Three Handy Tools

I’ve only had a wee bit of time to quilt lately as my travel and teaching schedule has been insane for about 2 months. I had a moment to work on a few small projects and a realized that I use some tools/notions that are a bit uncommon. I want to share them with you-maybe they might be useful for you too.

I use these “rolling rulers” to set grids and to create circles and oblong objects. I first saw them domo-ed at Houston and was intrigued. There is a You Tube here that is the. cheesiest. video. ever. You have to watch all 90 seconds it just for giggles if nothing else. It obviously was made before computers were the norm.

There are two rolling wheels at each end so it really does not scoot sideways and your lines remain parallel. It makes the task of marking a grid fast and fool-proof. I also use it to mark circles which I have found very useful. I can mark circles up to 36″ using the RolerRuler. It’s an odd notion that you might find yourself using frequently if you had a set.

I know, this one seems weird. I am SO familiar with packing paper these days! It is cheap and 36″ x 24″ which comes in very handy for enlarging photos or patterns. I love the huge size-I can sketch or plan a whole project or parts of a large project, all on one paper. When I am planning a project and go through multiple permutations, it keeps it all in one place-works for me.

I know I’ve written about this before-I use it to stabilize my quilt tops that I know I am going to quilt the dickens out of. It keeps me from having to hoop and it keeps distortion from happening when I am heavily quilting an area. But I also use it on fussy fabrics-either loosely woven fabrics or shredders like dupioni. With just a spray I’m good to go and it can keep me from having to fuse to control fray.

I am currently working on a quilt for this year’s SAQA donation and it is heavily marked. Terial Magic keeps my fabric super stable as I mark, so no skipping as I mark a line and the fabric remains board straight even if I am marking a long line.

BIG NEWS-my house is going to be ready 6 weeks ahead of time, which puts us back in the house 6 weeks earlier that the planned date. Work is a feverish pace right now and every day brings new decisions and errands and time busters. It’s getting hard to juggle all the balls at once these days. But I know this is a First World Problem! We can’t wait to get back into our “new” house. Here is a sneak peek at what is going on:

This the future site of Hubby’s domain, the bar. We wanted it to be a wet bar but running water to it and getting a sink set in, surrounding cabinetry was enormously expensive!

And the jewel of the bar area, a dual wine/beer cooler. I had no idea they made such a combo.

The Living Room carpet is soon to come!

Our old frig was limping along, not keeping food as long as it should. The only thing we changed in the kitchen was the backsplash and the frig. I did a LOT of research into refrigerators and settled on the Sub Zero. It draws less electricity than a light bulb and should last 20+ years. I’m especially happy that the frig and freezer are two completely separate systems with their own compressor so there is no cross-over of  odors and no more frozen lettuce in the frig!

We have always been annoyed by the layout of the kitchen’s eating area. Our brilliant designer came up with this solution which will sit at the end of the island and will be our new eating area.

There may not be a lot of quilting going on for awhile. Our move will take place around Father’s Day and I have a lot of work yet to do on the house and a lot of prep work for the move.

Get some creative inspiration from the links at Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday!