Self Threading Needles ~ Good or Bad?

In the last 30 yrs of my quilting life there have been many new quilting products to come along.  Some made my quilting journey easier and some have been not so great.   When I heard about the self threading needle I was skeptical and waited for other "real" quilters to review them.  I never take the word of a famous quilter.  Jumping in feet first isn't my style after being suckered into buying overpriced gadgets a few times.  So lets take a look at the two self threading needles that this real quilter(me, I'm only famous in my own mind😁) has tried.

The first one is John James.  This brand of plain ole hand needles has been my go to for years. Their self threading had been out for quite some time before I took the chance a five or six yrs ago.  Here's why.  My thinking is it's best to let them work out any issues.  You see, some people want every new gadget as soon as it comes out. They find the flaws in the newly launched barely tested products.  They complain, the company fixes and tweaks the product in order to keep the sales coming.  

A popular non quilty new launch to prove my point

🔥Tesla🔥

 Need I say more.

John James is known for well made needles that have stood the test of time.  They are smooth, no burrs or imperfections.  The Easy Threading needles should be the same great quality.  To thread this needle place the thread in the little V at the top, then pull down on the threads.  It doesn't slide right in but you don't need to push real hard either.  If you can get the thread to pop down into the second hole that's even better. I find it to be tighter and some threads don't want to slide through to the second hole.

 

 Hand sewing isn't something I do everyday for long periods of time.  Most of my hand work is quilt binding and the occasional burying thread tails when quilting.  These do a pretty good job at both.  Every once in a while when stitching the binding, the thread will pop out of the eye.  But it generally only happens in areas where the quilting is heavy or there is many layers of fabric.

Next is the Sench Side Threading Needles.  I've been wanting to try these for a long time.

Great packaging, with clever marketing on the front and instructions on the back.  The real quilters out there in blogland said these were AWESOME.   So after years of being skeptical I finally took the chance.  They looked perfect.  Now the thread can't come out of the eye.

This is a closeup of one of my needles with Aurifil 50wt.  See that tiny little gap?  No way a thread can come out of there!

Here's my current hand stitched binding.  Notice my needle just laying there and the thread is not in the eye of the needle.

Let's take a closer look.  The thread WAS in the eye when I started.  Now the binding is in the eye!  How in the blue blazes did this happen?  At first I thought it was me.  It took about 5 minutes of wiggling and twisting but I got it out without ripping the fabric.  And then it happened again.  Must be a defect in the needle, so I changed needles and it happened again.  That's when I took a picture so I could enlarge and investigate.  Sadly I could not remove the needle without using a seam ripper to cut the fabric threads.  Never again.  I threw the entire package of needles in the trash. That's that, lesson learned. 

 John James I should have never cheated on you. 

Well me and John James have a Sunday afternoon date so...

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Pretty Fabric Needs A Pattern ~ Suggestions?

And there I was, minding my own business, shopping for the weekly supplies and.... Who put these cute little bundles on an end cap?  Oh the nerve of some people!  Don't they understand triggers and addiction?  I'm pretty sure I let out a little squeal right there in the middle Wal-Mart.  A quick look around...and yes I was busted by not one but three very young Wal-Mart employees.  All three turned to see what crazy old lady was saying...OOOO SO PRETTY!  What could I do but go deeper into my addiction by asking "Do you have Pioneer Woman fabric in single fat quarters or yardage?"  Response... "No mam".  In my mind I was screaming...youngin's don't understand and should go back to playing Candy Crush.

 Like a kid with a new toy I had to open them and play as soon as I got home.  The groceries can wait while I OOOH and AWED for a bit, cocking my head from side to side, sigh....feels good.  Oh the fabric high, what a rush.  Now, what should I make with them?  Something simple.  I've been quilting my tail off at the frame.  A break is earned.  Yes, I'm justifying my wanting to veer from the 2023 UFO busting.  That's what we do, right?  New year comes, we make a plan, we break the plan.  It's all a part of the plan.  It's nice to have goals but let's get real, this isn't a life or death situation.  It makes me happy and that's good, right?  RIGHT!  Okay, it's settled I'm going to make a quicky quilt.  But first let's get the groceries put away because finding just the right pattern will more than likely turn into a quilt pattern rabbit hole.

Now that the groceries are put away and the new fabric excitement has dissipated, I'm starting to think these two prints and maybe the solids need to be pulled from the mix.  The navy blue is a sore thumb, right?  In the picture above it jumps out to me and says, "Hey I'm an ugly frog".  What do you think, frog or swan?

I have two more different PW bundles in here somewhere behind all the other PW fabrics...sigh...and I was worried about a pattern rabbit hole.  A dig through the cabinets is a whole other issue.  Well I know they are in there so lets just wait until I find a pattern because why make a big mess until there's a definite plan.  The studio just recovered from the Christmas quilting blitz of 2022.  More on that at a later date.  I still have one blitz quilt on the frame.

Most of the time designing quilt patterns is my thing, but for time sake I need a pattern I already own or a free quick and easy from the internet.  The first one that comes to mind is The Yellow Brick Road.  It's become a classic go to for many quilters.  I own it so it's a maybe.  What's also great about this type of quilt is you can make them in several sizes.

