Hand quilting SAFTEY tip

15 years ago

Maybe this is the worst newbie mistake....needle found in a gifted baby quilt.

I only really became aware of this possibility looking at the Linus project guidlines, getting ready to keep my quilting skills up on a cheater cloth quilt for charity.

Doing my first quilt, one of my book authors pointed out that she sometimes had as many as FIFTY threaded needles in a full size quilt at once. I also had ten or fifteen in at once, waiting for me to move the quilt on the frame in finish out a line.

I thought, OMG, those Linus people have it right. How many times did I find a free thread with the needle gone? Finished and washed, I looked and felt for needles. I called it done and left the quilt with my mom. My MOM! The QUILT POLICE!!! She was sooooo satisfyingly impressed with my almost perfect points, my design and color choices suited her to a T, she was just breathless with pride in me, she absolutely giggled.

I discussed the needle issue with her. I told her I hadn't kept up with the number of needles put in to do a count at the end. But, I'd looked, I'd felt, I'd washed, I'd slept with it for a week. I'd washed.

Her and her new cataract free eyes. She can't stop talking about having the best vision now in her life at 75. I delivered the quilt to her house just yesterday. I checked my messages today. She was looking at the quilt in the bay window, and...wait for it....

found a needle.

I've not heard her so pleased with herself in....75 years. Worse still, she had my brother for a witness. He tried to get her to say she found three needles. Brothers are always brother even at 47. I called her back and said "Well, don't be dying anytime soon, I still need you!" We had the best laugh (we just had the memorial service for my brother in law day before yesterday. A laugh was sorely needed.)

Anyway, I'm an anesthesiologist and she's a retired OR scrub nurse. We kicked ourselves for how obvious this tip should be, but I've never read it anywhere.

***Just like an OR case, when the case starts with an instrument count, and believe you me, a needle count is kept, start a quilt with new packs of needles and an empty, deicated pin cushion. You start with fifty needles. At the end, you have that pin cushion and it better have fifty needles in it.***

There's no X-ray tech to call for the infamous and head hanging shame of "incorrect count." Although...I do have certain...connections.....hmmmmm. LOL! Boy, that'd be a new one on the crew!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (10)

toolgranny
15 years ago
What a wonderful tip. Thanks.
User
15 years ago
How come so very many needles?

I don't hand quilt, so I don't know abt this, but I often hand baste larger seams. I often hand sew or pop & tuck my tails while on the NYC subway (like last night). I only have 2 or 3 needles around at once & have learned to leave them (even if unthreaded) in a visible corner of a quilt. I've trained my self to only leave them in the corners.

Oops sorry, I digressed, why so very many needles?
Related Discussions
hand quilting on a frame
Q
Comments (7)
Yup, go for Rodale's Flawless Hand Quilting. It's a nice little hardback book you can get used off Amazon for about 10.00 plua shipping. It has similiar pictures to the one's in That Perfect Stitch by Roxanne McElroy, plus it has other useful info and tips. Now I've not seen That Perfect Stitch DVD--if you like a live action real person moving demo you could go for that DVD. From what you say about your lap quilting off hoop, I bet you could aim for a very loose tension on your frame and try the Thimblelady's technique. You sound like you are using a Sashiko technique (in quilter's lingo) and that's quite different from the rocking stitch. Sashiko pushes the fabric onto the needle, rocking stitches push the needle through the fabric. For a rocking stitch you set the needle vertically until you feel the tip with your underfinger, then you drop the needle horizontally, make a 'hill' in the fabric by pushing down with your upper thumb just ahead of the needle tip and up with your underfinger just behind the needle tip. Then you use your thimble to push your stitch length, then you stop and use the thimble dimple to raise the needle back vertically and start over again. Most people stack 3-4 stitches and then pull through. I quilt the more traditional way using a short between and a rocking stitch with moderately tight quilt tension. I wouldn't have the control to make even stitches without some tension in the quilt sandwich. My hands are weak,and I really prefer thumb quilting away from myself. Anyway, your underfinger should be lightly brushing the backing, waiting to feel the needle tip--if you keep a brishing motion up, you'll feel the needle tip bounce along your fingerprint ridges before it actually pricks you. Here is a link that might be useful: Hand quilting video from The Thimblelady
...See More
Hand quilting very small items?
Q
Comments (7)
Jackie I have quilted small items without a hoop, but mine look better when I use one. I can't seem to keep my stitches even without something holding the block taut. I use a small embroidery hoop and I have basted muslin wide enough around to hoop the item. Try some stitches without a hoop, you can always pull them back out if you don't like the way they look. I just spent too much time pulling them LOL!!! Rosa
...See More
Heard any good quilting tips lately?
Q
Comments (64)
Speaking of glue, I just love Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It. The glue looks like Elmer's--a thick white liquid, but the applicator is a long thin hollow needle that puts the glue out in tiny beads. No mess. I recently used it to attach 140 batting squares to 6" novelty squares and attach the novelty squares to their places in the center of the circles of a Peek-a-Boo I-Spy, then glue-basted the circle flaps over the squares, and I still have quite a bit of the bottle left.It cost $7+ at Rosie's Calico Cupboard. Worth every penny. I didn't use a single pin in this quilt, except for when I was putting the circles together, and was able to stitch down the flaps without any shifting of the fabric. I didn't wash this quilt before passing it on to the person who ordered it, but I warned him, for the first time he washes it, to put it through the machine twice if he noticed any stickiness after the first wash, in case any glue remains.
...See More
QOTD How and where do you hand quilt?
Q
Comments (12)
Murphy: I'm a novice at quilting, but I own two different styles of frames. In a church quilting bee I had to use a 18" embroidery hoop, for its portability and compact storage. DRAWBACK: I had to constantly move the hoop for a new area to work. My first is a Homemade quilting frame, made from 2"PVC pipe & 2 1/2" half pipe. its top is four-foot square and the legs are about 38" high. You place the area to be quilted over the top, then use the half-pipe pieces to clamp the quilt on. It's very lightweight and breaks-down/sets-up rapidly. If I want any section of it adjusted in length, I guess I could just buy more 2" PVC pipe and cut to desired length. The second frame: I inherited from my DGM and it was her DM's before her. It is a wood frame that is suspended from the ceiling on pulleys for raising out of the way when I'm not working on something. It is adjustable from a crib size to a queen size. DRAWBACK: it takes two to roll the quilt to a new working area. I prefer the PVC frame, because it's adjustable, lightweight, I don't have to move a WIP around real often to start a new area, I can slip the legs out and tuck it behind the couch with the WIP still in it, & it's sturdy enough to lean (heavily) on.
...See More
petalpatsy
Original Author
15 years ago
I don't know about fifty, but I did mine in a Q-snap floor model. I can't quilt very far away from myself, so if I started line of quilting that became distant I'd park my needle until I repositioned the quilt in the frame. Working the perimeter of the frame, sometimes I'd have a few threads on every side that were out of my reach to finish. I'd park them and reposition the quilt, and pick up the needles which were now in reach.

