Rolling by

Sometimes when I teach I get to drive to my destination. I have to say that I like the drives and really appreciate the landscapes I see along the way.

It also gives me uninterrupted time to formulate ideas and quilts in my head while I drive along.

I know this sounds crazy, but I love the flat farm fields and rolling landscape of the Mid-West where I live.

I will often take pictures while I am driving, just point and shot out the car window. I get some great pics this way.


I am interested in the farms and fields and like to make little and big compositions from these car shots.



I am fascinated with barns. I want one someday. I think the idea of a big space to work in is what appeals to me about barns. I suppose though that they are rather drafty.





Illinois Landscape, was inspired by these point and shot pictures. As were all the other little quilts that follow.



This little landscape is featured in the Art Quilts, Fusible Collage book with Laura Wasilowski and Nancy Zieman.




Rolling By is a stripy collage style landscape with leaves and grass cut using the deckle blade in a 45mm rotary cutter.



Sister Trees is one of those composite compositions taken from the inspiration of my point and shot pics.




On the Way Home, more fields and barns. I just can't seem to get enough of them.

I first meet Ellen many moons ago. We were both members of PAQA. When I saw her quilts I was just blown away. The thread play Ellen was doing was just wonderful and she has always been an inspiration to me.
Here is my interview with Ellen Ann Eddy.
Ellen you have machine quilted and done such exciting thread play on all of your wonderful quilts. 
What threads have you used that you really like to work with?

There are three basic considerations with thread. The colors have to be beautiful. There's no sense in working with bland or tired color.  I also really like thread to have a shine. The quality of the thread needs to be good. That translates largely as the strength of the thread. Finally price matters, because you can only buy so much. But thread that isn't beautiful and strong isn't worthy.
There are several threads I adore for different categories of the kinds of work I do. I do not work with utility threads at all. These are all made strictly for embroidery
# 8 weight metallics: These are the thick threads you use in the bobbin. Madeira, YLI and Superior put out Glamor, Candlelight and Razzle Dazzle respectively. They are all excellent and interchangeable. Together they give a very satisfactory color range.
#40 Threads:These are thin embroidery threads. There are poly, cotton and rayon versions. I've never liked cotton. It has no shine. I have used rayon but it simply isn't as strong. Some rayon color fades as well.  Mostly I use polyester. The shine is lovely.  It's machine strong and good for almost all machines. I'm particularly fond of Madeira's Poly Neon. It's very strong and has a fabulous color range. Superior's Polyester embroidery thread is very good as well. Don't confuse it with Bottom Line. Bottom line is a great quilting thread, but too thin for good embroidery.
I do love the tinsel threads like Sulky Sliver. They make a fabulous eye on a creature. The sheen is great. I also like to stipple with them. I always use them in the bobbin because they are quite fragile.
Finally I dye my own pearl cottons. I want threads that will shade across a surface, not in rainbow colors. My pearls are usually mixed with complements to darken and with full color ranges to fill in space. I don't know of a commercial line of threads that does that.

And why?
What kind of problems have you encountered with all this thread play on your quilts? Do you use stabilizers and what kind?

Thread breaks, just by it's nature. Good thread breaks less. The right needle and stabilization help. I like using a Halo, a red weighed hoop that keeps the surface tight. All of that helps. And you need to watch how your thread feeds.

Moonstruck by Ellen Anne Eddy
Everything puckers. It's the nature of too much thread. Lately, I make my most heavily embroidered pieces separately and stitch them on as an applique. I make a stabilizer sandwich of stiff non woven interfacing, felt and hand dyed fabric  (Put together either with Steam A Seam II or with 505 spray) and stitch on that. If it's bobbin work I have a pattern drawn from Totally Stable underneath. If it's fused fabric or sheers from the top, I have that glued on with Steam A Seam II. Either way, I do all my stitching, and cut all the ruffled edges away before I stitch it down to my top. I usually stabilize the top as well with a layer of felt as my bat and an interfacing underneath. I know what I'm making will not be someone's blanket. It's made to be wall art and I want it to have substance and a solid edge.





















Daily Lily Dance by Ellen Anne Eddy

What is your favorite type of needle to use with these threads and why?
A  #90 topstitching needle is my needle of choice. It has a great sharp point, lots of punch power and a a smooth larger eye that breaks thread less.
You create your own quilt and quilting designs where do you get your inspiration from?
I draw largely from the natural world. I am endlessly fascinated with things in my garden, both plants and animals.

