My Date With Alex Veronelli & Aurifil

Well, technically, it wasn't just me and Alex, but a room full of quilters anxious to enjoy an afternoon of Italian thread and accents. Alex Veronelli is the face and voice of Aurifil Thread; and he is in the Austin, Texas area this week for THE end-all, be-all modern quilt convention - QuiltCon. So what does any good "Brand Jedi" (as he dubs himself) do? He holds workshops at area quilt shops to promote his product - Aurifil Thread.

Alex took us inside his factory to show us how Aurifil thread is made from start to finish (except for one or two top secret steps) via video - a 15 step process. He also shared a few tips about using Aurifil, and a whole lot of eye candy!

Here's a few of his tips.....

• The color of the plastic spools indicate the weight of thread. Orange spools are 50 wt., green spools are 40 wt., gray spools are 28 wt., and red spools are 12 wt. Easy to differentiate without a label.

• Aurifil is a 2-ply cotton thread produced in several weights for different uses. Alex recommends 50 weight thread for piecing and sewing; 40 weight for machine embroidery and machine quilting; 28 weight for hand quilting; and 12 weight for hand embroidery. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules as Alex quickly showed a quilt that was machine quilted with 12 weight thread. A great way to make the quilting stand out.

• Alex recommends using 50 wt. thread in the bobbin when using 50, 40 & 28 weight thread on top; and 40 wt. thread in the bobbin when using 12 wt. thread.

• He also recommends using a 90-14 needle with 12 wt. thread; 80-14 for 28 wt.; and 70-14 for 40 & 50 wt. thread.

• Aurifil also makes a wool thread; and 6-strand embroidery floss wound on wooden spools - no more tangled skeins of floss! Aurifil is also in the development stage of a linen thread.

Of course, no quilt workshop would be complete without some eye candy! Alex shared an array of quilts made by various designers (sorry, I didn't get that info to give credit to everyone) using Aurifil thread.

Alex closed the show with this portrait quilt made by an artist of the dashing Alex Veronelli. See the resemblance?

Stay tuned as next week I hope to check out what all the excitement is about QuiltCon!

~Sharla

Millefiore Update

Bet you thought I'd tossed this little project aside already. Nope, I'm still plugging away, although at a snail's pace. While I'm still working on sewing hexies onto Round 2 of Rosette 1, I decided to play with my fabrics to see what Round 3 might look like. Here's my first stab at fabric selection....

Then I decided to substitute a purple fabric in for some of the light blue diamonds.

Not totally set on the pink striped fabric. I may switch out all the light blue diamonds for purple then use the light blue where the pink striped hexies are. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, instructions and paper pieces for Rosette 2 are laying in my bag. I can hear them calling me to come play with them. Oh help, this is getting addicting!

~Sharla

It's Not Always About Quilts

Sometimes it's about making Valentine treats for your grandsons to take to their friends at daycare!

Hope you take time out for the simple pleasures in life.

~Sharla



Millefiore Quilt Update

I haven't worked on my millefiore quilt for a week now:(  Just too many other obligations and projects to finish up. I'm learning that I'm not very fast at sewing by hand - maybe that's why I hate sewing binding on quilts. A week ago, I got to spend two whole days working on it at a last minute family sewing retreat. I have only four hexies sewn onto my rosette to show for all those hours! Yes, I'm sloooooow as molasses! Somewhere on day 2, I contemplated making my millefiore quilt a one-rosette table topper, but I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head - I'm determined not to let this become another UFO! So I'm posting my progress so far so that you all can keep me on task.

On the up side, I am loving my colors so far. I love how perfectly the pieces fit together and how perfectly the points match. And, best of all, I got to go shopping for more fabric for the next rosette! My paper pieces for the next rosette arrived last week and the next rosette pattern will be posted February 1, so I've got to kick it in high gear and finish this one up. As they say, no rest for the wicked - and, I'm thinking, for those crazy enough to tackle this millefiore quilt!

