Machine Quilting Unlimited - Special Edition - Winter 2011

Special Edition 

Laura Wasilowski 

Fuse & Tell 

Taming Templates 

and Rulers 

Feather Finesse 

In the Art Studio 

with Nancy Cook 

Winter 2011

Contents 

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

Fuse and Tell: 

Adventures with Laura Wasilowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 

© 2010 Laura Wasilowski 

Lions and Tigers and Templates, Oh My! . . . 10 

© 2010 Kim Brunner 

Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 

Simple Strategies for Quilting Patchwork 

© 2010 Barbara Hollinger 

Design Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 


©2010 Diane Rusin Doran 

Environmentally-Friendly Quilts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 

Art Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 

Quilting by the Slightly Obsessive 

© 2009 Nancy G. Cook 

Jaw Dropper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 

Sand Storm over the White Desert 

© 2010 Jenny Bowker 

On the Cover: Lacking Gravity by Laura Wasilowski 

Machine Quilting Unlimited 

Special Edition — Winter 2011 

Publisher and Executive Editor 

Vicki Anderson 

Managing Editor 

Kit Robinson 

Graphic Designer 

Jonathan Miller 

JLM Graphics 

Photographer 

Gregory Case Photography 

www.gregorycase.com 

Circulation Manager 

Tiffani Hahn 

Additional Contributors 

Kim Brunner 

Nancy Cook 

Diane Rusin Doran 

Barb Hollinger 

Machine Quilting Unlimited 

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2 Machine Quilting Unlimited | Special Edition Winter 2011

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to our Special Edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited. In this compilation of articles 

from past issues of our magazine, offered by invitation only and not available in our store, we 

hope to give you a glimpse of why machine quilters are so excited about what we have to offer. 

Our focus is on the quilting stage of a quilt—whether you use a domestic sewing machine, a 

frame system or a longarm machine. We cover myriad machine quilting techniques in each 

issue, on topics ranging from simple background fillers, template design work, free motion 

machine embroidery, complex computerized designs and more. Our design articles show how 

to plan stitching motifs and designs to complement your quilts, and stitch embellishment 

techniques to give your quilts that special touch. Remarkable quilting artists are invited to be 

our Cover and Featured Quilters, and art quilters of all genres are featured in our Art Studio 

section. Collections of themed quilts are frequently included in MQU, such as those shown in 

Environmentally Friendly Quilts, included in this publication. We bring you the news from 

selected popular quilt and machine quilting shows and showcase some of the incredibly beautiful 

award winners from these exhibitions. We introduce you to the latest products, threads and 

gadgets, provide articles to help with technical machine issues and review the latest books, DVDs 

and websites. Our readers are invited to share their quilts with us in our Noteworthy section, 

which is located in each of our regular issues. 

Our cover story in this Special Edition is the incomparable Laura Wasilowski. Follow her 

journey into quilting, and read how she and her Chicago School of Fusing cohorts take the 

art of fusing to new levels! Master teacher Kim Brunner, now the author of the popular 

Ask Kimmy! question and answer column, teaches the basics of ruler and template work 

in Lions and Tigers and Templates, Oh My! Barbara Hollinger gives us Simple Strategies 

for Quilting Patchwork in a section we call Foundations. Diane Rusin Doran illustrates 

how to design and stitch simple feathers in Feather Finesse, and in each of MQU’s 2011 

regular issues Diane’s new column on fillers will provide inspiration to keep your background 

work lovely and interesting. Nancy G. Cook tells of her obsession with quilting 

in the Art Studio and shares some of her techniques for quilting her exceptional 

nature art works. We wrap up this special issue, as we do all issues, with a Jaw 

Dropper quilt chosen by the Editors—this time it is Sand Storm over the White 

Desert by Australian artist Jenny Bowker. 

We hope you enjoy this Special Edition, and that you visit our website, 

www.mqumag.com, to experience more machine quilting magic! 

Kit Robinson 

Managing Editor 

Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine 

Special Edition Winter 2011 | Machine Quilting Unlimited 3

Contributors 

Kim Brunner 

Voted ‘Machine Quilting Teacher of the Year 

2009’ by her students, Kimmy Brunner is 

a third generation quilter who has made it 

a goal to bring her family’s quilting history 

into the future. Her work has won multiple 

national and international level awards 

and has been featured in numerous books, 

magazines and calendars. Nominated five 

times for Teacher of the Year, and known for her beautiful quilting 

and crazy sense of humor, her style combines laughter with years of 

experience. She produces top-rated instructional DVDs for midarmers 

and longarmers alike, digitized patterns for computerized 

quilters, and high quality quilting aids and tools. A frequent contributor 

to quilting industry publications and the author of the askthe-expert 

column ‘Ask Kimmy!’, she teaches jam-packed classes at 

major machine quilting shows. Still sane (sort of) despite having 

two teenagers, she lives in Minnesota with her family, spoiled rotten 

dogs, and an alarming stash of fabric. Visit her website at 

www.Kimmyquilt.com for more information. 

Diane Rusin Doran 

Always fascinated by color and fabric, 

Diane Rusin Doran has been sewing 

since childhood and quilting since 1987. 

Focusing on machine techniques, she uses 

piecing, appliqué, and digital imagery to 

create complex, heavily quilted pieces. Her 

quilts have been exhibited internationally, 

and have won awards at a variety of major 

shows. Diane’s work is also in collections across the country. She 

teaches and quilts in the Baltimore/Washington area. You can see 

more of her work at www.dianedoran.com. 

Southern Hospitality by Nancy Cook 

Nancy G. Cook 

Nancy is an artist who maintains a private 

studio in Charlotte, NC, an area rich in the 

traditions of needlework. Her nature inspired 

quilts are found in both private and public 

collections across the United States. She 

has received multiple grants and awards 

for her work, which has been included in 

juried and invitational exhibitions in the 

US and Europe. In 2009, her work has been shown in Renew: Quilts 

Go Green, Sacred Threads, in the special exhibit Contemporary 

Colorations II at the 2009 NQA show and she received the Jurors’ 

Choice Award at ARTQUILTStransitions. Nancy’s fourth solo show 

is scheduled for September – October 2009 in Chapel Hill, NC. See 

more of her work at www.nancygcook.com. 

Barb Hollinger 

Barbara comes from a long line of quilters. 

She learned to sew from her mother and 

dabbled in quilting after she graduated 

from college. She picked it back up after 

she retired from engineering and never 

looked back. 

Barb now manages the Jinny Beyer Studio 

in Great Falls, VA, and is an active member 

in both the local guild and a regional art group, Fiber Artists @ 

Loose Ends. She has taught and exhibited nationally as well as 

being on staff at the Jinny Beyer Seminar at Hilton Head, SC. 

Barb can be contacted at hollinger.quilts@verizon.net. 


Fuse and Tell: 

Adventures with Laura Wasilowski 

© 2010 Laura Wasilowski 


Previous Page: 

Birdland 

Below: 

Seed Pods with 

detail 

Who knew that a 

little girl in a 4-H 

sewing club could 

grow into a quilt artist 

who travels the world? 

Through serendipity and good friends, these early 

sewing skills led this lucky little girl to a career 

of teaching, lecturing and exhibiting art work 

internationally. 

As a teenager, my sewing skills gained my 

entrance to a work/study program in a college 

costume shop. There I learned another valuable 

skill: fabric dyeing. Combining sewing and dyeing, 

I began my first business as a young mother 

making one-of-a-kind clothing. A friendly neighbor, 

Janet Dye, introduced me to a new passion, 

the wonderful world of quilt making. Together 

we attended quilt shows, listened to lectures, and 

toured exhibits like the extraordinary showing of 

Amish quilts at the Terra Museum in Chicago. 

