Best HAND LOTION for Quilters

 As the weather suddenly turns cooler, my hands are already experiencing dryness. Handling fabric seems to dry out my hands quickly! For several years, I have kept Ultra Repair Body Lotion on my sewing table and my nightstand. It is actually a Head-to-Toe Moisturizer that is all-over fast-absorbing, rich moisturizer that provides 24 hours of soothing hydration and makes my skin feel more comfortable after just one use, with no greasy after-feel—very important for us quilters! I especially like it because it is suitable for all skin types, even for my sensitive skin. It is free from Alcohol, artificial colorants, artificial fragrance, lanolin, mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, phthalates, propylene glycol, sulfates, talc, formaldehydes, oxybenzone, coal tar, triclocarban, ethanol, ethyl alcohol.

You’ll want to try the tube here and the pump here. You won’t be disappointed!

Tapping into your Creativity

Book to read : The Creative Act: A Way of Being

My heart for quilt making has been stitched into my life since I was about twelve years old. From sewing my own clothes through high school and college to sewing dresses for my daughters, my journey has always been with fabric. When I retired, it was a dream come true to be able to spend my days quilting. Once I had more time, I knew I wanted to bump up my game and make breathtaking quilts. Not only did I study quilt designers and how they designed quilts, but one of my rock star quilters suggested some books to help your creativity. The best book I have read is The Creative Act, A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. That first summer I retired, I read a chapter a day and reflected on how to apply his ideas to my quilting. You can find the book here. I think you will find it helpful to create beautiful art, no matter what you craft. 

Game Changer—Three tools you need now

 Game Changers—Three tools you need now

You may make beautiful quilts that are admired by many, but to have your best tools available will be a game changer! We all sew and make mistakes, having to unpick stitches. Best advice I can give you to manage beat is to have a new seam ripper that woks to make it much easier. My favorite is here. You will not believe the difference a sharp seam ripper makes—game changer! 

The next game changer is your rotary cutter blade. A new blade will make your rotary cutting so smooth, you won’t believe it. Cutting fabrics becomes a dream job instead of a chore. I found a great deal here for a ten pack of blades. Don’t wait another day—order now!

The last tool to change your game up is your sewing machine needle. If you are like me, I tend to continue using the needle in my sewing machine way too long. Seriously, both of us should be changing our needles now. Make certain these needle will fit your sewing machine, but here is a great deal on a 10 pack of needles so you always have a fresh needle handy. 

Try these three game changers to make sewing fun and enjoyable!

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Starching first!

Best fabric starch

 Time to begin my Christmas projects! I like to get an early start to beat the holiday rush and make sure my quilter has time to quilt my projects early. Faultless Spray Starch is my favorite starch and is available in a 4 pack. It goes fast—buy the larger bottle in a large pack! Fabrics today are more stable, sew together while holding their shape and press better when starched first. Spray your fabrics slowly so it is saturated, then hang to dry. It will dry overnight, then press before beginning your project. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to get started! 

How do I wash my quilts?

Quilts that are used and well loved will eventually need to be washed. Most folks are afraid to wash their quilt but it’s okay to wash it with a gentle cleaner. I recommend Orvus, a ph neutral, biodegradable, bleach free, phosphate free, chorine free and hypoallergenic for sensitive skin, cleanser.  

 

 It is safe for top loaders, HE washers and hand washing. For best results, I recommend using a cold water wash on a delicate or hand washing cycle on your washer. More specific instructions can be found on the packet. I’ve successfully washed many quilts with Orvus and had no problems with Orvus Soap.

Joie de Vivre

Joie De Vivre

Joie de Vivre Quilt

Joie de Vivre is a string pieced king, sized quilt made for my daughter, Carly. She chose the pattern from a quilt pin saved on my Pinterest page. The directions were simple, using only one star in the quilt, but she required a large quilt, so her quilt is made using 20 star blocks. Fabrics chosen coordinated with one focus fabric, mostly bright yet medium value colored fabrics collected throughout the year.With so many strips in each block, a lot of different fabrics were required so as not to duplicate fabrics. I'm not certain how many fabrics were used, but it was quite a few!

Each block was constructed of 16--6 1/2 inch squares string pieced on a muslin square. Strings were cut one inch, one and 1/4 inch, one and 1/2 inch, one and 3/4 inch and two inch strips. I began by making the split block, using half light and half bright fabrics. Each block required 8 of these. The quilt was so massive, I made each block separately, sewing all 16 squares together to complete each 24 inch block.

When piecing a large quilt, it's easy to become bored and set aside the blocks to complete smaller projects. But that didn't happen with this one. When you love the fabrics as much as I loved these, I kept plugging away until it was completed. Like birthing a baby, this quilt was nine months in the making!

Center blocks using medium value fabrics

Corner blocks using light fabrics

Finished quilt!

 Carly chose Teaberry, a coral fabric from the grunge line, for the binding. Warm and Natural cotton batting was used. The quilt is quilted by Joyce Coburn from Coburn's Quilting Plus in Barberton, Ohio.
 

Botanical Gardens Quilt

Botanical Gardens

 

I have always admired the bright colors and floral designs in the fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs. I  began buying their gorgeous fabrics in magenta, red, purple and blue colors about 10 years ago with no idea how I would use them. Once I had collected quite a few fabrics, I selected 7 fabrics of magenta/red and 7 fabrics of purple/blue//green fabrics. Having made several chevron quilts, I wanted to make something similar, yet different. Finally, I decided on a stair step pattern, so the design goes down the quilt on a diagonal. 

Originally, I attempted to place one of the floral fabrics with one of Kaffe Fassett Dots fabric, but didn't feel it was the cohesive effect I wanted. When I decided to combine one warm fabric of magenta or red with a cool fabric of blue or purple, I knew it was a winning combination. The pattern is simple, yet the colorful designs in the fabrics make this pattern pop! 

The strips are cut 3 inches each, sewing a pink/red strip to a blue/purple strip. Seven red/magenta fabrics and seven blue/purple fabrics were used, thoughtfully placing each strip to make the most of the busyness of the large designs. The quilt measures 72 inches x 80 inches which allows the color combinations to be used twice in the layout.

Several of the discarded blocks are used on the backing, one way to use them up as well as to create an interesting backing fabric.

Joyce Coburn of Coburn's Quilting used a clam shell quilt design on her long arm APQS Millennium machine. One of the Dots fabrics, purple dots on a black background, was used for the binding.

Botanical Gardens

© Jenny Fowler