What is your favorite tools for quilting? What fabrics have you been adding to your fabric stash? This thread is open for you to show off your more unusual tools that you can't live with out when you quilt.
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I was shopping this week and spotted some bubble gum pink fabric. This shade of pink is rather hard to find when you need it for 1930's reproduction quilt. It was on sale and so I bought 2 yards. It is dyed all the way through so I will probably use the back side that don't have any print on it. While I was shopping I picked up some buttery yellow and a blue print that has a 30's look to it. I also bought a cherry red and little girl print that is perfect for the 1940's look. After Christmas I will be starting a depression sampler quilt along for next year. I have a bin full of depression reproduction fabrics that I need to use up.
Not remembering if I had very much of this iron on knit interfacing, I bought a yard of black and white. This is wonderful for applique techniques. It is light weight and soft, also it does not shred when turning in side out small pieces for applique because it is a knit. Of all the fuse able fabrics and products this give the best impression of needle turn. It is not stiff like wonder under or stitch witchery. It also rates as something I can not do with out when applique quilting. There is many wonderful applique patterns in the depression years. This fabric is usually found in the interface section of the fabric store. It can sometimes be hard to find. These were new bolts that the clerk had to remove the plastic wrap from.
About 20 years ago I bought some quilt label fabric. It was on a mark down table and there was two different bolts of it. I bought a yard of each and now I just have this piece left of it. It is one of my favorite things in my stash to use as a label. Maybe some day I will stumble over some more.
In this picture I have a set of template circles from June Taylor. I use these often to trace with. They are clear and you can line them up to fussy cut with because they have lines to mark the center. The yellow bars are for pressing bias strips. They are heat resistant and it makes a nice straight fold in the fabric. This is also something I bought years ago and do use often doing applique strips or bias folds. The little white card I carry in my wallet. This came from Quilter's Newsletter years ago, and has how much fabric you will need for backing on different sizes of quilts. It is one of my favorite things that comes in very handy while shopping. You just never know when you will come across a great deal in fabric that is ideal for quilt backing. In the plastic tube is Fons and Porter non stick pressing cloth. This was a gift a few years ago from a friend. I still use sometimes parchment paper for fusing but this silicon cloth is very nice because nothing sticks to it and you can peel the fabric right off with the fusing on it.
Good scissors are a must. My Ginger scissors are old and as you can see the big pair came in a box that shows how long ago. The little embroidery pair is also Ginger and the box long disappeared. The grey handled pair is Flisker and was bought in the 1990's. High quality scissors can be expensive but they are well worth it. Get them sharpened every once in a while. Just ask your local barber who sharpens his scissors and find out when he will be around to do it. The little plastic bar is Fons and Porter's quarter inch ruler. This is the short one and I use it all the time to check my quarter inch seam. It is one of my favorite tools I use for piecing quilts.
Now it is your turn to share what you have been adding to your stash and what are your favorite tools for quilting.
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After doing quite well with scheduling for awhile, there are now lots of open dates. Would you like to write a future DK Quilt Guild diary? Please join in! Please volunteer within the comments. Thanks
DKQG Diary Schedule:
08/10 -- trkingmomoe~Sampler Quilt Along
08/17 -- winifred3
08/24 -- trkingmomoe~Sampler Quilt Along
08/31 -- OPEN
09/07 -- OPEN
09/14 -- OPEN
09/21 -- OPEN
09/28 -- OPEN