My quilting career had a rocky start. In high 

school I constructed my first quilt, a curved 

pieced bed quilt made from old wool skirts. 

It was like sleeping under a lead blanket! But 

encouraged by Janet’s enthusiasm, I tried making 

another pieced quilt, lighter in weight and lighter 

in color. As my quilting skills grew, so did my circle 

of quilt friends. This is when I met my future 

Artfabrik business partner, Melody Johnson. 

As Artfabrik (vendors of hand-dyed fabric and 

threads), we sold our wares at local and national 

quilt shows. The exposure to a vast variety of 

quilt styles captured my imagination. Why not 

take the fabric I was dyeing and make this thing 

called an ‘art quilt’? With Melody’s encouragement, 

I tried the technique of quilt construction 

I use to this day, fusing. 

Fusible web is dry glue which is applied to fabric 

with the heat of an iron. After a fused fabric is cut 

to shape, it is ironed or fused onto other fabrics. 

Fusers work directly with color and shape, much 

like a painter works with paint. Without sewing 

fabrics together, organic shapes are joined and 

detail pieces are stacked on top of other fabrics. 

Artists train by producing lots of work. With 

fusing, you learn design skills quickly by easily 

making lots of quilts. You by-pass traditional 

quilt construction techniques and go directly to 

the making of the art. And although it is a simple 

technique, you soon discover that the skill in 

fusing comes in the designing of compositions. 

Fusing gives you endless possibilities for designs. 

The growth of my artwork is directly related to 

the technique of fusing. It allows me to practice 

and create enough art to develop a personal 

style. In the 15 years I’ve been making art quilts, 

my style has been described as bright, pictorial, 

narrative and, my favorite, whimsical. It is this 

whimsical set of mind that so invigorates me 

when creating art. When I make art, inner critics 

are banished from my head. I feel free and playful. 


Inspiration for my art comes from illustrating 

stories of family, friends, home 

or a favorite bend in the road. Story 

telling runs deep in my veins and what 

better way to tell a story than through 

a quilt? A motif or favorite object can 

also become an obsessive muse. A 

series about my blue chair, begun 

in the early 1990’s, continues on 

today. And at one point chicken 

quilts dominated my every quilting 

moment. 

Currently, my favorite inspiration 

for creating art comes from 

the hand-dyed and fused fabric 

scraps left over from other 

projects. Triggering ideas for 

designs, these small shapes give 

me hours of play like a toy box 

full of color and shape. When 

I improvise with the fabric 

scraps I lose track of time and obligations 

and enter that creative zone artists crave. 

These small improvised art quilts come to life 

with my latest passion: hand stitchery. With the 

addition of simple embroidery stitches, the art 

On a Leaf 


Above: Bridges and Fences 

Right: Coleen’s Calling Bird 

Below: Laura Wasilowski 

gains another level of texture, pattern and color. 

It adds those all important details you can’t make 

with fabric. The simple act of hand stitching a 

fused quilt takes the art from flat to fabulous. 

The final act of machine stitching adds another 

dimension to my art. My pictorial quilts have a lot 

of organic shapes. Free-motion stitching allows 

me to reach the nooks and crannies found in the 

fused designs. In free-motion quilting the feed 

dogs are dropped, a free-motion foot is placed on 

the machine, and the stitching is advanced by 

moving the quilt beneath the needle with your 

hands. It is like drawing by moving a piece of 

paper under a stationary pencil. 

Before I begin machine quilting, I plan a freemotion 

stitch route so I can sew continuously 

without changing thread color or stopping the 

needle. My finger traces the stitch path on the 

surface of the quilt and I look for the shortest 

transition between shapes so the connecting 

stitches between those shapes are not conspicuous. 

I’m also looking for an escape route, a place 

to end the stitching. 

Fused art quilts invite certain kinds of stitching, 

such as: outlining, echoing, sketching, patterning, 

and enclosed stitches. 


Outlining fused elements with stitching advances 

shapes. To outline a shape, I smoothly guide the 

needle around the shape without stitching the 

element. 

If I have a fabric edge cut with a decorative rotary 

cutter blade, I will follow that decorative edge 

with echo stitches. This gives me a repetitive 

motif on the quilt surface that adds movement 

and interest. 

Sketching with free-motion 

stitches is like drawing on the quilt 

with a pencil, especially if you use 

thread colors that contrast in hue 

or value with the fused shape. I 

use sketching to add more detail; 

like veins for a leaf or petals on a 

flower. If you can free-motion quilt 

your name, you can sketch or draw 

on your quilt top with thread. 

When it’s time to cover a lot of 

territory, I use pattern stitches. 

There are hundreds of free-motion 

pattern designs in the quilt world, 

but my favorite for filling in open 

expanses of fabric is the MEMEME 

design. For this design, simply 

make 3 vertical peaks of stitching 

(M) then 3 horizontal peaks of 

stitching (E). These patterning 

stitches fit nicely around fused 

shapes, fill in large areas, and have endless variations 

when you add tilts, knobs, and waves. 

Enclosed stitching begins with sketching a large 

shape on the fabric like a leaf or flower. The 

interior of the shape is then filled with pattern 

or sketching stitches. I make sure I plan an 

escape route before filling the shape if I want to 

add more quilting outside of the shape. 

Whether in a museum, corporate, or personal 

collection, each piece of art work I make 

remains very near and dear to my heart. Each 

is invested with my memories as a little girl, 

teenager, mother, and traveling quilt maker. 

Each carries my joy in the creative process. For 

me, there is nothing finer than making an art 

quilt. 

Visit Laura’s website: www.artfabrik.com 

Above: Pressing Matters 

The Chicago School of Fusing 

The Chicago School of Fusing is a state of mind, created and maintained 

by dedicated fusers Laura Wasilowski, Robbi Joy Eklow, Frieda 

Anderson, Melody Johnson, Emily Parson and Annie Lullie to promote 

the fine art of fusing fabric. Each member of the ‘faculty’ has a special 

talent or position in the organization. Laura is known as the Dean 

of Corrections, teaching techniques, etiquette and deportment to all 

would-be fusers. Choir leader 

Melody leads the Fusettes, offering 

such ditties as the school 

fight song, Press On Chicago 

Fuse. Emily handles the quilt 

exhibits, promotion and sales 

training. Frieda has the website 

expertise as well as acting as a 

calming influence on the others. 

And Annie—well she was brought 

in because of her party skills! 

This imaginary school boasts 

an imaginary campus as 

well. Classes are held in the 

Fusitorium building; iron repair 

and maintenance is covered in 

the Iron Workers United building; 

there is also the Flat Iron 

Student Services building and a 

Rowenta Sports Arena; and they 

tell me you can buy your protective steel-toe boots, along with fusing 

supplies, at the Hot Stuff Bookstore and Uniform Shop! 

If you desire admission to the Chicago School of Fusing, you must 

first demonstrate the ability to locate Chicago on a map and to have 

had some experience with an iron. Undergraduate applications may be 

obtained by contacting the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (any 

faculty member) to discover where off-campus classes are held. 

Members of the Chicago School of Fusing team use vibrant hand-dyed 

fabrics to create bold, dynamic art quilts with themes ranging from a 

love of nature to an appreciation of chickens. Check out their various 

websites and blogs: 

n Laura Wasilowski, www.artfabrik.com 

n Melody Johnson, www.wowmelody.com 

n Robbi Joy Eklow, www.robbieklow.com 

n Frieda Anderson, www.friestyle.com 

n Emily Parson, www.emilyquilts.com 

n Annie Lullie, www.annelullie.com 


Ask any new midarm or longarm machine 

quilter about using templates, and you will 

almost always get this response: “Oh, no! They’re 

so scary!” Yet nothing will quickly make a new 

quilter’s work look more professional than 

template work. Templates will keep your circles 

circular, your straight lines perfectly straight, 

and give your quilt a crisply polished finish. In 

short, templates will make you look like you 

know what you are doing long before you actually 

do. Who could ask for more? 

