I'm working on this quilted table mat thing for Valentine's Day, and decided to do stipple quilting in part of it. I absolutely adore stipple quilting, it's one of my favorite things about quilts ... but it takes some skill and practice to do. It involves quilting random squiggly patterns over an area, moving the quilt around free-hand. (You can see it a little bit in the pink-fabric parts of the mat in the picture). To do that you have to lower (or cover) the feed dogs so they are not guiding the material, and you can't use a regular presser foot, which creates too much drag on the fabric for the 'free' part of 'free motion.'
I tried doing it with no presser foot at all - it's possible, but very tricky. So today I went down to the sewing shop where I got my machine to see if they had a darning foot in stock. And they did, and it wasn't even expensive! A darning foot is ideal for free-motion quilting because it has a spring and bounces up and down with the needle, giving you tension when you need it (as the stitch is being made), then lifting up to allow you to freely move the quilt - all in the space of split seconds as you sew. It makes free-motion quilting so much easier. I still need some practice to make it prettier, but it's going pretty darn well for just learning.
The second, cheaper, and more surprising thing was the gloves. I'd heard of these, but always thought it was silly. Well, for the record, it is not. These gloves have little tiny rubber grippy dots all over the palms to help grip the fabric, making it far, far easier to move around. It's astoundingly easier, let me tell you. The difference was amazing.
Meanwhile, I am in the process of setting up a dedicated 'clay station,' and this is another wonderful thing.
I'm using my dad's desk which was already up in the Imaginarium. I happened to have a very large piece of relatively heavy glass sitting up there; I'm not sure where it came from, but I think - oh yes, I remember - it was a large cross-stitch picture I'd done for someone one time that I ended up getting back, and when I rented the dumpster awhile back I threw away the cross-stitch picture (long story, but it needed it, trust me) but salvaging the glass, thinking 'that might come in handy for something.' Well, it did - it makes a perfect work surface for clay. I've got a temporary piece of flannel under it to protect the desk, but it's working out pretty well, as it gives me a soft surface to lay things on to the side.
This is working out so great! I have it off my main work table, so I can sew without worrying about dragging fabric through clay projects in process. This is a perfect size for working with the clay, as I don't need a huge amount of room. It's just all around a great set-up. I can use the drawers for supplies. Just awesome.
So to celebrate, I made this.
I think it's going to be come a necklace, although I haven't worked out the details yet. I'm discovering that apparently my creation method of choice is "by the seat of my pants" - I don't know exactly what I'm going to make when I sit down to make something, I just start experimenting.
So I did a little quilting today, did a little clay, and in a few minutes it's band practice. All in all a pretty awesome day.
In the 'homeowner angst' department, I am pretty sure the reason the dining room is so cold is because there's enough of a gap at the edge of the front door for a nice icy breeze to actually blow through ... enough to create a large wedge of frost on the latch plate.
I went to Home Despot today and picked up some weatherstripping, but unfortunately it can't be installed until it's over 40 degrees. Well, that's no damned help now, but eventually I'll get it fixed. Fortunately the stuff only cost about $5, so no great waste if I happen to get a new door before I get it installed (unlikely, but possible). We could always use it on the door into the garage, which I haven't checked, but probably has the same problem.
Slowly, we'll seal up the little leaks around here and get this place warmed up. Most of the house is fine, there's just this dining room and kitchen that get so cold - the dining room because of the door and the fact that there's only crawl space under it, and the kitchen because of the garage door and the fact that what's under it is the unheated workshop. There are things to do about all of that, just ... haven't gotten around to it yet.
Off to feed the Poo and then band practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment