This is a wonderful treadle machine that needs a good home. I am out of space and Frank is a great machine. He just needs someone to love him and to sew with him. Asking $250.00 Just give me a call 291-3925 or email roserips@centurytel.net

Thanks for sharing Nori, very inspirational!

I have a friend who does Zentangle® and she turned me onto Pat Furgus.  On her site she’s got a whole cloth longarm quilted dahlia that’s just exquisite.  Click on Pat’s name and go see her quilts.  They are beautiful.

This technique will not work for curves.

When I develop a new pattern I often use cardboard templates to cut the fabric.  If I’m not going to make a quilt more than once, there’s no point in investing in plastic templates.   I’ve done this with all the patterns I’ve tested that work best using templates.

The challenge is to cut the fabric and not the cardboard template. It doesn’t take very many cardboard sliver removals before the resulting fabric cuts are too small to accurately make the block. It’s better to find a way that doesn’t chance cutting into the cardboard templates.

The new quilt I’m working on has seven templates.  The templates aren’t hard to make, but keeping the sizes and shapes accurate through the cutting process is key.

Here’s what I finally figured out.

	I make my cardboard templates out of cereal box cardboard. I prepare the templates by marking them with the name of the pattern piece and a double ended arrow to designate straight of grain.  I also spray the back (fabric) side of the template with basting spray.  Once the basting spray has dried or set (read the label) I set it on the fabric stack. This particular pattern piece is the parallelogram for the accent star.  The fabric stack will be cross cut at the end.
	Hold the template down firmly on the fabric and place the ruler against the side of the template.  Holding the ruler down firmly, let go of the template, pick up the rotary cutter and run the rotary cutter against the ruler, cutting the fabric.
	Rotate the fabric stack carefully to position for the next cut. Holding the template firmly down on the fabric stack, set the ruler flat against the side of the template. Holding the ruler down firmly, let go of the template.  Pick up the rotary cutter and run it against the ruler, cutting the fabric.
	Repeat until all sides of the template have been cut.
	If you need to cross-cut using a template, match the template to the edges of the fabric stack. Hold the template down firmly on the fabric stack and set the ruler.
	Holding the ruler down firmly, rotary cut against the ruler. Because you’re not trying to cut against the template, the template shape and size remains true.

I’ve done a quick revamp and I’ve included an actual forum where people can chat! How cool is that!? To get to the forum, click on Quilt Chat on the Pages menu.

If you have something you saw on the web or a new project you want to share but don’t need feedback, log in to admin and create a post. Your post will appear below. If you are participating in the Quilt Calendar Contest, you will need to log in and go to admin and post your picture and description to the appropriate category.

As always, if you get stuck and need help, email me at elf@elfnori.com.

OK found this the other day while reading another forum I belong to. www.YouTube.com put in You can quilt that out, in the search, song by songbird studio. Thanks Nori for putting this together and let me know what you think of the music video!
Elayne

Tangled Stars - it's a start!

This is my quilt from the Peggy Gelbrich Tangled Stars workshop.  I had set it aside to work on my sunset quilt.  Now that the sunset quilt is nearly done, I don’t need it on my design wall and can put something else up to work on.

This tangled star quilt is going surprisingly quickly!  It’s taken me a bit to figure out how and where to pin/match to get clean points and matching points, but I think I’ve got it!

While this pattern is a natural for paper piecing, I’d like to make a template set for future use.  The block has awkward angles, not anything that matches any of the angles on my rulers.  As I’m not a fan of paper piecing, I think a template set would make it much easier for me to cut.