Christmas in July Blog Hop!

I have been a procrastinator on this blog hop.  I admit it.  I started my project last week and finished it the day before it was due.  HOWEVER, I'm so excited about it!  Thanks Carol for hosting this wonderful hop!

My cousin Lisa brought me some fabric scraps and it had flamingos dressed up for Christmas.  I went for it.  I hand drafted the flamingo, found some fun fabrics in my stash and went for it!

I used a triple stitch to quilt down my appliques.  I love how thick it is.

Then I pulled some new GlaMore Thread from Wonderfil (it's 12 weight rayon with one twist of metallic.  It's sparkly!) out and put it to work.  I usually use a topstitch needle for threads like these, but it didn't want to play nicely in my machine.  So I tried a jeans needle and it worked great.

I used the white for his hat.  I gave them curls so you could really see the thread.

I also used the green for the strand of Christmas lights around his body.  I did stitch over it three times to get a really thick line.  Below you can seed the thread on the left is done three times and the one on the right is only done once.

That GlaMore Thread gives just a little bit of sparkle.

I then finished quilting him with spirals in the background. 

I added hot fix crystals to the eye and the Christmas lights as final details. I had to read the instructions on how to glue them down as I hadn't done it in a few years.  It worked like a charm and was so much faster than beading.  After all, Christmas Flamingos need bling!

Be sure to come back Friday for the release of my new self-published book of free motion fillers called Paiselys, Circles, and Swirls!

And check out all the other amazing quilters on this hop!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

July 23

Creatin' in the Sticks

MooseStashQuilting

Lily Patch Quilts

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Melva Loves Scraps

Sew Many Yarns

Cynthia's Creating Ark

July 24

Wont-To-Be-Quilter

Words & Stitches

Home Sewn By Us

Desert Sky Quilting

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Seams To Be Sew

Clever Chameleon Quilting

July 25

Quilt Doodle Designs

Kwilty Pleasures

Creative Blonde

Just Because Quilts

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Quilter in Motion

Made By Marney

July 26

Quarter Inch Crafter

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Ms P Designs USA

Selina Quilts

Beaquilter

Mountain Quiltworks

July 27

Life in the Scrapatch

Quilt n Party

Days Filled With Joy

Quilt Fabrication

All Thingz Sewn

Sew Golden A Chance

Just Let Me Quilt

Finding the Right Tension for Decorative Thread

I just got my first spool of GlaMore Thread from Wonderfil.  It's twelve weight rayon with one twist of metallic.  It's an amazing decorative thread, but I knew finding the right tension was going to be a challenge.

The first thing I do when working with a new thread is put in a brand new needle of the type the manufacturer recommends.  For fussy threads I like to use topstitch needles.  Since this thread was a 12 weight, I went with a 100 size needle instead of a 90.  I didn't want to put the same thread in the bobbin, so I chose a 50 weight cotton thread from Aurifil in black.  Once I was sure that my machine was set up correctly and the thread went through the needle smoothly, it was time to play with tension.

When determining the best tension for a thread I like to stitch curves.  You can see more tension issues on curves than you can on straights.  I started by stitching at the standard machine setting on my machine 5.25.  You can see below that there was bottom thread poking up.  So I lowered the tension to 4.5 and it got a little better.  I knew I was going in the right direction.  If it had gotten works I would have made the tension higher instead.

Here is the back of that sample.  It looks good for the most part.  I now knew that 4.5 was fairly close to the correct tension and it was time for fine tuning.

Here you can see what I did for fine tuning.  I stitched at 4, 4.25, 4.5, and 4.75 in succession and with the same formation.  A curl and then some spiky points.  This will tell me about tension.  Make sure to mark the sections with a fabric marker so you know which tension is which!  I've forgotten and had to start over.  

Next, I pulled the fabric out of the machine and really looked at the tension to see which was best.  It looked to be 4.5.

The last step is to test the thread on the actual materials you're using for your quilt.  I found that the quilt I used this thread on had a different batting in it and liked a slightly different setting.  The sample best tension was 4.5.  The best tension on my actual quilt was 4.0.  This is an important part of the process too.

