Friday Favourite: Easy Thread Sewing Needles

With a million threads to bury on that beast of a quilt I pulled out these needles. They were part of some swag in the Denyse Schmidt Improv class from QuiltCon and they originally come from Purl Soho. I put them aside after trying them for binding. (Not a good use there - it cut the thread sometimes and was thick for getting through the small edge of the binding.) But I find them absolutely perfect for burying threads.

I must admit, I never used to bury my threads. I just stitched once or twice where I started then cut flush. Frankly, I was lazy. But the finished look was nowhere near as neat. So now I spend the evening burying threads and am much happier with the finished results. I do tend to wait until I'm done all the quilting so it can add up to a fair amount of work, but I find it easier and it doesn't break with my machine quilting rhythm.

I do exactly the same technique as Amanda. And these easy thread needles are perfect for it. They save you trying to thread two threads into the eye of the needle, and having sit awkwardly in order to use your eye, at eye height, to thread what are likely to be short threads attached to a heavy quilt.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the intensity of that quilting, here is my thread. Can you see it? That's 1000 meters of thread per spool! I used one whole spool and then some.

Been Quilting

All three seasons of Downton Abbey. Almost all the Ted Med lectures, plus a few others. About a dozen beers. And one very sore set of shoulders later and I am done quilting this beast! (Yes, that's a king sized bed up there with a deep mattress.)

No, that's not an earthquake, that's me jumping up and down.

Now, just to bury a million threads, square it up, bind and wash it. Thanks for all the cheerleading along the way!

That's our original wedding quilt underneath.

Snippets on Dates

For the last two or three years I've kept this bin of fabrics scraps by my side while I sew. It sits next to one of my big glass jars full of seemingly useless snippets of scraps. Tiny pieces, big pieces, odd pieces. They all live together in the hopes of becoming something more.

Slowly, slowly, they are indeed doing that.

As I sew, particularly improv sewing, I use these little bits as leaders and enders. That is, instead of having dangling threads on every single seam I often grab two snippets and sew them together. At the end of a moment of sewing I have a new collection of pairs.

Some pairs are small, some a bit larger, and some teeny tiny. Eventually, they will all get sewn together into some kind of crazy, hot, scrappy mess. And I will love it. For now, however, they are still sitting in pairs, like some sort of speed dating event.

On the weekend I wasn't in the mood to sit while we watched UFC and Le Tour at the end of the night. So I set up my iron and finally tackled the pressing of these lonely dates longing to be part of the crowd. And three hours later I wasn't quite done, but I made a good dent.

Now it is time to create a new set, by sewing these piles together. And so on, and so on... It really is going to be chaotic when done, but I'm pretty sure I'll love it. How can I not, when I have these little precious combos littered throughout?

Keep these leaders and enders in mind when you're making your slabs. Makes the process faster and neater.

Just One Slab Deadline

Wow!

Slabs are already pouring in. I had to warn my mail man about the packages when he delivered 6 the other day. I even had a highway pick-up that felt slightly illicit, but way more fun. I'm blown away by everyone's enthusiasm.

To answer a few questions:

DEADLINE - July 30, 2013.

I plan on assembling the blocks, with the help of some local friends, in early August. And Andrea has offered to long arm the quilts. Then, I assume a big binding party will happen!

Once you've squared up your block it is helpful to sew a stay stitch around the edge of the block. Just a regular stitch, about 1/8'' of an inch from the edge of the block. It helps prevent seams splitting when the block is going to get handled repeatedly before final assembly.

If you would like to donate quilt tops, completed quilts, backing, or batting I will take those donations as well and make sure they get to the organizations that will be finishing and distributing quilts here.

Thank you so much!