What Does Modern Quilting Mean to You?

What does “modern quilting” mean to you?

If you google Modern quilting you will find information that defines modern quilting as a new approach to reflect a quilter’s personality and personal style.  Modern quilting embraces simplicity and minimalism as well as functionality.  We see the use of traditional quilt blocks set in an unsymmetrical display.  We also see simple squares and rectangles amongst large areas of background.  We see the use of bright solids including white backgrounds.  Modern quilts include a lot of closely placed quilting especially in the negative space to bring it to life.  Also, we are seeing no borders to frame the quilt, just minimal bindings.



A few months ago, we posted a tutorial on half square triangles which is one of the oldest and most used patches in quilting.  Half square triangles (HST) can be a great way to attempt to define your own modern quilting statement. 

Click here to download your copy of the free tutorial and click here to download your copy of the cutting chart.

The tutorial includes some full color examples of HST placement to achieve completely different looks based on color placement and position of the half square triangle, but here’s a few more uses of HST with a modern twist:

Today is the final day for the Lovequilting.com sale on all solid fabrics and fabrics that read as solids. Shop Now!

#modernquilting #quilt #quilting #fabric #fabricsale #whatdoesmodernquiltingmeantoyou #halfsquaretriangles #lovequilting




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What are you working on - Coasters!

Due to a change in my son’s hockey team schedule, I had an opportunity to spend a big chunk of time in my sewing room.  I worked on several projects and even cleaned it up a tiny bit!

As I was winding down, I poured myself a glass of wine and I used a new coaster that I had made, so that is what I would like to share with you today.

I used fabrics that coordinate with a table runner that I shared last month.  Wouldn’t this be a great hostess set as we approach the holidays?!

Instructions are below, or for a free downloadable, printable version - click here.

Coasters

Finished size:  4” x 4”

Each coaster requires 6 – 4-1/2” squares.  Four will be the coaster top, one will be the coaster bottom and one will be the coaster lining.

1 Piece of fusible fleece 4” x 4”

All Seams are 1/4".

Fuse fleece centered to the bottom of the coaster.

Fold the 4 squares of fabric for the coaster top in half diagonally and press.

Layer as follows:  Bottom of coaster right side down, lining right side up, then alternate triangles lining up right angles (raw edges) with folded edge towards center.  When placing the last triangle, remember to put it under the first triangle.

I use clips to hold all layers in place so they don’t get distorted by pins.

Sew around all 4 sides.  Clip corners, turn, carefully poke out corners and press.

Coaster can be enjoyed with your beverage sitting atop coaster or it can become a portable coaster for a wine glass!

Be sure to check out www.lovequilting.com for the collection of Italian Vineyards fabric used above.

#winecoasters #italianvineyards #tablerunner #freepattern #fabric #quilting #lovequilting

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Free Grocery Bag Kit

Paper bags were first used in retail for carrying items such as groceries around 1870.  At that time, it was a wonderful invention and remained the standard for about 100 years.  In 1975, plastic bags were introduced as a great invention at that time – wood was expensive, oil was cheap and plastic was the technology of the future. 

Unfortunately, 25 years later, it was discovered that over 4 billion plastic grocery bags per year do not get recycled, but rather end up in our rivers, oceans and mountains, causing harm to wildlife and add to pollution.

While many cities and counties in California have already banned plastic shopping bags, the governor of California recently approved a state wide ban on plastic grocery bags.

At Lovequilting.com, we have used our tote die to come up with a grocery bag kit to encourage all our readers, even beyond the boundaries of California, to use re-useable grocery bags. 

From now through Sunday, September 28th – for every $25 purchase, you will receive a FREE grocery bag kit!  The more you purchase – the more FREE kits you will receive.  If you spend $100, you will receive 4 FREE grocery bag kits!  No coupon codes necessary – we will include the kits with your purchase.  These bags are made out of 100% cotton fabric which has been pre-cut, and they are sturdy, re-useable, fashionable, washable and our instructions include no exposed seams to leave pesky threads.

Shop Now!

#banplasticgrocerybags #reuseablegrocerybags #freekits #fabricbags
#fabric #quilting #lovequilting #spongebob

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TBT Quilt - Dresdan Plate

TBT Quilt

Most of the fabrics for this quilt were purchased by my mom during our visit to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, KY in 2007.  The Dresdan Plate was my mom’s favorite block.  These Dresdan Plates were needle turn hand appliquéd.

She started hand quilting this quilt in 2009.  Unfortunately, she didn’t make much progress with the quilting when her cancer became quite aggressive and the meds caused many side effects.  My very good friend, Del, completed the hand quilting on this for my mom.  Although Del worked very hard to complete it for her, my mom didn’t get a chance to see it finished.

It looks beautiful and I think she would have been very pleased.  I have this quilt proudly displayed on my bed.

#fabric #quilting #dresdanplate #throwbackthursday #handquilting #lovequilting #aqsquiltshowpaducah



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Wise Words Wednesday - Fall Cleaning

There are a few tasks in life that don’t require a lot of effort, but they do require remembering to complete them and also remembering when the last time these things were done.  The first is changing the batteries in my smoke detectors and the second is cleaning/changing air filters for the heating/AC system.  I use the start of spring and the start of fall to complete these tasks because I think about the upcoming use of the AC and heater for their respective seasons.  It makes it very easy for me to remember.

