Newsy: Apple App for Quilt Lovers

The Alliance for American Quilts announces Quilt Index To Go, a new Apple app compatible with iPhone, iPod, and iPad. You get a quilt a day accompanied by bits of history right on your device. The quilts are pulled from a 50,000 record database, so it’s like visiting multiple quilt museums without the travel. See the entire Press Release below:

QUILT INDEX TO GO:

A New App for Quilt Lovers

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA and EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN -February 3, 2011.

The largest online database of quilts in the world is now easier to access and share. The Quilt Index team has released Quilt Index To Go, a fun app that delivers a new Quilt Index quilt to the palm of your hand each day. The app is now available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad on the Apple App Store for 99 cents. All revenue will support Quilt Index expansion and sustainability.

The Quilt Index website (www.QuiltIndex.org) provides centralized access to nearly 50,000 records, including quilts from state or regional documentation projects, museum and private collections. The Quilt Index, launched online in 2003, is a joint project of Michigan State University Museum; MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University; and the nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts.

“Quilt Index To Go brings resources where people really need them — where they work and play,” says Dean Rehberger, director of MATRIX. “The Quilt Index To Go app is a great example of MATRIX’s dual focus on outreach and research. Working with nonprofits we’re bringing new access to the online Quilt Index repository through mobile devices. In this way we help them provide new services to existing users and connections to new users. Through this development, we also advance research on ways mobile devices can access digital libraries across the humanities.”

Lee Nakamoto, Consumer Intelligence Orchestrator for AccuQuilt in Freemont, Nebraska, served as an early reviewer for Quilt Index To Go. “I saw quilts and learned snippets of their history that I would never have known without the app. I was amazed with the diversity of techniques, fabrics, styles displayed,” says Nakamoto. “My quilt IQ has indeed been significantly increased. The app truly gives exposure to a segment of the population that would not otherwise make it to quilt museums or galleries.”

The Quilt Index To Go app draws from the full Quilt Index database so users will see quilts from 28 contributors including museums with quilt collections like the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum and the National Quilt Museum, documentation projects from states such as Kentucky, Hawaii and Iowa, private collections like the Mary Gasperik Quilts, and most recently an international partner, the South Africa Quilt History Project. Daily quilts display on Quilt Index To Go will showcase more than 200 traditional quilt patterns cataloged in the Quilt Index as well as original contemporary designs.

For questions about the Quilt Index To Go app or the Quilt Index, please contact us at [email protected]

There is something especially lovely about a winter fabric collection that feels seasonal without immediately shouting Christmas. Woodland Whimsy by Jennifer Pugh for Wilmington Prints is filled with forest animals, mushrooms, classic plaids, dots and softly textured coordinating prints.

The colours have a warm, storybook quality, making the collection perfect for quilts that can stay out long after the Christmas decorations have been packed away.

What Is Included in the Woodland Whimsy Bundle?

The Woodland Whimsy Fat Quarter Bundle includes:

15 coordinating fat quarters
One 23-inch scenic fabric panel
100% quilting cotton
Fabrics designed by Jennifer Pugh
Prints manufactured by Wilmington Prints

Each fat quarter measures approximately 18 x 21 inches.

I particularly like that the scenic panel is included with the bundle. Fabric panels are wonderful when you want an impressive focal point without spending several evenings piecing tiny blocks while wondering why you chose such a complicated pattern in the first place.

The panel could become the centre of a lap quilt, wall hanging or child’s quilt, with the coordinating fat quarters used to create simple patchwork borders.

What Could You Make With Woodland Whimsy Fabric?

This collection would work beautifully for:

A woodland animal lap quilt
A cosy winter wall hanging
A child’s storybook quilt
Patchwork cushions
Quilted reading mats
Fabric storage baskets
Winter table runners
Handmade gifts for nature lovers

You could also separate the smaller prints and use them in scrap-friendly projects. Our collection of eight fat-quarter-friendly quilt patterns offers plenty of ideas for putting coordinated fabric bundles to work.

For something smaller, the gentle woodland prints would be lovely in a seasonal mini quilt. This free mini snowflake quilt pattern could easily be adapted using the collection’s winter colours.

Is the Woodland Whimsy Bundle Worth Buying?

The bundle gives you a ready-made colour palette, a useful assortment of coordinating prints and a feature panel in one package. That takes much of the guesswork out of planning a quilt, particularly if choosing coordinating fabrics is the part that usually sends you wandering around the fabric shop for an hour.

The prints are playful enough for children but not so juvenile that they cannot be used for adult quilts and winter home décor. That versatility is probably the collection’s strongest feature.

The bundle was listed at US$62.98 when checked and is expected to ship in October 2026. Prices, availability and shipping dates may change, particularly with a new fabric release.

If you love woodland animals, gentle winter colours and fabric that feels as though it belongs in an illustrated storybook, this is a charming collection to add to your sewing list.

See the Woodland Whimsy Fat Quarter Bundle at Fat Quarter Shop.