Archive for November, 2011
Work in Progress Wednesday
If you remember last week, I was about finished with my little autumn quilt/table runner. You can see the process here. I finished it this weekend, and today we marbled a piece for the winter piece. “Marbled Seasons” will shortly be available as a kit – all the seasons, or just one of them. I am writing the pattern now, and by the end of December should have all the quilts completed. They would also work as table runners. So here it is….
There are plenty of variations in this pattern. “Autumn Marbles” will have hand-marbled silk leaves in the kit, as well as directions for the “windy” free motion quilting. There is enough marbled fabric to add another set of log cabin blocks to make the quilt a little longer. The strips in this block all start out at one inch. the two different browns in this, as well as the backing, were from my stash, so you can “shop” at home for extra fabric.
I have started my next major art piece, from a piece of fabric we marbled over ten years ago. It’s time to do something with it. Here you see the marbled unpolished satin with its backing. I was auditioning threads.
The piece itself looks very flat and pretty uninteresting. It will be a challenge of my new skills to make this do what my mind wants.
This piece is a little over 18 inches by 54 inches. We did it when we still worked in the big tray. The additional years make it very difficult for us to work longer hours and do larger pieces of fabric. So I am hoarding those pieces I still have.
A closeup showing some very interesting veining within the piece. That needs to become a focus point.
I have started the basic “first level” quilting. All the stones are getting outlines. Already a lot more interest. Those two upper right beige ovals have been taken out, requilted, and lay a whole lot flatter. And, you won’t see more pictures until finished and entered……..
Top Ten Tuesday
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it. We were around lots of friends and had a wonderful time. It was so nice to know I didn’t have to face a 5:30 AM alarm on Monday! Been catching up – here’s a few cool things this week from the web.
From the Philbrook Museum of Art….LOVE. THIS.
Now I will admit, I am not a car enthusiast, but I can understand…when we gave up our Rav4 I gave it one last hug, and I still miss it. That said, on Cool Hunting comes some really wild cars. By far my favorite….
A new blog by Vivian Swift has a great water color tutorial on doing leaves – on my list for this coming year is a water color class.
From The Best Article Every Day comes this little bonus clip…..The article is also quite funny – Ten Things 90s Kids Will Have to Explain to Their Children.
From NASA comes a look at the new Mars rover, curtesy of The Best Article Every Day. Pretty amazing the steps it’ll take to land on Mars.
From Joan Wolfrom comes a look at a color challenge, with four really interesting quilts. Each is based on one specific color, and the techniques in them can’t help but spark creativity.
It’s always a joy to discover new math videos…thanks to Kathy Nida for this one…..Pythagorasaurus……
If you’re not following The Free Motion Quilting Project, you really should. I just bought two embooks on quilting designs, and I am SO looking forward to expanding my repertoire. Here’s a snap of Leah’s latest – OMG, amazing……
From Kate Harper’s blog was a link to Joan Beiriger’s blog on Advantages in Using Google Reverse Image Search. Who knew? I tried using it – pretty simple, and it should be interesting to see if any of our images are showing up on the web – beyond my blog and website.
From Artsy Shark comes an article on some creative marketing – love the use of the iPad!
And some political sites that might be worthwhile to explore. This article on Facebook privacy comes from The Blog of Rights. You may agree or not, but I’m a strong proponent of civil discourse. At least we can be aware of issues as they arise.
Enjoy your week!
Art Supplies Sale! Cyber Monday…..
Get 10% off orders $100+, or 15% off $150+ AND FREE SHIPPING on orders $99+ with promo code CCXA (see details for terms)!
Disclaimer: According to FTC guidelines, I need to let you know I am an affiliate of Dick Blick and do receive a small compensation if you purchase anything from this site.
PS – at least three spelling errors I needed to correct….sheesh, too early on a Monday!
Plans for the New Year
I realized that I ended Season Two of Cocreating Our Reality on November 19. I have been so busy sewing and working on projects – and being positive – that the day went by. December 1 is coming this week, and I’m planning to start Season 3 that day. One thing I have learned is to try to be more specific with my goals, and yet not limit myself within the goals. I also need more goals, both creatively and business-wise.
So how did I do?
* Enjoy life through a couple of trips and dinners/other social engagements with friends: San Diego, Austin, Houston, New Orleans. Absolutely! We went to Sedona in July, San Diego in August, Santa Fe in September, Sedona in October, and Prescott in November. We are planning to head to San Diego in two weeks. Obviously a new goal is going to be continuing to get a trip in a month – in fact, TWO are scheduled for March.
