Click to play.

And your next stop: 

If you’ve already started a hexagon quilt or Grandmother’s Flower Garden (GFG) with English Paper Piecing (EPP), we think Inklingo will turn everything on its head.

Don’t despair. Your EPP GFG does not have to be a UFO. There is help in the archives. Type “rescue me” in the Search box at the top (above the header) or click here.

Print, cut, sew. It’s that simple. 

Skip the tedious steps and have more fun sewing. We think you’ll agree that Inklingo is the quilting tool we’ve always wanted. 

This video and the Design Book are things I have wanted to do for a long time. If you would like to put the video on your web site or blog, you can. Copy the “embed code” from this link.

I hope you like the Design Book and video. Comments or suggestions?

Linda & Monkey

PS  If you’re looking for something else, the Search feature up there (above the header) will help you find it in the archives. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please let me know.

Some of the Clamshell Club quilters are using English Paper Piecing, some are using appliqué, but some are using Inklingo to print the shapes on fabric with an ordinary Inkjet printer. Inklingoists cut on the lines with a rotary cutter or scissors and hand piece with a running stitch, or machine piece.

Cathi posted about her progress today. She has started TWO Clamshell quilts, one in each Inklingo size.

It doesn’t sound like much, but there is a big difference between 3.0 inch Clamshells and 3.5 inch Clamshells!

Inklingo is the fastest, easiest, most precise way to prepare Clamshell shapes.

  (Click for a larger view)

Print several Clamshells at a time. . ..

  (Click for a larger view)

 . . or print one at a time, for a charm quilt.

You can even fussy cut with Inklingo.  (Previous blog entry:  Go to Search at the top of this page to gather all of the messages about “clamshell” or “fussy cut” on one page.”  Handy, eh?)

The Clamshell shape collections include tips for stitching curves by hand or by machine. Click on the page for a larger view, which you can print.

If you haven’t tried Inklingo yet, you can print your first shapes in the next few minutes with the free Inklingo Shape Collection. It includes diamonds, triangles, and squares for LeMoyne Star, flying geese, Sawtooth Squares, Hourglass Squares, etc. The Quick Start Guide is a good place to start.

MONKEY REMINDS YOU! The introductory price on the 3.5 inch Clamshells ends at midnight on July 1.  ($12 instead of $15)

We’ll be back next month with more Clamshell news. (Maybe partial Clamshell shapes and Clamshell sashing?) In the meantime, I hope you are as happy as clams at high tide!

Linda & Monkey

PS Looking for something else? Why not use the Search feature or the Index at the top of this page.

One of the 20 Inklingo colors will show on the wrong side of most fabrics. 

Printing a small test page (above) will help you decide which page/color to use on any particular fabric. 

A black batik might be one of the most difficult fabrics to print, but color 05, 35, or 46 may show well enough, especially if you print with a photo setting (below). 

The test procedure is described in the first chapter of The Inklingo Handbook, “Printing with Inklingo.”  That chapter is included in the FREE Inklingo shape collection. 

WISE BUYS  Always look at the wrong side of a dark fabric before you buy.  If you have a choice among several suitable darks, choose the one that will be the easiest to print. Many very dark fabrics are light on the wrong side, so Inklingo ink colors show easily. 

Even before Inklingo, I always checked the wrong side of a fabric to make sure it could be marked with a pencil, just in case I wanted use it for hand piecing instead of machine piecing. It is amazing how many deep, dark fabrics are light on the wrong side. 

GOOD EYESIGHT  You may be able to see a faint line if you use good lighting, sew with the lighter fabric facing you, and wear reading glasses, like Monkey. 

PRINT WITH “BEST” SETTING  If an Inklingo color shows almost well enough, try printing on the “photo” or “best” setting in the print dialog box. It lays down a little more ink. (Otherwise, I prefer to use the “normal” or “everyday” setting.) 

ONLY PRINT THE LIGHT FABRICS  As strange as this sounds, this is a really smart way to use Inklingo. Often, you don’t need to print all of the shapes. 

In many cases, only one of two or more fabrics is printed with Inklingo.
Minimal printing saves even more time!

DOUBLE WEDDING RING (DWR)

There are many examples with triangles and other shapes, but one of my favs is Inklingo Double Wedding Ring. If you are sewing the arcs by machine, you don’t need stitching lines on every arc piece. Print one fabric. Choose one that is easy to print, like this yellow (not the darkest fabric).

Layer the printed sheet with 3 or more unprinted fabrics, and cut on the solid lines with a rotary cutter. No measuring. No templates. Perfect angles. Perfect curves. The printed layer of fabric is like a template—which you use in the quilt! The unprinted fabric can be as dark as you like. The unprinted fabric can even be scraps, or fabric that has already been strip pieced. 

This Inklingo method is called “Layer to Cut” and it works for all kinds of shapes. It is described in The Inklingo Handbook (pages 60-61 and 70-71), using Half Rectangle Triangles (HRT) as an example. 

HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES (HST)

Here is another example. Only some of the triangles are printed for Half Square Triangles (HST). The second fabric can be as dark as you like, because you are not going to print it anyway. 

For HST, we only print one of the two fabrics, layer the printed fabric with an unprinted fabric, and stitch on the lines before we cut the triangles apart. This is called “Stitch and Cut” in The Inklingo Handbook and is also illustrated in the FREE Triangle Tips PDF on the web site. There is video in this earlier blog entry. 

Flying Geese require just one of two fabrics to be printed, so you don’t need to print the dark one. This is illustrated in an earlier blog entry too.   

