Thursday, December 30, 2010

Some Handy Tips & a Couple of New Products

Here are some tips I found useful and a two new products that I gleaned from a couple of quilting magazines I subscribe to. The tips are from Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting and I saw the products in McCall’s Quick Quilts and Quiltmaker.

Attach a couple of those cork or rubber floor protectors (that you use on the legs of furniture) to the bottom of your sewing machine foot pedal to keep it from slipping away from you on slick floors.

Practice free motion quilting designs on a dry-erase board. This helps develop the eye-hand coordination for the particular design you have chosen and you can practice it over and over. Just wipe away the markings with a soft cloth or scrap of batting until you have the pattern embedded in your brain. It really does help.

And here are a couple of newer products you might want to look into.

The first is called Pinmoor. These are small silicone cylinders that you stick on the ends of straight pins so you can baste your quilt with straight pins without worrying about the pins sticking you or falling out. They come in packages of 50 for $19—a bit pricey, but right now they are on sale for $14.45. Watch a video at http://www.pinmoor.com/video.html to see how easy they are to use and a few other uses besides basting.

The other product is for those of you who do embroidery and also own an iPhone. It is a new app by Judith Montano called Embroidery Stitch Tool. It is put out by C&T Publishing and is available through the iTunes App Store for $4.99. There is also a free “lite” version. The app gives you basics, nice how-to illustrations and instructional videos. Seems like it would be handy to have when traveling or on the go. It is the first of three in the series.

That’s it for today, friends.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Recent Work

First, I should mention that the photo on my earlier post was taken at my son's home in Alaska and was meant to make us all thankful we don't have to drive, walk or live with snow for months at a time.

I thought I would share some photos of recent projects I completed: an appliqued circle quilt from a Moda Bakeshop pattern that I modified, using larger blocks and a pieced border, a pieced turkey tablerunner from a Quilt In A Day pattern, two covers for Kitchenaid mixers from my own pattern, and two sets of placemats and lined napkins.











Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A New Quilting Year


A new year of quilting is about to begin. Some thoughts on my quilting goals this year.

I will strive to finish some of my hundred or so UFO's.
I will keep my studio in some semblance of order (Or clean enough so I can walk through it.)
I will venture into "art" quilting.
I will work on my San Diego Sue patterns.
I will support my students' quilting efforts in any way I can.
I will support my local quilt shops and quilt shows across Southern California. (My contribution to the economic recovery.)
I will share all things quilting with any followers I may acquire.

Sounds like a busy year. Happy New Year to all my sister quilters!