Dragonfly in Bloom by Ellen Anne Eddy

I tend to see people as animals and I tend to quilt them as such. But I don't know who it is while I'm in process. That's not important. I see an image or get a notion in my head. I just go with it. We sort out who it is and why when I'm done. It makes for odd family reunions hunched over quilts. But they all tolerate that by now.
Lately I've been working at an intuitive method for flower applique, documented in my new book, Thread Magic Garden. Day Lily Dance is an example from the book. It's very simple shapes cut and embroidered to make fabulous flowers.

What else would you like to talk about related to thread?
The invisible factor to thread breakage is how the thread feeds. If any thing catches on it's way to the needle, your thread, or your needle will break. So check that. Use a cone holder. Make sure you use the right thread cap with your machine. Thread feeding makes a huge difference with breakage.

Thanks so much, Frieda. This was fun. If anyone has questions they can visit me at my blog or website.
Thank you Ellen as always you inspire all of us with your fun, fanciful and whimsical designs and work.

Inspired to Quilt

Dear Friends,

In just a week the "Inspired To Quilt" Online Quilt Expo will be opening their doors for what is shaping up to be a very exciting event for all of us quilters. Who would have thought, even just a few years ago, that something like this would be possible?

I don't think our traditional quilt shows are going to go anywhere anytime soon, but being able to meet up with quilters from all around the world; getting to participate in all of the presentations, demonstrations and being able to (virtually) stroll through all of the quilt exhibits and vendor booths...right from our homes??? That's just too cool!

Make sure you are registered so you don't miss out. The event is free to attend, you just need to sign up.

Here's the link to do that now:

http://inspiredtoquiltexpo.com/friedaanderson

See you there,

Frieda Anderson

Last Day

Today is the last day to get your fabulous four gradations at the price of $20 for four long quarter yards. These packets each contain a quarter yard, of either four different blues, or reds, or yellows or browns. These are what you need to spark that creative ember in your work.

The Inspired to Quilt program starts next month. Here is a very brief promo.
Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzimLIcTFg&feature=youtu.be
Quilter Frieda Anderson will be featured at the Inspired To Quilt online quilting expo held March 7th-10th. Don't miss this online quilting event. Registration is free. Just visit the link at the beginning of this description.

Wendy Butler Berns

Wendy and I became friends many years ago and we run into each other often out there in the quilt world. Wendy teaches and lectures around the world and does so much with thread in her quilts.

Wendy you have machine quilted all of your wonderful quilts. What threads have you used that you really like to work with? And why.

I create mostly wall quilts, so the threads I like working with are the beautiful Sulky rayons with great sheen to them…. If a rayon thread is not available I also enjoy the Superior Threads trilobal polyester threads as well-Highlights… they also have a wonderful sheen that spark up my quilting designs. These threads are 40 weight and easy to adjust my tension as I work along.

What is your favorite type of needle to use with these threads and why?

I use Superior Thread monopoly clear thread in

my bobbin for all of my quilting.

The needle I stitch with the most with my favorite threads is the microtex 80/12 needle

You create your own quilting designs where do you get your inspiration from?

Can you tell us about that?

Inspirations and designs are all around us… most often I am inspired by organic shapes and lines from nature…. Leaves, vines, the texture in tree bark or the wave lines left on shore…. We just need to look more closely around us. I see shapes that appeal to me, then I spend time with my paper and pencil to doodle those shapes to figure out how I can turn them into continuous quilting designs.

What kind of problems have you encountered with machine quilting on your quilts?

Explain.

The problem I encounter most deciding what quilting designs to combine with each other and getting myself jump started to choose which ones I want to work with…. Spending time viewing the quilt, studying the fabrics I used and pouring over designs I keep in my notebook, help me formulate my plans and get me going!

Wendy Butler Berns
textile artist, teacher, lecturer
Look for my workshops and gallery-  http://www.wendybutlerberns.com
Vidcast of "Out on a Limb Exhibition" http://www.bonniemccaffery.

Thank you so much Wendy for sharing with us the threads you like to use and the sources of your inspiration. You are an inspiration to us all.

Judy Coates Perez

Judy and I meet several years ago when Judy moved to the Chicago land area. It has been fun getting to know such a talented quilter. Judy has a degree in graphic design and it shows in her work. Judy paints and uses inks in most of her quilts, so her take on using thread is a little different then most of us. I asked Judy if she would share with us her experience quilting on painted and inked fabrics.
Here are her responses to my questions.
Judy you have machine quilted all of your wonderful painted quilts. What threads have you used that you really like to work with?  And why.
For a lustrous sheen I really like Superior Rainbows.
For a bold quilting line I like Superior King Tut cotton.
For a little glitz I prefer Superior metallic thread, it's very strong.
For general fill quilting I use a lot of Madeira Polyneon, it's strong and comes in hundreds of colors.
When I want the thread to be least noticeable I like Superior MonoPoly. I like that it comes in clear for light colors and smoke for dark colors and is very strong.
Because I hate stopping to wind bobbins, I really like Superior Bottom Line, its a strong lightweight polyester thread that will go a lot further when quilting.

