864 Clamshells

I wore out my stencil (I didn't even think that was possible, but look at this thing! sad.)

The pouncer's seen happier days.

I breathed in enough "chalk" dust that my lungs are probably coated in white, and my studio's floor certainly was.

But it's done.

I would like to donate it to charity. Does anyone know of one that might be able to use it?

Thread in the Freezer

Nope, it's not a typo. And it's not a funny story about how I once went to get ice cream while I was quilting and left the thread in the freezer. Though I've been known to do things similar to that (I've left it in my purse when I went to get my keys, and left it on the counter countless times when getting a snack or drink), it's not that sort of thing. This is thread that my mom bought to quilt her flannel quilt with, but it kept breaking. Understandably, she got very frustrated. Every 6 inches of stitches she made, the thread would break and she'd have to re-thread the machine and start all over again. Super annoying stuff. So she put her quilt aside and only worked on it in bits and pieces until she got super annoyed again and stopped. Finally one day she told me she was stopping for good. She put the quilt aside and went on to other things.

When she told me this, I volunteered to quilt it myself. This quilt is very my mother. The colors are her, the subject is her, the warmth of the flannel is her, it's just a quilt that if you knew my mom and didn't know she made the quilt, you'd still look at it and say "I know she made that quilt". It's just so HER. One of the snowpeople even kind of looks like her--NOT that she looks like a snowperson, it's just that it's got on this hat like my mom would wear and a scarf that my mom would wear and it's holding a BIRDHOUSE, which is SO my mom it's not even funny. (She's crazy about feeding the birds and housing the birds and keeps 100 pounds of seed in the yard at all times.) So it's just so my mom. This is why I volunteered. But, like any mom (or woman for that matter), she turned me down, with a "no, I'll get to it eventually, I'll just do it in bits and pieces". What is the matter with us women? We never want to put anyone out.

Anyway, I let it go for a while and then asked again a couple of weeks later. She said yes. I took home the quilt, and the thread she had wanted to use, put the quilt in my studio, and put the thread in the freezer. Ok, this is why: I know two secrets about thread and sewing machines that most people don't. Wanna hear?? First: they won't tell you this when you go shopping, but not all machines will work with all types of thread. They won't. Don't let anyone tell you they will, either, because they lie. I have owned 4 different machines in the time I have sewn, and I can tell you that with the Elna machine I used to use, Sulky thread breaks like it's made of glass. It doesn't matter how many different types/sizes of needles I use, how many different tension settings I try, it doesn't even matter what I sew on, Sulky threads break and break. I can tell you that on the machine I own now-a Janome-it still breaks, but not as often. I can tell you that on my Kenmore, which is the machine I use for classes, it doesn't break at all. I can tell you that Coats and Clark, which I use for piecing and all purpose sewing, never had a problem in my Elna or my Kenmore, but if I site it the wrong way in my Janome, it will break, so I have to be careful. And I can tell you that the Singer Featherweight I started sewing on when I was a kid up until about the year 2000 will sew without a problem with any type of thread at all, as long as it's a 50 weight or better (which makes sense, since it's a machine from 1920 or so). So it really is true. But this leads to secret number two: if the thread keeps breaking on you, put it in the freezer. Some thread, when you get it, is old. It sat on the shelf for 1000 years under lights in the air because no one bought it until you came in, and it's old and dry and cracky. And who knows how long it sat in whatever warehouse before it even got to the store. It needs humidity, and the freezer is the ticket. Take the thread, put it in the freezer for a couple of days. Then take it out. Put it in a plastic baggie and let it defrost. By being cold in the freezer and then warming up in a confined space, it absorbs moisture back into itself and it will break less. It works. So, I put the thread in the freezer for two days and let it thaw for one, and voila! The quilt, she is quilted!