Common sense would say "Great!  You've got fabric and a pattern, you're all set!".  Not today, I feel the need for a rabbit hole expedition.  I mean you never know what quilty treat you might find on the internet these days.  Jenny Doan of MSQC came to mind but to be honest I feel like I need something not so EVERYBODY makes it, hence the not really wanting to do the Yellow Brick Road.  Jordan Fabrics also popped up in my thoughts but most of her YT tutorials are tips for making purchased patterns.  The goal is FREE because it's my kind of crazy.  Fabric we almost always pay for, patterns I can make or find free.  So as I got deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole I found another pattern similar to the YBR above.  This one is by Material Girl Quilts.  She's from Indiana, like me.  It's simple, there's a free PDF printable and a video if that's your thang.  As of right now this is the one I'll be using because of the larger cuts.  Large cuts are great for some of the large prints in PW fabric and it's quicker. 

I covered cutting instructions out of respect for her hard work.

This is still not a set in stone idea.  I have 2 other quilts needing love.  One on the frame and one in my lap as I hand stitch the binding. As soon as these two are finished...it's go time with the Pioneer Woman fabrics. So, I'm open for any suggestions you might have for a pattern.  Do you have a favorite go-to easy quilt?  Leave me a comment below!

Until Next Time....

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet! 

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Little Sweethearts ~ UFO Quilt 2022

 Hello Happy Quilters!  Today I want to share with you a happy little quilt I started way back in 2014 and finally finished last October.   There seems to be a trend with my UFO quilts.  So far many of them were started in the same year.  You can read more about this quilt and the pattern I used and the for the little girl blocks by clicking here.  The information for the little girl panels are also in that same blog post.   After it became a UFO I opted to alter the pattern and not complete all the blocks.

This quilt is like many of my quilts, it has a wide range of fabrics.  Don't call the quilt police on me....the pink gingham is an old poly cotton.  And the orange print peaking out below the gingham is a shirt I found at Goodwill, it too is not cotton.

Once again I tried to keep the quilting fairly light just for time sake.  It's a mixture of free motion and ruler work, I would say about 50/50.  Oh and look down at the bottom left corner.  The yellow print with flowers is a sheet from a thrift shop.  I used the same sheet as a sashing in another quit called Scrap Happy Baskets, you can see it by clicking here.

All of the fabrics you see below are NON quilt shop fabrics.  Since there were so many not up to snuff fabrics in this quilt, washing it was a real treat.  I think I washed it three times before it stopped bleeding.  I have synthrapol and retayne on hand but prefer not use them.  The label printing did not survive all the washings.  So I've order a new Pigma pen to fix this label.  

She was finished off with a cute little aqua strip also from Hobby Lobby.  I love the little punch of color.

This little cutie finishes at 60 x 60.  That's the smallest quilt I've made in a long time.

The Little Sweethearts quilt will be perfect for my two little sweetheart granddaughters to snuggle under when they come to visit grandma.

Until Next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Autumn Stars ~ UFO Quilt #2 2023

 One of the best things about finishing UFO's is the  memories put into to each quilt.  With this quilt I was at a loss for what inspired this odd for me colorway.  A quick search for the quilt on my blog and I found the inspiration was a trip to the mailbox on a beautiful fall day while wearing a flannel shirt.  What can I say...I'm an odd critter and never know what will inspire my quilty brain.  You can find the original post here.  And then here as a forgotten UFO.

 I do remember thinking about adding applique to the bottom of this one.  Just because even the smallest amount of applique on a quilt adds a lot of WOW.  But....sometimes the thought of WOW is over powered by my laziness.  Obviously that was the case with this quilt.  But if you want to see what I drew up in EQ it too can be found in the posts linked above.

As with most of my quilts this is a mishmash of fabrics.  The vintage orange calico is my all time favorite orange fabric in my stash.  They just don't make them like this anymore.  I would guess it dates to the 60's or 70's.  The navy blue is also an older fabric from the 80's or 90's.  Not quite vintage but it's getting close.  All three of the different green prints in this quilt are about 8 or 9 years old and are Walmart fabrics.  The white is more than likely a Kona from Joann's or Hancock Fabrics.

The simple traditional pattern appeals to old school country girl in me.  You just can't beat a traditional quilt with tons of white space.  Even when quilt styles go all color I tend to stay with plain ole white for the background.  The white space generally makes me want to add tons of quilting and feathers but on this one I decided to keep it simple for the simple reason of time.  If I quilt to death every quilt I'll never get all these UFO's finished.

The gingham backing is a Moda print...Bonnie and Camille...I think.  What I do know is no quilt is complete unless it has gingham in it somewhere.  Gingham is the best print ever.  I CAN remember being very little and loving gingham.  And then my Aunt Linnie had a red kitchen back in the late 70's early 80's.  The countertops were bright red and red gingham curtains.  She also had a large print green gingham couch.  I knew someday I would have a red gingham couch.  Well that hasn't happened yet but there's still time.  

The label isn't the prettiest...again keeping it simple.  To be honest I almost forgot the label.  To me the best label is put on the backing before it's quilted.  It can never be removed if it's part of the backing and gets quilted.  Well, it can be removed but the quilting would need to be taken out.  

With the permission of Racheal from the Quilted Twins quilt shop I'm sharing a FREE pattern from their website.  This quilt shop in Florida has a wide variety of fabrics at great prices.  They also do two Facebook Lives every week where they show fabrics for sale, most as low as $6.99 a yard!  Racheal has also put together many 1/2 yd. bundles at very reasonable prices.  The prices will be hard to beat.

Today's pattern and every pattern on their website is designed by Becky, Rachael's twin.  Becky has a scrappy quilty style I love.  This one is called Autumn Majesty.  You can find this pattern by clicking here.  And there's many more fabulous scrappy patterns just click here to see them all.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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