Home Renovations and Quilting Reflections

Big doings over here at the Fields House.  After a couple of years of dealing with a leaky stone chimney, we finally got the leak fixed.  We have a stone façade chimney and the façade had pulled away from the brick.  Result:  My fireplace looked like a water feature every time we had a hard rain. 

We tried everything.  We called everybody we thought could remedy the situation.  It wasn’t until we found a stone mason who guaranteed his work for ten years that we found a solution.  Once we were sure the leak was completely repaired, that meant the ceiling had to be repaired and re-painted. 

Well, once that was put into play, we decided we may as well paint the walls in the dining room and living room (the fireplace separated the two rooms).    While we’re talking about painting, it’s about time to re-paint the kitchen…and the entry way….and the hallways … and the bedroom…don’t you think? And the old floors?  They need to go, too.  And the kitchen cabinets.  I call this syndrome “Home Renovation Dominoes.”  You flip one project into play and then another domino falls.   My house will be total chaos for a month or longer, but it’s gonna look sooooo good when the last contractor leaves.  Meanwhile, my saving grace is I can still navigate into my quilt studio and access my coffee maker.  However, poor Felix has been relegated to a spare bedroom.  Which he is fine with.  He still has a bit of “Stranger Danger” complex and hides from anyone he doesn’t know (i.e., everyone but Bill and me).

Like most quilters, I have quilts hanging on the walls and quilt ladders as well as draped across the backs of couches.  As I was relocating them to my studio for temporary storage while the painters did their thing, I found my self muttering under my breath about how much “stuff” I had accumulated during 40 years of marriage and made a solemn promise to myself I was seriously going to slim things down.  I kept questioning myself about things I purchased and why did I need them.  Why did I keep them?  Did I really need those six pairs of candlestick holders I received as wedding gifts? (No) How many times did I use them? (Maybe once) Did I remember who gave them to me? (Absolutely not). All of this pushed me to think about the tools I had in my quilt studio.  If I had to offload some tools, which ones would have to go?  Which ones would I not purchase ever again?  I had a good idea, but just to be sure I polled a few more quilters.  Come to find out, we all had certain quilting paraphernalia we would just as soon toss as keep.

• Best Press – I know, I know.  There are quilters who absolutely love Best Press and won’t use anything else.  However, I’ve never felt it was as good as starch and I really could never justify the expense.  A bottle of Best Press on Amazon is $13.04.  A can of Niagara Spray Starch is $3.59.  Better yet a gallon of Purex Sta-Flo starch concentrate is $10.99.  Simply mix one to two ounces of starch concentrate with 16 ounces of water.  That means, if you use two ounces per bottle, you can have 64 sixteen-ounce bottles of spray starch for a whopping 17 cents per bottle. 
• Excessive Yardage – I have come to an ugly realization about myself.  I have stash beyond any life expectancy.  I’ve made a solemn vow to use what fabric I have and if I need to purchase any additional fabric (such as applique backgrounds or backings), I will purchase only what I need.  Which brings me to my next one…
• Backing Fabric.  My exception to this is anything I quilt on my long arm – which hates pieced backings, even if the quilt is loaded horizontally so you’re only stitching over the seam once.  For anything I plan to quilt on my M7, I’ll make a pieced backing.
• Block Specific Rulers/Specialty Rulers/Specialty Templates* – These were the number one item both my quilting friends and I declared never to buy again.  They’re like having a bridesmaids dress in your wardrobe.  They work great for one occasion and then they simply take up space.  In my opinion, the only uni-tasker anyone needs in their quilt studio is this:

Not some fancy-schmancy one-use ruler or template. 

• “Binding Buddy/Binding Baby” – From what I’ve heard, these are pretty popular right now.  They’re cute, semi-practical, and help keep your binding neat and untangled.  I guess in many ways I’m old-school, because my first, last, and best binding buddy is a section of a pool noodle.  The binding can be wrapped around it and pinned.  When you’re ready to use it, remove the pin, and the pool noodle piece will lay in your lap while you sew the binding onto your quilt.  I’ve also found pool noodles a handy place to store applique stems until you’re ready to use them.
• Half-Square Triangles on a Roll/Paper for Large HSTs – This is a tool which I do believe has a place in my quilt studio, but only for certain sizes of HSTs.  For my larger HSTs, I like to make them a little bigger and then use my Eleanor Burns Half-Square Triangle Ruler (which, if you make a lot of HSTs, may be a good investment for you) to cut them down to size.  However, due to all the bias this block unit has, any HST smaller than 2 ½- inches finds me reaching for the papers.
• Rotary Blade Tools/Specialty Blades/”Bargain Blades” – We all love our rotary cutters and use them a lot.  In the past few years, several rotary blade “accessories” have hit the market and not all of them have improved my cutting life.  More specifically, I am talking about the rotary blade sharpener.

I asked for one for Christmas and my family dutifully complied.  I was thrilled, thinking I may be able to get some additional time out of my blades by sharpening them when the blade began skipping and not cutting my fabric.  Boy, was I ever disappointed.  The sharpener over promised and under delivered.  I followed the directions carefully, but to my chagrin, the blade was no sharper than when I put it in the sharpener. 

