hand quilting ?

Hi all.............it has been a long week of snow and cold temps here in MN Hope Spring gets here soon ! My question about hand quilting is this..........I have a quilt that I hand quilted several years ago. It is on my husband's bed. When I make up the bed in the morning, I can hear (and see) the threads popping in my hand quilting. I try to be careful and not put a strain on it, but still, my quilting is not holding up. Did I do something wrong, or is that just the way hand quilting is? Makes me sad to see my work disappearing......... any advice will be appreciated !
Marilyn in MN

hand quilting ?

Hi all.............it has been a long week of snow and cold temps here in MN Hope Spring gets here soon ! My question about hand quilting is this..........I have a quilt that I hand quilted several years ago. It is on my husband's bed. When I make up the bed in the morning, I can hear (and see) the threads popping in my hand quilting. I try to be careful and not put a strain on it, but still, my quilting is not holding up. Did I do something wrong, or is that just the way hand quilting is? Makes me sad to see my work disappearing......... any advice will be appreciated !
Marilyn in MN

Cathedral Windows

Hello everyone!

I'm looking for a Cathedral Windows pattern that is hand-sewn - everything I've been able to find is for the machine version. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Pat in Bonney Lake

Stranded in the snow

Hello from snowy Vermont! We got about a foot of snow yesterday and today. Some April fool joke! After a beautiful 50 degree weekend I thought we were done with this!

Tammy, I love your quilt. Log cabin is one of my favorites. Mayme, you DH can come and rearrange furniture and clean here anytime! This place is such a clutter it would probably keep him busy for a LONG time. I SO need to spring clean--but for that I need some time off from work.

Off to finish dinner and help DS with homework. Maybe tonight I can hand quilt a bit.

Jean in VT

West Michigan checking in

Tammy, Your quilt is great. I hope you are able to sell it.
Phyllis, I use Shout color catchers found in the laundry
soap section of the grocery store.
Lonna, you probably have snow in WI by now. I think it has
stopped snowing here for the moment. I put a quilt on Grace this
afternoon. When I started the third time across, I got it knotted
up tight to the throat plate. I just left it for later. I hope I can get it out
without putting a hole in the back. Any ideas?
Mayme

I finished it!

Just wanted to share with everyone my latest finish. This quilt is 84" square and the top is made completely out of men's shirts. Last night I put the binding on by hand - took me five hours, but I was glad when it was done! I think I'll do another log cabin out of greens and yellows now. Or maybe just greens. Depends on what the thrift store has on the racks! This quilt may be sold to a coworker. She only comes in on Fridays, so I'll know tomorrow if she wants it or not. Hope everyone has a nice Easter weekend!

Tammy K. in Illinois where it is cold again.

I need help again, please

What is the name of the product you can put in your washing machine to absorb "loose" color? It use to be a multi use piece of fabric but the last time I bought some it was supposedly a single use. I can't think of the name and need to pass the information on.
I agree with everyone on quilt magazines. I had subscriptions some years ago but cancelled them and now only occassionally I purchased one at the store. If it doesn't have 2 or 3 patterns that blow me away, I put it back on the rack. The prices have become too high and too much advertizing. I'm sure for a new quilter they are as wonderful as I use to think they were, but I've just been around too long! But I still think you can teach an "old dog" new tricks!!
Enjoy life and Happy Easter to everyone, Just me Phyllis in Minnesota

Quilt magazines

Hi, I agree about the quilt magazines all being the same. And have not purchased any in a long time. Lonna, you are right. The co. that had the Miniture Quilt magazine and the other one you mentioned did go out of business. They were published in a small town close to me. I was sorry to see them go cause I did enjoy them. Maybe I too, have been quilting too long and don't find any thing new or something I haven't already tried. Quilting is my addiction like a lot of others. Well, back to the sewing machine. Marge in snowy PA>

quilt magazines

I also haven't bought quilting magazines lately. I look though the ones at Wal Mart, if I don't see at least three that I like, I put it back. There was a magazine several years ago that was called Quilt Today that I really liked but then couldn't find it again after getting three. Heard the company went out of business. Think they were the same ones that had a miniature quilt magazine that I liked also.
In the quilting project, I am hand quilting a two colored quilt. I need to finish one plain block with feathers and the borders, also plan to quilt feather stitch.
Vacationing in Louisiana with our son and grand daughter. Weather was real nice but it's to turn chilly after today. In the low 60's. At least warmer than Wisconsin were it's to be in the low 40's or high 30's or so the weatherman says. :0)
LONNA IN WI

