Tools

Recently, I read a post on a blog where the author gave a list of her favorite things. For her, it was her husband, animals, and other important things in her life. (I apologize, I do not remember which blog it is was to reference.) This got me to thinking. What are some of my favorite tools in my sewing studio. Not the ones that are common place like a favorite seam ripper or pin cushion. But the ones that are used all the time and make a particular task or technique manageable. Well, here are a couple of my favorite tools...

Each year I attend the Puyallup Sewing Expo and visit one of my favorite vendors. I don't remember their name, but they are located in Bellingham WA. They sell medical supplies that can be used as sewing tools and this is where I purchase for first favorite tool.

The picture above is of a pair of long tweezers. It's about 5 inches in length and works great for reaching into hard to reach places (like a bobbin case) to remove lint and threads. I also use this for holding onto thread tails so I can cut them closely.

These are a pair of Havel's Snip-Eze and are perfect for clipping threads close. I use these when I'm doing machine embroidery, quilting, and hand sewing. Anytime I want to clip the thread as close as possible. Their design makes it very easy on my hands too.

I'm not sure who manufactures this as it was given to me when I purchased my Pfaff 2144/2170 by my dealer. This thread rack is a great tool when I'm using multiple colors of thread when I'm doing machine embroidery. I have assigned a number to each spool so I can organize my embroidery thread in order. Very effective way to stay organized and to stitch through an embroidery design quickly. I could see where this would also be a great tool to use when doing free motion quilting and using multiple thread types/colors. (In case you're wondering, the bobbins on the lower level are used as place holders when I'm using the same color multiple times in a design.)

This tool is a must have for all quilters. It's a Shape Cut™ manufactured by June Tailor. The 'grid' is a 12" x 12" and has slots for cutting strips in 1/2" intervals. This makes strip cutting go so quickly.

I have another June Tailor ruler called a Quarter Cut™. This one is smaller with a ‘grid’ of 6” x 12” and has slots at ¼” intervals. The reason I don’t use this as often as the Shape Cut™ is because the grid is so short I have to fold my fabric too many times, risking the integrity of my strips.

June Tailor also manufactures another ruler called Shape Cut™ Pro. This has a larger ‘grid’ measuring 20” x 23” and would be perfect for large cuts of fabric. However, the intervals of the slots is at 2 ½”. Great if you’re cutting Jelly Rolls or Charm Squares, but not for strip piecing the average quilt.

Well, these are just a few of my favorite tools in my sewing studio. I’ll feature more a little later.

A Peep Into My Sewing Studio

I always considered myself to be rather organized in my sewing room. My philosophy has always been like goes with like, something I picked-up while in college, in chemistry no less. Throughout my sewing / quilting studio you’ll see where I have followed this method; scissors are all together, needles are organized by type and size, fabric is arranged by color or theme, embroidery thread is stored by type and color, etc. Everything is kept relatively neat and organized… until you get to my cutting table.

My project status is at an awkward state right and it seems to be spilling into my sewing studio. For instance, I’ve finished the top to my musical angels quilt and it’s ready to be machine quilted except I’m not ready to machine quilt it until my machine quilting technique is perfected. While I’ve been working on my machine quilting technique I’ve also been working on a couple of other small projects.

Here's a picture of my cutting table from Angle #1...

Angle #2...

And, Angle #3...

This is going to be a coaster. I still need to finish the edge with a satin stitch.

These will also be coasters but I'm not sure how I will finish the edge. These designs are larger than the first one I showed and I'm not sure I want to do an edge finish.

Musical Angels Quilt Sandwich - Update

The musical angels quilt is pin basted and I've confirmed the quilt backing is laying flat with no wrinkles present.

I've rolled the sides and clipped them in anticipation of starting to machine quilt it.

I purchased Pfaff's Fabric Mover with Stitch Regulator after attending a demonstration at the Puyallup Sewing Expo last March. Prior to purchasing, I also spent about 10 to 15 minutes testing it out to ensure it was what I wanted.

The unit came with a DVD showing how to install it as well as how to use it, a foot control, stitch regulator controller, power supply, and a connector to connect the stitch regulator with my machine.

Here is a picture I took after I have installed it onto my machine.

I've been a hand quilter for years but have always wanted to learn how to machine quilt my quilting projects. I've attempted a couple of times but never successfully. When I saw a demonstration of the Fabric Mover I thought it was the answer to my problems with machine quilting.

I’m a little frustrated with my progress but not enough to give up. I’m going to make a couple more quilt sandwiches to practice on and hopefully I’ll become more comfortable with the mechanics of my technique. Perhaps, instead of using muslin to practice on I’ll go find a large scale print that I can use.

So, until I am more comfortable and confident of my machine quilting skills, I will not be quilting my musical angels quilt.

What's Happening In My Sewing Room?

Our weather is continuing to cool down and I've been taking advantage of the cooler temperatures working on pinning my musical angels quilt. But before I get to my progress, I want to talk about another block I made.

I belong to an online quilting group where are members live in western Washington. We meet for sew-ins at least once a month and partake in other activities as well. We also are very supportive of each other when someone is facing a challenge or a blessing in their life. This could range from an illness or death, to having a baby or moving. When an event such as this occurs, we traditionally work together to make a comfort or celebratory quilt for them.

Our members contribute Jake's Heart blocks and submit them to whoever volunteered to assemble the quilt. It's a simple block and goes together rather quickly. Here's a link to where you can find the instructions for assembling the block: Jake's Heart Block

I've placed two of the blocks together so you can see what they would look like. One block features the purple fabric and the other one features the green fabric. One of my favorite layouts is to assemble four blocks where you make a flower blossom. Once the quilt blocks have been assembled, it is then forwarded to another member who has volunteered to quilt it. It is then presented to the recipient. Wouldn't it be nice to receive one of these?

