Monthly Archives: April 2010

Everything Old is New Again. Chenille Revisited!

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Look at my fun chenille teddy quilt!!

One of the Handi Quilter educators, Harriet Carpanini, was here for our 36th Anniversary Party. She showed us a panel she had “chenilled” and suggested we do the Billy Bear panel (988804) she saw in the shop. I thought that was a great idea and I did it! I did it on my Handi Quilter and will have a special class for my HQ owners, but I wrote up instructions for doing it on a regular sewing machine, and shared that with my Creative Sewing Club members this week.

We’re giving the instructions away with purchase of the 4 panels you need to make it. You also need a backing. You’ll sew the ½” diagonal channels and cut them open with the wonderful Chenille Cutter. (18594) I’ve done lots of chenille over the years and tried all the tools, and nothing compares to this one!

I’m almost finished with another panel, Le Spring Bouquet, purple of course! (983306) I’ll show it to you later. I left some channels uncut so I could demonstrate how easy it is at our Shop Hop this weekend. One of my Sewing Club members, Maggie Sweeney, plans to do one with a nautical theme (989281). That’ll be really cute, too! Although we haven’t written instructions for these panels, we can send you the Billy Bear Chenille instructions with your order of any four identical panels, and it’ll be applicable to those also. You should choose panels like the ones here, fairly large, and with not too much really small detail, for best results. Be sure to ask for your instructions with the purchase of the four panels.

It’s a fun technique and the results are really striking. “Everything old is new again!”

(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

Washing and Pressing

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To call me a “domestic goddess” would be a huge stretch! The kitchen and laundry room came with the house, or I might have forgotten to add them! So I try to do things the easiest way in both those rooms, to be out of them and back to sewing and quilting as soon as possible.

This time I had four one yard pieces of fabric to prepare for a patchwork jacket, and thought I’d pass on how I did it.

First I cut all corners on the diagonal. It reduces thread fraying a lot!

I washed all four pieces with a color-catcher sheet that you can get at the grocery store. Though I don’t always prewash my fabrics for a quilt, I do for a garment that will be washed when it’s finished and worn. If a color really bleeds, I wash it a few times separately and soak it in Retayne. (40287)
I put them in the dryer for 5 minutes, then took them out and smoothed them out on the ironing board, one on top of the other, getting rid of wrinkles.

Then I lifted each layer and sprayed it with Best Press, smoothed out that section again, and pressed all the layers. I moved them over, sprayed each again, smoothed them out again, and pressed. On this size piece, I rearranged and sprayed three times, and all the fabrics were pressed nicely! Now on to the fun part!

(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter the 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)

Tools at your Fingertips

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Last week I taught two Handi Quilter “Beyond Basics” classes, and talked to my HQ owners about putting their tools at their fingertips. I believe in tools, and I make my work area work for me! There are too many more quilts I want to do in my life, not to make things as easy as possible.

In this photo you can see a lunch bag clipped to the handle of my cup. I have Velcro on the bottom of the cup, and Velcro on the top of my HQ Fusion handle, so I have many tools right where I need them.

A few days after the class, we got this Bitty Buddy in the shop and I was so excited! I could replace that sack with a beautiful thread catcher. And it just happens to be purple… (57948)

Look how much better the “after Bitty Buddy” photo is! [Always keep threads away from your wheels and rails of your longarm. Extracting thread wrapped around the wheels takes away from precious quilting time!!]
(You can also collapse the Bitty Buddy to ½” tall and take it to class.)
You can see my favorite scissors, the Ergo Squeeze Bent Shaft Scissors (25955), behind the adjusting screw for my Micro Handles (33489) here, too.

In this close-up photo you see that I have used “Blu-Tack” from the office supply store to put my Ultra-Pro Seam Ripper (or “un-quilter,” 68024), Thread Tweezers (77760) (both on this page), and Embroidery Wand 83233) on the other side of the handles.

(By the way, we won an award from Handi Quilter for our training, customer service, and inspiration, so if you’re considering a longarm and can travel to South Bend, please email me! erica@ericas.com )

While I’m talking purple tools, one of the best things I’ve done for my body, is to put The Gypsy Sit Upon Comfort Cushion (47317) on my office and sewing chairs! It helps relieve lower back pain, strengthens core muscles, and improves posture. One size fits all!

(To find the item on our web page after clicking on the link, hold down the “Ctrl” key and touch F. Enter our 5 digit number in the box, and you’ll be taken to that item!)