KatyQuilts

A while back, a quilter in Instagram posted a ling arm quilting tip about using skateboard tape as a gripper for her long arm templates and rulers. It was before the flood and I cannot remember now who suggested this. I have tried a number of things to help with rulers slipping and thought I would try this as well. I am SO glad I did! This is what it looks like:

This stuff is like a heavy sandpaper on one side and self adhesive on the back. I bought it on Amazon. It was around $8 for a 9″ x 34″ piece. It can but cut with scissors.

I cut small bits and put them on the back of a longer ruler like this:

What a difference this makes! I have seen sandpaper ruler grips marketed for quilters before but nothing that worked this well. I have a Fine Line Continuous Curve ruler I bought a while back and never had much success with it. It came with a strip of Velcro hook tape on the back to keep it from moving. This was thick and for me, only caused the ruler to rock. I took off the Velcro and added bits of the Mob Grip and now it works perfectly! I have enough that I will probably never need to order any more. Hope this is helpful for you!

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

I have been practicing quilting with my microhandles this week. It takes a long time to quilt a quilt this heavily but I think it will be worth it! I hate practicing on something that will just be thrown out and I already had this top loaded before we left town. So I went right to the quilt!

I am using a ruler to divide the space and then choosing a different filler for each section.

In one area, I wanted to include text. So I printed the text onto tracing paper and pinned it to the quilt.

I stitched through the paper around each letter and then tore the paper away.

This should not have been my first stitching with the micro handles! Did I tell you how impatient I am?!? Next I filled in the background. Not real happy with how this turned out.

This quilt is for me so practice, not perfection, is the name of the game here. I hope to finish this week. A few thunderstorms and the day job have hindered my progress!

I have been sharing some in process shots this week on Instagram. You can follow me there. Just look for “katyquilts”.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday , Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Sewcial, and Gemma at Pretty Bobbins for IQuilt.

We visited three quilt shops on our trip and they did not disappoint! The first was Quilter’s Haven in Overland Park, Kansas. That is where my hubby surprised me with these:

These are micro handles for my HQ Avante and are used for doing very tiny background fills and fine work. I have been playing with them and will share more in a few days. I also picked up this Metropolitan Fair Fabric to use with my churn dash blocks.

We also visited Hunter Heirloom Quilting in Warrensburg, Missouri. They are Innova dealers and had an impressive selection of Superior Threads, pantos, batting etc. They had a great selection of fabric as well and their prices were very reasonable. I bought these towels to embroider for a gift.

And this quilt kit.

These are Kauffman muslins and they look just like suede.

Our last stop was to the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri.

What a fun place! Everyone was very friendly. They have the main store and separate stores for reproduction prints, another for holiday fabrics, another for batiks and solids. They also have a store for machines and their retreat center. Here are my goodies!
The deal of the day was the Frost charm pack so of course I got that in addition to these other two packs.

The first three issues of their Block magazine.

These are more of a book than a magazine. They have the great patterns MSQC are known for along with lots of great stories. The pictures are fabulous and they are printed on heavy paper. I will be watching for the next issue. Mr. Wonderful bought me a t-shirt also.

At the reproduction shop, I purchased this FQ bundle of Shenendoah by Nancy Gere.

It is back to work day for me today! I would love to stay home and play but I am thankful for my job. I wonder what interesting people I will meet today.

Linking up with Connie at Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

We are home again! It was a wonderful trip and having Daughter #2 here the week before made for a fabulous couple of weeks. Now it is time to do laundry, put things away, and regroup. Even with that, I hope to get a bit of stitching in.

After I finish this block, I will have a total of 55 in my pile!
T

hear are prepared and I hope to stitch them today. This turned out to be a great road trip project. I didn’t work on my hexies at all but after the pumpkin seeds are done, I am sure I will be ready to go back to them.

Linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday.

Mr. Wonderful really lives up to his name. We left his parents house this morning and he drove while I read my book. Next thing I know, we are stopping in Hamilton, Missouri, home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company!

What I glorious surprise! I will share my purchases with you when I get back home. Here are some pics from our “detour”!

Just the day before, he surprised me with this:

This bag contains micro handles for my Avante! I can’t wait to try them out!

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?

We are still visiting Mr. Wonderful’s parents. I thought I would share a couple things I have made for them. First is their 50th anniversary quilt made back in 2000.

It is impossible to get a straight shot on it where it is hanging.

I made this quilt for my FIL a few years ago.

It looks great on the stand in this corner with the matching table runner.

We went to a very nice quilt shop yesterday and I found a border fabric for my churn dash blocks.

Have a great Thursday!

I’m still visiting family and still working on my pumpkin seed blocks.

I have a few more basted and ready to go as well.

Spending the day with family!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday.

Mr. Wonderful and I are visiting his parents this week. It is so good to see them! Last night, Mama Mim shared some treasures sent to her by her brother including this diary that had belonged to her mother.

What a fun read! This is one of my favorite entries:

So many entries mention quilting.

And she was a master at every form of needlework, but quilting was clearly her favorite. Here is an early photo of her.

She helped me quilt my second quilt. I had basted it and bought an extra hoop to hand quilt it. She worked on one end and I worked at the other. It was the first time for her to quilt in a hoop and she let me know this was some newfangled system! She also told me my size 7 needles were like quilting with nails. But she never mentioned how ugly that quilt was nor how poorly pieced. I used her quilt frame for many, many quilts until I switched to machine quilting. Here is one of her later quilts:

I loved Grandma S and wish I could sit down and chat with her today.

At least I can read her diary.

Linking up with Connie at Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday..