First of all, the Stamp Goddess herself, Ms. Tresa Black nominated me for a blog award... For those of you that don't know Tresa is a creative guru, a fellow CTMH consultant who I've been in "awe" of for years...
The rules of the award are:
*comment on this blog
*cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog
*nominate 5 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude
*link to your nominees within your blog post
*comment on their blogs to let them know they received the award
*link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation
I nominate:
Stacie at The Creative Crate
Okay, This time it's me that has some questions... some things I've been wondering about lately and knew that someone out there would probably know how to answer them:
1-Storage... specifically scrapbook storage. I have a Cricut and it's on a shelf by my desk, I've been wanting to use it more but am having an organization/storage problem.... how do you store your cartridges? Where to you keep your machine? Any creative ideas out there for me.
2- Quilting. I learned to quilt a long time ago in High School (AWESOME Home Ec teacher), back then it was all hand quilting. I've got the "piecing" part down for the most part but was wondering about the actual quilting. If you are doing a small project (like a bag or baby doll blanket) and don't want to send it out to be machine quilted, how do you do that? I have a Designer 1 from Husquvarna Viking... do I need another foot? Can I just quilt straight lines? What batting do you use? Warm & Natural, Fusible fleece etc? Can anyone point me towards a good tutorial.
3- Also- Quilting... does anyone know of a good tutorial for raw edge machine applique? I'm pretty much just guessing at this point.
4- For you bag makers out there what's your fav way to line it? Foam, Canvas, Fuse a Shade, Warm & Natural? Ideas suggestions? I just pretty much try something new each time I make a so I thought I'd ask.
5- Does anyone have a source for a dense Foam... like you would line a camera bag with?
6- I'm looking for vintage letters (as in alphabet)... anyone have any good online sources? I need to hit my local antique mall... when I type letter "a" on etsy I end up with a zillion responses.
7- Oh just for fun, anyone know how to keep a teenager to keep her room clean ? LOL!
Oh, Since I had a few questions about it... I'll share the Garth Brooks story with you... soon.
12 people said...:
Raw edge machine applique:
http://dontlooknow.typepad.com/dont_look_now/
She has some great free patterns too!
As for the storage....I got a small, open-faced, bedside table with wheels from Ikea here: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90120545 that my Cricut sits on forevermore. It has 2 shelves below that can hold 2 rows of cartrdges each. Or, one for cartridges and one for mats & blades & stuff. Also, for paper (I have wwaaayyyyy too much) I use an open file hanging thingy cart....kinda like this: http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p4_Safco-Mobile-File-Cart-Black-19-1-2-H-x-15-1-2-W-x-13-7-8-D_119802_Business_Supplies_2_10051_SC2:CG94:CL141699:SS1022398 but make sure its wide enough to hold 12x12 paper. Hope this helps! The End :)
I can hardly sew, but I worked at a quilt store for years and do some quilting. Currently I am machine quilting some projects for people at church. Machine quilting is super easy!! You need a walking foot. My mom has a viking and I am using a viking now and both have a generic brand walking foot-they work great and are less expensive. Warm and Natural is a great batting to use. Just make sure you pin all the layers together very well before you start then quilt from the inside out to avoid bunching. It is easy to sew straight lines on a pieced quilt because you have so many blocks and lines to follow. Even if you want to go diagonal across a block you usually can eyeball a straight line. Once I quilted lines every inch around a 5 inch border and I used my quilters rule to mark them. many times you can get a little guide to attatch to your foot if you are doing a buch of evenly spaced straight lines like that. Also, if you are doing free hand quilting-stippling and stuff you can use an embroidery foot. Put the feed dogs down and the foot floats about the fabric giving you a lot of freedom. It just takes a little practice to keep even stitches. I am dead serious when I say I barely sew...it is really easy.
The only quilting I have done are basic blocks and strip quilts. I have always used my normal sewing foot and have good results. You could get a quilting foot which I hear helps alot.
About quilting...you need a walking foot. It pulls the top and bottom fabrics at the same time so you don't get things bunched up. Warm and Natural is great to use because it is thin, depending on the project, they do have it in white and then you don't see the specks through your fabric.
On my machine I have decorative stitches and I just use that to stitch over the seams. Also, you can even sew baby quilts on your machine, you just need to fold it up on the sides as you sew the middle. You also want to start sewing in the middle to.
Another foot to look at, is the embriodery foot. This will allow you to do swirly design. You will want a stand fot your machine and rubber gloves on to easily move the fabric around.
Sorry that was so long...I randomly found your blog...
Hi,
A really great blog with some awesome tutorials about quilting is http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com She is so inspiring and her tutorials are awesome. She's contributed to Moda Bake Shop a couple of times too. I love to use fusible fleece for bag linings. It's easy to apply and not too thick or too thin. As far as batting for quilting, if you are machine quilting, look for a 80% cotton 20% poly blend, I like to use Hobbs brand. If you quilt it sort of close together and then wash it you'll get a great crinkly old fashioned effect. If you want to join a group to help you with your quilting, try http://quiltingfriends.ning.com They are wonderful ladies who have lots of experience and will help you with any questions. I hope this helps and good luck!
Anna
Crafty Girls Workshop
Machine quilting tutorial by a pro
http://www.thimbleblossoms.com/Thimble_Blossoms/Thimble_Blossoms_Home/Thimble_Blossoms_Home_files/StipplingTutorial.pdf
Love the blog.
I just discovered your blog and linked it on my blog list! I can't wait to try your skirt tutorial! Thanks for sharing!
I love your blog and gave you an award! Come see! A Little Tipsy Michelle
Thanks for the award Melissa. I wish I could answer your questions, instead I am reading your comments so I can learn too. Thanks again for loaning me your projector. Have a great day!
I have quilted a few baby quilts and some little projects like a camera case and have used a "free motion" foot that allows you to do all the swirly designs. It takes a little practice and I do use warm and natural or something similar as a batting between the layers of fabric. I have a Janome sewing machine but I also have a real old Viking and I could do the free motion quilting with a darning foot. Check your sewing machine manual. Good luck-it's really fun.
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com
She has some great ideas/links/tutorials
also
http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/
has some great resources.
Hope you're finding what you need!
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