Sunday, September 30, 2018

Elm Street Quilts OMG September Finish Linkup: Brief and to the Point

Elm Street Quilts OMG Finish for September
Goal met, binding is on.  I am pleased to have another UFO completed for the September Elm Street Quilts OMG.  DH likes the quilt so much, I haven't gifted it.   Hanging or otherwise displaying the quilt is questionable.  The two rooms where it would look best don't have wall space for hanging or furniture where it can be draped.   We are still debating the issue.  My good intentions of blessing someone with this quilt have been temporarily sidetracked.   

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Solution to Bobbin Thread Tangles

Yesterday, I went to get my travel sewing machine kit with little tools to remove a throat plate and the odd bobbins I keep for testing machines were a tangled mess.  Years ago I saw a tip for making an inexpensive bobbin tray from 5/8" OD - 1/2" ID vinyl tubing.  The tubing was purchased and sitting in my workbench drawer waiting.  I finally made the tray and it works great!  It holds the bobbins tidily in the pencil case I use to hold the tools.
Use sharp and strong craft scissors to cut the tubing to the length preferred and then make a lengthwise cut to separate it.  The heavy tubing has enough strength and memory to hold bobbins of slightly different diameters securely.  Additionally, the tubing can be cut to make small collars for each bobbin but I find them more difficult to cut for the narrow Class L bobbins for my two Pfaffs and they are difficult to remove on larger Class M bobbins that have only a small amount of thread on them.

Elm Street Quilts OMG Link Up: Challenge met with Success

An earlier Elm Street Quilts OMG for the month of July was not on my list as a pleasing finish.  The quilt top was done and the monthly goal was met on time but the borders were rippling and I was seriously contemplating removing them to correct the problem. 
The top was set aside while I finished another older UFO for the month of August.  I also watched other longarm quilters in YouTube videos take on quilts with worse borders than mine.  With 10 years of longarm quilting experience of quilting mostly my own quilts with no issues, I decided I needed to accept the challenge and leave on the wavy borders.  The results were an amazing and I am very pleased.
All fullness was worked in with no pleats or puckers.  The quilt is flat and square with straight borders.  Additionally, the pale minty green thread blends perfectly across the different batiks with no tension issues.  I am a happy quilter!

My Elm Street Quilts OMG for September is to finish binding the quilt.  The binding is ready to attach and with Fall weather bringing lower temperatures and some rain, it should be a pleasant task to sit with the quilt on my lap while I listen to a book or two.