My Perfect Sewing Set-Up

I have moved my sewing machine into my office area...much more comfortable to sew in the office than it was in the quilt studio I lovingly call my sweat shop, lol!  Here is a mini tutorial for a ironing station near your sewing machine, using an inexpensive TV table that I bought at Walmart for under $9.00.

 

I first  took a fat quarter that matched the colors of my Quilt Studio (even though I am currently sewing in the office) and pinked the edges to keep it from unraveling.

 

 Then I took 4 layers of scrap warm and natural batting 1 1/2" smaller than the fat quarter and centered it on 

top of the wrong side of the fat quarter.

 

 Place the TV Table upside down on top of the batting/fat quarter. While pulling the fat quarter edge over the edge of the TV table and to the underside of table use a stable gun to stable the fabric in place.

 

 

  See how we did the corners? place the staples about every 1/2"

 We used a stable gun that attaches to my air compressor (which I use to clean my long arm with instead of the canned air). This is much easier than using a traditional staple gun.

 

I purchased 2 of the TV tables from Walmart so I could have one on each side of my sewing machine...1 for pressing during block construction without having to have the bulky ironing board set up all of the time for smaller jobs. And the 2 one for trimming up blocks as I go. On this table I have a 12" sq. rotating cutting matt. Works out pretty well and keeps me from running back and forth so I can get more sewing done. Stay tuned for more updates as my office and my quilt studio evolve into my perfect creative space. 

Those With the Most Toys Wins....Or Do They?

Well I was quilting along this week, felt good to have my Liberty back home again and running when my new circuit boards on my machine went bad :0(

Called the factory and they are shipping me a new set of boards but this means I am grounded for a few days until my new parts arrive.

So I was thinking how best to use this down time? I could finish Shannon's swap blocks (just need to do 6 more), I could play...I mean LEARN more about my EQ7 upgrade, I could finish piecing my king sz quilt for my bed, I could give my house a thorough spring cleaning (long over do BTW, just never seems to be any time left for cleaning ;0)) teach myself to digitize using my embrouidery software, heck learn beyond the basics would be nice. Well thinking about all of this got me to pull some things out...things that I JUST HAD TO HAVE but haven't had the time to learn them completely and it has been several years for most of this stuff.

 For instance my Bernina 730 Embroidery machine (always wanted a top of the line embroidery machine) but didn't realize that it would involve all of this....

These books/manuals in order to use it. Who would have thought that in order to use this machine and software to it's fullest it would involve so much time in reading to do it. :0(

Then there is the EQ software.....

 I started my EQ journey with EQ5, bought all the extra books (never found the time to learn beyond the basics) and then EQ6 came ou, just had to have that, didn't buy the extra books for EQ6 because I didn't even use them much for EQ5 so I thought why now. Then EQ7 came out and yup, I just had to have that too. But still I only know just the basics of this program, so why do I need the upgrade? To justify the purchase I promissed myself that this time I will learn more. And I am pleased to announce that I have learned more! This past week since my EQ7 upgrade has been installed I learned how to add my Bernina embroideries to the EQ program! EQ only takes "exp" embroidery files and bernina embroideries are "art" files so I was poking around last night and remembered that most of my embroideries I get from embroidery library.com and they allow you to download the design in multiple formats (since now a days it is not unheard of to own multiple machines with different formats). So I went through my order history  and saw that I can download in the exp format as well!!! YEA!!! doing a happy dance :0)

then I was thinking this morning that I wonder if there was a way to convert my other embroideries into exp format, (thought I read some where some time ago in my embroidery sofware manuals that I could) soI poked around in that for awhile and yup I can! I converted it to the usb bernina stick format which is exp!!!yea!!! more happy dancing then I decided if it would all come together and work in the EQ program...yes and no. Yes they were able to downloaded into the program but the thread colors were altered in the download :0( so I poked around in the EQ manual to figure out how to change the thread colors in the embroideries, yup it was there so I changed the colors on one embroidery and it worked! Ok so this is not going to be an easy or quick learning process, but I did learn something today, well several things actually....

1)That you shouldn't buy the toys unless you intend to really use them, otherwise it's just alot of expensive stuff taking up space.

2)Read all manuals from cover to cover when you get the new toys, this way you might learn how to use the new toy sooner.

3)Knowledge is deffinately power :0)

so to answer the title of this post's question, "Those with the most toys wins...or do they?" Yes they do, but only IF they learn to use them to the fullest!  

Look What Followed Me Home

Isn't he cute!

I went to JoAnn Fabrics on Sunday just to get some buttons (I haven't been in a JoAnns in years) and I started wandering around the place to see if there was anything else I needed and this little cutie wanted to come home with me. He must of heard that I own Gecko Quilts and that we have a pet gecko named Tiger too. I am going to put it right outside my front door so everyone can see him when they drop off their quilts. {{{GRIN}}}

He makes me happy!

"I'm late, I'm late!, I'm late for a very important date!"

The line comes from Alice in Wonderland the rabbit says it as he jumps down the rabbit hole. This is how I have been feeling this week, lol! So much going on, busy with this, busy with that. All the while one day gels with the next and before I know it the week has come and gone. 