TRADITIONAL MARKERS  If you require the stitching line to be marked on the dark patches (for example, for hand piecing), and none of the 20 Inklingo colors show well enough, you can print the Inklingo templates without seam allowance onto freezer paper and mark the seam lines with a white pencil or other traditional marker. If you buy wisely, this will rarely be necessary. 

Hand piecing with freezer paper templates is described in detail in my Quilted Diamonds books. (There is also an excellent DVD lesson with Jane Austen’s Writing Table Quilts at a ridiculously low price right now.) Some quilters who would like a portable project—but don’t like all the prep—are enjoying hand piecing now because Inklingo makes it so easy to get everything ready. 

If you haven’t tried Inklingo yet, you can print your first sheet of fabric in the next few minutes with the free shape collection. Start here. 

ENTER TO WIN  Remember that if you listen to our chat with Pat on the Creative Talk Radio Show and leave a comment on Pat Sloan’s blog by Friday, you could win a prize. (Details in this previous message.) 

Monkey and I love getting questions like this. Do you have one? 

Thank you for visiting again today. 

Linda & Monkey 

PS The sale prices on the 5 new Storm At Sea shape collections end today.

This is a fun challenge from a wonderful group of quilters in Australia. Gail Chalker and four friends are collecting hexagon flowers from all over the world to assemble into what will be the World’s Biggest Hexagon Quilt. They expect to get into the Guinness Book of Records AND, even better, the end result will be made into smaller quilts and distributed to nursing homes in Australia. ”It was a plan to promote the happiness of all.” (Emma, Ch. 53)

I loved the idea but I wanted to make sure that the rosettes did not have to be whip-stitched (something I do NOT enjoy), so I wrote to Gail Chalker, the intrepid organizer of this ambitious challenge. Yes! They would welcome our Inklingo rosettes, sewn with a running stitch. Hooray! 

Let’s do it! One-inch hexagons with a running stitch. Lots and lots and lots. From Inklingoists all over the world!

1. Rosettes must be RECEIVED in Australia by December 1st, so if you are mailing from Canada, the USA or Europe, please mail by November 15th, just to be on the safe side.

The Greatest Hexagon Challenge
60 East St
Gatton Queensland 4343
AUSTRALIA

It is so fast and easy to make rosettes with Inklingo that you can make a goodly number before the deadline. I promise to send at least five.

2. The more the better!  For every rosette you send, you are entered in a draw for a fabric bundle, so send as many rosettes as you can.

3. The complete directions for the rosettes are at this link http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2273.asp

Rosette 1 or Rosette 2 or Both!

Rosette 1 has two rounds.  All the centers are green, and Round 2 is cream, but Round 1 can be anything you like, so you can fussy cut, or make every hexagon different, or be as creative as you like, as long as the center is green.

If you print your one-inch hexagons with Inklingo #1, use the suggested Custom Sizes in the Catalogue of shapes.

Inklingo Shape Collection # 1

With layout 1, you can print 6 hexagons on a scrap 5.75 x 7.5 inches (landscape mode), or 12 hexagons on a scrap 7.5 x 11 inches (portrait).

Of course, if you enjoy whip-stitching and English Paper Piecing, the hexagons without seam allowances in Inklingo are perfect for preparing paper or freezer paper templates. Print one sheet of paper, layer with several others, and cut with a rotary cutter. If you like a thicker template, iron two sheets of freezer paper together before cutting. Voilà! Hundreds of templates in a flash.

There are complete instructions in Inklingo Shape Collection # 1, including pressing, and there is more information about Inklingo Hexagons on the web site.

Please let me know if you are sending rosettes. It would be very nice if you tell Gail that you are an Inklingoist. We hope there will be hundreds and hundreds of Inklingo rosettes from all over the world. 

Please tell all your friends, and be sure to visit this page to see all the details Gail has provided, and the rest of the story.

Thank you very much for visiting.

Linda & Monkey

The cool thing is that with Inklingo there is no measuring to cut the triangles (just cut on the printed line), no weird tools, and no paper to pick off after stitching.  I think you will love machine piecing the Inklingo way!

Tilde tells me that this little Inklingo tip will be useful for the next few Inklingo Sampler blocks with triangles too.  This method is illustrated in the free PDF of  Triangle Tips on inklingo.com (16 pages) and in The Inklingo Handbook. 

We are having beautiful, sunny, crisp October weather in Burlington.  I can see a cascade of bright blue morning glories and pots of deep red mums  from where I sit at the computer.  The leaves are just beginning to change color.  I am looking forward to our first wood fire of the season and some time to stitch a few triangles this weekend.

Thank you for visiting the blog. Stay tuned this weekend for at least one new Inklingo collection too.  (Wish me luck!)

Linda & Monkey

Rotary cutting with Inklingo is precise, simple, and fast compared to traditional methods, so we thought it would be a good thing to illustrate with our new monkey-sized camera.

Monkey appears for a nanosecond in this one, but you can only see my hands because I filmed this wearing a TINY camera on my forehead. I look totally ridiculous with a third eye (five if you count the reading glasses), but we think the subject matter is clear.  I am learning this technique in order to give you the same view that I have when I am cutting or sewing with Inklingo.

If you like this little video, we will do more, so that by the time we reach the second anniversary of the downloads, there will be a whole collection of Inklingo videos for you to share.

Maybe some day we will even let you see what we look like wearing the foreheadcam.  Maybe.  Monkey did not say a word.  (We all need friends like Monkey.)

Monkey and I enjoy your comments and suggestions, here and in the Yahoo group. Please keep writing!  Thank you for visiting us here.

Linda & Monkey