Specialty rotary cutter blades (such as the pinking blades) are the other cutter accessory which was panned.  This was another notion which seems to over promise and under deliver. Another type of blade that received a lot of flak were cheap blades.  One contributor to my survey specifically mentioned the super cheap ones offered on Amazon and another person highlighted the ones offered in some hardware stores which tout they can be used by quilters and in a toolbox.  Don’t be fooled.  They can’t — those blades will destroy your mat.

I think I will also add cheap rotary cutters. I’ve found cheap rotary cutters either fall apart too easily or don’t come apart at all, making it difficult to change the blades.

• Fancy Seam Rippers – While they may be beautiful to look at and delightful to hold, most of them aren’t made for long periods of picking out stitches (such as when a quilting motif goes horribly wrong).  While seam rippers will always remain a necessity for as long as quilters are human, they should at least be easy to use, not cost an arm and a leg, and be ergonomically correct.

• Rotating Cutting Mat – I’ll be honest, this one came from my surveys.  I have a rotating cutting mat and I really like it, but about half of those folks I surveyed said if given the choice, they wouldn’t purchase another one.  Why?  They don’t paper piece or use many small pieces of fabric to trim.  Personally, since I do a lot of both, I enjoy my rotating mat and have found it the perfect size to keep beside my sewing machine for quick cutting ease and to pack and take on quilt retreats.

• Template Plastic – As long as there’s freezer paper and Apliquick, I’ll never purchase template plastic again.

• Heavy scissors/Pinking Shears/Specialty Scissors – Quilters who mentioned pinking shears stated they never use them, and I agree.  I don’t use mine, either.  Heavy scissors hurt hands.  And specialty scissors (such as those used for cutting rag quilts) aren’t used enough to justify their purchase.

While we’re discussing cutting tools, I had a few mentions about specifics on rotary cutters which irritate some quilters.  Some quilters didn’t like rotary cutters with curved handles.  Others didn’t like rotary cutter with a side handle such as this:

And still others swore off any rotary cutter without a self-retracting blade.              

In retrospect, I think that cutting tools of any type are a very personal choice.  I believe you should take your time before investing in scissors or rotary cutters.  Pick them up and get a feel for how they will work for hours in your hand.  And don’t stop at your hands.  The muscles used for rotary cutter and scissors extend up your arm to your shoulder.   If you can’t imagine using them for an hour at a time without discomfort in your arm, put it back and try another.    

• The Embroidery Module for My Sewing Machine – I assume this one may raise some eyebrows, as I have quilter friends who love their embroidery machines and modules.  They use them for both embroidery and for quilting their quilts. 

I look at embroidery modules/machines like this:  If you can handle having your sewing machine tied up while it’s stitching out an embroidery pattern and not having the capacity to sew while this is happening, then an embroidery module will work well for you.  If you can’t, then maybe you should invest in an embroidery machine, so you can piece and embroider.  However, there may come a time when you’re “done” with embroidery and a machine is far easier to sell or trade than a module.  I’m at that point.  I thoroughly enjoyed my Baby Lock Spirit while the grand darlings were younger, but now they’re pre-teens and have no interest in anything embroidery related.  After I get it cleaned and serviced, I’m selling it.  It currently does nothing but take up space in my studio.

• Pre-cuts – I admit this one took me by surprise, as this one is not mine, but several folks gave this answer on my survey.  I like pre-cuts and for the most part have had really good luck with them – most have been accurately cut.  The most common problem most of my responders have is accuracy – the pre-cuts were too short, too big, varied in size, or were cut crooked.  And I don’t think anyone likes those zig-zaggy edges on jelly rolls.  They’re just too messy.  But let me throw in a helpful hint if you do find yourself working with a jelly roll.  Before you open it, head outside with it and a lint roller.  Open the jelly roll from any ribbon or cellophane covering and run the lint roller over it several times.  This tends to get rid of most of the threads. 
• Stilettos – This one is one of mine and several of my responders agreed.  I’m not sure why they don’t like a stiletto, but I prefer a Sixth Finger Quilting Tool:

This has slanted finger and a flat finger and is useful for more things than just feeding fabric beneath the presser foot.  It’s great to use with binding and it can hold the fabric apart if you need to press a seam open.  It is also helpful for use in applique.

• Any Templates or Rulers That’s Not Non-Slip – Personally I think all rulers should be non-slip.  It would cut down on so many cutting mistakes on fabric and fingers.  And while there are certainly  non-slip grippy stickers you can purchase to go on the back of a ruler, I’ve found those cumbersome.  This is why I’ve had a long-time love affair with Creative Grids rulers.  All of those come with non-slip surfaces built into the back of the ruler.

• Safe-er Grips – These are the Safe-er Grips

Normally used in bathrooms, several years ago, these were introduced as quilting tools.  You could affix one of these to your ruler and use the handle to move your ruler or template over instead of simply sliding it.  While there are a few quilters who still love them, most of us agree they just get in the way.  Case in point, we’ve had one in our prize box at Guild for door prizes.  It’s been in the prize box for two years.  No one wants the thing. 

In closing I would like to thank the Network Needlers Chapter of The Applique Society, my sisters in stitches from Tuesday Night Sit and Sew, and the members of the High Point Quilt Guild.  Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions.  There will be a follow up to this blog concerning the quilting tools we absolutely cannot live without.

Until next week, from my studio to yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix