Check
out our website. We have been open for a month and have added many
things to our inventory. Come in and browse a bit.
Of
course we still stand by our offer to try to find what you
need if we do not have it. Probably a quarter of our sales
are custom orders. |
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Please note: We are not
through adding all of our pictures. If you are interested in
an item, please contact us for the details if you cannot see
enough online. We may even be
able to send you a picture.
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Diane's Special - $2 off existing stock of Superior King Tut
thread,
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Diane's
Hint for this Week |
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This week's hint
is for paper piecing. Many of the patterns on our web site
are paper pieced. I have my own way of preparing paper
piecing patterns. I either use the original pattern or make
1 copy for each 8 copies needed. Then I take as many pieces of vellum graph paper as
I need copies and stack them together with the original
sheet of patterns. So if I need 8 copies total, I use my
working copy plus seven sheets of vellum graph paper. If you
need more than eight copies, make another pattern on the
copier and construct another stack. I use this paper because
it is translucent and I inherited a good sized supply from
my father-in-law. I use other kinds of paper: we carry water
soluble paper if you like that idea, special paper from
Carol Doak and from Electric Quilt, or to be truthful, on
the shelf under my sewing machine cabinet, I have a box of
sandwich wraps that I bought at Costco, I sometimes use them
for paper piecing, they are very flimsy, and I use them
often for a light weight stabilizer.
To get back to the subject of
the paper piecing hint. I have this stack of papers that
equals the number of copies that I need. I staple the stack
together several places around the edges to secure the stack
well. Then I take the thread out of the sewing machine
and put in an old needle. I stitch over all the lines on the
pattern pieces. This makes very accurate copies, you can see
the lines from both sides of the paper, and the side of the
paper that you use to place the fabric on, has these nice
little bumps that help to keep the fabric in place. Then
when you go to remove the paper, the extra stitching line
makes it easier to remove. A way to make it even easier is
to run the point of a sturdy pin along the stitching line in
the paper.
Got it? Make one copy on
the copier for every 8 copies that you need. Stack paper
together and secure it with staples. Stitch with an empty
needle on the lines of the pattern to copy the pattern.
Now for an alternative
way. Hate working with that paper? Cut your freezer paper 8
1/2 X 11 size or use freezer paper sheets. Cut lightweight
muslin fabric the same size and iron to the paper. Make
copies of your pattern on the copier on the fabric. Remove
the freezer paper, then use
the printed fabric instead of paper. |
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Featured Quilt |
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A VERY STINGY TOOTH FAIRY, 2006 , 29"x31.5". I recently
broke two front teeth! This tooth fairy only left a
nickel for them....that leaves several thousand dollars
to go before they are fixed! I had these perfect dental
mirrors in my doodad stash sent to me by a cyber friend
who was also a dental tech. They made the
quintessential corona for a tooth fairy!
Best
Of Show Lower Town Quilt Walk, Paducah 2007 $1100.00
USD
Artist: Pamela Allen
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About the Quilter |
New products added this week |
I met Pamela Allen on an online email list several years ago. She
started
out making collages out of fabric and this past year, she has
been adding intricate quilting motifs that she free hand quilts.
She has been doing this on a lower model Kenmore and has just
found out that she is the recipient of a new machine from Janome
of Canada. Pamela lives in Kingston, Ontario with her husband
who is also an artist.
Pamela gave me this message to you - I
favour a rather informal style where the image is developed as a
sort of "stream of consciousness". By that I mean each element
grows from what has taken place previously. This attitude works
well with my drawing-with-scissors technique, which allows me to
put down background, primary shapes with prints and recycled
fabrics, and then develop the narrative by additions and
reductions depending on how the composition is developing. I
have a largish collection of books on folk art, outsider art,
and non European art which inspire me. I can relate to the kind
of art that is spontaneous and unselfconscious. It’s as if the
idea goes directly from the heart to the hand, bypassing the
brain and it’s preconceived ideas. Emulating this philosophy
allows me to keep an open mind right to the very completion of
each project I look for the personal element in art, where the
artist seems to have direct knowledge or experience with her
subject matter. When I am working, I have to have a personal
stake in it to maintain my interest.
I traveled to Southern California about a
year ago to stay with Janis (Janome 6500 list moderator) and we
went to Pamela's talk to the Glendale Quilt Guild and to her
workshop. It was wonderfully liberating to use her style of
extemporaneous construction.
Pamela Allen
http://pamelart2.homestead.com/quiltythings.html |
New products just arrived
this week:
- Beautiful stained glass quilt blocks
- All the Silamide bead thread colors
- Insul-Bright insulating material for pot holders and
ironing pads
- Fun, brightly colored safety pins.
- Many colors of
Fabrico pens
- Wondertape
-basting tape that washes away.
- More foil
choices
- An assortment
of quilting stencils
- And more
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Call for Pictures of
Your
Quilts |
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Every month we feature a quilt on our
website
and in our newsletter. Send us pictures of your quilts
electronically and we will chose one of yours to feature. A
400 pixel wide, medium quality picture works best for our
purpose. Send to info@quiltersthreads.com |
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Reminder Of The Ongoing Coat
And Jacket contest. |
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Addition
To Last Week's
Hint |
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Check the website for details of the
Quilter's Threads
Coat
and Jacket contest. We look forward to receiving entries. Remember,
there is a prize of $100 worth of threads for first place. |
Toni said that her water soluble thread was not disappearing
with steam ironing. I suggested that it was probably
weakened enough to pull apart. If it is not give it a little extra
squirt with a spray bottle or use a damp pressing cloth. She
reports that the spray bottle worked. |
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My
Grandkids Part 1 |
Another Hint From Diane |
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After
all, I have 10 grandkids, you had to know this was coming. I
will spare you and cover just a few this newletter.
