Quilter's ABC--T

For ABC Wednesday visit the ABC Anthology and Mrs. Nesbitt, our leader. The Mr. Linky site is out of commission this week.

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T is for Trip Around the World

You can use your imagination to see how this whole quilt design came to have this name. This Trip around the World quilt is a miniature, made for me by my friend Julie. I have a full sized Trip around the World, but not enough space to photograph it adequately. I love the colors in this one and the fact that Julie made it for me.

T is for Tools.

These are some of my quilting tools.

This photo will enlarge if clicked.

Clockwise: a variety of threads, stiletto, seam ripper, q-tips, stencils, Magic Mirror, rotary cutters, two of a variety of rulers, needles, specialized pins, marking pencil, bobbin holder, tape measure--all on a cutting mat.

T is for Threads. There are a lot of different sorts of threads for different purposes. I like to have large spools or cones of threads in neutral colors for piecing. The other three are threads that are good for decorative quilting.

The stiletto is used to hold things in tight places. The seam ripper--well, let's just say every quilter knows the frog stitch: rippit, rippit, rippit. Q-tips are handy for carefully clearing lint from the bobbin case. Stencils are used to mark quilting lines--with special marking pencils or other tools which are not permanent.

The Magic Mirror is use to get an idea of the kaleidoscopic effect you would get in some sorts of blocks, rotary cutters look and work just like a pizza cutter. I must have a dozen rulers of various sorts and sizes. The bobbin holder keeps all those bobbins handy.

I am showing three kinds of pins. The small ones with the round glass heads are usable for applique, though there are applique pins are even smaller. The ones with the flat round heads are called flower head pins. They are handy if you need to have fabrics pinned together when you are cutting. When you hold the ruler down on them the ruler does not roll around as it does with other pins.

The safety pins are bent on purpose. They are for basting quilts--pinning the layers of a quilt together for quilting. They allow you to more easily pin down through the layers and come up again to fasten the pin. I was working on a project with a non-quilting friend once and she asked if she should throw the broken pins away. Goodness, no! They aren't broken--I pay extra to have them that way!!

I've been a serious quilter for over ten years and have collected quite a few tools that make it easier to accomplish particular quilting tasks. I have an online quilting friend, though, who calls herself the Gadget Lady. I don't even want to imagine how many tools she has.