OMNI Thread

The New Omni Thread range from Superior Threads £10.99 for a 6,000 yd cone

There's a new thread line from Superior Threads called OMNI. We got to try it for the first time at our April Retreat. We like it! OMNI is a Tex 30 (approximately 40 weight) poly-wrapped poly core thread. It's a basic strong no-nonsense thread designed to work well at high speeds. It's ideal for long arm quilting, dress making and it works great in the serger/overlocker too.

     Omni Features:

• Available in 172 solid colours
• Cleaner, brighter and stronger than other poly core threads
• Designed for high speed machine quilting and sewing
• Can be used on top and in the bobbin
• Great price -  6,000 yd cone for £10.99

OMNI display booklet lets you see and feel the real thread

Omni is the cleaner, brighter, and stronger alternative to other poly-wrapped poly core threads. OMNI is designed for machine quilting, sewing and serging/overlocker use. The multi-filament polyester core gives OMNI superior strength. The wrapped spun poly allows this thread to 'grab' the fabric to create smooth, pucker-free seams. Seams that will lie flat throughout the garment giving a better fit in any dressmaking project.OMNI's strength makes it ideal for high speed long arm machines  and quilters will love the versatile172 colour range. OMNI is popular in the garment construction industry for the same reasons. OMNI works well in sergers/overlockers too. 

Real Thread display booklet sells for £9.99

We're introducing the OMNI range here in the UK this spring. A 6,000 yard cone sells for £10.99. That's a lot of thread for your money! The real thread display booklet is an ideal way to show thread options to your long arm customers. We pass these real thread display booklets on to you at our cost for £9.99. Seeing the real thread helps you make the best choices when matching threads to your projects.

Available only from Machine Quilter. 

email: martha@machinequilter.co.uk 

or call: 01526 378057
and ask us about our bulk buy discounts

King Tut at the Quilt Room

Nicky and Pam Lintott

Pam and Nicky Lintott have become the new UK Gammill dealers. You may know this mother daughter team from reading their world famous  Jelly Roll Books. Pam's been running The Quilt Room in the lovely old market town of Dorking in Surrey for more than 30 years. When we lived in Sevenoaks, that was the shop that me and my quilting buddies visited for supplies. Now Pam and Nicky have become the UK dealers for Gammill.

Gammill long arm quilting machine

The Quilt Room has a purpose built studio where they offer a professional quilting service. They've just stocked up with a fantastic selection of King Tut 100% cotton-extra-long-staple-really-grown-in-Egypt thread. Gammills love King Tut and you will too.

King Tut threads are ideal for Gammill long arm machines

April Retreat

Lexie and Martha on the 6 foot Art Quilter frame

 Our April Machine Quilter's Retreat was lovely. Small is beautiful! With three participants and three tutors there was plenty of one on one instruction.  Joy and Lexie were experienced quilters but relatively new to machine quilting on a frame. Both brought their Juki TL98 P sewing machines so we could help to get them properly tensioned for free-motion quilting.

talking about loading the quilt sandwich

Joy and Lexie wanted to consolidate basic skills and move on to the next level. We explore trouble shooting techniques beginning with sewing machine tension. 

Joy practising a new line design on the frame

We move on to drawing designs with pen and paper and then we go to the frame and execute the same designs with the needle and various threads. Then we introduce a new design and go through the process all over again.

Joy drawing an E's and 3's design

The pen and paper exercises enable us to master the line design and move with it. One of the best things about hand guided machine quilting is that the line designs are like handwriting. The same designs flow differently from different people.Each person brings their own style and personality to the design. On a very practical level we all learn from each other.

Lynda working on feathers

Lynda came on our January Retreat and progressed so quickly that she came back to our April Retreat for more. Lynda spent this retreat working on feathers with Trudi Wood. It was fun to have people with mixed abilities working together. I think that by our next Retreat Lynda will be teaching us all!

Lynda drawing feathers under Trudi's watchful eye : )

First on paper and then on the frame. Fantastic!!!!

penguin feathers on the practice piece

The feathers were so fun that Emily had to have a go! She's definitely doing feathers on her next quilt.

Lalla Ward's Vanishing Act

LallaWard 

has a new exhibition coming up at the National Theatre called Vanishing Act

It's staged as an encore applauding

Lalla's penchant for flora, fauna and fibre so admired in her previous exhibitions. 

Lalla's exquisitely stitched textile pieces capture the amazing ability of many animals, reptiles, amphibians and insects to blend in with their natural environments.

It's a clever idea, brilliantly executed. 

moth by Lalla Ward  rests on artisan bowl by Nick Kettlewell

The camouflage theme plays out across a wide variety of materials ranging

from hand turned wooden bowls to meticulously stitched moths. 

Lalla with her sketch book

Lalla's work has a curious impact on the viewer.

It draws you in as you look ...again and again... to find
what's hidden in plain sight

Viewers often ask Lalla how she creates her pieces. So as a new feature of the exhibition, Lalla will stage a mini-mock-up of her work space, offering a behind the scenes glimpse of  the tools, materials and techniques that she uses to stitch the pieces.

