Tag Archives: Aurifil Artisan

• 8 Comments

•

I'm writing today as part of the Aurifil Artisan Sew Organized challenge. (My pictures include thread that has been given to me by Aurifil.)

My thread (and all my other stuff) is stored in Ikea PAX wardrobes. These units are super flexible, both in design and in function. I opted for plain white doors on my cabinets and, with the help of my shopping buddy Mel Beach, chose Komplement pull-out shelves for thread and a few other tools. I added Komplement clear dividers on my thread shelf to help organize.

While I love the aesthetics of a thread rack on the wall, I wanted to protect my investment from exposure to light. (I also keep spools in their factory sealed packaging until I'm ready to use them.) At any given time, there are a handful of spools at my machine or on my table, but the bulk of my collection stays tucked inside my cabinet. It's easily accessible and the pull-out feature of the shelf means I can easily see my whole collection.

The majority of my thread is 50wt since it is my first choice for both piecing and quilting. I've arranged my 50wt thread mostly by color family: pink/red, yellow/orange, green, blue, purple, dark neutrals, light neutrals. The remaining five sections in the front two rows have my other thread by weight. My Aurifloss is kept in a separate container with other embroidery tools. The back row of my thread shelf is where I keep Aurifil brochures and thread which I distribute when I teach.

 

I prefer to match my bobbin color to my top thread color. (In a pinch I'm willing to use something that's close.) Long ago, I decided it was worth the investment in additional bobbins to save myself the time, expense, and confusion of unwinding partially full bobbins when I need a new color. I have two tips for keeping those bobbins organized.

First, I label the bobbin with the Aurifil thread number using a sharpie. It could be erased with a little rubbing alcohol if need be.

Second, I use Bobbin Buddies (affiliate link) to connect my bobbin with my spool of thread. I find they work a little better with a large Aurifil spool compared to the small spool. The smaller size of the opening on the large spools create more tension to hold the Bobbin Buddies in place. That said, both work. On a large spool I loosen the bottom of the spool (it's removable) to tuck in the loose thread to stop it from unraveling.

What are your best organizational tips for thread? Or for other tools in your studio?

• 12 Comments

•

For the past two years I've shared my five favorite finishes of the year. Here are my favorites from 2019. In no particular order...

 

Modern Antique Tiles

I enjoyed designing this piece for my Island Batik challenge for the Vintage Reimagined prompt. I used the extending lines concept from Sylvia Schaefer's book, The Quilter's Negative Space Handbook. Read more.

 

Enjoy Mini Mini

This mini mini quilt ties my smallest quilt ever made, measuring just 2 1/4" x 9". It was created in response to the Project QUILTING 10.5 challenge: Abecedarius. I enjoyed (ha, see what I did there?) making the improv letters for my project. I haven't gotten back to this technique, but will use it again in future projects. Read more.

 

Wholecloth

In this Aurifil Artisan challenge we were asked to use at least three different weights of thread in a whole cloth mini quilt. I used a variety of free motion motifs on this piece. Monochromatic quilting on a solid wholecloth quilt is all about texture! Read more.

 

Two Red, White, & Blue Minis in One Week

This is a bit of a cheat since it's two quilts (and I didn't make one of them), but looking back over the year, one of my favorite quilting projects was the week both my daughter and I finished a quilt for the Project QUILTING Red, White & Blue challenge. I love that my kids enjoy sewing and quilting. Read more about mine. Read more about hers.

 

Tula Pink Dress

I really enjoyed making clothes for my kids when they were younger... for some reason that came to an end (or a pause). But we pass along the clothes they outgrow to my sister for her kids (who are 3 1/2 and 1). I've really enjoyed seeing my nephew J wear the clothes I made for G when he was that age. And J loves them! And it has inspired me to sew up some new clothes. I have some new pants in the works for J, but I couldn't resist pulling together some of my favorite Tula Pink fabrics to make a dress for my niece who has just started walking. Read more.

 

FYI, Project QUILTING challenges for the 2020 season start on January 5th with Kim Lapacek at Persimon Dreams. There are a series of six one-week quilt challenges running January through March. (We get a week off between challenges.) Check it out. Join us. It's a great community of makers creating a wide variety of work from each prompt. And there are prizes.

I'm linking up to Cheryl's Best of 2019 Linky Party. And you can see my Five Favorite Finishes from 2018 and 2017. Stay up to date with what I make in 2019 by subscribing to my newsletter.

• 4 Comments

•

Today was our holiday part at Bay Area Modern Quilting. There's an annual tradition of a gift swap among members. In 2017, I made this apron for Gerre. And last year I made a pair of fabric trays for Joelle. This year I was assigned to make for Mary, and she indicated that her favorite colors were purple and teal and that she'd like "anything." I knew immediately that it would be fun to create something for her and decided her "anything" would be a bag, making it a twofer as it fits the requirements for the November Travel Handmade Bag Making challenge for the Aurifil Artisans.

I started with a fabric pull, including a zipper that coordinated. I spent a fair amount of time pursuing bag patterns and considering what I'd make. In the end, I settled on the Noodlehead Open Wide Zippered Pouch in size large. There are quite a variety of zipper pouch tutorials out there, but I just love this one so much! It's a great pattern, can be made with just one or two exterior fabrics, or tricked out with piecing or appliqué. Unlimited options!

I like making this size bag with fusible fleece on the exterior panels, but I didn't want to make a run to the store. Instead, I used a remnant of Quilters Dream Deluxe batting from this quilt. This thicker loft batting gave the bag great structure. Since I was quilting with batting, I made my panels a little oversized and trimmed down to size after quilting.

I had considered piecing the exterior panels, but decided on a split panel with the floral on the top and the teal Christa Watson fabric on the bottom. However, the floral was just a couple inches too narrow for this so I was able to use the polka dot to fill in. I ended up trimming off the floral size to leave a better ratio of the polka dots instead of just 1-2" per panel.

One my exterior panels were pieced I auditioned thread colors for quilting. I like having a variety to choose from.

I settled on these three: Light Lilac (#2510), Violet (#2520), and Dark Turquoise (#4182). I love that quilting with 50wt doesn't compete with the pattern on the fabric.

I chose three different motifs for the quilting. Here's a view from the back.

I used my walking foot for the organic, wavy lines in the teal sections, tried out a new-to-me motif from Leah Day's 365 FMQ Designs in the polka dot sections, and used one of my favorite motifs, spirals, for the floral sections.  I didn't have backing fabric on my quilt "sandwich" since the lining would cover the back of this quilted panel.

After quilting, I appliquéd the square of polka dot fabric to the front panel.

Then I chose a lining fabric, stitched it all together, added the tab of fabric on the end of the zipper.

The gift exchange is so fun every December. People made a variety of delightful gifts -- coasters, table runners, aprons, placemats, bags! Tomorrow I'll show you what I received. :-)

I'm participating in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge with Cheryl of muppin.com.