Ocean Wave Quilters

Ocean Wave Quilter’s Sharon Lau shares the following with us:

I was walking by a local coffee shop when I overheard two women talking. “I just finished a quilt made entirely of H-S-Ts,” one of them said. “Are you going to F-M-Q it on your D-S-M? Or maybe S-I-D?” said her companion.

H-U-H? Was this a foreign language? Or maybe Anderson Valley’s “Boontling”?

No, it was two quilters talking in their own unique “language” — primarily made up of abbreviations. Here to help you decipher the lingo is a guide to many of the most common terms:

BOM — Block of the Month

Many quilt guilds and fabric shops offer Block of the Month projects. This might be a single block that is taught at a guild meeting, or it might be a collection of 10-12 blocks that come out monthly to make a specific quilt.

DSM — Domestic Sewing Machine

This is the sewing machine that everyone knows. This is in contrast to a LAM or LAQM, which is a Long-Arm Machine or Long-Arm Quilting Machine, which has a larger throat (the space between the needle and the back of the machine), moves on a track on a frame, and is designed specifically to quilt the three layers of a quilt together. A LAM can be computerized — or not.

FMQ — Free Motion Quilting

When you FMQ on a DSM, you move the fabric around under the needle to stitch the design you want.

When you FMQ on a LAM, you move the machine around to stitch the design without using a computer.

FQ — Fat Quarter

When you buy ¼ yard of fabric, it is generally 42” wide (also known as WOF — width of fabric) by 9” long, which is not always a useful amount. So, quilt shops sell “Fat Quarters” which are 21” wide (half of the WOF) by 18” long.

LQS — Local Quilt Shop

Also called an LFS — or Local Fabric Shop — this is the mecca for quilters, where we can buy fabric, patterns and notions.

PP and EPP — Paper Piecing and English Paper Piecing

These are techniques using a paper foundation to stitch pieces of the quilt together. In PP, you stitch the fabric directly to the paper. In EPP, you use templates to shape the pieces, often hexagons, before stitching them together.

QAYG — Quilt as You Go

Usually, a quilter will make the quilt top, then sandwich it with batting and a backing. With QAYG, you layer the backing and batting, then stitch a piece of the quilt top on it, then stitch the next piece of the quilt top to the first piece. Once you have finished stitching all the top pieces together, the quilt is already quilted.

HST and QST 00 Half-Square Triangle and Quarter-Square Triangle

This refers to taking two square pieces of fabric, drawing a diagonal line, and sewing ¼” on each side of the line. A HST is made when you then cut on the diagonal, making two pieces. For a QST, you would draw both diagonals, stitch ¼” on each side of both lines, then cut on both diagonals, making four pieces.

RST and WST — Right Sides Together and Wrong Sides Together

This refers to the way in which two pieces of fabric are joined with a seam.

SID — Stitch in the Ditch

Often a quilt can be quilted by stitching in the seam line, or the “ditch.” (This is harder than it looks; it requires a steady hand.)

Then there are terms we use to describe the progress we have (or haven’t) made on a quilt, or how we feel about the project in general:

HSY or NYS: Haven’t Started Yet or Not Yet Started

WIP: Work in Progress PHD: Project Half Done TBQ: To Be Quilted UFO: Unfinished Object PIGS: Projects in Grocery Sacks — These are UFOs that we’ve stashed away somewhere to get them out of sight.

SQUID: Sewing a Quilt Until I Die

TGIF: Thank God It’s Finished

WIWMI: Wish It Would Make Itself

BDNQ: Bad Day, Not Quilting

HIPS: Hundreds of Ideas Piling Skyward

STABLE: Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

WOMBAT: Waste of Money, Batting And Time (Sadly, we have all experienced this)

WITHWIT: What In The Heck Was I Thinking? TIH: There is Hope We hope that you enjoy this small peek into the world of quilting! We’d love to have you join us — just contact info@oceanwavequilters.com!