Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tuesday's Orts--Sept 21, 2010

I've been a very busy quilter, and lots of orts have been coming to mind as I sew.
  • Who knew there was so much MATH involved in quilting?  I am definitely not stupid but sometimes the ciphering confabulates me!  One of my must-have sewing desk supplies is a calculator, sometimes just for basic addition.  I am no good at carrying in my head. 
  • I bought a length of flannel to back the Strippie baby quilt I'm making.  On Sunday night at 7 PM  when I was ready to get the quilt sandwich together, I found out the flannel is only 40 inches wide including the selvages, and I did not want to trim the quilt top any narrower than it already was at 41 inches.  MATH again!  Naturally it was too late to get to an open fabric/quilt shop and naturally I did not have anything suitable here.  So instead I cut the batting to size and made the binding, and last night stopped at a different store to pick up more flannel.  I can already tell I will be cutting it close to deadline on Saturday to get this project done. 
  • Traffic rant of the week: Diagonal parking lot walkers.  Just go straight across the road to the sidewalk first, people!
  • My mom and dad are in Cincinnati.  Mom is scoping out our accommodations for next spring's International Quilt Festival.  Luckily we will be staying with family and not have to think about a hotel room with Cincinnati's newest statistic: Worst bedbug infested city in the U.S.  
  • The new television season has begun.  Grant and I watched the premieres to The Event and Hawaii Five-O.  I liked The Event better, more mystery.  There was quite a bit of violence and shooting and bikini clad women in Hawaii Five-O but the actors are good.  I may be drawn back to watching a series again since Lost is no longer on.  But maybe not!
  • Fall is really here, I guess.  At the overcast and cool Southern California coast, we kept waiting for summer to arrive.  My storage box of fall decor has now made it as far as the house but has not been opened.  It has, however, been inspected by each pet.
  • My 9 patches for the swap I am in have been finished for nearly two weeks but I probably won't get them in the mail until tomorrow as I have been making a little something for the swap hostess out of scraps/stash.   I needed navy blue thread for stitching down the binding.
You'd think that would be available among all these blues.  Not.  I used black instead.

Sneak peak of the back and the dregs of red thread I scrounged for!  This was my first time actually quilting on my new sewing desk and it was really nice, even on this small project, not to have to fight with the height difference between the desktop and the machine bed.  I've got two more quilt tops to practice on before I start Erica's quilt's more intricate work.  I bought some Machinger gloves and am thinking about buying a Supreme Slider sheet.  Anyone use those?

7 comments:

Darlene said...

Wow, you've been busy! Popping by to say hi and peek at your 'doings'. :-)

Regina said...

Isn't it a shame that men seem to be the ones blessed with math skills. I swear I'd sew more if I was better at math.

I've never heard of the Supreme Slider. I'm going to have to go Google it now. I bought some long dishwashing gloves and they are a must for me. I don't know how I attempted quilting without them.

Joyful Quilter said...

I have a Sew Slip, looks like it is the same thing as the Supreme Slider. I've used it a couple of time and I like it. And I love the Machinger gloves, so much better than the nubby knit type.

Browndirtcottage said...

......LOL....yes, I am laughing about the math ordeal. All during High School math classes I kept telling my self...heck, I'm not ever going to need all this stuff, I can add and subtract...HA! I mean...afterall, they didn't have a class that taught you about figuring in the 1/4 inch seam allowance did they!!!!!!

Browndirtcottage said...

Oh yeh.....I can't wait to see the front of your little sneak peek!!

Vivian said...

I've using Machingers for years and cannot machine quilt without them. A friend who does superb machine quilting suggested the Supreme Slider and I bought one immediately. I've only experimented with it a little, but I'm sure I'm going to love it. Anything that helps ME control the quilt (even heights of surfaces, the gloves, the slider) -- it all reduces strain on my neck and shoulders. Don't forget the music. My Ipod is my best friend when I'm quilting.

Stephanie D said...

Never heard of the Supreme Slider--guess I'll need to check this out. But hey, anything that helps the process is good.

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