There are a couple of things to know in order to 

get off to a smooth start. Most importantly, the 

first Immutable Law of Template Use: You can 

go fast, or you can use a template. You cannot 

do both. With template work, slow and steady 

always wins the race. If you rush, you will 

Lions and Tigers 

and Templates, 

Oh My! 

© 2010 Kim Brunner 

increase your chances of getting the template 

caught underneath your hopping foot, ‘jumping’ 

your foot up on top of the template, breaking a 

needle or throwing your machine’s timing out of 

whack. Slow down, steer your machine carefully, 

pay attention to proper hand placement and you 

will be just fine. 

When it comes to hand placement, here is 

another rule to remember; never (and I mean 

never!) get ahead of your hand. Place your hand 

on the template, fingers spread slightly, holding 

the template lightly but firmly in place, and stitch 

only as far as you can go without passing your last 

fingertip. The area of the template on which your 

hand is resting is stable and secure, but once you 

start stitching past your hand you are entering 

dangerous territory. When you reach that final 

fingertip, stop stitching, reposition your hand 

and resume stitching. The reach of your hand is 

always your guide when using templates. 

When holding the template in place, do not push 

down too hard as doing so will interfere with 

how your machine moves and can prevent proper 

stitch formation. This, in turn, leads to skipped 

stitches and thread breakage. Remember, it is the 

template you are trying to hold in place, not the 

machine! Press down hard enough to keep the 

template still, but not hard enough to retard the 

machine’s movement. Instead of trying to squash 

the template into submission, try sticking little 

sandpaper dots on the underside of the template 

to prevent shifting. These inexpensive dots, 

which are found in the notions department of 

your local fabric store, work wonders and it only 

takes a couple of them to do the trick. 

You will need some sort of an extended base plate 

on your machine in order to use templates successfully. 

Most midarm and longarm machines 

have narrow needle plates, and trying to balance 

a template on that narrow base, keep it from 

shifting, steer your machine, execute a pleasing 

design and keep an even stitch length all at the 

same time is a bit like juggling live grenades; 

sooner or later, there is going to be a loud bang! 

It will be much easier if you have an extended 

base, which will give you a nice little ‘table’ on 

which to securely rest your template. These 

extended bases can be found at many online 

quilting supply sites. 

When template shopping, what should you look 

for? First, be sure that the template will work 

with your machine. There is a world of difference 

between templates made for piecing and those 

made for quilting, and you must never mix them 

up! Most longarm and midarm machines require 

a minimum ¼-inch thick template. Any template 

thinner than ¼ inch will slip right under the 

hopping foot, causing all kinds of problems. 

However, there are some machine brands that 

require a template thicker than ¼ inch and it is 

your responsibility to know what your machine 

needs. Do not expect the template manufacturer 

to be an expert on your machine’s requirements! 

If you have questions about what templates to 

buy, contact your dealer or manufacturer. 

Next, look for something that can be used in 

multiple ways, allowing you to get more bang 

for your template buck. Circles, straight rulers, 

ovals, and football shaped templates are all great 

multitasking tools and will enable you to make 


myriad designs. In this article we will explore just 

a few of the ways you can use these tools, and I 

will show you several easily achievable designs 

that are gender-neutral, making them appropriate 

for a wide range of quilt types. 

The most useful template of all is the straight 

ruler. Look for one that has incremental markings 

etched onto the Plexiglas, as this will 

eliminate the need for you to keep a separate 

ruler on hand for measuring blocks, borders, 

etc., while quilting. It is also nice to have 45 and 

60 degree lines marked on the ruler, as these 

are angles that you will use again and again. 

There are long straight rulers, short rulers, and 

everything in between. My preference is one that 

will fit comfortably in my hand and extend no 

more than a few inches beyond the reach of my 

fingers. If it is wider than my hand I cannot grip 

it properly, and if it is too long for me to hold 

securely that extra length is wasted space. I look 

for straight rulers that are approximately two 

inches wide and ten inches long. 

Why is a straight ruler a great choice? First and 

foremost, using a ruler will make stitching in the 

ditch much easier as it will enable you to slide 

your hopping foot smoothly along the ruler and 

glide down the ditch in a nice straight line. It 

will also make crosshatching a snap, especially if 

you buy a ruler with incremental measurements. 

These measurements will allow you to get away 

with doing a fraction of the marking you would 

normally have to do for this technique. Instead of 

pre-marking each and every crosshatch line, you 

can mark every fifth or sixth line to keep your 

spacing even, and then use the ruler’s markings 

to enable you to perfectly fill in the other lines on 

the fly. 

Let’s look at a few of the designs that can be 

accomplished with a straight ruler. The first 

one requires minimal marking, has only eight 

lines, can be manipulated to fill almost any 

shape, and performs flawlessly as a jack of all 

trades in blocks, cornerstones and borders. To 

execute this design, start with a square. Place a 

tick mark at the center of each of the four sides, 

and number the corners and centers as shown in 

Illustration 1. Notice that the starting point is 

numbered 1 and 9. You will begin your stitching 

line in the top left hand corner as you are learning 

this design, but you will quickly see that any 

one of the corners or centers could be used as the 

starting point. Position your template diagonally 

across your block from the top left corner to 

the center of the bottom side and, gliding your 

machine lightly (the key word here is lightly— 

there is no shoving when using templates!) 

against the side of the ruler, stitch a straight line 

1 & 9 6 

4 8 

7 2 

5 

1 & 9 6 

4 8 

7 2 

5 

1 & 9 6 

4 8 

7 2 

5 

Special Edition Winter 2011 | Machine Quilting Unlimited 11 

3 

3 

3 

1 

2 

3

from 1 to 2. Now, reposition your ruler, and stitch 

a line from 2 to 3, forming a V. (Illustration 2) 

Continue from 4 to 5, from 5 to 6 and so on 

until you come to 9, which is the point at which 

you started your design. You just stitched out a 

beautiful Mariner’s Compass-type star, and it was 

so easy! (Illustration 3) 

Step it up a bit and work on a design that has a 

little more ‘oomph’. It is still a star, and it is still 

very simple, but it will look like lot more work 

than it actually was. Start with a circle, and 

subdivide it evenly into sixteen sections. In the 

middle of the circle, add a second circle. This 

circle can be as large or as small as you wish. 

(Illustration 4) Place your ruler diagonally so that 

you can stitch from the point at which one of your 

subdivision lines crosses the inner circle to where 

the next line intersects the outer circle. Pivot 

4 

6 

your ruler and stitch diagonally down to where 

the next line crosses the inner circle, continuing 

around the circle until you return to your starting 

point. Finish by stitching the inner circle to add 

another level of interest to the star. See? That was 

so easy, but it looks so cool! (Illustration 5) 

Now dress that star up even more. This time you 

will add a third circle, and again, this circle can 

be whatever size you wish. (Illustration 6) Stitch 

a star using the technique you just learned, but 

instead of ending with a simple eight pointed 

star, stitch a second star, bouncing your stitching 

lines from the innermost circle to the middle 

circle. (Illustration 7) Ta-da! It looks complex, 

but it was no work at all. 

