TOOL time with Pétra from Sew Paint Create and her special ......

Hello my name is Pétra I blog over at Sew Paint Create and I am Creative Mom2010 on Flickr. I am so happy to be joining in on the tool fun with the amazing Madame Samm! I've already learned about some new tools I'll be adding to my quilting routine. I hope mine comes in handy for you as well.

 I randomly bought my favorite tool one day when I had a coupon at Joann's. You all know what it's like looking at all the toys with 50% off flashing in your head. I saw this little guy and thought it would be handy for turning out corners and it is. Little did I know the real purpose for this tool is binding and it helps keep my corners nice and tidy. It's the Machine Quilters Friend, The Ultimate Stiletto by Fons and Porter! The name just cracks me up but it is the Ultimate! 

This is a little mug rug I made and the binding was cut at a scant 1 1/4". I don't always machine finish my binding but on some mug rugs, potholders, place mats or runners I do. What makes this tool so successful is the stiletto is coated with rubber, it's not plastic, so it doesn't slide on the fabric it grips it. 

The point is also narrow enough to get in the center of the foot to hold the fold of your corner down when your approaching corners. 

Yes and it's still great for giving you pointy little corners! 

 Features of the Ultimate Stiletto

• Great ergonomic handle with support for your finger.
• Rubber coated stiletto holds fabric in place with no sliding.
• Gets into little places for turning bags and such.

The only drawback I've found

• Don't let your 10 year old play with it! The rubber on the tip will tear if banged against a hard object then the metal is exposed. Now I have two but they are still both handy.

Thank you again to Madame Samm for bringing all these new quilters together with more experienced ones. I'm not sure where I fall in the mix but I am happy to be here!


Pétra

No More Tracing for Hand Embroidery!!

Hey ya'll!

I'm here to tell you about a fantastic product

that changed my hand embroidery life.

I almost gave up on hand embroidery

because of all the tracing I had to do.

With Transfer Eze....

no more tracing!!

Below is my Buttercream Summer quilt

that has been almost totally done with this.

 Transfer Eze paper is a paper backed with plastic.

You put it in the paper tray of your copier

and run your design off onto it.

(Or take it to a copier, or you can scan it into your computer)

Peel off the back plastic....

The paper will be very sticky.

Then put it right onto your fabric,

pressing it down good with your hands,

especially the corners...

Now sew right through it like you would normally hand embroidery...

If you have applique pieces like the basket here,

you can either applique it first,

or do as I did and just put the paper right over it and do a blanket stitch.

Saving a lot of work.

Here is the embroidered piece that is going in all of the corners of Buttercream Summer

You can see the Transer Eze is still on it.

Once you are finished embroidering,

cut out all of the big sections that has no embroidery on it...

Now take your piece and rinse it for five minutes....

All of the paper and black will disappear!!

Here is a pic of the border that is going on all 4 sides of the above quilt....

This stuff is nothing short of amazing.

All except three blocks in this quilt was made with it.

For the first three blocks I hadn't heard of it....

Otherwise the whole thing would have been done with it.

If you would like to order some of this paper

it is available  for 10 sheets at $15.00

Click Here to Order!

or

 30 sheets for $40.00

 Click Here to Order! 

If you would like to order this Block of the Month

you can go to our website at: The Scrappy Appleyard

It is also available in a second colorway called Parisian Summer.

(Pinks, Greens, Lavenders and Blues)

The best way to see this colorway is to go to my blog  Here.

If you put "Parisian Summer into the Search Box,

all of the posts will come up about it.

Here's a peak....

True Friendship Never Ends

I'm going to give away one pack of 10 sheets.

Make sure to leave a comment to enter.

You can qualify a second time by becoming a follower

over here at my Blog!!

If you already are one, leave an extra comment letting me know.

Good Luck!

Thank you so much Madam Samm for inviting me to come over and play at your blog

today!

I appreciate you more than you know!!

With Love and Affection....

P.S. Sorry for some of the picture qualities! We had tornado warnings here today....which did nothing for the lighting in the house!

Tool Time with Kerry from verykerryberry and her seam pressers..( love these)

A big thankyou to the wonderful Madame Samm for inviting me to share a post with you on tools.  I don't know how she fits everything into her life but she does and does it so well!  

I am Kerry from verykerryberry.   Vintage inspires me and I love to sew and design paper piecing patterns.  I do like a gadget, especially a low cost little tool that makes my sewing life easier.  I have been working on a basket quilt block- a traditional pattern that you can find in the Farmer's Wife Sampler book or many other quilt block books and these are some of the tools that helped me along the way.   I'll start with a pen.  I have jars full of mark making pens and pencils and thanks to Florence, Pilot Frixion pens are something I use a lot.

They easily draw on to fabric and the ink disappears instantly under the heat of an iron.

You can rewrite in the same place and make it disappear as many times as you like.  In reality, the 'ink' is still there, if you put the fabric in the freezer, the line magically returns, so I tend to use these pens for places that will finally be covered rather than for designs on a quilt, but useful and cheap nevertheless.  

Clover produce some helpful, simple plastic tools that are very helpful in mark making.  The Hera marking tool will produce a beautiful sharp crease that you can use for folds or marking the fabric.  The folds wash out so no mark is left.  

For the bias strip of the basket handle, the Hera was ideal for creating the 1/4" fold lines.  I find it an invaluable tool, the sharper curved end is useful for turning out curved edges too.

I make a lot of small projects and I do not know how I have managed without a finger press.  I only bought this Clover version a few weeks ago and now I wonder what I was waiting for. There are many times when an iron is a too big and I don't want to burn my finger tips, or I just need to flatten a tiny seam quickly and this is where the finger press comes in.  I used it along the fold lines created by the Hera to turn the edges of the binding in.

On the Clover finger press, there is a dimple for your first finger to slide into and push along the seam.  For a bias strip, it was ideal as an iron can easily distort the grain.

And now for the unsung heroes; needles and pins.  I am a big fan of Japanese sewing and crafting and there is a Japanese festival, Hari-kuyo, which celebrates the needle and reflects on the job they do.  Old needles are placed in a block of tofu along with secrets and things to painful to say.  It is such a beautiful idea and it also makes you consider that pins and needles do wear out, they break, their sharpness fades, you might move your best pins to a lesser purpose where their bluntness will not bother you.   My pincushions hold a hole range of pins.  My favourite Clover patchwork pins are especially sharp, strong and thin at  0.5mm wide, and 36mm long. 

The heads are iron proof glass.  The points pierce easily without disturbing the fabric threads.  

They can hold tiny seams of fabric without shifting.    I keep these pins well away from paper piecing where the paper blunts them just as it does with scissors.

And finally the humble needle.  I recently tried Clover Black Gold eye needles.  There is no going back now, they are the business! 

They glide through layers, no strain, no effort.  Much easier on your hands and fingers.

Tiny stitches can disappear into the fabric, there is some flexibility built into the needle which is great for needle turn work and hand sewing binding to a quilt. I bought an applique/sharps mixed pack.    They are a total pleasure to sew with, mine have their own felt page in my needle book!

 

I should mention here that I have no connection with Clover, I have just found many of their products to be the best.  All the tools I have mentioned are low cost and easily available online- I have bought all of these from ebay and Amazon.  We all spend so much on fabric but, don't forget the other essentials, they are often overlooked and are worth a little investment for the help they give us, you won't regret it.