Quilter's Thread

Quilting Inspiration and Education

Lisa Berentsen

What the heck is going on at Quilter’s Thread?

By

Well, a lot. We’re continually building our resource libraries. To find the libraries, touch the “Library” button at the bottom right of any of the departments in the Resource category. (See the screenshot to the right.)Library screen shot

App Tutorials- We’ve worked through the issues with third party video-sharing services, and are reliably providing video content in the app. We’re started by posting tutorials about using the app in the “App Tutorial” library. The first, an overview of the app, was posted Tuesday. New posts will continue every Tuesday until we cover all of the app features.

Group Project- The pattern for the first group project is almost complete. The first part of it will be posted tomorrow, with the complete pattern posting next week. You can find the pattern (pictured in the screen shot above) in the “Group Project” library.

Patterns- Next Thursday, we’ll get started on a series of holiday patterns. We’re still deciding if we should include some Thanksgiving themes, or head right into Christmas.  Please respond to the survey in the app. It will show in a white box at the top of your feed in the Patterns Department.

Quilting & Finishing- I love the method posted for binding completely by machine. Finishing the quilt isn’t the big chore it used to be for me. My (adult) son says he misses the raw edges, but I’m happy that I’m no longer using quilts that haven’t been bound. Use the feed to tell us what you’d like to see us cover next.

Show & Tell- Teri Brown shared two quilts last month, and one of them got the most likes, so she got a gift certificate good at any Quilter’s Thread member shop. Share your quilts, you could win, too.

Sizes and Measures-  The library has:

  • Yardage Measures
  • Mattress and Quilt Sizes
  • Measures for Strips and Squares
  • Diagonal of a Square Measures
  • Binding Strips and Yardage (for various width bindings and for Susie’s Magic Binding)
  • Next up is a Backing Calculator

 The Basics- I have to say, I use this library often to reference the directions for making starch. Most commercial starches flare up my asthma, so I make it the old fashioned way. With only two ingredients- water and corn starch- you’d think I’d remember the recipe, but I never do.  After the holidays, we’ll be launching a beginning quilt making series in this department.

Shops, Online Shops, Organizations- Thanks to our member organizations, our app is free to users. Please patronize them. Each is unique and has something different to contribute to your quilt experience.head shot- little

Happy Quilting.

Lisa

 

Tuesday Tutorial- Quilter’s Thread App Overview

By

At Quilter’s Thread, our mission is to use technology to create local communities of people, small businesses and organizations in the quilting industry. We’re doing that primarily with our mobile app, Quilter’s Thread.  We hope the app will provide everything a quilter needs to know in one place, wherever you are.

A video version of this overview is posted in the app library under Resources/App Tutorials. As you probably know, the app is currently available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It is very easy to use and has two primary functions- one is a social communication feed, the other is static content.main screen

As you can see from our main screen, we have areas with information about Shops, Online Shops, Guilds and Organizations, a Resource Library, Events, News and Offers.

ORGANIZATIONS

In the app, organization information appears first as a list- with shops near your actual physical location appearing at the top of the list. When you select an organization, the live feed comes up first, with location details, events and offers accessible by touching buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The details area shows the organization first on a map- where you can get directions from your location and basically use all the mapping functions we are accustomed to with any mobile device.

You can access the organization’s contact information, hours and other details by touching the other tabs. Each screen has many cool features built in, like dial from the app, link to the website, etc.

You can also see the organization’s news and events and any special offers they have posted.

 RESOURCES

Besides the organization information and conversation threads, users can access the Quilter’s Thread library of resources.

This area is organized by subject, beginning with App Tutorials and including:

  • Group Project where anyone can weigh in on the design of a quilt, and, eventually, we finish the quilt as users choose and post the pattern.
  • Patterns where you’ll find discussion in the feed and actual patterns found under the reference section
  • Show & Tell where users can upload photos into the live feed. Incidentally, each month, a Show & Tell contributor receives a gift certificate to spend at any Quilter’s Thread member shop.
  • Other Libraries include The Basics, Sizes and Measures and Quilting and Finishing. We’re continually adding to these libraries. If there’s something you need now, let us know, we’ll push it to the top of our to-do list.

Quilter’s Thread will continue to provide useful content and promotions that encourage users to participate and to patronize our member organizations.

If you have questions, you can send them to us through the app, or email us at info@www.quiltersthread.com.

Next Tuesday, we’ll post a Tutorial showing how to interact in the social feed.

Quilter’s Thread Starting Tuesday Tutorials (and other quilting stuff)

By

Quilter’s Thread is a mobile app for connecting quilters and organizations and sharing information and resources.

We’re new…officially launched last month, but we’ve got a lot going on at Quilter’s Thread.  You’ll see these things in the app, and in our Tuesday and Thursday quilt blogs and posts.

Starting next week, we’ll be doing “Tuesday Tutorials.” Each Tuesday we’ll post a video tutorial in the app, and you can read about it here.  These tutorials will show all the cool things you can do with the app, as well as the cool things you find in it.

Basically, the app is organized with a social feed for communicating among quilters and organizations, and libraries of information for you reference in making quilts. Simple concept, but the app incorporates many cool features that we’ll tell you about.

The libraries are building, albeit a bit slowly for my taste. However, our company is young and I have to be patient. We have a small, brilliant, underpaid staff. I can’t push them too hard- we (all the app users) need them for the long haul.

Our Thursday posts will highlight what’s actually going on in the app. What projects we’re doing, what library is being focused on, etc.

Finally, Wisconsin Quilt Expo 2015 is a ways off, but it’s not too early to tell you that Quilter’s Thread will, again, be an Expo Sponsor. We’ll be there promoting our Quilter’s Thread Member Shops, and, we’ll have some great promos going for our app users.

SiestaIf binding doesn’t count, I just finished a greek key motif quilt made in a color scheme inspired by Van Gogh’s Siesta. You can see it in Show & Tell on the app. I’m working on some modern “Wonky Butterfly” quilts. I won’t have time to quilt them for a while, so I’ll post the quilt tops next week.

As always, tell us what you need. It will go to the top of our to-do list.

Happy quilting,

Lisa

10th Tree Ten Minute Runner

By

10th Tree Ten Minute RunnerThis is an easy variation of the “Ten Minute Table Runner” by LaRae Bushnell Clark. It takes more than ten minutes, but, I’ll bet you can get it done and give it tonight.