Tutorial, and generational picture

Hi Friends,
Today a tutorial - I've discovered a way to write on your quilts... I've used this method before, to quilt words onto my quilt.  This can be used to put words onto the label that identifies your quilt. I'm using it as a Thank You Mug Rug.   Go to the pictures....

First I picked a simple cursive style and printed it in 100 sized caps and 72 sized lower case. Bold your words so there is a thick enough line to sew around. When the caps were so far away from the lowers I cut and pasted (the old fashioned way - shown here) to move the h under the top of the T and the o closer to the Y, otherwise it looks like they don't belong to the same word.  Then I made a new copy and was ready to sew.

I sewed around each of the letters with a small stitch... I used 15 stitches to the inch. That's how things are calibrated on my old Singer. I don't know what that equates to on your newer machines. You are on your own there.      Sew slowly. When you need to pivot to round the ends make a full stitch, then put the needle back into the stitch you just made, and lift the foot with the needle in the paper, turn to where the next stitch should go., and proceed.  When you are finished sewing, pull the strings to the back and tie the closest ones together. It'll make ripping the paper off much easier.

Next we rip off the paper. Take off the white before trying to get off the black parts... and pull gently holding onto the stitches as much as you can.  It really isn't that difficult.  If you've removed the paper from paper pieced patterns before, you will do fine at this. Tweezers and seam ripper helped a lot.  (I didn't bring the strings to the back here, and that's why I told you to do it above.  It'd work easier that way.)

See it is quite easy - the Y came out in one piece... It was a lot easier than I thought.

Here is how it looked when I finished the sewing and ripping and tying the strings in the back.  I used regular sewing thread in a red purple color. If you use white thread, consider using a lighter color to print on the paper. Black comes off and while you are ripping paper the thread might get dirty.

Anyway, that is my genius idea for the day.  I also wanted to show you my favorite sewing room accessory...(below)  It's a magnet with a handle.  If I drop a pin or needle, like I did today when I was barefoot... well, just wave your magic wand and it will find the derelict sharp right away.

These two are the parents of the Silk Oak  I started from a seed.  They are the taller ones behind the evergreen oak. They're all decked out in their bloomin' fineness.  You are going to want to see this close up.  (Just click on the picture.) The flowers are  most unusual - especially for a tree.  I figure they are making the next generation and need to look good while doing it. I am going to be monitoring the seed making progress.  See if I can snag a few thousand. Wish me luck!

I decided to go out again and get a picture of the flowers... they are amazing.  See for yourself.

They are like an orange comb that is dripping with nectar.  Pretty, huh!

And so ends our adventures today.   Hope you are having a fun and warm summer.

Hugs,

Terri