TQS/AAQI Challenge 2012

[Renata L.]

I agree with the cover it up'ers. I've done it myself and I've seen professional quilters do it too.

[Renata L.]

And there was me thinking
1) smack head against the wall in frustration, then
2) reach for my stilleto & small scissors and work from the back to unpick it.
But you seem to already have an alternative method of hiding the tangle :wink:

[Renata L.]

Thanks everyone for your frankness, humor and help with this little quilt. I was going to leave it unfinished and make something else until you piped up with your suggestions. Thanks Wendy for the Bondaweb idea--I used Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite and it worked beautifully--there is no evidence of an opprobrium below… although I am sure part of the pleasure of owning one of these little quilts is to be able to admire the perfect stitching on the back, not just the front (well, something for me to aspire to…). I most certainly learned my lesson with this one!

Of course, I really wanted to do a yellow binding that picked up a hint of the orange and I had the perfect fabric, but not enough of it! In fact, I only had about 5"x24" of it. How could I ever make that work… well, I remembered Sharon Peterson's classroom where she demonstrated reversible bindings so I did that rather than a mitered binding and I even have a slice of fabric left over. Go figure!

QUESTION: Normally I would write my information on the back with a black Pigma Micron pen but the backing of my three quilts that I'll be sending to AAQI are mostly dark colors. Is there a suitable light colored Pigma Micron pen that will work on dark backs or perhaps another brand of pen, if a light colored pigma does not exist?

[E.M. T.]

Renata...Sharpie has a metallic silver that works on dark fabrics. Mine is a fine point but not ultra fine...like
I wish it was !! Maybe in your bigger world...there is one. But I've used it and it seems just fine. I'm glad
this one has worked out !!

[Aileen K.]

Hi Ladies. I sent in my November AAQI called Happy Frog #12680 but I forgot to take a picture after I embellished it. DAH....
I kept putting off mailing it because I kept adding to it. I will have to wait until AAQI post it to get the finished quilt.
This is what it looked like before I added a frog button, a lady bug, thread play and hand embroidery.

Where was my head???

[Renata L.]

Aileen, your quilt is darling!

Marilyn, thanks for the suggestion of the pen for dark fabrics!

[Aileen K.]

Thank you. It was fun to make.

Love yours too!

[Rita C.]

Lovely quilt Aileen even without the embellishments.

Renata, could you not put the information on the Fast Finish Triangles? That's what I do when the backing is too dark to see. And then use the silver pen for the AAQI number in the bottom right corner? Just a thought. By the way, I am glad that you fixed it. It's a lovely little quilt.

[Margo C.]

Please be wary of the Sharpie markers! You can tell by the smell that there is a lot of acid in the ink, and who knows what that will do to the fabric down the road?
In fact, the older pens actually state on the side of the pen "not for letter writing or cloth".

I have used Marvy DecoColor Opaque White paint (not ink) markers with the Extra Fine point on dark fabric and it worked well for me.

http://www.bestpensonline.com/SPD/ma...1147190389.jsp

They also have metallic gold with a fine point but I haven't tried this one:

http://www.bestpensonline.com/SPD/ma...1138574303.jsp

[Renata L.]

Margo, thanks for more good info on pens. Rita, I'm definitely going to write on the Fast Finish Triangles for this quilt but I have two more quilts (don't know if you remember the ones with the chrysanthemums and the purple one with other flowers)... they have dark backs and dark fast finish triangles so I'll still need some kind of marker.

[Renata L.]

I always make a label that I fuse to the back of my quilts. Usually I create it in Paint Shop Pro and print it on printer fabric, but you could do one in white, and hand write the info. I also don't like using sharpies on fabric, but in a pinch I'm pretty sure it'd be OK as long as it isn't on the front of the quilt. It would take a long while for any acid to migrate to the front of the quilt and discolor it.

[Renata L.]

Thanks, Diane. For the red Fast Finish Triangles I have a Pigma pen so I think that will be okay. I'll figure out a good alternative for the others. I really don't like sharpies either, except maybe to mark my piece to square it off and trim.

[E.M. T.]

I'm sure learnin' a lot about makin' these little quilts ! I'm never sure about any of these paints and inks ! :roll: Even the
ones that are to be "safe" to use . I reckon the applied label is best...for quilt safety. Maybe embroidery? And I'll be
more careful of the backing choice.

[Renata L.]

Actually, Marilyn, the regular black sharpies are problematic, but I just looked up the manufacturer's information on the Sharpie metallic pens and they are advertised as acid free. It may be because they are actually paint and not markers like the black ones. So you may still be okay with the metallic Sharpie.

[Margo C.]

Good to know!