Today, it's about removing wrinkles. Everyone, at some point in their life, has to deal with them. I wish there was a miracle cure, but alas, no.
The best solution I've found is a damp towel and 5-10 minutes in the dryer.
Huh? So sorry but this isn't about how to remove those wrinkles that mar the beauty of our faces. Instead, it's softening up those hard fold lines in batting!
Today, I'm using a 100% cotton packaged batt that has sat on a shelf with other items piled on top of it. You get the idea of how heavy the fold creases are. Silly me, didn't take a picture!
So, off to the dryer, with a damp hand sized towel thrown in. Set on high heat, the two tumbled for 5-10 minutes. Upon removal, a warm, smooth, soft batt filled my arms! Immediately spreading the batt out to avoid setting in cooling wrinkles, she now looks like this:
Faint creases are all that remain of the folds.
Now, I have to admit, I do this same technique on my husband's shirts. Usually, I leave them in too long and they get all wrinkled. Throw them back in with a damp towel for a few minutes, and I've just saved myself precious ironing time. Really, who likes to iron shirts??? (Oh, wait, my mother loves to iron sheets! Yes, sheets.)
So the next time you've got a wrinkled batt, give this a try - I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the results!
Happy Quilting!
Perfect Pinless Pinwheels is done, and she's soft and pretty!
After so much angst about how to quilt her, I decided on a pretty panto called Spring Vine. An open design of flowers and leaves,
plus 80/20 batting, gave the quilt the desired softness and drape. On the front, Glide gold, lightly bringing out the yellow in the floral print, and on the back, Glide lilac to match the backing.
This quilt was started in a class at Road 2 California in January, and finally finished up.
A lovely pattern designed by Kimberly Einmo, it looks like a beautiful garden!
A few more closeups.
And the pretty soft purple backing has a bit of leftover parts from the front.
Happy with how this turned out - a simple design, but a great looking quilt!
I was in my local library recently, and came across this new quilting book, Next Steps in Machine Quilting (affiliate link) by Natalia Bonner.
The designs in her book are for use on both longarm and domestic machines, a win for everyone! And with that, it has the honor of being the Book of the Month for March 2016!
I'm hoping to find inspiration from this book, as a few UFO's are now ready to quilt. The first, loaded on the frame and ready for inspiration is the Pinless Pinwheels quilt from Road2CA. Kona Snow is used in the background of this quilt, which could use some livening up. Cream thread, as least for me, seems a bit boring. So I tested out a pale green,
a pale yellow, which looked like cream on the Snow,
and a bright yellow, which is probably a bit strong.
I'm leaning toward the green, depending on the design I work up. And of course, the pinwheels will have a medium purple.
After this one comes Lone Starburst, also from Road2CA.
Another top using Kona Snow, this one is also awaiting quilting inspiration.
