Saturday, March 30, 2013

Quilting Toys, I mean, "Tools"

Guess what I bought today? A magazine! lol Yep, read my previous post. I'm all talk and NO action! hee he

Well, I did look through the tools I had for quilting. I had some from a way back and then some that were new. I wanted to give you my take on some of them. Hope it helps!

These are my favorite seam rippers. Of course I am a pro at seam rippin' ! I need to find the BEST! You can get this set at Lee Valley for around $20. They came in a great case and also the extra blades. I have been using these for a couple of years and have yet to change the blades. What I like about these are the blades are super thin so you don't have to stretch the fabric apart to get to the stitches. One blade has a very sharp tip to get under the thread and the other blade has a dull tip (so you can rip out faster without cutting the fabric!) Try them out, you'll love them!

Why the shot above came out in the wrong direction, who knows! I'm blog-challenged!



This little item I though would be a wonderful addition. WRONG. My Symphony only has holders that are horizontal, which would have been ok, but threading it on never worked. I tried to put it on, tape it on and it never worked for me. I would think if you have a vertical holder, it would work with your thread to the side.Don't buy one!  If you would like this little tool, give me a comment and it's yours. I'll randomly pick from the people who comment and will mail it to you. If you are the only one to comment, it's yours! I'll put it back into storage by April 13, 2013 if I don't hear from you!
This is the thread holder that works great for me. Disregard the thread that's not on the top loop -- I was dusting and not sewing. This little thing was inexpensive and can pack flat for class. It's fairly sturdy and I love the fact that the spool holders are long enough where you can put a bobbin on top of the one you are not using or put a large cone on it. I just set the spools up for you to see. Was too lazy to get the cone out and set it up. You get the idea!

The quick quarter guide has been around for years. Half quarter triangles are great. It's easy to mark on both sides, plus down the centre as your guide. They still have these around and worth the investment. You'll find lots of use for thse little rulers and they are easy to tuck into a drawer. Check them out!

This little tool is "old school". My very first quilting class included drafting cardboard templates and then when you put the template on your fabric, you use this little Quilter's Wonder Wheel to add your quarter inch seam. Now I've used this little item for school projects for the kids (drawing lovely outlines with a fine point felt pen around their projects for science fairs!) and of course with drafting templates for other projects. If you are thinking of doing your own templates and want to cut out the step of drawing that quarter-inch seam, this little item is great. (yeah, ok, OLD SCHOOL, but it's never leaving my tool box!)


These little scissors were a great little deal at Victoria's Creative Stitches. The opposite side has my name engraved on it so it doesn't walk away. Well, in fairness, it may walk away because it's so little! Maybe they will let these scissors on the plane? Any-whooooooooo, these scissors are great because you don't have to stick your fingers in to the finger holes to operate. I like being able to snip threads quickly! I love the little blades on these scissors when I am doing the little machine embroidery that I do. The blades let you get real close and you can sneak one of the blades under a single thread with ease. I don't know where you can get these, but hopefully they will start appearing in shops soon! I'd buy a dozen more! The engraving was a nice touch! I bought another pair for the youngest for her tool box. She was thrilled as they came in "purple", her fav color!


I looked at the photo above and thought, "You need a manicure! look at those cuticles!" (yeah like you never thought things like that to yourself when you look at blogs! lol)

Now, if you would like the Thread Stem, drop me a comment and Tigger will make sure that a name is drawn and you get a chance to enter this silly little give-away! Don't worry, I'll add something a little special with it so it's not so lame!

Obviously Tigger is not in a hurry to get off my sewing chair! So I wish the rest of you...

Happy Quilting!

Thanks Victoria for your email! You are the lucky winner of the "Thread Stem".
 I will pop it in the mail to you once you send me your address!
:-) Margo

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