‘Quilt in a Day’ Saves Stitches : Eleanor Burns believes quilting should be quick, easy and inexpensive.

She has developed her quilting philosophy into an industry known as “Quilt in a Day,” which operates out of a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in San Marcos.

“This isn’t a quilt that takes three or four years to make. You can use it right away for kids or grandkids,” Burns says. “You never have to worry about damaging it because you can make another one so easily. My quilts would never be around in the antique shops. I want them to be loved to death.”

Her San Marcos facility contains a classroom, fabric shop, shipping business for Burns’ how-to books, an art department and a television production studio.

In addition to teaching, Burns has authored and produced numerous quilting books and videos and ships them all over the world.

She also hosts a public television program on quilting that can be seen at 11 a.m. Thursdays on KPBS and on two national cable stations.

Depending on the size of the project, a Quilt in a Day student could expect to start almost any project at 8:30 a.m. and complete it by 4 p.m. at a third of the cost of a standard quilt, Burns said.

“My technique is so easy. It’s all machine sewing and I gear it toward the beginner so that people come into quilting with me and they make their first quilt,” she said. “It brings people into this craft and they love it and they get so obsessed with it, they want to make more and more.”

Burns says the tools of the trade and the sewing machine have made quilting anything but tedious. Accuracy can be accomplished with thick plexiglass rulers, rotary cutters that look like pizza cutters and replace scissors, and mats with grids that make measuring a snap.

The Quilt in a Day method involves machine quilting and tying the layers of batting and fabric every six inches to keep them together. Some purists scoff at these lightning techniques and the fact that none of the work is hand-stitched, but many quilters agree that Burns is a masterful piecer and designer and every quilter, no matter what their style or interest, can learn something from her classes.

The warehouse classroom holds 16 students comfortably and there are one-day classes and classes that last five weeks. Class fees range from $8 to $16 depending on how long you stay. Students bring their own sewing machines, but they are encouraged to purchase their cotton fabrics from the many bolts of calico, prints and solids available in Burns’ fabric shop inside the warehouse.

Many Quilt in a Day students have never made anything on a sewing machine and others are so burned-out on making clothes, they want an enjoyable craft that will produce a decorative item for their home. Burns also offers three-day kid’s quilting camps for children as young as 8 years old.

“It’s a fantastic business. I started in a garage in Carlsbad in 1978 and then moved into the bedrooms until it took over the whole house,” Burns said. “I came into it from my own interest for recreational sewing. I called my class ‘patch craft’ and taught it just to neighbors and friends, but it really grew into an industry.”