Nancy wrote:  “I love the new patterns, but mainly scrap quilt, using lots of different fabrics, so, is there a way to get the templates & do all this, without having to print it on the fabric?”

There are two answers to this. (We like # 2.)

1. TEMPLATES  Yes, every Inklingo shape collection also includes the shapes to print on freezer paper without seam allowances to use as templates, but it would be very slow to prepare the fabric that way when you could be printing with Inklingo. 

2. PRINT WITH INKLINGO  Inklingo is the best way to use up your scraps! We love scraps. Printing the shapes on scraps with Inklingo is GREAT! 

Some quilters don’t realize how well Inklingo works for scrappy quilts, so Monkey and I have prepared an example.

This worksheet is provided in each Clamshell Pickle Shape Collection. 

• 11 inch blocks = 88 x 88 inches
•  9 inch blocks  = 72 x 72 inches
•  6 inch blocks  =  48 x 48 inches

Counting the pieces can be confusing, but it is manageable if you cut up a copy of the worksheet.

• Make a copy of the worksheet.
• Put the original in a safe place. Do not cut it up.
• Cut the copy of the worksheet into blocks.
• Sort the blocks into identical piles, like this.

With a pencil, write the number of each block, and the number of each shape in each fabric, on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet.

Wow!  I need more than a thousand—1416 of Tri A, to be exact!
(8 x 11 = 88,  plus 112 x 11 = 1232, plus 8 x 6 = 48, plus 8 x 6 = 48 )

If I want the triangles to be printed on scraps of 100 different fabrics, I would need 14 or 15 from each fabric. If I was using the 11 inch collection, I would print 100 sheets, each 6.75 x 7 inches. It uses very little ink, and I would reuse the freezer paper at least 10 times, maybe 20.

Every shape collection includes Suggested Custom Page Sizes in the Catalogue of Shapes, like this:

Write the custom sizes on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet. It will keep you organized when you are cutting the freezer paper. Use the suggested custom page sizes in the Catalogue of Shapes in each collection—or make up your own!

I can print 1500 triangles in an afternoon. Most of the time would be spent choosing the 100 fabrics!

BUT WAIT!  THERE’S MORE!

CONTROLLED SCRAPPY?  Every arc is different but the triangles in each arc are the same. This has possibilities! There is variety, but it is not truly scrappy.  In this example, based on the cut up worksheet, I would need 112 different fabrics for the body of the quilt and another 24 different fabrics in the partial blocks around the edges of the quilt. 

136 different fabrics, 136 sheets through the printer. Zip zip! Then I just need to print the centers and the other triangles. No measuring, no templates!

COMBO LAYOUTS  The other triangles can be scrappy too, of course, and they are fast to print in the COMBO layouts. (There are two different white triangles in this example.)

CHARMS AND JELLY ROLLS  You can also use charms and jelly rolls. There is a message about printing hexagons on jelly rolls in the blog archives. It works for these shapes too.

5 x 5 inch charm packs are charming. Resistance is futile.

FUSSY CUT  Cathi of Quilt Obsession is fussy cutting her “Pickled Ladies” and there are tips for fussy cutting with Inklingo in the archives too.

See the previous message too. Whatever you decide, I know you will have fun with your Clamshell Pickles!

Linda & Monkey

PS  The web site and the blog were moved to a beautiful new server on the Labor Day Weekend. We think everyone who subscribes to the blog will be receiving the usual notifications whenever a new message is posted.

SEARCH!  There is a search box at the very top. If you don’t find what you want in the archives, let me know. What would you like to see on the blog?

Tilde predicted that Inklingo would change quilting forever, and she is making it happen.

We met online many years ago (10?) and in person in Indiana. I wish she lived closer to us. 

Tilde is an ordained pastor in the Danish church, a scholar, a professor of ancient languages (עברית) at the university, a talented quilter, wife, mother of two teenagers, and a loyal freind—among other things. She has great intelligence, but there is one thing she does not understand: why some quilters are not as creative with Inklingo shapes as she is. 

The Inklingo Sampler Blog was Tilde’s idea. She set out to teach quilters how to use Inklingo for traditional blocks, so they would learn how to adapt any pattern for Inklingo. The first message was July 1st, 2009.

There is variety in the sampler blocks, and no one knows how the finished quilt will look. This is consistent with Tilde’s confidence in Intuitive Creativity.

The Inklingo Sampler Blog has many photos and some very cool features. There are labels for each shape collection in the right side bar, so you can find blocks you can make with the Inklingo shape collections you have (including the free Inklingo Shape Collection).

