Another Giveaway!

Thanks for the giveaway. I received your email and I will post this on my blog.

Try to sew everyday even if its 15 minutes and have a goal in mind…..and before you know it you have plenty of quilts made.
thanks so much for a chance to win :0)
Happy Sewing

My Tip O’ the Day is this, I love love love Press and seal kitchen wrap. I use it to wrap up thread spools so they don’t unravel. I use it to make baggies for projects I am working on. Especially Applique pieces. That stuff even works on the backside of rulers to keep them from sliding while cutting. It is great!! I am sure that there are other uses I will find for it!! Great stuff.

Always write down where you bought which fabric. If you need or want more, you will be able to go back to the right store.

When sewing with Monofilament thread. you know the stuff that is clear and you cannot see the end to put in the needle? Do not work so hard…..Just take out that permanent pen and color the end and you can see it to put it in the needle.

Best tip is getting a hold of”The Quilter’s Catalog” so those who have just dabble doing Quilts Can learn more to be able to work
faster, making beautyful quilts using new ideas and then sharing with others who want to learn……

One of the things I like to do is whenever I see something that I’d like to try, but don’t have the time for just at the moment…or if I come across a very cool trick in a magazine I bought…or I took a class and REALLY enjoyed it…I will scan the page(s) on my color scanner, insert those printed out pages into some plastic page protectors and put them in a binder. I have been doing this for over 5 yrs now and I have 2 full binders of things I “absolutely love” so I can flip through them any time I want for some feel good reading and inspiration. I find this to be a real pick-me-up when I’m feeling a little blah in these dreary January days…

I save the triangles cut from piecing binding, or when putting a small square on the corner of a larger square or rectangle then sewing diagonally, and any small pieces and inch or so wide. I use these as leaders and enders. It keeps my fabric from being poked down into the hole on the throat plate, AND I end up with pieces for a scrappy quilt. The triangles sewed together make a Friendship Star.

I keep a small piece of lightweight white cardboard (approx. 1″ x 3″) beside my sewing machine. When threading the sewing machine needle, I hold the cardboard behind the needle and it is much easier to see the eye of the needle.

When I have to take out sewing stitches, particularly long rows, I use a 28mm rotary cutter. Pull the fabric apart and carefully cut thru the stitches. It gets done in a flash.

I love all the tips you give us, Kay. The Readers tips and funny stores are wonderful!! I have a notebook with tips from you, to refer to whenever I need a little help.
Thanks and keep them coming!

Keep your downloaded patterns and articles on a thumb drive. That way if your computer crashes, you still have your quilting information

I think the best thing is to keep all the [ieces of fabric for any project together – in a plastic bag, a small box, a bigger box or whatever works, just so long as everything (including the leftover fabric) is together until things are finished!

I use art bins to organize “work in progress” projects! They come in a variety of sizes & colors!

Is this a sewing or a gardening tip? I save all my selvage strips and wind them onto an ever-growing ball (kinda like those rubber band balls) then it comes out to the garden with me and I use them to tie up vegetables and raspberry vines. It gives a little quirky color to the veg garden!

If you have a friend ( or yourself ) who has horses, the big zippered bags with handles that the winter blankets come in are great for storing leftover batting. They are square and can sit in a corner until you can sew the pieces together with your walking foot later!

I keep a canvas “sewing bag” ready to grab if I think I might have some time to “wile away”–I’ve drug it on road trips where I may not have to drive all of the time, track meets for my children where you often have time between events (and most teens do not like a hovering parent), sitting in a hospital room, etc. over the years. This helps me to not get anxious about all I should be doing at home. I always have scissors, various types of thread, and needles, cross stitch books, quilting magazines, patterns I want to “study”, and a couple of small unfinished projects in it. It has traveled over many miles and years of events with me. This idea has often kept me feeling content and productive.

When cutting pieces for a project I use cheep paper plates for each
piece. I write the size, color,where it is used right on the plate so that there is no question where it belongs. The plates stack on top of each other nicely and fit in a zipper gallon bag along with my working copy of the pattern, which I always photocopy so I can make and notes of changes such as color position& etc. The plates can be reused until there is no place to write (scratch out the old) & then some of the cheeper ones can be turned over & pushed to use the other side. I also use pages out of the old phone book for paper piecing as it is just the right weight & helps to recycle those tomes!

I’m such a newbie that I don’t really have any inspiring tips, but I would just say to HAVE FUN! And measure twice, cut once!

I am not a quilter, by definition. I only quilt occasionally, probably do sewing more often. Usually I will save up all my scraps, large or small, and recently I just realized that I might never have chance to use up my fabric strips. So, I decided to sew them up one afternoon, and convert them into a basket liner. Turned out pretty good.