Glow in the Dark

Nitelite Glow in the Dark thread from Superior Threads

Glow in the dark thread is the perfect antidote for bleak mid-winter dark nights. 

When our kids were small, the quilted glow-in-the-dark stars made bedtimes fun.

This pattern was created with white NiteLite Extra Glow from Superior Threads on black fabric loaded on a New English Quilter frame using a JUKI TL98P straight stitch sewing machine. We found that layering the thread by stitching over the lines a few times made a bolder line of glowing stitches.

My son's girlfriend Jade, is using the thread for an art project for her University course. 

Jade wanted to show the process of 'drawing the design' on fabric with a sewing machine on a quilting frame.

Jade using the Juki TL98P to draw designs with NiteLite ExtraGlow thread

Her tutors have been mystified by how Jade has been completing her textile art projects.

We used a black light to get a good effect for the video images.

These still shots are fun too. I'll post the little video clip as soon as Jade edits it together.

NiteLite Extra Glow threads come in500 yd cross-wound mini cones for £14.95

We have white and pale blue mini cones in stock

NiteLite Extra Glow from Superior Threads available here in the UK from MachineQuilter

and one 80 yd spool of pink extra glow for £4.95.






NiteLite ExtraGlow is happy to go at high speeds on long arm quilting machines.

The cross-wound mini cones are ideal for machine quilting on and off a frame.

To order call or email Martha

01526 378551 or 01526 378057

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

Starry Starry Night

Here's another example of a simple loop machine quilting design. This time I added stars. I made this quilt for a special family friend's sister's baby. The piecing is a simple colour wash. I love blue and I enjoyed creating a twilight sky with the 5 inch squares. The top was backed in navy blue fleece and free-motion machine quilted using this really cool glow in the dark thread from Superior Threads called NiteLite. This is such a fun thread to use with children's quilts because it really does glow in the dark for hours!

Here in England we are on the same latitude line as Ontario, Canada. That means that our winter evenings start really early like 4:30! But in mid- summer it can stay light until nearly 11:00. I made this quilt in the summer so I had to stay up really late to see it glow. The thread looks and quilts just like normal thread so the white against all the blue looked lovely in the daytime. But it really does come into it's own in the dark. This glow in the dark thread comes in several pastel colours; blue, yellow, green, pink and orange, but for this project I used the white.

I learn something new from most projects, this one taught me about phrasing. We have it in our minds that all machine quilting line designs need to be continuous. Continuous lines are great for many designs and ideal for pre-programed designs on professional long arms. But maintaining a continuous line can sometimes be difficult for the hand controlled free-motion quilter. I found the stars challenging, not in themselves but I seemed to loose my place after the stars. So I decided to use what I call phrasing.

Instead of aiming for a continuous line, I would begin with a star and add a few loops and a star and a few more loops and end with a star. This was my phrase. Then I would step back and decide where my next phrase would look good. This helped with the spacing and kept me from getting too anxious. We're supposed to enjoy this process, right? As long as I anchored my starting and finishing stitches with a few small stitches in place, the lines of stitching were secure. I was pleased with how it turned out and have gone on to use phrasing in other projects.

Rosie's Cuckoo Clock

Same theme, different kid, different quilt. This quilt was inspired by the same Time and Space theme but with a very different result. Rosie was 8 years old when she made this quilt and Rosie was and still is interested in design technology. She likes to make things out of Lego and K'nex and old cardboard boxes and toilet paper tubes. So she wanted her quilt to have some 3D elements.

This took some trial and error to figure out. We ended up using a chunky wooden coat hanger to 'hang' the clock. Rosie designed a cuckoo out of yellow fleece and hand stitched and stuffed it. Then she cut a door through the quilt top so the cuckoo could pop out. For the weights, Rosie hand stitched, stuffed and embellished a rocket out of pink fleece. Rosie cut the hands of the clock out of special craft foam and hand tacked them to the face.

We thought that the log cabin block could be used to good effect to make the clock face. I rotary cut the strips and Rosie pieced the 4 log cabin blocks to make the clock face. This was her first solo machine piecing project and she made a good job of it. Later she added borders out of a darker space fabric that blended with the fabric she'd used in the blocks.

The wall hanging was backed in pink fleece, with a triangular pocket at the top to fit over the hanger. This quilt was also hand quilted by Rosie using glow in the dark pink thread. This was her first effort at hand quilting and she took care to make straight and even stitches. Finally, Rosie went on to embellish the quilt with buttons, beads and star sequins and also the special heat gun dots. I added the binding.

Rosie was really pleased with how this project turned out. I liked the way that Rosie used her talents in design technology to think up and construct a unique little quilt that truly exemplified the Time and Space theme. It hangs now in the upstairs hallway and it brings a smile to my face every time I walk by. If you click the photo at the beginning of this post you should be able to see the quilt in much greater detail.