Friday, March 12, 2010

Not So Bad

I think my machine quilting is finally improving. I have never liked the way I started and stopped. I had tried taking a few stitches in place, and I have tried back tacking, both looked horrible. I have always knewn that pulling the thread to the back, tying in a knot and then burying the tails was the best lookin method. But just the thought of threading the needle that many times made me kringe.
Recently I read a blog post by Bingo Bonnie. She too was machine quilting a Downy Quilt for Kids, and was talking about some machine quilting tips. One of them was this cheater needle (self threading needle by Clover). I had to try them. Wow, how did I not know about these? What a terrific idea. Yes, it may take a little longer to bury every tail end, but can you tell where I stopped and started?
There is only one thing left to try out and that's a pair of quilting gloves. There is a quilt show here in Ft Lauderdale next weekend and I think I know what I will be on the lookout for.
Speaking of Bingo Bonnie, have you signed up for the biggest fat quarter bingo game of the year? What are you waiting for, April 1st is just around the corner.

6 comments:

Ann said...

A self threading needle? how cool is that. I have the hardest time threading needles anymore. My eyes just can't focus on them like they used to.

zizzybob said...

Just so you know, Ann, you can't actually sew with these needles but you can take that one stitch to bury the tails.

Lin said...

It looks good. :) I hate burying the tails too.

bingo~bonnie said...

thanks so much zizzy for the link to me and shout our for out FQ Bingo! ;)

and I agree- you wouldn't want to sew with these cheater needles b/c the eye seems rather large and hard to pull through all the layers of a quilt - but I have used mine to tack down the mitered corners on a quilt after I'm finished binding it with machine... simply b/c I was too lazy to get up from the machine and my cheater happened to be there. but I wouldn't want to use it for any longer than that. ;)

Zizzy - you have to buy some gloves - mine are the brand that Leah Day recommends and have rubber tipped fingers. la,la,LOVE them! try yours on before buying to get a comfy fit. Have fun at the show and take lots of pics ;)

Well - Happy Weekend & Love from Texas! ~bonnie

Mary Johnson said...

It does look good but I refuse to bury all the threads when I machine quilt. Backtracking or taking tiny stitches to start can take some practice to look good but I think it's worth practicing!

Anonymous said...

I just can't get into the machine quilting thing preferring to hand quilt. The only problem is that people don't want to pay for hand quilting when they can get machine quilting for cheaper. Guess I'm a die-hard :)