Good Morning, Quilters!
It’s the little things in our sewing rooms that make quilters happy!
Today’s “little thing” comes from my friend, Sandy who gave me this spray mister bottle she picked up at Sally’s Beauty Supply. The mister is sold in the salon industry for hair care.
It’s different from other spray bottles. After each pump, the mist sprays out for several beats–which means way less pumping to cover your fabric! Sounds minor–but I LOVE it! It is worth a trip to the store! (Or find it online HERE)
What about YOU?
Do YOU have a “little thing” that makes YOU happy?
Do YOU have a quilting tool purchased outside of the quilt store?
Are YOU quilting today?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Your Happy Quilt Friend,
Lori
PS…I’ve had my cordless iron for several months now–and I do love it! Read more HERE
PS…If you like these motifs and tips, be sure to check out my book, Free Motion Machine Quilting 1-2-3 or any of my Craftsy Videos!
PPS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
45 comments
NancyinSTL
First of all, I love your tutorials! Thank you! I easily make my clear starch alternative by the gallon for pennies, using Nestle’s ThickenUp. It’s a product used by folks with swallowing issues and can be found in any drug store. For Christmas one year, I gave each of my quilter friends a spray bottle filled with my starch alternative. Those spray bottles were purchased at a dollar store–cute, but not great! I’ll be buying one like yours on my next visit to Sally’s.
Robin Jarvis
Thanks for the spray bottle tip, have to go shopping. I thought I was told to use best press instead of spray starch because bugs could get into my quilt ?
Marta
I always wash the starch out after sewing each block. Only use starch on blocks that have pieces on the bias.
Arvilla Trag
For those who got rust spots on your quilts, if they are not too heavy and you get to then ASAP, white vinegar and a soft toothbrush usually gets them out, or at least makes them less noticeable. After using the vinegar, rinse promptly with plain water (preferably distilled) to neutralize the vinegar. And so your quilt doesn’t smell like a pickle.
Rosemaryflower
1. electronics duster
2. Miltex dressing forceps
3. 3 squirt bottles. One at the iron, one on the kitchen table and one at the treadmill.
they adjust from mist to full straight shot squirt to get the naughty kitten to wind it down a notch.
4. about a dozen pair of cheap reading glasses scattered around the general area
5 I use the small rotary cutter size. I am a high risk self injury candidate for the larger wheels. I have three, two fiskars and one olfa. I can usually find one that I can use that somehow ended up in a place it never belonged.
I like your new spray bottle.
I do not use steam or spray in my iron ever.
Pam Hotle
I use an eye shadow brush for cleaning lint from inside my machine.
I LOVE gadgets – quilting and kitchen. My most recent discovery is Quilter’s Select rulers. They are the brilliant idea of Alex Anderson. They are a game changer! The back of the ruler is slightly tacky and they DO NOT slip. They come in 10 different sizes. I sent my husband a link to a store selling them with a list of 3 rulers that I wanted for my birthday. You may think you don’t need another ruler. Believe me, you do!
Pam P
Someone at a recent retreat had this water bottle and it was really great. One of the gals ordered us all one! Putting Best Press in it sounds great!
I have a little pair of scissors that I put on a lanyard. Love it – I can always find my scissors. When not in use and push the point up into a little round bead so that I don’t poke myself.
Another great tool is the 2.5″ x 6.5″ Creative Grids ruler that many quilt shops stamp their name on. VERY handy. …and the Stripology ruler, and the Bloc Loc rulers for trimming HST.
Dee
I use plastic clamps made to hold down picnic tablecloths to clamp down my quilt sandwich when pinning on a table. I buy these at the dollar store in the summer.
Terri Crothers
One of my wonderful quilting friends gave us home made lavender water in a spray bottle with the recipe which includes lavender oil, distilled water and cheap vodka! Amazing smell which calms my quilting soul! Will go well with the mister!
WordPress.com Support
I love lavender!! Sounds fabulous!
Pamela North
Hardware and stationery stores are my favourite source of storage items for threads and other sewing related things. Following a tip I read I now use an old, cleaned of course, mascara brush when cleaning the inside of my sewing machine.
Arvilla Trag
#1 favorite thing – a sticky lint roller. It picks up all those little bits of thread, finds threads that need trimming on the backs of quilts, and removes the omnipresent cat hair.
#2 favorite thing – my 7.5″ Creative Grids ruler. it is my go-to for almost everything I need to trim or square up.
#3 favorite thing – a huge carpenter’s square for checking that quilt corners are square at 90 degrees (as compared to 85 or 95).
#4 favorite thing – white wine. It lubricates the quilter, balances tension, makes mistakes less noticeable, reduces seams showing through light fabric, and makes it easier to find the control foot. OK, maybe the control foot one isn’t right.
Alice Siler
My husband just gifted me with an aluminum Carpenter’s Square. It is so light and much easier to use. Thanks for the tip on the wine!
Donna
YES!! My favorite tip. Aldi’ chocolate wine, still have some left from Christmas. I think I have a few crooked seams to fix!!
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Lol!!!!
Anita
My favorite non-quilting tool is my computer and internet. Without which I could not see the tutorials you teach here on your blog or the videos on craftsy. I learn things I could not learn without the internet connection to quilt groups and quilt teachers. I communicate with quilting friends in far away places that I could never dream of visiting in person. My grand daughter’s nick name is Ladybug and she loves the Ladybug design. Guess she and I will have to make a quilt so we can use it.
Amy McBurnie
I absolutely love my Martelli table. The ability to raise and lower it means I can adjust it so it feels comfortable (I have back issues) and I can lower it all the way if I need a place to sit and draw, design, whatever. It also came with the revolving mat which is a definite requirement (and considerably lighter than the one my hubby made me 10+ years ago). But my favorite “quilting” store is the hardware store. I use an awl to help hold fabric as I sew, a drywall T-square to square up things, a wooden tool chest holds my notions, a tackle box carries my class/retreat supplies, a string line (filled with Pounce powder) helps me ensure that the quilt sandwich is straight, a level makes sure my machine fits flush in its cabinet.
lswanekamp
I have the same sprayer- but taller and solid white. I use the vodka mix in mine as I don’t use steam in my iron.
I love my Martelli mats, rotating and flat, Martelli rotary cutters, Panasonic cordless iron, Stripology Ruler, Karen Kay Buckey and Kai scissors, Elmer’s washable glue for binding and the Superior cone stand. All of these I use everyday.
Amy Roth
Re: doodling. I found at my Target in the $1 spot these sheet protectors. They’re classroom supplies, I think, because I find them at back to school time 🙂 But they’re a little bigger than a sheet of paper, open from the top, and have a taped edge. I also have a large piece of vinyl with the edges taped. I’ll place one of these on top of my quilt, and doodle with a dry erase marker till I find the design I want. With the sheet protector, I can draft out the block on paper, slide it in, and when I find the design I like, I’ll pencil that in on my paper draft. VERY handy! I used this with a sampler quilt. Some of the blocks were repeated, so I could go back to my paper pattern and use the same quilt motif. And I’m building my own portfolio of quilt designs! 🙂
Betsy
I saw something on a sewing blog for cleaning those hard to reach places. It’s a cocktail stirrer with a chenille stem. I loop one end, stuff it inside the tube and leave a little bit sticking out the bottom. I twist both ends to secure. I now have a soft tool for getting fluff off my machine, in the bobbin area and other hard to reach places. I sew a lot of flannel and I’d be lost without this..
Marta
Me, too. I love that I can make a new one anytime.Actually I made some for all the members of our guild. I have to use straws now as the stirrers in stores around here are solid with no open channel inside the stem. I also use it to clean our electric pencil sharpener. I use flannel for batting in a lot of the lap size quilts. So. Amen, Betsy !!
Heartland Honey
My favorite non-sewing room item is Orvus Horse Shampoo. Just a little bit in my front loading washing machine and my quilts come out soft and undamaged.
I bought it at the local feed store. A little bit goes a long way. Were I not also using it to wash horses, it would probably last a lifetime and it is less expensive than quilt detergents.
Andi O
I honestly don’t know what I’d do without my good old cheap calculator when calculating # strips to cut for quilt binding or pieces I am using, or my Harbor Freight magnet strips for my longarm machine, since I float my quilt tops. I also really like the magnet bowls my husband makes for me out of wood. They are beautiful with very unique designs, and something that nobody else has, so I can easily know which is mine when I am on retreats.
Maureen B. in B.C.
Thanks for mentioning the calculator. I was wondering what I use that’s different, and my calculator is it as well, and also used for calculating binding strips. It had been my father’s, gone since 1979, but it’s a connection I think of whenever I bring it out of its leather(esque) case. He used it to calculate wood bits for furniture pieces he built on occasion. It takes a 9-volt square battery that are becoming harder and harder to find. An old treasure with no value to anyone else, but golden to me. ????
Kate in Colorado
The one item I use all the time is a Best Press substitute. I wash and then iron all fabrics with it before using, and nearly all my seams get a shot too. I really like Best Press but in the amounts I use it is expensive, so here is a recipe for the substitute which is less costly: 2 quarts distilled water + ½ cup cheap vodka + ¼ cup liquid starch. (I’ve heard that expensive vodka, which has more alcohol works better, but cheap works well too.) Makes a BUNCH which I keep in a rinsed out milk bottle and refill the Best Press bottle as needed.
Ellen McKinley
WIth the starch in it, do you have to refrigerate it?
Arvilla Trag
Should it be shaken, or stirred?
