Quilt Haus

I spent the morning at the Quilt Haus and didn't get a single thing done!

We gossiped, petted fabric and looked at the brand spanking new HQ Avante on site!  Oh, my.

So.  I find myself in need of white thread.  Not a single spool in the house.  I have bought fabric, with nary a thought of how I will sew it back together once I cut it apart!

I love my LQS, but lordy, the thread prices are high!  I need to drive out to the sticks and check out the new shop my HQ dealer has moved into.  She has OMNI at pretty good prices. 

So where are the sales on thread happening?

Guterman Thread Question

I am pretty popular this morning......one of my pins was repinned by Shirley McClain and I have a meeting with Wayne Rogers this afternoon.  I guess the fact that one is dead and one talks to the dead should make me drive more carefully today!

Could someone who uses Guterman Thread tell me what type I need to get.

I want to try some but I have no idea what type to buy that would be usable in home sewing machines  and my long arm.

Mara 100 Tex 30 1,094 yds All Purpose Thread 

I generally use Essentials from Connecting Threads but I seem to have some Aurifil in the mix of colors.  I ended up with some cones of poly something I must have mis-ordered, because I don't like them.  They are silky and shiny and thin, but not what I generally use for quilting.

So.....

 Anyone  use Guterman?  

And as an aside......

Every time I took a photo of a bird, I thought of Carol! They told me what it was but I didn't have my book to write it down.  So untypical of me, I usually take voracious notes of every step of our vacations.

Quilting!

I quilted the Lorax!  And showed it off at the Modern Quilt Guild meeting last night!

Of course, they loved it!

And for Seuss 2, they really liked  the spikey things, but all agreed that it looked better with them off the sides.  The top and bottom was OK though. 
I was leaning that way, so I will finish squaring things up and build a backing for it.

I quilted it with a new to me thread.  It was somewhat thinner than my regular thread and I had a problem with breakage until I got the tension straight.  That was only about half way through!  Grrr.

The thread is a light blue and blends into the colors well.  It also sinks into the quilt since it is thinner.  So you don't really see it a lot. 

The jury is still out on the thread though.  As to whether I like it.  The really great thing was that there was very little lint.  I generally use the thread from Connecting Threads and even though they say is it low lint, it really puts out a LOT of lint!

A quilt with Frank's feet!

When I got the Avante HandiQuilter and Margaret came to set up at the
house, she sternly told me to clean out the bobbin case EVERY TIME I CHANGE IT!  Or else!


And I do, with the Connecting Threads thread it is a definite must.  But when I changed the bobbin in this other stuff, it was ........clear!  I was kinda shocked, I guess.

I  wonder if the new thread comes in heavier weights.  I have to admit, I don't even know what brand it is.  If it does, then  maybe I can use it like BottomLine in my bobbins for all the threads until I use it up.

I bought it in cones, so it may be until forever!

Cleaning the Quilting Chair

This is one aspect of cleaning that I think most people don't think about.  Cleaning the quilting chair.  I am not talking about the seat or the back or arms of the chair, but the wheels.  I clean mine about every 3 or 4 months. 

So you don't think about your wheels?  I suggest you stop right here and check them out.    You will be absolutely amazed at what you are going to see in there!

I will tell you how to clean them and what you will need to do so.  I can't tell you how to stop this from happening.  It is a by product of what we do.  We use thread, batting, material.  And our wheels pick up everything we use, like little round dark hard sponges.

Here is one of my before wheels.  It is not the worst one even.  But let's start with that one.

These are the tools of choice for me.  A small but sharp pair of scissors.  I like these because they have long but thin blades.  Did you know that in New Orleans where I grew up my grandmother would put a pair of scissors under your pillow if you could not sleep well.  I guess it was supposed to help you sleep somehow.  It is a wonder my hand is still intact, I sleep with my hand under my pillow.  But I digress. 

A small but sharp pair of scissors with long thin blades.  A pick of some sort.  And some gripping tweezers.

 

Here is the second wheel I was working on.  There are five wheels on my chair, not sure why five is an improvement over four, but I have not fallen over in it yet.  Maybe that is why.

Take your small scissors and clip away as much of the detritus as you can.  Use your excellent tweezers to pull the thread masses out and away from the wheel.  My wheels never come apart but they do come off the chair so I did that to make myself more comfortable.  Of course DiNozzo had to get his nose in there to "help" me.  I moved him out about three times, finally gating myself in the room alone. 

This is one of the remaining wheels.  See the batting in there?  How did I get batting in the wheel well?  No wonder my chair was not rolling well.

At some point you will need to get the big guns out.  Here are my big bubba thread pulling apparatus.  Aparati?  Aparatuses?  Flat nose pliers and needle nosed pliers.  Did you know that a pliers is a lever joined at a fulcrum?  And that pliers were used even before 3000 BC?  But I digress.  

Use your big guns to grasp and pull parts of the thread and batting mass from the wheel wells.  You will need all your tools, the bigs and the littles, to complete this task so don't put anything away just yet.  Continue working the thread mass by loosening with the pick, clipping with the scissors,  pulling with the pliers, and picking with the tweezers.  Do this for several more hours because you have a chair with five wheels. 

Here is a partially done wheel.  When you get to this point you will have to work patiently and carefully.  You will think you are winning, but you are not winning yet.  This requires a steady hand so don't go starting to pour your favorite adult beverage either.  Use your pick to loosen the fibers from the wheel shaft.  Use your scissors to clip what you can.  If your points are small on those scissors you can get way down into the mass and do some good clipping action.  This also goes for your tweezers.  If the points are meeting and actually gripping they will be your best friend here. 

Sometimes all you get is a single thread, but it is really a good thing.  If you can get just one more, you are ahead of the end game. 

This wheel actually looks clean and you will be tempted to stop here.  Yes, you can still see threads in there!  But if you spend just a few more minutes getting the threads out of the axle you will be rewarded with a chair that literally flies across the room with just a minimum of effort!  I did that and ran smack dab into my ironing board.  Luckily when the iron landed in my lap it had not been on.

Aha!  Clean at last.  You too can have five wheels looking just like this one. 

Look at this thread mass. My mother would call it a rat's nest. I really don't think my hair ever did look like that, but that is what she would tell me all the time.

That thread mass is reward in itself.  Look at the colors in there.  And the pieces of fabric.  I'll bet you don't even remember all those fabrics.  Is that ribbon in there too?  Wow.

 I love having a big mass of work product to show for all my effort.  Show yours when you get it done!

Happy Wheel Cleaning!

glen