Tag: notions

12 Days of Needful Things…Day 5!

12 Days of Xmas Ornaments 5DAY 5- ALL CREATIVE GRID RULERS

We have ordered new souvenir rulers with Primitive Gatherings on them for shows and again for you to give as gifts to your stitching buddies…We quilters love to share our finds and I believe we just love to “give”.  It makes us feel good when we give a handmade quilt to someone special.  It also makes us feel good to give everyone a little something who is going to retreat with us or coming to our house to stitch.  A lot of this years needful things would be fitting as well as affordable for this kind of giving. This is a great deal at $6.98 each…PG SOUVENIR RULERFullSizeRender

One of the things that really bothered me this year was the rulers my students were using in class.  Now I’m not trying to “pick” on anyone here, but just need to make a point.  If you are using some of the rulers you bought 20 years ago when you first starting quilting you may want to replace them…I used someones that I could barely see the numbers…I had some that had these thick ridges for marking lines, I swear they were 1/8″ thick and so on, several classes in several places I had a difficult time using their rulers….

Now here’s the main point.  You can prepare your fabrics with starch and pre-shrink and stiffen them…you can stitch with the correct weight and best thread out there, you can have the perfect scant 1/4″ seam allowance, BUT if you cannot cut accurately it’s all a BUST!  Make it easier on yourself to cut, its much more enjoyable with an easy to read ruler with fine or dashed lines to see your fabric when cutting…

I am putting all of our Creative Grid rulers on sale for 25% off.  I believe they are the best rulers out there and (can only be purchased at quilt shops)with the no slip grip built in! So visit this area of our site and see all the rulers and descriptions RULERS… you can order any size or tool ruler we carry…My favorite sizes are 8 1/2″x 24 1/2″—-20 1/2″x 20 1/2″square—-6 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ and then 3 1/2″ x 12 1/2″and of course my PG 3×7 and 6×6 itty bitty eights which feature 1/8″ markings.  If you want to learn more about the Itty Bitty’s click HERE…so here is your chance to get a second set or replace some of those older rulers… I also think the 6 1/2″, 9 1/2″ and 12 1/2″squares are all must haves too, I hate it when I’m at the lakehouse and I needed a 9 1/2″ ruler to square up my appliqué blocks and they were at home, so I’m making sure I have everything I need in all my stitching spots!!!  All rulers except the souvenir one will be show up 25% off in your cart…The souvenir is always at an amazing price because we want you all to have one!

By now you should all know the drill about commenting and holding and whatever, I can’t wait to see who all the winners are!!! Comment and tell me today if you are all done with you holiday prep or are you still buying? or what all has to be done yet!!!

I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am doing it for you, I love reading all your comments!…It will be football and hand stitching day today…I frosted half my cookies last night and will do the rest today…Nick stinks at frosting cookies!!! So he was no help…

This was the update yesterday at the house…IMG_4741The lakehouse sits at the end of a private road…that grey garage behind the red trailer is ours too. We purchased the lakehouse in 2012 and have had wonderful times here with family and friends, but now its time to live here full-time …we have a irregular huge lot, that has lake frontage and channel frontage, its like a huge L  …so to the left of the house is the lakeIMG_4742…straight ahead is the channel and the lake on the other side of that too.. You can see that the lake is just now starting to freeze…it  was windy and cold so I didn’t go around to take a pic of the channel view..later…but here is what happened yesterday… IMG_4743Most of you will “like” this…it is a small office in back of the kitchen, it goes to the mudroom and on to the doggie room…yes…Presley and Jeter will have their own room…and their OWN couches!!! Our house was custom designed to be exactly 58 1/2 feet away from the lake at every point.  We were about 30 feet from the lake at the closest point before and now we have used every possible sq.foot and still be in compliance. Every one of those corners are the farthest we could go…I’ll post the back views at a different time.. but some you asked for the lay of the land…lol…Oh…I almost forgot the best part…above the garage is my sewing studio!!!  Take care..IMG_4744

 

 

 

 

 

lisabongean225 Comments

12 Days of Needful Things…Day 7!

12 Days of Xmas Ornaments 7DAY 8 A COUPLE OF SEWING NOTIONS

There are always little sewing notions being developed or re colored so here are the NEW items we found this year that we think are worth having…

Super Shears Minis…IMG_4723These little cute scissors are adorable as well as sharp and very functional.  I would consider these great for stitching, on the road and not risking bringing your “good” scissors, when you need a thread snipper.  I wouldn’t want to cut out my wool shapes with them.  They also make cute little gift for stitching friends and when you need little trinkets for a quilting get together…when the MODA girls came to the retreat house…they introduced these to me.IMG_4724

Here is the official description…Super Shears Mini. Miniature sized scissors that are fun & safe. The highest quality, sharpest little shears you will ever own. Cuts nails, cardboard, woven labels, cords & elastic. Comes with a protective sheath attachmnent which won’t get lost. I’m thinking the nails are finger nails….and thread..how about thread? that’s all I want to cut with them!!! So maybe this is the scissors you should throw in the junk drawer, so they(loved ones) don’t hunt down your good scissors…or when you have to cut those plastic thingys off of everything made now days…this can do it!!!

