More Scrappy Mind Tales

One of the tips that I teach in my Tips & Technique's Round Robin is to use a piece of thin plastic, put duck tape around the edges, and lay it on your quilt top.  Then you can use a dry erase marker to practice what you want to quilt on the block without having to rip out stitches.  You use a scrap piece of batting to erase your marks and try another design.  This is the sample that I use for my class.  You can see on the batting that I use a pink marker also...hehe.

Putting the tape on the edges keeps you from getting carried away and drawing onto your quilt top.....not a good thing.  Of course I like pink so my tape has always been HOT PINK duck tape.  I just love all of the new colors and patterns they make now days.  You can use any color that you like.

With that idea in mind you can also do the same thing with the dry erase markers on windows, mirrors etc.  I often leave my honey little messages in hot pink marker on his mirror in the morning.  I also use this to leave myself messages on the door so I can't miss it when I am leaving the house.  Below is the door to the outside from my quilting studio.  I just thought it was a good thing to remember today.

 Expo is the brand of dry erase markers that I've used and they come in a miriad of colors.  And you can't beat the price of the eraser....scrap batting.

I've tried out some different things with the Accuquilt today. First I tried the rectangle die on some scrap blue jeans I have in a basket to do a blue jeans quilt.  It cut right through six layers in a skinny minute.  I only tried 6 layers since it is much thicker than cotton fabric. 

Next I thought about the paper foundations that we use for piecing string blocks.  So I ripped out some pages from the phone book......you know that is the best use for those extra old outdated phone books, and I put them 10 layers thick through the die.  I don't even think it took 5 seconds to run through the machine and there I had 40 pages that we can piece string rectangles onto.  I think I will place these in a baggie with some strips, strings and chuncks and take them to mom tonight when we go for bee.  She loves piecing those string blocks.

 

Moving on to the next experiment,  I opened the box of strippy blocks that mom brought over.  I usually cut her pieces paper, she pieces away on the scraps then she brings back boxes of stripped blocks for me to square up for her.  She loves the mindless piecing of the strippy blocks.  I think it helps her keep her mind busy also.  So here is her box with some strips and squares  pieced.  I decided to see if I could cut some 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangles out of the strips she had pieced.

 

 Worked like a charm.......won't these babies look great in a scrappy border!

 

I think I better quit playing for a while and get my house picked up for all of the family coming in tomorrow morning for the funeral.  My neice Kelly, her husband Jerry and her children will be up in the morning.

 

Happy Quilting,

Shelia