Art, Craft and Needlework, February, 2010

[BookSaver]

In spite of my best intentions, my sewing machine has been in its case since mid-November. All of my sewing time is taken up by guild administrative business.

However, we have a sewing for charity day planned for 2/15. Hopefully this one will go because the January one was cancelled for dangerous driving conditions. Stupid winter weather!

We also have a 3-day sewing retreat scheduled for March so I am starting to plan which projects to take. I am willing to spend 1/2 day of the retreat on sewing for others and the rest will be for ME!

I went to the Superbowl Sunday Sale at a sewing shop, everything in the store at least 20% off. I resisted the temptation to buy fabric -- not as hard as I expected. The fabrics were beautiful, but I have a lot of beautiful fabrics at home already. What I did buy: thread, Steam a Seam, Insul-Brite, and a purse organizer insert. I meant to look for oilcloth to line the lunch tote, but forgot. I ran into several guild members so did a lot of chatting and admiring their fabric choices.

The Insul-Brite was not very expensive to begin with and on sale was so reasonable that I bought enough to make a couple lunch totes, potholders, and maybe a table runner or placemats.

I tried to find a link to the pattern for the lunch bags to show you but no luck. Evidently it's a small independent or maybe a local self-published pattern.

[Nancy]

I got some squares crocheted together today.
Not granny squares but it's still progress! Yea!

[Harmony]

What is the insulbrite? what's that made of? i've wanted to make myself a quilted tablerunner for sometime and never thought about the heat issue. is this something you consider necessary? i use wooden trivets under things.

[BookSaver]

Insul-Bright is made by the Warm Company which makes all kinds of quilt battings. According to the plastic wrapped around it, "It consists of hollow, polyester fibers needlepunched through Mylar. The hollow fibers resist conduction while the reflective Mylar resists radiant energy. The energy, hot or cold, is reflected back to its source. Just like Warm & Natural, Insul-Bright is easy to sew and your finished projects can go right into the washer and dryer and will not break down over time.

Here we need an emoticon that shrugs, because I've never used the stuff. The pattern for the lunch bag calls for it, and the pattern was recommended by the shop owner and I trust her. A friend I saw at the sale said she used it in placemats that also double as hot pads. I thought that sounded like a fun idea, because no way can I do a large quilt project but I keep seeing fun patchwork and paper pieced designs that I'd like to try.

It looks like very thin shiny silver mylar sandwiched between very thin layers of poly batting.

The wrapper also says it can be used for quilts, draperies, ski apparel, ironing board covers, outdoor stadium cushions, all kinds of kitchen stuff, etc.

Normal price was $2.something a yard and it was 20% off so I bought 4 yards. That ought to keep me busy awhile!

[Harriet]

((Harmony)), your A,C and N buddies are thinking of your quilting enjoyment of those wonderful bears and hoping you still have a good chance at it, even with one injured paw. Praying your swelling goes down fast and pain is lessened. About those wooden spools - they might be antiques worth saving?

Nancy and Lynlee are both joining parts to make things of beauty! Enjoy, enjoy.

Thanks, BookSaver, for all this knowledge! I have never used insul-bright either, but have heard good things about it. For your project, I would think the insul-bright is perfect, light to construct/carry, and you got a bargain. You will have so much fun with this.

Another product recommended for hotpad/potholder/placemat batting I want to try someday is "silence cloth", the cloth used as the underpad for tablecloths for protecting fine furniture. It is a specialty not available at my local stores, but I did see it on the net - might buy some if time for sewing expands. When dd11 would make her potholders recently, she would use two layers of cotton batting and for some she used denim as her backing.

I have the same feeling about seeing too many block patterns I'd just love to make to devote a whole quilt to one. That is one of the main reasons my interest has been heading toward sampler quilts with all sizes/shapes of blocks,

like this pretty one at a Texas show

(wish the photo was straight-on but I guess it was taken at a crowded show). I love those and already have plenty of UFO blocks!!! I did go with 14 of the same block pattern for the quilt I'm making now, but each is a different combo of fabrics for different looks, and I am honestly looking forward to making the last two.

[BookSaver]

Love that sampler quilt, Harriet!

A guild member has also mentioned making potholders with diaper flannel instead of batting. She specified 100% cotton flannel, though, NOT poly/cotton blend. She said she's having a hard time finding the diaper flannel.

Is there a difference between diaper flannel and any other flannel, other than diaper flannel being white? It's sandwiched between other fabrics, right, so the color shouldn't make any difference unless the outer fabric is really light? I guess if it's quilted the weave might separate enough to show the flannel, but then wouldn't any coordinating or neutral color work?

Maybe she didn't mean the diaper flannel was hard to find but that at the time she couldn't find 100% cotton flannel. She said the poly/cotton blend would not protect against heat.

[Harriet]

Well, no, there's the rub, BookSaver. Although poly in your insul-bright would work great in hotpads because it's made for heat, any other poly can melt against extreme heat. Before I knew that, I made a few potholders with poly batting once and used them pretty hard. What happened to them was that they flattened thin, and the fabric darkened, as though they were greasy inside and I think that was the melting phenomenon. If you were making for decor, like for placemats, you'd probably never know the difference because it wouldn't be affected by that high heat.

That's an interesting tip about the diaper flannel. I have some flannel here but now wondering if it is 100% cotton - can't be sure now. No, color shouldn't matter unless the outer fabrics are very light and need light batting.

The tough thing to accept about making potholders and hotpads is that they do get hard wear and stains. The more work you put into making them, the more your chance of disappointment with a scorch, or when that spaghetti sauce spills!

I am GREATLY APPRECIATING being able to come here and chat. I actually learned more about the light/dark contrast of the blocks and which ways I like it best, "looking from a distance" at my quilt top photos here. (squint, squint, ) Also, I look forward to posting progress I'm making, especially when it doesn't "show" otherwise. Today was more math and careful cutting. I cut the triangles for the corners of the medallion center, and planned how I can squeeze enough pieces from the same fabric to include it in the last two blocks! I love knowing they will echo colors from the center.

[Lynlee]

I've been playing with just 2 squares. I've decided on just 5 rounds per square as I only want to do a small throw cover and didn't want just a few big blocks of colour. DD#1 found the one I made for her was great in a/c shops in summer. Several balls I've discounted because they didn't crochet well in dc/tr. and the white in their mix didn't suit.
tried a few ways of joining... Looked in my 2 big tubs of all sorts of yarn and found a bag of black cotton so current plan is to do extra sq colour double rd with 3ch over shells, and join with doubles in the black. I want to get another plain colour - maybe a rich red/chocolate/rust. I need to take samples of what I have here.
Wanting to have panels of 4 squares, X 3
varigated, plain, varigated
plain , varigated, plain
varigated , plain, varigated.
With differnet tones altenating thru.

I did find a largish UFO. 11" X 20" I have no idea its destiny or purpose. Its in varigated blue.
Also found more wools/yarns than I could point a stick at. and other UFOs I'm not talking about.

[Nancy]

I have made some good progress
now I have to stop and figure out what to do next
on this current project.

[Harmony]

Interesting about that insulbrite. When you described it i immediately thought of ironing board cover which i am in need of badly.

i recognized most all of the sqs in that quilt, harriet. very pretty. i'm thinking if i get a cast on i'll be able to quilt i think, i hope,.... crossing my fingers. as long as i can use fingertip of left hand to feel the needle coming through. trying to figure out in my mind how to finish marking the top - something for a paperweight and dh to help put it in frame - hehhehe not sure about that.