mending with Kimono Silk

It's great having grown-up girls. We can share shoes and sweaters. When I got my sweater back it was a bit holey. The weave was loose and so I thought that it might not be too hard to mend. I had a look through my threads and the closest match was a cone from the Kimono Silk range called Tsunami.

 Here it is, all mended now. The silk thread was so fine that it just slipped between the fibres and seemed to disappear. Now it's just as good as new. Thank you Superior Threads!

mending with Kimono Silk threads #336 Tsunami

A Fine Line

machine quilting detail of Stephanie Pettengell's 3D cube

I got to know Stephanie at our Machine Quilting Retreat last January. It was a great group of girls. We all had a wonderful time, laughed a lot and learned so much from each other. People from the group have been keeping up with each other ever since. Stephanie rang a few months ago looking for some threads that would show up against black. She went for Kimono Silk in the end. I was thrilled to get to see the completed projects at the Festival of Quilts last week! 

Stephanie and Martha at the Festival of Quilts 2013

Stephanie belongs to a Textile group called New Horizons and they were invited to exhibit in their very own gallery at this years Festival of Quilts.

Stephanie with her cube in front of her Profiles quilt

The combination of the fine line and the vivid gold colour of the silk was so effective in this project. The New Horizon group members created cubes to give 3D interest to the gallery for visitors. Stephanie created six different circular designs free-motion quilting intricate feathers sitting at the sewing machine.The Kimono Silk threads were just perfect!

exquisite quilting - one face of Stephanie's cube

However, I think that Stephanie's Profile wall hanging generated the most interest! I'll let Stephanie tell you the story in her own words:

"As a member of The New Horizons Textile Group, with the theme of ‘Now We Are Twenty’ I designed the wallhanging ‘Profiles’ for our gallery at the Festival of Quilts 2013. My design was based on the fact that we often have to write a ‘profile’ of ourselves when we show our work. Looking further into the visible profile of a person I wondered how each of us came to think of a theme for our next exhibiting work and how our brains developed our ideas. I wanted the finished piece to make people look more than once,  as I love quilts where you look once and then look again and find more to see. To do this, as well as quilting the discharged visible ‘heads’ I also quilted ‘heads’ in the background among the whirling feathers. Hopefully this invites viewers to step in to see more of the design as the background is textural at first but the more you look the more detail you can see. To achieve this you need a fine thread with a fine needle, I used black kimono silk thread with a small needle to stitch on the black fabric."

This was such a fascinating piece. The stitching was amazing! When I took a closer look to admire the quilting I started to notice the other heads quilted in relief. Wow! This quilt drew me in and got me thinking!

quilting detail of Stephanie Pettengell's Profiles

You can order Kimono Silk threads from our New online shop as well as all the other ranges of Superior Threads. We are the original UK Superior Threads distributors servicing the UK and Europe.

Star of the Sea

Martha piecing the 'Star of the Sea' on the JUKI Exceed 600

Our friends had a new baby and invited us to the Baptism. So Emily and I decided to make a watery quilt to suit the occasion. We chose the fabrics together. This simple half-square triangle star top came together quickly.  I did the piecing and Emily did the quilting.

Auditioning threads from various Superior Threads ranges

Once the top was pieced and on the frame we needed to choose the threads. We narrowed it down to a variegated Rainbows and some of the silks from the Kimono Silk range of Superior Threads. In the end we chose the turquoise silk #343 Okinawa. It looked nice against all the fabrics in the top. The fine silk created a subtle texture but it was strong enough to machine quilt at high speeds. 

on the 6 foot Art Quilter frame

 The 6 foot Art Quilter frame gives 55 inches of quilting space and is a perfect size for baby quilts. This quilt top measured about 50 inches square.

Emily's free-motion feathers

 Ever since our April retreat, Emily's been wanting to try feathers. So she decided to quilt feathers in the central star shape and a waterery wavey pattern on the background.

free-motion quilting detail

 We think that the different styles of free-motion quilting created a good contrast.

machine quilting detail

Notice how the feather quilting stands out on the blue crab fabric and disappears on the Amy Butler paisley.

a good view of the JUKI TL98P

 Here's a good view of the JUKI TL98P straight stitch sewing machine. The extra length and height of the arm make it perfect for free-motion quilting on a frame.

a view of the quilt back

We used #633 Light Turquoise Bottom Line pre-wounds in the bobbin. The Bottom Line range from Superior Threads is designed especially for the bobbin and the fine weight is a good match for the Kimono Silk on top. We liked how the Turquoise thread showed up against the white of the backing fabric. Emily was so happy with how the back looked that she wants to do a similar pattern in a whole-cloth quilt. I do love the way that one quilt leads to another ; )

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off the frame ane ready for binding

Here it is all finished and thrown across the frame. The quilting just took 4 hours spread over 2 days. It's going to make a lovely present.