Cause and Effect

Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. 

Norman Vincent Peale

Well, are you ready to see my new toy work horse?  I've spent a lot of time in the studio taking turns at running the longarm and cleaning and organizing.  All the effort is now starting to show up.  I have one large quilt off the longarm and another ready to quilt.  The sewing machine area of the studio is clean and in better order than it has been for a long time.  It's still not a showcase because I use a lot of recycled items for new purposes but it is very functional.

I really love the bright LED lights on the new machine!  They can be this bright or dimmed.
There is 11.25" of room between the needle and the side of the machine.  Even with the longarm there are still some things I like to quilt with the walking foot.  I haven't tried the snazzy one that came with the machine yet but it is adjustable.

Here are my three sergers.  I didn't have a machine on this table before.  I haven't used the two on the left in over ten years so I took them out, cleaned them up and ran them a little. They are working fine but the one on the left needs some adjustment made to the cutting blade.  I haven't figured it out yet but I will.  I'm thinking of putting one in the longarm room since I frequently serge the edges of the quilts before I load them.  Then I'm thinking of setting the other two up for different stitches so they will be ready to use for different things. I usually serge the edges of new fabrics before I wash them.  A three thread stitch works fine for that.  Four thread stitching is what is used for garment construction although I've used it for more pillowcases than clothes in the last few years.

I moved the Janome 6600 to the desk I had been using for the serger.  I managed to fill up the rolling cart on the right with projects that were in the area.  I'd love to get some of these finished soon.  Several of them are leader and ender projects and several others were 'discovered' in the cabinet over the desk.  I cleared out the right side of it to hold embroidery supplies so they would be handy.

I also hung up a paper towel holder that I had bought last year.  I had a hard time deciding where to put it.  I always keep paper towels handy in the sewing and longarm rooms.  I use them for cleaning and many other things.

I found a home under the desk for the rolling case that the machine will travel in, if I take it anywhere.  The plastic drawers had been where the rolling cart is now.  The big thick book to the right of the machine is the instruction manual.  I'm only about 40 pages into it so far which got the bobbing wound and the machine threaded.  The automatic needle threader is so cool!

This desk was a Goodwill find for $25 a few years ago.  It is formica covered particle board and weights a ton!!  The men in the family had more than a few choice words to say while moving it.  After living with it for a while I decided the gray was depressing and bland so I grabbed the colorful letters and have fun 'writing' messages to myself.  I am in touch with my inner child as you can see.  Hee-hee!!  I added the mirrored circles to reflect some light in the dark overhang too.

The four sewing machine cabinet drawers I found antiquing in the mountains and they had been sitting on the floor collecting dust for over a year.  I cleaned them up and put them to use holding some of my decorative threads.

The Quilting Lines sign once hung at the entrance to my quilt shop.  The shelves to the left hold a few projects but most of the recycled meat containers hold scraps sorted by color. The brown bag on the left holds the embroidery unit for the machine.

The top of the desk holds some of my collectibles and antiques.  I'll have to share them another day.

Another cool feature on the new machine is the laser positioning guide.  You can use it to line up the sewing line or move it around to line up with the edge of your fabric.  There is also a laser point at the needle for lining up embroidery. 

To prove how many hours I've put into my quilting and organizing I tell you what I listened to while I was working.  Inheritance by Christopher Paolini  is the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycke that started with Eragon.  The audio book was 24 discs long.  If you are a J.R.R. Tolkien fan you will enjoy this series.  The series got deeper and more complex as it went along.  Nothing like a good story with dragons and elves.

That's what I've been up to.  I have a few shots of the quilting I did but I'll share those in another post.

Enjoying the Present

Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

Today is my birthday.  The last one I'll have in my fifties and that number sounds kind of old!  My husband and I were talking a few days ago about the fact that we have lived in this house for 13 years now and is doesn't seem like it could possibly be that long.  We lived in our previous house for 19 years and that had seemed like such a long time.  The way the years are zipping by we will catch up to that number here shortly.  Time just goes by faster and faster as we age.  

