Learning to Work With Exotic Threads

On Saturday, June 15th, I had the pleasure of learning from Sarah Ann Smith - author of ThreadWork Unraveled.  She is the invited speaker at our Guild meeting this month and is giving two workshops over the weekend. Saturday was Tame Fiddly, Fussy Threads for Machine Quilting and Sunday/Monday is Quilting Design (which unfortunately because it is a 1.5 day class, I'm not able to attend).

 

The first part of the day was spent preparing the fabric for our project.  I chose to use the leaves provided in the class handout and to work with a blue/green colorway. We traced designs onto freezer paper and cut out the stencils then used paints to embellish the square for later quilting.  While the paint dried, Sarah discussed the importance of matching needles and threads and sorting out the tension.

I also learned a new cutting technique.  Using an 18 mm rotary cutter with the end tucked in my right palm, with my left index finger resting on the cutter above the blade to act as a break, it is possible to smoothly cut the stencils.  Clearly a picture would make more sense here, but that will have to wait a bit.

After lunch we started practicing with the threads to set the tension.  For each of the four threads, I marked in my lesson journal where I set the tensions. We used a 40 weight rainbow, a 30 weight solid, a silver metallic and a glitter. 

The silver and the glitter had the added challenge of being quite fine and easy to break.  Take home from the practice piece - if the tension is balanced and the thread still breaks, then the tension may be a skosh too tight.  We also learned about the effect of the fabric/needle friction on metallic threads.  When stitching for long periods of time, the needle heats up. This can cause the metallic thread to snap.  An easy fix it to take out the warm needle and set it aside (if it is not making a thunking noise then it is still a good needle) and replace with a cool needle.

Thread breaks can also be a function of using the wrong size needle with the chosen thread.  We reviewed the types of needs - Quilting, Ballpoint, Universal, Sharp, Topstitch etc.  Blown up on a large screen it is much easier to see the difference in the size of the eye.

Driving to class, just past the "point of no return" in terms of being able to turn back and get forgotten items from class, I realized that I didn't pack extra bobbin (inspiring me for future classes to make up a class kit with sewing basics), so I wound our bobbin threads in small amounts onto my one bobbin and tried to use them up - thus the extensive testing on my sample square.  I also tried out some leaf motifs.  Finally, I had to bite the bullet and push past my fear of not being perfect and start stitching.

I outlined and embellished the aqua leaves with the silver metallic thread and doodled with the glitter thread, until I ran out of bobbin thread - which coincided with the end of our class.  The glitter thread is mylar and VERY fragile. And a total pain to try to thread as it holds onto the curl from the spool.  Some rethreads were easy, others nearly impossible.  When it breaks it resembles a curly ribbon - so some has to be trimmed off.

I will outline and embellish the green leaves with blue thread and then add some leaves with the variegated thread and probably background quilt a bit with black.  Bobbin thread is polyester as that plays better in the sandbox with the glitter and metallic threads.

Mom Cave Update

 Just in time for a weekend being spent sewing away from the house (I'm participating in a guild workshop taught by Sarah Ann Smith this weekend -Tame Fiddly Fussy Threads for Machine Quilting), I have a useable work space again. It took several dedicated evenings and a good movie playing in the background to get here.  There are still some tweaks to make (and as long as I don't look behind me I'm happy) but I've got the basics sorted out.
 
There have been some substantial changes - the cutting/pressing station is now in the middle of the room - behind my sewing stations. And as mentioned before that space is now inhabited by my fabric hutch. Attempts at getting Command Strip hooks to stick have been variable. Periodically rulers slide to the floor - so I'm rethinking where some of these have been hung.  I am committed to not putting nails in the side of the hutch.

Some of the rulers are in the middle drawer. The largest will go onto nails on the wall (these don't fit in the drawers). It would be nice to have some of the most frequently used easily available.

Bernadette has been acting up recently, and I've learned more about foot control pedals than I expected to...  apparently the old 290 controller features a series of carbon disks inside a mechanism that affects how quickly the needle moves. Each time the disk is activated, a little bit burns away.  As this part is no longer readily available, I'll be on the lookout for a replacement pedal for both machines - fortunately they have the same plug/cord so both Bernadette and Penny can share a pedal.  For strip piecing, the rapid rate of stitching isn't a problem - but for detail work like applique, it is.

Mollie is now sporting an overlay which creates a smoother surface for maneuvering the quilt and utilizing rulers.

