6 Sewing tools that make life easier

Where would we be without an Unpicker (Quick Unpick), would we still be using snips or scissors?

How would I manage without my rotary cutter (s) - one for paper, one for fabric and one spare because I can never find them in the mess. Of course then I need the plastic ruler to go with it.

Cutting mat - can't do without that, I use it for cutting fabric and paper. At the moment I am making class samples for The Embroiderers Great Escape 2017. It does seem an awful long way away at the moment but they need pictures for the brochure and publicity.

SewEzi Table - allows me to drop my sewing machine down into the table which helps move flat projects easily under the machine. I've got two of these tables now and I find it hard to work without them. I take one to classes and leave one set up in my sewing room ready to go.

I've got 2 different sewing machines, a Juki and a Bernina 550 so I have separate table inserts for each machine and now that I have two  tables I can have both set up at once and not have to keep changing thread when swapping from quilting to costuming projects. The SewEzi table folds flat to go in the car and was designed in New Zealand.

Walking Foot for the sewing machine
I use it for quilting my quilts, sewing on bindings and for slippery fabrics or ones which move like velvet. I don't think I could manage without it these days.

Gardening gloves
I use these to give me more grip when I'm machine quilting, the brand I use are fabric on the back of the hands and rubbery on the palms. I buy them from my local supermarket and the brand name is Showa.

Donate to a textile cause!

We are getting close to our goal of getting freight money to get our Textile show to the UK for the three Knitting and Stitching shows but are stalled at 80%. Can anyone help us get to goal? We have about $600 and 10 days to go. If we don't get there, we lose all the money that has been pledged so far, as it never gets taken out of the donors accounts.
There is a tax credit for donations of over $5 for donations from New Zealand. Thankyou to all those who have already donated.

Boosted Appeal for New Zealand Textile to get to the Knitting and Stitching Show

Here is a detail of one of my pieces going to the show. It was made by sewing shapes on the back of the fabric (raw edged appliqué) then running dyes and pigments from cups at the top. In this piece I have added a backing layer to see what would happen if I turned it into a 3 layered 'quilt'.

Detail of Harvest

Judging quilts and fixing dyes

About once or twice a year I'm asked to judge a quilt show and last week I was one of two judges for for the Canteen Quilt Challenge.
Canteen is a charity which works with kids who have cancer and their siblings. Each year they raise money by selling bandannas and this year Canteen Manawatu initiated a challenge to make quilts using Canteen bandannas. The range of quilts was extraordinary and pretty amazing considering how bright and 'in your face' the bandannas are. The quilts ranged from extremely subtle to woah! There were 4 sections to judge, the Open section, Secondary school, Primary school and Special Needs student section.
Its always difficult to choose the top 3 quilts in each category, there are always some that get left out that should really have won a prize but between the two of us we were pretty well in agreement over the prize winners.
Canteen is keen to run this challenge again and if I'm not the judge I can enter the competition. After seeing the amazing range of quilts this year, I'm looking forward to the next show.

Here are a few favourites but my camera hasn't done them justice.

Open section quilts with the winner and 2nd prizewinner in the middle at the top.

The winner of the Secondary school section

My pojagi style wallhangings recently flew back from the exhibitions in the UK and now I'm fixing the dyes by running dilture soda ash solution down the front of them. I never have any idea of how they will turn out after the dyes are fixed, as the road ash change the patterns by running wherever it wants.
This is before fixing the dyes

before fixing the dyes

Soda ash starting to spread.

I'm doing this today, as this week I'm getting new carpet in my sewing room/studio and don't want dye going everywhere.  I ripped out carpet and underlay and then found carpet tiles underneath all that. No wonder the carpet felt squishy. The old carpet is a danger to anyone who touches it as it has 20 years of pins and needles stuck in it. When rolled up, they poke out like hedgehog quills. I really wanted to have lino put down on the floor to make it safe from pins but the carpet tile backing is still stuck to the floor and impossible to remove so I've had to go for an industrial nylon carpet with very little pile.