Product Review: Colonial Thimblepad Leather Adhesive Thimble

I whine a lot about hand work.  It's gorgeous to be sure but it is slow and damn it IT HURTS MY FINGERS.  Sure, I could wear a thimble.  Where's the fun in that?  Well...none either way.  I hate wearing thimbles.  For one, I have little sausage fingers that are often between sizes, so finding a fit is annoyingly difficult.  Also, the ones that encompass the fingertip makes my finger sweaty and yes, I will bitch about that too.  No one likes sweaty fingers.  Not to mention when I wear a thimble I lose the tactile ability to tell how my stitches are going when I sacrifice touch for protecting my sensitive sausage fingers.

Did I mention I am allergic to nickel too?  Like to a point where I break out in minutes?  No?  Well I am, and well, a lot of metal thimbles have NICKEL IN THEM.  Delicate flower indeed.  But then...then there were these sticky little leather thimble pads.  Now.  I HATE STICKY.  Sticky just about makes me hurl.  But I can cope with that neurosis if it means there is a thimble out there in the wide world that will work for me.

Behold:

Specs

• Adhesive dots about 1/4" diameter
• 12 per pack
• $5.99

Pros

• One thimble lasts for multiple uses
• Unobtrusive 
• Works for any finger size, on any finger
• You can still feel the pressure of the needle, which is helpful since so much of hand quilting/stitching is done by touch and knowing the feeling of a correct stitch
• Nothing pokes through that baby.  Nothing.  Not even those huge tufting needles.  Quick, ask me how I know.  (No, it didn't happen on purpose)

Cons

• The adhesive, especially after the first couple uses, leaves a sticky residue on your finger (which if you know me, you know stickiness makes me practically and sometimes literally dry heave)
• If it gets unstuck from the little wax paper thing it comes on after you use it a couple times, the thing is a loss because I AM NOT USING A STICKY THIMBLE THAT HAS BEEN NOW STUCK TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE WAX PAPER AND MY OWN CLEAN FINGERS.  Right in the garbage.  Wasteful?  Yes.
• Being disposable by nature, you have to replenish them...unlike a "regular" thimble which is a one-time purchase unless you lose it or it is damaged beyond usability

Conclusion

★★★★★

Yes, no need to blink and rub your eyes.  Those are FIVE stars right there.  Five.  Even with the cons. I used to hate hand work, and whine about it extra loudly in case outer Mongolia didn't hear me the first time.  But these little sticky thimbles are a complete game changer.  I slam through bindings without my finger getting raw and sore.  I EVEN DID AN EMBROIDERY QUILT AND STARTED A SECOND BECAUSE OF THESE.  You're not gonna get a 5/5 out of me that often.  These deserve it. 

Weekends like this are why embroidery is still a thing.

What. A. Weekend.  

I wish that statement was resultant of a tiring and fun/happy weekend, but lort, it is not.  

We made it a record four months without an ER visit.  That is a record, at least for the past 2-3 years.  It concerns me just a bit that one of the ER nurses I made eye contact with had that look on her face for just a moment like she knew us, but couldn't place us.  Shit like that really shows A.) that the nurses are ON POINT with the people that come through there, and B.) we have clearly been there too often.  

So, to make a longish story shortish, Mom broke her hip.  We made it from the shop to their house in record time, even before the ambulance, and ran to the ER.  X-Ray and CT scan revealed a clean break in the joint area.  

Go Big or Go Home: The Femur Edition

It was a six-ish hour stay in the ER before the moved her up to a room.  Pain management was a critical thing.  I think this has replaced childbirth and pancreatitis both as most painful experiences.  Apparently this one has taken the cake there...that's a cake no one wants.  

But if I learned anything from my time in the Girl Scouts (hey, I was solely in it for access to those cookies.  Not kidding) it is to always be prepared.  Yes, I always have something to stitch on with m, either on my person or in may car for these WHAT IF I GET STUCK SOMEWHERE AND NEED SOMETHING TO DO?!?!? situations.  I am a master of coming up with What If scenarios, so yeah...I always have something. 

