Say it with Selvedge

I've been collecting selvedges for years. So when our son Pete turned ten I decided to make a space table runner to go with our space themed party.

We had lots of fun with bright colours, costumes and glow-in-the-dark toys.

I decided to 'go for modern' and straight stitch the table runner. I used glow in the dark NiteLite Extra Glow thread from Superior Threads and then some brightly coloured variegated threads from the Rainbows range. I like how the straight stitches showed the one inch colour change.

By choosing different words from the selvedge labels I was able to write a birthday message to Peter.

Did you know that selvage can be spelled two ways? Since I started following Karen Griska's selvage blog I've been saving selvages. When we decided to have a Space themed party to celebrate Pete's 10th Birthday, I wanted to make a table runner. I had some great fabric that would be fun to work with. I also had a pile of selvedges that I'd been saving. I've been wanting to use them but wasn't sure how.

Then I got an idea. Peter was turning 10. I thought that I could use the colour dots on the selvedges that went up to 10. And, of course, count downs from 10 went well with the space theme.While I was counting dots I started finding some fun words and it occurred to me that I could piece them together to make a message. Martha is such an unusual name, I couldn't believe my luck when I came across it on the edge of some Rowan fabric.

In the end I was able to 'say it with selvedge' just for fun.

Machine Quilter Clinic

Jackie and I have decided to offer
a short form of our Machine Quilter Retreats.
We're calling them Machine Quilter Clinics.
Many people say they'd love to come to a Retreat
but don't have the time. We hope this is the answer!

The Machine Quilter Clinics will run from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. We'll offer morning and afternoon tutorial sessions. Just like our longer Retreats, we'll plan the sessions around what the people coming want to learn.We provide quilting frames, sewing machines and all the materials.  Mill Lodge will provide  elevensies, a cooked lunch and afternoon tea and cakes. We'll have a good selection of Superior Threads available to try and buy too.

Our first Machine Quilter Clinic will be 

Monday April 7th. 

from 10 am to 4 pm

The venue is the lovely 

Mill Lodge 

at the top of Cannick Hill in Lincoln. 

Mill Lodge has provided a lovely space for us to use 

with plenty of room to spread out, 

 lots of natural light 

and easy on site parking. 

If you're struggling with machine quilting

don't suffer alone

come to our Machine Quilter Clinic

we're just what the Doctor ordered!

Our Machine Quilter Clinics provide

personal morning and afternoon

 machine quilting tuition

all materials included 

elevensies, cooked lunch,

 afternoon tea and cakes

and free parking too

all for£99.

If you are travelling any distance 
and would like to stay for the night 
we will help you book a room nearby.

Call or email Martha

to book your place

01526 378057

marthamilne@tiscali.co.uk

Practical Presents

Superior Threads make the best presents for your quilting friends and family! Visit our shop or have a look at the American site to see what's new. Drop me a quick email and your threads will arrive in plenty of time for Christmas.

For UK and European quilters, I'm putting an order through this week. Send an email with your order by noon on Friday and I'll be able to get your threads for the following week.

We also offer a wrapping and posting service! email: martha@machinequilter.co.uk

The Quilt Show has a blog post today about Maria Elkin's Windblown Quilt. Follow the link and you can see a clip of the interview.

Thread Wise

This post is about thread choices. I could have called it thread 'whys' as I'll be explaining which threads I used in this last quilt and why I used them.

I pieced the top with MasterPiece thread on top and in the bobbin. Why? Masterpiece is 100% extra-long staple , really grown in Egypt cotton. I like to match the fibre content of the thread and the fabric here in the piecing process. The pieced seams in a quilt are the weight bearing seams. Think about hanging up a completed quilt or shaking the wrinkles out of a quilt. What seams are bearing the most weight? In a house not all walls are load bearing walls. In a quilt not all stitches bear the same stress. Lots of people get their knickers in a twist about various types of quilting thread. But it is the pieced seams that are the stress bearing seams. And if we want to match the thread fibres to the fabric fibres, it is most important to do this for the pieced seams. MasterPiece will bear up well against the various stresses in the life of a quilt. With 75 gorgeous colours it's easy to get a good colour match. MasterPiece is a fine weight thread, not too heavy or bulky so it gives nice flat seams and sharp points. I find MasterPiece an ideal piecing thread.

MasterPiece comes in pre-wounds! I love pre-wounds because I hate winding bobbins. Pre-wounds can hold 3 times as much thread as the bobbins that you wind yourself and they work great in most sewing machines, my Janome Memory Craft 6600 work great with pre-wounds.

Because the cotton fibres are matched in the piecing thread I am free to use whatever threads suit my fancy for the machine quilting. For this project I've used Rainbows, a variegated trilobal polyester from Superior Threads. All the fibres that make up this thread are light reflecting which gives Rainbows a lovely shine to it. This particular thread is #803 Northern Lights.

I've used a pre-wound Bottom Line in the bobbin, a soft blue which disappears into the pieced backing fabric. Rainbows and Bottom Line are a machine quilting marriage made in heaven. They work beautifully together!