The broad overview. I can promise it won't be this clean tomorrow.  Next project is to get back to work on the Sandy Breeze so that I can get it turned back in to my guild.

Fabric Reorganization

I now have a beautiful hutch in my craft room to store fabric and other supplies.  I think we picked this out at Unfinished Furniture Express in 1995, and I did all the staining/polyurethaning myself. I also picked out the nifty hardware.  As Gus and I dusted and polished this on Memorial Day, I did ask myself why I didn't stain the backs of the doors or the back of the lower cabinet.  Ah youth...  well, it isn't happening now either I'm too busy organizing fabric.

For the past year or so, I've stored fabric in Rubbermaid Tubs. While spacious and supportive of my cutting/pressing station, it is not an ideal solution as I cannot easily see or access fabric. Which sometimes results in re-purchasing fabric. I will miss my wall of rulers - and considered not moving the hutch in here, but decided that was me being silly.  The sideboard is much happier in the dining room, than it would be in the middle of the living room (and Mike is happier too).

The first step was to measure the doors and shelves so that I could get the appropriate tubs for better
fabric organization. I found these at Walmart.  Not my favorite color for the handles, but I do like the clear containers better than the aqua/blue alternative (better color but pretty dark so harder to pick out the right box). I got the 3.5 and 6.5 inch deep boxes so that they can be stacked.

Next step is to decide on organization - 1/2 yard to about 1 yard cuts are folded and placed in the deep boxes. Scraps and fat quarters in the shallow boxes, with a few set aside for special projects.  I'm attempting by color, with a novelty box and a Christmas box as I have LOTS of holiday fabrics.  Larger cuts are wrapped around comic book boards for stability, and even larger cuts (think bolt ends) are flat folded and stacked at one side.

Gus is also having fun learning about another side of his Mom.  For the past 20 years, Dad has tried to send my Breyer horse collection home with me... and I've generally left it boxed in Tallahassee as we don't have room to display them here. However, my parents are trying to purge stuff, so that box, along with several others made it onto the behemoth.  Gus unwrapped my collection and handed it up to me. At first I was sure that I was short a box or two, but that box turned out to be similar to Mary Poppins carpet bag as horse after horse revealed itself. At one point Gus was convinced we had to be done, to which I assured him that based upon the incomplete family groups on the shelves there were at least 6 still in there... I need more shelves now. That is a project for June.

Aiming for Accuracy Quilt-Along

The Aiming for Accuracy Quilt-Along is starting up. The quilt is designed by Michele Foster at The Quilting Gallery Blog. Today she posted a picture of the finished quilt design along with the fabric requirements.  It will be a 16 week project, starting June 20th.  I am hopeful that I will have my Mom Cave back in shape by then so that I can spend some more regular time working on craft projects.  It looks like a fun summer project - especially as Gus will be out of the house for much of the summer at various camps and I won't be schlepping around to his various meetings and practices.

Now to pick 20-24 fabrics that work together!

So, what happened to May?

Wow - busy month so far. Not much activity in the Mom Cave for the first three weeks.

The first weekend was spent with our Boy Scout Troop out at Camp Runamuck.  I almost backed out, when I learned that the other female leader who was planning to go had a last minute emergency arise. So I ended up being the only female on the trip...  20+ preteen & teen boys, plus our other leaders.  It was colder than expected but a fun way to relax for the weekend.  Had a similar experience last summer when I went to Camp Durant for Summer Camp, but there were other women at camp then, both on staff and as leaders with other units.

Mother's Day weekend we spent around the house and I spent the next week finishing up a grant proposal with one PI and laying the foundation for one of our July submissions with another team.

You may remember that in February, I took an impromptu trip to Denmark to spend time with my Mother as she closed up my Mormor's home (Mormor is Mother's Mother in Danish). So I spent the third weekend in May moving furniture. A quick flight to Tallahassee to spend a long weekend with my parents and sister and her family and then spent a very long day driving a 15 foot rental truck home.

 There were two paintings between the chairs and the panel that I unscrewed to get into the crate.  There were several more paintings stuffed alongside other items of furniture. The remaining paintings traveled in the smaller crate.

 There were multiple "layers" of packing - to accomplish fitting 11 chairs in. The sideboard and dining room table (you can see the feet) rode on their respective short ends at the back of the crate.

