Monday, April 28, 2014

Fabulously Fast Quilts / Quilt Tips Blog Tour

I am super excited to be part of this quilt tip blog tour! fabulously fast quilts was written by my dear friend Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter.

Check this out...

As hinted by the title, Amy shares great tips and techniques to quickly create fun looking quilts. On the back of the book there are some quilt blocks that I really would like to try out. Can you imagine how versatile they could be?

Here are some pictures of the quilts I love... Everybody likes a sneak peek, right? *image credit to Martingale and their Photographer, Brent Kane

I bet this book will be perfect for everybody; it caters to many who are at different skill levels. It is perfect for beginners, because the quilts in this book are well written and explained and the designs are not too intimidating that you don't feel like running away. It is perfect for those who are more skilled when you are looking for beautiful quick quilts to whip up right away for a baby/wedding shower or for the birthday of someone special.

I know I will enjoy fabulously fast quilts for years to come!

Amy wanted us to share a quilting tip with the blog tour. I thought of a few, but since I have been doing some paper piecing lately, I will share a couple tips to go along with that.

When I make templates for the paper piecing, I cut inside of the plastic. It is way easier to trace inside of the shape than trying to hold a small template in it's place and trace the outline. I think it's especially nice when you are doing the fussy cut.

I have several projects going on at once all the time. A project like paper piecing is perfect to take along wherever I go, such as waiting in the carpool lane, boys' martial arts practice and so forth. I can work on the project what requires a sewing machine at home, and work on hand sewing projects elsewhere. I can maximize my time that way. Before you know it, you will have many quilt blocks!

There are few tips to do this;

* Cut fabric and paper up to take along.
* I use a zip lock bag if I am carrying it in my purse. If I am going to visit someone or going on a trip, I use small plastic containers with divider, so I can take more in an organized manner.
* In the bag, you will need: fabric pieces, paper pieces, thread, needle, and small scissors.

Sounds pretty simple right? There are so many ways to enjoy the art of quilting, and I feel like I am always learning something new. :)
Make sure to check out more quilting tips from awesome quilter;

Monday April 28

Sachiko Aldous of Tea Rose Home

April Rosenthal of April Rosenthal

Jennifer Mathis of Ellison Lane




Tuesday April 29

Jen Wilding Cardon of Stitch This! Martingale Blog

Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side

Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet




Wednesday April 30

Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts

Melissa Mortenson of PolkaDot Chair

Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock




Thursday May 1

Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced

Lynne Goldsworthy of Lily's Quilts

Jeni Baker of In Color Order




Friday May 2

Katie Blakesley of Swim Bike Quilt

Lindsay Conner of Craft Buds

Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life


Hop over to Diary of a Quilter and say hi to Amy. Thank you Amy for letting me be a part of the quilt tour!

18 comments :

  1. What a clever idea to use the inside hole of the plastic to trace with! Thank you for sharing your tip.... And the sneak peek! Lovely!

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  2. I love the square example you show in your post. Is that template a part of the book? If not, where did you get it from, or how did you come up with the math?

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  3. Those quilts look so pretty and fun to make. What a great tip on the template! I never thought of that and how much easier to hold in place. I will be trying that. Your paper pieced star is gorgeous!

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  4. Great tip!! I hate trying to hang on to those little templates to trace around them!! Brilliant!!!

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  5. What a wonderful idea - cutting inside a plastic template. I knew there had to be a better way to trace templates. Thanks so much for this tip. I have Amy's Book on my 'Wish List' - hope to order soon.

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  6. Love your name! I'm planning to so some Sashiko soon. I love quilts that don't take long to do as I'm a "been there, done that" kinda gal. Rarely do I make the same quilt over and over and sometimes I get tired of the same block over and over. Maybe because I taught school for 35 yers that I have a short attention span! I have lots of fabric in my stash, both big pieces and small scraps, so this book looks like a winner to me!

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  7. Love that tip! I am making hexies and will definitely try this.

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  8. Interesting tip indeed. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Haven't tried paper piecing yet....but am keeping your Tip for templates...Awesome! Thanks!

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  10. What a fun little block! Thanks for sharing and making me think INSIDE the plastic box!

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  11. Ooh, LOVE that tip for templates! I am a Paper Piecing Virgin, but that would be great for applique templates -- mine always scoot around on my fabric when I try to trace around them.

    I love that you mentioned carrying around your hand stitching projects in the carpool line and at martial arts. That's me, too -- that's exactly why I've been enjoying hand applique lately, also in the school carpool line, at kids' music lessons, etc. It's amazing how fast "slow" stitching becomes when you work on it during your Mommy Chauffeur time!

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  12. Your tip about making the template inside the plastic is brilliant! I read a lot of quilting books and blogs and have taken several courses and I have never seen or heard anyone mention this idea before. Thanks so much for sharing it!

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  13. Love your tips for carrying projects along in the car. Good way to work on a project during those "waiting" moments, whether carpooling or visiting the doctor's office, etc. Thanks!

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  14. Thank you everyone for your comments! I am so happy to hear that you are excited about the template tip. :)

    letsbeamie-

    The template is not part of the book. Because I was sharing my tip, it is in this post.
    I bought the plastic sheet at Joann fabrics, and used my diamond ruler to create the size of the diamond. Yup, diamond ruler could be another tip that I could share with you all. It is wonderful!

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  15. Thanks for the tip, I learn something new all the time from blog hopping. I think Amy did it again, another great book. ;-> Toni Anne

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  16. Great tip do you have a tutorial on how to make your template as I want to make some. Thank you.

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  17. anne,
    I don't have a tutorial on how to make a template. Maybe I will create a tutorial for that in the future! :)

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  18. I haven't started paper pieceing yet.. But soon very soon and I will keep this tip in mind. Thanks for the post.

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