This time, it is Hocuspocusville, from Crabapple Hill.  I am relatively new to embroidery, but despite hating handwork in general, I enjoy embroidery.  I guess I can't say I hate it anymore, huh.  Willingly tolerate and occasionally seek out?  Sure.  

Here's a pro-tip: If you ever find yourself in the ER, not as a patient hopefully but as someone accompanying the patient, this light is amazing.  I have no idea what it's for, and I am quite sure we were supposed to not touch it, but it is amazing at giving you light while not impacting the brightness of the room while your patient has the lights out because of having a banging migraine on top of a broken bone (Mom seriously had the SHITTIEST weekend).  It didn't illuminate the room AT. ALL.  Only where it was pointed, and that was it.  I suppose it would violate my lease if I installed one of these over my side of the sofa in the living room.  I also suppose Ikea doesn't have a reasonable imitation, either.  

But for several hours of the stay last night and the stay today, this is all the nursing staff saw from my corner of the room.  That is, except when they came in to do bloodwork or whatever.  I watch them like a hawk.  John got sneaky and snapped a pic.  Note the light output on my fabric.  Hella. Light.  

So the most important thing here?  Mom is fine, and will be fine.  She went into surgery today, had a few screws put in, was out in an an hour, and is on the way to recovery.  She still has some pretty high levels of pain - I mean, she just had SCREWS put int her BROKEN BONE.  Like I said, she had the shittiest weekend.  But she is already slinging a little sass this evening when her pain isn't too bad (yay for pain management), so that's always a good sign.  

I want to publicly thank all of our friends and shop customers who have been sending us kind words and thoughts.  The last year has been overly rife with hospital visits for my (and my family's) taste, so having such a wonderful network of people who understand and care is awesome.  Thank you. 

Product Review: Sullivan's The Cutting Edge Frosted Ruler

Every now and then a product comes along that makes you think, "Shit!  That's a great idea!  Why didn't I think of that?!"  Sullivan's The Cutting Edge Frosted Ruler was one of those products.  This ruler promises to sharpen your rotary cutter blade while you do your normal cutting.

So, I gave it a whack, so to speak, back in 2011 and reviewed it in my old blog pretty quickly after starting to use it.  Mistakes.  Were.  Made.  I got sucked up into the gimmick!  Here is a more realistic review after more use for your reading pleasure.

Specs

• Frosted acrylic
• 6.5" x 24.5" but comes in other sizes too
• $34.49

Pros

• The measurements and angles are well marked
• The frosted texture prevents slippage while cutting
• The half inch marks are a different color than the whole inch marks, so it's good for a quick reference

Cons

• The promise to sharpen your blade while cutting falls very, very short.  I actually nicked more blades with this thing than anything!  The metal piece on the side is EXTREMELY easy to catch at the beginning of a cut, unless you're cutting in the middle of the ruler at all times.  
• THE NOISE MAKES ME WANT TO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE.
• The metal piece actually came off entirely after nicking it one too many times
• The sharpening action actually created a very fine, dark "dust" that was rather annoying
• The frosting is so thick it is very difficult to see your fabric underneath if it isn't a dark fabric....makes lining up cuts a real bitch especially if lighting isn't jusssssst right. 
• The half inch marks and whole inch marks are difficult to distinguish from the sides of the ruler (there isn't a clear half inch side and whole inch side like other rulers)

Conclusion

★☆☆☆☆

If this isn't a case of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," then I don't know what is.  The premise is great, but there is a LOT of room for improvement.  If they could fix the frosting so it is easier to see fabric and improve the metal piece so it didn't nick and catch on blades, then I might give it another try.  But for the cost, it's not worth it.  I can get the same size ruler from Creative Grids (which I LOVE by the way) for nearly $10 less ad it doesn't f@ck up my blades.  Sullivan's had a great idea here, but I think they need to go back to the ol' drawing board. 

Sewing Room Ambiance

I got into a conversation a little while back about the things people watch while in their sewing rooms. My friend Deanne talked abut watching kids movies (Toy Story?  Did I remember correctly?).  I my usual charming way, I was like, "Well...I watch documentaries on the bubonic plague."

And I wonder to myself sometimes why people think I'm weird.  Actually most recently the word used was "interesting" but not in that complimentary way. 