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LOLOL Arvilla!
sunnysewsit
Can’t wait to try this! Hubby is a retired chemical engineer and said it would probably be cheaper and just as effective to use Isopropyl Alcohol (higher concentration) than vodka.
brendaintheboro
i am in the UK please can you tell me about liquid starch. could it be made up from powder. I can only seem to find spray starch on the supermarket shelves at present
Kristine
I love a white erase board to practice my doodle designs before trying on a quilt.
If you’re not happy with your layout or practice you can wipe/erase away and start over. I got the idea years ago when my children were learning how to do their letters, numbers and then eventually math problems; practice, practice, practice.
Marta
My hands/fingers have developed arthritis/neuropathy over time and make it difficult for some tasks. I purchased tweezers from my friend-neighbor who sells products from a catalog. They were to be Christmas gift for my teen granddaughter who said, “Thanks, Gram but I already have very nice tweezers.” They became mine! Eventually I began to use them to help pull loose threads out while ripping. Now after using them for 6 years, I cannot do without them. Recently I used them in my lap on a car trip. When I got home and inside, I could not find them…. anyplace. After 2 days of watching me turn the house upside down, my Spouseman was happy to search the car for me. I had already looked twice. He had to almost take the front seat out. He found them under there !!!! Made me realize how dependent I had become on them. They now live in a zipper bag designed for pens-pencils with one seam ripper ! I just might order another ! Yes, I made special supper for him – pierogi and onions.
Sheila
I’m confused as to why you need to mist fabric. Is this instead of using the steam in your iron?
Ellen McKinley
If your iron has turned off because you haven’t used it recently, sometimes, it drips water instead of steaming. If that water is rusty, your fabric is ruined. This happened to me at a reatreat–I have not used the steam in the iron ever since. Bottle can also be used for starch.
Sheila Hryclik
I have had the iron make rust spots on my quilt so I am especially interested in giving this technique a try. Also I’ve been admiring the cordless irons but felt the water reservoir was too small and awkward so this would solve that problem as well!
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Yes. And sometimes I use a bottle with Best Press!
KC
What a clever little bottle, may have to go check that out next time we get dog food. (Sally Beauty Supply is next to the pet shop, and it’s 18 miles away, so we can’t just pop in whenever we want)
My favorite non-sewing-intended tool is the $20 dining table we found at a yard sale. It is HUGE and we put it up on blocks to make it a bit higher. It’s old, heavy & solid wood and lives out in the garage with a cutting mat on top. SOMEone uses it as a catch-all, but it really can’t be beat for cutting on top and storage underneath. The chairs help hold fabric bolts when necessary.
Vanessa
I mist with a tiny little bottle that best press came in but I just use water and it makes the best mist also.. Even though I pump each time. It’s perfect but the no pumping each time would be good for large pieces.
I used big hand clamps from automotive department when I pin basted my quilts over a table. Work great but don’t need them now with the purchase of my Amara Handi quilter! ????
Sandi
That bottle looks fabulous, will have to pick one up. I love, love, love my Havel seam ripper, named Jack, the blades are replaceable, it works like a charm. Keep up the great posts.
stitchinggrandma
My favorite “tool” has been the June Tailor Perfect Half Square – Quarter Square ruler. I have had it for 9 years, and LOVE making HST using it. It makes trimming and squaring a breeze, especially when using that rotating cutting mat. They seem to belong together. I have made thousands (one quilt had over 1400) HST in the years since I was introduced to the tool. Great topic. I like your mist bottle!!
Cheri
Gosh there are so many wonderful tools and gadgets now, it’s difficult to choose just one! I do love my Rhino mat though, it goes the full length of my table 67 or 68” long and 36” in width and allows me to lay down a nice length of fabric to cut up.
Continuing to sew a crib quilt for our next granddaughter who should arrive in about 5 weeks. Mom requested a polar bear quilt for Emma so I designed something I thought they would both like! Getting in the car headed for that beauty supply store! Thank you!
Ellen McKinley
I would like one of those!
cathy morrison
I love my rotating cutting mat–it makes squaring-up so much easier. I also got a Gingher rotary cutter from my son and daughter in law for mother’s day a few years ago and it is a dream; it is weighted slightly and just fits your hand so nice. It also has a magnet so you don’t have to touch blades when changing ( esp. good for someone like me who is prone to attempted finger amputations!!). Fiskar blades fit it, so no extra expenses either! Can you tell I love it?
sunnysewsit
I got one of those, too and love it, and so good to know Fiskar blades fit it, because these are often on sale or can get them with a coupon!
Amy N.
Oh, I will have to go and get that spray bottle! One thing that I like is a child’s toy called a Magna Doodle. It comes with a little tool that allows you to draw on the screen. It erases by moving a little built-in handle. It allows you to practice doodling designs without wasting paper or ink plus it is clean!
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