A few of the blocks Tilde has featured are
   LeMoyne Star
   Friendship Star
   Ohio Star
   Dove at the Window
   Dutchman’s Puzzle
   Evening Star 
   Rolling Star
   Double T (T is for Tilde)
   Bow Tie
   X-quisite
   Spools
   Nearly Insane

and many more, including hexagon blocks!

Makes you think, doesn’t it? (Tilde often has that effect on me, too.)

Ask for it!

If there is a block you would like to see featured, leave a comment on the Inklingo Sampler Blog. Tilde will do her best.

Free Triangle Tips

Many of Tilde’s sampler blocks use triangles. The free Inklingo Triangle Tips PDF (under the Machine Piecing tab on inklingo.com) will help you determine whether you need HST (half square triangles) or QST (quarter square triangles).
Hint: The only difference is the straight grain.

Print Custom Page Sizes

Tilde gives you info for one block, so you can use small scraps. If some shapes fit on a scrap only 2.75 x 4.5 inches, your Inkjet cannot print that small. It probably requires a minimum of 3 x 5.

Luckily, you can cut the freezer paper 3 x 5 (or larger) and iron a fabric scrap to it. There are tips like this in the first chapter of The Inklingo Handbook. “Printing with Inklingo” is included with the free shape collection.

6.75 x 7 for 16 QST

Custom page sizes are easy to print, but most of us have no reason to do it except for Inklingo, so there is a quick lesson to show you how to enter the size in the Print Dialog box.

Where did we put that lesson? Under the Support tab, of course, with a long list of other good things, including video.

The Catalogue of Shapes

If you would like to make several of one of Tilde’s blocks, the information in the Catalogue of Shapes in each shape collection tells you the yardage and suggested custom page sizes.

Everything is there for you, so some very basic arithmetic shows how much fabric you need.

Monkey’s Cheat Sheet

Monkey created a simple chart to keep us organized (also ‘hidden’ under the Support tab). 

Tilde created her own variation, like the one for Old Maid’s Puzzle.

Index of Shapes

If you would like to be a designer like Tilde, the Inklingo Index of Shapes should keep you inspired. (Guess where we put it.)

Tilde’s Advice?

Download the free stuff and start inklingoing!

Tilde has written two Inklingo patterns so far for the Passacaglia Quilt and for Tilde’s Tiny Totes—and she gives them to you free.

Tilde also created the Inklingo Projects Blog in January 2009 and has her own blog too.

What more can we do to encourage you?

This is for you:  Quick Start  Please share it with your freinds too. “It was a plan to promote the happiness of all.” (Emma, Ch 53)

Thank you for visting!

Linda & Monkey

PS Tilde and I are both longtime admirers of Jane Austen, who was not a great speller. Hence “freinds.”

Do you want to be rich and famous?

 a long time ago, a new tool called The Rotary Cutter was introduced. Poor, struggling pattern designers used new sewing methods to make their quilts faster and easier to sew. They became rich and famous. A big industry grew up, and more and more people made quilts. Many happy hours were spent making friends and making quilts. It was a good thing.

Eventually, there were so many pattern designers that it was hard for all of them to make enough money to keep fabric on the cutting table. Becoming rich and famous was hard.

Then a new tool was invented, called Inklingo.

This new tool printed the cutting and stitching lines on fabric with any ordinary Inkjet printer. It changed everything.

A talented designer discovered that although there is a patent pending on the Inklingo method, anyone could write a pattern that uses it! Inklingo made quilting better for quilters and pattern designers.

The designer was one of the first to find the free Inklingo Design Books, like the ones for Double Wedding Ring, Storm At Sea, Dresden Plate, and Winding Ways. She ordered and downloaded them all! It was inspiring.

She designed a Winding Ways Quilt with 9 inch blocks (better than this one).  The worksheets in the design book gave her a head start, but she added her own unique sense of color and design. It was stunning and she knew that other quilters would want to make her design too.

She saved the original worksheet, and made a copy to cut apart. . .

to count the shapes from each fabric.

Everything she needed to know about Winding Ways 9 inch shapes had been given to her in the Inklingo Catalogue of Shapes. She only needed a bit of simple arithmetic to find out how much fabric she needed.

She wrote everything down on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet. She could have left it that way, but everything was so fast and easy, she even had time to make her own unique Cheat Sheet. (She is a very creative person after all.)

She reviewed the illustrated instructions in the free Inklingo Winding Ways Design Book, and decided they were good for hand or machine piecers. Her instructions were written for her! Her pattern only required minimal notes and a suggestion that quilters get the free design book too. 