Illustrated Document No 1 by Judy Perez

What is your favorite type of needle to use with these threads and why?

I use Organ titanium needles for everything. They are strong and stay sharp longer. If the needle hits the throat plate when sewing, the needle will bend into a hook shape instead of snapping off and flying through the air. Evidently titanium also stays cooler creating less heat friction so it's easier on specialty threads. Superior now sells the same needles under their own brand name.

You create your own quilting designs where do you get your inspiration from? Can you tell us about that?

8 of Cups by Judy Perez
I am very drawn to medieval floral imagery and find that I can stitch leaf and flower inspired forms to fill all sorts of unusual shaped spaces. So that is my preferred "meandering" type fill for quilting in backgrounds.

 
What kind of problems have you encountered with machine quilting on your painted quilts?
Explain.

Fauna by Judy Perez

Painted fabric is not very forgiving to quilting mistakes. Because the fabric has a surface of paint, the fibers are essentially glued together and can't move apart to allow the needle to slide between the woven threads, instead the needle literally punches a hole through the fabric that does not close up. With thread going over the surface of the quilt and through the holes it's not a problem, but if you stitch in the wrong area and remove the thread, there can be noticeable holes left in the quilt and there is really no way to fix that.

What else would you like to talk about related to thread?

I'm of a mind that often less is more. Like in cooking too much sauce can ruin an entrée, overwhelming and smothering the flavors of the main ingredient, but just the right amount compliments it and brings out the richness the dish.
Because the integration of thread is such an important aspect of the process, choosing the right threads for a project is so important. I'm not a big fan of what I see as the current trend of excessive quilting. At exhibition venues, I notice people are often impressed by how much thread has been used or how tiny the quilting motifs are on some work. I think the thread choice and the quilting lines should enhance the imagery on the quilt not obscure the fabric beneath, unless the work is really about "thread painting" where the thread becomes the medium for creating imagery. 
I spend a lot of time painting my fabric because I love painting and the way the painted surface looks. I can create visuals that would not be possible with fabric alone. I don't want to cover all the subtle textures and details of the painting with thread, but I want the quilting lines to add another element of visual imagery to the work, that relates to the style and theme of the piece. The quilting thread should look like an integrated part of the design not like a last step in the process added simply to hold all the fabric together.

Primordial Sea by Judy Perez
Thank you so much Judy. Your work is amazing and an inspiration to us all. I studied the quilting you did in this quilt and it led me to develop my own version, I call it Bark.

Jack in the Pulpits by Frieda Anderson

YLI thread

I contacted YLI thread company in Rock Hill NC to tell us about their thread. Jane Garrison returned my call and we had a long talk, here are a few of the top things she told me about YLI thread.
I would like to know when and how the company got started?
YLI was originally Yarn Loft International an importer of serger threads and started in the '70's. It was sold and moved to Provo, UT where the new owners added Silk Ribbons, threads, metallics and other products manufactured in Japan. In 1996 Jim Miller and Lanny Smith purchased the company and moved it to Rock Hill, SC. Jim had been involved with sewing threads and saw the trend toward quilting and so, they added the Hand Quilting, then Machine Quilting and other products that fit into the quilting line. In 2005 Lanny Smith retired, Jim became the sole proprietor and hired Jane Garrison as Director of Education.
Where is the thread is manufactured?
Our Products are primarily manufactured in the US, Japan, Egypt and Mexico
I am interested in the quality and where you get the raw goods from, for the readers to help educate them about thread.
The products that are manufactured in Japan come from the finest sources we can find and we are simply an importer of the product. We purchase those on large cones and wind to smaller cones in our manufacturing facility in Rock Hill, NC. The products include Silk #100, #50, #30 and 1000 Denier, Silk Ribbons, Fine Metallic, Woolly Nylon, Variations, Pearl Crown Rayon, Candlelight, Jeans Stitch, Silk Floss and Jeans Stitch.
All of our cottons are purchased from the Egyptian Government who owns all the spinning mills in Egypt and are 100% Extra Long Staple Cotton. They are then brought to the US where more than 90% are dyed, finished and wound in SC, GA and NC depending on the color and process.
Our Designer 7 is a polyester serger thread manufactured in Mexico.

