Lisa Berentsen

Finding Fall Motifs for Easy Quilt Patterns

November 14, 2014 By Lisa Berentsen

I’ve always loved the fall colors, but I haven’t invested time making fall quilts. Why? Well, it seems like Halloween motifs and fabrics dominate the season, and I’ve been unwilling to invest so much time in a seasonal piece that it only applicable for a week or two a year.

I’ve been on a quest to find fall motifs that will last from Halloween until it’s time for Christmas, and they really are plentiful.

Pumpkins, of course, without the jack-o-lantern faces, will last the season. As will their cousins, the squash. The cornucopia and anything in it- corn, fruit, leaves, mums, are durable. So are scarecrows, crows and turkeys.

I wouldn’t feel ghoulish with any of these motifs hanging around but, while many of them are very suitable for applique, that is a skill I lack the time and patience to develop.

However, I think pumpkins and leaves are simple enough shapes to work into machine-pieced quilts. So, our pattern this week features a pumpkin. And, because we’re having a cold spell here in Wisconsin, the project is a pumpkin rag quilt.

You can find the pattern by clicking on the picture, or by looking under “Patterns” in the Resources Department of the app.

Next Thursday, we’ll talk about choosing fall colors and will feature a quilt of fall leaves- then it’s on to Christmas.

Happy Quilting.

Find out what Profile is all about….

November 12, 2014 By Lisa Berentsen

In the app, on the main screen at the bottom left is the Profile icon. This area of the app contains information about you and your activities.

To enter, touch the icon. You’ll first see the stats-

how many favorite departments, organizations and people you are following and how many are following you
how many plugs you’ve made and replies you’ve received
how many likes you have given and received

Touch the arrow next to “Favorites” and use the tabs at the top for more info on your followers and those you are following.

Touch the arrow next to “History” to see your plugs and replies.

Touch the arrow next to “Likes” and use the tabs to see what Likes you’ve giv Stats page en and received.

Touch the settings icon in the upper right corner to view or edit your account information.

Your name and email address carry over from your original sign up. These are the only pieces of information that are required to use the app. The other information can be useful to use in determining what content we include in the app, but it is not used or shared for marketing purposes.

Make any changes desired to your name, email address, add your zip (this helps with location-based functions,) indicate your gender and birth date if desired.

Scroll down a bit, you’ll see the words “Change Avatar” with an arrow. If you would like to include a picture or a graphic to identify yourself, touch that arrow. If your device has a camera and you want to take a photo, choose take a photo. Take a photo with your camera- I’m going to use this quilt- and a preview will appear on the screen. Touch the “Use” button to use this picture. Touch the retake button to take a different picture. To exit without taking a picture, touch the retake button, then the cancel button.

If you have a library of photos your device, touch “choose from library.” Elect the folder your picture is in, and the picture you would like to use. If you don’t like the picture, choose “try again” to choose another picture. Choose cancel to get back to the avatar screen. Choose use this photo to select an avatar. You can change this picture whenever you desire by going to profile and editing.

Scroll down for more profile information. You’ll see where you can change your password. To do so, touch the arrow and follow the directions on the screen.

Show location should default to “Yes,” this means location services are on so the location-based features (like mapping) will work.

To have your Quilter’s Thread posts also posted on your Twitter or Facebook accounts, touch the appropriate arrow and follow the instructions on the screen.

Further down, you can read about Quilter’s Thread .

Quilter’s Thread is powered by a platform called “Chatterplug.” The privacy policy and terms of use can be accessed here. Basically, QT and Chatterplug will not use your information for marketing purposes, and, if you try to post something with objectionable or obscene language, it will be blocked.

Finally, if you need to Logout from the app (to let someone else login, for example,) you can do it here. However, if you have made changes on the profile page, you should save the changes before you logout or they will be lost.

That’s the gist of the Profile section. As always, if you have any questions, contact us at support@www.quiltersthread.com

Ask Quilter’s Thread, We’ll Respond

November 6, 2014 By Lisa Berentsen

Quilter’s Thread is here to be a resource to you. One of our app users likes the quilt we use as logo to our Patterns Department, so we wrote it up and posted it in the Patterns Library.

That’s EXACTLY what we love. If you want us to alter, design, figure, research, or find anything related to quilting, we’ll give it our best shot. And, chances are, someone else is interested, too, so we’ll share it on the app.

We intend to start posting a series of holiday patterns on Thursdays on our quilt blogs. We surveyed the app users asking if you’d prefer Christmas patterns, or Thanksgiving and Christmas patterns. The majority said both, so you’ll be seeing Thanksgiving next Thursday, a Thanksgiving/Christmas combo the following Thursday, then we’ll be focus on Christmas only.

Also, if you’re interested in Christmas patterns, check out the Trees of Christmas that we posted in the Pattern Library on the app last year (during our testing phase.)

Happy Quilting.

Tuesday Tutorial: How to Interact with Others on Quilters Thread

October 28, 2014 By Lisa Berentsen

When you enter any department on the app, the first thing you see is the Public Feed. Interaction is what Quilter’s Thread is all about and it’s very easy to be part of it. Tutorial 1

First of all, if you like a department or shop and want to receive notifications, touch the heart at the top right corner of the feed and you’ll be “following” that area.

In any department you can scroll through the feed and read and see posts from others.

If you see something you like, go ahead and hit the thumbs up button to indicate that you like it.

Comment on a post: If you have a comment to add, touch the talk bubble button, a screen comes up that says “Write a comment.” Tutorial 2 Touch that box, your keyboard will appear, so you can type your comment. When you’re done, touch the Submit button and your comment posts.

Start a Thread: To start a discussion, touch the interact button. You’ll be prompted that your comment can be public or private. Private comments will go to the person who is responsible for that department, shop, whatever. When you clear the prompt screen by touching the X, you’ll see that the comment defaults to “Public” if you want it to be “private” thought the private button.

When you touch the screen that says “Join the conversation,” a keyboard will appear to type your thoughts. If you have a sentiment to express, you can touch the stars to indicate how strong your feelings are. Tutorial 3

If you want your post to also be posted to your Facebook and/or Twitter account, touch the broadcast button and indicate which you want. For the automatic posts to work, you will need to have your Facebook and Twitter accounts entered into your profile. (If you can’t figure it out, you’ll hear about it in next week’s tutorial.)

If you touch the camera icon, you’ll have the option of adding a picture to your post. To take a picture, select that button and your camera will be activated to take a picture. If you don’t like the picture select re-try and do it again. If you like the picture, choose ok and follow the screen prompts to post it. When your post is ready, simply touch the “submit” button and you’re good to go.

If you want to post a picture from your library, touch the camera button, select the “Choose from Library” button, and select the picture you want from your library. Again, when your post is ready, touch the submit button.

Remember, the interaction features work for any feedback channel- those in the Resources Department, shops, guilds, whichever.

Next Tuesday’s Tutorial will cover the Profile features in the app.

As always, if you have any questions at any time, contact us through the app or at support@www.quiltersthread.com.

Happy Quilting.

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