Don’t you hate it when someone tells you NO!!

I had that happen this past week, but that NO helped me to move forward on something really hard.

Let me explain…..

I had been contracted to give a guild program for the Gwinnett County Quilters Guild.  The program was called “Size Matters”.

Now, I have presented this talk before, but the last time was four years ago.  It talked about how to make quilts larger or smaller using sashing and/or borders and how to think about ratios for art quilts.

As I started reacquainting myself with it, I kept thinking….

THIS IS SO BORING!!

I wrestled with it all weekend and was so discouraged.  I finally contacted the program chairman the day before and asked if I could change the topic and do one of my other programs.

She never really said “NO”, but she explained why she had picked the talk in the first place, and I knew that I couldn’t change it.

But something wonderful happened.   After I chatted with her, I started coming up with idea, after idea, after idea!!

I asked myself, “Where does SIZE matter in quilting……

How about seam allowances….how can I achieve a perfect 1/4-inch …..

How about 2-block quilts…..how can I design them….

What about how I can space quilting designs into a border…

I shared the size struggle with making “Catherine Wheel of color”….

I talked about my Bamboo quilt and how I turned it from a large boring top…..

To a smaller, but much better quilt….

All in all, the new talk is SO good, and I think it could become one of my favorites.

ALL BECAUSE LINDA SAID “NO”!!

One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

There are times when stitching in the ditch is the best way to quilt a project.

You are happily quilting along, and then…….

….your stitching jumps right out of that ditch, and suddenly an ugly line of stitches shows.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I pull out a Fabrico marker….

….and color in those offending stitches…..

AHHHH….much better…..

And yes, I did get a slight smear of red onto the white fabric, but that shows less than the white stitches did!!

How do you handle this situation??

I almost always wear quilting gloves when I am doing free-motion quilting and find them VERY helpful.

However, when I clip threads and try to dispose of them, they often stick to the glove, leaving me shaking my hand trying to dislodge them, while trying NOT to sling them all over the room!

Then I had an idea…..

What if I took an unused plastic box and wound masking tape around it with the sticky side out…..

….so that it looks like this…..

Now, when I have threads stuck to my glove, I can simply touch them to the masking tape and…..

…..OFF THEY COME!!

When I filled both sides with threads, I cut off the tape…..

…and tossed it in the trash!!

OH MY….this was SO helpful!!

BUT, then I got to thinking even harder…..

…. and wondered if a simple lint roller wouldn’t accomplish the same thing!!

And, IT WORKED.

Once the roller was full of threads…..

…. I simply tore off the sticky sheet…..

…and it was ready to go again!!

The lint roller doesn’t hold as many threads before it loses stickiness, but it is certainly easier.

Will you try either of these?