I decided a few years ago that the only time that passes slowly is the last weeks of pregnancy (when I was sure I was going to be pregnant forever) and the hours that you have to wait to hear what the Doctor has to say about test results.  It's not possible for me to repeat the former but it seems that the older you get the more of those darn Doctors you have to see and more often too!  DH is in the middle of going to this one for that and that one for the other etc.  The consensus is that yes, you have this issue and that pain and that's what happens as you get older so you get to live with it and there might be a little pill that will help a little now or later but the problem isn't going away.  Isn't it nice to have something to look forward to?

Yes, there is a point to this depressing diatribe.  I have always been a dreamer.  I've often dreamed of doing this and having that and being able to do this and go there.  There always seemed to be multiple reasons for me not to be able to do the things I dreamed of doing. Sound familiar?  Well I am going to DO IT!  Do What?  I'm going to try to squeeze as much FUN and CREATIVITY and JOY and LIFE as I can into each day from now on.  This will require some effort on my part.  Some of the things I want to do I need to get into better shape to be able to do.  Most of the things I want to do require more time commitments on my part and good planning.  I'll be sharing more later.  I need to make a few lists.

Back to my Birthday.  My oldest daughter took me out to lunch today and I will be leaving shortly for dinner out with my husband, my youngest son, my daughter and her husband. It's been a good day!  Can you tell I gave up cooking on my birthday?  I seem to recall baking my own Birthday Cake back in my 30s and then looking around at my family members and announcing that since there were several others present who knew how to cook (because I had taught them) that I wouldn't be baking any more cakes for my own Birthday.  Now I don't cook my own dinner either.  Sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sand.  LOL 

Presents... so far my DH gave me a bag of dark chocolate with nuts, yum and a card with a promise to buy me something when I decide what I want.  I did buy myself a little something at the Quilt Show.  I haven't opened it yet because I have to rearrange things to make room for it.

I've been wanting an embroidery machine for a while but I was waiting until they evolved a bit more.  The ones I used to sell when I had my shop were the first or second generation. Things have changed for the better!  I was going to get just an embroidery machine but the specials on this one made it worth the difference.  I'll have more details on what it can do when I get it up and running.  If you can't wait to know more look here.  That makes another 'dream come true' this year.  The first of course was my Innova.  I think I'm done buying sewing machines for quite a while.  Now I'm just going to ENJOY learning how to use them and make a lot of things with them!

I've been wanting to start a regular linky party for a while.  What do you think about one that would be for sharing the CREATIVITY and JOY and FUN you find in daily life?  Got any ideas for a good name for it?  Something with 'LINES' in it would be nice of course.  Leave a comment about what I've had to say today along with a name suggestion.  If I go with one of the suggestions the Comment Maker will get a gift.  Right now I do not have one in mind.

Linking with:  Live a Colorful Life

Quilter's Favorites - Share and Learn

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path. 

D'Alembert

Geta Grama of Geta's Quilting Studio is having a great Linky Party this week.  She is inviting bloggers to share their Favorite Things and Tips about Quilting.  Naturally, I didn't want to miss out on the fun.  I hope you will pop over and join the fun.  You might learn a thing or two while you are at it.  Some really great bloggers are participating so there are years of quilting experience being shared.

If this is your first time visiting my blog I hope you will explore it a little and get to know me.  There are some Tutorials available and some Free Patterns also.

Geta supplied a list of questions that could be answered for this post.  Rather than going through the list I thought I would share some information on the basic categories a quilter is confronted with when learn our craft.

C O L O R

Before anyone can quilt they must choose what fabrics to use.  That brings the decisions of what colors will work well together.  I'm not going to get into Color Theory here.  If you want to read some excellent and detailed posts about that I suggest you go to Vicki Welsh's Field Trips in Fiber.  Scroll back to the first post on the subject and read them in the order they were written.  You will be very well educated in Color Theory if you do.

V A L U E

My advise to students and customers facing the overwhelming number of fabrics to choose from is to start by picking one multi-colored Focus fabric that they really like.  Next pick out several fabrics that go with the Focus fabric.  Make sure you include a Light, a Medium and a Dark color value in these selections.  Next find one Accent fabric, this should be used to add a spark of color here and there in the quilt.

