QuiltBlog

I have been dealing with whip lash which has been quite a trial with horrific headaches.  Every day I have headaches, it's just how bad they will be.  I even ended up in the emergency room one evening it was so bad.  I have been going to therapy for a month and I am finally getting some relief.

 Of course, this has affected being able to quilt.  I am sure you all have had some kind of trial that has interfered with your quilting and know just what I am talking about.  I felt I was mourning because I had such a fun customer quilt to do but couldn't  get up there to quilt.

 Of all the things I enjoy doing, longarm quilting is my favorite!  As I quilt I refer to all that I have been taught and am grateful for Linda Taylor who has been my mentor for so many years.  How blessed I am to work with her and have her as my sister in law!

I always set the quilt out where I can see it so it can "talk to me".  By the time I start I know just what I am going to do.  The one I am working on now has applique' and as I was stabilizing it talked up a storm.  It has florescent colors and I had a YLI variegated thread that was just perfect.  My customer is so awesome as she tells me to do whatever I feel like.  She always pays for freehand quilting which of course is my favorite.

I am so thankful for some good days now so I can quilt and I know I will continue to improve.  Keeping a positive attitude is so important!

   I've had an incredibly fun time the last 3 days. Sue Patten and Jon are here and Sue is filming her new DVDs (which will also be posted on the quilting school for members).  We always have a great time when she comes to visit. We laugh so much and they are just like family. Of course, we all eat too much too!  Sue's DVD's are going to be so good; she has so much knowledge to share she has gained over her quilting career.  And they both get along so well with Wendy.

When I first started embroidering I knew nothing.  What was there to learn?  My wonderful machine threaded itself, let me know when my bobbin was almost out, if the thread broke I could go back to where that was and start again.  All I had to do was push buttons!  I was so excited I couldn't wait to start my first project! 

So I picked a beautiful flower design, some light weight fabric and some light tear away stabilizer.  Choosing all the thread colors was time consuming (I think there were like 26) but fun.  Hooping took a little bit of practice and I was off!  The design had quite a bit of satin stitching and as I advanced through the colors I noted that the satin stitch was not tight like it should be.  Now what?  My first thought was the tension, of course.  I read my manual and I had automatic tension.  Now what?  It must be wrong so I fiddled around with the tension but to no avail. 

Of course, my favorite tool is Google.  You can find anything on Google, including information about yourself.  So I Googled and Googled but couldn't quite find the specifics of what I needed.  I was frustrated. I know you know the feeling.  So I picked another design and didn't want to pick out 26 colors or have it embroider for 60 minutes, so I picked a simpler design. I was off and it turned out beautifully.

Does anyone know what my problem was?  I did not learn it for probably  a year.  The stabilizer and light weight fabric were wrong. My favorite site for designs is emblibrary.com.  I started searching on their site and found a place about stabilizer.  There it was.  There was a hint exacrly for my problem. Heavy stitching, and satin stitching is pretty heavy, needs heavier stabilizer.  It needs to be cutaway as the tear away is too hard on the stitches.   They specifically addressed the satin stitching problem.  Also my fabric was probably too light for the heavy design I picked.

So using the correct stabilizer is very important.  There are many sites that address how to use stabilizers.  I was a beginner and half the time I didn't even know what they were addressing as everyone has their favortie brand.  We bought our stabilizer through brewersewing.com and one of my co-workers gave me a link that was perfect.  It was a sample pack from OESD with instructions of how to use them.  That was a glorious day as not only did I have the explanation but I could see and feel the stabilizer and know what they were addressing.

The right stabilizer is an important thing to learn.  I love using Sulky's Dissovable and making lace book marks, ornaments etc.  Did you know that most dissolvable stabilizer is made from the jelly fish on the beach?  I learned that at an aquarium.  Once they are on the beach they will die so they use them.

I always like to just get into my projects.  I don't want to spend time learning all about it.  How many of you are like that?

We had my daughter, Wendy, at the sleep lab again last nigh. Rick took her again, he is so sweet.   They were able to ajust hr mask and she got about 4 hours of REM sleep they said. So we are excited she will finally be able to get the rest she needs.  She will also have to have an oxygen machine at night now. Her oxygen level goes down to 76 when she sleeps. But we can cope with that.

   We took Bethany to the airport on Thursday and after we got back down the canyon, she called and said all flights had been cancelled because of the weather. So she got to stay another night with us and we watched American Idol.  It was lovely having her here. Watch for her on thequilingschool.com  in about 3 months.

   Next week, Sue Patten should be showing up here to film her new DVDs.  That will be a blast!

   Rick leaves for McKinney, TX, tomorrow to teach maintenance classes at Linda's Electric Quilters.  He is taking Wendy with him so she can visit with my daughter, Heather, for a few days.  I will miss them both, I'm already lonely.

Bethany Sheets (formerly "Pease") has been here for the last two days filming with me. It has been so fun having such a young person and her fresh approach to quilting. Everything is brand new to her and it is refreshing.  She is filming her own DVD today and I love the way she has designed her set. It looks so modern.  I'm so glad the traditions of quilting will continue.