 

Vanishing Act

by textile artist Lalla Ward

on show at the National Theatre

April 1st through May 12th

Be sure to catch it before it disappears!

Lalla's textile art work was stitched using a
JUKI straight stitch TL98P sewing machine 
with a wide variety of Superior Threads. You can see them on display 

at the National Theatre through out the exhibition. 

The Vanishing Act exhibition is Free! 

Never heard of it

South Oxford at Sunset

Yesterday, Helen came to visit from Oxford. She'd been visiting the machinequilter website for years and decided that it was time to come and have a look for herself. I so enjoyed meeting Helen. Chatting over coffee, we found much in common. We'd lived in similar parts of the UK and even had children the same ages. Helen likes to make smaller quilts, especially to give away as gifts so she was keen on our smaller Art Quilter frames. She's in-between-houses at the moment and is stopping off in Oxford en route to the Cotswolds. With most of her sewing supplies in boxes, Helen's been strip piecing projects and with extra time on her hands she wanted to do more quilting.

As we explored her options we thought that the 4 foot Art Quilter would be perfect for now. The 4 foot Art Quilter frame is just the right size to fit in the smaller house. Yet it performs the same as the larger frames. Once loaded on the frame, each layer of the quilt is perfectly tensioned, so there are no rucks or wrinkles. The frame creates a perfectly tensioned steady surface, leaving the quilter free to focus on the quilting. 

4 foot Art Quilter frame and Juki TL98 P

Helen was particularly impressed with the free and easy movement of the carriage. This is the one feature of the frame that you just can't get from a distance. I love the  reaction that people have when they move the carriage for the first time. Helen was astonished. She'd no idea that the carriage would move so smoothly. She immediately realized the effect that this ease of movement would have on her free-motion-quilting. After taking the frame and table apart and then putting them back together, which just takes 5 minutes. We moved on the the sewing machine. 

notice all the space under the Juki TL98P arm

When I mentioned the name JUKI, Helen said that she'd never heard of it. Lots of people say that. But when I showed Helen the features that make the Juki TL98P the ideal sewing machine to use on a frame she was convinced.

1. The JUKI TL98 P arm is wider AND taller. The height is just as important as the width when you have a fabric pole under the arm of the machine.
2. The JUKI TL98 P goes 1500 stitches per minute, easily without straining because it's a semi-industrial machine on the inside. The industrial speed gives you a lovely line of stitching. The industrial power stitches through multiple layers easily. It looks glam on the outside but it's a workshorse on the inside.
3. The JUKI TL98 P only does a straight stitch so it's simple and therefore easy to tension. All the whistles and bells get in the way. A straight stitch is the only stitch we need on a frame and the JUKI TL98 P does a straight stitch perfectly.
4. The JUKI TL98 P offers all these features in one sewing machine. Many other sewing machines offer one or more of these features. Some are longer but not taller. Some are longer but sew much slower. Most sewing machines are much too complicated and do far too many stitches to be happy while dancing around on a frame carriage. The JUKI TL98 P gives you the space, the speed and the simplicity that are the absolute essential features for a sewing machine to use on a quilting frame.

Well, it was a great day! It was such fun for me to meet Helen. And it was fun for Helen to try out the Art Quilter frame with the Juki TL 98P sewing machine. It was fun sharing all my quilts and drawing out the line designs that would be good for starting out. Helen left happy, excited and inspired. 

Demo's are fun and free. So if you've been drooling over the website for years, like Helen. Ring me for a demo and come and see for yourself. The coffee is good too!

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

01526 378057

Going for a song

Emily, Jill, Martha and Rose at the Houston Quilt Festival

I've got a Stateside 6 foot Art Quilter frame going for a song. We used the frames at the big Houston Quilt show last year. They've been resting  in storage and are in great shape. But now I'd like to get them to a good home. The 8 foot NEQ2 frame has already gone to Lou Ann in Washington State. It just arrived on Saturday and she's delighted! She's already got it set up and ready to go. Look how happy it is to be out of the box!

Lou Ann's 8 foot NEQ2 all set up

 I love the table. At 8 foot by 4 foot, Lou Ann can use the other side for cutting. What a great use of space!

Now we need to find a good home for the 6 foot Art Quilter. This frame is the perfect size for smaller baby, kiddie and single bed quilts. It's perfect for charity quilts too and it's ideal for the textile artist. 

The 6 foot Art Quilter - perfect for smaller quilts

6 foot Art Quilter for $999 + shipping  
(usually $1699 USDollars)

If you're interested email me quick!

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

Fantastico

Fantastico may just be my new favourite thread. 

I do love the Magnifico. But variegated threads are so fun to machine quilt with.  So when I found out that Superior Threads were bringing out a variegated version of Magnifico and calling it Fantastico - well I was excited. Fantastico has all the strength and beauty of Magnifico but it's variegated! This thread is so NEW that there are only a few colours currently available. Use the American Superior Threads site as a shop window to see this newest range of Fantastico thread. 

Available now in the UK £11.99 for 2,000 yds.

Fantastic Thread! Fantastic price!

email or ring to order

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

01526 378057

This month's Superior Threads order goes in
Monday afternoon March 18th

email or ring to let me know what you want.