Margaret has a new table!

Here’s her note to me:

“I had a table and used the Sam’s table to extend my space. It is so great and spacious. I am marking a quilt now to begin stitching. I am so excited that this set-up will control a lot of problems I was having, i.e. the weight of the quilt pulling against the needle, jerky movement of the quilt…..well these and other difficulties are now in the past. I just can’t thank you enough.”

I talked her into sending me a pic – isn’t it great!

Check out this adaptation of my "cheap table"

Barbara Fons used my foam insulation and clear vinyl ideas to make a “Faux Longarm” as she calls it – I might have to give this a try!

Great Homemade Table

I was browsing the creations at Instructables and I found this great table. If you have space in your sewing room for a free standing table (or even if it were pushed into a corner) this looks like a wonderful table for cutting and (with a pressing mat) maybe even pressing yardage. I want one!

Best of all, all the instructions for building it are right on the site! If you have not visited Instructables yet click on over and get inspired and if you have a woodworker or carpenter in your house, send the link to this table and get busy making room for it!

Green

My favorite color is green. I found a green batting at Spring Quilt Market, it’s green because it’s made from recycled soda pop bottles! Sarah bought a case of it and I’m going to get a batt from her to use. Sarah spent a significant amount of time at Market looking for organics and other eco-friendly products. I recently welcomed my towns adoption of recycling plastic (should have been doing so 20 years ago like some states) with open arms full of plastics I’ve been washing and saving for a year (what a mess!)

Last night we watched the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car”. What a shock. I drive a 13 yr old vehicle and Toms is 12 yrs old. I have over 200,000 miles on my car and I’m not buying another vehicle until I can buy an electric car. By all information available and confirmed, I should be able to buy it today. Check out the movie at Netflix or Amazon or the movie’s own website or ev1.org or even Wiki.….please….watch this movie. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Quilt Room Photo

I just love having a cutting table that I can stand at and walk around! Sarah gave me this table and I use it all the time. The other thing that I really like is the pegboard that hangs next to it. I have the table shoved into a corner (no wobbling) and my rulers, rotary cutters and scissors hang from it along with a comfortable mish mash of stuff . My mess, take a peek.

That cute quilt on the wall is, I believe, the first quilt Sarah ever made…isn’t that sweet! She gave it to me!

Quilt Photography

I have a good set up for hanging small quilts for photography. It’s a rolling clothing rack (about $12 at Walmart) and yards of stiff poly fleece (this is not the soft jacket style fleece) draped over it and 2 chunks of rigid foam insulation (my favorite building material!).

I used silk pins – they have almost no head – to pin straight through the quilt, fleece and into the chunk of foam.

There is very little distortion to the quilt (it would be better on a flat wall, I know this, but I don’t have the space) making it a good compromise.

I was surprised that the whole lap sized quilt was able to be suspended by just the fleece, so the pins really just perform the task of keeping it straight and keeping it from falling off while I am trying to take the picture.

Holly Knott shares her very helpful tips for quilt photography here.

Cure for Thread Backlash

I was having a heck of a time with my decorative stitching and thread backlash in the bobbin. I thought it was the thread (no) the stitch (no) and finally just assumed that the timing was off on the sewing machine (no).

I can’t say I know what caused the problem, but I do know what backlash is: bobbin thread whipping backwards in the bobbin case & either bunching up or creating huge globs of thread clusters on the back of the fabric or quilt or winding itself onto the bobbin spring and shredding.

I had read a while ago about a teflon ring that was being sold as a ‘cure’ for backlash and in desperation, I cut a corner off my teflon pressing sheet and trimmed it to fit the bobbin case and guess what? No more backlash and I have been happily stitching ever since! Now, cutting up the pressing pad was an act of desperation – the teflon rings are available at quilt shops and online at Keepsake Quilting. But, if you’re desperate for a solution and don’t want to wait…….

Making cutting & pressing easier

As with my custom quilting desk I’ve improvised my cutting and pressing tables & surfaces. Here are the things I use and like, and why. This table (Sam’s Club $42) has 3 height settings, so I can sew on it (sitting down) or stand comfortably and cut fabrics and battings at it’s tallest setting of 36″ high.
On the table you see my rotary cutter and my 20½” square ruler made by Omni. I just love this for cutting my quilt-as-you-go squares and for cutting batting squares.

I use this gripper stuff after trying several other brands and I just love it! (Walmart) I use it under my laptop, under cutting pads and under the wooden pressing surface that I improvised with a piece of plywood with Warm & Natural batting and muslin fabric. {Lowe’s used to carry these smaller pieces of wood in bins in the plywood aisle, or you can buy a sheet of plywood and have them make the cuts for you}.

I just put the piece of gripper on the bare ironing board surface and then place the wood on it and cover it with cotton batting and then muslin.

Don’t be afraid to improvise to make your sewing and quilting easier. I like the wood board because it is slightly larger than a fat quarter of fabric (18″x22″).

Favorite Things

I am going to do the Martha Stewart thing and post a few of my favorite (machine quilting) things. I’ve been machine quilting (home machine, longarm & midarm) for 13 yrs and have been teaching for about 10 yrs. I’ve used a lot of products over the years and I have developed some specific preferences. I am preparing to teach tomorrow and that brought this list to mind:

I love Warm & Natural batting for MQ – it’s flat and slightly stiff and that keeps it from bunching up when I’m trying to quilt. When washed it makes a nice soft quilt. I only use Sulky clear polyester for SID. The most important tool to keep nearby is a tiny screwdriver to change bobbin tension with and the cheapest one you can buy comes in an eyeglass repair kit. I love my Machingers Quilting Gloves – they are light, they let my skin breathe and the grippy tips are superb.

A flat surface is a must and you can build an area around your machine with many things. I’ve used heavy cardboard boxes with glossy surfaces and now I have my home-made dream desk and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. (How to build it here). Good lighting is a must and it’s cheap too. I buy 4′ long florescent hanging fixtures (shop lights) and I put daylight rated bulbs in them. I have 2 of these hanging over my sewing area. You can see them in this pic.

Cheap Fixes for Sewing and Quilting

Here’s my solution for using cone thread with a DSM (domestic sewing machine). I bought a cheap toilet tank repair kit at the hardware store (I just love it there – almost as much as my LQS – local quilt shop) and I used this long part with the loop, taped to the top of the sewing machine to guide the thread off the cone. Works like a charm! If you are wondering what’s up with the blue foam insulation – click here to learn about my homemade quilting desk.

This is the paper backing on the clear vinyl that I covered my homemade sewing table with. It is supposed to be window covering for storm windows or something like that (I have no idea) but it’s slicker than an icy sidewalk after a downpour! Very slick. Meaning that no matter how heavy your quilt is (and I’ve made flannel quilts with Warm & Natural batting ~~ heavy enough to sink a skiff) the fabrics just glide over this surface like melted butter. No kidding.

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