Next, work on border designs. A perennial 

favorite among quilters is the Hanging Squares 

border. It is a design that works equally well in 

12 Machine Quilting Unlimited | Special Edition Winter 2011 

5 

7

sashing strips, stop borders and outside borders, 

since it looks great in almost any size. Begin by 

measuring the width of your border. In general, 

the border width determines the spacing of the 

squares. Occasionally you will have to fudge the 

markings to fill the entire length of the border 

evenly. In that case, you can either fiddle with 

the markings just a bit, making your squares 

ever so slightly diamond-shaped or, if you find 

that the border length is really throwing you off, 

you can work the design from corner to center 

and place one or two oddly shaped squares in the 

middle of the border to create a separate design 

to fill the space. 

In this example, we have a 4-inch wide border, 

and we want to have a square floating in the corner. 

Our first chalk mark will be two inches out 

from the interior corner and the rest of our markings 

will be four inches apart. (Illustration 8) 

We will also make two 2-inch markings in the 

outer corner to aid in stitching the corner square. 

Remember, when placing your markings and 

stitching the lines, allow for a ¼-inch binding 

seam allowance, so do not stitch all the way out to 

the edge of the border, or your squares will have 

their heads cut off by the binding! 

Now that the marking is done, the rest is a 

breeze. Begin your stitching line at point A 

(Illustration 9), stitch to point B, then on to C, 

etc., creating a zig-zag line all the way down your 

border. When you reach the opposite corner, 

pivot your ruler, turn around and come back in 

the opposite direction, filling in the opposing 

zig-zags. Depending on the look you prefer, you 

may leave your squares plain, or make them pop 

by filling in the background spaces as shown in 

Photo 10 or by filling in the squares themselves 

and leaving the backgrounds blank. 

To dress up this design even further, try ‘shadowing’ 

the first set of squares. Your pre-marking 

will be exactly the same, and so will the first and 

second stitching lines. Once you have finished 

the first set of squares, you will then come back 

and stitch a second set, each of which is ¼ inch 

away from the first set. This is easily accomplished 

by lining up your ruler directly on top of 

the first stitched line and stitching another line 

right next to your ruler. Your hopping foot will 

keep your new stitches ¼ inch away from the first 

stitched line, allowing you to effortlessly stitch a 

¼ inch ‘shadow’ line. (Photo 11) 

I hope that I have given you the confidence 

needed to experiment with rulers and templates. 

Remember, follow the safety rules, use your 

imagination, and before you know it you will be 

quilting like a pro! 

B 

2" 

2" 

C 

A 

2" 

2" 

D 

4" 4" 

E 

4" 4" 


F 

8 

9 

10 

11

Foundations 

Simple Strategies for Quilting Patchwork 

© 2010 Barbara Hollinger 

Many recent quilt shows 

and current magazine articles feature quilts 

finished with the most amazing machine quilting 

where design and color blend in a beautiful 

array of form and texture the likes of which 

1 

most of us can only dream of creating. 

The quilters who craft these 

works of art spend countless hours 

honing their skills, planning their 

masterpieces and working through 

every detail, filled with what must 

be miles and miles of thread. Many 

quilters, especially beginners, find 

themselves working at the other 

end of the spectrum, making simple 

patchwork quilts that will warm a 

chilled lap, bundle a small child, or 

Simple Shapes 

wrap a college student with comfort 

from home. Busy schedules and 

hectic lives do not allow us to pour 

our time into the utility quilts that 

are likely to become well worn before 

very long. Over the years, I have 

used a series of techniques to finish 

this type of quilt in an easy way that 

gives each one its own style. The 

simple approaches outlined in this 

article will get you started and will 

hopefully serve you well as you work 

toward a masterpiece of your own. 

Focal Block 

Oversized Block 

Basic Guidelines 

Before you get started, it will be 

helpful for you to step back and 

assess the quilt composition. 

Consider how the pieces interact. 

Do they meet at the corners or are 

they offset? Are the pieces uniformly 

sized or are there small patches 

mixed with larger ones? Is the quilt 

full of piecework or are there large 

blank spaces? Is there a focal point 

to the design or does the pattern 

repeat across the quilt? With these questions 

in mind, read through the steps that follow and 

think about how you can customize quilting 

designs for your quilt. 

Break down the composition into smaller elements. 

(Image 1) Most patchwork can be placed 

into one of several categories: 

1. Blocks made of small simple shapes; 

squares rectangles, triangles and 

diamonds. 

2. Blocks with a focal point; stars, leaves, and 

baskets. 

3. Blocks with a large over-all design; log 

cabins, crazy patch. 

4. Pieced borders. 

Plan a design using a unified theme when quilting 

these different elements. This will give your 

quilt a cohesive appearance. I love to use swirls 

and spirals but for this sampler I selected leaves 

as my quilting theme. (Image 2) I was able to 

incorporate this theme into each section so there 

were no areas which looked like an afterthought. 

I used the same basic shape for all my leaves but 

varied their size and orientation. I let the size of 

the space they needed to fill dictate the size of 

the leaf. Choose a theme that compliments not 


2

just the design but also your fabric choices. Keep 

in mind that you might even be able to borrow 

design details from one of the fabrics. 

Map out a plan indicating your starting point. 

Work in small sections rather than trying to 

make long passes across the whole quilt. I often 

work on the simplest sections first while I contemplate 

my approach to the more difficult areas. 

Assuming the quilt is pin basted and the layers 

thoroughly stabilized, you should be able to begin 

wherever you like. On this quilt I started with the 

‘Double 9 Patch’ blocks as I thought they were 

clearly the simplest to quilt, even though they 

had more pieces and smaller sections than the 

other blocks. I desperately try to avoid marking 

my quilts, especially for simple quilting lines, but 

you might elect to add guide lines with a chalk 

pencil. 

Space your quilting evenly across the quilt surface. 

Quilts where the quilting is either too dense 

or too sparse will not lie or hang flat, and even if 

the batting instructions say you can quilt it up to 

8 inches apart, I do not recommend it. The quilt 

will wear much better if you anchor the layers 

together at least every 2 to 3 inches. 

Define the hard edges by running a straight 

line of quilting in the ditch between the pieced 

center and the borders using a walking foot. 

Sashing can be treated in the same fashion if it 

cannot be integrated into the block piecing. The 

finished quilt will remain straighter with these 

design elements anchored from the start. Add 

one last line of straight stitching to the perimeter 

of the quilt, just inside the line where you will 

add the binding. This serves to stabilize the edge 

as well as providing a guide line for the quilting 

in the borders. (Image 3) I prefer to trim away 

the extra batting and backing at this point so it 

does not fold under and become trapped in the 

quilting by accident. (Image 4) 

Select a thread that will work in all the areas 

of the quilt. If there are large value changes 

between the fabrics, try something in the 

medium range. The thread will show on enough 

of the fabrics that it will not look out of place. If 

the thread only shows on the darkest or lightest 

fabrics, it can sometimes stand out too much in 

these areas. Variegated threads work beautifully 

in this setting and can be an unexpected highlight 

as the thread shifts from one color or value 


3 

4

1 

20 19 27 

7 

3 

26 

5 

8 

2 

18 

6 

21 25 

4 

28 

14 

10 

12 

to another. Keep in mind, however, that if your 

motif requires much backtracking, you will lose 

the gradual color shift and end up with abrupt 

color jumps instead. 

Quilt Away 

9 

13 

11 

15 22 

16 

17 29 

23 

24 

30 31 

6 

5 

Now that you have a plan, you can really get 

started. I will step you through the blocks in my 

sampler to illustrate how you can treat each type 

of patchwork. If the blocks are joined to each 

other rather than being separated by sashing, 

you can quilt from one section into another 

without adding a start/stop point. With a little 

forethought, you can quilt the whole quilt in 

one pass, stopping only to refill your 

bobbin. 

