Showing posts with label Aurafil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aurafil. Show all posts

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Transitions...

I love this quilt top.  I love everything about it...
  • the fabric...
  • the colors...
  • the randomness...
  • the journey...
  • and that the top is done.
I have talked about this quilt and what it represented in my Quilting as Therapy post as well as this one.
This past weekend I decided it was time to get all the four patches out and put them on the design wall. It was so fun! If you haven't been on this journey -- the blocks are 2.5" (finishing at 2") and the sashing is 1" (finishing at 1/2").

Lots of pinning. At every single intersection.
Lots of ironing.
And a reminder of why I do so love all the different shot cottons.  They sparkle a bit more than homespuns -- but of course, not nearly so much as silks.  That's a dream for a different day (or year!).  This had a blue and peach in the warp and weft - and it changes color depending on the light.
When I was putting this together -- I just started sewing (after LOTS of cutting).  I tried to be as random as possible and not over-think the color placement.  I basically sewed up every square I had cut and here is my waste.  Eleven of the sashed 2.5" squares, 3-4 partial strips that were cut so far off grain that I couldn't bring myself to put such crooked squares in the quilt, and a tiny bit of Aurafil thread.  This top required almost a full spool of Aurafil -- that gives me some perspective on how much sewing this little beauty actually has in it.  It has done exactly what I needed for various periods of transition in my life in the past two years.
And finally -- as I was heading back upstairs this morning (after taking a picture in 16 degrees!), the light coming through the beveled window in the front door caught my attention.  I threw the top on the steps, stepped back, and let the fractured light and prisms dance on the fabric.  Oh my!

I hope you are working on something that makes your heart sing!

Jan


Sunday, December 26, 2010

Happiness is a cone of Aurafil!

I don't know about you --but I love my thread almost as much as I love my fabric and my Bernina. There is something so comforting about a whole cone of Aurafil or an order of new spools. I need to stop feeding my thread habit -- I'm covered for years, I think.

Then what on earth am I doing with all these spools? Saving them, of course. Because I love my thread so much, there are times when I don't feel like I need the very best (like string blocks that are being pieced on a fabric foundation). On those occasions, I use from this cigar box (or the second cigar box of more old thread) and I love using them up. Or there are times when I'm basting for a short period of time and can use this thread -- or I'm basting my hexagons. I do not want to use my beautiful Aurafil for those projects -- and I do love using these up (or old bobbins from my mother's Kenmore or Singer).

I know I'm a bit of a thread snob -- but I'm also a frugal quilter that can't bring myself to throw away perfectly good thread -- just b/c it's a little over the hill (as am I!).

Do you hoard thread or do you purchase just in time?

Keep piecing! Jan