Like us on Facebook:
Last updated: 2/26/20
| A new monetary award at the 2020 Minnesota Quilt Show in St. Cloud, June 10th - 12th |
 |
|
| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | |
| River Valley Quilters Raffle Quilt for the October 2020 Show | ||
 |
||
| What a fun and striking Raffle Quilt. Individual Guild members constructed the blocks that were then combined to create this very pleasing quilt. We were pleased to add a custom quilting design to complement the strong lines and sparkling diamonds. | ||
 |
 |
 |
Come visit us to talk about the options available for a grand adventure in quilting. We can help you with the purchasing process, replacement parts, education and training.
Click to go to:
|
||||
Featured Quilts |
|
Featured Tips |
||
|
|
Featured Longarm Rental Quilts |
|
Featured Quilt Motif & Mini Video |
|
We Heard You OR Did you Know |
|
|
||
Featured Customer Quilts
 |
 |
|
|
This quilt is a mosaic of many fabrics fused to the background. We used Hedge by Anne Bright was used to provide a consistent level of quilting across the surface and to ensure that all of the fused pieces were stitched to the background. |
After quilting we applied bias binding to a scalloped bottom border to further enhance the organic earthy feel to the quilt. This was a fun, fun quilt to work on. |
|
|
|
 |
|
| This Ricky Timms kit of fabulous colors and impeccably pieced is striking in it's simplicity. Colors move across the quilt and seem to take flight. | We used a variation of the Page Turner pattern called Duluth Storm. The circular motion over the quarter square triangle section adds to the overall motion. Really a visually appealing quilt. | |
Featured Longarm Rental Quilt
|
|
 |
|
|
This quilt was a kit using a Dream Big fabric for the background. The Renter used a digital pattern kit to place unique designs in each of the leaves. |
The individual leaves vary in their design to create a balanced back drop for the hummingbirds. It was a multi day rental that resulted in a lovely quilt. | |
|
|
 |
|
| String of Lights (pattern by Terry Atkinson) has great graphics on a fairly simple design. The contrast between the black stars and the white background create a striking weave. | While this looks to be a custom quilting design the pattern is actually a continuous stitching row sized to match the blocks and set in opposite directions from row to row. This is a semi custom design completed by a renter. |
Longarm Rental - either Statler based or Freehand
Keep us in mind when you plan to complete your quilt. We offer a longarm class to get you started.and on the road to successfully completing your quilt from start to finish. Rental time is available on our computerized Statler longarm machine and you will know that there will always be someone here to work with you if you have a question or problem.
Call 651-340-6503 to schedule time to complete your quilt.
We Heard You ... OR ... Did You Know? Top
| Over the last month we have conducted three different Intensive Hands-On classes in the studio. Each class consisted of 4 participants from around the country (Missouri to Arizona to Oregon). For 3 days they were in the studio working on projects from 8 am until 5 pm... or as late as they could handle. Although Page had an outline of what she wanted to cover, each class was tailored to the needs and skill level of the participants. They started with drawing the "blueprint" of a quilt block and selecting quilting designs that fit or maybe didn't. This is an exercise in how the quilting design fits the quilt pattern. Time is spent on their quilts to set borders, stitch in the ditch, concatenating designs, using Page Turners or like the Drunkard's Path shown above using a Custom Overall design on a complicated pattern. In three days the participants cover a lot of concepts, tools, and designs. Watch the list of In-Studio Classes for the next available series of Intensive Hands-On events. If you would like to be on a mailing list for when we offer these sessions again (Starting in January 2019) please send us an email so we can keep you up to date at: Pagej@thequiltingpage.com |
Upcoming In Studio Classes
|
Our In-Studio classes are set up to run from 9 am to 4 pm with a break for lunch. Typically the morning is spent in a presentation style and the afternoon is spent in a hands on practice quilt. We often use Quilts of Valor for our demo quilts, or you can bring a small quilt for practice purposes. |
 |
|
Studio classes are on hold for the next quarter as we plan for the Gammill Confidence Tour schedule.
|
Featured Tip for Quilters Top
Access to earlier Tips & Tricks - Click Here
Backing Fabric
The guidelines for the backing fabric for longarm quilting are:
- The backing needs to be at least 3 inches larger all the way around the quilt (or 6 inches longer and wider than the quilt top so if your quilt top is 60 by 70 you need backing fabric that is at least 66 by 76)
- We prefer to load the back using the selvage edges along the rollers
- Do not cut off the selvages along the outer edge of the backing - they help keep the back square during the loading process
- Unless the quilting motif is a directional design where the top has to be at the top of the machine AND the quilt top or back have to match the top, we load the backing using the selvages which may or may not match the top of a printed fabric design
- We prefer any backing seams to run parallel (the same direction) to the selvages
- Sew the seams at 1/2 + inch and then trim off the tightly woven selvages leaving 1/4 inch seam allowance
- Do NOT press the backing seams open - press to one side
- When pressed open (like what you would do for Hand Quilting) there is only the tread holding one side of the backing to the other side
- If you press the seam and seam allowance to one side, then the longarm quilting will stitch through all layers of the fabric and hold the two sides of the backing together with greater security
- Often pieced backs have multiple seams going in a variety of directions
- In this case just try to have the majority of seams, or any particularly long seams, run parallel to the selvages
Another option is to purchase the wide backing fabric that is 108" wide. Right now we have 220 different wide backs in stock for you to select from. We do sell the wide backing fabric by the inch to meet your needs. Keep in mind that 1 yard of 108 wide fabric is about 2 1/2 yards of the traditional bolt fabric (at roughly $16-17.50 per yard it is a great deal). Often customers will buy their backing fabric before completing their quilt so they can incorporate some of the fabric in the top either in the blocks or as the border.
Featured Quilt Motif & Mini Video Top
 |
|
 |
||
| Drunkard's Path is a very old and traditional design that has a lot of applications in modern quilts. The combination of the two shapes is simple but the different rotations and placements gives you a multitude of different design options. Often the quilt was done in just two fabrics further lending to the simplicity of design. Today we frequently see this traditional design done in multiple sizes within a single quilt, a wide variety of fabrics used, and/or the sophistication of batiks enhancing the designs. Drunkard's Starburst is a fun quilting motif that fits the pie section with overlapping curved lines. The outer "setting" square has a starburst design of straight lines. If your Drunkard's Path is a layout with each block being in the same orientation, then you can use a simple repeat pattern or point to point clicking path. If the quilt uses a variety of rotations for each block, you may want to play with a concatenating design or placement of each block and then rotating or flipping of the pattern to fit the block. This is a great pattern to tinker with and fine tune your skills with concatenating designs. |
||||
Watch for a video to be added in the next day or two.
Click on the videos to watch some useful tips on where and when this design works. The full educational video Page Turner is available on the Videos webpage.