* Finish “Artists Revisited” class, complete with the new quilt. Finished the class, the quilt is probably half done, and it is now awaiting sometime in late spring to finish it – there are two major pieces I am attacking for a show deadline in mid-February.
* Help with Tikkun Olam show at the Jewish Community Center. The show was very nicely staged. Didn’t sell anything, but had a lot of really good feedback.
* Plan for additional income each month through the business; the goal is to beat the previous month (August should beat July, and so on). We are marbling more often – at least twice a month – and generally selling all the fabric. Etsy has picked up, and a few other things are working, including a commission for 31 fat quarters. We have far exceeded what we did for income in all of last year, so we should end the year in very good shape.
* Take three tutoring clients in mathematics. Instead I accepted a position teaching college algebra one afternoon a week – 4 hours, plus prep time. About the same amount of additional time, and about the same amount of money. Way easier on the travel and schedule.
* Update<a href=”http://artfromtheheart.org” target=”_blank”> Art from the Heart</a> website and make plans for entries for the first anniversary of the Tucson shootings. Three new works of art have already been added, and more people are beginning to talk about the site.
* Sewing projects: Tikkun Olam, Wayne Art Center, Betty’s commission, small rhythm piece, fish quilt redone, deer quilt finished, three additional quilt projects to be determined. No Wayne Art Center. Most of Betty’s commission is completed, the rhythm piece done, the fish quilt completed, the deer quilt finished, and three projects have been determined, all of which have been started.
* Complete the first three action plans in <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>I’d Rather Be In the Studio</span> by Alyson Stanfield. In fact, I did four. I need to attack the portfolio goal over these next 100 days, as well as get in gear on newsletters.
* Maintain goals through the Multiple Streams of Income class and set new 90-day goals. Did this – will set the new goals through Season 3.
* Market the gift basket through Marble-T Design and sell at least four. We’ve sold 3 so far, so good on us! We’ve got stuff for two more ready to go.
* Break 200 pounds. Did not come close. In fact, I have yet to step on the scale, which I will do tomorrow, as I really begin to attack this. What I noticed is that I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this, and nothing has happened that is positive. So I obviously need to rethink how I look at this. I am going on more than half my life being overweight, and something has to change. Either I accept myself as I am now, or I change into what I want to be. More meditation, a diet “sponsor,” a food diary, regular walking, and some journaling are on the list.
I do like being able to see concretely what has been happening. That’s one of the reasons I like the blogging. This is a definite way for me to keep myself accountable.
One goal so far for the new season: the Free Motion Quilting Challenge, which will begin in January. I’ve got lots of other ideas, so I need to get things finalized for the start on Thursday, December 1.
An Attitude of Gratitude
Today is a day for giving thanks, and I have much to appreciate in my life this year.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
A Thank You to Dale Anne Potter from Canada, who got me involved with the Laws of Attraction and Abundance. I have had an amazing seven months, almost to the send of my second season, and life has been very good. I am excited to move to another level of personal and professional goals.
Another online Thank You to Alyson Stanfield and Art Biz Blog, whose newsletter today is about thanking the people who have helped you along the way – Alyson’s books have been extremely helpful in getting myself organized and moving to the next level of business.
A Thank You to state retirement and social security. It’s not a lot, but it’s more than many people have, and I can spend my days as I wish, without the stress and pressure of the public, day-to-day classroom.
A Thank You to my students, who continue to write me and tell me that I made an impact on their lives. Your words are more precious than you can know. I ran into Juanita at the mall, and we just hugged. It’s nice to know I’m missed.
A Thank You to the marbling and sewing muses, who are helping take our art to the next level. It is such joy to be able to create art whenever we want to. My sewing skills are improving, thanks to online classes, books, and a great tutor in Suzan.
A Thank You to our friends in Cornville, who give us a place to get away and great friendship and new experiences. Ahead for us this year: Road to California, Thread School, and Photoshop World!
A Thank You to my foster son, who sends me Mother’s Day cards and is such a fine young man – and a responsible loving uncle!
A Thank You to the apartment muses, who have landed us in a quiet, barking-dog-free environment, complete with pool and hot tub. It’s cramped at times, but we have been able to organize a very functional studio in not much space.
