Additional Seattle Fabrics

TFQ and I went to Angie’s AKA the Quilting Loft. We both made a beeline for the bolts of dots (upper lefthand corner above) when we saw them. Neither of us had seen them before. The mags are mostly patterns, but I am feeling the need to soak in quilt-everything. Fast and Fabulous has a fabric box that I might try to make sometime.

Timtex is Gone

In my travels I came across the fact that the manufacturer has stopped making Timtex. I have only used Timtex once to make a bowl, but I have been thinking about making more bowls and now I don’t know what I will use. The Craftapple has reviewed various options for stiffening boxes and bowls.

Ah, the Demise of Timtex – Updated

In the wake of the demise of Timtex I’ve been doing a little stabilizer research.  I purchased a several online nd played around with some from JoAnn’s and I’m posting my findings here.  The contestants:

1) Peltex 70.  Available at JoAnn’s for under $5/ yard.  It comes in 22? width.  This is a nice product, but thinner and more flexible than Timtex.  When I use this in the bottom of a bag, I’ll often sew 2 layers together for the stability that I want.  Peltex 71 is fusible on 1 side and Peltex 72 is fusible on 2 sides.  They get thicker and pricier as you add a layer of glue.

2) Stiffy.  This is not a comparable substitute for Timtex.  It is very similar to Peltex 70.  It is so very cheap at less than $2/yard but you’ll have to pay shipping if you can’t find it locally which brought my order to about $4/yard.  It comes on a roll and is about 20? wide.  One drawback is when I ironed it, my sewing room started to smell like a barnyard.  :(

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New fabrics

I have no Internet connection at the moment (shocking , I know), so here is a photo via cellphone of the additions to the fabric family. We spent time at Quiltworks Northwest, where the people were very friendly. There were a number of fabrics I remember from my February visit, but some new ones, too. I’ll post a better photo later. Thanks for reading.

Red Coffee Tote


red coffee tote
Originally uploaded by kanokwalee2

I have totes on the mind this morning!

I love the graphic nature of this tote and the cup images are perfect. I would love to see this fabric somewhere and make my own tote out of it. I am not that fond of the ribbon breaking up the middle image, but fighting with my sewing machine over buttonholes makes me understand how a ribbon would be so much easier to apply.

CatyLou Tote


tote bag
Originally uploaded by catylouquilts

I saw this tote on Flickr this morning and thought that it looked similar to the Eco Market Totes that I have been making. One of the attractions of the Eco Market Tote is the shape of the bag part, which this bag shares. I will have to look around and see if I can look at the pattern in person. Let me know if you have made one of these totes.

Quilt Fabric Manufacturers

Annie of Annie’s Quilting Stash Podcast has cataloged a group of fabric manufacturers and gives links and list of designers for each manufacturer. It is a podcast from earlier this year.

clipped from simplearts.com

Program 118 – Guide to Fabric Manufacturers

podcast
Running time: 00:42:53 Size: 19.7MB

Here are the links to the manufacturers that were covered in this podcast. Just click on their name, and the link will take you right to their website! Their websites aren’t “just for Shop Owners” any longer, but have all kinds of great customer friendly links that will help you find the fabrics that you need for your quilts.

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Projects Calling

I couldn’t stay away from my workroom on yesterday. I found a playmate for the child and left them to their own devices (except for an occasional admonishment to go outside away from the screens) while I sat and sewed. I sent Aja’s Bullseyes off to her, as I may have mentioned, last week. She received them Thurs or Fri, so I only had my blocks to work on.

This calling business was a bit disconcerting, because it seemed like my mind had a mind of its own. Normally, I will sew a bit, do the laundry a bit, sew a bit more, make my weekly phone calls, sew a bit, change the laundry and do the dishes and sew a bit more. Yesterday my body and mind were united and they were having none of it. I went to the workroom and basically stayed there. No dishes, no laundry and the dinner didn’t get started until almost 7pm. IT WAS FABULOUS!!!
This is one of the blocks and I really liked it. I fussy cut the last circle and was sad to slice it up, because the flower is so perfectly displayed.

These are my blocks after I have added the last circle. The blocks in the upper right hand corner are blocks that weren’t in the photo I posted the other day. My design wall isn’t big enough to accommodate all of the blocks.

These are details of the blocks from the upper right hand corner.

Now my Bullseye blocks are nearly complete. I have sewed the last circles on and trimmed all the blocks down to 9.5″.
This is how the back of a block looks after I have sewn the last circle and before I have cut the back of the second circle out. You can see that Julie and Aja have cut out the backs of the background and the first circle.

Here is how the above block looks after I have cut out the back of the second circle. This reduces bulk and provides lots of lovely circles for another project.

I finished the process of cutting out the backs of the second circles, and I have sliced the blocks into quarters. I am preparing them to be sent off to Julie and Aja.

Here is how I set up the blocks to slice them. I love the Creative Grid rulers, because they have a lot of different markings that allow you to line up the ruler so the block is sliced very precisely.

I keep two quarters of the block and send one quarter each to Julie and Aja.

Here are my slices. I just slapped them up on the wall, but I like the internal maze surrounded by a larger maze and may go with that type of design for the final design. I think I will have to put some of the stronger colors, perhaps red, in that internal maze so that it stands out. I will also want the self bordering technique to give the piece a finished look You can see it in Seeing Red.