We are selling these in a set of three (yes, we think you need three)…as shown.. They are normally $2.79 each…now just $6.oo for the set. Super Shears

The next notion is the Seam Fix Ripper…Yes we had this one before in the 12 days so why am I offering this one again??? They come in NEW colors!!!!IMG_4725

Let me tell you I LOVE this ripper…and that rubber end to pull out the loose ripped threads…AMAZING…of coarse mine doesn’t get much use as I rarely make mistakes! LOL…I hope you don’t believe that?  You would think that the more years we’ve been stitching the less mistakes you would make? right? That be a No…Don’t think you are the only one who sews the wrong sides together, or messes up a block and only after you done the final press do you notice you turned something…right at the beginning??? We ALL do it…what you need to do especially when stitching with others is not make such a big deal out of it when you do something “stupid” then no one notices…    The deal on the ripper reg. $6.79 is $5.44 or 2 for $10…I need at least 2 of them in each of my sewing spaces because…I’ts never where it should be!!!  We will pick you a random colors, because they come in a box of like 6 of each color or something like that…if you ALL want purple what are we to do???? see our delima?  So it will be a surprise which color you get!!!  Order your RIPPER here. I just noticed Judi has the old pic of the rippers on the site… you will get the new colors…

Again…remember to place HOLD in the COMMENT section of your ORDER…please try not to put it in the comment section of the blog…I have to send them to the shop  and I don’t want one to get missed. We need it on the order itself to make sure they are processed correctly…I know some of you are new to 12 days…and I want to make sure you are happy with our promotion.

and… Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for ordering everyday so we can get the correct numbers ordered ahead of shipping day…Jake appreciates it too as he can work on pin bowls now instead of between Christmas and New Years…

Here is the panto info from the Christmas quilt I showed the other day…no worries…I didn’t ignore you on purpose…IMG_4717

I don’t have much to share today so I’ll say a little about our house we are building…I see some of you are asking about it…First…the house will not be like my Menasha house (which we will be selling in Spring/Summer) which is warm and cozy…We will be going lighter, airier and a bit more modern…but we will still have lots of vintage and reclaimed/primitive accents…But my whole color scheme will change from reds, browns and blacks to blues, greys, white/creams, and old yellow…..think Lakeside Gatherings fabrics!!!

We are in several different stages…The wall painting just has finished up and the tile floors are starting to go in (which is super exciting than just seeing sticks and stones) as well as the reclaimed wood floor in our kitchen will be delivered today…I fought hard for a real beat up looking floor…everyone is afraid your going to call them back and say…my floor has big gaps in it..or whatever…I want that…I want my dogs to be able to scratch it up and it not be a OOOHHH NOOO…so I promised my wood floor guy he would not be hearing me complain about anything!!!  There will be nothing shiny or sparkly in this house…no chandeliers or crystals things…just not my style…there will be signs that a quilter lives in it…herringbone and hex tiles…I’m making the quilted patchwork fabric to cover my window bench in the dining room…

The outside still does not have the siding up! The company who was hired I guess the main foremen quit and went on their own…now the owner is sitting with no experienced guy to run the crew…so we are waiting for a different company to fit us in their schedule…bummer cause it was sooooo nice here…now our siding guys will have to work in the snow and cold probably…and NO we do not have any snow yet…

Every night when Nick and I go out it is dark, its hard to see what the colors of paint are on the walls.  So today I may sneak out of work early and go…I need to run around and pay some people $$$, for rugs and wall tiles, and extra cool knobs in some places that aren’t in the budget!!  I’m beginning to dislike the word budget….When you build a sewing studio, the builder does not alway figure in the “budget” what you really want. I don’t even want to tell you how much my sewing studio put us over on our cabinet budget! But no one can even deny me what I want in that room…because we all know why!!!!   I was watching some HGTV last night before bed and they were flipping kitchens for $8,000?…in CA?…now no way is that even close to what we pay here in WI for some of that stuff!!!They would flip a whole house for $40,000, so I was kinda laughing at the whole thing…here is what we saw last night…the master bath tile floor.IMG_4716

I somehow feel the need to share a few things that maybe you don’t know about Nick and I…we help many family and friends out…we live well below our means…We came from working class families where both parents worked very hard.  Our parents knew each other back in the day…Our Dads both drove stock cars…I think my Dad won more races though…lol…sorry Nick…We met while working 12 hour swing shift in a paper mill, we both have been working since age 14 both at supper clubs washing dishes.  We are both from small town which are next to each other…so we are alike…Please, I ask.. if it offends you that I am building a new house…please keep your comments to yourself…Most of you are happy for our success and want to know about the house and I’m happy to share some things with you but when you put yourself and your personal life out there, there are some who feel the need to crash your party with some ugly comments. I am writing about the Lakehouse because all of you who follow me know it is special to me…You know about the ANCHOR…you know why I need to be there all the time…so hopefully by reading this those of you who are NEW know that we are not a bunch of spoiled brats who’ve been handed everything…When we were shopping around for a builder one of them blew me off at more than one parade of homes event.  I’m sure because by looking at me in my jeans and sweatshirt he didn’t think I could afford him.  I can’t wait to only have to take care of 1 house instead of 2, and Nick will be able to fish everyday, like I get to stitch everyday!!! It is our time to build our forever home. 

