I just left my child with strangers!

At least it feels that way.  My featherweight is now in the shop and will most likely be there for two weeks!  And they really aren't strangers - I've left my Pfaff there before.  I'm sure you all understand how I feel, right?  I will be uneasy until she is back home.

I thought I could look at the new Pfaff Passport 2.0 while I was there.  Unfortunately they don't yet have them in stock.  There has been much discussion on the Jo Morton Yahoo Group about this machine.  I love my big Praff but it is showing its age.  It was one of the first with a blanket stitch, and the stitch isn't very attractive.  I've not used it for applique for this reason.  Right now I use it to sew on bindings, and that's about it.  Do I need another machine?  Probably not, but I'd LOVE to have a good blanket stitch.  And now and then I take a class for which I need more than a straight stitch machine - and my other Pfaff is so much heavier!

 
I think all quilters are gadget people, right?  I know I am.  Some I still have but never use.  Some I tried and then passed along to others.  Some I love and use a lot.  These fall into the last category.  (I learned about these on the Jo Morton group also.)  If you are a piecer who values precision even if it takes a little extra time you will love these.  I make all my half-square and quarter-square triangle squares, plus my flying geese, a little bit oversized so I can trim them precisely.  If you do that too, you know how the ruler can rock a little on the seam no matter how tightly you hold it.  These rulers have grooves on the back of them that fit over the seam so they CAN'T move or rock.  I've had mine about 10 days and love them madly.  I used them when piecing my Shoe Fly blocks yesterday.  If this sounds like you, follow the link to the video and watch them in action.  The are somewhat spendy, but in my mind worth every penny.  Mine are the two small sets as I love to make little blocks.  I'm sure I'll add more eventually.  

So what am I going to do without the distraction of my featherweight for two weeks?   Maybe now I'll get the longarm running, prep more applique, baste some quilt tops and do more hand quilting.  Or maybe I'll clean - which is what I'm supposed to be doing today LOL!

Here is my finished project. This is the little quilt top that was lost for several months. I started this project in a class with René Plains in 2004. The pattern was published in the April 2002 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I wasn't all that thrilled with the top when I finished it - too few fabrics were used to suit my love of scrappy quilts. However, now that I'm finished with it I really like it. Amazing how quilting brings life to a flat quilt top! I quilted this with Cebelia, a heavy thread often used for crochet, using a stitch sized about half way between a regular quilting stitch and "big stitch" utility quilting. Because the quilt is small I thought regular "big stitch" would be a bit big proportionally. Peg's given me an award for this completion - thanks Peg! This leaves me three to go for the challenge.

Tonight I continued working on Carolina Crossroads. I'm so eager to cross this one off my unfinished tops list, as doing so will complete that list. There sure is a lot of sewing in this top! I chose the same colors as Bonnie did, because I had more red and blue in my strip drawers than any other colors. I like how it is turning out. This will probably become another quilt for the camper - we discovered last weekend that we need a second quilt for cold nights.

Tomorrow I must call a halt to my own projects long enough to quilt a customer quilt. She needs it back in time to get it ready to enter in the county fair - where in the world is July going? I can't believe it's past the middle of the month already!

I bought a new quilting tool a few days ago. I used to buy every new tool I saw - and so many of them were never used. I seldom buy them now, but this is one I just had to try. Sometimes the arthritis in my hands makes it very hard to hold the ruler steady when rotary cutting. I've also cut slices off the index finger of my left hand twice with the cutter - the first time requiring several stitches. So when I read raves reviews about the Gypsy Gripper I decided to try it. Here you see it locked onto my 6 1/2" x 24 1/2" ruler, which I used to cut binding strips for the little René Plains quilt. This gripper is marvelous! It was so easy to hold the ruler in place, and there was no way it was moving at all while I was cutting. I really recommend this tool if you ever have trouble holding your rulers. Now I can't wait to get the small size for my smaller rulers.

Gratitudes:
1. A wonderful day with Joseph
2. Cooler weather today
3. Another 1.6 pounds lost, for a total of 3.6
4. A nice dinner out with my DH

Taking pictures is a good thing

There's something about a picture that helps you see things you just can't seem to see in person. In looking at the picture I see I've messed up a couple blocks in the bottom right of the quilt. Good thing nothing is sewn together yet! The center pinwheel in the bottom right star is supposed to look just like the center pinwheel in the top left star.

Pictures are worth more than a thousand words - they are also worth the time it takes to do a whole bunch of frogging!

Confession is good for the soul

I admit it. I am a ruler junkie. I love rotary rulers. All kinds of rotary rulers. I have no idea how many I have. They are hanging all over my sewing room wall - two deep in a couple places. I have three slotted ruler holders too. One sits on the end of my cutting table, and two smaller ones sit on one of my storage carts. I need to toss some of them because the corners are nicked from dropping and reckless driving with my cutter, but that would be like tossing an old friend. I used to use Omnigrid rulers because I could see the yellow and black markings so well, but now I'm gradually replacing them with Creative Grid rulers. I'm in love with these rulers because they have little "sticky dots" built right onto the back of the ruler to prevent it from slipping. As the arthritis in my hands developed I found it harder and harder to hold onto a ruler while cutting, and these rulers have solved the problem. It was just like Christmas this week - I got three new ones! Three squares - a 2 1/2", a 3 1/2", and a 16 1/2". (Don't you love 30% off sales?) I firmly believe that "the right tool makes the job easy", and "good tools will last a lifetime". I like to use a ruler that's just the right size for what I'm cutting, so I don't have to try to hold down any extra ruler. I figure if I'm going to spend much of my leisure time quilting I might as well have the best tools I can afford, right?

Any other ruler junkies out there? Time to confess. What's your favorite ruler?

I've been doing mostly appliqué for months now, but the urge to piece has been getting stronger and stronger. Both the Heirloom Stitches and the new Jan Patek mystery are perfect projects for me this year, because they have some of both. I spent yesterday piecing the first three blocks of Heirloom Stitches, and it was so enjoyable! There's just something about hanging a new, beautiful block on my design wall that fills my heart with joy. I keep ducking back into the room for another look. I love the way the colors and designs of the fabric play off each other - sometimes subtle and sometimes with much contrast. Many of you will think I'm nuts, but I love to piece complicated blocks. Sure, I love to piece simple ones too, but there's something very satisfying about getting dozens of little triangles, squares and other shapes to fit together into an aesthetically pleasing whole. These three blocks certainly gave me that. The simplest of the blocks has 28 pieces, and the most complicated has 87 pieces. They aren't big blocks either - two 9" and one 6". It took most of the day to cut them out and put them together, but that hardly matters. As Patty says in her Morning Ramble, many of us are rushing through life at too fast a pace anyway. It's so rewarding to savor each step of the block construction - the way the fabrics feel, the way they play off each other, and feel the joy of seeing all the smaller parts slowly come together to make a beautiful whole.

People who don't quilt just don't know what they are missing, do they?