So....I know you're wondering what I actually used this thread for.  Stay tuned because for now it's secret sewing.  I will tell you however that I had NO TROUBLE with snags or snarls and that it worked like a dream.  I see many more colors of this thread in my future!

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

GlaMore Thread...OMG I can't wait!

One of Wonderfil's newest threads is called GlaMore and I just bought some!  It's 12 weight and is rayon with one twist of metallic.  I can't wait to try it out in my machine........stay tuned!

I had a blast teaching free motion quilting to the ladies at South Minneapolis quilters today!  It was such fun.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Prague Posy Table Runner

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....yes, I've seen the Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  It was awesome!

But really, I did this design a while ago on the blog:

Here's the link to how I designed it:  Prague Posy Design Process  

This design was based on a ironwork railing in Prague, Czech Republic.

I decided it was finally time to make the pattern into something.  So I decided to make a simple table runner that I could have fun quilting.  

This is as far as I've gotten.  I started designing with the pink and purple fabric you see in the accent on the posy.  I find it's nice to start with a two or three color fabric so you have a palette to work with.  I also have decided that I need to use more variety in my greens, thus the lime and grassy greens above.  

So far I have stitched the pink backgrounds and the greens.  I used a 100 weight InvisiFil thread by WonderFil Threads for both of these.  The darker green pieces I wanted to have a little more weight so I used a 40 weight Rayon thread from Wonderfil called Splendor.  It's fabulous to sew with.

I also learned a valuable and surprising lesson when stitching these pieces.  I had been free motion machine quilting and then switched to blanket stitch.  I changed my sewing machine foot and put in a small needle since I was going to use 100 weight thread.  I did, however, forget to change my throat plate from a single-hole throat plate (perfect for free motion machine quilting) to my regular throat plate which has room for the needle to move from left to right.  This is critical when making a blanket stitch.  As I was sewing along, I couldn't figure out why it looked like my needle was moving the fabric.  I finally figured out that I hadn't changed the throat plate when I changed to the thicker 40 weight thread and actually broke my needle!  The stitching around the pink pieces isn't perfect due to the needle moving the fabric, but it was good enough and I really didn't want to rip out double blanket-stitch.  It's a pain.  Ask me how I know....yeah, been there, done that.

Also, you can see from the image above that I will often sew across an area that I'm going to cover later (making sure the fabric to be put on isn't lighter than the thread I'm using....you can guess how I figured that out...oops!) so that I don't have to cut threads.  This makes for quicker sewing and since I did the stitching between them in a simple straight stitch the line won't show through the piece nor add any bulk since it's 100 weight thread. 

The dark green pieces above were also a new test for me.  The width was 1.6 and the length was 2.0.  I usually use the same width and length.  However, which this thin piece a 2.0 length crossed over the center of the piece and I knew it would look funny.  I am probably the only one who would ever notice that the stitches aren't the same width and length.  I am happy with the results and will most likely do this again.

Suzy

Blog Quilt #3 - Size 60, 80, and 100 Thread

Sometimes I like to use really fine thread to blanket-stitch with.  I use it when I want a really fine line or when I really don't want the thread to show.  You can tell that the thread in the far right picture is really fine.

The thread on the left is YLI 60/2 cotton thread.  The 60/2 means it's a 60 weight thread and it's made of two pieces of thread twisted together.  The thread in the middle is Wonderfil 80 weight Deco-bob.  It's shiny and great and very thin.  The thread on the far right is Wonderfil 100 weight Invisifil polyester thread.  It's very fine and wonderful to work with.  

The picture above shows all the different weights I used in this project.  40 is on the left, then 50, then 60, then 80, and finally 100 weight.  You can tell the difference in thickness.  It will be nice to have a sample to look at when I'm choosing threads for projects!

Suzy

Blog Quilt #3 - Size 40 Thread

I decided to stitch all my rainbows in royal/navy blue thread and to blanket stitch each one in a different thread.  That way when the quilt is done I'll have a sample I can look at of some of my threads and their varying weights.

The pink center is stitched in Wonderfil 40 weight rayon.  The red/orange center is stitched in Fufu polyester embroidery thread in 40 weight.  The turquoise center is stitched in Glide poly 40 weight thread.  They all work lovely.