My best…LB

 

lisabongean194 Comments

Day 2…Needful things for quilters…

2 days


Day 2…Circle Templates…and the best marking pen…PT-105(225)wb

Circle templates are very useful and I mostly use them to trace circles onto fusible web instead of trying to trace them from the pattern…I will take my template, figure out what size circle the pattern is using then trace the circles using the template instead of the pattern…You cannot cut  perfect circles if they are not drawn perfect first…and let’s make a point here…there are no perfect circles in my world, but I try  to get them as nice as possible and the circle template does this…

Another use for the circle template is to draw a circular line on your wool penny and then stitch to it!…so your stitches are not random all over the place…See my photos and descriptions below:

Look for circle templates at your local shops or at office supply stores or if you don’t want to bother we will have them on sale here too!   Circle Template

See how my pennies are prepped and ready to stitch?I will stitch to the white marking.
See how my pennies are prepped and ready to stitch?  I will stitch to the white marking.
IMG_1542
See how this penny does not have a nice circle in the middle??? This is why I started marking a circle in the center to stitch to…
All stitched up...not perfect but better than just winging it!!!
All stitched up…not perfect but better than just winging it!!!Here are some examples of something I am currently stitching on…see how this might be a big help?  

I know I could go on with this Needful things for awhile..but I will sneak a couple in…like this marking pen,  it is from Clover…it is liquid chalk…it irons away when you are finished…It does not just rub off like the Sewline white chalk pen does and then I have to remark…I do not like doing things twice…now if I was hand quilting on my frame I would like the Sewline white chalk pen because it would rub off while I am quilting the next rows…and I would not have to remove it…But when I have marked on my wool project I want those lines to stay until I have to remove them…with the Clover it is done easily with steam…

One more thing about the

Clover white liquid chalk marking pen…if you are unfamiliar with it, you may not think it is working…It is a liquid chalk,  you have to lightly roll it on, like a gel pen.  Do not press really hard or the liquid chalk will not come out…You also have to kind of  move it back and forth to get it going and make sure it is marking…then remember it is liquid…it needs time to dry, then you can see the chalk!!! So sometimes you don’t notice it, but then when it dries it is like Oh! there it is…I suggest to play with it when you first get it to see how it works… Here is the marking pen…it will be 25% off automatically if purchased after Christmas for however many we have in stock… Click here for the Clover marking pen: Marking Pen

These 12 posts have been my Holiday Gift to YOU!!!   Now…I know some of you have asked me many questions in your comments …if I did not answer it is probably because there is no pattern, or the answer was in my post, you might not have read it all the way through…I love that fact that you ALL are enjoying this and that is was worth my time and effort…If I did not get an answer and you still need one, please email me and I will answer you…but this time of year is the problem…If I continued to do posts of these Needful things I would have no stitching time!…but I do promise to blog more and Utube is in my future…my goal is to stay home more…I LOVE to teach but it is really hard being on the road…so if I can “teach” from my blog and Utube videos this will make a difference in the quality of my life and for all of you too!!!

Please tell your friends about my blog, my shop  and my Moda fabrics and so on..Pin my stuff on Pinterest as long as it links back to my site or my blog post…if you are unsure about this figure it out it isn’t hard….this is the best compliment you can give me is to spread the word about Primitive Gatherings….I so appreciate you actually reading these posts and commenting,…Keep in mind…I am not a gadget person…I only buy things if they are useful to me and if they make my quilting better…say for instance the binding tool…I don’t use any of them…I can put a binding on perfect without a tool…I don’t carry lots notions in my shop if I don’t need/use them…so I don’t have every gadget under the sun on my site or in my store,  just so I can sell them and make a buck…only things I think are NEEDFUL will I endorse or explain why you have to have one of these…with a few exceptions of course like earrings!!!

Please make sure you watch those Utube videos when they start appearing in 2013…

Now today’s winner from Yesterdays post is: Comment 108…  Arnett…please email me your address so we can hook you up with all three of these new Kit & Project keepers…printed with your favorite shop’s logo!..lol…They are 8×10, 18×20 and 20×20!  See them on our site here:  Kit Keepersproject tote

Arnette JaspersonDecember 23, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Sure wish you were closer Lisa. I love your whole concept of quilting and Christmas!!

lisabongean169 Comments