"Drat", says newbie...

Ceridwen wrote:

Welcome Jean B. You certainly came to the right place for inspiration. The
knowledge this group has, it's phenomenal. I'm always learning something.
For the record, quilting is contagious! ;o) In no time, you'll have a
chocolate and/or licorice stash as well as fabric (if you don't already have
one!). Have fun!

I have the chocolate but not the licorice. (I THINK I'm
trying to take off weight.) I tend to collect a lot of what
I'm into, so I fear the amount of fabric I'm going to end up
with. I guess I should figure out how much of each kind of
fabric I need to get....

--
Jean B.

Jean B. wrote:
I have a feeling I will start by hand and then decided I have to tame a
machine. My 15-y-o daughter sews some on her grandmother's old Necchi
(sp?). I would want something REALLY basic. But then even as I type
that I think that might be a mistake if I really get into these things....
There is nothing wrong with a really basic machine. If all you are going
to do is patchwork and quilting, that is all you really need. You can do
a lot with a simple straight stitch machine, though you probably want at
least a basic zigzag stitch. Some of the old Singers (pre-1960 or so)
are really good machines and can sometimes be found at garage sales or
thrift stores for very reasonable prices; I picked up a Singer 401 for
$7 at a garage sale earlier this year, though finding something like
that at that price is a bit unusual. The nice thing about the old
Singers (outside of their reliability and durability) is that there are
still enough of them around so that it is relatively easy to get parts
and feet for them. I bought a walking foot and free motion quilting foot
for my Singer on e-bay. Sewing machine dealers are also a good source
for used machines, because a lot of people trade in a machine when they
buy a new one. I would recommend buying a good used machine rather than
a cheap new one from a discount-type store, though I know some people
have been happy with some of the inexpensive machines.

Julia in MN


--
This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus

http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/

Oh if it's dark chocolate I'll leave that for the other raiders. lol. I'm
not much of a dark chocolate person. Give me milk chocolate any day.

You're a braver soul than I am. I absolutely love hand dyed fabric. It's my
weakness as far as fabric goes. I just haven't had the courage to try it
yet. I haven't had the courage to try paper piecing either. But one of these
days I'll do both. So good luck and let me know how your hand dyes come out.

Mika

"Jean B." wrote in message
...

Not my chocolate!!!! I have a chocolate stash.... DARK
chocolate.... I'm a chocoholic.... It will take a while to
accrue nice cloth though. I did just pick up the last
supplies to try out the methods in "Color by Accidental", so
we'll see what happens. (Since everything I read said one
should use a mask when dyeing, I decided to take that advice.)

--
Jean B.

AHA!!!! Another cookbook collector. I have been collecting cookbooks for
almost 30 years. I finally had to sort through them and pack some of the
lesser used ones away. I used to collect recipes from newspapers, magazines
and all sort of stuff but I was getting overrun with that too so I quit
that. I just stick with the cookbooks now.

As far as space to quilt, I have everything set up in my basement. When the
last kid moved out DH and I decided to move my stuff from the tiny spare
bedroom to the basement so that I have more room. With a baby crib in there
it was just too crowded. Our daughter and her baby have moved back home with
us now so that room is even more crowded. lol. At least I don't have to give
up my basement though.

Mika

"Jean B." wrote in message
...

Eeek! I already collect cookbooks and am being run out of
house and home by them. I think I need to get organized....
How many of you have good spaces to quilt in? I don't have an
extra room, alas, and am planning on commandeering part of the
livingroom.

I'm going to have to save all of these great suggestions
(alluding to yours and those from others). Thanks!
--
Jean B.

You have a quite lovely room to create your masterpieces in Sandy. And
masterpieces they are. BTW, how is my little buddy doing? I'm hoping the
NBAA will be in Vegas next year. If it is, you know what that means?!!!
Another meetup and trip to that wonderful quilt shop. There were only 3
locations that had convention centers large enough to handle a convention of
this magnitude. They were Orlando, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Well Katrina
took New Orleans off the list so that leaves Orlando and Vegas. It was
supposed to be in NO last year but had to be moved to Orlando and it's
already scheduled for Orlando this year. Hopefully that means it will be in
Vegas again next year.

Hugs,
Mika

"Sandy Foster" wrote in message
...

