mending with Kimono Silk

It's great having grown-up girls. We can share shoes and sweaters. When I got my sweater back it was a bit holey. The weave was loose and so I thought that it might not be too hard to mend. I had a look through my threads and the closest match was a cone from the Kimono Silk range called Tsunami.

 Here it is, all mended now. The silk thread was so fine that it just slipped between the fibres and seemed to disappear. Now it's just as good as new. Thank you Superior Threads!

mending with Kimono Silk threads #336 Tsunami

New Curtains

Grey Beach Hut curtain fabric from Terrys online shop

Once the tiles and fittings were in place it was time for the curtains.  Terrys Fabric online shop had a great nautical collection on sale for £7.99 per metre. It was amazing to find curtain fabric cheaper than quilting fabric!

The curtains came together in no time with my Juki Exceed 600.  I used OMNI thread on top and Bottom Line in the bobbin. The trickiest bit of curtains for me is the hemming. But I was able to figure out the blind hem stitch using an online tutorial and the special blind hem foot that came with my Juki Exceed sewing machine.

  It's all about the folding. And the results are truly invisible!

Not bad for my very first blind hem! It looks so professional.

And here are the curtains all finished and up in the new bathroom. I've been saving ideas on my bathrooms and seaside pinterest boards. So wonderful to be able to enjoy the finished product!

We re-painted this boat-shelf to match the curtains

Double Duty

Emily machine quilting on our New English Quilter

Usually we're using our New English quilter table for machine quilting. But when we needed to redecorate our upstairs bathroom, I realized that our table would make a perfect wall paper table.

 I  set the table up in Peter's bedroom and added the end pieces to make it 10 feet long. it was just perfect for pasting the wall paper for the bathroom next door.

Chris helped out with the tricky bits and soon we had the sloping ceiling covered.

And then we were ready to add the bath.

It was so exciting to see the project coming together.

Assembling the Fabric Poles

The fabric poles on our larger 8 and 10 foot 7 inch frames need to be assembled. The poles are too long to ship as they are. But don't worry! We made it easy. Our fabric poles come with the leader fabric already riveted. It's a great feature and we didn't want to give it up. Our challenge was to keep the leader fabric in one piece but have the poles in two! This is how we solved the problem.

First unwrap the leader fabric from around the pole.

You'll need a screw driver 

and the screws that come with the frame.

There's a screw that moves in the slot above.

Push the screw and this inside bit of tubing comes out. 

It works like a tent pole or an extendible curtain rod.

Put the 2 ends of the pole together

Slide the screw over

Push it all the way to the other side

Put in the screws.

Screw in the screws

Finally put some masking tape over the gap 

and you're finished the first pole. 

Do it twice more and you're good to go!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!
a little chick on the back of of the quilt.
I love it when the back is just as pretty as the front.

Machine Quilter Clinic

Our First Machine Quilter Clinic 

is tomorrow, Monday April 7th 

at Mill Lodge on Cannick Hill in Lincoln.

The Clinic hours are between 10 and 4. 

If you don't have all day but fancy a visit 

please drop in for lunch. 

Lots of gals from Stitch in Kyme are coming for lunch at 1:00.

The menu looks great!  

There's plenty of room so bring a friend. 

We'll have a good selection of

Superior Threads available to try and buy.

Making Room

Gill's 6 foot New English Quilter frame

 Gill bought one of our New English Quilter frames at the NEC last summer. She settled for the 6 footer because she knew it would fit in her sewing room conservatory. Doesn't it look like a lovely place to quilt! Gill was thrilled, she really liked quilting on a frame but sort of wished she'd gone for the larger version. The 6 foot New English Quilter fits on a 6 foot table and gives 55 inches of quilting space. It's perfect for smaller projects like baby quilts and charity quilts and single bed quilts too. Here's one of Gill's first quilts completed on the 6 foot frame.

Gill's first quilt on the New English Quilter frame

 At first, Gill was sure that the 6 foot frame would be fine. But once she started quilting she knew that she wanted to do bigger quilts, so she decided to find 2 more feet.
 Gill called me up and ordered an extension; 

a set of three sturdier 8 foot poles

a set of our new seamless 8 foot tracks

a set of side arms to fit the wider poles.

The studio re-arranged to fit the 8 foot NEQ2

 The larger and sturdier 8 foot New English Quilter 2 frame now fits beautifully in Gill's sewing studio. 

It's amazing how you can find the space when you really want to.

Gill's first double bed quilt just off the new extended frame

 I love bright! This quilt definitely has the 'wow factor!' Gill's used So Fine #40 a special one-inch-colour-change variegated thread from Superior Threads that ideal for machine quilting. I really like how all the petal colours are reflected in the black background. Gill's going to exhibit this beauty at the Hever Quilters Guild Show later in the year.

machine quilting detail