We also are the US importer for a line of products (Iris Embroidery Thread) from Mexico and Tentakulum Painter's Threads (an extensive line of hand painted natural fibers) from Germany.

Our Hand Quilting and Select threads are sent, after dyeing, to a facility in MA where a starch Glaze is applied. Our wooden spools are manufactured from Ash in NJ.
What is extra long staple Egyptian cotton?

Extra Long Staple Cotton by definition has fibers longer than 1 1/8" and though a small amount is grown in the US, Peru and India, we purchase our raw material from Egypt. Most cotton grown in the US is short staple cotton and does not make a quality sewing/quilting thread due the amount of lint (each end of each staple will create lint when it goes into and out of the fabric during the sewing process.) and the fact that the shorter the staple the more places there are where the thread is weaker. Longer staple fibers give a stronger finished product.


What does it mean glazed?
Most companies glaze with wax which means you should not put it in a sewing machine where we glaze with starch which adds the strength and wear resistance but will not harm a sewing machine.
There is a great brochure on the YLI site The Truth about Thread. I suggest you check it out, download it and print it for reference. There is also a chart with their thread on it and what needles to use with which thread.

What is Trilobal Polyester?
A tri-lobal Polyester literally has three lobes much like a three leaf clover. The lobes give the shine to the thread much like a rayon and so tri-lobal Polyesters are a good substitute for Rayon when one wants to be able to wash and bleach the finished product. Polyesters are also more resistant to light damage thus keep their color and shine longer than rayon's. Not every Polyester is a tri-lobal.

What is the main difference in using polyester over nylon?

Can I assume you mean the differences in the Monofilament Poly vs Nylon? YLI has manufactured a high quality Nylon Monofilament for more than 25 years. When we first began using monofilaments for quilting some companies sold basically a thin nylon fishing line that had not been engineered for sewing purposes as ours has been.
Today when you compare the Sulky or Superior Polyester to the Wonder Nylon Monofilament there is very little difference other than cost. (I cannot speak to other brands of Nylon or Polyester since we have not tested them in the lab) They all melt at approximately the same heat setting on the iron and yes, you can get an iron hot enough to melt them all. We know that our product has not yellowed or gotten brittle from the experience we have had with many well known quilters who have used the Wonder from the beginning. We have gotten tired of arguing the point and now have a Polyester that matches the other brands in quality. In general, you will pay at least twice as much for the Polyesters as you will for our Nylon so choose the one you prefer based on your own criteria!

Any tips on using the Mylar and Metallic thread?

The Mylar is flat while Metallic thread is round so the Metallic Needle was specifically designed with a rectangular eye to keep the mylar flat as it was sewn. This is the only time the Metallic Needle should be used unless no other choices are available. The best needle for the Metallic is an Embroidery Needle with an oval eye so that it will hold the thread in place and not allow it to move around from left to right and potentially cut the metal fiber that is wound in a spiral around the central filament. The biggest tip I can give for using Metallic or Mylar threads is to use a spun cotton or polyester in the bobbin. First the little texture on the spun fibers help hold the thread in place and second, if a filament polyester or Nylon is used in the bobbin it is often stronger than the core of the Metallic thread and will snap the core.
What is the difference in the weight sizes, what does the number indicate?
Most of the numbers on the spools are what someone at the company decided to name the thread with the exception of cottons.
Cottons are sold in a fixed length to weight measurement and so a 40 wt cotton has 40 hanks of cotton each 840 yds long to make a pound while a 60 wt cotton will have 60 hanks the same length. That is the first number you see on cotton. The second (ex 40/3ply or 60/2ply) is the number of those 40 or 60 wt cotton twisted together.
The higher the ply the stronger the thread and the more visually round it is. There are advantages to both 2 and 3 ply but all cottons are plied threads. Tex is another designation you will find today on many threads. It is a commercial length to weight measurement. One Tex= 1gram/1000meters and is rounded to the nearest 10 bracket thus you will find Tex 40, 50 etc. The actual size of the thread can vary greatly depending on how tightly it is twisted and what finishes are applied. Most of the domestic thread manufacturers put information on their websites regarding their threads and what needle sizes they recommend but the entire system is not standardized and very difficult to compare apples to apples.

What is your best seller?

Our Silk #100 and Machine Quilting Cottons are our best sellers. Unfortunately for us, many people using the Silk #100 are hand appliquers and are slow to use their threads!
That is not true, I use the #100 all the time to machine quilt with and I love it. It gives a fine and beautiful finish to the quilting.
I want to thank Jane for sharing so much information about YLI thread.