Hi everyone, it’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for an other newsletter. Thanks to those readers who have welcomed me back – it’s sure nice to go on vacation, but extra special to come home again.

I’ve had a busy week this week. The Quilters Guild that I belong to have decided to embark on a program to encourage younger quilters into the craft. We have realized that these people are the quilters that will be driving our Guilds in the future, so we must invest now.

To that end we have decided to introduce a “schools program” where we bring Quilting to the school and basically do a show and tell and then offer any interested students the opportunity to make a “quilt” for themselves, with our input and feedback. So I’ve been busy designing the project and tomorrow I’m off to buy the fabric and get things ready to have a “kit” day where we’ll all pitch in and make some 50 kits. We are getting so much positive feedback from the schools – and others are hearing about what we’re doing so I’m guessing we might be building a reasonably large interest group.

Our Guild has a Quilt Show every October and our sponsors are very generous with the prizes. We have a section that caters for students to a certain age, adolescent group quilt categories and so on. It’s always a pleasure to bring the idea of playing with fabric to people that have not yet been exposed to the idea. I love that “light bulb moment” you see on some faces.

I’m hoping I will be able to create a few “light bulb moments”on my reader’s faces with the two part series I’m posting on the BellaOnline Quilting website. I’m talking about making bias bindings. The first article that I posted last Sunday is about the various types of bindings one makes in quilting, and the types of bias bars that are available.

The second part to this topic will be posted next Sunday and it will include all the instructions for making bias binding using a bias bar. I have, on a number of occasions recently, been stunned to hear quilters say that they have a bias bar, but don’t have a clue how to use it!! So here’s the info – in all its glory for you to absorb and then put into practice.

Here’s the link to the latest article on Making bias binding - Types of Bias Bars. There are different types of bias binding and different methods of making them. Each different bias gives a different look and texture. This article looks at bias made using the Bias Bar.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art23674.asp

Don’t forget to check back next Sunday for the final installment on that topic.

I recently posted a forum subject on keeping records of your quilts and to today there has been 128 people have a look see, but only two replies – come on readers, the forum is there for you to share your thoughts and ideas. If you have any questions about anything to do with quilting, don’t hesitate to go onto the forum and post your inquiry. I’d love to hear from you.

Here’s the link to the Quilting forum - http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=43


My little gift to you today is a couple of lovely quotes that crossed my path recently and I’d love to share it with you all –
Quirky Quotes:
“It requires as much ingenuity to adapt a design as to invent one, and the needle worker who can adapt a pattern from another source is half way along the road to being a successful designer.” Ernest Thesiger
"Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by orginality, overcomes everything."
George Lois
"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better." John Updike

Well, I'll say my goodbyes to you for now, I look forward to hearing from you over the next week.
Cheerio for now, and have fun quilting


Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com