This is also a great time to perform maintenance on your sewing machine.  I love my machine and so I take very good care of it so that it continues to take very good care of me.  I do clean my machine and change my needle more often than once every 6 months, but it is at these spring/fall milestones that I take extra care to deeper clean my machine.  Of course, every machine is different and it is best to follow the care instructions for your particular machine.

I was able to clean quite a bit of dust and lint from my machine, and now it is happy and ready to start on upcoming holiday projects!

 Mention sewing machine cleaning and I will send you an 80/12 Universal needle with your $10 order.  Shop Now!

#fallcleaning #freeneedle #fabric #quilting #lovequilting #machinecleaning

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Celebrate Fall Equinox with a Fabric Sale!

As we cycle through the seasons, we welcome and bid farewell to the seasonal fruits and vegetables. Every season offers it’s very own special fruits and vegetables to the produce department, but one of my favorites is coming up. Pumpkins! I love all things pumpkin!


If you have a special recipe that features pumpkin that you’d like to share with me, I will definitely try it.


I like sweet potatoes at this time of year too! I don’t typically reach for orange when I’m buying clothes, but maybe there’s something about orange food that I’m attracted to. Is there any orange in chocolate?!



In celebration of the colorful autumn equinox, and to offer inspiration in your sewing room, we 
have put fabrics that read solid and most batiks on sale.



This would be a great time to make a new purse for the fall, here are some of our favorite patterns:



Here are some of our favorite patterns to showcase autumn fabrics that you should be sure to check out, many of them are available as a free download!

**Reminder** Use coupon code isew at checkout to receive $10 off your order of $50 or more through September 30^th.


Shop Now!



#fallequinox #fabricsale #fabric #quilting #lovequilting

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Have Your Candy AND Your Candy Bag Too!!!

Did you ever have a container that spilled it’s contents every time you opened it?  I had such a container that my Clover Wonder Clips came in.  Every time I went to get some clips, I had clips everywhere and I kept saying, I need to make a bag to hold these. 

The other day, a couple of clips worked their way behind a stack on my cutting table and when I moved it to get the clips, I found an empty bag of M&M’s!  Wonder who ate those?!

Actually it was me!  I ate the M&M’s in the interest of a creative project - to create this enviironmentally friendly pattern for a zippered, recycled candy bag.  Download the free instructions here and now you too can have your candy and your candy bag too! 

My Clover Wonder Clips are safely stored in my Zippered Candy Bag!

Be sure to check out our selection of zippers for $1.

#candy #candybag #ilovem&ms # zippers #fabric #quilting #lovequilting

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Friday Funnies

Friday Funnies to remind us that when we have a technique that seems impossible - just try something different - a work around!

Happy Friday!

#quilting #sewing #fabric #shrek #sewyourbutton #lovequilting #fridayfunnies

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Throw Back Thursday - Quilt Style

TBT Quilt Style!

My mom, like most quilters had an extensive collection of fabric, notions, gadgets, books and unfinished projects.  After she passed, my dad wanted to do something positive with her collection, so I offered to take it.  What can I say, I’m a giver like that!

With this new collection I acquired, I decided that I would make one small quilt a week to donate to kids in hospitals, because kids should never be sick enough to be in hospitals.  And if they are, then they should have a quilt to snuggle.  I will expand on that project at a later date.

Since it is TBT Quilt Style, I wanted to mention the unfinished projects that I acquired, some of which still remain in their plastic bags.  Today’s quilt is of an Amish Star.  I found this project in a bag with 12 completed blocks.  They were hand pieced!  The stitching lines had been marked with a pencil.  There was a magazine in the bag, which is how I knew the name of the project, dated 1990.  Also in the bag was some of the flowered fabric and some of the white fabric.

I purchased the green fabric to coordinate with the flowered fabric so I could work with just the 12 blocks, set them on point, add blank squares and setting triangles and stretch the 12 – 12” blocks into a full lap size quilt.  I spent extra time custom quilting this one which I felt it deserved since my mom had taken such care to piece these blocks by hand.

The end result of this quilt was probably not even close to what my mom's vision was when she began this project.  But, I think she would have been pleased with it because she embraced the longarm movement in quilting and she would have been proud to be part of this quilt style collaboration!

In addition to the many charity quilts I made and donated that year, there were many family and friends that had touched my mom’s life over the years and were extra special to her throughout her ovarian cancer battle. 

This Amish Star quilt was given to my parents across the street neighbors, Bob and Gina, who were especially kind to my parents for as long as they were neighbors.  This quilt meant the world to them and I received the nicest thank you letter ever!

#fabric #quilting #unfinishedprojects #amishstar #weallmissyoumom #lovequilting

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Wise Words Wednesday - Clean Your Iron

For my Wise Words Wednesday, I have advice to offer on how to clean your iron.

After years of ironing fusible stabilizer and fusible fleece and fusible web in my projects, and being less than careful, my iron was gunky on the bottom.  This weekend I decided it was time to clean the iron, or at least attempt to.

This whole process is with the iron OFF!  I started with soaking a couple of paper towels with white vinegar.  I left it there for about an hour. 

Then I added baking soda which acted as an abrasive, and swirled it around into a paste so it wouldn’t just fall off.

Then using the paper towel with the baking soda paste, I scrubbed.  It took some work, but as my husband pointed out, next time I shouldn’t wait so long to clean it!

I’m quite pleased with the results!  I filled it with water and pushed steam through it until I was confident that the steam coming out was clean.

#cleanyouriron #fabric #quilting #lovequilting

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