What I love about using a 40 weight thread to do double blanket stitch is the thickness you get.  While I was stitching these in the contrasting dark blue you could really see every error I made in stitch direction, which is good to know, especially for beginners....math the fabric or vary it slightly as you're learning.

Suzy

Applying What I've Learned

In the course of writing this blog I have learned a lot about thread selection for blanket-stitch applique.  I have learned what to use when I want something to recede and what to use when I want something to stand out.

Receding: thin or flat (not shiny)
Use a thread that is flat and not shiny.  I would recommend cotton for this.  You can also use something really skinny so it leaves a lighter line line InvisaFil 100 weight polyester thread by WonderFil Threads or Bottom Line 60 weight polyester thread by Superior Threads.  Both of these threads are thin.

Standing Out: off in color, shiny
Use a thread that is slightly off in color (lighter makes it pop more than darker) OR use a thread that is an accent color in the fabric instead of the main color.  It also really makes things pop when you use a really shiny thread.  There are many, many threads that have great shine.  I like Fufu Threads, Deco-Bob by WonderFil Threads, Glide by Fil-Tec, and just about any rayon thread out there.

Here is a block that I did after gaining this knowledge.  I used it to make my choices.

The first pieces I put on when building this block are the outer petals and the accent piece (top) on the middle petal.  In this case, they were both yellow.  I knew that I wanted the top piece to have a thread that didn't stand out, so I used Gutermann polyester thread because it doesn't have a lot of shine.  The other yellow pieces that had more print I knew I wanted to use the darker shade of yellow so the thread stood out more.  I also chose a shiny thread to make them pop.  I used Madeira 40 weight Rayon Thread.

Then I added the dark blue piece with the yellow and orange dots.  If I'd used a yellow or orange thread they would've popped those colors.  However, I really wanted the piece to be blue.  If it had been orange the orange thread would've run into the orange petals and created a line connecting them which I didn't want to see.  If I'd used yellow it would've bled into the top yellow accent piece which again wasn't what I wanted.  So I settled on blue.  I used Fufu Thread which has a nice sheen to it and was really, really dark blue.

Then I added the orange petals.  I knew I wanted them to stand out.  There is a slight variation in color to the batik so I went with the darker of the orange and used Deco-Bob by WonderFil threads which has a nice sheen to it.  I am happy with the results because the slightly darker color of the thread pops out which is what I wanted it to do.

Then I added the two dots.  I stitched the red dot in Deco-Bob by WonderFil threads because it was shiny and slightly off in color which makes it stand out.  The dot was a challenge because it was a pale peachy-orange color which is hard to find.  I used a Glide by Fil-Tec thread that I had because it was the only color that complemented the fabric at all.

Now you know why I chose the threads I did!  Happy appliqueing!

Suzy

WonderFil Threads - InvisiFil 100 Weight Polyester

I love WonderFil threads.  They are a Canadian company and I have been buying their products since I first saw them at International Quilt Festival in Houston.  I love to do a lot of micro quilting and often use their InvisiFil 100 weight polyester thread for this.  I have all the original 6-pack colors.  Clearly, it's a thread addiction!

Since this thread is REALLY thin, I wondered what it would look like for blanket-stitch applique.  I found that I needed to make a few adjustments to work with InvisiFil.  First, I switched from my regular needle, a size 80 microtex needle, to a size 70 microtex needle since the thread is so fine.  Second, I adjusted my top tension from the usual 2.0 to 1.5.  Last, I found that if I didn't put the thread through the very last guide above the needle it worked better.  You can see this in the picture below:

I stitched this entire flower with different colors of InvisiFil.  I really enjoyed working with it.  When using it for blanket-stitch applique it is definitely a thin line created (remember I do double blanket-stitch), single blanket stitch would be even thinner.

The other thing I learned with this block is that I have to be careful when placing pieces.  I was using my lightbox to put the pieces down, but if you look at the two green petals you can see the amount of gray fabric showing between them and the light blue fabric is different.  This bothers my eyes.  I replaced one piece (the gap was even bigger before), but next time I really have to make sure to check that before I fuse them down!

I can't wait to try out some of my other WonderFil threads!

Suzy