Spotlight Wednesday - Pulling up your bobbin thread

This weeks Spotlight Wednesday is about pulling up you bobbin thread to the top of your work.

It's not something we've need to use yet. But I thought I show it to you ready for when you do.

This is a little technique you can use whenever you want to start your machine stitching not at the edge of your work.

I learnt this when doing machine applique but it's just as useful for machine quilting.

Sew,
if I wanted to start my machine quilting on the beige strip of the logcabin below

This is what I would do
Click on this pink link to watch my video - pulling up your bobbin thread.

So now your work will 'always' be as tidy on the back as it is on the front.

I'm going to go and get my things ready for tomorrow now.

Goody list - money -  camera -  glasses -  sweets and drinks - painkillers - a bus full of quilty friends and a large dose of laughter at the ready.

My D.H. says that when us quilters get together we sound like a gaggle of geese!

We are going (a bus full so probably 50 of us) to the Quilt Show in Malvern - we'll be crossing the border into the English countryside and the land of free bags - you have to pay for grocery bags in Wales and we Welsh get a bit overexcited at the prospect of having our purchases put into free bags.

I'll be taking pictures, making notes, having more than my fair share of fun, and reporting back to you all on Kickback Friday.

Yours in Stitches, Joy

Spotlight Wednesday

Today we are going to put the spotlight on one of the Quilters Fab Four Feet. And this weeks one is proper little workhorse.
Today we are looking at the humble quarter inch foot.
This foot is a real must have for patchwork. Yes you can manage without it.
You could use a piece of tape to mark the quarter inch.
You could use the measurements on the base plate of your machine,
or you could move your needle across to quarter inch.
And all of these ideas will work to a degree. And indeed when you first start piecing your patchwork blocks these ideas will help you get started. But once you know you are going to be a patchworker then your really need to consider investing in a quarter inch foot.
Luckily it is one of the least expensive feet to buy. It's only small. But boy will it make a huge difference to the accuracy of your piecing.
When I first began patchwork and quilting an experienced quilter told me the most important two things about piecing where accurate cutting and accurate piecing - that's stitching quarter inch seams. And it has proven to be the most valuable patchwork advice I have ever been given.

So to re-cap that's accurate cutting which means learning to use a rotary cutter.
And accurate quarter inch seams and that mean getting a quarter inch foot.
And when you consider it, it makes perfect sense. When making a patchwork block if you have just four seams, and your cutting is out by just an eighth of an inch and your piecing is out by just an eighth of an inch in a 12" block you would be out by an 1".
Mind you if you are in the market to buy a new sewing machine for patchwork and quilting. You will find many 'quilters' models come with the 'Fab Four Quilters Feet'

So, the first picture is of me stitching my half log cabin blocks 'factory piecing' or 'chain piecing' style - and that's a bit of a sneek preview because factory or chain piecing is what next Mondays video will show you. But in this picture you can see I'm using  my quarter inch foot. You can also see the piece of tape I have put on the stitch plate just to show you what that would look like.

 And these two pictures (above and below) show it in close up. Each machine manufacturer produces it's own version of the quarter inch foot. This one is Bernina's. It's rather unique in that it has notches (the little v shapes you can see three on either side of the foot) Each of these v's is a quarter of an inch. Which means you can easily see where a quarter of an inch is in all directions from your needle. Useful if you need to stop quarter of an inch from the end or in from the beginning.

The picture below is of Janome's quarter inch foot on the left and the Bernina one on the right.  The black arm on the side of the Janome foot acts as a guide and can be useful although sometimes gets in the way. And I have been know to push a piece of paper in the side of the arm to hold it out of the way.

Anyways, now you know how useful a quarter inch foot is please consider getting one - and if you have one and don't use it please give this little foot a try.

Yours in stitches, Joy

Spotlight Wednesday

My first Spotlight Wednesday is tied in with Monday class. I am going to attempt to upload a video.......it's How to rotary cut strips for a basic log cabin block. I think it's so much easier to learn how to do these things when someone actually shows you how. AND it sticks even better once you attempt a sample piece. So, today I'm showing you how to cut the strips and next Monday class I'll show you how to make up a basic log cabin sample block using the said rotary cut strips.

For today you will need three fabrics, one light, one dark and one for the centre block.

Tip for video - to watch it full screen click on the little square at the bottom right of the video once it starts playing.

And yes, I know this 'Wednesday' blog has been posted late on Tuesday evening, but I was so excited and wanted to make sure it would work:)