Don't hate, cuz' I'm great. 

But seriously I do.  I am a woman of many odd interests.  Aside from quilting and dinosaurs and Halloween...I am a big ol' Dark Ages and Medieval History buff (nerd).  So tbh, the bubonic plague documentary was only one in a long line of medieval themed documentaries I had going.  So ya know...context is everything.  

In a heartbreaking turn of events, my trusty little Roku died suddenly a couple weeks ago.  No more Netflix.  No more Hulu.  No more Youtube.  NO MORE DOCUMENTARIES. And I don't know about any of y'all but I am NOT about to sew in silence.  Not happening.  So what do I do in a absence of TV?

Sick metal licks, obviously.  Yes, your girl here is a very serious and enthusiastic metal head.  I have been for many, many years.  When I first heard Stone Temple Pilots in third grade, it was so much harder than anything else I had heard, I thought it was heavy metal.  And when people at school asked what I listened to, I said heavy metal.  Naturally I got looked at like I had three heads, or got pat on the head and told "Oh sure you do."  Little did I know that when I heard Marilyn Manson for the first time in fifth grade at a sleepover that my statement about liking metal would be not only true in an distance but unilaterally and in the long term. 

To answer the general questions which are often asked when I say I am am metal head: no I am not a Satanist, no that hasn't stopped anyone from accusing me of it or assuming it, yes I listen to several different subgenres and some are NSFW, no I am not a violent or angry person, yes I can generally understand the lyrics after a few listens, no I don't generally care about the lyrics in general because I enjoy the music itself and for all I care they could be singing about gummy bears AND I don't blame music for personal choices, yes I am the only metal head in the family, and after 20 years no it isn't a phase.  '

It makes me feel very chill.  Seriously.  Check out this study about it. #facts.  I mean, as I type I am listening to Gojira as John listens to Tyler the Creator.  

Everyone has a different thing going on. What is your sewing room ambiance? 

Stash Sunday: Botanica by Makower UK

According to Facebook memories, Snowmaggedon was a year ago last week.  This year?  It is January 14th, and 57 degrees.  I am mean, we'll probably get hammered by actual winter weather here in the next few weeks, but for today my chilly ass is ready for Spring.  Good thing the Sprig fabrics are rolling in before nasty weather can harsh my mellow.

I'm still in the thick of show prep.  Finished quilting one quilt, got two bindings done, and further screwed up a sample that has been giving me pains.  Whatever.  So I am taking a little break to drool over my stash. 

Botanica by Makower UK is currently dancing through my head.  I am NOT a florals girl.  I generally dislike them.  But this? 

Nice. 

Pardon the crappy picture quality.  I am a quilter, not a photographer.  But the colors are pretty true here.  There are few other pieces in the line but these are the ones I am beyond psyched to use them for something great. 

What cool new pieces have you gotten lately?

Product Review, Web Bond TA 101 Spray Adhesive

Just about everyone knows Mettler for their thread, which is wonderful, but they do some other notions too...like spray adhesive.  So I am a spray adhesive girl.  I like the convenience of a spray adhesive versus pin basting whenever possible.  What can I say, I am all about that instant gratification. And with the amount of samples I crank out, the less time I have to spend pinning, the happier I am. 

This stuff has been out awhile, but I did a review on it back in 2014 on my old blog which seemed to be helpful, so here it is again with a little more input after a few more years of use.  

Specs

• Aerosol
• 9.6oz
• $12.99 USD

Pros

• Even spray distrbution
• Spray is thick and webby, so it is visible on the fabric 
• No absorption into the fabric (no weird wet patches or discoloration on the "right" side of the fabric
• Strong adhesion - a little goes a long way and it stays stuck better than other sprays
• I found it to be low odor as compared to other aerosol spray adhesives.  

 Cons

• Strong adhesion.  Not every machine "likes" this stuff for free motion. My Bernina HATED it, and it would skip stitches.  I thought it was maybe a bad needle or bobbin.  After changing needles and rethreading, it still skipped.  But, when I pin basted or used a different spray...no issues.  After a little more troubleshooting and process of elimination, I found that the adhesive was catching the thread, and my Bernina (an old 150) didn't quite have the oomph to combat it.  Now, my Janome (Memorycraft 6500)?  No issues.  But then again, that machine is a beast. 

