Guest Post: Elements Of Your Amish Quilting Design

You can transform your quilt from a Plain-Jane to an Exciting Quilt with simple design elements in your quilting design. Although books are getting better about this, often a book demonstrating a beautiful quilt top design falls short when it comes to suggesting quilting designs.

Many of the books have small pictures of the whole finished quilt top, leaving you guessing how it was quilted. Others have close up pictures of the quilting design for part of the quilt top, but don't show how that part connects with the rest of the top.

Effective quilting designs don't need to be intricate and detailed to be effective. A quilter might choose a pattern that simply echoes the pieced or appliqué design, outlines an individual design feature, or creates a grid or series of parallel quilting lines.

In deciding how to quilt your quilt, you should first look at some of the overall design elements of the quilt top, and ask some basic questions, like: Are there design features I would like to emphasize? Are there elements I would like to have recede into the background? Are there large, open areas where a quilted design, such as a feathered wreath, could be effective? Does the quilt have movement that I would like to enhance (i.e. are there curves and waves vs. straight seams)? Is there interesting fabric I would like to highlight or create a contrast

Once you have some of those basic questions answered, it's time to look at some specifics.

A quilting design that echoes the basic design of the quilt is probably the easiest to accomplish, yet choosing which design elements of your quilt you echo can, indeed, affect the overall look of your quilt.

For example, if you take a simple Irish Chain quilt, by quilting parallel lines of quilting through the diagonal lines of squares creates a kind of channel affect, making the center squares stand out. The square in the center can be quilting in a completely different way, creating a new design element.

If your quilt is green and white, how about quilting a shamrock in each square? Quilting a heart in each square delivers yet a different message. Or, mix them up, a shamrock in every other square, alternating with a heart.

Another method of enhancing the pieced pattern of the quilt is to quilt additional shapes of the main design. For example, you can turn an eight pointed star into a 16 pointed star by simply quilting points in the background between each of the 8 pieced points. By varying the size of the quilted points, you can give the star even more dimension and interest.

Quilting designs in large and open areas can be used to repeat curves or angles appearing in other places on the quilt.

Going back to our Irish Chain, you could carry the shamrocks or hearts into the border by quilting them in one of the borders.

On a quilt using plaid fabric, you can create a plaid design with your quilting stitches, even in areas where you have placed solid fabric.

Although some quilters may advise you differently, there are really very few rules when it comes to designing the quilting pattern for your top. However, understanding a few things about quilting does help.

Quilting in the ditch anchors and sharpens the seam line so the seam looks as straight as it did when the top was pressed. In the ditch stitches also cause the adjacent pieces to puff up.

Because your quilting stitches cause the fabric to recede, a line of quilting can create the illusion of a seam where there is none.

Quilting across a seam line distorts that seam line and may soften the contrast between two pieces, thus easing the transition between areas on your top.

Quilting through a fabric design will distort the design. If the fabric design element is something you want to keep, consider quilting around it. For example, if your fabric has flowers, then quilting around the outside of the flowers will make them puff up in your quilt top. Adding more background quilting - whether it is stippling or quilting a grid - will make the flowers puff up even more.

The good news / bad news about quilting designs is that there are really no rules - only things that happen when you put quilting stitches in your quilt. Therefore, designing your quilting pattern, much like designing your quilt top, is very much an issue of personal taste and your idea of your final quilt.

So, take those unfinished Amish quilts out of the closet, and plan a quilting design, knowing that it cannot be wrong! And that however it is quilting, it is better to have the quilt being used on a couch or bed or viewed hanging on a wall than it is to have it hiding in your closet.

4 Things Your Business Can Do to Help Improve the Economy

If you have been tuning into the Presidential debates lately, you may be aware that there is a slight difference of opinion on what the government should be doing to improve our economy. At ExactSource, we're not keen on the idea of idly standing by.

While this upcoming election is focused on economy...economy...did we mention economy...we thought about some ways that private industry can grow their business, save some money and in turn, help to strengthen the American economy at the same time.

1. Make do with less

Small businesses are a key factor in boosting the economy and that’s why it’s critical to keep them afloat. Small businesses not only provide jobs for over half of the nation’s workforce, but they also create more than 50% of the nonfarm private gross domestic product. So in an economic downturn such as this, it is important that small businesses find better, faster, and cheaper ways of doing things.

If all companies would utilize today’s technology, they could cut a lot of unnecessary spending. Instead of flying clients in, arrange videoconference meetings. Market your business using free social media platforms. Automate your processes such as invoicing, receiving, purchasing, and inventory control and trim unnecessary overhead. If businesses would reduce certain fixed costs, they could use that money to pump back into the American economy and hire more workers. After all, if our employees – the American consumers – have more money to spend, small businesses like yours will continue to succeed.

2. Outsource your hiring needs
Here’s a riddle for you: If our nation’s unemployment rate is at 8.1%, why are there 3.8 million jobs in the U.S. that remain unfilled? The answer: many companies have a broken hiring process. An inforgraphic found on Mashable Business reveals that 52% of hirers decided not to hire anyone at all because they couldn’t find the right fit. Not only is this a missed opportunity for any of the 13 million unemployed, but it also costs your business money to have a position go unfilled.

The problem doesn’t end there. 43% of employers reported that vacant job positions at their company haven’t been filled in the anticipated timeframe, and more than 70% of people surveyed reported that more than 3 people at their company are involved in any given hiring decision. If companies are focusing all their time and energy trying to fill positions, that means they are not focusing their time and energy on doing their own jobs. There’s a simple solution to this problem - outsource your hiring needs. Recruiters have the experience and time it takes to find the right candidates. Not only will you save time and money on the hiring process, but you will also have better candidates to choose from and a guaranteed filled position.

3. Hire Veterans & Unemployed

According to a recent Bloomberg article, over 30% of our country's veterans are unemployed - and this number is on the rise. In most cases, these are potential employees with a calibrated skill-set, discipline and loyalty gained from service. Many unemployed jobseekers out there have the right qualifications and experience, but are getting the short end of the stick because they’re currently out of work. Besides boosting the employment rate, there are also tax benefits under the HIRE Act available to employers who hire certain previously unemployed workers. Finally, you may see a better work ethic from a recently unemployed worker.

4. Allow employees to telecommute

Working from home brings tremendous benefits not only to the economy but to your business, the telecommuter, and the environment as well. By allowing employees the option of working from home, you can certainly expect them to do more with fewer resources. You can also save money on office costs by reducing the amount of office space required. The teleworker is able to increase productivity by eliminating the time spent on commuting to and from work and the interruptions often taking place in busy offices. Another infographic on Mashable Business found that working from home increases productivity an average of 10-20%. Not to mention the oil we could save. If half the American workforce telecommuted just 50% of the time, we would save one-third of America’s yearly Persian Gulf oil imports.

Obviously we have a long way to go to get our economy back on top, but if every business put forth a little effort, we'd certainly be taking steps in the right direction. The initiatives listed above not only benefit our economy, but they are advantageous to your business as well. You could be helping everyone while helping yourself at the same time. Don't you just love when everyone wins?

Do you have any other suggestions on what businesses can do to help improve our economy? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!

If you're interested in learning more about outsourcing your hiring needs, check out our free whitepapers on Recruitment Process Outsourcing: