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DONNA POSTER NEWSLETTER
FEB. 2005
LETS TALK ABOUT TOOLS: We all have favorite tools. I’m a real sucker for the latest tool but I use just a few all the time. So, here are my favorites! I own three pairs of those lightweight black Gingher shears and I use them for everything!! I even use mine for paper and they never seem to go dull! My “Big Board” is permanently set up on a long bookcase which holds most of my quiltbook collection. Straw needles are wonderful --- long, thin and smooth! Clover’s double-ended needle threader will go through a size 12 needle eye! Bobbins were a real pain until I bought one of those flexible circles to hold them. And, best of all, the built-in walking foot on my Pfaff! Those are my favorites --- please tell me what yours are and I’ll include as many as possible in these newsletters.
TRANSFERRING FOLDY STUFF GUIDELINES: I’ve gotten so many great hints from my customers about ironing the Foldy Stuff transfers. Here are some that really work well. (1) Heat the fabric by ironing it just before laying the transfer paper on it. You’ll have more control. (2) Start with the iron on medium setting. When the iron reaches the temperature it will shut itself off and stop transferring. Push the setting up a bit to turn it back on! (3) You need to run the center of the iron (which is much hotter than the tip) over the corners of the transfer. (4) Haven’t tried this one myself, but one quilter said she gets more transfers by using a piece of aluminum foil under the muslin!
Q & A FROM THE “ASK DONNA” LINK AT donnaposter.com
Q-Nancy asks if flannel will work with the Foldy Stuff?
A-Oh my, yes --- I used flannel for a large lap throw and it was great. But not in the Pineapple, miniatures or Round Cabin --- too much fabric buildup! Also be sure to use a lighter weight (napped on one side only) flannel. I made a baby blanket using flannel that was thicker and it was so stiff I use it as a rug under my computer!!!
And that brings up another point. The Foldy Stuff process allows the use of a wide range of fabrics because you are not sewing a ¼ inch seam and don’t have to be fussy. I’ve even used rayon. I love silk and I’ll bet organdy and batiste would be lovely.. Just stick to light and medium weight fabrics.
Q- Denise has lost her copy of the Dresden Plate book I wrote some years ago and asks if she can purchase another one. This book is out of print and we are out of stock. If anyone would be willing to part with a copy, let me know, please!
ROAD TO CALIFORNIA: I just returned from teaching at the Road to California show in Ontario, Ca--- what fun for this easterner to see palm trees and sun in January! Great show, too --- lots of enthusiasm! I taught four full days so I didn’t get to see much of the show but I did spot someone who is beautifully refurbishing Featherweights in great new colors! With cases covered in “wild” fabrics, too! I gotta get one for my collection but the yellow one said “sold” --- darn! I hope to be back at this show next year.
Heard another funny story. Lois Lauderdale and Jill Ellert signed up for so many classes last year that by the third day they were “brain-dead”. When their room key wouldn’t work and a maid let them in, they found they’d been moved to another room!! Furious, they hit the front desk demanding their belongings be returned!! After much commotion they finally realized they were so “gone” they hadn’t noticed they’d gotten off on the
wrong floor! OOPS!!
MY NEXT GIGS:
I’ll be at the Quilt Festival in Chicago April 6 through10 teaching Easy Peaks, French Fold Binding, Block Party, Grandmother’s Flower Garden and Piney Woods. Maybe I’ll see you there!
Saturday May 14 at the Cranberry Quilt Guild, West Hazelton, Pa. Lecture: Show and Tell of Simple Quilt Designing. Contact Grace DeGennari-(570) 455-1043
Tuesday May 17 at the Warwick Valley Quilt Guild, Warwick Valley, NY. Fun With Foldy Stuff workshop 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Contact Barbara Berdy (845) 634-9309 or email bsb940@yahoo.com <mailto:bsb940@yahoo.com>.
Thursday July 28 through Saturday July 30 at Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, Pa.
Monday Sept 12 and 13 at Philadelphia Quilt Guild.
In between I’m going back to California to visit one of my daughters who lives there and Mr. Donna, the soup man, is going to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, a Thoroughbred horse racing track, for a week. He’s an avid handicapper.
LATEST SOUP NEWS.
Sarah is going to make a pot of Mr Donna’s chicken soup as her husband has the CRUD. We just heard of a fellow in Texas who broke his leg in fourteen places, bull riding. Ate two bowls of the now famous chicken soup, woke up next morning, leg all healed.
Until March
Happy Quilting
Donna