I didn't want to have to rethread the needles, and I certainly didn't want to bury extra knots and cut thread only to start out again with another buried knot.
annabelle1941
15 years ago
wonderful tip - i know how proud your Mom must feel at her new sight - i have had several eye operations, incl. cattaract ops on both eyes - i can still see to do my hand patchwork and quilting without the aid of specs.
Ann
bluebars
15 years ago
Good tip! Something to think about, even for non-baby quilts. Imagine sitting down on the bed and OOOps, Ouch, and it could be difficult to remove from your ... um ... but anyway ...
If I do leave a threaded needle on a quilt, even for a short time, I make sure that the thread END is still embedded within the last stitch, so that the needle cannot easily fall out unless the thread tail is pulled out of the quilt. At least that way, that needle won't end up on the floor or who-knows-where.
BlueBars
easystitches
15 years ago
Just a stupid thought. Would one of those metal detectors
pick up a needle? My DH would love to run his over my quilts since he's used it about 2 times since he bought it :)
petalpatsy
Original Author
15 years ago
easystitches! That's a great idea! Put a needle in your quilt (not lost, but parked!) and see if it works! I don't have a metal detector, but I bet someone on the block does--or one of my son's friends.
mrseldoo
15 years ago
How about one of those magnetic wands?
petalpatsy
Original Author
15 years ago
I have a magnetic wand, but they aren't strong enough when the needle is buried in the quilt. My best bet so far is keeping a needle count for the whole project.

Of course, I can also count on my mom's good vision and desire to closely inspect hand quilting in the sun. I LOVE my mom, BTY. She's the most honest soul on earth (present company excepted) and she's not looking to be critical, really she's not, to her it's all a process of really getting to know a quilt and truly appreciating it. It's a gesture of love. That sounds like BS, but if you knew her you'd understand.
mycatsmom
15 years ago
I think the magnet is the way to go. My husband has a really strong magnet that we used to pick up nails after we built out shed. It is about 3 inches across,an inch thick, round with a flat top and bottom, we put it on the end of a metal pole then walked around slowly moving it across the ground. We picked up an unbelievable amount of nails. It seems you could slowly move this over the quilt with your hand and you would feel the tug if a needle were under the fabric. I asked him where he got it and he said out of a speaker. Go figure. He said to check garage sales for old speakers.

Hand quilting SAFTEY tip

Comments (10)

toolgranny

User

Related Discussions

petalpatsy
Original Author

annabelle1941

bluebars

easystitches

petalpatsy
Original Author

mrseldoo

petalpatsy
Original Author

mycatsmom

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

*Hand quilting SAFTEY tip *

Comments (10)

toolgranny

User

Related Discussions

petalpatsyOriginal Author

annabelle1941

bluebars

easystitches

petalpatsyOriginal Author

mrseldoo

petalpatsyOriginal Author

mycatsmom

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Hand quilting SAFTEY tip

petalpatsy
Original Author

petalpatsy
Original Author

petalpatsy
Original Author