2015 Festival of Quilts

The 2015 Festival of Quilts will be here before we know it! Come and test drive JUKI sewing machines on our New English Quilter frames. We'll have a big selection of Superior Threads too.

We're on the JUKI sewing machine stand A55

 Thursday 6 August through Sunday 9 August

See you there!

Rosie and Emily showing young quilters the New English Quilter frame

visit us at JUKI sewing machines Stand A55

SuperBOBs - pre-wound Bobbins

True confessions. 

"I hate winding bobbins!" 

That's why I love the Bottom Line pre-wounds from Superior Threads. I know that some people just love winding their own bobbins and more power to them. Bottom Line comes in 3,000 yard cones  just perfect for gals that like to wind their own.

But my own bobbins often ended up wonky and usually I would mis-calculate how many were needed to complete my project.  I'd be stuck in the middle of quilting and need to stop and wind some more bobbins. Grrrr!! Anyway once I tried the SuperBOBs pre-wounds I was totally hooked and I've been using them ever since.

Bottom Line pre-wounds hold 118 yards of thread. That's more than twice as much as on the bobbins that you wind yourself. So I can quilt twice as far as I did before without running out of bobbin thread. These factory wound bobbins are even and perfectly tensioned too. They will run smoothly even at high speeds.

Have you ever noticed that plastic bobbins keep on spinning even after you stop? That can cause bird's nests underneath. These SuperBOB pre-wounds are cardboard sided which gives just the right amount of resistance to keep the bobbin from spinning on once you've stopped.

Bottom Line SuperBOB pre-wounds come in 46 colours. Whether you're looking for neutrals, pastels or brights,  you'll be able to find the perfect match for all your sewing, quilting, binding and appliqué projects.

Bottom Line real thread colour card £3.50 available from ore  shop Machine Quilter site 

Now we've got the Bottom Line pre-wounds
 up on our shop.machinequilter website.

You might get hooked too. Then you'll have to think of something else to do with your old metal bobbins! 

Father's Day

My dad with my twin sister Peggy on the left and me on the right

My Auntie sent me some old photos a few months ago and this shot of my dad with me and my sister Peggy was one I'd never seen before.

We've been so blessed with the best dad ever!

He looks so young in this picture. I love it!

I'm also  blessed to have a twin sister. It's like having your very own built-in best friend right from the start.

Peggy lives in Baltimore with her husband Dan and their 6 grown up children. Now Peggy's oldest son is just about to become a father and of course the new baby must be welcomed with a quilt.

I've 'fussy cut' 4 inch squares from my brights and kiddie prints

I made one of my very first quilts for Peggy's first child, Patrick. It was tiny bright squares with flannel on the back and much too thick polyester wadding in the middle. Back in the early eighties we didn't have much else in the way of wadding or batting to choose from.

This time I wanted to do something similar. So I fussy cut 4 inch squares from my brights and kiddie fabrics. Now I'll go with a lovely breathable needle punched cotton wadding. I've got it all pieced together now just waiting for my lovely flannel backing to arrive from America. If you're looking for a great online site to order fabric from America try fabric.com

They offer a fantastic selection of quilting and apparel fabric at reduced prices. If you keep your order below £15.00 you will not get caught in customs when it gets to the UK.

Happy Customer

Lesley and Ian came up for a free demo a few weeks ago. 

Lesley decided to take the plunge and purchase her very own 6 foot New English Quilter frame. 

She ordered a 6 foot table too so we could custom the table legs  to get it to just the right height for Lesley to quilt in comfort. Using a quilting frame means that Lesley will never have to baste, pin or tack a quilt together ever again! The frame holds each layer of the quilt sandwich steady and perfectly tensioned.
Lesley also purchased a new JUKI TL98P lockstitch sewing machine and a set of Nifty Grip speed control handles to replace the foot pedal.

Now lesley can glide the sewing machine over the top of her quilt effortlessly creating beautiful and bold lines of stitching. The speed control Nifty Grip handles are ergonomically designed so that guiding the machine is comfortable and puts no stress on Lesley's neck or back.

Lesley and Ian came up on Monday to collect her New English Quilter Frame, 6 foot purpose built table and Nifty Grip speed control handles. She brought her new Juki TL98P sewing machine that she'd purchased from Franklin's so that we could get it tensioned and running smoothly. We give a free workshop to customers who choose to collect their frames. Our free workshop gives Lesley the chance to run the new sewing machine through its paces and get advice and tips for getting started. When Lesley and Ian went home they were able to get the frame up and running in no time.