Around 1,400 pounds of furniture and other items arrived in two crates. The large one weighed in at over 1,100 pounds and is being transformed into a playhouse for my nephews.  Very little space was wasted with this packing job. The crates were shipped by sea from Copenhagen to Miami and then by truck to Jacksonville. Thankfully there was a landscape team at the house who provided stability to assist the shippers in removing the large crate from the truck.

In less than three hours we managed to empty the 7x7x4 crate into "my" truck and my parent's house. And then focused on unpacking and repacking the 10 boxes of smaller items to divide amongst four households. In the meantime, Dad saw an opportunity to send items long stored in Florida up to my sister and I in North Carolina.

Note to other drivers - "Budget" or "Uhaul" or "Penske" on the side of a truck should be like a neon flashing sign - that the driver is probably NOT used to driving something of this size (though is probably a little older than my test driver).  I was given a "free" upgrade from 10 feet to 15 feet. Truthfully - I only needed 10 feet and even that was bigger than I needed.  For the record, the ramp is more trouble than it is worth - especially when the ramp is wet.  I've now crossed an item off my Bucket List that I never knew was on my Bucket List.

This past weekend I spent at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium - but that has been featured in several posts already and more to come.

Now, I'm faced with needing to reorganize my craft room/Mom cave again in order to get it back to useable space.  No rest for the weary... this coming weekend we have a Troop Merit Badge College back at Runamuck and Ice Hockey tryouts for next season.

NC Quilt Symposium - A Day with Harriet Hargrave!

Wow!  What a day!  When I was a kid, I remember writing a fan letter to Sean Cassidy, but other than that I've not been much of a groupie. My husband laughs (and possibly cringes) remembering when I met Michael Piller, one of the creators or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager at an advisory board meeting - I did not wait for an introduction, instead walked up and stuck my hand out and launched into why I loved the series...  Okay, and in my adult life, I'm a huge fan of Trans Siberian Orchestra...

So, as I said to friends tonight - I've tried to stay at "quilt groupie" level versus "stalker" but have been totally giddy getting to meet Harriet Hargrave and take a class from her.  She is a wonderful teacher. And we had the pleasure of hearing her speak tonight and present a trunk show.  Outstanding and touching at the same time.

This is the quilt that started it all.  It is simple, elegant and led to a publisher encouraging Harriet to write Heirloom Machine Quilting.

Harriet  shared many stories about her life and her quilting journey. And I hope that you will have the chance to hear her speak in the future.

Class today was Invisible Machine Applique. The room was packed to the rafters. Aside from the capacitor issue with my machine's pedal - I had no 'slow' speed, I had a surprisingly trouble free day.

This is my tulip from class today. At this stage the flower and the heart layers are sewn together and the applique has been build onto the foundation fabric. It has since been appliqued to the foundation. With multiple instances of driver error.  Much of class today was spend figuring out the settings for our machines and testing strips in order to understand how width, length and tension interact to create the perfect stitch.  And of course, we learned to create the applique pieces. I really like the way mine turned out and am very glad to have taken the class.

Following the class, I shared a few of my Quilter's Academy quilts with Harriet in an impromptu trunk show from the back seat of my car.  What can I say. I'm a fan!

Overall a great day.  More detail to come in the coming weeks as I digest and practice what I learned this week.

The take home message from tonight's talk was patience, precision and practice all play a role in developing my skills as a quilter.

Reporting in from the Quilt Symposium

This will be brief - long and happy day today.  I took the class "No Fear Free Motion Quilting" with Sandy Fitzpatrick. I am happy to say that I am no longer terrified of Free Motion Quilting.  I did manage to run into about every problem I could and make most of the available stupid mistakes...

Tally for today - 1 stuck finger (I managed to poke it while trying to thread the needle), 2 broken needles (1 on each machine - I'm going with "old needles" - that is my story and I'm sticking with it). Shredded thread, broken thread, broken bobbin thread, miswound bobbin, forgot to lower presser foot, probably forgot to raise presser foot...

Penny and I are not getting along right now - not sure why, or what is going on, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and replace the foot pedal. I've been warned by my sewing machine tech that it wasn't functioning correctly.  Slow was not an option for some reason. Very frustrating. Fortunately Bernadette was also in the car, so I switched them out at lunch. Bernadette still whips along, but I could get a slower stitch.

We spent the morning doodling and the afternoon playing with feathers.  Definitely a confidence builder.  Well off to sleep. Tomorrow (today) I'm taking "Invisible Machine Applique" with Harriet Hargrave!