Close the path to 

finish quilting. 

Repeat sequence 

for each segment. 

Continuous Curved 

Quilting 

Double Nine Patch blocks are made 

up only of squares of two sizes. 

Traditionally these squares might 

be quilted by echoing the seam 

line on ¼ inch inside each patch. 

By replacing the straight lines 

1 

2 

3 

with gentle curves, you can alter this style for 

machine quilting. Each arch starts and ends at 

a seam intersection and comes into the patch to 

the same ¼ inch margin. The arches are connected 

end to end to allow a continuous curved 

line of quilting through the block, following 

from one seam line to another until the block is 

completed. (Image 5) Notice that I have made 

S-curves that undulate along the seam line 

rather than clamshells that come to sharp V’s. 

It is much easier to aim for an intersection and 

stitch through it rather than to stitch into a 

point where you have to abruptly change direction. 

The only time I have to quilt these clam 

shells is where only a single side of the patch 

remains to be quilted. 

Before you start this step, it is quite helpful to 

sketch the block on paper and map out your 

intended pathway. (Image 6) Did you outline all 

the patches on all the sides? Keep this map handy 

in case you need to go back to it. If, while you are 

quilting, you find that you have missed a section, 

slip a safety pin into the spot and go back to it 

later. By winding your way from one block into 

another at the corners, you may be able to connect 

the blocks with a maze of soft curves that 

create a wonderful design on the reverse of the 

quilt. Leave an escape route open in your path 

until all the blocks are quilted. You should be 

able to work your way back to where you stared 

by leaving the last side un-quilted until you run 

out of seams to follow. 

In addition to the curved lines of quilting 

along the seam lines, I filled each of the larger 

squares with a leaf. I was able to complete 


7

this quilting as I wove through the blocks by 

connecting it at the corners. I did not mark my 

leaves before quilting them. Instead I used the 

boundaries of the square to guide my quilting. 

Before moving to another section, I finished 

off the look of my leaves by adding several 

asymmetrical veins running through each leaf. 

Be careful of symmetrical motifs. Your eye 

is much more likely to pick up on variations 

if the shape is too regular. For that reason, I 

chose to start my leaves in the corners of the 

square that would allow the designs to rotate 

around the center of the block rather than having 

them all point the same direction. 

(Image 7) 

Creating a Focal Design 

Pieced blocks that create a focal design are easy 

to quilt if, rather than quilting each individual 

patch, you highlight the overall design. The 

center star in this sampler is made of parallelograms 

fragmented into four pieces. I once 

again chose to use my leaf motif and create a 

radiating foliage design that followed the shape 

of the block, filling in the center with the same 

veins found in my first set of leaves. (Image 8) 

If you cannot quite picture what your design 

should look like, take a digital picture of the 

block, print it in black and white, and doodle a 

few ideas in colored marker. This will allow you 

to explore several possibilities before you start 

to stitch and save you from picking out stitches 

which form a design that did not work out as 

you had hoped. 

8 

Filling a Large Block 

Blocks such as log cabin and crazy patch require 

a little more planning. By treating them as a 

blank space, you can easily quilt the space with 

total disregard for the actual piecing. Fill them 

with a wreath, a series of spirals or a spray of 

leaves, and you not only successfully anchor your 

quilt together, but you add a level of detail that 

can be enjoyed up close. Good quilts, even simple 

ones, are appealing both from a distance and 

upon closer inspection. Think of it as the bi-focal 

effect; what comes into focus from far away is not 

what you will see when it is closer than an arm’s 

length. 

I repeated my leaf motif once again 

and designed a laurel wreath that 

started at the same point in each 

block. Because this design was to 

be reasonably symmetrical, I created 

a template for the main stem 

that would be the foundation for 

each block. The remaining stems 

and leaves were filled in freehand 

without marking by anchoring them 

to the arching stems, leaving the 


10 

9

11 

Quilted Border: First Pass 

Quilted Border: Second Pass 

12 

variations in quilting less noticeable. Likewise, 

quilting free-form feathers is easier and flows 

more evenly if you establish the center vein first. 

I drafted my stem by sketching out my block to 

scale, folding it in half diagonally and drawing 

a smooth curved line with a drafting curve that 

would allow space on either side of the stem to 

add leaves. (Image 9) I reproduced this curve 

with a manila folder and marked each stem with 

chalk. By originating my design in the corner of 

the block, I was able to link it to the remainder of 

my quilting. (Image 10) 

Quilting a Pieced Border 

Piecing within a border provides a ready made 

quilting guide that can tie in the quilting elements 

from the interior blocks. Quilt simple 

squares and triangles with continuous curves 

and fill the blank spaces surrounding them with 

the same design motif you selected to fill the 

open areas of the patchwork. Once again, I put 

my leaves to use by springing them from the corners 

of my pieced border. By twisting the last leaf 

in the row, I was even able to fill in the empty 

space at the corner. I break my borders down into 

several passes so I repeat one movement over and 

over, rather than trying to cover the whole width. 

It makes it much easier to be consistent as I arch 

from square to square and surround my quilt in 

a vine of leaves. (Image 11) 

I chose to orient my leaves in the same direction 

each time. You might prefer to frame the 

quilt and have the motif change direction at 

the center point of the border. If you work 

better in one direction than another, as 

many of us do, the one directional pass 

might be faster and easier. I find I am 

a clock-wise quilter with my smoother 

passes coming as I quilt toward myself 

where I can see my path more clearly. 

These techniques are not designed to 

be the end of your journey, just an easy 

place to start. Take a look at your stack 

of UFOs and find a pieced quilt that 

cries out to be finished. Work out a 

simple plan on paper and watch as 

your thread transforms your unfinished 

top into a quilt you can really 

enjoy using. (Image 12) 


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Design Elements 


©2010 Diane Rusin Doran 

1: Traditional feather 

design from a stencil. 

Arrows indicate 

where backtracking 

was required. 2: An 

unmarked feather 

with outlining. 

Open a quilting magazine 

or go to any quilt show and you will see feather 

quilting motifs on a wide variety of quilts. 

Feathers have been classic quilting motifs nearly 

as long as quilts have been made. Formal or 

flowing, they add softness and movement to any 

quilt. One of the best attributes of feathers is that 

they can be used to fill a wide variety of shapes 

and spaces. And, once you get the hang of them, 

they are really fun to quilt! 

Feathers consist of a stem and the feathers 

themselves. The feathers are usually a teardrop 

or paisley shape. The shape, size and curve of the 

stem, along with the area you want to fill, determine 

the shape of the feather motif. The feather 

creates a sculptural effect and you will probably 

want to emphasize that by leaving some space 

around the motif for background fill. 

Traditional feathers require backtracking, as 

indicated by the arrows in Figure 1. Backtracking 

requires some precision, and is less visible when 

you use a very fine thread, such as YLI silk or 

Aurifil size 50. When you leave space between 

1 2 

your feathers, as shown in Figure 2, the need to 

backtrack is eliminated. This type of feather will 

also work better if you prefer using thicker thread. 

Remember—thin thread, small needle, thick 

thread, big needle. Note: Some of my samples 

were made with dark thread on light fabric to 

make them easier to see. Normally I would choose 

to use a slightly lighter thread than the fabric 

color in order to hide small bobbles in the work. 

