Telecast Thursday - Ruler Foot for the Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP

Welcome to the last Telecast Thursday of the year. I'll be taking a break for the holidays until January 2016, but will be back then with new videos and tutorials.

I've recently been exploring doing ruler work on my Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP sewing machine after enrolling in Amy Johnson's Craftsy class, Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine. I don't know why I haven't already been doing this - it's really not that hard.

You do need one thing to do this type of quilting on your domestic machine: a ruler foot. Find out what type of foot you need to quilt with rulers on a Janome 8900 sewing machine.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. You can also click on the Chatterbox Quilts logo in the lower right corner on the video itself to subscribe. If you like what you see, please share my videos with your fellow creatives.

If you'd like to purchase this foot so you can also quilt with rulers on your Janome sewing machine, you can find it at http://amzn.to/2fvUqlI.

Creatively,

I am an Amazon affiliate and as such will receive compensation if you purchase through the links on my website. Thanks :)

Free Motion Feather Quilting with Patsy Thompson

Are you still frantically quilting away on Christmas or holiday gifts? If not, good for you! For those who are - there is still over a week until Christmas so you're right on track.

This is when I'm usually starting to decide what type of quilt motifs to put on my gifts. I waffle between small designs, such as pebbles, that take me forever to finish. I did this last year on a table runner for my brother. Loved the results, but man, did it take a long time to finish! 

This year I've been working on free motion feathers after watch Patsy Thompson's Craftsy class, Ultimate Free-Motion Quilting. Patsy creates stunning designs and with her practical, step-by-step approach, it's easy to learn how to create wonderful feather designs. 

Photo courtesy of www.craftsy.com

Remember last week when I talked about being afraid to try something new. Well, feather quilting was always on that list for me. Now that I've taken Patsy's class, feathers don't seem nearly as daunting! 

Here are some photos of my first attempts. This is what Patsy calls hyperquilting, where you start in one colour and then go over with a second thread in a contrasting colour. By using two different colours I could really see my work - and where I need to improve. The best part of doing this was that I really enjoyed quilting feathers! Now I've got another quilt motif to add to my repertoire.

An overall view of my feather

Feather detail

Another overview - need to work on the curves a bit more

Back of the feather - or should it be the front? :)

And, feathers can spread over a large area and don't take as much time to quilt as pebbles :)

If you've been afraid to try free motion feathers, but would like to, I highly recommend Ultimate Free-Motion Quilting by Patsy Thompson. 

Creatively,

P.S. I am a Craftsy affiliate and will receive compensation if you purchase through one of the clickable links. This helps to keep me creating videos, tutorials and free patterns for you. Thank you! #ad

Telecast Thursday - Upcycled Pencil Holder Project

Welcome to another episode of Telecast Thursday. If you're looking for a quick gift this year, you might want to consider creating this pencil or utensil holder for yourself - or to brighten up your own studio. I have several of these in my quilt studio; I use one to hold pigma pens and other fabric marking pens and another to hold regular pens and pencils. 

This is a simple project, great to do with kids, and uses just a few supplies that you probably already have around the house. You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

Consider creating a trio of these quick gifts in various sizes (use 3 different can sizes) for a super quick and easy gift for one of your crafty friends. The best part is decorating it after you've glued the fabric on - use your imagination and go wild!

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted each week.  If you like what you see, please like and share my videos with your quilty friends.

Creatively,

(Don't) Be Afraid...

I had an interesting comment from someone who was concerned about free motion quilting on their sewing machine because they were afraid of damaging their wonderful vintage machine. This person did eventually do some quilting and was presently surprised at how well it worked. I was glad she took the chance because I know how sturdy these older machines are and I would have no qualms about using them to sew in really tough conditions.

Singer 201 has a large harp space, perfect for free motion quilting - and the feed dogs drop too!

This led me to question how many opportunities do we miss because we are uncertain about the outcome. This is where additional knowledge can be a big help. By reaching out to someone who has experience, or reading a blog or taking a course you can alleviate some of that uncertainty and take a chance on more opportunities....

I've always shied away from trying monofilament thread on my quilts. I know that lots of quilters like to use it in quilting, especially when quilting in the ditch where it just seems to blend into the quilt. I had tried to use a monofilament thread years ago and had nothing but problems with it - stretching, snapping - it wasn't a good scene.

Love Superior Thread's MonoPoly thread! Photo courtesy of www.superiorthreads.com

I was recently reading about using Superior MonoPoly thread and thought that I would pluck up the courage to give it a try with my Janome Horizon Memory Craft QCP8900. I wound a bobbin with some 50 weight cotton thread and tentatively placed the spool of MonoPoly into my machine and threaded it up. I took a deep breath and started to stitch. Surprise! I didn't have any problems with this thread at all! I couldn't believe how easily it ran through the machine and how well it worked for me. I loved this thread for stitching in the ditch and for doing the quilting on the rest of the wall hanging. What had I been missing out on all these years? Stitching with a monofilament thread, that's what! Taking a chance and trying something new can turn out really, really well. 

Next time you're afraid to try something new with your sewing machine, just take a deep breath and give it a shot. Like trying a new thread - or quilting on your vintage sewing machine.

If you've ever been hesitant to try something you were afraid of, but went ahead anyway, I'd love to hear how it turned out for you. Leave me a comment in the area below.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Die Cutting for the Clover Yo-Yo Maker

Welcome to telecast Thursday! This week I'll show you how to use your die cutter to prepare fabric and quilt batting to use with the Clover Yo-Yo Maker. While you can free hand cut the fabric once it's in the yo-yo maker, I prefer to prepare my fabric first by cutting it out using my AccuQuilt GO! die cutter.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. You can also click on the Chatterbox Quilts logo in the lower right corner on the video itself to subscribe. If you enjoyed this video, please like and share my videos with your fellow creatives.

Creatively,