Saturday, August 19, 2017

A world of knowledge out there

Occasionally ….. just occasionally I chastise myself for all the time spend on the computer reading up on quilting but really there are just so much knowledge, so much to take in and so much to learn from.  So I will keep reading until I’ve taken in all my little brain can handle.


Sometimes however I read something seemingly “simply said” and a light bulb would go off in my head.  We have a lovely 2 x 2 meter marble table basically two steps from my kitchen door.  The only time we don’t sit there is during winter as it is simply too cold, otherwise I’d be at and use this table DAILY. 
When I however need to baste a quilt, I went through so much trouble, either on my knees on a floor or setting up metal tables in our garage, meaning the cars had to be pulled out and the tables in storage, cleaned.  Then I read THIS blog post describing how this quilter uses an outside table to baste her quilts.

Voila….. the light bulb worked, why I never thought of using this table for basting, heaven only knows.  Quick-quick I had everything needed to start.
So I got going and not two ticks later, my quilt was layered and after spray basting a little I used Pinmoors to secure all, should I not get to quilting immediately.
Now this too turned out to be a good lesson learnt on the internet.  I bought my Pinmoors years ago from LeahDay.com and thought these were rather pricey but blamed it to the pathetic performance of our currency against the Dollar and Euro.

However I read that quilters from the States and Canada also complained about the price and one quilter said she used Baxter’s Rod (if I remember correctly) used in plumbing and waterproofing.  So off I went to the hardware store but everyone just stared at me when I asked for Baxter’s Rod, no-one had a clue what I referred to no matter how hard I tried to explain until I lost it and said okay just leave me I’ll do my own searching through your shop.  Isles and isles later, another light bulb…. Not quite round but it serves the same purpose, I found this..
And this is how I use it (exactly the same as Pinmoors) at a fraction of the price.


Someone else on the WWW asked what quilters do with their off cuts batting and backing after basting and got a myriad of answers.  Mine is I keep the batt and back glue basted together add a scrap as the top whenever I need to do a practise free motion stitching.  So no waste here.

Now my last tip I think I simply experimented by myself after the WURTH representative visited our shop one day showing what they have on offer and I saw this.
I use any and every thread to quilt with, I have even used embroidery and metallic thread and I only make bed quilts washed in a washing machine and can really not report major problems with any of the thread ever used (apart from ONE INCIDENT where I pieced with wash-away thread).  

However I do occasionally struggle with frequent thread breakage and Sewer’s Aid is not only hard to come by in darkest Africa but also rather pricey, so I figured silicon is silicon be it aerosol or liquid, if one works, the other should too, so ever since I’ve been using this WURTH brand and I am as chuffed as can be.

Now I seriously have to try and bake a Savoury biltong (jerked beef or jerky) cake for my son’s birthday.  Although I enjoy cooking, baking is a real struggle …… should I try WURTH silicon spray or Sealing strip, I wonder?  This is what the cake should look like, whether I’d post my photo will have to be seen.


A wonderful weekend to all and on Monday my newest EQ course starts!  So looking forward to this.

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