace it with a pencil, or trace a design using a light box (or window!)

After making my triangle I simple peeled off the backing paper and stuck my contact paper triangle onto the quilt top where I wanted to quilt my design.

I then quilted around the edge of the triangle using my walking foot. If you are making a curved shape you can do the same thing with your quilting foot. Be careful not to stitch into your template because this can transfer the sticky adhesive to your needle.

After quilting around your shape, simply peel off the sticky template, then reuse it in the next spot. You can use each template 8 - 10 times even on flannel! I hope you enjoy this quilting tip, it's one of my favorites! (And excuse the odd coloring of the last picture, I'm not sure what happened with that one!)

Online Quilt Festival!

What a fun idea, and I had a horrible time trying to decide which of my quilts to post! But in the end this one won:

I have the good fortune of working in a quilt shop and getting to make shop samples. 2 years ago my boss told me we were getting in a Judy Neimeyer sample made from Hoffman batiks and I was expected to make it. When I got home I looked it up online, and my jaw dropped! I remember showing it to my husband and saying with awe - I get to make this quilt!

Finally the fabrics and patterns arrived, I set to work cutting out the kits, and took the one that arrived prepackaged home. The pattern came in a box, so I got out the box, read the instructions and got to work pre-cutting pieces. This step was tedious and took some time, but all the while I was thinking about how lovely the fabrics were and how should I quilt this? I know right away what I was going to do in the border, but the rest of the quilt? I pondered as I cut, then started to sew.

The piecing was so much fun. For this quilt you have many different units, but you only have to make 8 of each one. So you never feel like you are making a bazillion blocks, like some quilts. And the fact that all your pieces are pre-cut make it amazingly easy to put together. As each section was added to the quilt, I was more and more inspired by the design to really put some nice quilting into it. I quilt on my Juki TL98E at home, and for this quilt it was the only way I could have tackled it because I ended up working from the center out. Each section was quilted with different threads to match the colors and I did a ton of free motion wiggly lines to fill in the different spikes and blades of the design

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The border was a fern and frond type of design inspired by a long arm quilter who lives in my area. I was so excited when I finally got to quilt that part, and then, just like that it was done! I won a blue Ribbon for this quilt in the county fair, then entered it in the local show and got a best of show ribbon for it there. I love this quilt, and would love to make another one of Judy Neimeyer's designs, I think they are marvelous!

How to Make a Custom Label

I was out of ideas for a post for today, so am re-running an older post from last year. This kind of a label is really easy and quick to make and always looks nice. I also like to use preprinted labels that come in a panel, but can't always find one that looks nice on the quilt I am labeling.
Next week I'll work on my post a little earlier and come up with something inspired by one of my current projects!

I thought I would share a nice looking quilt label that doesn't take a lot of time or work to make. All you need is a square of light fabric to write on, 4-6 inches square, a piece of freezer paper to iron on the back of this, and a few 1" strips to frame your border.

Iron the freezer paper to the back of your light fabric. Then write your label. (I like to use an oversized piece because sometimes I make a mistake and this way I can just flip it over and use the other end to write on!). Write your label with a permanent pen. Pigma markers are awesome, but what I really like to use is a gel pen. They come in so many colors and add a custom touch to your label.

What information to put on your label? The name of the quilt. Your name. The name of the person who quilted it, if not yourself. The date. (I usually just use month and year) I like to add my location. If you are sending it out to shows, it is a good idea to put all contact information on the label. If it is a gift, put the recipient's name and occasion. As you can see, there is a great deal that you can put on the label, so you may want to make it a nice large one! Another great tip is to write the measurements of the quilt. That way you don't have to remeasure it beacause you forgot how big it actually is!

After you have finished writing your label, remove the freezer paper and press the label. Trim to a square, I like to trim about 1/2" outside of the writing to make the label as small as possible (less sewing to do!). Add a 1" strip to each side, press seam allowance toward strip, trim even with top and bottom. Then add a 1" strip to the top and the bottom, press seam allowance toward strips and trim even with sides. Press 1/4 inch under all around this sewn block, then pin to back of quilt and applique down.