Monday, November 14, 2011

I did a little shopping while at the quilt show

on Saturday.  Two items an iron and a vibrating pillow for my back is being shipped.  Both items sold out at the show.  I will give you a report on both of those items when I have them and have tried them out to see if the show hype hold true.  At the show, the back pillow had me sitting in the chair and signing... ahhhhh.  The iron on the other hand hand my mouth dropping open with amazement at the seeming ease at which wrinkles disappeared from every kind of cloth and garments.  Since I do very little ironing of what I wear day to day, the prospect of how easy wrinkles could be gone from my hand dyed cloth was just too good to pass up.  I just want to say, for the price it had better work here in apartment 434 as well as it did at the show.
In the mean time... here is a look at the stuff that did come home with me on the bus.  There was a vendor at the Jacksonville Show that was selling these basket said to be made in Africa I didn't buy one then mainly because I have promised myself that if something did not have a use I would not buy it.  Between the last show and this one I decided that I could corral the long rulers I use at this table and save myself the step it takes to return them to the other side of the room.  So with a purpose in mind I brought it.
I've been aware of this brand of rotary cutters for a while, but I couldn't resist buying one this time because I took the time to stop and try it.  The Soft Fuse was new to me. The product was developed by Stacy of Shades the fabric dyer out of Atlanta who I meet on the quilt show circuit way back in the late 80's.  I was really happy to see her. 
Having been in on the developing stage of Misty Fuse and not liking the initial offering, I was in love with the Soft Fuse immediately.  It has the softest hand of any sheet adhesive on the market that I have tried to date and best of all for me is that it comes 36 inches wide.  I have something in mind for it's use but will hold that thought until I have tested it and only then will I tell you.  That is if it works for the purpose I brought a 3 yard roll of the stuff.
You would be amazed at how fast I can get through a quilt show and this one was no exception, but since I was on a bus with people I was in charge of I had to wait for all the others so to pass the time I spent a lot of time stopping at vendor booths and listening to sales pitches.  So at one of two booths filled with yarn I stopped long enough to listen and be tempted to buy one skein of yarn that when pulled open and knitted by picking up a loop at the top edge produces a very frilly lightweight scarf that is suitable to wear on milder temperature day here in Florida.  To pass the time I was tempted to buy a pair of knitting needles, find a quiet spot and begin knitting while at the show, but I didn't.  You can not image how many circular needles of every size I already have and to buy more was just "stupid" I told myself so I found a quiet spot outside in the courtyard and read a book on my Nook that I brought along for the ride down and back instead.  My debit card thanked me.
My friend Marti in Louisville asked that I send her a picture of how I attach a shop/trouble light to the stitch panel on the back of my Janome 6600P for added lamination.  I am using a 60 watt Feit brand daylight bulb which I buy at Walgreen's.  My aging eyes love the added light.  This set-up provides a larger area of light than some of those stick on goose neck light marketed for stitchers.  Best of all the daylight bulb give me better color detection for selecting threads as I stitch.
As you can see I have been quilting.  I stopped to do this entry because I just put in the last stitches on this piece a few minutes ago.
Will give you a look at it as soon as I block, crop and true it up.

1 comment:

Karoda said...

I have 2 shop lights that I love to use! and just picked up one at IKEA a few weeks ago with the long neck. Looks like you made wise buying decisions and one pretty pretty (basket) doesn't hurt if you enjoy looking at it!