I think it came out well. I am not a professional, obviously. I only have a home machine, so there's the inevitable little jig-jags here and there from stopping to reposition now and again. The stitches are pretty even, but here and there there's one that's not. Flannel is heavy and doesn't move nicely all the time. And the thread was still ugly. It only broke twice (woo hoo), but look at that fuzz!! ICK!! I was cleaning the needle every 10 minutes or so. Pretty yucky. I don't even want to open up the throat plate. I'm afraid there'll be a whole fuzz tumbleweed in there. But I hope my mom is happy with the quilt. And I'm thrilled it's done. It makes me happy to have done something for her (and I'm thrilled that she trusted me with it), and I'm really glad that something that is so HER is going to be able to be used and loved.

That's my story and my secrets for today. So if you have a problem with your thread, know it could be your machine, but also try the freezer trick. It really does work!!

I hope you all are having a great weekend! Thank you for all your comments!

Just a Quick Note...

It seems to be so busy here lately! Every time I sit down to write, I seem to have to get back up again.

Thought I'd post a couple o' pics of the Valentine's wreath I made last weekend. For some reason this year I felt we needed a Valentine wreath, though I must admit I never felt that way before. It was a quick project, I just used a Styrofoam wreath form, some (read: very many)"silk" flowers, cute ribbon, and a bit of hot glue. I'm very pleased with it, but I think the best part of all is that when it was done, both children and my husband said "Wow, that is pretty!". Generally, the children ignore the things I make and the only response I get from my husband is either "That's nice", or "That's really nice". So "that is pretty" is pretty over the top for them.

In other news, today is report card day! Dum de dum dum!! Nah, I'm not worried. I'm not even sure that Kindergartners get report cards, but I think so. My daughter had a test a couple of weeks back, and I'm thinking that it was for the report card (I know, tests in Kindergarten, sheesh), so we'll see. Kindergarten sure has come a long way from when I was in it!! I remember going there and -I don't know- playing and coloring and whatnot. But my daughter is learning to read (very well, I might add), she's learned a bit of addition, and they were working on money a little while ago. Things have changed. And so now report cards. Hmmmm....

I also wanted to share a cool find with you that I-well-found recently. Olde America Antiques is a company that makes quilt blocks that are printed with vintage pictures. They are so cool! I was in contact with the owners a couple of times asking questions, and they were very quick to get back to me. The blocks come in different sizes, in many subjects. They are printed with a half-inch white border around them so you don't have to sew on the actual print, and they are fade-resistant (though they advise you to keep them out of direct sun), and can be washed in cold water. Too cool! I think they are really interesting, and I'm planning on using a few in a project or two. That would be so unique! I will definitely share with you what I make with them.

Ok, my son is informing me he "needs" juice, so I'll leave it there for today! I hope you all have a great one!

PS--I opened comments to anyone, even if you're not registered with Blogger. It was brought to my attention (thank you) that people would like to comment, but can't because of the registration. Now you can! Thank you all for your comments!

Fish IN the Water

Hello everyone!

I finished the "water" quilting on my fish quilt, so I thought I might share some pics. Out of the two stencils I had chosen for the quilt, it was the easier of the two. It went quickly, mainly because I converted the stencil to a continuous line design, rather than the stop/start design it was supposed to be. I think it worked out fine. This is a shot of the whole quilt (with Percy as accessior). It's good and bumpy.

This is a close up of the quilting, with the fish block and the copper frame unquilted.

This is a shot of the water quilting and the clamshell quilting added to the fish block. I got two of them done. It's going to take a while, though. It's the harder of the two stencils to work, not to mention that the pounce pad that I'm using to mark the stencil has chalk in it that's supposed to stay on until I iron it off, except for the fact that my hand seems to brush it away really easily. I wind up marking the block in sections, and in some cases re-marking again. It's super frustrating.

I'm sorry it's difficult to see the quilting with all the chalk on it. I find it crazy distracting myself. But Percy likes it. That's enough for me. :)

Thank you for your comments about Bill. I feel we hardly knew him, but I had thought my kids would be upset about his passing. They were not. In fact, after scooping Bill's little body out of his bowl, my son plopped him in the toilet and said "Well, bye.", and then flushed. I guess no love lost there. Kids are so resilient :)