A Thank You to my close friends from high school, college, Hawaii, Phoenix, and Vermont. We have been through some interesting experiences together! From nude beaches on Maui (way before the hotels) to giving mumps to a group of sailors to a pretty wild 25th birthday party for a friend – complete with hula – to visiting a KFC one Halloween dressed as Big Bird…..it’s been a great ride!
A Thank You to the internet, for wonderful cyber buddies, for the ability to run a web-based business, for learning and online classes, and for the continued wonderment of everything there is out there to learn, and do, and see. My curiosity is finding wonder all over the place – from the tear-jerker YouTube video to a sewing technique to hilarious math videos.
A Thank You to always wanting to learn and rediscovering my passion for history. It is an amazing time in American history, and I look forward to the growth of the younger generation as the new movers and shakers, bringing this country back on an even level.
A Thank You to the vision muses for enabling me to still be able to do what I love, even as the vision begins to decrease with age.
A Thank You to my wonderful husband, as we celebrate our 36th Thanksgiving together, starting the year my dad died. We can make art together, travel together, and just enjoy life together.
Life is Awesome!
Work in Progress Wednesday
Wow, being retired has given me a whole new appreciation for preparing for the holidays. In the past, if I was lucky, I managed to get some things done during the Thanksgiving weekend, but everything else depended on just how tired I was at the end of each school day. Not this year – my cards are designed and ordered – the pic at the left is of a great piece of red silk that I took into Photoshop. Really pleased with them.
Before I go in to the latest project, an update on the deer quilt from last week. We finally got it hung in our bedroom, its designated spot for the last ten-plus years. It looked awful…..there was absolutely nothing redeeming in it at all. Even hubby, who has loved the quilt since I first saw the pic realized it was pretty bad. So Karen S is the winner of the give-away of border trees, and some lucky child is going to get a “huggy” quilt. In the bedroom now hangs our Desert Heat quilt, and it looks perfect.
Now for the new stuff…..Hubby created a really great fat quarter of cotton that reminded me of a New England autumn. We had marbled some silk leaves earlier this fall, and I had in the back of my mind to make an autumn quilt and use the leaves. Well, now I had all the fabric, pulled a couple of browns from the stash, and was ready to go.
The start of the log cabin….this is the fourth restart….for some reason I wasn’t able to follow my own directions…..
First tentative layout…..
Another tentative layout…sorry for the lousy pic….
The three finished blocks – reminds me of walking through woods carpeted in falling leaves.
Playing around with the marbled leaves….have probably decided on this layout. Love the border fabric, which was very serendipitous. That fabric would not have worked had I gone with a different layout.
I love the leaves!
Ready for batting and quilting……more next week. Suggestions on a quilting design?
Top Ten Tuesday
Under the category of food art comes these really interesting images, found on the Cool Hunting site. Caren Alpert goes through a lot of prep to get these amazing photos. The one below is a pineapple leaf……
From Cool Hunting is a look at an eclectic furniture collection form a hotel in San Francisco. Some pretty cool stuff – but I’m not sure I’d sit in it!
Under the category of “Remember When” comes some “pre-internet” reminders……(are we really that old?)……..from The Best article Every Day. (This is in honor of Sheldon of BBT)…..
A very cool tutorial on making initials….color, glitter, easy instructions. From Lisa Engelbrecht.
If you are not a Twilight fan (don’t even get me started on lack of correct punctuation….) you will appreciate the poster from Mad Magazine…Breaking Wind, Fart 1. I don’t want to spoil it by putting it here……
From The Best Article Every Day comes a little bonus piece at the end….
I can’t find really good attribution, (I think chromestory.com), but I SO LOVE Explorer – kind of sums up what I, as a MAC person, think of IE.
And from The Best Article Every Day comes the “origin” of Angry Birds…..since I got hooked earlier this fall, I found this really funny….it’s the bonus piece at the end of protecting your Facebook account (which is also interesting….).
A new site discovered from Kathy Nida – That is Priceless. Art – with captions….how did I miss this all this time?
And thanks to Kathy, again, for The Bitchy Stitcher. I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. sarcasm. I am fairly fluent in the language, and I am always practicing in order to hone my skills. I practice often with my sarcasm twin Michelle.
And…another wonderful new blog, courtesy of Kathy – great rant on IQF!
Great week behind me, another great one to come! Life is AWESOME!