A variety of feather stencils are available to 

quilters, as are traceable designs. Here, though, 

we will learn how to make a feather to fit your 

quilt, using just a bit of marking. If you do not 

feel comfortable with this technique, you can 

always use a template to mark your feathers, 

and follow along with the same order of sewing 

shown here. Once you are comfortable with the 

basic technique you may want to branch out into 

making a feather design unique to you. 

Let’s start by drawing a basic feather and at the 

same time break down the order of sewing. We 

can begin by drawing a slightly curved line in 

a rectangle about 4 inches by 

5 inches. Some people like to 

make their feather spine a single 

line of stitching, but I prefer 

my spines to have a little width 

to them. Start drawing at the 

bottom of the spine. When you 

reach the top you can make a 

point, a leaf shape, or a rounded 

tip—the choice is yours. Come 

back down the spine, making a 

parallel line slightly to the right 

of your original line, down to 

a point or a squared off end as 

shown in Figure 3. 

Starting on the left side of 

the spine, begin moving 

upwards using tear drop 


Start 

shapes. (Figure 4) The teardrop shapes should 

be angled upward, not perpendicular to the 

spine. (Figure 5) Try to make the teardrops 

fill the space, leaving room around the edge 

for background quilting. If you accidentally 

make a teardrop a little too horizontal, make 

the next teardrop smaller and more angled to 

get back on track. As you come around back to 

the spine, the end of your teardrop shape will 

eventually become more parallel to the spine. 

The teardrops remain separate shapes. Although 

they stack one upon the other, they are not 

touching. This is what eliminates the need to 

backtrack. It also creates an elegant set of lines 

that curve toward the spine. The teardrops can 

be skinny or chubby, whichever you prefer. I 

prefer to make my teardrops relatively thin as 

they approach the spine. 

Once you have reached the top of the spine, start 

drawing teardrops on the right hand side, again 

starting at the bottom. (Figure 6) Because your 

spine is curved, the teardrops on the right will 

3 4 5 6 

No 

X 

not exactly match the ones on the left, and that 

is a good thing! 

We are starting with a curved spine, rather 

than a straight one, for several reasons. If you 

make a mistake on a straight line it is very 

obvious, but not as noticeable on a curved one. 

If a straight spine is centered in your design 

area, the temptation is to make a symmetrical 

design. Symmetrical designs are more difficult 

to quilt well than asymmetrical ones, and small 

errors become glaring. Making an asymmetrical 

feather, with variations in feather size, angle, 

and number of feathers on each side, is an easier 

approach, and gives your project some artistic 

flair to boot. 

Congratulations—you have successfully drawn 

a feather! A feather is sewn in the same order 

in which you just drew one—start at the bottom 

of the spine, go up and around (Figure 7), 

come down, feathers on the left (Figure 8), then 

feathers on the right. (Figure 9) As you meet the 

3: Drawing a simple, 

slightly curved spine. 

4: Start drawing the 

teardrops on the 

bottom left hand 

side of the spine. 

5: Angle the teardrop 

shapes upwards, not 

horizontally, for a 

graceful look. 6: The 

completed drawn 

feather. 7: Sewing 

the spine with a 

rounded top. 8: 

Sewing the left hand 

feathers, starting at 

the bottom of the 

spine. 9: Beginning 

on the bottom, sew 

the feathers on the 

right hand side of the 

spine. 

7 8 9 


10 

10: The completed 

sewn feather. 

11: A more balanced 

feather. By using a 

curved mark on the 

right hand side of 

the feather I was 

able to make a more 

graceful shape. 

12 

spine at the end of each feather you will ‘kiss’ the 

spine and then reverse the direction you are sewing 

to go upwards. Sewn this way you can get 

away with starting and stopping the thread just 

twice. In the figures you can see where I used 

the blue wash away marker line as a reference 

to sew the spine. It is okay to not sew exactly 

on the line, as you will eventually erase it and 

your error will never be visible. On this feather 

I am not entirely happy with the imbalance 

of the feathers on the right side. (Figure 10) I 

could have prevented this by making a simple 

mark as a reference on the right side, as shown 

11 

in Figure 11. The mark helps me to gracefully 

balance the right side of the feather with the 

left. Again, this is just a reference mark, not 

something to be followed exactly. 

If you are feeling a little more creative, and want 

to get a head start on the background quilting, 

you can get away with starting and stopping just 

once. Instead of stopping after the last feather 

on the upper left, come back down the left 

side, outlining close to the tips of the feathers. 

Backtrack directly on the spine to the bottom, 

come up around the right side, and begin your 

feathers there. When you finish the 

right side feathers you can again 

outline quilt down that side. The 

feather in Figure 2 was quilted in 

this way. 

Bear in mind that, as in all machine 

quilting, it is easier to make a short 

smooth curve than a long one. You 

may be surprised to also learn that 

it is easier to make a relatively small 

feather rather than a large one. On 

a small feather you have a shorter 

distance in which you must maintain 

control, while on a larger feather you 

can end up having to create a longer 

smooth curve, especially as you leave 

and approach the spine. The wider 

your design, the longer each teardrop 

will be. 

Tip: When sewing a curve, try 

to sew the entire curve without 

stopping. This usually creates a 


smoother curve. Whenever you stop while 

quilting, be sure to stop with your needle down. 

Before beginning to sew again, put the needle 

in the up position, make any small adjustment 

necessary to move the needle in the correct 

position, and start sewing slowly. Often when 

you stop sewing, it is because you are readjusting 

the quilt top and the needle can become 

misaligned with respect to the line or angle you 

are trying to achieve. This technique will help 

you create a smoother line. 

When making the feathers you can get into a 

rhythm. Start at the spine, come around the 

teardrop without stopping, reach the spine and if 

necessary rest momentarily, change directions to 

go back up. This breaks up the sewing into little 

chunks that you can do smoothly. This is not a 

race! Go slowly enough to maintain control, but 

keep moving so that you can maintain smooth 

lines. 

Batting choice will, as always, affect the look of 

your motif. Using a batting with some puff to it 

will make the feathers stand out nicely. All of the 

samples here were made using Hobbs Heirloom 

Wool batting. Choosing a matching thread will 

give you lots of texture, and hide any mistakes 

you might make. A contrasting thread will 

emphasize the lines of the feather. Try using different 

colored threads for the feathers versus the 

background fill for added dimension. 

The samples that I made specifically for this 

article are on solid or near solid fabrics. Why? 

Machine quilting of any kind will show up more 

on a solid fabric than a print. If you are going to 

the trouble to quilt feathers, plan your quilt so 

that the feathered areas have fabrics that will let 

you show off your newfound skills. 

13 

On a border you can make continuous feathers, 

or break up the space into diamonds, triangles, 

or rectangles. Breaking up the space gives you 

the opportunity to change the size or direction of 

the feathers. Just because a space is rectangular 

or square does not mean that your feathers have 

to completely fill that space. In Figure 12 you 

see how a straight spined feather looks when a 

rectangle has another shape drawn within it as a 

guideline for the teardrops. A natural variation in 

the size of the teardrops is produced by drawing 

the teardrops to fill these inner shapes, instead of 

the rectangle. 

Feather motifs can be successfully used on 

both traditional and art quilts. Figure 13 shows 

feathers in a simple pieced block. The feathers 

on the green fabric are on long stems in a rather 

narrow space. I used a light green silk thread, 

which makes the feathers stand out a little bit. 

The triangular orange space has a feather with 

two stems to gracefully fill the space. The feathers 

themselves are quilted using a light pink 

silk thread, then outlined once with Superior 

Thread’s BottomLine in orange. Figures 2, 14, 

15 and 16 show how feathers can be used in art 

quilts. In Figure 16 the spine of the feathers is 

the black, coral-like segment of the quilt. The 

feathers march up either side of the coral. I love 

to use feathers and feather variations in unexpected 

places on art quilts, or to fill hand dyed 

borders with movement. 