~Sharla

Four Patch Kaleidoscope Quilt

Several months ago I posted about using four-patch kaleidoscope or stack-n-whack blocks in quilt patterns that feature large blocks. Well, I can finally show you my finished quilt! I'm sew excited to put this quilt on the bed in my 5th wheel camper and cuddle up in it.

I just love it! This picture doesn't do it justice. The black and metallic gold are just so rich and gorgeous. I made a smaller version that will hang over the existing headboard too. Here's a close-up of one of the kaleidoscope blocks....

Now to finish the matching curtains and pillowcases so I can get back to my millefiori quilt....I'm off to do a little sewing!

~Sharla

New Year Resolution - Busted!

Well, I knew it would happen, it was really a matter of time. But only 3 days?! Yes, on day 3 of my New Year resolution to finish up some of my UFOs in my cubbies before buying any new fabric or projects, I ran across The New Hexagon - Millefiore Quilt Along at Katja's Quilt Shoppe.

I fell in love with this style of quilt after I saw this quilt called the La Passacaglia quilt. This quilt was made by Ashley Spilman. Love the colors!

So of course, I signed up and ordered the book and the English paper piecing supplies. Why? I don't even like to hand sew my binding on my quilts, why would I sign up to do a whole quilt that is hand sewn?! Well, my justification was that I would use one of the fabrics I had purchased for a One Block Wonder quilt that's stuffed in those cubbies for this new project. So technically, I'm still working on my New Year resolution, right?

So after 3 days, I have the center and first round of hexies done on the first rosette. There's a total of 37 hexies, 216 pieces in the first rosette and it measures a whopping 35" across. The finished quilt has 15 rosettes of different sizes, a total of 246 6" hexies, and measures 78" x 78". I'm hoping you all keep me on task so this project doesn't become destined for those cubbies as another UFO! Can I count on you?

I'll keep you updated on my progress here, so come back and visit often!

~Sharla



New Year's Resolution - Row by Row Quilt

When doing the Row by Row Experience shop hop last summer, I knew I was not going to be able to work on this quilt until well after the contest, so I stuck my patterns, license plates and fabric collected into one of the cubbies in my sewing room. Since those cubbies are the focus of my New Year's resolution (see previous blog post), I pulled it out this week to start on it.

Technically, it is a UFO because I started to embroider a row that would use three of the license plates I collected. When I found license plates that said 'fabric-holic' and 'quilt-a-holic' I knew I had to make them into a row by themselves since my husband has accused me of being a little OCD about quilting, lol. The 'fabricologist' license plate will complete the trifecta and the row will eventually say "My Hubby Says I'm A Fabric-holic & A Quilt-a-holic, But I'm Really A Fabricologist".

Last summer, I also began drawing out a large applique pattern that I wanted to include in my Row by Row quilt that would commemorate the road trips I took with the hubby and quilting friends to participate in the shop hop. So this week, I started with the applique as I began designing the layout of my quilt. My quilt will feature a flower theme, so will be using only patterns I collected that have flowers in them. I will be combining two sets of patterns in a row to create a 72" wide quilt. There will also be rows of license plates throughout the quilt. I haven't decided on borders yet, that'll come later.

I love the look of applique and what you can create. So I was anxious to get started on the large applique block that I had designed. I haven't done a lot of raw edge applique, so this was new to me but maybe not to most appliquers - I used Steam-A-Seam 2 fusible web this time and I loved it! After it is fused onto your applique piece, you peel the paper backing off and the fusible is tacky so you can place it on your foundation and it will hold until you iron it. It's repositionable so as I was layering my pieces on, I could move things around until I liked it and then it held in place. Once everything was where I wanted it, I ironed the whole thing in one unit. Then it was off to the sewing machine to sew it all down....

The finished block is 27" x 18". I'm really happy with the way it turned out! I think I will have everyone that went on one of my Row by Row shop hop trips sign the car so it'll be a reminder of all the fun I had and who I had it with!

Now to start on the rows....

~Sharla