Wednesday, March 23, 2011

How did my eyes get older than me?

  Yesterday I spent most of the day doing laundry and spring cleaning.. so that today I could spend all day in the sewing room.  I got up, made french toast for breakfast and got started.   First up was to work on my mug rug for the Modern Quilt Guild swap.  I made 3 and didn't like the first 2 , so third time must be a  charm mug rug.  And it's bound and ready to go..


Amy Butler Midwest Modern
 And our guild put out an incentive to make One Star for Moda..   There is talk of a prize drawing if you bring it to the meeting... so I pulled out some of my stash and finished this off..




Remember the last meeting of the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild?  I saw a demo on hand piecing..   and all the way out to the other house I kept thinking...and thinking... maybe I could do that?  Maybe I could do Denyse Schmidts Single Girl pattern?  So....I got on Etsy and ordered the pattern here and got free shipping.  It's not a cheap pattern so free shipping was a bonus.  I wondered why it was so much more expensive than other patterns I have purchased and when it came I fully understood.  It contains full size pattern pieces and a full size pattern sheet for the quilting plus very well written instructions.   Today I traced all the templates from A to EE, cut them out of template plastic, traced them onto the fabric and cut them out... I pinned them to a piece of batting in the order they are to be pieced...  This is only the first quarter of the block..  Marsha gave us a list of the items she used and since she does beautiful hand piecing I decided to start with the right stuff and bought #60 weight thread in white as that will be my background fabric, #10 applique needles cause that's what she uses but I didn't buy a little automatic threader cause I have those red ones ( like in the photo) that I use all the time for embroidery but really how hard can it be to thread a needle?

Fabric is Central Park

So I have my fabric, pins, thread, needle..  First problem crops up immediately.. I can't thread the needle.  That hole is tiny, tiny, tiny...  So out comes the red threader that I use with my embroidery.  Nope..the needle threader won't go into the eye either. 

look how tiny that eye is

 I guess I am stuck until I get that automatic needle threader. I guess my eyes are older than the rest of me?  So anyone have a favorite automatic needle threader they use?  I emailed Marsha and am waiting for an answer, but I am not the most patient person in the world. I really would like to start this project before it becomes a UFO....  This just in...Marsha uses a CLOVER brand automatic needle threader.  I will be shopping online tonight..

Nancy

6 comments:

StitchinByTheLake said...

Nancy that whole eye thing happened to me quite a while ago. :( I've tried several needle threaders but the best I've found for the small eyes are the ones that are pretty cheap at Hancocks or maybe JoAnns. I don't have a JoAnns so I'm not sure about them. The part you hold is a hard plastic. When you pull the thread through hold the wire to pull, not the hard plastic, or the wire will pull completely out and it will be ruined. I've ruined many....millions. I buy them in multiples now. I tried the kind that sits on your table top and you put the needle in it and push the button but if the eye is really small that doesn't work well. Good luck! And by the way, the next thing you need to know that your need for more light grows and grows and grows for every year you get older. I'm thinking of adding those football field lights in my den. :) blessings, marlene

Nancy Page said...

Love the fabrics you are using for your Single Girl pattern. I totally understand about the eye of the needle. Needle threaders work great for those small eyes on the small needles.

Have a super great sewing day.

Pat said...

I've had a Clover automatic needle threader for awhile and like it, but I try to use needles with bigger eyes if I can get away with it. Good luck with your hand-piecing project!

Splendorfalls said...

I think I've seen that Clover threader at Joann's for sure!

I am so impressed by hand sewing and thusly by your efforts; can't wait to see how it turns out (perfect I'm sure!)

Central Park is going to look fabulous with that pattern! Woot!

ps. Love that Third Times the MugRug MugRug!

Cindy said...

Your Single Girl quilt is going to be awesome! Love that Central Park! I keep being tempted to join in :) Pretty mug rug too!

Unknown said...

the Clover brand needle threader is AMAZING...I keep mine in my sewing kit at all times!!! If you don't get one by the next meeting let me know and I'll show you mine!! My mom sells them at her store if you want one :) www.sunflower-quilts.com