Conclusion
★★★★☆
So now that I have a beefier machine, this is my preferred spray adhesive now.  The pros outweigh the cons to me now, where a couple years ago the issue with skipped stitches was enough to turn me away.  Now not so much!

Willamette Valley Quilt Festival Sneak Peek

So the Willamette Valley Quilt Festival is quickly approaching (February 2-3, 2018 at the Linn County Fair and Expo) and we have a booth. Haven't heard of it?  Well, that's because this is it's very first year!  As usual, I am looking forward to it.  I really enjoy doing shows, despite the late nights, hair-pulling, and zero free time in the weeks before the show.  Wow, that sounds convincing, doesn't it?  lol.  Well, it's true.  Shows are a blast and a very welcome change to the regular grind.  

But I am late this time.  Usually I start a couple MONTHS before a show, but with the holidays, yeah friggin' right.  I am only one person and my sanity is only so strong.  So I started on January 1...which means only a month of prep.  Luckily most stuff is taken care of.  But samples?  Not so much.

So I started a few using things that weren't selling in the shop, or that I think would be neat to debut...like this lovely equine:

 And not to toot my own horn, but CHECK OUT THIS SICK MITERS. I decided to do something with a panel that wasn't selling, and hated the idea of wasting the stripe.  I haven't mitered in easily 10 years.  Because I hate it.  Not because I can't do it (clearly), but because it is a pain in my ass.  

Angles so sharp they make my rotary cutter look dull.  (Nevermind that it totally is, shh)

 I didn't mean to make the zebra look like it had a bird dick, but hey, weird stuff happens.  It was funny so I kept it. Did I mention the panel is Noah's Ark? No? Whelp, I'm almost certainly going to hell...maybe not for this specifically, but I'm sure it isn't earning me any points.  *shruuuuug*  

More to come I'm sure.  I'm also binding quilts during my lunch breaks at the office.  No rest for the wicked!

Come at Me, Quilt Police

How annoying.  I had a post all written up on Blogger on my tablet, but couldn't add pictures.  I assumed it would just be in draft form in Blogger, but color me wrong because here I am re-writing it.  Splendid. 

So I am doing the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, On Ringo Lake (get it HERE on her blog, Quiltville) and until very recently we were under strict guidelines to not say anything about measurements, quantities, nada.  Trust me...the Facebook page (not Bonnie!  She was perfectly pleasant) got caaaaaatty any time some well-intentioned quilter posted any of the aforementioned.  Quilt police be damned! 

But I am about 3,400 pieces in with a clue and a half to go.  Yes.  3,400.  And no, I am not on meth.

So what's the point here?  The point's the point.  I got cocky.  I was sewing along, feelin' fine and everything was looking good.  Good enough.  You know.  So I didn't trim.  Got. Cocky. Started sewing my triangles on.  And there it is.  Floating point.

Good thing I only work in batches of 10.  They all came out screwy.  So I went and trimmed all blahblahhundred of them. 

Moral of this story?  Trim yo' shit.  It makes a difference.  Because of course it does, because we all damn know it. 

Stash Sunday a Day Late

My Stash Sunday is a day late.  Y'all know you can't expect me to be timely.

Well, the rush is finally over.  For another year, anyway!  Quiltopia was this weekend and our booth did pretty well all things considered.  Having a show the same weekend that a shop hop starts is rough for attendance, but we got it done anyway.  Every show is different, and it never ceases to amaze me what ends up being the thing no one can live without.  Last show it was a honeycomb panel with bees appliqued on top.  This show?  Fat quarters of Effervescence by Robert Kaufman.  Who knew?

So since this is a guild operated show, there was the green table in back.  The green table is where there is a ton of wicked'y inexpensive books, patterns, fabrics, and projects that the guild members bring to sell.  On the one hand, it kind of sucks for the rest of the vendors because we cannot compete with $3/yard,  but on the other hand...oh the goodies you'll find.  I found a print of flying pigs that my mom has had in her stash since the early-mid 90s.  Seriously...oh the things you can find.  For a fabri-holic this is a glorious and dangerous thing.