Kenny and Alicia just finished up their Little League and
Girl's Softball seasons for the year. Kenny had his class
play the same day as Alicia's last game. They are in second and
first grades. A couple of weeks ago, Alicia and I went
looking for barns to photograph. Photography, particularly
of barns, flowers and grandchildren is one of my hobbies.
She was very particular about what angle she wanted for her
photographs as we waded through roadside weeds. She took
this photograph and has submitted it to a local contest so
we are waiting to hear how it did. I think she did a good
job for a 6 year old.
She
should get word about the contest on the day before her baby
sister, Jordan's first birthday. We are all looking forward
to the party next weekend. She is just starting to take a
couple of steps. Don't you think first birthdays are such
fun!
Middle
sister, Rachel likes to take pictures with my camera too.
She goes by the system of snapping off as many pictures as
she can in as short a time as possible, so if she happens to
be pointing the camera in the right direction can get some
good candid shots. She took her other grandma's picture for
her upcoming reunion by this method. She's only 2, but will
probably be joining us soon on our photo safaris.
I
just finished making leotards for Ava and Natalie, ages 10
and 12. They are very easy to make, so that does not explain
why I had to make one 3 different times for Ava to get it
right! I mixed up the way the top attached to the bottom the
last time. I hope I have it this time. I also made 2 jackets
from sweatshirts. Instructions are in the Free Patterns
section of
http://www.quiltersthreads.com.
Here is how they turned out. (Pictures below right) Natalie is a Select Team soccer
player and Ava is very good in gymnastics. Since I could not
find gymnastics fabric she chose flowers for her theme. I
have made several of these patterns but never for children
and I would highly recommend them. They are easy to make. We
also have a pattern for a Woman's Jacket called "Eastern
Garden" on the web site that gives you a pattern for a
sweatshirt jacket in Women's sizes.
I have
spent a lot of time teaching those grandchildren who have
wanted to learn how to quilt, make paper, make sun prints ,
do photography and other art forms. The rule is that no one
criticizes any one else's art, When I was in fifth grade I
drew what I felt was a wonderful picture of a black raven in
a very blue sky. I was so happy with it and then my teacher
made fun of it. It is the last picture that I ever drew. I
am determined that my grandkids do not have to be in their
forties before they discover the artistic side of themselves
and the great pleasure that comes from creating something.
Spend
some time teaching a child or an adult to express themselves
through art. You will be sowing blessings for generations to
come.
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Meet our web
design team, Bruce and Nancy |
| Our
web design team is my brother and his wife, Bruce
and Nancy Wiley, who do business as
http://www.minifarm.com
. Bruce became disabled in the early 1990s due to
Grave's Disease and was staying with me and
eventually house sitting for me for a while. I was
working for Novell and would bring my laptop home in
the evening and Bruce would sit at the kitchen table
trying to figure out this new-fangled internet
thing. I think he has figured it out pretty well,
don't you? He eventually met Nancy, a very
talented artist, when he was taking care of our
parents in Yucca Valley California. They had a small
farm there and for years raised purebred goats and
poultry. She does the user interface for the web
sites and he does the mechanics.
When I called
Bruce yesterday, he and my other brother, Ken had
just gotten back from a 70 mile charity bike ride.
The two of them have rediscovered their childhood
and ride bikes together out of Nampa, Idaho.
Nancy has
won a number of awards for her wood sculpturing. I
am a fan of Pete's Pond Wild Animal Cam from
Botswana and am fascinated by the warthogs there.
She carved a warthog for me that won several
prestigious awards. She does commission work, web
site:
http://www.sculptinwood.com/nwileysculptures
Their family
includes Bugsy (Silky rooster) and Hoover (Hog).
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Save a prescription pill
bottle with lid. Poke a hole in the lid with a nail, ice
pick or awl. I have mine taped to the right side of my
machine near the back. Then any time you break a needle or
decide to retire a pin or needle. insert the needle, pin or
pieces into the bottle through the hole. When it is full put
a bit of tape over the hole and through it away. Our trash
collectors levy a sizeable fine if a collector is stuck with
any kind of needle, so play it safe.
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Try Out Our
Forums |
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There is a
Forum
section on our web site
that is new this month. If the link does not work
for you, just go to our
website
and click on the star on the home page So far, "ragstoriches"
and I are the only users. Bruce. half of our web
team, set it up the first of this month with the
following threads:
Threads
Helpful information and questions on threads
Free
Motion Embroidery
For those who enjoy the freedom of playing with
threads in an unstructured manner. - - -
Machine
embroidery
This is the fastest growing segment of the sewing
market. Join others who share your interests
Wearables
Share information on what works and does not work
for you in creating one of a kind garments -
Quilt
Embellishment
Want to try some techniques or looking for a
technique to do what you want to do? Ask others and
share here
Book
Reviews and Questions
Share your opinion of a book, quilting or otherwise
Paper
Piecing
Need some hints? Share your hints here - Printing on
fabric
Benefit from the experience of others regarding
fabric treatment, use and inks - General chitchat
Really off topic, just need a friend. My best
friends have come from online contacts
I Need a
Friend
Want to meet someone who shares your passion for
appliqueing leaves, or someone who lives in an area
you are going to visit. I hope that this will be the
place for that. I met my 2 best friends on the
Internet. One of my brothers actually met his wife
on the Internet and Kathy met her husband there. Try
this out!
Other
features
are Blogs ,which I keep meaning to get around to
using, file sharing, uploading your pictures where
you can share your work or show a picture of a
problem for diagnostics.
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Sweatshirt
Jackets |
Back of Ava's jacket
Front of Ava's jacket |
Back of Natalie's jacket |
Front of Natalie's jacket |
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