She knew that all the rich and famous designers offer something for free, and she knew that would be a good way to make a name. She felt she could offer this pattern for free (or at a lower price), if she did not spend a lot of time writing and illustrating the instructions. She was in a hurry for more quilters to know about her amazing designs, so they would want the next ones.

She sewed her gorgeous design in less time than she could have with any method other than Inklingo, and she was proud of her perfect workwomanship, also thanks to Inklingo. She took a picture of her quilt and it looked beautiful.

The list of requirements in her pattern included the Winding Ways 9.0 inch Shape Collection (which she bought from the inventor to sell), in the same way pre-Inklingo patterns required a ruler, acrylic template, marker, or other tool.

Quilters were delighted to get such a great pattern for free (or at a good price), and especially grateful to the designer for introducing them to a fabulous tool like Inklingo. Even quilters who did not use a rotary cutter could see that this designer’s patterns were fun for them.

Quilters used Inklingo to print the cutting and stitching lines on the fabric. It was simple!

Magazine editors (who are always looking for something new and exciting) saw her pattern and loved it, of course. Soon she was designing for Inklingo quilters (inklingoists) who read magazines!

With this designer’s pattern and Inklingo, the Winding Ways quilt  was not only beautiful and impressive, it was
   • simple to prepare the shapes
          (no measuring, no templates, no tracing, perfect straight grain)
   • fast to cut with a rotary cutter OR scissors
   • easy to sew, with stitching lines and matching marks on the fabric
Everyone was thrilled.

Quilters all over the world got precise results, so they were happy. They finished their quilts faster and wanted to make more. Each quilter was glad that she used the talented designer’s Inklingoable pattern. Soon the designer had more wonderful patterns for sale and was not struggling any more. 

The designer found inspiration in the Inklingo Index of Shapes for many years. She did not have to limit herself to so-called easy designs because Inklingo made everything so simple and precise for her and her customers. She became rich and famous too.

Applause. Smiles all around. And they all lived happily ever after.

The end. 

Would you like to be the heroine of this story, or do you know a talented designer who should be? (Pass it on!)

If you haven’t tried Inklingo yet, start here. You could print your first shapes in the next few minutes.

Thank you for visiting.

Linda & Monkey

Yesterday on Creative Talk Radio with Pat Sloan, I mentioned Alabama Beauty. It is one of the uncommon, beautiful blocks that can be made with the Inklingo Deluxe Orange Peel shape collection.

Inklingo allows you to print the cutting and stitching lines on the wrong side of the fabric, so the preparation is fast. You can amaze everyone with this lovely block. You don’t have to tell them how precise, simple, and fast it is to piece it with Inklingo. (But we hope you will!) No measuring. No templates. No manual marking.

Cathi of Quilt Obsession is sewing a wonderful scrappy version with Inklingo. Her approach emphasizes the secondary design of circles when Alabama Beauty blocks are set together.

Orange Peel and Alabama Beauty are easier with Inklingo than with any other method, but there are pages of detailed instructions for sewing the curves in the Inklingo shape collection. The curves are easy to piece by machine, but this also makes a great portable project, if you like to sew by hand. You can also combine hand and machine in the same quilt—an Inklingo “hybrid.”

Cathi’s quilt is a pretty example of a scrappy approach. You can see more photos on her blog too. 

A controled approach to color creates other secondary designs.

Notice the amount of blue in each of these individual blocks.

Like most quilts, the distribution of color and light/medium/dark values makes a big difference.

I could go on and on!

Which one do you like best?

Use the worksheets in the Inklingo Orange Peel Deluxe shape collection to plan your own variation, and Monkey’s Cheat Sheet to summarize the shapes you need from each fabric.

I am going to try to send a new message every day until I answer all the questions from  Creative Talk Radio.

The radio show with Pat was really fun, so I hope you will listen. You can download the show, save it on your computer or player, and listen while you quilt, while you do computer work, in the car, anywhere you happen to be. Monkey and I are on for the last 30 minutes of the hour.

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.

Remember that if you listen to the show and leave a comment on Pat Sloan’s blog by Friday, you could win a prize. (Details in the previous message.)

See you tomorrow?  Thanks for visiting today.

Linda & Monkey

Do you have the March April Issue of McCall’s Quilting? As usual, it is full of inspiration for Inklingo quilters.   

When Inklingoist Tilde Binger in Copenhagen received her copy in the mail, she immediately identified several patterns which use Inklingo shapes, and she wrote to the Inklingo Yahoo group about it.   

Inklingoable Patterns!

It is easy “to inklingo” any pattern that uses the same shapes and sizes. These tips will point you in the right direction. If you don’t have the magazine, you need to rush out and buy it! If you can’t find it locally, get a back issue from McCall’s web site. Issues of  McCall’s usually include several Inklingoable designs, so you should consider subscribing (no affiliation).   

