Blog
I’ve started on a new project and I’m in the Honeymoon Phase where nothing has gone wrong yet. So I’m sewing up a storm before my boys arrive for Christmas. As a result, I’ve got more tips: A BETTER LAMP Maybe it’s a bit pathetic that I am so excited about this, but I happened to be shopping in Office Depot for a few things for my office when I saw it (hallelujah chorus)…my wonderful old LED magnifier light! It was like a lost friend found. My old one bit the dust and it took me awhile to realize that…
I’ve been in my sewing room a lot this week and as I worked, I came upon three handy tips that I thought I would share. BASTING WITH WATER SOLUBLE THREAD: I am beginning a new quilt and I decided to machine baste it together using water soluble thread top and bottom-that way I don’t have to deal with those pesky safety pins. Now I did this years ago and it was NOT a success:No matter how many times I wash this, the pin holes and line will not come out. That is probably because this is silk dupioni (forehead slap!) and silk…
I am constantly on a quest to improve my “studio”. I recently reorganized my thread and I really like the new system.Here’s what I started with and it worked pretty well actually. I kept my threads in zip lock baggies by type, and then kept those in this cubby hole system. The only thing that really bugged me about it was that it was visually messy. (There was also a bunch of thread on twirling spindles out of sight of the photo).A few trips to discount and I found these to be the perfect solution. I labeled each drawer and…
I am starting a new whole cloth quilt and plan to use only 2 threads-one on top and one in the bobbin. That makes each thread choice pretty important. I’m firm on my bobbin choice of Superior Thread’s Kimono silk, but I still need to choose my top thread. I want a thread that behaves well and has enough presence to show my design from afar. I’ve worked through rayon, 100 wt silk and a thick cotton thread-none were right. In the running are two 50 wt cotton threads: Aurifil and Superior Thread’s Master Piece. When I sew I always put my…
Recently a former student sent an e-mail to me with this in the subject line: “Was I supposed to take it out of the package first??“. She enclosed the following photo (the packaging you see in the photo is for the “Supreme Slider” which makes quilting easier):Her explanation follows: “I had to share this photo with you because you always say you’ve made every possible mistake…I bet you haven’t made this one! Because I am very bad about cleaning up my sewing area, this item accidentally slid under the piece I was quilting – now I’ve done similar things before…
Yes, I know it sounds odd, but for any major new project I create a simple Mission Statement of sorts. A Mission Statement provides a framework that guides my decisions, a kind of philosophical blueprint that keeps me on track. Otherwise I get lost in the detail! And really, the statement just captures what is already in my head anyway. So as I work my way through the twists and turns of creating, it’s helpful to remind myself what I was trying to accomplish in the first place. Here are some of the things that I might include in a Mission Statement: -I…
To me this is big news: a marker that marks clearly, precisely and removes fairly easily. It’s a marker that’s been around for awhile-Morgan’s-and some of you may have already tried it. I rediscovered it in Houston at the vendor’s booth. I probably even have an old one somewhere in the catacombs of my quilt paraphernelia! I am curious if any of you have used this before and what your impressions were of it, whether good or bad. I put it right to the test after I got back and marked a grid in graphite on WHITE silk dupioni, so…
I’m sharing “Two Tiny Tips” today-things that will make your quilting life just a little bit easier. Burying thread ends Sometimes you want or need to bury your thread ends instead of securing the end of your quilting line with tiny little stitches. I do this on my competition pieces or anyplace where the end of my line of stitching is very visible or I want all the stitches the same size. But sometimes this is a little hard to do. When I’m working with super thin silk thread (100 wt) and I’m taking tiny stitches, it’s difficult to get the…
This month’s Free Motion Quilting Challenge at SewCalGal‘s site was provided by Sarah Vedler and it was all about spirals. Sarah is a quilt and block-of-the-month designer, an embroidery designer and also free motion quilts. So our challenge was to learn to do spirals. Well, I did two rows of spirals, and then I thought, well these could also be rectangles. And then I did some squares, and finally some triangles.It’s a pretty versatile concept and I could see it as a background fill. We’ve got one more month to go in the challenge and it has been a lot of…
The annual River City Quilters’ Guild Show was held last weekend in the Scottish Rite Temple in Sacramento, Ca. They always have a great collection of traditional, contemporary, art and applique quilts as well as wearable art. I did not come away with many great photos as the light is pretty low and I just couldn’t seem to get a good photo off. “Red Chair” by Mary Upham. This Best of Show greeted visitors as they walked in and it’s a stunner. Mary worked from her own photo and started this piece in a Ruth McDowell seminar at Asilomar. So…