Holidaze!!

MUCH MORE sewing was accomplished at Karen’s yesterday! I finished up and trimmed my yellow string blocks and de-papered them!

And yes, that is MY "Troll Sister" right there with my blocks! Last year when I visited Sharon near KC, MO....in our antique jaunts, I found a whole BAG of trolls ((For $10.00-- bargain of the century!!))...and brought them home to hand out to my bee. So when we get together, the Trolls have to come too! I think I have a picture of them SOMEWHERE....

Here we go! I found it!

I played with these trolls when I was little…I envied my Aunt’s collection of them…..seeing these brings back my childhood! Fun Stuff….So back to the sewing part!

Now, every time I post about using phone book pages for my foundations and actually taking the TIME to REMOVE THE PAPER ((Oh gasps, and horrors!!)) I get comments asking why I don’t use muslin, or why not use thin interfacing…or….have I heard about this nifty trick about using dryer sheets as foundation?

We all have our own way to do things. My big thing is that I don’t want BULK. There are a LOT of seams, because I use some really skinny stuff in my string blocks.

The only thing the phone book paper is there for is to add a bit of stability, and it gives me a size to shoot for…so I know where I can use my longest scrap strips, and where I can use the smaller ones, and finally using left over crumbs and triangles for those corners.

Not all my strips and strings have straight edges…and that’s another good reason for having the paper there…I can lay things at an angle and sew, or put a straight piece on top of a curved or raggedy piece and the shape of the paper helps me still keep things in the direction I want to go.

I don’t use dryer sheets for a couple of reasons. They shrink if the iron is as hot as I want it to be, and I get residue all over the bottom of my iron. I have to be careful with fragrances, some give me migraines, and yes I know there are “unscented” dryer sheets, but there is still residue, and I am limited to the size of the dryer sheet. Do I want to sew them together to get a foundation big enough just so I don’t have to remove it later? Doesn’t thrill me. :c)

And the laundry product I like to use best is that Purex 3-in-1 sheet that goes from the washer to the dryer, and it is more like a curvy sheet of poly batting with soap in it! LOL! Do I want to string piece to these? Nope! But Jeff did tell me once that I should zig zag them together and use them for a batting…..uhhhhh….no thanks, son!

Phone book paper is free. It stitches easily. It doesn’t melt. It has no perfume. It removes with ZERO effort…..I just make sure my stitch length is set very small so that it is easy to remove.

I don't have any "ink transfer" problems because I use OLD phone books...and I don't use steam in my iron. I iron with the tip of the iron just on the seam....I'm not mashing the whole block, I just want that seam to be flat and crisp ---the tip along the seam works great for me.

And I like to trim up my units and remove all my paper BEFORE I sew the units together, this way there is not also paper in the seam allowance, and additional stitching that crosses the seams.

Once I get the paper out of there, it is as simple as doing regular patchwork. Once the blocks are pieced, I don’t need a foundation in there.

And my final reason for using phone book pages, or reject printer paper, or deli wrappers….or…..left over cruise flyers from the cruise that Pat Sloan and I are doing in November--- Yes Pat! I’ve been using our faces as foundation too! LOL! Is because I like to hand quilt many of my smaller projects.

Do I want foundation in anything that I’m going to hand quilt? Nope. It doesn’t need to be there. There is no reason to have extra fabric, extra weight, extra fragrance, extra ANYTHING beneath the strings once they are pieced.

I even LIKE the process of removing the paper! If you do it the way that paper is removed from a notebook…start at one edge and remove it from one seam, then loosen the next edge by running your finger under the paper to lift it from the seam, and remove that piece, then loosen the next edge, etc…it’s really fast!

We’ve had a busy morning Chez Quiltville --- We’ve painted Jeff’s room! It looks so much better! I’ll have some pics of that experience to post later, but right now Hubster and I are thinking it’s a great day for a matinee movie and a big bucket of popcorn!

When it gets THIS hot out in there….we hunker down and STAY IN! Not sure what’s playing…I’m on my way to go found out and decide --- Do you think there is a chick flick I can get away with?!