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Post by cj59 on Jan 25, 2020 20:51:13 GMT
Hello Crafters Ruth - I hope that your DGS and his wife will not get sick, I can understand you being worried about that. I'm happy you made your table runner and I hope that you will enjoy using it. There really is no way it only takes 10 minutes to make that Ginny - Sounds like you had a nice day yesterday. Are you getting snow today or just rain like me? Phyl - Hope you did get to watch the ice skating. I used to love watching that and forget to try to catch it on TV. Good luck with not eating the snack foods, those are definitely one of my temptations. Meg and Sue - Hope you are doing well. We had some heavy rain here last night and today it's cloudy with a few showers. I haven't been doing much. I finished a book last night and started a new one. I really want to work on my pillows, but I'm not motivated. I'll just hope I feel like working on them soon. Have a great weekend!
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Post by gramma15 on Jan 25, 2020 21:43:33 GMT
Well that's strange. The N is now gone and the h is there...
CJ, everytime you mentioned rain I think about how glad I am that you got that new roof! And yes, do what you enjoy. Forcing yourself to make the pillows when you don't feel like doing it right now just would make you feel even worse about making them.
I did a bunch of things in the kitchen after I posted earlier and now am exhausted so I'm taking an extended break. I didn't even get into the craft room to finish up that table runner let alone start another one. Making these organizers is really boring. You have to make them pretty long or make separate parts so that they are sturdy enough to hang and hold things and also to create the pockets you need to put the things into.
I'll go back to working on my crocheting in a few minutes
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Post by phyl on Jan 25, 2020 22:58:56 GMT
HI, did not sleep much at all last night. awake wee hours of the night.so took a good nap about 9 am.
while napping Don said Theresa called. our nephew Tom called them and said we made the right decision to stay home. they hit deep fog in the Rockford,IL AREA.TOOK THEM 12 HOURS TO GET THERE.NORMALLY TAKES ABOUT 7.
I google their place to Mattoon and they would be close to the same distance and traveling time we are from there.
after lunch I wanted to go the quilt shop in Winona,MN.so we dropped my brother machine off at the dealers.Steve will back on Monday.Flo his right hand go to person looked at the machine.it is not the foot pedal, nor the main motor board it is in the part where I can raise or lower the presser foot,needle up and down, reverse,thread cutter etc.
FLO said brother parts are not to expensive compared to H.V..They did have the H.V SHAPPAIRE there.she said it is an nice machine.
wouldn't you know my machine's warranty ran out in 2019.5 year warranty.
got in August of 2014. will probably be a month.they have 8 machines ahead of me. good thing I Have my janome gold and my eversewen
while in the quilt shop I showed Pauline my paper piecing squares. she liked them.also gave me some hints.
Ruth I would be scared for my family also if they were overseas.phyl
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Post by choney2 on Jan 26, 2020 0:05:31 GMT
Happy Saturday!!
Phyl- it sure sounds like you chose wisely to stay home this weekend. Cannot imagine a 7 hour drive extending to 12 hours due to bad weather/fog. Its just so darned hard to drive when you cannot see properly and not all roads have good fog lines painted, which of course makes it even worse. So glad you got a nice nap in today- bet you feel better with proper rest. Hoping that your machine repair is not too long and not too costly. Sure good thing that you have backup machines, so you can keep sewing! thanks for checking out the sapphire for me. The little I have heard is that its a decent machine. What a wise move taking your paper pieced squares with you. Seems that everyone is able to offer good advice and tips to help with the process. Think once you are more comfortable with it all you will not mind paper piecing one bit.
Ruth, will keep your DGS and his wife in prayer. Its just so frustrating when we know our dear family members are in harms way and we just wish they were home. Will pray for their safety and that they make intelligent decisions regarding their activities. At this point even if they attempted to travel back to the US, I wonder if they would be kept in quarantine until their health status us known. At the very least I hope they are wearing surgical masks (which are very common overseas) although I know that will not prevent all transmission of the illness.
Ya gotta laugh with the name the 10 minute table runner. Think CJ mentioned that too, there is just no way that they take only 10 minutes to complete. But once you get the process going and all equipment is ready to use, they take less than a half hour. Those organizers you are making sound like a lot of work- but I hope you can get enough done to make a good impact on your kitchen organization.