Lesley emailed today to say;

"I’m having such fun. 

I love my frame
 it's fantabulous!!!!!!"

Lesley is delighted to have the benefits of a long arm for the fraction of the cost. She's happy that the frame just the right size to easily fit into her car and her sewing room. 

All the after sales support from the Machine Quilter team means that Lesley will have the help she needs to become a fluent machine quilter in the weeks and months to come.

Lesley's husband Ian, just emailed me this photo of Lesley's very first 'play' on her 6 foot NEQ frame. It's such a good idea to begin with some scrap fabric and launch into some playful line designs. Well done Lesley. A brilliant beginning!

Lesley's very first play on her new frame

The Houseboat

Sunset over Assawoman Bay by Monte Morton

When I was a little girl, every summer we would pack up the station wagon and drive down to Ocean City, Maryland to visit my Auntie. Auntie is my mom's best friend from her University days and my Godmother. Auntie had a houseboat that was pulled up on land nestled next to a little creek on Assawoman Bay. As a child that Houseboat was my favourite place in all the world. And this is just what sunset looked like from the back porch.

Even back in the 1960's Ocean City was a busy place. But in the north on the bay side of the island there were still wild places to explore, a marshland cut through with little islands and rivulets that we named and sculled with our little dinghy. There were little docks for crabbing after dinner and secret places under houses to make forts.There were quiet places to wander alone with the salt smell, and the black mud squelching between your toes and the hot sun on your face.

Source: etsy.com via Martha on Pinterest

In the late morning we would head to the beach, which was pretty crowded. But in the afternoon we would come back to the houseboat and shower and snack and read or go for walks hang out with friends or go crabbing at the dock... a bit of string and a leftover drum stick usually did the trick.

The Houseboat was a bit wider than a school bus and just about as long. There was a screened in front porch, two steps down into a tiny kitchen, a middle room with a long table and a sofa, followed by a sleeping area with two sets of double-bunk-beds with red curtains on the outside that looked like the sleeping compartment on a Pullman train. If you got the right bed you could peek through the curtains at night and see what the grownups were watching on TV.

     

Then it was two steps up to a clothes closet on one side and a WC and shower with metal sides and briny water.There was a little back porch with a clothesline that went to an outbuilding. All in all it was heaven! The back porch looked a lot like the photo below and the front porch was a bit like the photo above,if you take away the roof deck and screen it in. I remember playing cards at night on the porch table by the light of citronella candles.

My Auntie said that her father got the Houseboat before she was born. He got it as a trade in for a used car - it must have been in the late 30's or early 40's. This vintage houseboat is the same era.

Auntie's Houseboat was fixed up so beautifully! Looking back it must have been hard for the grownups to be in such a small place with 4 kids. But for us it was just the best place ever. Dear Auntie I wish you a very Happy Birthday today! Thank you for all the love that you pour out on us and those golden memories that we treasure.

Source: masterpieceonanapkin.tumblr.com via Martha on Pinterest

Under the Arm

storybook illustration

There's a hidden dimension in long arm measurements. It's the height! Lots of people talk about how long the arm of a sewing machine is. But the height is just as important!  Long arm machines usually list the length AND the height of the machine arm.

So the longest Gammill is 30 inches long and 12 inches tall and

the shortest Gammill is 18 inches long and 8 inches tall.

Both dimentions, the length and the height are important.

Long arm sewing machines are proportional:

 as the length increases so does the height.

JUKI QVP 2200 18X 10" long arm

Machine Quilters don't need the height of the quilting machine to be high enough to drive a car through. But we do need to fit a fabric bar under the arm. As you move through your quilt, this fabric bar gets bigger and bigger. The taller arm allows for this.

JUKI TL98P 2 inches longer and taller than most domestic sewing machines

Before you buy a sewing machine for quilting look at the height. No matter how long the arm of the machine is, if they didn't make it taller,  you will still struggle to fit your quilt under the arm.  Taller machines will fit more of your quilt easily under the arm whatever quilting method you use.

It's a Girl! SALE

Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana

To Celebrate the birth 

of the new princess 

all of our pink threads 

will be £1.00 off!

All in-stock pink thread (including any variegated thread with pink in it) from each range of Superior threads that we carry 

will be one £ off 

for one week only. 

To get the discount, 
email Martha directly 
with your order.

martha@machinequilter.co.uk