Monday Marketing
Some interesting food for thought from the Fine Art blog…Questions You Don’t Have to Answer. Interesting because I was frustrated at a recent show in northern Arizona. So many of the artists I was looking at did not have websites. One was a great painter, and I knew i would buy anyway, since I was right there. But now I had no way of looking at his work for future purchases. Yes, a lot of folks take a card, walk on, and you’ve lost your chance for a sale. I don’t shop that way, but I’m guessing I’m in the minority. Thoughts?
I realize a lot of people don’t consider themselves web savvy, and perhaps that’s why they don’t have a site…or even a Facebook page. But I’m figuring the web – and art sales on the web – is here to stay. Yes, we all want the immediate sale, but in this economy, that’s probably not going to happen. I bought from the artist – prints, because the price was right, but if he’d been on line, I would have looked at one of his canvas prints. Now I have to hope I see him at another show…….
Also of interest for marketing is this article posted a while ago in What the Craft – Why Handmade is So Expensive. This is a really good look at how much time goes into each piece we make. If we totaled up all the hours we actually spent, we’d never sell anything…..
And…10 Tips to Increase Your Productivity from The Future Buzz.
For me, my productivity comes from making lists, and then determining which of the big projects to work on next. I keep deadlines in mind, although sometimes I just don’t make them. I have a couple of things coming up that are definite for major art projects, and then my lists help me organize the day-to-day items. The biggest “left-over?”
Well, there are two…..my portfolio revisions, and the newsletter development and schedule. The latter is the most important, and for some reason it just hasn’t made it to the top and actually gotten worked on. That is a goal for the start of next year, so I don’t miss out on the holiday season. However, that said, we have been MUCH better this year about approaching holiday sales.
And in that spirit….this gift basket needs a home…...see the Etsy store…….
Great marbling session on Sunday – expect to see a few more fat quarters show up in Etsy…..
Something I’ve Never Done Before……
Okay, so on Wednesday I cleaned the studio in preparation for new work, got rid of lots of lint and threads….nice and clean. I cross off thee of the eight table runners and looked at my list of projects. Well, says I, why don’t I finish one UFO before starting on these two new ones? I figure, let’s go with the deer quilt, which has been hanging around unfinished for about 13 years. How bad could it be?
Well…………….bad. Nothing seemed straight, I still had a lot of free motion to do, and the quilt was fighting me. I got one side row of free motion done, but I wasn’t happy. We decided to measure the bedroom space to make sure the quilt would fit…and it would, but barely. I noticed as we held it up that it was so wavy…..much like a beginner’s quilt, which this kind of was……So I figured I would try a basting stitch to see if I could bring some kind of straightness to that one side.
Nope. Nada. Nothing. No way.
Now, hubby has always loved this quilt. Me, not so much anymore, especially since my skills have improved dramatically.
What to do?
I grabbed the scissors.
Now, I’ve read about people cutting up quilts, and every time I read that, I would be horrified. What would cause someone, after all that time, to cut up a quilt?
Now I understand…..something had to give if I was going to finish this, and it had to be the tree borders. So I cut them off.
Amazing. The quilt is now pretty straight, and I sewed on the binding.
Now, keep in mind that given the large table runners I just finished, that’s over 16 yards of binding I’ve sewn this week (and no, I didn’t hand stitch the back down….I didn’t want another 3 years to go by before I delivered them….). And…it’s a good thing I cut off the borders, because I just had enough binding – which I put together some 13 years ago…………
I also sewed this down front and back. And it’s done, ready to be hung on the wall, and I don’t need a third hangar….
I am reminded of Ami Simms’s Ugly Quilt Contest, where the winner had a brown paper bag over her head…….This is from the time period where I was doing lots of rotary cutting and piecing – this is probably from Pam Bono’s Rotary Cut Quilts book.
Hubby’s happy, I keep thinking “what was I doing?” at various stages, like choosing the mountain fabrics…….
Now, there is a good point to all this – I am giving away the tree borders. I know a lot of quilters recycle pieces from quilts. I just don’t think I’ll do that. Here’s a snippet:
There are four rows, and the blue fabric varies from side to side and top to bottom. Some have no quilting, some quilting only in the “ground” areas. Leave me a comment, tell me what you’d do with them, and I’ll draw a winner on Monday, November 21. Each row has a marbled fabric tree, if that is any appeal……
Have fun!
Wednesday Work in Progress
Yay! Three of the eight table runners are complete and at their new home, in time for the holiday festivities for which they were made. There are five smaller ones still to be done, but they should be finished by the beginning of June. I learned a lot doing these, and I have a few ideas for keeping them straighter during quilting when I get to the smaller ones. But that’s after a few more current projects.