For example, a standard arrangement of this would be in a Sawtooth Star Quilt:

Focus Fabric: Border and Block Centers

Light Fabric:  Background

Medium Fabric: Sashing between Blocks

Dark Fabric: Inner Border and Binding

Accent Fabric:  Star Points

I used this Guide of picking 5 many times for my own quilts and helping many others select fabrics for their quilts.  It is easy and works well if you can understand the difference between Light, Medium and Dark.  This Does Not mean that you must only use just 5 fabrics in your quilt.  You can use as many fabrics of each value as you desire.  If a fabric looks good with the Focus Fabric it will usually work with all the others that do.  Try to balance the selections by value as well as number.  The exception to this is the fabric you choose for the background which you might want to be the same fabric throughout the quilt.  The Accent fabric should be used only in places where you really want to stand out in the design, like the star points in a star block.  You can use multiple fabrics in the same color for the Accents.

Confetti Stars Close Up View

In this quilt many lights were used for the background.  The border is the Focus fabric, the Accent fabric is the 2 golds used in the stars and inner border.  A variety of browns, blues, reds and greens in medium and dark values were used.  The attention to Contrasting Values is what makes this design work.

Confetti Stars

ACCURATE PIECING

Pressing is SO important!  If you cut a strip from a pressed fabric and compare it to one cut from a fabric that hasn't been pressed - THEY WON'T BE THE SAME SIZE!

If you don't know where an accurate 1/4" seam can be sewn on your machine LEARN!!  It doesn't take much time to sew three 2" x 6" test strips together, press the seams away from the center and measure the center strip.  If it doesn't measure exactly 1 1/2" make some adjustment in what you are doing and try again.  Variables can be the foot used, where you line up the fabric with the foot, needle position or if you didn't cut the strip accurately. It doesn't take that long to sew 5 or even 10 samples until you get it right.  Then train yourself to pay attention to doing it that way until it is a habit.

Pressing during construction is important too!  If you let little pleats stay along seams the block will not be the right size and seams will not match up.  Take the time to press along the way, after every step of construction.  You need to stand up and move around anyway.

SEWING MACHINES

I began sewing on a machine 50 years ago.  Yes, that was a long time ago and things have changed.  Machines do so much more now.  As a former sewing machine dealer I can tell you there are good machines to be found in any brand.  There are some lemons out there too.  

The features that are most useful to quilters are:

• A really good Straight Stitch
• Needle Down Feature
• Speed Control
• Accurate 1/4" Foot
• Walking Foot
• Free Motion Foot

Nice to have but not necessary is:

• Automatic Thread Cutter
• A variety of decorative stitches
• Knee Lift for Presser Foot
• Commercial Speed Motor (sews faster, lasts longer, adds weight)
• Table that surrounds the machine bed to give a flat sewing surface: i.e. Sew Steady Table

TENSION ISSUES

I was surprised to learn as a sewing machine dealer that 90% of tension issues could be resolved by doing one or two things.  I found it to be true and sent customers home without having to have their machines serviced.  Remember them next time you have a problem.

1. Re-thread the machine top (from spool to needle) and bobbin (take it out, put it back in)
2. Change the needle

Keep it Clean!  Dust out the bobbin area every time you start a new project or every 5 to 6 bobbin changes.  Oil as suggested in your manual.  Change to a new needle every 8 hours of sewing.  If you can't remember when you put in a new needle you are probably past due for one.  Dull needles make a 'thunk - thunk' sound when piercing the fabric.  A sharp one doesn't.  Micro-tex needles are great for piecing.  Top Stitching or Embroidery Needles for quilting. 

Superior Threads has some great info on needles and threads on their education pages.

That's a little advice from me on a few subjects.  I hope you've learn something and will use it to make many quilts.  I frequently use EQ7 when planning new projects or working out sizes and yardage for projects.  I will be having a Giveaway this Summer for a copy of the software that I won.  It will be for followers ONLY so you might want to visit me on a regular basis to learn more details.  I also have a handful of Tutorials that are in process to be posted.

I look forward to getting to know ALL MY FOLLOWERS better in the days to come!

As always, 

MAY ALL YOUR PIECING BE PEACEFUL!!!

Patricia

Linking with these wonderful blogs: Sew Many Ways Blossom Heart Quilts Free Motion by the River