Once you are comfortable making basic feathers, 

you can use the same techniques to quilt other 

botanical designs. Fern designs and leafy fronds 

are close cousins of feathers. 

A leafy frond is made in the same order as a 

feather; first sew stem and top leaf, then leaves 

12: By drawing 

simple guidelines 

to follow within a 

rectangle, the shape 

of your feather can 

be dramatically 

changed. 13: Two 

feather variations 

on a traditional 

quilt. Note that 

the feather in the 

orange triangle has 

two spines, and has 

been outline quilted 

in a different thread 

color. 14: A feather 

and a leafy frond on 

the border of The 

Gathering. 


14

15 

17 

15: A variety of 

feather designs on 

Riot. 16: Feathers 

on the quilt Under 

the Rainbow. The 

black ‘coral’ serves 

as spines for the 

feathers. 

17: A leafy frond 

feather variation. 

18: A fern-like 

feather variation. 

16 

starting at the bottom of one side, going up, 

and finally sewing the other side. Variations 

to consider are making the leaves all the same 

size or varying sizes, having stems or not, and 

keeping the leaves symmetrical on both sides or 

asymmetrical. As with the feathers, the space 

you want to fill will determine the shape of your 

frond. Some examples can be seen in Figures 14, 

15, and 17. 

An easy fern design starts with marking a spine 

and the outline you would like to fill. Sew the 

spine as usual. Marking an angled reference 

line on either side of the fern can be helpful in 

keeping your fern symmetrical. Instead of kissing 

the spine and then going straight upwards, curve 

into it and then curve out. An example fern is 

shown in Figure 18. 

So now you know how to make feathers. But 

wait, there is more! There are countless examples 

of feathers on quilts in magazines, calendars, 

and on the internet. Take some time to look at 

those feathers and analyze the ones that you like. 

Are they skinny, or fat? Symmetrical or asymmetrical? 

Curved or straight? You can now create 

feathers in the style that appeals to you and fits 

your quilt. 


18

Environmentally-Friendly 

Quilts 

Ken Sanville Photographic Services, Inc . 

Quilts that encourage us to help make our 

planet a healthier, more beautiful place to live. 

Environmental concerns have led many 

quilters to create quilts that use only 

recycled or already owned materials and/ 

or to use their art to encourage the viewer to 

examine how they might make their own life 

more ‘green’. We have assembled four of these 

quilts, along with the artists’ statements describing 

why they chose to make these pieces and the 

messages they hope to convey with their artwork. 

Go Green—Piece By Piece 

54 × 41 inches 

© 2009 The Artful Quilters, Northern Colorado 

We challenged ourselves to make 12 inch squares 

that were interfaced, batted and backed, using 

the analogous color palette from yellow green 

to aqua green, and following a set of rules that 

were given to us one at a time per month. The 

rules for the challenge ranged from “Do not buy 

anything new for this piece” and “use a bit of 

Christmas trash in your square”, to “include a 


piece of sheer fabric and some text” and more. 

When the blocks were completed and machine 

quilted, they were cut into smaller pieces, rearranged 

and satin stitched together. The results 

are an example of the whole being greater than 

the sum of its parts. 

Go Green Piece by Piece has been donated to 

hang in the main office of the School for Global 

Environmental Responsibility (SOGES) on the 

Colorado State University campus. The Director 

of SOGES is Dr. Diana Wall, a leading scientist 

studying climate change impacts in Antarctica. 

She is there currently with her team, on her 20th 

annual expedition. 

The Vessel 


© 2009 Eleanor Levie, Doylestown, PA 

I find it fascinating that the anatomical muscle 

commonly known as the womb resembles nothing 

so much as a vase or vessel, with the fallopian 

tubes forming handles. Whether a ‘womb-man’ 

comes to hold new life or not, she is blooming 

glorious in holding the family together, and as 

the receptacle of loving memories. Women are 

collectors of treasures for sharing—cloth, thread, 

and mother-of-pearl; pots to hold nourishment 

for the body (food) and soul (flowers); and ideas 

for wisdom and growth. 

Women support men—as represented by the traditional 

bow-tie quilt top fragment. We are gatherers 

and nurturers, and we weave the diverse 

strands of life into a cohesive whole. We shall lead 

by example, teaching those who are still green to 

the ways and means of protecting Mother Earth. 

Biologically and ecologically, we hold the future 

of our green earth. 

The materials are cottons, ribbons, vintage quilt 

fragments and vintage buttons. The techniques 

used are cutwork, as learned from QSDS teacher 

Judy Hooworth, pin-weaving, fusible and raw 

edge appliqué, free-motion machine and minimal 

hand quilting. 

Rhapsody Watershed 


© 2009 Eileen Doughty, Vienna, VA 

I created three art quilts for the Studio Art Quilt 

Associates invitational exhibition, A Sense of 

Place II: Artists Working in Series. I chose to 

make pieces exploring issues of water pollution 

and erosion. Access to clean water is expected to 

become one of the critical issues of this century, 

even more important than access to energy 

resources. 


Rhapsody Watershed depicts the waste of 

rainwater in my suburban neighborhood, due 

to impermeable surfaces. Those surfaces are 

symbolized as holes filled with black netting, 

since the precipitation is lost to the normal water 

cycle. A gold thread spirals out of each house, 

down the driveway and street, and down the 

storm drain. Gold symbolizes the preciousness of 

clean water. The quilt is painted whole cloth and 

densely machine quilted. 

Hot and Exhausted 


© 2006 Patricia Anderson Turner 

Port Charlotte, FL 

Our planet is suffering from heat exhaustion. 

The planet earth in this piece is based on a 

EUMETSAT satellite image of earth’s air masses 

taken on September 4, 2006. 

Toy cars circle the planet representing our childlike 

oblivion to the consequences of burning 

fossil fuels. Our exhaust emissions are altering 

the very fabric of our atmosphere. 

Constructed with artist dyed cotton, felt, batting, 

and yarn on black dupioni silk. The earth image 

extends outward two inches and focuses on 

Europe and Africa. 


Art Studio 

1 

2 

3 

Quilting by the Slightly Obsessive 

© 2009 Nancy G. Cook 

People often ask me about my quilting 

process. There is no one answer, but 

techniques learned from the masters provide 

the tools for allowing the design and 

the quilting to be integrated. In planning 

the design I take into account where the 

quilting will show up and where it will 

play a subordinate role to focal points. 

(Photo 1, Before the Waxwings) 

Setting Up to Quilt 

A batting of wool and polyester blend is 

easy to work and does not retain creases 

if folded. On Ruth McDowell’s advice, 

I use a backing fabric of heavy weight 

decorator cotton, which reduces the 

likelihood of quilting in tucks on the 

backing. 

One of the challenges is for the finished 

wall quilt to lie straight and flat after 

quilting heavily in some areas and only 

outlining others. Step one is to square 

the backing and top layer with each 

other when preparing the quilt sandwich 

(top, batting and backing). Next 

I pin baste closely with long Japanese 

flower-head pins. I used to use bent 

safety pins but they killed my fingers. 

Sharp straight pins reduce stress on the 

hands. (Photo 2) 

I then hand baste in a three-inch grid 

of half-inch stitches, using silk thread 

and a fine needle. Silk slides easily 

through the layers, reduces stress on 

the hands and speeds along. I learned 

the importance of fine basting from 

Cherilyn Martin. I remove the pins 

as I baste. Hand basting may seem 

redundant, but it helps to secure the 

sandwich throughout the quilting 

process. (Photo 3) 

Selecting Threads— 

A Joy, Two Ways 

The fun begins with selecting the quilting 

threads. An analysis of what will set 

off the design helps guide the selections. 

