Friday, September 7, 2012

Thread thoughts.

My drawer of thread.

My selection for the collaboration project.

My rack filled with essential thread.  Also a few
of the remaining Star threads and a couple of
specialty threads that I haven't gotten around to
trying out yet.

The back of the quilt.

I still have a few spots to fill in with quilting.

Free motion in the lower right hand side.

When you can't find a thread you think you have, fill in with
a decorative stitch.


I am still plugging away at the collaboration quilt. Why do I always have to be rushing to meet the deadline?  I need to turn this in at the Utah Quilt Guild board meeting on Monday. As I was quilting along this afternoon I decided that I really liked the Bottom Line thread from Superior that I had in the bobbin. I have had that spool of thread for a number of years.  I know that I have used it before, but I don't remember which quilt I used it on.  I have started using up fabric that I no longer "love" for the backs of quilts.  I know that this piece has no relationship with the front.  But, it is an art quilt and the back does not matter.  And since I only had grey Bottom Line instead of cream, that is what I used.  Pro-the Bernina bobbin usually holds a lot of thread but the amount of Bottom Line on there was fantastic!  I am sure that I would have gone through at least 3 full bobbins by now, with BL in there I just barely switched to the second bobbin full. Con-you really have to adjust your tension since it is a very fine thread. Which also means you need to keep testing on a swatch to make sure it doesn't come up to the top.  I have several different spools of Superior thread.  I also have a drawer of assorted threads. I do like the Superior thread that I have but I can't say that I like it any better than the other stuff in the drawer.

I have seen the Thread-u-cation infomercial by Bob at least 2 times.  The first time was interesting, the second was lame.  It was the same spiel. Maybe it is just me but although I get the Superior newsletter I don't find the jokes very funny.  Tired jokes that I have heard variations of many times over the years.  But I don't judge the thread by the lame jokes of the CEO.  I used to love Star threads for piecing.  I believe the line of threads was bought out by another company and they never seemed to be as good. Very linty.  I am trying to use up the last few partial spools.  I recently tried a couple of samplers of Essential thread by  Connecting Threads.  They are very reasonably priced and I feel they are decent for piecing and machine quilting.  I also have a bunch of Sulky that I got at wonderful sales at Joann's.  I like the rayon for when I want a bit of sheen.  I also have a few spools of machine embroidery threads and some other off brands.  When I was choosing thread for this project, I pulled quite a few spools out.  I didn't use all of them but I did use at least 5 different brands.  I wanted to do a bit of bobbin drawing with some candlelight thread that I was sure that I had in a turquoise blue.  Couldn't find the spool, but I did find I had a bobbin wound with it.  Turns out it was a deep blue and not turquoise.  Time to change plans.

Yes the thread drawer is a mess.  I had left it open and forgot about it.  I think that my "helper" bumped it because I came back to the studio and found it and all the spools spilled out on the floor.  I didn't have time to mess with sorting it out.  I would love to hear about what your favorite threads are and why.

So this is still the same WIP for the 3rd week in a row for my Off the Wall post. I promise to get working on a different WIP next week.



6 comments:

  1. I love Bottom Line too and its in my bobbin right now. I started buying the big spools of the colors I use most since I was going through so many little spools and its hard to track down here. I'm soooo jealous of your ribbons - you go girl!

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    1. You can order it online. My friend usually will put together an order for everyone to save on shipping. The ribbons are all a bit old. The "best" one was for "Best Use of Color" at the Utah Quilt Guild show, I believe it was 2003, the only year I didn't attend! I don't know where else to hang them.

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  2. I had some Sulky cotton given to me for a project - Sulky was one of the sponsors. I find it Very linty.
    I have a collection of variagated threads. I love the ones from Thread Studio, and usually stock up when they come from Australia to UK for Knitting and Stitching show.
    Sandy in the UK

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  3. I love King Tut and Bottom Line. I haven't tried too many other Superior Threads, but have used a variety on my Sunset project. Bottom Line gave me some trouble with tension. Right now, I am using MonoPoly - black or dark from Superior - in the bobbin. I really like that in the bobbin for this quilt. I've ordered the MonoPoly clear so that I will have it to use on lighter color projects. I also used some Madeira on this project (Rayon) and haven't had any issues with it. So many threads to choose from..... aren't we lucky?

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  5. Sorry about the above - didn't proof read before posting!

    I used the pre-wound 'Super Bobs' with my old machine but my new top loading Pfaff doesn't like them :(
    I've recently bought some Aurifil to try, as Marit says we're lucky to have so many choices.

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