Friday, August 31, 2012

AAQI Starts Hoarding Quilts For Houston

 The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative hopes to bring 2,000 quilts to sell in its booth at IQF Houston. (Exhibit area, number and row as yet unknown.) They've already started moving quilts from the Quilts For Sale page (http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltsforsale.html)  over to the Hoarding For Houston page (http://www.alzquilts.org/houston2012.html) They will continue to move quilts, starting with the lower numbers first. So if you're not going to Houston, it's time to shop now!
And, if you've got a quilt in the works: GER 'ER DONE!
The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org) is a national, grassroots organization whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research through art. It auctions and sells donated quilts through the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt project and sponsors a touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative has raised more than $735,000 since January 2006. Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation operated entirely by volunteers. She is a quilter. Her mother had Alzheimer's.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

My Best Machine Quilting Tips


I love to quilt, I especially love dense stitching. I have some tips and tricks to make your machine stitches, quilts the best ever.
Batting - I prefer cotton batting because among other things:  Cotton tends to stick to the quilt top and the backing, allowing for easier machine stitching. Thin cotton batting rolls up compactly (a nice quality for machine quilting).
Safety pins – The 1” size work the best. And if you have bent quilter’s pins work even better. Use lots, I place the pins about 4” apart. I remove them as needed.
A walking foot - It has built-in feed dogs that help move the top layers of fabric through your machine, while your machine's own feed dogs move the bottom layers through. This helps ensure the layers don't shift while you are quilting.
Basting - First, lay the quilt BACK on a flat surface, right side down. Use masking tape around the perimeter to hold the edges in place. The fabric should be taught but not distorted. Next, place the batting on top of the quilt back. Smooth out any wrinkles or air bubbles with your hand. Finally, lay the quilt top on the batting, right side up. Once again, use your hand to smooth out any wrinkles or air bubbles in the fabric.
NOTE: Take the time to make sure all the straight lines that should be straight are straight.
On a sample, test the tension and stitch length.
Change the needle.
If I can hide the starts and stops in under the binding, I back stitch at the beginning and end of each line of quilting to lock the stitches.
When I start quilting, I use the edge of the fabric as a guide, keeping my walking foot placed along it as I stitch.
Use the needle down, if possible, so the fabric doesn't shift.
I use the previous line of quilting as my guide for the next line, keeping the edge of my walking foot against it while I work on the next line of quilting.
Before you know it, your beautiful quilt will be beautifully quilted!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

APWQ quilt show

APWQ produced a great show, one not to be missed! Yesterday, was my day at the show, spectacular quilts great vendors and friends! There is still time for you to vist, see the quilts, shop the merchant mall, attend a lecture. Have a great time! 



Friday, August 24, 2012

Christmas #2 is Finished

Quilt is finished! More straight line but different than the first one.
Christmas #2
Christmas #1


Masking tape to mark where I want two lines of stitching

Chalk to mark one line



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Christmas #2

This Christmas wall hanging, I switched the colors. Red is now green and green, red. I decided I wanted to quilt it with more straight lines.

I like these lines, but all the even spacing is boring.

Two diagonal lines are more interesting grouped together.

The vertical and horizontal lines above were a lot of quilting, skipping every other line both horizontally and vertically looks good to me, think I'll stitch.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Celebrity Invitational Quilt Auction


"Lucid Moments III"
      by Libby Lehman



I'm super excited to tell you that the quilts for November's Celebrity Invitational Quilt Auction have started arriving. They are spectacular! We ARE making a difference. Last year the November auction raised more than $14,000 for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. I'd love to have that happen again, wouldn't you?
  Here are two of this years quilts,
  "How Does My Garden Grow?"
      by Mary Sorensen