Does the design need to be warmer, 

cooler, more definition, softer? While 

the quilting is important, I use threads 

that blend with background or design 

elements, rather than creating strong 

contrasts. I love variegated threads 

that have little value changes. They are 

hard to find, but worth looking for. The 

first selection will be modified during 

quilting. Thread becomes my paint for 

the details. I love the King Tut Tone on 

Tone, YLI Machine quilting, Mettler silkfinish 

multi, some Sulky Blendables, 

and Oliver Twist. I recently used the 

variegated YLI silk thread and loved it. 

I will add more of these to my thread 

stash. Invariably I find that I need to 

purchase a new thread—or two—or 

three. Oh joy! (Photo 4) 

Setting up the Machine for 

Quilting 

On the advice of Linda Fiedler and Libby 

Lehman, I purchased a single needle 

soleplate for the sewing machine. It gives 

a much nicer stitch for both straight 

stitching and free-motion stitching. I use 

the single needle soleplate, an embroidery 

sewing machine needle that allows 

me to change threads easily, and I clean 

out and oil the machine before beginning. 

Before quilting, I double-check 

the thread balance on a sample quilt 

sandwich. I use an open-toed embroidery 

foot and the built-in walking foot on 

my old 1473 Pfaff. Feed dogs are UP and 


engaged throughout and the needle is 

down. The open foot allows me complete 

visibility of where the needle will go. I 

get a better stitch quality when the feed 

dogs are engaged. Straight stitching can 

be tedious, but I prefer the stitch quality. 

Years ago, my husband created a sewing 

table for me that the machine drops 

into and has a large sewing surface to 

take the drag out of quilting. It makes a 

world of difference. (Photo 5) 

Quilting and Chocolate 

In order to anchor the sandwich, the first 

stitches closely follow the outline of the 

design along the longest lines first. This 

is all straight stitching and a bit slow. 

The needle down position is essential to 

create nice lines when the quilt needs 

repositioning. I remove basting threads 

about one inch at a time as I get to them. 

Inside areas may need a pin or two after 

basting threads are removed. (Photo 6) 

After outlining the design elements, 

thread painting adds emphasis and 

details. Once the outlining and the thread 

painting are completed, the echo quilting 

begins. The quilting on Hawaiian quilts 

fascinates me, so I use echo quilting to 

emphasize the negative spaces (the spaces 

around the designs). I love the rhythm 

and textural patterns that build up. 

The first round of quilting is the most 

difficult and time consuming, requiring 

lots of turning of the sandwich and 

short stitching lines to fill in initial 

details. I stretch the area to be stitched 

flat between my hands as it goes under 

the needle. After about three to four 

rounds, the quilting line gets smoother 

and goes faster. (Photo 7) 

The first several quilting rounds are 

tedious and a piece of chocolate provides 

strength for the next round. I finish by 

quilting the small isolated areas of the 

background. Again, chocolate comes to 

the rescue. The quilt seems totally different 

when the quilting is finished. This 

is why I quilt rather than paint. 


4 

5 

6

7 9 

8 

I complete any details with hand 

embroidery, using DMC cotton embroidery 

floss. (Photo 8) 

Blocking 

The final step to creating a flat wall 

piece is blocking. I block on a portable, 

padded blocking board, using Japanese 

flower pins to pin the piece flat while 

stretching it tightly to remove wrinkles 

and lumps. Once pinned, I steam the 

piece thoroughly and gently. I wet and 

wring out a muslin press cloth and 

place over the pinned quill. With the 

iron set for steaming, I gradually move 

the iron just above the surface, driving 

the steam into the quilt without overly 

flattening it. Eventually the press cloth 

is thoroughly dry and the steaming is 

complete. It may take a couple of days 

for it to complete drying. Once dry, it 

is perfectly flat with nicely raised nonquilted 

areas. (Photo 9) 

Southern Hospitality 

Reclamation 


Sand Storm over the White Desert 

© 2009 Jenny Bowker 

Garran, Australia 

97 × 81½ inches 

Egypt’s White Desert is five and a half hours drive from Cairo and must be 

one of the most beautiful places on earth. Magdy Badrmany is a good friend 

and guide to the desert. He drives, sets up camp, cooks fantastic meals and 

becomes a friend to his passengers. One day as we were setting up camp a 

dust storm was blowing in on the horizon. It gathered low and dark, and as 

it shadowed the desert colors changed and silvered in the strange light. 

I have been working on a series of Egyptian men who work with competence 

at what they do, eking out a sometimes difficult existence with pride. I 

admire the way Magdy, a Bedouin with great knowledge of his area, will not 

be pushed into doing things he feels are not safe, or not good for his beloved 

desert—even by VIPs. 

My two Bernina sewing machines, the Aurora 440 and the new 820, were 

used to construct and quilt Sand Storm over the White Desert. It is quilted 

predominantly with both polyester and cotton Superior and Mettler threads. 

Fabrics which were hand dyed or hand painted, as well as some commercial 

cotton prints, are included in the quilt. 

Visit Jenny’s website www.jennybowker.com 

for more information about 

her work. 

Photography by David Paterson 

Jaw Dropper 


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Above: A Tisket A Tasket, pieced by Susan Cake. Top Right: A Tisket 

A Tasket detail. Bott om Right: behind Lisa, Hula Hibicus. 

40 Machine Quilting Unlimited | November 2010 

Lisa Calle 

A New Generation Quilter 

Lisa Calle lives in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, with 

her husband, Jon, and their three sons. This is 

the story of how machine quilting came to be an 

integral part of her life. 

G rowing 

© 2010 

Photography © Gregory Case Photography 

up, I used to watch my mother 

needlepoint and knit. I loved to hear the clickclack 

of the knitting needles. She was not a sewist 

and rarely used her Singer sewing machine. 

When I was about 15, I decided I wanted to make 

a jersey knit dress. I remember her saying “Are 

you sure?” I dove in and soon realized that it was 

a lot harder than it looked. My mom and I forged 

ahead and we did fi nally produce a dress that 

I wore once. After that, I stuck to knitting and 

needlepoint. 

My fi rst year of college was spent at the Fashion 

Institute of Technology in New York, and I 

watched my poor roommate sew on her machine 

every night, trying to fi nish one garment or 

another for class. I heard a lot of words I cannot 

repeat and there was a great deal of ripping out 

and redoing. I wondered why anyone would put 

themselves through such torture, and I was sure that 

I would never own a sewing machine. After transferring 

to the Philadelphia College of Textiles and 

Science and graduating with a degree in Textile 

Management and Marketing, I had no idea 

what I was going to do for a living; I just knew 

it would not involve a sewing machine! 

I worked for the Limited Corp. at Bath and Body 

Works as a district manager in Colorado until 

1998, when I decided to stay at home with my 

fi rst son, Brandon. Childbirth must have fried 

my brain because I went out and purchased a 

sewing machine. I needed something to do 

if I was going to stay at home, so I signed 

up for a class on quilting at the local shop 

www.mqumag.com v 800.910.1925 v info@mgumag.com 

Vol. XV No. 6 

Lisa Calle 

A New 

Generation 

Quilter 

Echoes From the Past— 

Quilting Appliqué Quilts 

America Celebrates! 

Traveling Exhibit 

Planning Trapunto Designs 

In the Art Studio 

with Lenore Crawford 

November 2010 

November 2010 | Machine Quilting Unlimited 41

Machine Quilting Unlimited - Special Edition - Winter 2011

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