CJ- hope that the book you just finished was a good one, and that your next book is good too. Like you we got rain- it was not cold enough for snow. And it did rain hard for about an hour, but now its all over. 41 degrees too that is not bad for either you or me for this time of year. You had a lot of running around getting the fabric you needed plus the extra floss. Take a day or two off from crafting and of course check out the slow stitching blogs. Perhaps your mojo will return then. Hey did your dentist make a new appointment with you after the power outage? (And I bet that messed up your schedule too, as you had to go to the dentist but were not able to accomplish what you wanted done.).
Dh and I got our eyes checked today- funny story. I got to the exam part, and she asked what my needs for glasses were. My primary need is now up close work- crochetting, embroidery and quilting. Ends up this eye doctor also crochets, so my exam turned into a pleasant discussion of the best place to buy yarn. Dd came over today (laundry day for her) and I got some cleaning done here too. Busy enough day. Ds is in flight coming back from a week at Las Vegas on business. He lands in about 2 1/2 hours.
Guess I will see what books I have here to read, I finished the novel I was reading this morning and need something else to keep me entertained. Good night all Ginny
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Post by gramma15 on Jan 26, 2020 0:31:30 GMT
Phyl, I'm glad you stayed home. You never know what can happen when the weather is so bad and fog is no fun to drive in at all and also very dangerous. I hope you have good luck with getting your sewing machine repaired and it's great that you have backups. The only backup I have is that one I mentioned that is probably at least 50 years old if not older. I got it at an estate auction. I don't even know what the brand is but it was a doctor's wife that had it.
Ginny, It was about 41 or so here today too! And how nice to get chatting with someone about crochet whilegetting your eyes examined. And that's a nice thing about your dd not having a washing machine...you get to see her every week at least.
I'm not too impressed by the so called screening they're doing re: the coronavirus. It consists of taking eveyones temperature with a forehead thermometer. Well people most likely won't even have a fever yet. They'll be in the incubation period. I worry more about my grandson because he also has mild asthma. His asthma isn't bad but getting a virus like that can make that worse too.
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Post by cj59 on Jan 26, 2020 18:49:34 GMT
Hello Crafters - Hope you are all doing well today Ruth - I agree that it doesn't seem like a very good screening for that virus. How could they know if a person has it but doesn't have any symptoms. I hope that your grandson will stay well. Ginny - That's nice that you were able to talk "crochet" at the eye doctor appointment. I hope you found another book to read. I'm waiting to hear from the dental office tomorrow morning to see when they can schedule me this coming week. Phyl - I'm sorry your machine has to be in the shop so long, but happy that you have a backup machine to work on. Meg and Sue - Hope you are having good weather and good crafting. I started working on the shirt pillow covers this morning. I can see now why I've been putting it off. The cuts of shirt fabric are not the right size and the material (acrylic) is stretchy and it's difficult to get a nice square cut. I pinned 3 sides of fabric and then slid the pillow in just to make sure it would fit, so now I should be able to trim the 2 fabric pieces and sew them together. Once I have that done I can use that set as a template for cutting the rest of them, so hopefully it will be easier. I also sewed together 4 of the bowtie quilt blocks in the design I want to use for one of the quilt tops. Here's the layout I'm going to use for that one: www.simplegirlsimplelife.com/2013/11/scrappy-bow-tie-finish.htmlI think it will be interesting to have the white circle in the middle of each block. For the rest of the blocks, I'm going to lay them out in a more traditional setting with all the blocks going in one direction in rows. Also, they announced that "orange" is going to be the February color and I was able to find 3 good fat quarters from my stash and I have another larger piece of orange to use for the fourth fabric, so I have them pressed and ready to cut in February. I'll check out the blogs at Slow Sunday Stitching today too. Take care everyone!
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Post by gramma15 on Jan 26, 2020 19:30:01 GMT
Thank you CJ for your good wishes for my dgs and his wife
I went to the site and I love those circles. It will be a beautiful quilt top. Also I'm glad to hear you have some oranges you can use for next month's blocks and that you were successful in solving the problem with the shirts and pillow you're making with them. As you said, now you'll be able to use those as a template
I finally found out what thread it was that they told me to use when I bought my machine at the sewing center. It's Mettler metrosene 100% polyester. I don't know if that is actually a good thread for machines or if they just wanted to sell that brand. What thread do all of you use? What thread has been recommended to you that is good both for sewing and for the machine? I thought I had more in white but it looks to me that I have only colors left so need to get more white. I always used cheapie thread before I bought this machine which may have been one of the things that led to my machines not working properly for me.
