Month: July 2019

Another finish….and just in time

My family from Germany is coming to visit.  They should be arriving in the states today.  They have three weeks planned out.  We will be meeting up with them in Washington DC in a couple of weeks.  I have never met my cousin’s wife or daughter.   I am very excited to meet them in person.  We do chat and sometimes talk on WhatsApp.

So, Sophia and Christine, love horses.  They send me videos of Sophia riding her horse frequently, which I enjoy.  So, I made a horse quilt for her.

IT gave me such grief.  Mostly due to the fact that sometimes, I am just a dumba$$.

So, this was one of the quilts that I was basting when I had the spray debacle.  Funny thing that turned out to be the least of my problems.  I had this all rolled up ready to be basted.  Thought I was ahead of the game.  Hahaha.  Turns out that as I reached the bottom of the basting, I failed to measure this quilt.  I could say I improperly measured, but truth be told, I never measured it at all.  So, turns out my backing and batting was a few inches too short.

No way to unglue all that.  I decided to quilt it and leave 6 inches unquilted and then figure out what to do.  I sort of figured that I will piece the batting and backing on.

Well, I managed to piece in the piece of batting, not a big deal.  However, I had left over 20190719_192622-1.jpgarrow fabric that I was going to use to piece across the bottom.  Wrong.  Came out totally wonky and looked like a crazy person did it.  I think the problem was that it was directional and sewing the fabric on was not as easy as I thought.  Ended up finishing the quilting without the back and hand sewing a piece clear across the back along the bottom (light green).

I really did not like this quilt the entire time I was working on it, however now that is is finished, I do like it.  It looks like a horse quilt for a little girl and that is what I was going for.  The back came out OK despite my issues.

I got word today that they were in New York.  Looking forward to meeting up with them!

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

I learned something new

So, I have acquired quite a few fat quarter packs that have five fat quarters.  I wanted to figure out something to do with these.   If you only have on fat quarter pack of the same design you could be limited to what you can do.  I do love babies so I decide that I needed to find a pattern that was friendly to these 5 fat quarter bundles.  Baby quilts it is.

I could not find any pattern that was suitable or that I liked, so I made my own.  I really liked the dog fabric, so I wanted to make sure that I could showcase the dog prints.  I had a few issues with the size of things, so this is not perfect, but the next one, I will have just right.  I don’t have any fancy quilting software, so I was just drawing on paper.  It was super simple to make and with the 5 fat quarter pack and a yard of solid, I made a cute baby quilt.  I sort of like it.

20190618_191938I quilted dog bones into the quilt with my homemade dog bone ruler and put dog fleece20190618_191900 on the back.  I like fleece on the back because it is very forgiving.  However, I find it much harder for some unknown reason to quilt.  My shoulders are killing me after quilting when there is fleece on the back.

 

So, what did I learn?  I managed to sew the 20190618_192631binding on by machine entirely.  Never did it before.  Watched a couple of video’s.  For a first time, it is not too bad.  I don’t mind the hand binding on the back, but for some things, I think sewing it on is acceptable and I have to tell you that I have never had better looking corners. ever.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Check out my new thread rack…sort of

So I bought myslef a new thread rack that I love.  Except, it is not really a thread rack, it is for nail polish.  However, i love it for threads and  it even fits serger thread.  Plus it looks so pretty.  It is from Amazon  If you are interested.  Finally I can see all my thread and not rifle through boxes and drawers.  I actually have more thread and my serger thread, so I may get another one.

So, an update on my basting spray issue. THank you to Sharon for reminding me to email the manufacturing company.  This is what they told me:

Good afternoon Lori,
     Thank you for reaching out to us at June Tailor. We did have to make some changes to the basting spray due to a new law change in California. You will be happy to hear though that we have since revised and it is now like the original basting spray yet staying within the guidelines of the new law. It is due in here to us sometime in August. If you would like to send me your address I would like to send you a can on us, to try. Below is the changes we made and why.
Thank you for reaching out.  I have included an overview of some of the changes made to the formula and why.  To summarize, we needed to make changes to our formula to comply with regulations in the state of California.  We also moved our production to the United States and already have our chemists working on improvements for our second production run.  In addition to a more robust nozzle with a more restrictive flow rate, we have worked on the scent.
Our Quilt Basting Spray is made up of an adhesive and a propellant. A propellant is a compressed gas that acts as a vehicle for discharging the contents of an aerosol containers; in this case, the adhesive component.  The state of California now restricts us on using certain types of chemicals in this propellant, so we have had to modify our formula slightly. The adhesive should work basically the same as previous cans.
We added the ball in the can to further assist with mixing of the adhesive and the propellant. Please be sure to shake the can well before using.
If your can has a small white spray nozzle with a black dot, you may need less of a heavy hand when spraying your batting. We have already made modifications to the design and flow-rate of the can nozzles on the cans to provide a more restrictive flow as the product is sprayed. This should help with stickiness and dry-time.  It is, of course, still always best to test a small piece of fabric and batting.
Additional modifications are already being implemented in regards to the odor and we are looking for additional input from you, our long-term customers. We have received excellent customer feedback and questions about the changes to the product and are working very diligently with our chemists to make product improvements and adjustments to give you the very best experience with our basting spray while keeping within regulatory guidelines.

I can hope there is improvement. It was my favorite basting spray.  I actually have a couple of quilts finished.  Need to get those posted.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

What the ???

So I needed to baste a couple of quilts.  For me, spray baste has always worked best.  I have tried all types, even the homemade.  June Taylor basting spray always worked the best for me and had little or no smell.  It was easy to lift off and re position.

Not anymore.

I noticed the last time that the lid had changed and oddly it now had a ball inside the can (like spray paint).  I thought that was weird.  Then I went to spray it n something small and Good God, the smell was over powering and awful.   So, that means we are relocating to the garage. OK.  I can manage that.

So I am spraying away…..a pretty butterfly flies into the garage….and promptly drops dead.

OMG…. How toxic is this stuff?  I am done now.  Need to figure out a plan B and stop freaking out.

July 3rd was the anniversary of my late Husband Derrick’s death.  It is a day that is stuck in my head.  It is not really a day that I want to remember, yet I do.  Six years have passed and this year for some reason it hit me hard.  Some of it was because I got frustrated looking for a picture of him on my phone.    They never change.  They never will.  We were together for five years, married for two of those.  I am grateful for the time I had with him even though it was nowhere near enough.  He truly was that once in a lifetime love.  Haley and I used to always go to the scene of the accident, which I decided was a little too dark.  Pretty sure it is the last place he would be if he could be.  If he could be anywhere, it was right beside us.  So we honored him at home this time, where we wish he was.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure Your Loved Ones.