New Blog hop - Queen of the Gadgets

 

This week has been amazing for me. Every day I get to check out what these talented bloggers have to share about their favourite gadgets and how they use them. I tell you  right away, that I am not in their league , not for a minute. but I am smart enough to appreciate what they are sharing, and where it works, to add the new tips to my meagre repertoire. Queen of the Gadgets blog hop is hosted by Carol Swift from Just Let Me Quilt. She is a fearless quilter, and knows how to knock off a great party! So off we go to my sewing space, and let's look at what I use for my playing, right after you see the list of Gadget Queens who love to have you visit them. Just in case you haven't had a chance to visit everyone, here is the entire list once again.

Check out the Queens of Gadgets!

September 19

Creatin' in the Sticks

Annie’s Musings

Days Filled With Joy

Quilting Gail

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Scrapdash

 

September 20

MooseStashQuilting
For The Love Of Geese
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Food for Thought
Karrin’s Crazy World
Patchouli Moon Studio
 
September 21
Inflorescence
Selina Quilts
Samelia's Mum
Just Sew Quilter
That Fabric Feeling
Songbird Designs
Just Because Quilts
 
September 22
Ms P Designs USA
Quilted Delights
Words & Stitches
Beaquilter
Quilt Schmilt
Crazy'boutquilts
 
September 23
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilt Doodle Designs
DayBrook Designs
Lianne Makes Stuff
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Time 4 Stitchn
Lynn's Blog I'm here.

I will begin by saying that I don't really have a lot of what I would call gadgets, but I do have enough tools to complete basic procedures. And my favourites are, seam ripper, my three rulers, my two rotary cutters, my cutting board, my iron and wool pressing mat, and my two pair of scissors. 

When I was contemplating what to make to demonstrate these items, I also wanted to incorporate some pieces of fabric given to me by a friend. The pieces were from a multi stripe fabric that had been cut lengthwise between 6 and 9 inches. Some of the pieces were in excess of two metres long with the width of 6 to 9 inches. Back in 2010 I found a block pattern on the internet from Red Dawn, a site no longer active I guess, since I can't get it to show up. The block was Hidden Wells, and I printed and saved those instructions. Presently I can find images of quilts made with this block through Google search. Hoping that this does not infringe on any rights, I have scanned this original document and will include it here.

The instructions say to sew strips of varying widths together. I didn't need to do that  with the pieces of fabric that were given to me

There were 5 different prints in the piece. Using my 9.5" square ruler, I cut enough squares to get thirty completed blocks (60).  During the block construction I also used my 12.5" x 6.5" straight ruler for diagonal cuts.. In the next phase, my seam ripper,Peanut, got in on the action. I am definitely not a perfect quilter. There were lots of bias edges in this pattern, and I believe that a bit of spray starch would help, but I didn't have any, so we went naked into the stitching. It wasn't too bad. I was having lots of fun seeing what was emerging as the process continued.

 

First my parade of tools, or gadgets____

Square ruler, rotary cutter, small scissors, cutting board, and seam ripper. One extra bonus with this seam ripper is that one can use the yellow tip to gather up the threads remaining from the ripping process.

Last but not least, my trusty iron , and my pressing mat. This isn't an expensive iron, but it give good heat, and you can use steam if you wish. Of course, you can always get a small spray bottle at the dollar store if you want to have the ability to mist. I have one that does double duty as a means to tame my unruly hair for a quick morning getaway.

My project isn't 100% finished. I have the centre of the quilt top assembled, but now I will use some of the stripes in the pattern to make a narrow border, and then the binding. I haven't figured out a backing at this point. Two possible patterns emerged as I constructed the blocks. I chose to go with this one. It was really hard to get a picture that shows the true colours, but I am pleased with the experiment, and I am happy with my gadgets. I also have tri recs rulers and a couple of rulers that other quilters have given me when they didn't like them, but they are not ones I use all of the time. These items are.

Thanks Carol for hosting this blog hop. It made me stop and really look at what I use in my creating, and also opened up a host of other ideas, approaches that have never crossed my path.

I hope you all have enjoyed our sharing, and that you will have a wonderful weekend. We are waiting the impending hurricane Fiona . Fiona will be teaming up with a large low trough  to produce a post tropical cyclone across our precious province from Friday afternoon until Sunday. Another example of the power of nature in our lives. 

Stay safe  and Help when you can

Lynn

Ps, I'm posting early in case we lose power during the night

L