In the house we had in Arizona before moving here, I had a sewing
*closet*, Jean -- you do what you have to do. G Now I have a room --
it's not very big, just a spare bedroom -- small -- that I appropriated
when we moved here. G Other people have lovely big studios. drool
But as long as we can quilt, we're happy.
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education

In article ,
"Mika" wrote:

You have a quite lovely room to create your masterpieces in Sandy. And
masterpieces they are.

Gosh, thanks, Kim!

BTW, how is my little buddy doing?

Which little buddy are you asking about? Dexter is fine, though he's
developed a thryroid condition like me. G You may not have been around
last November when Tuppence's liver suddenly failed and she went to the
Rainbow Bridge. I miss her so much!

I'm hoping the
NBAA will be in Vegas next year. If it is, you know what that means?!!!

Yup! VBG

Another meetup and trip to that wonderful quilt shop. There were only 3
locations that had convention centers large enough to handle a convention of
this magnitude. They were Orlando, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Well Katrina
took New Orleans off the list so that leaves Orlando and Vegas. It was
supposed to be in NO last year but had to be moved to Orlando and it's
already scheduled for Orlando this year. Hopefully that means it will be in
Vegas again next year.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.


--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education

In article , "Jean B."
wrote:

I have a feeling I will start by hand and then decided I have
to tame a machine. My 15-y-o daughter sews some on her
grandmother's old Necchi (sp?). I would want something REALLY
basic. But then even as I type that I think that might be a
mistake if I really get into these things....


And you're probably right about that, Jean. If you do get a machine, you
need to get one that has everything you think you could possibly use.
All of them will do very basic stuff, so you could limit yourself to
those functions at first. But you'd soon want to do some of the other
stuff....
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

AKA Dame Sandy, Minister of Education

Howdy!

Jean B, JoAnn's *is* having a sale,
and/but-- they'll have another! g
And they'll have 40% discount coupons, esp. after you sign up on
their mailing list (I get them at my home addy and p.o.box);
they've even been printing those coupons in the Sunday newspapers!
So, don't blow your budget before you know what you want
(I said "want", not "need"); another sale is just hours away. G

Mat: the green one, Olfa:
http://olfablades.stores.yahoo.net/cuttingmats.html
I've used Olfa for 15-20 yrs, no problems. The cutters,
the acrylic rulers, all that fun stuff.
I also like the O'Lipfa (for long cuts) & Optima rulers
for "squaring up" the edges of the blocks & quilts.
Mats & rulers are an investment, tho',
no need to buy ALL of them at once. g

You're new to quilting; you'll get there.
Meanwhile, a wonderful FREE resource is the public library;
most have a varied selection of quilting books; check it out. g

Good luck!

Ragmop/Sandy


On 8/18/06 8:27 AM, in article , "Jean B."
wrote:

Jacqueline wrote:

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:41:20 -0400, "Jean B." wrote:

Jean, I collect cookbooks, too and have over 2000 of them, Gosh, now I
am collecting quilt books, I am for sure running out of room. I too
am going to take over part of our living room and probably kitchen
too.

Sounds like we have a lot in common.

Jacqueline


Yes, it does! I had over 2000 cookbooks before I stopped
counting--and before I started collecting with a purpose in
mind. You are ahead of me as far as quilting goes though. I
have yet to buy my first things. I went to reconnoiter at
Jo-Ann's yesterday, and they are having a sale on many fabrics
through today only. I have a dilemma. I really shouldn't
spend more money this week, but it would be stupid to pay full
price in a few days. I also saw some self-healing mats etc.
I need to read the FAQ and go through some of the responses to
you again to see what brands I should be looking at, etc.
--
Jean B.

Howdy!

huh! aren't they all?

g

Ragmop/Sandy
http://tinyurl.com/krrcd

On 8/18/06 8:35 AM, in article , "Jean B."
wrote:

Debra wrote:

You will have to make some very hard quilts then. Most cats are
attracted to nice soft quilts.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

Has anyone made a quilt for a cat?
--
Jean B.

Jean B. wrote:
Debra wrote:

You will have to make some very hard quilts then. Most cats are
attracted to nice soft quilts.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

Has anyone made a quilt for a cat?

Yes.

Polly Ester has kindly sent a quilt for Our Tom, and you can see a good
pic of him on it he http://runningscared.org/files/jazz-tomquilt.jpg
yes, it's faux fur on one side and batik on the other.

I've made one of Colin's face, but I have to post it.

I think I want to make for Sassy now... she was diagnosed today with
diabetes.

And of course there's Jill who makes quilts for homeless animals in a
LOT of shelters.

-georg