Brenda for Project Linus

Brenda Pack Project Linus Lincolnshire with Fantastico thread cones

Meet Brenda Pack. As the Project Linus coordinator for Lincolnshire, Brenda keeps busy quilting the many tops that come to Project Linus. Project Linus is a charity providing quilts for all sorts of children from babies to teenagers. Many people send in tops and quilting groups across the country meet up to sandwich the tops with fleece or backing and wadding and then sew on the binding. The completed quilts are passed on to all sorts of children who need the bit of the comfort that home-made quilts can give.

Brenda uses a SuperQuilter frame and a JUKI TL98P sewing machine

To keep up with the project Brenda uses a machine quilting frame and a JUKI TL98P semi-industrial straight stitch sewing machine. You can see the Nifty Grip speed control handles that Brenda uses instead of the foot pedal. The 1500 stitches-per-minute and the extra height and width under the arm help Brenda to finish many quilts quickly. The stack of tops at the front of the photo are waiting to be quilted and the stack at the back are already completed!

a recent project under the arm of the Juki TL98P 

Brenda finds that the right threads make a big difference too. The variegated Fantastico cones from Superior Threads are ideal for Project Linus Quilts. Brenda likes to use the Fantastico on top and Bottom Line in the bobbin. Together these threads give a lovely and strong finish to the quilts. Brenda said:

" I bought my JUKI TL98P lockstitch sewing machine in January and went on your January retreat, since then I have quilted 52 tops using one cone of Bottom Line in silver which I used on all the quilts." 

Impressive! Brenda lives close enough to pop round and choose threads whenever she needs some new colours. If you live further away, the new Fantastico thread booklet just out at Machine Quilter   will make it easy to order all the new variegated colour-ways from the Fantastico range. So NEW it's not yet on the site. You can email or ring Martha with your order.

Project Linus UK has a Facebook page. Follow the link to see how you can join the project.

Paris Quilts

Rosie and Ellie are going to Paris on a school trip with their awesome Music department. So I've been making some Paris and Music themed quilts to raffle off as a fundraiser.  

Rosie with her Music Cup at the Awards Ceremony

Here's some of the kids in the group on the night of their Awards Evening.

Music Department  2013 award winners 

 The 'Guitar Stripy' is pieced and quilted. The Pink Paris Stripy is on hold while I do a version of this quilt that I found on pinterest. I'm calling it 'Eiffel Tower Flower Power'

by uniquelynancy, Connecticut, USA via Etsy

I love the bright bold colours. So I incorporated these Eiffel Tower prints from Michael Miller with large bright floral prints from my stash. I bought some stripes and a charm pack of Bella Plains.

piecing my version 'Eiffel Tower Flower Power'

My husband commented that"it's like a migraine that goes on and on!" But my girls like it and I think it's the perfect remedy for these bleak mid winter days. This Juki Exceed is such a pleasure to piece with. The industrial style Box Feeding System really helps me match my seams.

on the Juki Exceed 600

Game Changer

Guitar Stripy quilt loaded on the New English Quilter frame

A machine quilting frame is a game changer. It makes more difference than any other quilting tool.You could spend £5,000 on the ultra super totally top-of-the-line sewing machine and you would still have the pain in the neck of dragging your quilt under the arm of your sewing machine. You would still need to baste, pin, tack or spray glue the layers of your quilt together first.And you would still be working backwards as you move the 'paper' (your quilt) instead of the pencil (your needle).

NEQ2 free-motion machine quilting detail

Our machine quilting frames change all that!

• Machine quilting frames perfectly tension all the layers of your quilt. So you never have to baste, pin, tack or glue again. Not ever!
• Your sewing machine sits on a carriage that rides on a set of tracks. This enables you to glide your sewing machine effortlessly over the top of your quilt. It's like magic!
• Your perfectly tensioned quilt layers become the paper, held still and steady by the frame.  The needle becomes the pencil as it glides over the quilt top. Now you are working the right way round.  You can draw beautiful and flowing lines with thread because you're doodling just the way you always have holding the paper still and moving the pencil.

Our New English Quilter frames make machine quilting fast and fun

When you put all this together, our New English Quilter frames transform quilting from a tiresome pain-in-the-neck chore to something fun, fast, efficient and enjoyable. With a New English Quilter frame you can go from stacks of fabric to finished quilts in a matter of hours!

I'm using Magnifico machine quilting thread from Superior Threads

Magnifico is a new range of threads from Superior Threads.It's gorgeous light reflecting fibres have tensile strength so it runs beautifully through sewing machines and long arms too.

I'm machine quilting with a straight stitch sewing machine from JUKI

Charity Quilts

A few years a go we hosted a charity quilt contest with UK Patchwork and Quilting Magazine for Project Linus. The challenge was to create a themed stripy quilt suitable for a child - tots through to teens. The theme could be anything from apples, butterflies, cats, dogs, trucks and trains, pirates or princesses. The judges were looking for themes that were clearly evident in the choice of fabrics and quilting designs.

We kept the project fun and simple so the quilts were quick and easy to finish. And while not mandatory, we hoped that entrants would donate their finished quilts to Project Linus.

The challenge was a huge success. The editors were delighted as it was the biggest response yet to an appeal by the magazine and nearly 100 quilts were donated to Project Linus.

It was such fun to see all those quilts and appreciate the creativity and goodwill of all the quilters. I'd like to pick out out a few of the things that made these quilts work.

• Simplicity - the piecing was so simple that people were free to focus on the theme. When my son was 3, I let him choose some fabric for his quilt from an online shop. He was so thrilled when it came in the post. But as he opened the parcel he said; "Please mom, Don't cut it up!" That got me laughing! I just put some borders around it, backed it in bright non pil fleece and free-motion quilted around all the cars and trucks. It was so simple and he loved it.
  
  

• Fun fabrics - there are so many fantastic fabrics - having a theme helped to give focus. Sometimes, complicated piecing can get in the way. It can be fun to let the fabric speak for itself. Some fabric would be gorgeous just as a wholecloth quilt. We found that when the piecing is simple the quilting can take the center stage. I loved using lots of fun threads to make the quilting stand out.
  
  

• Comfort - many of the quilts were backed in fleece which made them soft and cuddly. Fleece is a fantastic backing for kids quilts. It's great for charity quilts too. Make sure that the fleece is good quality non-pil polar fleece. Then it will stay in great shape with years of use. I had to make sure that the fleece was not stretched too tightly on my frame otherwise it scrunched up when I took it off. I used a Topstitch 100/16 needle with Bottom Line in the bobbin and lots of different colourful and fun threads like Rainbows, King Tut and Metallics on the top.

• Time limit - there's nothing quite like a deadline to get people motivated. I'm great at starting things but having an end date certainly helps me to get it done.

Here's a quilting detail from the Ice Cream and Cake Stripy. Click on the image for a great close up. Notice the outine of the cakes in Rainbows #801 Jester. It was fun being whimsical on this one.