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Post by cj59 on Jan 26, 2020 22:16:33 GMT
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Post by choney2 on Jan 26, 2020 23:18:43 GMT
Ok so now Ruth will be sick of advice on thread for quilting but here goes....If I am using quilt shop quality fabric then I will use aurifil thread, which is all cotton. Or Sulky (another all cotton quilting thread). It is/was felt that polyester thread might cut through cotton fabric too much. Now with quilt shop quality fabric, I am talking about fabric that is $10-$16 (estimated range) per yard. For my BOM I am using sulky. For all other projects, table runners and even quilts that I am using Joann fabric/Hobby Lobby fabrics I opt for what I have in the house in the appropriate color. If its all cotton that is great, but I will also use polyester. I use what feeds well into my machine too and have found that some threads are not as happy in my machine as others. Most coats and Clark’s thread (and I have used their cotton quilting thread and its great) is fine in my machine. A 35 weight thread would be perfect -not too thin nor too thick. If the Mettler feeds well in your machine and its the right color, IMO go ahead and use it. The true quilting expert types might disagree, but I see no harm. Lets see what Phyl says when she checks in. And you know my machine is a basic one, nothing fancy.
CJ- would you consider using a lightweight iron on interfacing to stabilize your dad’s shirts? (I had to do that with my mom’s blouses for the 9 patch block squares). Yes, once the first shirt is cut and set, the others ought to go easier. Love the bow tie quilt block with the circles - it will be such a pretty quilt!! So glad you do not have to get much orange fabric for February. Guess another trip to Joanns is in order, but just for one fabric. That is not so bad.
Went to a lecture on Indians in our nation with Dh (who is into that a lot) then we went into Walmart quickly. Oh I did get to church this am too. Last night I picked out fabric from my stash for a bible cover, this one will be for me. I figure that is a good test project for my newly repaired machine, and I have some fabrics in smaller quantities that I really love and am anxious to use. I will also be using some of the variegated sulky thread for the top stitch- planning on using fancy stitch for that to give my machine a real test run. I finally heard from another long armer about quilting my BOM when I finish it. And another woman at church volunteered to quilt it for free- but I have a ton of reasons why I will not use her. First off, I do not need her picking apart my technique or lack of said. (She takes classes constantly and has 3 fancy machines.....think all she does is quilt). And I want this to be a business relationship - so I get what I want and not her opinion. Also do not know how good her technique is- but I do suspect she does a good job.
Enough of my babbling. Think I am going to figure out my fabric needs for the Bible cover so I can cut tomorrow.
Hi to Meg, and Sue and Phyl. Ginny
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Post by phyl on Jan 27, 2020 2:24:14 GMT
HI girls, Ruth if you are threading you machine needle by hand,there is this old trick will help you find the hole.
Take a white piece of paper and put it behind the needle. this will help you find the hole.you can use a light color piece of paper also.. think white works the best.
as far as thread I have use aurifil. hate paying that much for a spool.by the time you buy 2 small spools you might as well buy the big spool.
also I use mettler , and guttleman.they work good.on the guttleman be careful ON the gutleman. I grabbed to thick spool one time and had trouble with my needle theader.had to put in an bigger needle.
I usually stick with all cotton no matter what brand.never tried the sulky cotton.all I ever notice was their decorative threads.those always kept breaking on me.
I have used coats and clarks all purpose thread. once in awhile I get a bad spool.
I learned years ago not to buy thread at walmart. my praff (I HAD AT THE TIME.) would not sew. took it to the dealer I had at the time.Robert knew right away.he said the coats and clarks walmart sells are rejections.
he held up the thread spool with thread hanging down and I could see how in some places the tread was thinner.
alos do not use serger thread for quilting. I have heard Nancy on Nancy's notions say it. read it in magazine, and Steve has even said it. even after you are don with a quilt the thread has a tenedcy to break
even it it has been on a bed for awhile.
today was church. we had lunch at taco john's.Don wanted to try it. we will go back to taco bell.
walked the mall for awhile (if you can call it a mall any more.). phyl
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