Quilt Finished, 2 Product Endorsements & Thanksgiving Blow-Out Sale!!

November 25th, 2008

I haven’t posted in quite awhile, but NOT because I haven’t been sewing! I’ve actually gotten to spend more time at my machine in the last 3 weeks than I have in quite a long time, but most of it has been spent working on new designs for the next DVD we’ll be doing and it’s too early to reveal any surprises! I did get to finish that small wall hanging I was working on. The wall hanging is so simple (maybe TOO simple!), but I love the way the quilting has created a very cool background texture. Unfortunately, I don’t think these pictures really show that texture. Here’s the whole thing:

The flowers were trapuntoed with scraps of Hobbs 80/20 batting:

They protrude out the most. The swirls were trapuntoed with a very thin polyester batt (don’t know the brand as it was el-cheapo on a bolt in a discount fabric store). They protrude but not as much as the flowers:

And here is a shot of the background quilting. If you’ve seen Fast and Free Volume 3, it’s the rudimentary version of the “plumify-it” design. I LOVE how it came out!

…and here’s a quick shot of part of the backside:

And I have become quite fond of 2 products that have made my quilting life much easier and thought I’d pass along a tip on them. The first is silicone spray. This is liquid silicone that I spray on my level quilting surface (both machine bed and plexiglas table) before I quilt. I then wipe down my area with a paper towel and this makes things nice and slippery! I don’t know about you, but every once in awhile I will be quilting a quilt whose backing fabric does NOT want to flow easily across my table-enter silicone spray!! This does NOT stain the fabric (I know, I was a disbeliever just like you, and that’s why I haven’t posted about this until I’ve had 6 months of working with it under my belt!) I know of some quilters who spray their quilting surface and also spray the back o the quilt, so you KNOW it won’t stain your fabrics! Here’s a picture of my brand, made by Sullivans USA:

And last but not least, have you ever had a wrinkled piece of fabric where you ironed and ironed and ironed again and no matter what you did, you just couldn’t get deeply set wrinkles out of a piece of fabric? I sure have and the last few months, I’ve been using Downy Wrinkle Reducer Spray and this stuff really works!

It has a floral scent to it that I could live without, but I’ll put up with it since it does such a great job with the wrinkles! I got this at my favorite grocery store; haven’t seen it in any quilt shops yet.

And….in celebration of Thanksgiving, we’re having a sale that starts NOW!!! DVDs are $2 off, patterns are $3 off, 40-Inch Flexible Curve Rulers are $3.55 off, and the Bendable Bright Lights are $10 off! Be sure to watch the Bendable Bright Light infomercial and you’ll see how easy they are to install on your machine, and what a great gift they will make for any quilter or woodworker on YOUR shopping list! (Or maybe even just for yourself!) Happy Thanksgiving!

Quick Trapuntoed Wall Hanging and Playing with a New Thread

November 6th, 2008

I threw together a quickly fused wall hanging to play around a bit with threads. Here’s a shot of the fused top before anything was done:

…and here’s a shot of the top before it’s been placed into the quilt sandwich. Notice that all of the decorative thread work has been completed BEFORE it’s in a bulky sandwich!!!

I placed some batting scraps behind each flower (one at a time to make it easier to work), and here’s a shot of the trapuntoed large flower (all this is just the TOP since it hasn’t been placed into a quilt sandwich yet):

Can you see that heavy thread stitched in loops inside the flower? That is a new Italian thread that is pretty heavy, so it makes a nice statement. What REALLY makes it cool, though, is that it’s 1/2 wool and 1/2 acrylic (that part is to make it strong enough to withstand machine work). It’s made by an Italian company called Tristen Threads (www.cucirinitrestelle.com). If you ask for it at your quilt shop and they don’t have it, let your LQS owner know they carry it at Checker Distributors. Anyway, I digress! What’s neat about this thread is that the wool component makes it slightly “furry,” so it adds a wonderful texture to your quilt top. Here’s a shot of a spool and I think you can see that it has this slight “furriness” to it:

Here’s a shot of it on another quilt sandwich where I was playing with different brands of markers to color in my hyperquilted pansies. You can see how much heavier it is than the gold rayon thread I used in the hyperquilted design:

(By the way, most of the expensive fabric markers I tried had problems with bleeding on the fabric, so my favorite remains the Fabrimarkers by DryMark ). Anyways, back to this small wall hanging! Here’s a closeup of the small flower after it’s trapuntoed and decorated with a bit of thread work:

…and here’s a closeup of a leaf and a stem/swirl. I used no batting behind the leaves so they are free motion embroidered fusible web pieces, and the stems/swirls are backed by a REALLY lightweight batting because I don’t want them to poof out very much:

And last but not least, here is a shot of the backside of the top once all the trapunto and embroidery has been done:

…you can kind of tell that there are 2 types of batting. Hopefully, this will create varying levels of protrusion once it’s quilted! I’ll post pics once it’s done!

It’s a SALE!!!!!

November 1st, 2008

Fall is definitely in the air; in fact, after spending the day raking leaves, it’s stiffening my joints and flaring my mold allergies! It also means that the holidays are just around the corner, so we’d like to help you get the most out of your shopping dollars by placing our notions and patterns on sale! Stock up now for the favorite quilters on your shopping list! The products below are on special now through Sunday, November 9, 2008:

BENDABLE BRIGHT LIGHT – This lightweight light easily attaches to all kinds of sewing and quilting machines, making it possible to visualize even the finest of small details in your sewing field. Give the gift of light to your favorite quilter for only $39.95! (Everyday price – $49.95). If you haven’t yet seen this light in action, be sure to watch the video infomercial on the website that shows you just how bright it is, as well as how quickly and easily it can be attached to your machine! And don’t forget, this versatile light also adheres to other kinds of tools, so think of it for the woodworker on your shopping list!

40-INCH FLEXIBLE CURVE RULER – Have you ever wished you had a really long ruler to mark spine guidelines for a graciously curving feather or a long, meandering vine? Well, now you do! Save yourself time and hassle by using the 40-inch Truflex Ruler by Alvin, now discount priced at only $15.95! (Everyday price – $19.50).

PANSY GREETINGS ART QUILT PATTERN – Learn the fun of trapunto and easy thread painting techniques as you create this stunning art quilt! This pattern is designed for the quilter who LOVES to play with thread, and includes suggestions, instructions, and diagrams to help you quilt it once it’s been pieced! For a limited time only, sale priced at only $8.99 (Everyday price – $11.99).

HEARTS ‘N SWIRLS WALL HANGING PATTERN
– Learn the fun and art of trapunto as you create another great wall hanging! This pattern also contains instructions, suggestions, and diagrams to help you quilt it once it’s been pieced! For a limited time only, sale priced at only $8.99 (Everyday price – $11.99)

And now, it’s into a hot bath for my aching joints!