Finally, for sewing the binding by machine, I've used Sew Fine on top and a pre-wound Bottom Line in the bobbin. Then to hand sew the final stage of the binding I used a red Bottom Line to match the binding colour. The Bottom Line is just wonderful for hand sewing - it disappears into the fabric and it never knots up. I find it a real pleasure to hand sew with.

In summary, I've used a mixture of cotton and polyester threads in the quilt. The choices have to do with the piecing and quilting process as well as the look and durability of the end product. I'm confident that it will wash and wear well and I'm delighted with how it looks.

I didn't want to love you

I made a sample thread demo piece for the thread talk in our April Retreat. I wanted to show just how different thread looks actually quilted on fabric as opposed to on the cone. It was a fun exercise. I used the same mussel shell line design so everyone could see how different threads played out with the same design against the same fabric.

Although I had some Kimono silk thread in stock I'd never actually quilted with it before. So this practice piece was my first try. To be honest, I didn't want to like it! Using silk thread seemed extravagant. Although it came highly recommended by famous names like Diane Gaudynski, I just wasn't convinced that it was an option for the ordinary quilter.

I was certainly taken by surprise! This thread went though my machine like butter on bread. It just glided - no breakage issues even though I was in a hurry to finish the project in time for the start of the retreat. I didn't want to love it but I do! So now I'm building up the Kimono Silk stock. Let me know if you want to try it too. Superior Threads new line of Kimono Silk is available here in the UK for £15.95 for a 1,090 yd. cross-wound mini-cone... a little extravagance goes a long way!

It's not yet up on the website but we can order whatever you fancy. You can view the colours on the American Superior Threads site and give us a ring on 01526 378057

Hugs & Kisses

Look what I quilted yesterday! This is a 'Hugs and Kisses' table runner. (The pattern makes X's and O's, a suitable sentiment for Valentine's Day)) I'd originally used this pumpkin seed pattern in an autumnal coloured quilt. Now I wanted to see how the design played out in other colours. It was fun choosing lots of pinks and reds and lots of different whites.

First I needed to choose the threads.

I wanted a lacy look so it had to be 'Lace White'.

For the quilting, I began by simply scalloping around the edges. I wanted to achieve a 'doily' look. Scallops are such a useful and prolific pattern. Once you start looking for them you'll see them everywhere! I'll post the rest tomorrow.

Feathers

I haven't quilted feathers for ages! But watching Trudi at the Festival of Quilts this summer inspired me. The next stripe had just enough room for two wavy feathers, with an echo round the edges. Now I'm hooked.

I chose this variegated King Tut #914 Ramses Red. Even the back looked pretty. You can scroll back and see another photo of the feather stripe on last Wednesday's post.

Thread Choices

For the next 3 stripes, I used the same quilting pattern; the Filigree Scrollwork design that I used on the table runner. In the first red strip, I added the holly leaf motif.

I used a King Tut #989 Malachite - a lovely rich green tonal. Since I've already given a doodle design for that pattern in a previous post, I'll focus on the thread choices.

For the 'houses in the dark' stripe, I used this new King Tut called 'Holy and Ivy' that I picked up on the Houston Trip. It was so like the Boughs of Holly tube of cookie sprinkles that I just had to photograph them together.

For the red and green 'fir forest' stripe, I went for a larger looser version of the same scrollwork line design. After a bit of thought, I went for a gold Metallic for this one. By varying the thread and scale, and throwing in a motif, the same line design played out quite differently across the three stripes.

Christmas Runner Details

Here's some doodles of the lines designs in the runner. On the paisley part, I used the 'Filigree Scrollwork' design, this is the simpler pattern on the top of the paper roll. It's in your New English Quilter handbook, in the line designs section. I'll be featuring this line design in the new DVD but I'm calling it 'Every Which Wave'. In the little red check part, I've added a holly leaf to the pattern. The doodles are always larger than the actual stitched design.

Here you can see it on the side board.

Oops, looks like I forgot to dust!

The Filigree Scrollwork pattern just disappears

into the paisley print.

It adds some interest but doesn't get in to the way.

The centre poinsettia pattern was fun to stitch around.

I usually like to use lots of different threads in a project. But this light reflecting Rainbows; #809 Kailua, from Superior Threads looked great against all the fabric.

Donuts and Coffee

Some years ago, Superior Threads came out with 3 sets of L-style prewound bobins called Frostings for Piece O'Cake - The Piece O'Cake people are famous for their applique projects. A couple years later Superior Threads got the brilliant idea of putting the whole collection of 36 colors in one plastic ring and calling it a Frosted Donut. How wonderful to have the most popular MasterPiece threads right at your fingertips without having to purchase the entire spool! It was perfect for any applique project. Recently, someone suggested"Why not do the same thing with the Bottom Line prewounds" - so they made a similar collection and called it Holy Super Bob's. Again, I knew it would be ideal for applique.

