Some of My Favorite Things

My list of favorite things changes over time. I'm actually pretty fickle, but I am definitely NOT a gadget person. Lots of times it involves rediscovering/repurposing.

1. Rick Rack - I am working on a Chanukah tabletopper for the holiday edition of McCall's Quick Quilts. At this time I cannot share it with you, BUT I wanted to show you a sneak peek of the border. The concept of the magazine is for quick/fast/easy projects. I used green rick rack in the border and boy do you really get a lot of bang for your buck - visually, timewise and financially.

2. Temporary Spray Adhesive - I have had this on my shelf for quite a while and never used it. Now I have found that I can use it to embroider towels without having the HUGE struggle of hooping all that thick terrycloth. I put 2 layers of stabilizer in the hoop. Spray it and then lay the towel to be embroidered on top. The towel actually stays in place. How nice to be done with that struggle.

Another use for the temporary spray adhesive is for printing on fabric. I use it to print on pieces of fabric smaller than 8 1/2 x 11". I either spray the wrong side of the fabric or after backing the fabric with a paper-backed fusible web, spray that and then adhere it to regular computer paper. Smooth it down really well and then put it through the printer.

One more favorite use involves my #1. To keep the rick rack in place before stitching it to the border, I sprayed one side and positioned it in place. This prevents any distortion that may arise by using pins to keep it in place.

3. Parchment Paper - I was working on another project where I had to pre-assemble a fusible applique. I loved using parchment paper, because I could draw placement lines with pencil right on it. After assembling and fusing the design, I could remove the applique from the parchment and then reuse it with the placement lines. I did this 10 times.

Keep tuned to see more favorite things.