Colleen’s Beautiful Storm at Sea
We are back to our winter schedule of afternoon meetings for January, February and March, given the turnout on Monday the time change is a good idea! We had a busy meeting with lots of talk of upcoming workshops, Cuddle Quilt Day, our Extraordinary Quilter (Mary Elizabeth Kinch), our 2020 Bi-Annual Quilt Show and so much more. Thanks to all who help and volunteer to make our Guild what it is!
Susan L’s “Green Blocks” quilt, a challenge Susan gave herself to use the smallest scraps she had saved.
Once again we had a terrific sew and tell. be sure and check out the quilts here.
We had a wonderful trunk show presented by member Isabel Fancy. Isabel shared her embroidered quilts with us and they were exquisite. Her stitches were perfect, so neat and tidy, front and back!
Be sure and check out our Flickr albums here to see more of Isabel’s work.
I thought you might like to know a bit more about Isabel’s quilts and how she makes them so I sent her a few questions which she answered…
Who are the machine quilters that you have used?
I have mostly used Donna Hazelton, Lynn Jones, Debbie Vermuelan, Paul MacDonald and Ken Grantham (all are listed on our Long Arm Quilters page)
What are your favourite threads to use for embroidery and do you have favourite needles (brand and size)?
I usually just use DMC but the tree was mostly Cosmo thread. The Cosmo metallics are by far the best. Cosmos threads are nice because they have a large variety of variegated threads. Wish we could get them here. “Out of Hand” (Calgary, AB) was my favourite place to shop.
Do you have a favourite pattern designer?
Not really although “Crab Apple Hill” (they also carry Cosmo Thread) has nice ones and so does “Hugs ‘n Kisses”.
How do you transfer the patterns to your fabric? Do you use a light box? And what kind of a pencil/marker do you use?
If they iron on I do that, otherwise most of them are traced on. I don’t use a light box, usually I can just see through the fabric. I used to just use coloured pencils, or any lighter colour but now I’ve been using FriXion pens. You can easily make changes and fix mistakes.
You mentioned colouring with crayons? Are there certain types that are better? Any to avoid?
I just use regular CRAYOLA crayons. I would avoid cheaper ones like at the dollar store.
Any tips to share?
No just find something you love and embroider it. Sometimes I just embroider things, like those baskets of flowers that were my Mother’s with no plan for how they would end up.
Many thanks Isabel, we all look forward to seeing more of your quilts!
