Thursday, May 30, 2024

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Tues Tutorial Tips~ Where I Keep Thread

  ******************

 Tuesday Tip

******************
Within reach of sewing machine chair.
Box lids are helpful to keep from rolling around.
Bobbins are pinned to spools.
(I have not had problems with thread shredding.) 
Lots of thread old, but still very strong, especially the polyester.
 
*I was so lucky to find these old library pieces of furniture at a Restore,
and best of all had Mr. G to help load them
AND unbelievably move them upstairs by himself.
It amazes me when I think about it.
I think I paid about 30$ each piece.
 
The overflow went into the button drawer.
I hit close out sales and friends gave me their supplies.
and part of the common color stash I bought online for a good deal.

Another drawer next to my machine.
Mostly my Mother's thread which is high quality,
and very strong. 
These are especially ok for projects like the Scrappy Cards & Tags.
 
The MOST used threads are right behind the machine. 
I have to stand up to thread the machine,
so this is an easy place to store them.
(Machine needles, varying eye glasses and special scissors are in the drawers.)
To the upper right of my work space at my sewing machine chair,
are these neutral threads and special thread like the 
embroidery bobbin thread. 
My arm range is limited, so I have to stand to reach.
 

An investment I made when I moved here in 2011
with my brand new embroidery machine.
Upper right and lower left are embroidery threads.
Away from direc sunlight,
plus I use sunlight darken curtains. 
Some still have plastic wrap.
Upper left is sewing thread.
One storage rack was bought online and came with the thread.
The other rack was found at one of our long yard sale trips.
Notice on the left on the top black shelf
are common color serger threads.
They are placed right over the serger.
 
Other serger thread colors and back ups, both serger and large cone sewing
 are in a pull out section
of a cabinet to the left of the spool drawers. 
Large spools of various types of threads are here as well.
 
It's hard for me to store my fat quarter size fabric folds
on these bottom shelves of this former CD/DVD shelf,
so I placed large thread cones here.

 
When I found a mother lode of embroidery thread,
mostly not opened
at a thrift shop in Florida,
I had to store them on a shelf in the 
quilting room.
A basket help holds thread so 
I can stack them and
 pull down and take a look.
*******************

Last week, I began the super slow process of cleaning out
Mr. G's bedroom he stayed in when he spent the nights, especially on weekends.
It's been over but a short 2 years since I lost him.
I only spend about 15 minutes at a time putting things away
and I'm trying to do that every day.

So who knows where thread will land then?

Friday, May 24, 2024

Fun Fri~ More Baby Boy Bibs

 
I only made 2 more bibs.
But when you make them reversible,
it's like having 4 bibs?


 
I have used the pattern so much,
the end of the strap had lost it's "roundness."
I had to revise it a bit
with the edge of a spool.

Have fun making them.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Wordless Wed 377~ Any Flower Red from a Friend

  
Be careful what you say.
In viewing some other flowers at church,
I stated in front of my friend,
"I love any flower red."
The next day,
I found these on my front porch!
How sweet of her.


Not quiet wordless, but just had to comment.

Monday, May 20, 2024

Mon Memory~ B's 2024 Bday Card Memory

2024 birthday card memory for my youngest daughter
came from Easter 2024.
This is her grand son, my great grand.
I used the method I discovered from making the last card.

 

I traced his image from my phone.


Then I used those pieces to cut fabrics.
Batiks come in so handy for blended colors.
....like hair.
 



Happy Birthday!
Remembering your birthday with a special memory. 
****
Shared @ the following blogs:

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Tues Tutorial~ Horse Racer's Bday Card

 
       My grand son-in-law celebrated his birthday at the end of April. I recently learned he has become part owner of a race horse. So that had to be the highlight of life for his birthday card.
     I tried a new technique for transferring the black line master picture to fabric. It was real simple and just pennies cheaper because I didn't have to use printer ink or paper.



******************

 Tuesday Tutorial

******************

First find the black line clipart 
that will work best.
I found this one HERE.
 Shrink the picture to fit the screen
of the phone
 which will also be about the right size
 for the card when folding 
an 8.5 x11 inch sheet of cardstock
in fourths. 
 
The picture here is slightly larger than the phone screen.
If you have a way to freeze your screen
so it won't move when you touch it,
use that tool.
I didn't.
 
Decide if you need to reverse the imagine,
because in the end it will be flipped over.

 Using iron on interfacing.
place the sticky side down
so you can sketch on the non-sticky side.
If you have a piece of clear plastic
to cover the phone screen,
that will help cleaning later. 
I used the old school white board trick
when a permanent marker was accidently used
to clean my phone screen.
Acetone fingernail polish remover.
I will be looking for a piece of plastic,
maybe from a deli box or something?
 
Use a marker that will not fade away with heat or water
to draw (sketch) around the image.
You just need enough guideline to cut around.

Iron the interfacing on chosen fabric.
Use sharp scissors that allow you to cut details if need.
Cut a background to fit the entire front of the card,
then lay the picture on the background
stitch around the edges.
Stitching the applique onto the background only
makes for a neater card.
 
Note: The interfacing helps it to not slide around,
but a pin or 2 sometimes is used.
I just have so much of this stuff,
I don't want to buy the bonded stuff on the back fabric.
Photoscape help highlight the stitches here for you to see. 
Stitching lines for the ground were added to help
"ground" the horse.
After all the stitching is done on the background,
now add it to the front of the card.
Stitch all around the edge on the front of the card.




Hope my Grand SIL had a great birthday!

Now try making a card
using a Clip art picture
copied straight off your phone.
 ******************
Shared at the following parties:
 
 

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Quilt Shot Block 175~ Finishing a QOV Top for Past Friend

 
We lost a great QOV member this past year.
She had made a tremendous amount of quilt tops for our group.
A set of blocks had been turned in by her.
Two other ladies laid them out in a pleasing order.
I was asked to sash them together. 















Then a border was added.

 

I like to fan fold pieces like long borders
and binding. 
Then lay the strip in the drawer to my right. 
No unrolling has to be done.


A 4 patch corner stone was made
for the border.
A little game of Bobbin Chicken and I won! 
 But then I lost because I forgot to get a final picture of the 
top after the border was added. 
So all I have is after the sashing and corner stones were added.
We will miss our big quilt top maker tremendously,
besides the fact of missing a very wonderful person.