Sunday, March 5, 2017

IN WHICH WE AGAIN BATTLE THE MATERIAL WORLD!

I have begun quilting Chuck Susan and Me.  I choose 100wt Superior Monopoly as my top thread and 60wt  Bottom Line for the bobbin.  Nothing but trouble.  

This is probably obvious to everyone else but I just had an epiphany realizing that there are two types of spooling on threads: 1. cone type where the cone remains stationary thread unwinding from the top of the cone, and 2. the type of spool which revolves to unwind the thread.  This type is called a spool.  

My juki, named Suki, is only set up to use cones.  I tried the the spool of monopoly and the thread flew all around and under, wrapping most efficiently  and breaking needles.  Not to be bested by this limitation, I bought an adapter:
which does not seem to be well made as the plastic screws stripped almost at once though I was gentle with it as advised by the Amazon purchaser comments. I cannot recommend it because of this defect.  The plastic of the screw and the piece it screws into is too soft.  This adapter was returned to Amazon as defective.

Since it is always fun to invent things, I set my mind to making a horizontal spool holder which would allow the spool to unroll freely.  Here is a photo of Suki showing the two cone holders which was what I had to work with.  


 I bought two 4" sections of 1/2 inch plastic pipe.  I drilled holes thru the pipe near the top to hold the wooden dowel
selected for a spool holder. This dowel stays in place by the use of 2 small cotter pins.   I placed this over the 2 cone holders and viola!  the thread unrolls smoothly, evenly and without tangling. And the adapter is very stable.



The battle to master control over my quilting thread pretty much consumed my whole week though I did buy the necessary white and black fabric for Sweet Surrender border which I will work on this week.



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Are you ever confused about who at the bird feeder is a purple finch and who is a house finch?  They look very much alike except that a purple finch is smaller, generally prettier, and looks dipped in raspberry juice.

Purple finch:

House Finch:

You can see the orangish-red of the house finch clearly in this photo.



And here is Kitten overseeing the thread problems as we work to resolve these.  You can see she takes inspection duties seriously.





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AND NOW...


Your Moment of Zen 

Take a quick look at this photo and decide what you think the photo is portraying.


I thought chess pieces, whirling tops, something in pretty packaging, maybe some elegant distinctive dessert. My husband thought maybe these were Christmas ornaments. These are actually whirling dancers in Carnival in Rio!  Isn't it nice to look at something when you cannot determine at first glance what it is and your imagination is in free association?

SO LONG AND HAPPY QUILTING UNTIL 
WE MEET AGAIN!



I am linking up with:

Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog,
Patchwork Times,  Em's Scrapbag,
Esther's Wow, Let's Bee Social,
Whoop Whoop, and Off the Wall Friday.           




25 comments:

  1. Aren't you the clever one!!! Glad you could "invent" a way to solve your thread problem.

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  2. Nice job! I'm thinking such a device might resolve some of the issues I get when I use my rayon threads. Right now I use them in my off-machine cone holder, but I think they'll do better in a rigged-up spooler, instead.

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  3. Hi Pam,Very clever and helpful!
    Have a nice quilting week,
    Evelyne

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  4. Very clever. You may be onto something. Certainly, you are not the only one to have experienced this issue.

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  5. I use Monopoly a lot...usually on a thread stand with a mesh cover. Seems to work for me.

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  6. Thats us quilters!!!! We can patch together lots of different stuff not just fabric!!

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  7. OMGoodness! I am stealing your clever idea! You are a genius!!
    Thank you so much for sharing. Your quilt is beautiful. And that kitty! Sweet!!!

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  8. I don't know why Juki doesn't have a horizontal pin-kind of annoying! I purchased a little gizmo a few years ago that works great, but I'm terrified that one day it will break--just a little plastic thing that snaps onto the vertical pin. I'll be keeping your "invention" in mind!

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  9. Sorry for your thread woes. Glad you found a solution.

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  10. Thank you for your inspiration and link Show and Tell Monday !! Bambi Hug

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  11. Where there's a will there's a way, you are so inventive, clever. I thought chess pieces too.

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  12. Look at you! Such a smart lady! Love your invention! Thank you for sharing! Visiting from Em's Scrapbag!

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  13. Sew happy to read your story! Thank you for sharing your findings!!! Great improv!

    What a gorgeous applique quilt draped on Suki!

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  14. Hi Pamela where there is a will there is a way, you sure proved that. I thought chess pieces at first glance too!!!!! Lots of chess players in my family LOL and my grandies like to just play with them. Great quilt hanging on the wall behind your sewing spot. Cheers Glenda

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  15. Oh your gorgeous blocks...how nice to see them again. But so frustrating to get that issue worked out...not the fun side of quilting. How nice of you to share as I'm sure this will help others who encounter it.
    I thought they were ceramic figures of some sort. What an interesting concept.

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  16. Brilliant thread hack. Well done!

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  17. elaborate shufflepboard pieces. Yummy doughnuts. A checker set made for the queen of excess. pasties. Fun!
    The purple finch is welcome at my feeder how gorgeous. LeeAnna

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  18. Genius. I bought a thread de-spooler years ago. It is adequate, but not perfect. Yours solves the trick since it can be set directly on the machine - at least if the double pins on top of my machine are set wide enough apart to accommodate a horizontally situated spool. Off to investigate.

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  19. Kudos on the resolving your quilting thread dilemma Pam! That's pretty genius!

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  20. I'm surprised Juki doesn't give you a horizontal option. Your invention is clever. Have you tried putting the spool laid down in a mug?
    I've done that before with misbehaving monofilament thread and it seems to work pretty well. Looking forward to see your beautiful work quilted. A once in a lifetime quilt

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  21. I have a Ms Juki and have had the same problem. Thank you for sharing your solution! I'll show that to my husband who likes to make things like that. The quilt is gorgeous!

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  22. Even though this delayed your quilting process, just think, you have found a long term solution to a problem. Your next quilt will go that much faster.

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  23. I've been hiding and hand quilting, so I had a lot of catching up to do with your delightful posts! I love your idea for the borders of Sweet Surrender. The idea to carry the stem thought to the borders is genius! Happy appliqueing!

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