Quilter's Thread

Favorite Summer Themed Quilts

June 12, 2016 By Quilter's Thread

It’s the middle of June which means no matter where you are in the United States it is getting hot outside… finally!! With the warm weather making us want to stay outside all day or at least work near a window to take in all that beautiful sunshine, here are a couple of great summer themed quilts to make while enjoying the outdoors in your free time.

Rockets Red Glare Quilt Pattern

This beautiful quilt is made in perfect summer colors with its coral blue and pink fabrics resembling the Florida beaches on a hot summer day. This quilt was created by Abigail Dolinger who used Wilmington Batiks to make the Summer Glare quilt. This lap quilt is perfect to take with you on summer vacations and or use on your couch to add the summer vibe to your living room.

Designed and Machine Quilted by Abigail Dolinger

Summer Totem Quilt

This quilt is made with beautiful saturated tart floral prints from Anna Marie Horner’s LouLouThi fabric line. Just looking at these beautiful floral fabrics makes me want to travel to some beautiful tropical beach. For more information on this quilt click here.

From Bonjour Quilts

Flower Garden Fancies Quilt

Martha Washington’s Flower Garden Hexie Quilt Pattern is another great quilt that is perfect for summertime. This quilt has a simple but elegant floral hexagon design using a variety of Depression Era fabrics that are soft and bright. This is another great summer themed quilt especially if you are looking to brighten up your living area or to have with you when laying outside on a hot summer day.

Antique Quilt Owned by Beth Hayes from McCall’s Quilting.

What are some of your favorite summer quilts that you have made? Share them with us on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App. Remember to stay active on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App in order to earn points to win a free pattern at the end of the month. Comments, uploading photos, and responding to surveys generate 1 point each. Liking 3 things on the app generates 1 point. Earn 10 points gets you a free pattern and 40 points gets you a free pattern and a Quilter’s Thread cloth shopping bag. Earn 75 points gets you a free pattern, shopping bag, and a $20 gift card.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

Monthly Pattern Prize – The Bargello

June 3, 2016 By Quilter's Thread

Quilter’s Thread has a new pattern prize for this month and it’s one you’ll want to get. The Bargello quilt is a stunning work of art that moves in waves and curves beautifully around the quilt creating a lovely pattern that is appealing to the eye. You can use different colors of fabric to help highlight the pattern to make it look like one of a kind. What’s also great about the Bargello quilt pattern is that you can mix up the movement of the pattern if you want to make it even more unique and with more contrast.

The term Bargello came from embroidery, and was traditionally done using longer stitches that formed flame like patterns. The Bargello Quilt is one that consists of strips of fabric that are sewn together creating a path of movement. I like to think of it as a similar but more unique kind of wild version of the chevron zig-zag pattern.

What’s great about the Bargello pattern is that it is suitable for any quilter regardless if you are a beginner! Both beginners and advanced quilters say they enjoy making this kind of quilt. The quilt is constructed from strips and is very easy to piece together. The amount of time it took to piece together the quilt top was a total of six hours.

Here is a picture of our Bargello quilt pattern prize for the month of June. This quilt pattern was made with two techniques, Bargello and Convergence.

The other technique is convergence, which is exactly what the dictionary would say; it is a coming together of two or more distinct entities. In this case, we converge two solid fabrics with Bargello piecing.

Stay tuned for another short blog post that will go more in-depth about the convergence technique that was also used in this quilt pattern. Make sure to share with us any versions of the Bergello quilt pattern that you make on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App.

Remember to stay active on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App in order to earn points to win this free pattern at the end of the month. Comments, uploading photos, and responding to surveys generate 1 point each. Liking 3 things on the app generates 1 point. Earn 10 points gets you a free pattern and 40 points gets you a free pattern and a Quilter’s Thread cloth shopping bag. Earn 75 points gets you a free pattern, shopping bag, and a $20 gift card.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

Perfect Summer Theme Quilts

May 27, 2016 By Quilter's Thread

This week has been beautiful with the temperature getting even hotter and the sun shining brighter. After a cold winter it’s time to lay outside and soak up that sun. What better way to say hello to summer than with a beautiful quilt to lay on while enjoying the outdoors. So here are a few summer themed quilts to help spark your creativity!

The Beach House Quilt

From craftyresolutions.com

This is a beautiful summer theme quilt. It’s colorful and bright with sailboats, fish and beach houses in the pattern design. This is a perfect quilt to take to the beach and show off to all of your friends this summer!

Watermelon Theme Quilt

Watermelon Quilt Pattern from craft.creativebusybee.com

This is another great summer theme quilt pattern. When I think of summer I can’t help but also think of fresh slices of watermelon on a hot summer day. This quilt although doesn’t look like a watermelon has the same shades of green, red, pink and white that watermelon has. This is a great quilt to make this summer and take to any picnic!

Pineapple Pattern

From stashbee.blogspot.com

Another fruit theme quilt perfect for this summer is a pineapple theme quilt! I love the vibrant yellow and white shades of the fabric patterns. This is also a perfect quilt to make with small leftover scraps of fabric!

Live Well. Quilt Well.

Protect Your Fabrics From Light Damage

May 22, 2016 By Quilter's Thread

Now that it is finally starting to feel like summer with the warm temperatures and the bright sunlight shining all day, it is time to talk about the sun and its effects on fabrics. It is important to consider how the sun can damage your fabrics overtime and how to prevent future damage from occurring so that it doesn’t alter the look of your quilt.

To understand how fabrics can get damaged from the sunlight you must understand a little about how the sun’s energy is made up. The sun’s energy is made up of three components: visible radiation, the near-infrared radiation and ultraviolet radiation. Out of these three ultraviolet radiation, which is invisible to the human eye, is the most contributing factor to damaging and fading of fabrics.

What can happen to your fabric if it is left in the sun overtime is that the ultra-violet rays in daylight sun will make the color in your fabrics start to fade. I recommend that you don’t keep your quilt in the sun for long periods of time. However, artificial light can also damage your fabrics as well. Fluorescent lights can just as easily break down the dyes in your fabric and speed up the oxidation of the fibers causing it to damage and fade.

So what can you do to prevent further damage?

Limit sunlight and fluorescent light exposure to your quilt. Make sure if you are hanging your quilt on the wall or placed on a bed that it is not placed near a window where it can be exposed to sunlight through out the day.
Use UV protector glass frames when putting your quilts on display.
Choose your fabrics wisely. Always remember light colors reflect the sunlight while dark colors absorb it.

Got any tips on how to prevent sunlight damage to your quilts? Share them with us on Quilter’s Thread Mobile App.

Live Well. Quilt Well.

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