Here is picture of my musical angels quilt. As you can see, I've pinned a good portion of the quilt sandwich. I've also trimmed the batting around the edges to the same size as the quilt backing. Below is a close-up of the middle block.

As soon as I finish pinning the quilt sandwich I am going to audition some quilting designs and quilting thread. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have made more progress to share.

Musical Angels Quilt Sandwich

I'm ashamed to admit that I have not done a lot of sewing / quilting lately because it has been just too hot. For the last week or so our daily temperatures have been in the high 90's and low 100's, but with the high humidity, these temperatures are even higher! For the Pacific Northwest, this is very unusual. I don't consider myself a wimp, but I found myself whining every day, wishing for cooler temperatures.

The temperatures were much cooler this morning and I took advantage of it and began working on creating a quilt sandwich with my musical angels quilt. At this phase of your quilt, it is important to prepare your quilt correctly or you run the risk of ruining your quilt and watching your hard work disintegrate before your eyes. I don't think there is any quilter out there who hasn't made mistakes. Even experienced quilters. We all have our favorite ways to create a quilt sandwich and I'm going to take you through mine.

My first step is to iron my quilt top and backing. I prefer not to use steam during this process because steam adds moisture to the fabric which can result in distortion during handling. With my iron set at cotton/linen, I begin to press the quilt top and backing.

Next I find the width and length center of my backing by folding it in half lengthwise and marking with a glass head pin on all sides. I repeat for locating the center of the width.

For this quilt's backing, I chose to use a pin on each side of the center back because it happened to be at a seam.

I've marked the center on my cutting table using a piece of painter's tape. By matching the centerback of my quilt backing with this mark, I will ensure my quilt top is centered on the back and batting. There is nothing more frustrating than to get everything laid out only to discover you're too short on one side and have to start over again.

Here is the backing centered on to my cutting table.

I use 1" binder clips to hold the backing on to my table. This will ensure the backing is taut and remains centered. You want your backing taut so you don't have bubbles after you've finished your quilting. Although it is taut, you don't want to stretch and distort your backing.



Using the same process, I've added the batting to the backing. I know some people pre-wash their batting, but I choose not to because I like the antique/vintage appearance it has after washing.

Before I add my top I've double-checked to ensure all of my seams are pressed in the proper direction and loose threads have been cut.

Here is the quilt sandwich with the top added.

I still need to pin it, but I've made some progress and am a few steps closer to getting it quilted and passed on to my granddaughter.

Friendship Bag Swap

One of the authors of a blog, Tonya's Sewing Room, I follow featured a fun swap and I thought it would be exciting to participate. The swap is titled Friendship Bag Swap and each participant will make a bag to send to one of the other participants while receiving a bag from someone else. Sound like fun? Go to the Quilt Gallery site to learn more about the Friendship Bag Swap. Maybe we’ll be making friendship bags for each other.

Brielle's Musical Angels Quilt Top

Today has been a pretty productive day. I baked two loaves of bread, did a little house cleaning, and cut some of the strips I need for the Stack-N-Whack quilt for Saturday. I still need to cut more strips, and I would have been finished except I got distracted.

When I begin a quilt project I generally design it using my Electric Quilt software. I like the software program because it allows me to scan in the specific fabrics I will be using for the project and it prints out all the information I need for traditional piecing or paper piecing, including yardage per print of fabric. Sounds like the project is three-quarters finished, doesn't it? Wrong... at least for me.

I seem to have this knack for designing the quilt in the program, purchasing and cutting the fabric, and assembling the blocks. This part goes quite smoothly. However, my problem is when I get to to how I want to finish the quilt top. How do I want to do the borders? Do I want to mitre the corners? What colors do I want to use? What about a pieced border? Multiple borders? If you're a quilter I'm sure you understand my dilemma. The borders can make your quilting project a success or a failure.

Now, you're probably asking yourself why is this an issue since I have already designed the quilt in my software program. The answer is that the software gives me a general idea of what the finished quilt will look like. But once I've assembled the blocks and put the top together, it may look completely different from what it looks like on paper. I guess it's the two-dimensional vs three-dimensional issue. Sometimes I think it also has to do with my attitude at the time. Much like getting dressed in the morning. I never select the clothes I'm going to wear until moments before getting dressed. Why? Because it always depends on how I'm feeling. Another analogy would be to compare borders to an artist framing his masterpiece. The artist may have a certain game plan in their head but when they put it into place it's all wrong and they go in a completely different direction. So how do I resolve this conflict?

Currently, I'm working on a quilt for my two year old granddaughter Brielle. I've been working on the quilt for the last couple of months and I've completed all of the blocks and am ready to apply the border so I can make my quilt sandwich and machine quilt the top. Initially when I designed the quilt I had intended to apply a thin mitre'd border in pink followed by a wider mitre'd border in yellow and finished with a dark french binding. But now that I'm looking at the actual quilt I'm not convinced this is the way to finish this quilt. To help me resolve this issue I hung the quilt up in my sewing room and have spent the last couple of weeks examining it, hoping to light my creative inspiration for that Aha! moment. Although I've had a couple of ideas, I have not had the breaking moment yet.

Below are pictures of the quilt top as it is now:

The fabric is Michael Miller's Fairy Frost in shades of pink and soft yellow. The musical angels are embroidered using several different thread colors and I used lavendar for the words. It really has turned out nicely and will look great on her new bed. My daughter has asked that I make some matching curtains when I'm finished. This could take awhile since for now, the quilt will continue to hang in my sewing room until I have the breakthough I'm hoping for.