Anyways lots to share and loose ends have been tied and sent to the finish line. You are probably scratching your head and thinking what the heck is she talking about...well I am getting to that {{GRIN}} Remember the rainbow log cabin quilt I was doing for friends of ours 5 year old daughter? Well I put on the binding Thursday night and made 2 pillowcases that matched and delivered it Friday night...I would post pics of Hailey but since she's 5 and not my daughter I won't but I will show you this....

The quilt and the 2 pillowcases all folded and ready to go.

Normally I serge my pillowcase seams but since everyone is talking about the pillowcase challenge and all the different techniques in doing them I thought I would try something new. I did these using the "Sausage Pillowcase" method, found it on youtube (got to love that place...so much info) anyways it shows how to sew pillowcases using french seams and an easy quick piecing method using the sausage technique. 

I also signed up for an account with a wholesaler...looking into offering batting again to my customers and eventually some 108" wide backing fabrics as well. It will be easier for everyone in the long run.

This was a big week for the UPS guy at Gecko Quilts he delivered an Accuquilt Go and some dies (fabric cutting system) that will cut (pun intended) the time I spend cutting them out in half, which will leave me with more time to piece them and then quilt them. Will share my accuquilt go adventures as they happen.

Then I also recieved my  new Circle Lord Basic Plus (Bling for my APQS Liberty) even though at this time I don't offer custom to my customers you can follow along on my adventures at http://www.geckoquiltscirclelordscrapbook.blogspot.com/ if you are interested. I thought I would keep it seperate from this blog since this one is all about my business, family and life or the good the bad and the ugly (Chris is a die hard Clint Eastwood fan).

Circle Lord Update and Other Stuff

Last week I was debating whether or not to repurchase the Circle Lord, well I decided that the price was too good to past up so I took the plunge!
It should be here in a week or less. Michael & Kay the owners and creators of the Circle Lord are great people and they are always great to work with and talk to. So I am getting the basic set up, will be able to quilt from the back as well as from the front and I will have the original Aztec, the mini Aztec and the large Swirls ETE board (I had the original aztec and the swirls before) but the mini aztec and working from the front will be new to me. I can't wait to get it, I will be adding the swirls board to my light density quilting designs, I am sure it will be very popular as it was before when I owned it.


I am already thinking what my next purchase will be...probably the fan clam board because I am getting alot of old period style, scrap type quilts in and the baptist fan will add charm to them plus I have had some customers tell me that they were interested in that design...so maybe next month I will purchase that one. If I were rich I would tell Michael one of each please!, LOL Then I wake up from my dream.


Oh but the mail man did deliver a really cool thing this week. Something that will help me with choosing the right color, got you thinking, huh?

It's a Kona Cotton color card! It is gorgeous! Now I won't have to guessif the fabric that I order will be the right color. I like to use the kona cottons for my quilt backs as well as in some of my quilts. http://www.fabricshack.com/

has the full line of kona cottons for only $4.19 a yard they use to have it for $3.99 a yad but they recently raised their prices but still is the cheapest that I have ever seen it for. I got the color card from hancocks of paducah and I just found out that they have a color card for the hoffman watercolor batiks...may just have to get that sometime in the future as well...since I am working with more and more batiks.

Friday was my oldst's Birthaday, she turned 19. Where has the time gone? It seems that it was only yesterday that she was born.

Well time to go for now...it's well past my bed time and I have church in the morning.

Should Be Sleeping

It's the middle of the night and I should be asleep, but I can't, my brain is racing and I am thinking about quilting. Go figure. Anyways I was just over at my recipe site (link is on my gecko website) and someone went and spammed it :0( so I cleaned it all up and locked the forums so if they come back they won't be able to do it again. 


Anyways I guess part of my problem is that ever since yesterday (when I found out about the Circle Lord Valentines day special) I haven't been able to focus on much. About a year and a half ago I had to sell my Circle Lord (bling for my APQS Liberty ;0) ) because I needed the cash to pay off my Bernina 730E before the back interest fees kicked in. The moment it sold I regretted having to to see it go. I told myself that some day I will buy another one. 


I have been spending the past 2 days (nights) debating with myself going over in my head the pros and cons of repurchasing now. The fantastic deal vs I no longer do custom quilting for customers. Chris' arguement is (he said) that I only used it about 3 times....uuuummmm wrong! In the year that I owned one I used it over a dozen perhaps 1 1/2 dozen times. And looking at all of the quilts on the APQS site that are part of the Circle Lord Challenge is making me want one again even more. Chris said it is ultimatley up to me, and yes it is costly even with the discount just to be used on my own quilts but the tool is a great tool and has been improved upon since I had my first one. So come morning I am going to order a new one. Just the basic plus for now and then I will add the various templates to it here and there as time goes by. 


Another reason for me not sleeping is I am under deadline with the baby quilt I mentioned last entry. I need to have the quilt pieced by Sunday so I can quilt it on Monday and have it bound before next Saturday, which is the day of the baby shower. I did make some progress though on it today. I was able to finish the applique on the 8 blocks. Saturday I will finish up the 1/2 sq triangles and get the center together. Will post pics of it when it is all pieced.


Ok got to go, the eye lids are getting heavy.