Sunday, April 19, 2009

First Online Quilt Show

Amy @ Park City Girl is having an online quilt show. Entries are favorite quilts of the contestants. Well, mine is a repeat because this quilt is a favorite. I always wanted to make a quilt from the scraps left from my kids' summer jams and finally, I did it! Here is the Treadle On Mystery Quilt for 2009. The pattern was perfect for my scraps and I had fun making the quilt; so many special memories were sewn into the quilt. Thanks for letting me share!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Signature Blocks and Starch

Last spring, I participated in a pinwheel block exchange. We were instructed to starch our fabrics before we constructed our blocks. I followed the instructions but had a nagging feeling that starch may prevent the ink from penetrating the fibers of the fabric. Today, I ran a little test. I starched one sample twice with spray starch and pressed it flat. The other was pressed and signed. On each sample I used the same 4 pens, a Sakura Pigma Micron Pen, an Identi-pen, an Uni-ball Signo (a water resistant ink for check signing), and a Zig Ball Pen. After writing, I heat set the ink for 10 plus seconds and then ran the sample under hot running water in a strainer basket but used no laundry products.

As you can see, the starch does keep the ink from penetrating the fibers deeply. The Micron Pen and the Identi-pen did the best in the test so far. Now, I wonder what laundry products will do to the samples.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Sneak Peek

Shhh, don't tell, but I am posting a picture of a quilt I finished for the Treadle On 2009 mystery quilt event. The Mystery Quilt Show won't begin until next week and I used a Janome Jem Gold to construct the top because I made all the kids' clothes on a Janome New Home my DH bought me in 1978 when my T&S Singer 758 gave out when it was less than 5 years old. ;)

The quilt is made from the Hawaiian fabrics purchased for shorts my kids wore in the 80's and 90's (well, one fabric was the apron my daughter made for 4-H). It brings back many memories of happy summers including a week spent on the beach and then another in Southern CA at Disneyland and Sea World.

Well, just for the record, the link to the Treadle On Mystery Quilt Show was posted Monday night (April 6, not April 15 as I thought it would be), so if you want to see the rest of the quilts, visit Olde Treadleonia: