The Companions Guide

Need Help Downloading? Try the Help Page.

Welcome

Welcome to the wonderful world of Simply Continuous Companions! Companions are just that: companions for you in your machine quilting adventures. Whether you buy the book (coming soon) or the digital designs, Companions let you be the designer.

So let's jump right in and have an adventure with our new Companions!

What is a Companion?

A Simply Continuous Companion is a group of continuous line designs based on a theme. Each design in the group is small and relatively simple. They are intended to be repeated in continuous forms--great news if you own a longarm quilting machine. The designs are crafted to have style, to maintain design rules during repetition, to work well in combinations, and to stitch quickly.

What does a Companion look like?

Although Companions vary widely in style, each usually contains 16 standard components:

One Base Triangle
One Accent Triangle
One Corner Triangle
Three Double Triangles
Six Blocks
One Border
One Turning Corner
One Edge-to-Edge or Border-to-Border
One Flying-Geese pattern

Each triangle has a specific name and a general purpose. The Base Triangle is designed to fill a large quilt space. The Accent Triangle is designed to create variety when used in coordination with a Base Triangle pattern. The Corner Triangle functions in two ways: 1) as a whole, and 2) in specific pieces; as a whole, it functions just as a Base or Accent Triangle would; when broken into three pieces, two are combined to form the Flying-Geese pattern, and the one remaining piece constitutes the Turning Corner.

The functions of the Base, Accent, and Corner triangles are interchangeable. For example, you may use an Accent Triangle as a Base Triangle.

Each Base, Accent, and Corner triangle is repeated and arranged to form one Double Triangle, one 2 Block, and one 4 Block. These are the configurations that you will find most useful. Of course you can come up with new configurations on your own.

Spend a moment now to examine a sample Companion. Note: The red outlines highlight how one triangle is repeated in various positions creating the Triangle Double, the Triangle 2 Block, and the Triangle 4 Block.

A Sample Companion: Hawaiian Delight

How are Companions sold?

How you will use the designs of a Companion will determine what you should buy, so the designs in a Companion are arranged into convenient sets. A Complete Set contains all the designs available in a Companion. Smaller sets contain one or more designs and cost less, but your best value comes from buying the complete set.

How do I use a Companion?

Any quilt can be finished with a combination of as many or as few of the designs from a Companion as you like! Even one will work! Do you believe it? Every design in a Companion is actually an Edge-2-Edge (E2E). Just look!

The larger designs (Double Triangles and Blocks) make this E2E process faster. You don't have to combined the more basic patterns because it's already done.

The actual Edge-2-Edge (E2E) or Border-2-Border (B2B) designs can be used in the traditional manner to finish a quilt. An E2E is to be distinguished from a B2B. E2E's interlock, leaving no unwanted gaps between rows. B2B's have straight sides and do not interlock.

Try using a triangle to create a border. There is definitely more than one way. Explore turning the long side of the triangle different directions. You'll discover so many possibilities.

Use five or six concentric triangle borders and cover a whole quilt. Or simply column a standard border design!

You could even use an E2E as a border-- What an idea! How great it looks.

How do I read a file name?

Each design belonging to a Companion is an individual file. The filenames are in a standard format so that you may find the desired design quickly.

The file name begins with the name of the Companion (or a significant portion of it). If the design is constructed of a triangle (or is a triangle) the letters tri followed by an a, b, or c for Accent Triangle, Base Triangle, and Corner Triangle, respectively, will be given. Next an abbreviation of the type of design is given (unless the design is merely a triangle). A dot and the three letter file extension (which indicates the format) follow.

Where do I go from here?

You are now well informed and ready to start quilting--almost. First you need to head over to the Companion Store and make your selections!

Best wishes and happy quilting.