Yesterday I got the veterans quilts quilted and one is bound. Today, after dyeing, I hope to get the other bound and to have both to share tomorrow. Today I thought I'd answer a question that Gene had. He noticed that I was piecing the half square triangles with blue thread. Since one of the fabrics is gray you would expect that I'd use gray thread. Gray is what I use (and probably what you use) most for piecing. That has been my habit and I buy a lot fog ray, white and black piecing thread. But I have another thread problem that needs to be solved and that's what I'm trying to do here. When I started longarming I bought a lot of thread without really knowing if I would use it or not. Most of the thread I bought I like and I use. I didn't love King Tut but was able to give some away and used most of the rest on the veterans quilts. One thread that I bought but don't like on the longarm is Masterpiece. Of course, it was never intended for the longarm but I thought I'd want to use a thin cotton yarn for quilting. Turns out, I don't. Of course I bought ALL of the available colors before discovering this. About a year ago I decided to move that thread into my sewing room and use it for what it was intended: piecing. I've got it divided into light, medium and dark groups and I basically treat it all as shades of gray. I use pink and yellow as white or cream and I use purples, greens and blues as dark grays and browns. If the tension is good on the machine it all works out fine. Dark green and dark/medium purple are great gray substitutes! Pink is a great substitute for cream. Some of the bright colors I use for basting on the longarm and sometimes I actually match the thread color to my project. I'm determined to use these threads and avoid buying new thread as much as possible. I do still purchase a little gray and black and white but not nearly as much as I used to. So that's why I'm piecing with blue thread on this project. In other news, I'm getting ready for the upcoming annual family beach vacation and that means I'm planning for a giveaway week for you! So keep your eye out for giveaway week coming up soon.
Mrs. Plum
5/11/2022 06:15:50 pm
What a great way to use up thread you don’t like for long-arming!
patty
5/12/2022 09:23:17 am
You sure will be able to do a lot of piecing with all that thread! I appreciate the cones of King Tut you sent to me - that was a win-win! I have all those tote bags to sew together and I plan on using up all the thread I don't like. I don't care what color the thread is; I am not changing thread to match the fabric! Let's see how many spools I use up on the first 89 bags.
Terry K
5/12/2022 03:14:54 pm
Yes, using the original Masterpiece in the needle of your longarm likely broke. Broken threads are a pain! No wonder you weren't enthralled with the product! Comments are closed.
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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