Image: sxc.hu

(This is that handy household item that’s plain on one side and slightly waxy on the other.  We called it waxed paper when I was a youngster and used it for wrapping sandwiches, covering bowls in the refrigerator and a heavier version for wrapping items for freezing.  There were no plastic baggies nor plastic wrap available.)

Penny Halgren has a great article, Using Freezer Paper to Make Quilts, at her How to Quilt site that gives information on using freezer or waxed paper for quilting…for tasks such as applique and making templates.

It’s available at the grocery.  However, many quilting supply stores carry it now.

How have you used this paper for your fabric art?

Check out

Post from: Blisstree

Freezer Paper for Quilting Tasks

When you’re quilting your quilts or fabric art, do you prefer a hoop or quilting frame?

 I started out thinking I MUST use a quilting frame and purchased one that took up our entire very small living room (the only room in our apartment in which it would fit).  I put a quilt on it, but had to roll it out and then up whenever I worked.

I got a large hoop for quilting a small project and found this worked well in my sewing room or the living room.  Then I wondered, “Why not use it for a large quilt?”

I tried it and met with success.  I also found it much easier to manipulate the quit for quilting in the hoop.  So for all my quiting projects after that I used the large hoop, even when I was quilting entire quilts.

I basted my projects in preparation for quilting by using many safety pins.  I’d put a few stitches here and there but discovered the large safety pins held my work in place well for the hoop.

It’s all a matter of personal preference and logistics.  Some projects work well with a quilting frame, especially if a number of quilters are working on them.  Other quilters may find the hoops unwieldy on their laps. Also, do you have space for setting up a quilting frame? 

Post from: Blisstree

Do You Use a Hoop or Quilting Frame?

Image: sxc.hu

Worried about your quilts being stolen from a shop or gallery? Embedding a microchip isn’t a sure fire way to prevent this, but you can determine ownership if the quilt is recovered.  Also, if the microchip identification method is more publicized, perhaps thieves will think twice about taking such art objects.

These microchips can be placed in the layers of the quilt or fabric art before quilting or embedded after it’s finished.  There’s a number in the chip that’s registered in your name.

The quilt can be identified by scanning the chip and matching the numbers to the registered owner.  These microchips can be used with other valuables and family heirlooms. 

For more information about microchips and quilts, visit:

The Pinewater Quilting Company

Soft Expressions

Have you had experience with microchips in your fabric art?

Post from: Blisstree

Microchips for Quilt Security

Image: sxc.hu

There also are ready made labels you can purchase and then simply sign your name with permanent ink.  Applique these to the back of your quilt or fabric art.

Computerized labels have come into vogue and enable you to add more information to your quilt.  Simply print directly on inkjet fabric sheets, then stitch to the back of your fabric art.

Label designs are available online at quilting websites.  Print these off and use for your template.  Sometimes you can print them directly on the fabric sheets available for your printer.

There are quilt books, too, that offer label suggestions and designs.

(Also, keep the information about your quilts and art work in a journal that refers to the items you’ve made.)

How do you label your quilts and fabric art, as well as other craft work?

Post from: Blisstree

Quilt & Craft Labeling Suggestions

1. Binding
2. Feather stitch
3. Batting
4. Mixed media
5. Blind stitch
6. Calico
7. Quilting bee
8. Embellishment
9. Felting
10. Stitch in the Ditch
11. Grandmother’s Garden
12. Yo-yos
13. Batik

Of course, there are many, many other quilting and fabric terms.  However, it’s interesting to see how much we know when we see various words and ideas used in this art field.

What are some you’d add to a list you’d make?  Were there any you didn’t know here?

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Thursday Thirteen – 13 Quilting Terms

 (Image: sxc.hu)

I have a quilt given my mom and dad as a wedding gift.  Only portions survive, but I can’t find any identification on any of the four corners, the usual place for labels or writing.  I wish it were signed so I knew who made it.

The quilts my grandmother made (with my 8-year old help) have the initials of my sister, brothers and me.  But they didn’t have Nanny’s identification.  I should add something to the quilt I have so my daughter and granddaughter realize.

When I began making quilts during the Bicentennial years of 1775-76, I didn’t know about signing the quilts.  So none of mine are.  I should put my name on the one remaining one I have.

Do you label your quilts?  How do you do it?

Post from: Blisstree

The Significance of Quilt Labels

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Here are a list of some quilting patterns that encompass star designs:

• Beautiful Star
• Feather Edged Star
• French Star
• Lone Star
• Mexican Star
• Pieced Star
• Rolling Star
• Seven Stars
• Star of the West
• Star of Bethlehem

Post from: Blisstree

Space & Stars Designs

Image: sxc.hu

Should I plan something representing our life, either a quilt or mixed media collage?  The more I think of it, the more it seems a possibility.

What should I include?  Where will I research?

• Photos from engagement and wedding
• Reminiscenses of Jim’s years as an Air Force pilot and me a military wife.
• Owning airplanes and Jim’s cross-country trip in a bi-plane
• The arrival of our daughter and her growing up years
• Pack trips to the Gros Ventre Mountains of Wyoming with her
• Beth’s marriage
• The arrival of our grandchildren
• My mother’s Alzheimer’s years and our family involvement with her journey
• My recovery from a broken back after an accident
• Bits from my writing and quilting careers
• Our years now and what we’re looking forward to

What would you quilt or sketch for your life? You don’t have to be our age.  You can use your growing up years, school years, marriage, children’s youth, travels, careers.  Take singular events or compile them into a collage of  many adventures.

Have you done this already?

Post from: Blisstree

Can You Quilt or Collage Your Life?

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To my post, Design a Touch Quilt for Alzheimer’s Patients, one of my readers pointed me to Eva’s Loving Touch Lap Quilts.  Here we learn about the Alzheimer’s patient’s need for tactile or sensory stimulation and comfort. 

This reminds me how much my aunt seemed to need the sensation of something comforting to rub her hands over as she sat in her rocking chair.  My mother, in her Alzheimer’s years, enjoyed quilts and reminiscing about making them in her childhood and helping me establish a quiltmaking business during our country’s Bicentennial years.

If you don’t have time to make “touch quilts,” as I describe in my post, you also can find those specially designed for the person with special needs, whether a child or adult  at various places including  The Alzheimer’s Store , mentioned in my other article.

Perhaps you have quilting friends who make these, too.

Post from: Blisstree

“Touch Quilts” for Parenting Your Parents

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Recently I was reading about Amy Orr, a mixed media artist, who uses many types of materials most people would consider junk – twist ties, credit cards, metal x-ray markers, glass beads of various types, paper automobile air fresheners, plastic hair clips, sequins, plastic plant fragments, window glass fragments and….chicken bones.

Study some of her work utilizing “trash” or “found objects” to see an amazing blend of color and designs.  You may get ideas for utilizing trash around your home for your mixed media art quilts.

(Incidentally, there is an interesting interview with Amy in the May/June 2008 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.)

Post from: Blisstree

“Trash” Quilts