I put the first one on the main table, and then we arranged the other two around them. The visual appeal of the three is really stunning – I was quite amazed. Betty, my second mom, cut them all out in the winter of 1991 when she was in Vermont. They have lain dormant in a box since then. I first attacked the project last fall and completed the first sample block in January. It’s only been since May that I have really worked on the project.
Now I have a deer quilt to finish for our bedroom, and then on to my first major art piece, with a deadline in mid-February. I am taking pics of the whole process, in preparation for writing an article about the process. I have a list on the wall of the studio with all the projects – unfinished and “to be made” – I want to work on. It did feel good to cross off the first three table runners today!
Each block is a white design, some original Hawaiian patterns and some that are unique designs by Betty. Once we started thinking about layout, we decided black and white would be very dramatic. Each block is done in color for the satin stitch. I wanted to have some subtle color to the overall effect.
Each block is attached to another with a small divider, which has been free-motion quilted. It helps to set off the design even further.
To stay in the spirit of Hawaiian applique, since the family was stationed in Hawaii for a number of years, I echo-quilted each block with two rounds of stitching. This accented the design, as well as anchored the runner together so nothing would slip and slide.
Another 20 blocks await!
Top Ten Tuesday – Eye Candy from Houston
Someday I’ll get to the Houston Festival again, but in the meantime, I can live vicariously through blogs! Here’s some great eye candy, plus a few other goodies….and Jack Nicholson……
From Frieda Anderson comes a look at some spectacular quilts from The International Quilt Festival in Houston.
Gloria Hansen– first place!!
From the folks at C&T Publishing comes a wrap of market with some vendors that look so wonderful!
From Susan Brubaker Knapp comes another look at Houston Market.
A cool discovery on YouTube…I’m not one for music videos, but this reminds me of something the kids on Glee would have done. From Panic At The Disco comes “Ready to Go.”
From JPG Magazine comes pics from their latest – “Smokin'”. As usual, great stuff!!
From Mad Magazine comes a very different offering – a look at a USO tour. From someone who ALWAYS watched Bob Hope, this article gives good insight to life overseas serving our country.
And also from Mad comes a send-up of the Family Circus….great cartoons by Bill Spleen…..
From The Best Article Every Day comes great ways to maintain your learning. As someone who will probably never stop taking classes, there’s some great stuff here to explore.
And now this….is really wrong – and oh so funny……suppose The Shining had been a romantic comedy…….someone with waaayyyy too much time on their hands……
Random Thoughts
It’s a relatively early Saturday morning, and we are marbling. I’ve learned to leave the color and pattern decisions to hubby, as his skill with those far exceeds mine. We have begun working on a new major fiber piece, after a huge amount of deliberation for design and what-not. I’m documenting the process, but it will be months before I can really show the finished piece and talk about it. I am excited about it, ordered lots of new threads, and hopefully I can get some more pieces of lava before the gem show for embellishment. All in all, a great way to start the Saturday.
Then last night we attended a wedding of a co-worker and amazing math teacher. What a joyful life! Met up with some teachers I hadn’t seen in a while, and experienced my first orthodox Jewish wedding, The rabbi was amazing, and the ceremony was just beautiful. I was so happy for them. Actually had a chance to dance with hubby and we both realized that the spring that used to be in our steps was extremely rusty. We used to spend hours on the weekends out dancing – last night I couldn’t seem to get the feet to want to follow him. Getting old sucks!
But it was such a wonderful five hours! There was such joy all around. We just had an amazing time, and we kept reminiscing about our 35 years together.
But I need to temper that with news that an internet friend is facing ovarian cancer. Now, I’m the kind of person who has always had a hard time making friends, and so I love the internet because it has allowed me to reach out in an easy manner. We have exchanged art work, commiserated on the political scene, and worked on Art from the Heart together. This shouldn’t be happening to someone in the prime of life. I am really working at sending positive thoughts to her whenever I think of her each day. Positivity is working for me, so I want to see if I can put it out there into the universe and extend its reach. Many blessings, much healing light my friend. You will be back to share your humor and photos and warped sense of humor! You are too precious to leave us too soon.
Top Ten Tuesday
This is shorter this week – because the last clip is an amazing video just out, on an untold story of September 11. To get you to the end, here’s a few goodies from the week.