West Michigan checking in

I haven't posted in a long time and had a hard time
getting in. I had to reset my pass word.
I very seldom buy quilt magazines anymore.
They cost too much money to read ads. I get
tons of free stuff from the Internet. Mother Nature
is not being very nice to us. It has been snowing all
day.The wind is blowing pretty hard too. We are supposed to get
a few more days of this. I shouldn't complain as I think Katie
in the woods is really getting blasted. I heard 20 inches in the
UP with a possibility of 20 more. Mother Nature must have forgotten
it is April! LOL
DH retired last Friday. So far so good. He didn't know what he was going to do
yesterday when I went to work. I ask if he wanted me to make him a list.
When I came home he had changed the furniture around and cleaned the living room.
I'm glad he is such a good guy and so helpful. I'm having surgery on the13th and will not
be able to do anything for two months.
I haven't done anything quilty. I did change the sewing room around over the weekend.
I went to 3 quilt shops on Sat and only bought a spool of thread. I'm getting better.
Mayme

Quilt Magazines

I too have become disenchanted with quilt magazines. Most are owned and published by the same few companies. Therefore, you see the same quilts in different numerous magazines and books over the course of time, year after year. That's why I quit buying the books too.

In my small town the local Wal-Mart is the only store that carries magazines. Their supplier is for ever changing which ones are in the racks. I know that magazines have to carry advertisements. But, I've noticed that some of the magazines are now around 60% ads. When a magazine is that full of ads, why does the magazine have to cost in upwards to $7.00 or more? I thought the ads were suppose to help defray the consumer's cost and pay for the cost of publishing the magazine.

I've also noticed (don't remember the mag title) that the articles in some were geared towarded a much younger reader. It had several articles that were stories about relationships, etc. that mentioned quilting, but offered no quilting information. These articles also bordered on the suggestive (as in sensual). Come on, do magazines really need to turn to this in order to get buyers? They didn't get my money. If I want entertaining reading I go to the library or book store, but when I buy a quilt magazine, I want it to be about quilting.

Sandra from SC

Seventeen Quilt Magazines and I Didn't Buy One

On my way home from my part-time job this morning I stopped at Kroger's, the local grocery store, for some milk and other items. I checked the magazine racks which happen to offer the largest selection in our small town and I was struck by the large choice of Q magazines for sale today ... some were obviously one-shot special issues. I counted and there were seventeen quilt magazines all beckoning me to buy, buy, buy and I actually picked up two and riffled through the pages but I put them back on the shelf. I left that grocery store with no new quilt magazines.

It would be a horrid time to be a quilt magazine publisher and editor .... all the magazines look alike and I think they must be scrambling for fresh and different articles and advertising dollars. What a cut-throat business magazine publishing must have become. And I wonder how many Q magazines will still be alive two or three years from now?

Perhaps it is because I've been making quilts for almost fifteen years that I have become so bored with the glut of Q magazines. I hope the newer quilters are more enthusiastic about the pretty photos on those pages ...

Judy

Zipper Pulls

Ginny, there are a few less expensive zipper pulls at an online shop called The Sewing Place but I bet by the time you add shipping and handling it won't be a bargain. You can see what I found by going to http://www.thesewingplace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=166 where they have zipper pulls ranging from $1.50 up to $22.00.

Maybe you'd be better off checking out what's available at your local JoAnn's or Wal-Mart (unless you've already tried those places and come away unhappy). Or maybe you could buy a few beads and invent something at the bead and bracelet section of JoAnn's ... that's where I found some cool handmade glass beads for that funky fish wallhanging I made. (Want some leftover turquoise glass beads? LOL)

Judy

Just wondering if anyone knows where I can find decorative zipper pills for a reasonable price. The only ones I have located online are about $5 a piece. Thanks lots.

Ginny-still in FL

It's April already

I can hardly believe it's April already. Where did March go?
Most of the pollen has gone, except the Ligustrum trees (bushes) haven't come out yet. They smell like Gardenias and give me a major head ache.
We spent last weekend in Mt. Dora. It was a lovely visit. Only 2 and 1/2 hr. drive from here. We met up with our friends from So. Fla. who went on to Gainsville to pick up their new puppy. They love Dalmations, so this is about their 6th since I have known them.
There was a sailing race in Mt. Dora, and the weather was perfect. I supported the local quilt shop there, and went into all the little shops. We had a wonderful dinner Sat. night at a fish place, called Pices Rising. A bit pricy, but got to see the sun set over the lake, and had some good wine, finished up with a key lime pie. Yum.
My DD has decided she wants to host the Easter get together this year. Oh, what a blessing. All I have to do is scalloped potatos, desert, and bring bread. I found out that Paula Dean uses frozen bread, the "Sister Schubert" kind--so if it's good enough for Paula Dean, it's good enough for me.
I've been planting flats of marigolds, lantana, some pentas and red begonias. If the dang "tree rats" will leave them alone, they should do OK. We need some rain. Having droughts in mid-south Fla. already.
Jane- I enjoy your pictures of the flowers and horses. I'm asking for a digital camera for our 29th anniversary this year. In about 3 weeks. Time for me to come into the next century.
OK, back to the cleaning out the sewing room. I finished up one project, time to change the needle and dust.
Sara in Fla.

Disappearing post

Judy in Ohio......what happened to your post about Alex and Ricky's quilt website? I know I read it early this morning and now it is gone????? Hmmmmmm, strange.

Vicki