MyWebQuilter.com

I believe that every mistake holds a lesson. My m ost re ce n t quilting mistake was buying too little backing fabric for my fun lighthouse quilt. The blocks are ma de by reverse appliqueing lighthouse pictures cut from an old sweatshirt. I had my quilt with me to show my friend who owns the local quilt shop. (I had borrowed her markers to color the lighthouses.) Glenna hap pened to have some nice fabric on sale that coordinated with my quilt top. On the spur of the moment, I decided to buy it as backing fabric for the lighthouse quilt. The shop was busy so we w here multi-tasking and visiting. We quickly measured the quilt and guesstimated the backing fabric requirements. Later that evening I was preparing to pin the quilt and there wasn't enough backing fabric! I turned to MyWebQuilter.com - quickly entered a 9 inch block size, 4 rows, 5 columns, two borders and their widths...within 2 minut es MyWebQuilter told me I needed 2 and 1/2 yards for the backing. I had o

My quilt guild's retreat this past weekend was very fun and inspiring. I work primarily on a quilt using very cute images of lighthouses that I cut from a sweatshirt that no longer fit. One of the reasons I love quilting is recycling! I will post a picture of my fun lighthouse quilt project when I finish it. Today, I wanted to tell you about using MyWebQuilter .com to test your ideas for quilt sashing and quilt borders. The example quilt design uses a double nine patch quilt block and a snowball quilt block in shades of purple. The first picture is of a quilt using these two blocks with no sashing and no borders. The two blocks make a very interesting woven look pattern but the quilt looks unfinished. The second picture uses MyWebQuiter . com's border options to add a small black border and a larger light purple quilt border with the double nine patch block as a corner quilt block. In my opinion, this is an improvement over the first version. N

I going on a quilt retreat this weekend! However, they don't have Internet access at the Rapid River Lodge where we will be staying! So no more blog entries until Monday. Note that all the pictures of the lodge at the above link are all taken in the summer. We have about a 2 ft snow base now and the weather forecast for this weekend is a high of 10 F with wind chills of -25 F. Even though the ski trail is close by, I think we will just stay inside and quilt! Today's post is about how to recolor your quilt blocks in MyWebQuilter .com. Start by selecting the quilt blocks that you think might work for your quilt. Do this on the Choose Quilt Block page. By each selected block there will be a "Color Options" link. This link takes you a page where you see any standard color options (that I created) and offers a link for you to choose you own quilt block colors. Choosing New custom color option takes you to the quilt block recoloring page. Start by selecting the b

MyWebQuilter .com - The quilting software that you use via the Internet has been updated with some new features! You can now create a user name and password to permanently save your quilt design s and quilt blocks that you recolored. You may save three quilt designs and an unlimited number of recolored quilt blocks for FREE . You may save an unlimited number of quilt designs if you subscribe to MyWebQuilter .com for $10 ( USD ). Try MyWebQuilter .com NOW to have fun designing quilts on the web. Also, look for upcoming blog entries about other new features. Let me know what you think about MyWebQuilter .com by commenting on this blog or emailing customerservice@mywebquilter.com. Happy Quilting!

I mentioned in a previous blog post that my living room is decorated in a nautical/lighthouse theme. The most fun quilt that I made in 2008 is my 14 ft. long lighthouse banner. It hangs on a loft wall in my house as you can see in the following photos. This banner was inspired by patterns I saw at my favorite quilt shop, Quilts n' Stuff , run by my friend Glenna. I used many of Glenna's Landmark Patterns on the quilt. These patterns use Glenna's machine drawing technique that is fun and easy to learn. After making several of Glenna's patterns, I was able to customize and create a few unique blocks on my own. I used to think I didn't like applique. Now I really enjoy applique and machine drawing! Publish Post

I have some pretty pink batiks that made me think of Valentine's Day. Here is a pretty little quilt that I designed on MyWebQuilter .com using an easy heart quilt block combined with a square in a square quilt block. I call this my Hearts and Diamonds Quilt! Try designing your own Valentine's Day quilt on MyWebQuilter .com. Details on making the heart quilt block are here .

A friend from my quilt guild mentioned last night that s he had many Bear Paw quilt blocks and couldn't figure out what to do with them. I told her that MyWebQuilter .com can really help with this problem! Here are a four ideas for a quilt from her Bear Paw quilt blocks that I created in MyWebQuilter .com. Hey Chris...these are for you!

I was inspired by Janet Wickell's quilting newsletter where she spotlighted three quilt blocks from her archives. I added her Framed Pinwheel, Ship at Sea and Double Pinwheels quilt blocks to MyWebQuilter .com and tried out a few layouts and colorations . Here are a few of the quilt patterns I created. Twin size quilt using Framed Pinwheel in bright jungle prints with small sashing between the blocks. Wall hanging featuring Ship at Sea and Tall Ships quilt blocks. T his is my favorite that I will have to make. My house is decorated in sailing and nautical items. My sailboat is out of the water for the winter so working on this wall hanging will keep warmer weather on my mind! Here is a twin size quilt using the Double Pinwheel quilt blocks in a mirror image set. I used greens and browns for a cabin look. I also used the Double Pinwheel quilt block in this wall hanging in shades of red and pink for Valentine's day.

I just added the Owl quilt block to MyWebQuilter.com. Here is a link with a good Owl quilt block pattern. MyWebQuilter.com lets me color the block in many ways and combine the colorations to see the overall effect. Here is an example of using two inverse colorations of the Owl quilt block. It is fun to see the patterns emerge in the quilt as you change the colors of the blocks!

I have been addin g many new quilt blocks to MyWebQuilter.com over the past month. There are currently more than 50 blocks. I will keep adding blocks to expand the quilt block library. Please request new quilt blocks that you need for your quilt designs. Some of my favorite quilt blocks that have been recently added are: Log Cabin Bear Paw Attic Windows You may recolor quilt blocks with more than 100 fabric options. Here are two examples of log cabin quilt designs.