I thought that these were fantastic products, but I never had occassion to properly appreciate them until my last project. As mainly a machinequilter, I mostly worked by machine. But for Mrs Boomers leafing quilt I needed to hand applique a leaf shape to 144 six inch squares! As I was organising the project, I realized that I was finally going to use those Donuts!

The Donuts were the pefect threads for my project. Between both collections I had the perfect colour thread to match each leaf. I got some zip lock bags and organized the leaves into similar colours, added a matching bobbin, cut the backing squares added a needle and some pins and a set of directions. This way I could give each helper a bag of materials so they would have everything they needed to complete the hand applique part of the project. Many of the gals came back for more and in about 12 days the 144 squares were all completed.

Lots of people raved about the thread. "It just disappeared into the fabric!" "It was so easy to work with!" I expected it to be good yet I was still surprised at just how easy it was and especially how good the end results were with such inexperienced people (like myself) doing the sewing! What a difference the right thread makes! Now MasterPiece is 100% extra long staple Egyptian cotton and one of the finest threads on the market. Yet after hand appliquing lots of leaves, I think that I prefer the lowly Bottom Line! The polyester was a smoother thread to sew with and my stitches were truly invisible.

I love prewounds! I've been using them in my JUKI and Janome sewing machines with great results for years. But now I'll be using them for my hand sewing projects too. So much for the donuts - now I'm off for the coffee.

Muscle Beach

I've called this quilt Muscle Beach in honour of one of our favourite Tom and Jerry Cartoons. Of course, the mussel shell free-motion quilting design works too. Years ago, when I started quilting it was all about making the thread work with the fabric. But now sometimes, I do it backwards. Sometimes I start out liking a certain thread and end up choosing the fabric to match. For this quilt, I loved how the Rainbows #803 Northern Lights looked against the black batik. So I pieced a very simple top to show off the thread.

I've used two cones from the Rainbows range of Superior Threads. Click the image for a good close up of the threads.

Tipsy, our cat, really likes how the variegated colours of Northern Lights #803 and Jester #801 stand out against the black batik. It's such a lovely backdrop for her tortoise shell coat.

The fleece backing makes it so nice to snuggle in.

What is it with cats and quilting frames? Our cat Tipsy thinks the New English Quilter is the best hammock ever! We were considering creating special frames just for cats, but then, of course, they wouldn't use them!

Ruby Wedding

What do you do when your friend names her new baby girl Ruby? Start collecting red fabric, of course. That was over two years ago and now I have a great collection. That's good because I found out a week ago that another friend is going to celebrate her Ruby Wedding this week. I'll easily get a drag-around-the-house-quilt AND a table runner out of the red stash.

To fit in with the ruby theme I've collected intense gem like reds that go from hot orangy tones all the way to the cool purply. I speed pieced quarter square triangles for a cut gem look. I love how the colours look together such a rich plummy wine. Now I needed just the right threads. I wanted the threads to shimmer so I went for the Rainbow range from Superior Threads. I narrowed my options down to these two gorgeous spools. On the spool I couldn't decide - I loved them both.

So I took my pieced table runner top outside in the sunlight and took the spools of thread out of their wrappers. The I unwound a bit of thread and laid it against the fabric. This made the choice easy. Rose Garden, though lovely, disappeared but Gypsy shimmered and shone.

Today I needed to decide on a machine quilting pattern. I've been wanting to try a free-motion pattern that circles round the squares. But as the blocks came together I was worried about the multiple layers of fabric in the centres. This quilting pattern would have me go right through these bulky centers. I was afraid that the needle might get stuck.

So I did something that I almost never do. I made a practice block from my wonky squares. I loaded it on the frame with some wadding and backing, threaded Gypsy in my JUKI and had a trial run. It worked! I'm thrilled and I can't wait to start quilting in earnest tomorrow.

Thread Painting

I had so much fun today! I started in the morning between shifts. My big kids are out of the door by 7:45 and my little guys don't need to get up til 8:05. That 's my morning breather, when I check my emails or get a second cup of tea.

Today I started doing some line drawings of my daffodils. I'm not a proper artist. I've no training but flowers aren't all that difficult, are they? And when things go wrong there's always the eraser! I began with a view from the front. Six shield shaped overlapping petals, with a circular frilly bit and six stamens in the centre.

So far so good. Now I tried some alternate views. I found these more challenging to get the perspective right. 

I enjoyed doing the still life drawing. I often use pencil and paper to draw line designs as a warm up activity before I start free motion quilting on the frame. But this morning as I drew the daffodils, it was very satisfying to get a design directly from nature.

Then after some displacement activities, like really cleaning the kitchen sink, I loaded fabric and fleece on the frame and started free motion quilting various line designs with the different threads I'd chosen for the project. I wanted to see how the various threads showed up against the fabric. All these threads look gorgeous sparkling in the sunlight, but some will show up much better than others against the fabric. I've got some great photos but as this post is getting long, I'll follow on with the rest tomorrow.