One of the weird things I love is heinous fabric.  Heinous. Fabric.  What do I mean?  Ugliness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and I have been told on more than one occasion that I need my vision checked.  I tend to really enjoy pieces that make everyone else dry heave, and this weekend was no different.  I found this white and neon (yes, neon) print of like, french drink labels.  It makes no sense.  Neon, really?  And bikinis. Found those. Oh, and a really great bright fruit/flower print with bees.  WHY ARE THE ORANGES PURPLE?! What even is that??  I don't know.  But I had to have it.  So now, I do, to the tune of three yards. 

But what I also inexplicably like are African prints.  Not prints with African themes, though, those are cool too.  I mean from-Africa prints, you know, the ones that have so much sizing on them you could stand them up on end? Those.  There were tons of fat quarters that someone was selling off for $0.50 a pop.  So I ended up with something like 16 of them.  They are GORGEOUS and I cannot wait to use them!  Right now, I have a blessed lull in samples since I rushed them all for Quiltopia, so I have a wee bit of time to myself to do something I want to do.  I have been thinking about what to do, because even though I can't wait to make something of them, part of me can hardly bear to cut them up.   

Inspiration Strikes in the Weirdest Places

Swear to God I have been up to my eyeballs in samples lately.  I mean, I always am, but with Quiltopia coming I am sewing triple time.  I feel like I am barely making a dent.  Probably because I'm not.  There is so much to do.  I wish sometimes I didn't have a regular job on top of all the shop stuff I do.  A snide comment made at a shop hop meeting reminded me that despite being 30, people still view me as that wet behind the ears college kid from 10 years ago who only had a part time job and school to fuss with.  I reminded her that in fact I do have a "real job" at the State and everything I do for the shop hop and at the shop is IN ADDITION TO my 40 hour week...not including housework and my minuscule social life.  Fight me, or whatever.  So I have been busy.  As usual.

I am super behind on the Honey Pot Bee blocks I am (supposedly) working on.  People talk about having "lots of UFOs" to the tune of a bin or two, and I want to laugh and laugh.  A bin. How cute. I have five Rubbermaid totes and counting.  Needless to say, I need to run the frig away to finish some of those.  Maybe when I am retired.  But I really want to do some me-time sewing.  I have so many scraps piling up, begging to be sewn, and I have SO MANY IDEAS.  And people know I love scraps so they send them my way.  Do you think I have the self control to say no?  Of course not.  Like I tell folks, my addiction to fabric could be to something way worse instead, I mean it could be like meth.  I;m sure there is something out there worse than meth but it's all I got.  And, I have seen the show Hoarders...apparently it's not a Hoarders level disaster until you find a dead cat in it.  I have no cats and my dogs haven't wandered into the scrap heap so I think we're good. Nothing to see here, move along.

But one of the things I want to make was inspired by something I see (almost) every day.  The bathroom at the office.  As you sit there, there's not much else to do but stare at the floor and walls.  The floor is boring tile, and the walls are boring tile too (would it kill anyone to move away from white and beige, I mean COME ON).  And they stay boring until you realize you've been staring at a maybe quilt pattern for months.    

Let me just get this out of the way, because I know someone out there is wondering where the picture of these walls are.  I did not take my phone into my office bathroom.  I have no plans whatsoever to take my phone into the office bathroom.  And I don't think I really need to explain all the different levels on which it would be weird to do so.  You're just going to have to «¬­imagine­¬«

It's so simple.  Basically staggered bricks, like where the gap between two bricks matches up in the middle of the brick in the row below it.  You know, like bricks do.  But as I have been sitting in there over the months, different patterns emerge.  Diamonds. Chains.  Variations of shapes and sizes and what if I did it on point or diagonal???? Seriously, no less than six quilt ideas have taken shape just from the amount of time it takes for me to take a leak at work.  Quilts are everywhere, y'all.

Hopefully after Quiltopia is over and after the rush of Thanksgiving and Christmas samples are done I can have a breather for a few weeks and work on some of these ideas.  I mean, the scraps keep multiplying like bunnies in the night.  they will overrun my house.  I wonder if this would then quality as housework?  Hmm.