Friday, August 29, 2008

Choosing Quilting Thread

When you live in the country away from any close shopping areas you learn to make do with what you have on hand sometimes. (It is at least an hour drive to any quilt shop and then they don't carry all the threads that I like. End up going to Grand Island which is an hour and 20 minutes away or to Lincoln which is an hour and 45 minutes away if I need specific thread or fabrics. Needless to say I need to have a bigger shopping list than just thread to travel that far.) That is the case this time when I looked through my threads to find what I wanted to use to quilt this quilt I am now calling - "Waiting for Halloween"
I have read of quilters using silk thread for their machine quilting so am giving it a try. I had the perfect shade of YLI Silk #100 http://www.ylicorp.com/YLIProducts.html thread to match the background behind the applique in my thread stash that I usually use for hand applique. I stipple quilted plus used it to outline the applique and to quilt on the pumpkin, flowers and leaf. I really like how the thread almost disappears into the background but when you look close you can see it.
I am using Bottom Line thread from Superior Threads http://www.superiorthreads.com/ in my bobbin and that is working great too. I am now a convert from using all cotton thread I think. The last few pieces I have quilted using Bottom Line have turned out wonderful and it really is nice that the tension stays so good - the top threads are not pulled to the bottom or the bottom threads being pulled to the top. They stay where they belong so I can change colors of top thread and you would never know it by looking at the back of my quilt. Click on the pictures to get a larger view of what has been quilted so far.
This morning right before noon I started quilting on the corner motifs in orange thread. (Will show a photo of that maybe tomorrow) I am using 100% cotton 50/3 Mettler thread http://www.amefird.com/mettler.htm as I wanted a little thicker thread so it would show up better. I do happen to have some orange silk thread but oped not to use that this time.
Not sure what thread I will use for the cat but since I don't have any black silk am thinking of using black 100% cotton 2 ply DMC machine embroidery thread that I have on hand.
Am posting this on a break from quilting. I tend to get tense when I am machine quilting and forget to relax and breath, another habit I am trying to break. The computer is in the same room as the sewing machine so just hop from one chair to another for my breaks.
Guess it is time to "hop" back to my quilting now.
Lynn

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