Skip to main content

Thoughts on Quilting and Technology

For my birthday last month my boyfriend gave me a new Kindle Fire. I am absolutely in love with my new eReader and it has opened my eyes to new digital worlds. Then, last week when he found out that he couldn't upgrade his phone without losing the data package that he currently has, so he brought home a new upgraded smartphone for me!

All of these great techie gifts in such a short period of time has me almost on data overload. However, they really have just made me more connected to the quilting world. There are quilting apps that can help me with my quilt calculations and block apps that show traditional quilt blocks in different sizes. On my Kindle I can even get digital versions of quilt books so that I don't have to carry a tote full of books, but store all my inspiration in one place.

 But the one thing that has me just attached to my new pieces of technology is Google Reader. I get to keep up with all of the quilt blogs that I love much easier than before, and even find new blogs about modern quilting. I love the network of quilters that is available online, anytime. I get so much inspiration from seeing what all of these other blogging quilters are creating and I hope that my blogs are inspiring to some as well. This is certainly the fastest way to keep up with trends and innovations. Technology is quilting at my fingertips, all day long, and I love it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Long time comin'

I had hoped that I would have more energy to work while I have the house trailer to myself, but unfortunately that was not the case today.    After a slow start to the day and still a much needed nap, I was able to muster some energy and get to work sewing.   I am a quilter who always has a TON of UFO’s.   Sifting through half-done projects, I decided to start yet another one.   I decided to pull out a selection of fabric that I had purchased almost exactly a year ago and get to work on the quilt that I had designed with that line in mind.   These fabrics and this quilt have been on my mind for quite some time, so this one has certainly been a long time coming. The fabrics are from the “Serenity” line by Heather Mulder Peterson.   I absolutely love her designs! I have a good collection of her books and have really enjoyed every line of fabric she has put out for Henry Glass & Co.   “Serenity” is by far my favorite of her fabric lines...

Creating a Blog Planner

I like to think I'm a pretty organized gal.  But with a busy life and lots of work, my mental best laid plans for blogging are quickly falling through the cracks. I ran across this great blog planner through Pinterest and I'm getting ready to give it a whirl!  The printables that Lamberts Lately  developed here are absolutely adorable and I can't wait to put them to use! Another awesome Pinterest find was this great tutorial from Just A Beautiful Life on to-do's and best practices for creating your own blogging binder. Between the great advice from both of these sites, I've got a start on my own blogging binder. I did a little office supply shopping (honestly, I love shopping for office supplies!) and picked up a cute colorful binder, some tab dividers, sheet protectors, loose leaf lined paper, and post it notes to put together with my freshly printed blog planning sheets. I have a three hole punch and nice markers at home to use already...

Hand Sewn Binding Tutorial

The more professionally accepted way to finish your binding is to sew it by hand to the back of your quilt. For heirloom pieces I prefer this method, but for quick, functional quilt I use the machine sewn method.  The directions are very similar, but I will list them out here separately so that the directions are clear.  Creating your binding Measure around the entire outer edge of your quilt and then add 20 inches to this measurement. Divide this total by 40. This new number is the number of strips that you need to cut. If you came up with a decimal, round your number up to the next whole number. For example, if your result was 7.6, round up to 8. Cut that total number of strips measuring 2.5” wide x the width of fabric. To connect your strips together, make the seam on the diagonal. Lay the first strip right side up and the second strip on top with right sides together, perpendicular to the first strip. Sew on the diagonal from point to poin...