Author: Emily

Bits of thread everywhere! (but not anymore…)

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The way my sewing table is set up there is no room for the garbage bin within arms reach when I am sitting at my machine. It gets in the way of my feet or the ironing board and inevitably gets moved off to the side and I end up with little piles of thread like this:

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These piles then seem to find their way onto whatever I’m sewing, my clothes, socks and somehow every corner of the house. I finally decided to solve the problem by making a thread catcher. I found a great tutorial by The Sewing Chick and I set to work. I used Essex yarn dyed linen and cut the rectangles from my scrap bin.

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It came together very quickly and almost doesn’t need a lining.Image

I’m very happy with the final product and have already put it to use!

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A nice and quick project for a lazy afternoon. Happy Victoria Day!

Emily

Joseph’s Coat WIP

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I recently decided to start another hand sewn quilt. I like having something to do while I watch a movie, sit on the train or listen to the radio so I couldn’t resist a new project when I saw this quilt-along.

I used her instructions and made a lot of modifications, but I really liked the idea of preparing the pieces with fusible. I chose to cut out the pieces on Steam-A-Seam and iron the edges down to hold them in place instead of using glue. I spent a few weeks cutting out and ironing the pieces. The biggest challenge for me was getting accurate points, especially with thicker fabric.

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I wanted a rainbow effect, so I sorted the pieces out by colour, then laid them out in the pattern.

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My plan is to applique the whole quilt with pearl cotton, and then use the thread to blend the colours during quilting. I ordered some wonderful thread from Valdani (size 12).

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I love the bright colours and I can’t wait to show my progress as I work on the applique!

– Emily

 

Hand-made runs in the family

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Recently, ma tante L gave away some blankets that she had made. They are beautiful enough to be used as a decorative piece on their own! The Dionne Quiltuplets come from a long line of crafters, with previous generations working to quilt, weave, spin and knit to earn money, make things for the family and pass the time.

Today,  I’m happy to share some of our woven history!

– Emily

From ma tante L:

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From a great-grandmother who use to sell her blankets for $2:

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Detail of the pattern:

 

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Crossed Canoes

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This is the first finished quilt post! Not first because it’s my first quilt (or even my most recent), but it’s the only one that I have pictures for. It’s a crossed canoe pattern with free motion quilting done on Elle’s longarm machine.

-Emily

With crossed paddles

With crossed paddles

Full pattern view

Full pattern view

Quilting detail

Quilting detail

Lesson #1: Always be aware of your fingers (not for the squeamish)

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When thinking about what I’ve learned so far from quilting, there is enough material to fill several volumes. There is one incident that comes to mind, since we’re always told ‘Safety first!’, for the first lesson I suggest that you are always aware of where you have fingers (and thumbs!) in relation to all your tools like rotary cutters, sewing machine needles or anything else that could cause injury.

There are two stories that back up this lesson. On one occasion, M found herself missing the tip of her finger during an intense cutting session. Rotary cutters are very sharp and can cut quite deep before you realize what has happened. Fortunately not too much damage had been done and I think she consider herself recovered and (mostly) whole. The next occasion happened to me on Christmas Eve. In my mad rush to finish last-minute gifts, my thumb got caught in a pocket of a bag I was sewing. After assessing this situation, I determined that the needle has gone through my thumb and had to unscrew the needle from the machine. Not quite sure what to do, SB and I stabilized it and went to the ER. Given I was in pretty good spirits and in not too much pain, the nurses all thought it was a pretty funny injury. The needle and thread were soon removed and I got early Christmas gifts of a tetanus shot and a lovely portrait of my thumb bones (see below).

We have been lucky that our injuries have been pretty minor, but our experiences serve as a reminder that we do use potentially dangerous equipment and that it’s important to be conscientious of our surroundings. Lesson learned!

-Emily

 

xray