A good article about being asked to donate work….which I don’t think many organizations really understand as it relates to artists’ efforts. Another great one from the ArtBizBlog.
From Cool Hunting comes the work of this clay artist. Look at this texture!!!!
Jelly bean art, courtesy of Kathy Nida this week….
Here’s the “Making Of” video – very cool!
From Joan Beiriger’sBlog on art licensing comes this “Creative Process of Extremely Successful Licensed Artists,” complete with videos on these five people. Lots of good stuff here.
Now for an amazing clip. Narrated by Tom Hanks, this is the untold story of “Boatlift,” the largest sea evacuation in history – 500,000 people off of Manhattan in the hours after September 11. This is worth the rest of the Top Ten – worthy of it’s own. Be sure to have tissues at hand.
Monday Marketing
Some interesting thoughts going through the mind over the last few days, primarily thinking about future directions for the business. We really enjoyed our guild demo and would like to do more, so moving up the to-do list is a plan for making that happen. We also spent a good chunk of time yesterday planning out two now major art pieces, something we haven’t done in a long time. Hubby has some great designs from a number of years ago that we want to bring to fruition. So it’s been really fun to look at the artistic side of planning.
Thanks again to Laura Bray and her e-course on Multiple Streams of Income (also available in an ebook – Click here to visit katydid designs.). For the first time I understand marketing and art-planning. I was too focused on marketing and not enough on actually creating art to increase income. My second season on 100 days ends on November 18, and I am already thinking about new sets of goals and increasing the range of goals. It’s turning out to be another good month for us, and I so want it to continue. My linking you to Laura Bray’s work is an example of a passive income strand, another area I am focused on building; you visit sites I recommend, purchase something, and I receive a commission. If you visit the Resources tab for the blog (at the top), you will see people and businesses I recommend – some of which pay me a commission, and some who don’t. Either way, I am only sending people to you that I use/have used and have confidence in.
That said, I keep reading and processing more information about building success as artists. Here’s a couple of articles I’ve found in the last few days that may be timely for you.
Thinking about giving up the art business? From Fine Art Views blog comes “Boiling Point.” A good read if you are discouraged by success as an artist.
From Joanne Materra comes a great post on potential scams we all have to be on the watch for. Called “Don’t Fall For It,” it’s a look at potential scams.
And along the same line, from Artsy Shark comes an article about applying to exhibitions, “Five Tips on Getting into More Juried Art Exhibitions.” A word about Artsy Shark – we will be a featured artist sometime in the next few weeks….stay tuned!
Have a great week marketing and building your joy!
Why Superior Really Is “No Ka Oi”
How do I love thee, Dr. Bob? Let me count the ways…..with apologies to Elizabeth Barret Browning.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee Superior Thread in all the many colors
My soul can reach, when sitting at the Machine
As I contemplate the line of stitching.
I love thee to the level of sewing’s
Most needy time, by sun or Ott light.
I love thee freely as we strive for Kaizen.
I love thee purely as they judge the stitches.
I love thee with a passion put to use
As I strive to meet a juried deadline.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
As I ripped and swore and rethreaded.
Smiles, joy – all my projects – and, if it be,
I shall love thee even better seam after seam.
So why the ode? I was working on a fabric bowl yesterday with some “free thread” given to me at a sewing expo a while back. Now I talk about Superior Thread regularly on this blog. Ever since my School of Threadology in April 2010, so many of my problems and frustrations with needle and thread have gone away. I love sewing and quilting now. Everything always works.
Except yesterday, when I was working with this new thread. Why? Because the multi-colors would work with this particular fabric. Well, that was a mistake. First of all, these were “sample” spools, so I wasn’t really sure just how much thread would be on this spool…and of course, I ran out about four inches from the end of the project…which I wouldn’t have done had the thread not kept breaking every six inches or so.
Grrrr. Then, I could actually watch the thread fray as it passed through the eye of the needle. And…it felt like rough twine.
So while I have solved my tension and breakage problems, and even gone back to using my Sulky threads, when it comes to doing anything for a gallery or a juried show or an heirloom project, Superior Threads will be the only ones for me.
Dr. Bob, Mother Superior, Ricci, and all the folks at Superior Threads are some of the best people in the world to do business with. Their philosophy of “kaizen,” or continuous improvement, shows every single day, in them and in every one of their products. In case you didn’t know, “no ka oi” is Hawaiian for “the best.”