Friday 26 June 2015

Nifty Sewing Machine Tool

I don't actually know what this nifty little tool is called, but it is a great help to many sewers so I thought I would share it here. Whenever its spotted at workshops, everyone always wants one! Well, it's cheap at about $6 when I purchased mine and I found it in Spotlight.
It has a magnet on the back and you use it alongside your sewing foot to jut the fabric along evenly at the spacing you desire. This is especially helpful for new sewers.
So you just pop it into position and as you sew, you know that you fabric is allocated the same margin as you feed it under the foot.
Nifty, isn't it? I have many sewing machines and not one came with a tool like this, which really makes me wonder why not?

Wednesday 24 June 2015

WOW: Apple Core Quilt Progress

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

How sweetly is this little quilt coming along? I love the apple core pattern! The fabrics are gorgeous. I didn't know when they selected these fabrics if they would work, according to my own taste. But I've changed my mind. In fact, I'm really glad I'm making 2x at once. The real one with them in class and an extra one for myself. I think its perfectly charming so far and I'm looking forward to calling it finished in the next 3 weeks. 
Have you made an apple core quilt yourself? This is my first and I'm really taken by the charm of it.

What's Your WOW? 

Monday 22 June 2015

Oma's Blues: Creating the Centre Plate

There's really no question about it now: the members of my Yahoo BOM Group know my patterns better than I do. When I planned, suggested and released Oma's Blues, I had every intention that I would applique the centre round plate. Of course I would! It is, after all, an applique quilt.

But my Group Members? They knew better. 
They ignored my instructions and started piecing the centre plate. As I watched their perfectly formed plates emerge, I realized that they were right. And so smart. And so generous to share their logic with everyone else. Naturally I too realized that piecing the centre plate was the way to go. Of course you CAN applique it, but now I don't want to as I can see this as a faster and dare I admit it, easier way to get the beautiful round shape with accuracy.
And so here I am, sat at my machine and sewing as I go. What was I thinking when I planned on appliqueing all those points? I think I was in LE overdrive! I thought millions of applique shapes was some kind of normal.
 Pinning and stitching...
Looking good
Lovely...


Saturday 20 June 2015

Oma's Blues: Making A Start

 Of course I just discovered that I promptly packed away my original designs sheets and just as  promptly archived them before I'd even made the quilt! It's such a hassle to unpack my design packages once I've set them, that it's just easier for me to print out the pattern like everyone else!
My Toshiba copier is officially finished. It died and its much too expensive to fix. I'm really annoyed about it as it was a professional grade copier and I got so used to having it around. The downside was the expense of the thing - which was huge. But the fact is, it was a serious part of my creative process. The other problem I have is that I had taught myself to create my patterns according to its processes - I had a system that made sense to me. Now I have to find a way to do the same thing on two different machines and via software which is all too much and so time consuming. I'm so glad I finished Oma's Blues 6 months ago because I really wouldn't have finished it if the Toshiba had died back then. I feel that I am too old to learn new ways on technology. I just don't know what to do about it. I'm still thinking about whether to get it replaced ....? Or not. I don't know at the moment. 

Anyway, this also means that  I have to construct the pattern like everyone else and just get on with the job. I'm so glad I added a reverse option to the pattern because I can no longer simply reverse on my copier and going out to do it would be such a hassle. I must admit, I am somewhat set in my ways and change irritates me!
Unfortunately, my little domestic printer print the pattern wrong and set the print paper to 'letter', which I only noticed after 20 minutes of cutting out and gluing. So I forgot to take my own advice and had to re-print the whole thing in A4 and no re-sizing!
Finally, I'm making a start!
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