Studio Kit

'Cause my eyeballs hurt! (Isn't that weird?) They actually feel bruised. But, come what may, I'm going to start sewing again this weekend - I feel like my arms were cut off or something from lack of it! :)

In the meantime though, I thought I would share with you some of my favourite tools. In no particular order we have:

A bias tape maker:

I have not yet used this for its intended purpose of making bias tape, but I use it every single time I make binding for a quilt. It's so amazing! Your binding comes out beautifully perfect and is a breeze to apply. I read a debate recently on someone's blog about binding, and they felt that you should only use binding made on the bias because it prevents fraying and strengthens the quilt as a whole. I don't because I feel that cutting fabric on the bias is wasteful and so, try to never do it. What say you, dear readers?

My next tool, I bought at a medical supply shop.

They're tweezers, with an attached magnifying glass. What a great idea! I use these all the time for pulling out stitches with thread that matches exactly or nearly exactly the fabric it's sewn on. The points of the tweezers are extremely fine and very sharp. This tool completely eliminates the occasional "accident" where you pull a thread from your fabric instead of a thread on your fabric.

At the same shop, I bought another pair of tweezers, about the same size without the magnifying glass, which I use exclusively as a seam ripper. They're so great!

You may not have seen one of these before, or it may be old hat to you, but it's a sharpener for your rotary cutter blades. I'm always looking for ways to economize, and this is a wonderful one. You put your blade in the little contraption on the left, and then sharpen it by twirling it on the disc on the right. The picture I've taken shows the buffing side, but on the other side is the actual sharpening side. It makes your blades nice and sharp again.

The one safety issue I've found is that after you've sharpened your blade seven or eight times, it gets quite thin. I've twice had a blade snap while using it aftter having been sharpened several times, and when it does, bits of metal shrapnel go flying everywhere! Since then, I limit myself to five "sharpens" and I haven't had it happen since. But still, that's five blades I've saved myself! :)

Everyone has a pair of little clippers so these are nothing special, right? WRONG! :) They're special, because I bought them at the same medical supply place and those blades are sooooooooooo sharp! That's the only thing that's special about them, but it's a wonderful quality!

Yes, yes, I know that's a knitting gauge, but you know when it comes in really handily? Mid-stream, needle down, you can whip it out, quick as a flash, and do a quick measure to make sure I'm on track. I used to use my 4 inch square ruler for that purpose, but it's a bit ungainly. Plus, you can set the little marker to whatever width you're looking for, so you don't have to actually pay attention to the markings, you just make sure it lines up with the red marker and you're good to go. Perfect!

I must confess that I always thought quilting gloves seemed kind of silly and I never intended to buy them. But I got a pair - a fancy, pretty, girly-girly pair in my Christmas stocking last year, and used them when I quilted a really heavy lap (the commission quilt I made last May) and it made a huge difference in my ability to manipulate the quilt. Well, what do you know. Quilting gloves aren't so silly after all!

However, a month or so ago, one of my cats was angry with me, and she pulled my quilting gloves off of my sewing table onto the floor, and the dropped a couple of ... presents on them (to make sure her feelings were perfectly clear!) Now, I could have washed those gloves and used them again, but I am a Virgo, and I get the heebie jeebies about stuff like that, so I tossed them.

When I went to buy a similar, girly girly pair - I was outraged at how much they cost ($25!!!!!) so I refused to buy them. A couple of weeks later, I was walking by a store that sold things for labourers, and the fellow had several bins with different kinds of cloth gloves that had rubberized palms, so I picked out the lightest -duty version, in size extra small, and they fit perfectly. And guess what? I got twelve pair in the bag for $15!!!! I now have quilting gloves for life, and for $15. :) (And now the cat's out of the bag about my other secret. I can be very cheap!)

But I never stint on fabric. Look at these lovelies...

Last week I bought two metres each of these - (one metre=1.09 yards) - Dupioni silks in blues, taupes and that dark green that makes me think of being deep under water and looking up through it at the sky, far, far, above.

And on the same trip, I bought several metres each of these basic solids - well - also a couple of metres of that little polka dot - because I couldn't resist. :)

So, there you have it. Some of my favourite tools, and some pretties. I'm going to get back to sewing this weekend - even if I have to go back to my old glasses to do it - so I should have something quilty to show you on Monday.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - and happy quilting!

Well, this week, a sad reality has made itself known to me, as it may have already made itself known to you.

I am getting older.

Yes, yes, that 46th birthday thing that happened a couple of weeks ago, may have been a tip-off, but I was concentrating on the presents, not encroaching age! Anyway - it has manifested itself in my new glasses - I now have graduated lenses. *wahhhhhhhhhhhh!* I'm *le gasp* OLDDDDDDDDDD!

*hee*. I'm kidding of course. I know I'm, er, let's call it, "well-lived", but I feel very young, still.

However, these graduated lense things are a pip! Getting used to them will take time, I'm sad to say (they make me a bit dizzy and give me vertigo on stairs at the moment), so I'm wearing them for a few hours every day, and when I'm not - I wear regular contact lenses, and have three different sets of reading glasses.

One for the 'puter at home (which is farther away than the one at the office), so I also have reading glasse for the 'puter at the office, and then, you guessed it, reading glasses for sewing.

(Yes, I really am going to use that bright fuschia thread on those red fabrics. What? *w*)

Neither option is perfect (yet) and the glasses/contact combo have the effect of making everything much bigger (good) and weirdly, concave (bad). Needless to say, quilting has been challenging!

So, I decided to put aside the "important" stuff and make another cat quilt. Remember the scraps and saffron I made a month or so ago? I said at the time, I had enough blocks to make another one, so I did, and sashed it in red jersey this time instead of the saffron yellow cotton.

And, taking into account the whole things are REALLY BIG and also concave, I decided to do some simple quilting. And guess what? I figured out the stopping and starting thing! BSP and I were trying to do a video to post here, but the fuschia thread against the red and pink and woohoo! fabrics just wasn't working. I'll try and get one up later in the week with contrasting thread and white or cream fabric.

Hey, but if you click on the above photo to view it "in big" guess what, guess what? That's right - no sign of stopping or starting!!! Hurray! So I'll post a video of that later in the week.

In the meantime, I'll continue to get used to my new "eyes" and by Friday, I should have something else to post. Probably something that looks really SUPER BIG, and round.... ;)

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