Wish Upon a Quilt Blog

I find that some of the mundane tasks of quilt finishing are so much more enjoyable with fun tools. Seam ripping, or unsewing, is so much easier with a sharp seam ripper and a pretty one! Cathy has some fabulous seam rippers that have beautifully carved wooden handles. When the seam ripper’s blade gets dull you can take it out and replace it with another. The handle makes it so much easier to hold the standard sized ripper, and to find in your sewing kit.

Then there are the fabulously funky jelly finger thimbles. They come in fun colors and look so comfy.  Great for protecting your fingers while hand finishing a quilt binding. 

Having a whimsical pin cushion in your sewing area can put a smile on your face while you work or when you are facing one of those frustrating sewing challenges.

Cathy also has some really pretty, and reasonably priced, thread nippers for your sewing kits too. I still can’t decide which one I like the best. I waffle between the green and blue and my daughter insists I should get pink.

Oh, and don’t forget the glue pens for helping place bias stripping or bindings onto your quilts and holding them secure while you sew them down.

The glue washes out when you wash your project. I love the Quilt Basting spray, instead of saftey pins, when basting smaller machine quilting projects. It is so much quicker and less likely to have wrinkles on the back. I don’t have enough floor space to lay out a larger quilt to use it or I’d use it on all my machine quilted quilts.

I love pressing when I use the Best Press Spray starch

- the lovely scent of Lavendar makes it a relaxing and enjoyable process.

What is your favorite tool?

I stopped by Wish last Saturday during the special Christmas event. It was lots of fun. There were yummy treats to eat, raffles, lots of pretty new quilts hanging, and lots of fabric bolts flying! Thanks to all of our great customers for making it such a special event and thanks to the staff for being such good sports and adding to the fun! (here’s a blog tip- if you click on the pictures in the gallery you will be taken to a larger view with the detailed description/caption. You can cycle through the whole gallery this way. It’s a great way to see up close and get more information about the project or picture – try it!)

Don’t forget to vote in our viewer’s choice contest…we will be drawing a winner from all of the comments on Monday, July 20th. Have you started any Christmas projects yet?

Ok, I really should be posting fabric to the shop tonight, but I was so excited after I saw Amy Butler’s newest product Softwares that I had to tell you about it.

This is Amy’s first collection of sewing projects on a CD!  Amy partnered with Electric Quilt to make this amazing new tool with 22 unique and stylish projects for quilts, pillows, bags and more – plus 9 bonus projects! You can make the projects as designed by Amy– or customize them in thousands of possible ways using the software’s tools and virtual swatches of Amy’s fabrics.

I bought a copy at Quilt market to try it out and it is fabulous!  You get a skinny version of EQ and 31 projects designed by Amy Butler for $29.95. What a bargain! If you would like to place a preorder of softwares, it will ship out in a couple of weeks.

The other great thing that Amy is doing is celebrating the one year anniversary of Midwest Modern with a contest. Make anything with her fabric, send her a picture and you are entered to win! Very simple. Here are the contest details. Here is a FREE pattern to get you inspired, enjoy and tell us what you are making!

I love books. I find the collection in Wish Upon A Quilt difficult to stay away from. I like leafing through to see what the projects look like, what techniques are being demonstated, etc.  Recently, I was leafing through Piecing the Piece O’ Cake Way by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins. This book would be great for a beginner quilter or someone wanting to go back and refresh themselves on the basics. The quilts pictured are cheery and colorful. Every page  of the 127 page book is packed with pictures demonstrating techniques and projects. I was impressed with the discussion on color and contrast at the beginning of the book. 

Some projects listed are Log Cabin, Pinwheels, Drunkard’s Path, and Diamond Stars. There are 15 skill-building projects and 27 quilts. There are mulitple pictures of each quilt to show the difference fabric choice makes in each quilt. I really liked the beginning sections that detailed color and value, fabric choices, preparing fabrics, rotary cutting, and making templates. There are a lot of helpful tip sections through out the book too.  I especially like that the authors discuss practical issues like when your blocks turn out the wrong size.  A beginner quilter could confidently step through the quiltmaking process successfully with this book in hand. The authors step the reader through fabric choice, machine setup, cutting for patterns, assembly, layering the quilt, quilting, and adding the binding. What are some of your favorite books?

I’m a collector by nature. I collect pottery, hats, fabric, fountain pens, stationary, and scarves.  Just to name a few.

I think my love of scarves comes from seeing the glamourous movie stars of the 40′s and 50′s always donning a scarf. The right scarf can add a wonderful finishing touch to an outfit. Not to mention become an impromptu purse, hair tie back, or shawl.

Cathy just showed us some beautiful oblong scarves from Island Batik. I loved the patterns and colors. One walked out of the store with me that day. I realize that while many women love the glamour of scarves they don’t always know how to wear them or add them to their outfit or wardrobe. So I thought I’d share some useful tips on how to use scarves. 

I often like tying an oblong scarf to a purse. It makes a cute addition to the purse but it’s a practical one as well. If I go out and find that  my hair is getting blown around or into my face (quite dangerous for driving and annoying) I can turn it in to an impromptu ponytail holder or headband.  If I spill a little lunch on my blouse, it can become an impromptu tie or sash to cover the stain.

Oblong scarves also make great sahses and belts. They can also be tied around the neck to help draw attention up towards your face and elongate the line of your body, making you look slimmer. (Much like a long necklace does.)  Sometimes I like to tie them around my wrist like a bracelet and leave a little tail flowing. That’s when I want to feel a little dressier, not so practical when baking or rotary cutting -then the tail tends to get in the way.

When deciding on what scarf to buy, think about your wardrobe for a moment. If you have a lot of patterned tops in your wardrobe – look for a solid scarf in a color you love. If you have a lot of color, but little pattern in your wardrobe- consider a scarf with a pattern that pulls several of your favorite colors together. Also think about what the dominant neutral colors are in your wardrobe (blue, brown, black, grey, etc) and what would look good with those. The scarves that Cathy has are great because they read as more solid but have subtle patterns and textures that blend several colors together – making it a versatile additon to your scarf wardrobe.

If you get tired of a scarf in your wardrobe you could always use it as gift wrap for a present and let someone else enjoy it for a while.

Check out some of these online guides to scarf wearing to get even more ideas.

http://www.texeresilk.com/cms-scarf_tying_guide.html

http://www.greatestlook.com/tyingscarves2.html

http://blissfullydomestic.com/tag/scarf-tying-tips/

Here is a picture of me in my new find. I’m very partial to the Casual knot on Texeresilk’s site. I like the woven knot look – and it’s easy to do and remember. Not bad for a five year old photographer. I had my son take the picture for me. My arm wasn’t long enough to get the scarf in the picutre.

I whizzed into Wish the other day to pick up some materials for the ornament idea mentioned in the handmade holiday post. I figured I ought to try it out and show you what I was thinking of.  While I was there I saw that Cathy had a whole roll of the Kyoto batting.

I’ve been fingering the swatch she had and was taken with the softness of the batting. I couldn’t resist getting a half yard cut to take home for the Christmas ornament/tag project. The Kyoto batting is made up of bamboo and cotton fibers. It is sooo soft, much softer than 100% cotton batting. I also don’t see as much scrim in it either. I can’t stop fingering the stuff. It’s a shame it has to go on the inside of the quilt. The label says the batting is 45% Natural Bamboo Fiber
45% Staple Cotton Fiber, and 10% Non-Woven Polypropylene Reinforcement. Bamboo has been getting a lot of press recently as being eco-friendly, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and odor resistant. (To read more about the wonders of bamboo check out this Natural News article. )