A few of my Favorite things…
Sharing some of my favorite tools in the quilt room…
Welcome to May, one of my favorite months of the year. Its a good time for a fresh start. It still feels cold, but if you try really hard, you can see the beginnings of mother nature coming to life. As I’ve worked through the cleaning/purging cycle that has seemed to take a good part of the beginning of 2022, I am ready to tackle one of the last big project that needs some attention. That has been on every to do list that I’ve written this year, and it’s taken me until now to begin to look at it.
Something you should know about me - when I lose my ‘voice’, it can be crippling. So let’s leave that big ugly pile to the left of me be for a bit, and let’s start back with baby steps.
If you’re new here, I am Linda Pearl, and I get to use this platform (and my social media channels) to talk about one of my favorite subjects in the whole world…quilting. If you’re new here (and you may be, because I’ve done a lot of guild work recently. I’ve been quilting a while, and I’ve developed strong opinions on many things in my work space. So as a way of tip toeing back into the blogsphere, I am sharing my top 5 favorites with you here. Enjoy - and it’s good to be back.
I have many seam rippers in my workroom (and my travel case, my machine case, my purse, anywhere I’m likely to be), but this one is the GOOD ONE. It was a Christmas gift from one of my sons, and this one has some weight and balance to it. It feels good in my hand, and the ends do retract for storage. It feels so much better to pick out a seam with this one. It lives in the top drawer in my machine cabinet.
In a world of quilt rulers of an endless variety of shapes and purposes, you might be wondering why this little one by Omnigrid has made the cut as a favorite. It’s simple - it is because it IS small that I find it so handy. I keep this near my machine, and I use it when I need to find that precise 1/4” mark to turn a binding corner. That space is tight, and it’s one of the places where a big ruler would be too big. And because it’s Omnigrid, my favorite brand of rulers, it’s easy for my to read.
I began quilting with a 45 mm rotary cutter, and for many years that was the one I had. As I became more experienced, and tried different techniques and different pieces of equipment, I fell hard for this 60 mm size. I think it’s because it fits my hand, and for most of the straight cuts it works well for me. So far I have not yet had a chance to try an ergonomic cutter, although many of my friends swear by them.
This comes under the heading of ‘Why didn’t I try this sooner’…this is the Stripology Ruler, and I’ve had it for several years now.
I’ve had it tucked away in a corner of my space, waiting for me to discover how fantistic it is for a lot of things.
I have many of the really good items in my space, and this is one of the items I’m no longer going to save for good, but to work with a lot more. It really does improve your accuracy.
These last two items are tailor’s clappers which were handmade by my son for me. These are made out of maple, and I have a full size and a travel size. As a quilter, I’ve experimented with pressing my seams open, but I don’t find those seams as structurally stable as seams which nest into one another. One reason that quilters like the open seams is that they are flatter (and easier to quilt), which is a consideration. The Tailor’s Clappers solve that probelm, and I love these. Yes, I did have to explain what I wanted, but he really listened to what I wanted. His woodworking business makes primarily charcuterie boards, so this is an expansion.
Thanks for reading today’s blog post…come back next week to hear about a recent finish, and an addition to my guild presentation If You Give a Quilter a Challenge…
Welcome…
Hi, I’m Linda Pearl - quilter, teacher, designer and blogger, and I’m happy to have you here. I’d like to tell you a little bit more About Me…
I’ve moved to You Tube!
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