June 2015

And the quilt keeps growing

Quilters —

I am ever thinking about you and what I can share with you. I’m currently working on super-special Podcast that will be presented in two parts — I really think you’ll like it.

In between, I am working on this quilt that needs to be finished by Friday — and — working on my Studio space. When I get into it, I really get in to IT. Here’s a pic of how far we’ve gotten on the studio:

So far, I have gotten quilts that I don’t take with me when I travel, neatly folded and stored in the bottom part of my Gran’s hutch. The ones that you see folded on the Baker’s Rack are the ones that I do take with me, in suitcases, for my trunk shows. Yep, that’s a lot of quilts, alright. Just getting that done took two people and three hours to accomplish. I’ll show you more as we progress. The Studio is one of two work spaces.

So — here’s what I’m working on now:

The DOE fabric is the center of the block – a nice neutral print to pull the very un-alike fabrics together. I’m using it for the sashing too, and here’s my quandary:

Do I use the fabric right-side up and put a nice bright accent in the cornerstones? In my eye, the DOE fabric fights the block edges and blends away in some places. So, this afternoon, I did this:

Here’s a close-up so you can see the cornerstone better:

What if I turned it over and use the wrong side of the fabric for sashing — which is a lighter value — and use the right side of the fabric as cornerstones? Kind of cool, huh?

What do YOU think? Please let me know by commenting below SOON. I need to finish the quilt top by Friday.

I know you’re still wondering why I am putting all of these disparate fabrics together in one quilt. I promise I will reveal all in pictures and in the special Podcast, coming soon!

Before I get back to the quilt, I want to share with you something I found for our super-duper nephew and his fiancé for their wedding next week. My all-time favorite cake shop, Icing on the Cake shared a pic of these on their Facebook page (which I follow religiously ; ) — and knew that they were the perfect pre-wedding gift for Keith and Carrie. Are you ready?

How can you stand all of that cuteness?! Even better, they are vintage sterling silver. Some clever person has done a great job of transforming these into a cool gift, don’t you think? Best of all, they weren’t sterling silver prices, believe it or not.

Okay — so I’m waiting to hear from you about the sashing!

Why am I making this quilt?

What do you do to pull together an assortment of disparate fabrics to make it a cohesive quilt?

Why — add a fabric that will pull them all together:

Decide what quilt pattern you’re going to make with these loverly fabrics:

(This quilt is courtesy of Pinterest. I apologize to the maker for not knowing her/his name, as I would like to credit them for this wonderful quilt. Please make sure that you know who the maker is when you pin something great. My quilts that are on Pinterest? Not one of them has my name on them, as the designer, maker, nothing.)

Here’s my first block:

Pretty good so far. They are 10 1/2″ blocks, which I will sash. It will make a 25 block, 5×5 quilt.

These fabrics have been hiding out in a white garbage can liner for the last five years.

Why am I making this quilt now ? The answer will become clear soon. I need to find some pictures that I’m hoping didn’t go south with a busted hard drive. 12,000+ pictures became thumbnails (trying not to cry again).

What would you do with fabrics like this? Tell me below. (P.S. There is not an option to just chuck them all ; )

Podcast 227 — Little Known Thread Facts

Podcast 227 — Little Known Thread Facts
(Right-Click or Ctrl-Click on the icon below and select “save link as…” to download the podcast to your computer) Running time: 00:53:47 Size: 25.8 MB

This is a podcast of little snippets of information about the thread we use — and why not to use certain threads.

Here are the threads in the order that I talk about them, and a few interesting factoids:

Mettler – changing cone colors to lavender — 250 colors – made in Spain, Made in Germany

Aurifil – cone colors indicate thread size — 270 colors – made in Italy

Presencia — 182 colors — made in the Giza Valley of Egypt

Superior Threads – use Masterpiece for piecing — 75 solid colors — and color cards, made in Japan

Guterman – variety of thread types — made in Mexico

Coats and Clarks/ Dual Duty – confusing variety of thread types — made in Egypt

Our thread has a “Nap” or a cuticle — you must know where the smooth direction is. IF you knot the end of the smooth side, you will have less knots when you hand stitch.

Cross wound spools:

Stacked spool:

Don’t use these:

You don’t know how old they are or what the fiber content is.

Do you really want to use this thread for your lovely contemporary quilts?!

Instead, do this:

or how about this?

Schmetz needles

Nancy Prince’s article on BERNINA’s We All Sew Blog:

http://weallsew.com/2014/12/30/how-to-pair-thread-weight-with-needle-size/?crlt.pid=camp.0Ru9a7o

Now for two of my favorite, can’t-live-without notions:

the Clover Needle Threader!

Thread Heaven

The quote of the week:

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know any thread factoids that I missed, or to let me know what you want to hear about on an upcoming podcast. Just click the COMMENT button below!