The designers have used wonderful color palettes and the photography is great. Not only that, but there is more info on the McCall’s web site for each quilt, and KITS are offered so you can make the quilts with the fabrics in the photos. How cool is that?   

Colonial Star
(pages 30-32) and online at http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Colonial_Stars with a “web bonus” (Check it out!)  

The eight-pointed stars in this quilt are commonly called Sawtooth Stars or Evening Stars. They are made with Flying Geese.

Inklingo Flying Geese require less fabric than the method in the magazine. The yardage is easy to calculate using the magazine, the suggested cutting layouts in the Inklingo Catalogue of Shapes, and Monkey’s Cheat Sheet.   

Step 1

 1. Cut one square (unprinted, 4.75 in);  print 8 triangles (1.75 in HST, 5.75 x 6); and cut into squares for each set of 4 Flying Geese.  (Dimensions are provided in the Inklingo Catalogue of Shapes for HST in every Inklingo collection, so you don’t have to do any math.) 

2. Stitch

3. Cut

4. Press

5. Stitch

6. Cut

7. Press

No measuring, no drawing lines on fabric, no weird rulers, no paper to pick off, no waste! Flying Geese with Inklingo are faster and more precise than any other method.

The Inklingo method makes 4 identical Flying Geese units at a time, and that is exactly what you need for each star in this quilt. There are detailed, illustrated instructions in The Inklingo Handbook (pages 66-67), and in the Inklingo Triangle Tips (free PDF under the Machine Piecing tab on the web site).  

This pattern also uses 1.75 inch HST (half square triangles) in Sawtooth Squares and 3.5 inch Inklingo QST (quarter square triangles). See the Triangle Tips PDF for illustrated instructions for those too.  

Chimayo Dinner Party
(pages 48-51) and online http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Chimayo_Dinner_Party     

This is a Dresden Plate design in great contemporary fabrics. See the notes on pages 46-47 about using wild prints. There is also more on Virginia Robertson’s web site.

With Inklingo, you can skip all of the tracing and templates and use the Inklingo Dresden Plate Appliqué Collection.  It includes the blades with folded points and several other blades to mix and match.   

The instructions for folded blades are in the Dresden Plate Design Book—74 pages, also FREE from Inklingo! 

Notice that the blocks in the magazine finish at 10 inches. You can use the Inklingo folded blades on a 10 inch background (11 inches unfinished). 

However, if you print the backgrounds with Inklingo (optional), the blocks finish at 9 inches. If want your quilt to be exactly the same size as the one in the magazine, you will need to add a row of blocks on one side and on the bottom edge. That means making more blocks, but if you do, the quilt will have an odd number of rows in each direction, so the corners can match, if you prefer a symmetrical layout.   

The Inklingo Dresden Plate Applique Collection includes everything you need. Order and download the Dresden Plate Design Book  (free, $20 value) first, to see complete instructions. Consider using the other blades too.

Cubism
(pages 52-54) and on the web site at http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Cubism 

This a creative diamond design with wonderful use of color that is characteristic of Karen Combs. She designed this one to use her fabric line, and there is a kit available online. Be sure to check the photos on Karen’s blog too.

The magazine includes a template for a 2 inch 60-degree diamond. Inklingoists skip the tracing and the templates, and print the diamonds on the back of the fabric with Inklingo instead! No templates, no tracing, no measuring! 

The yardage requirements are the same (or less) with Inklingo, and you have a choice of four layouts to print on the fabric, depending on where you want the straight grain.

The cutting lines, stitching lines, crosshairs, and matching marks will make it a breeze to assemble this quilt—so you will be ready to start a new one when the next issue of McCall’s arrives!  

There are other quilts in this issue which use Inklingo shapes, but this should give you a good start. 

Inklingo Resources

The Index of Shapes (under the Support tab at Inklingo.com)
The Catalogue of Shapes in each collection (yardage requirements, cutting layouts, etc.) 
Monkey’s Cheat Sheet (under the Support tab at Inklingo.com)
The Inklingo Handbook (first chapter, Printing with Inklingo is free)

If you have not tried Inklingo yet, you can get started in the next few minutes with the free collection. Quick Start!

Some day, we hope all magazines will include references to Inklingo methods. In the meantime, refer to The Inklingo Handbook and the wealth of information on the Inklingo web site, and jot the numbers down on Monkey’s Cheat Sheet.

The Inklingo Yahoo Group is a great place to ask questions (and get answers) too. I hope you will join us there.

Linda & Monkey