How to lube your thread

I've been long-arming happily all day.  I finished one quilt, and will place another one on the frame tomorrow. I wish the holiday could be extended, I'm not ready for school to start!  For those who are new to the blog, I home school my son.  I'm also taxi-driver for my oldest in college (she has a disability and can't drive for now).

I thought I'd share a tip to help those who are tempted to oil your thread when you sew velcro or use metallic threads.  My method works for long arming, sewing, serging, upholstery  just about any type of sewing.  I've used this method for years and it works!

If you have continual thread breaks while sewing velcro or use metallic threads, try this!  Cut a tiny piece of stick-on velcro, use the fluffy side.  Place it under the thread path AFTER the tension disc.  Then place 1 or 2 drops of silicone (Sewer's Aid, etc.) on the velcro.   As the thread glides across the velcro it lubes your thread without ruining the entire cone, and without gumming up your tension dial.

Use velcro to sew velcro, brilliant! Let me know if you try my method?  I'd love to hear how it worked for you!

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American Hero Quilts

I've finished the Hero quilts, and they'll be shipped back to American Hero Quilts on Tuesday.  Check out the website for American Hero Quilts, they are doing an awesome job supporting our wounded soldiers.

This is the quilt I finished longarming this weekend:

Ode to the sewing machine #3

Some of you are following my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Where do they come up with these dollar amounts???

So I have a car I want to sell. I put the car in the garage, close the garage door, take my camera outside in the yard and take a picture....


Makes ya wanna throttle someone, doesn't it?
Oh, and he hit zero too many times.

There's that zero again...

Hero quilts

I was thrilled to find photos of a Civil War era flag!   I found the flag his unit carried in the early part of the war.  The flag is being restored.    This is the flag for the 4th Iowa Regiment, Infantry Vol.  The lower corner of the flag is lost forever, the only part left is the "I" for Infantry.

 During the Civil War, silk fabric was used to make flags for the military.  They were painted with various symbols, names and stars on both sides of the flag.  As a result, the areas that are painted are very stiff.  This flag is 150 years old now, I'd say she looks pretty good for her age!  Iowa has over 300 flags currently being restored from the Civil War, WWI, WWII and other wars.

Quilt of Valor finished!

Before...

... and after

I finished a quilt of valor, and have one more to go. 

teaching children to quilt

I've been so busy learning my long arm machine I'm afraid I let the blog go by the wayside. My apologies! But in my time offline, I've learned that long arming isn't really all that hard. Pantograms and a laser light make it a breeze to create beautiful designs on the quilt.

The quilt in this photo was made by a 12 yo beginner. Her goal was to match her corners, and she did a pretty good job! There are tucks and puckers everywhere, making for thick seams at times. You can see the pattern I'm using has plenty of swirls, I chose this one because the swirls will help disquise the puffiness caused by the tucks.  It's a pantograph by Lisa Calle.

house all to myself!

I have the house all to myself tomorrow and can't wait!  It will be a day of practice on my long arm.  2 quilt tops came in the mail today.  I'll have music on, sweet tea and chocolate on hand, who could ask for anything more?  I'll start with this one first.

I started piecing a new quilt today.  It's a Patchwork Party quilt.  Hope to get it done before Christmas!  I only have these 4 blocks finished.

When Doubt Tries To Bully Us

This was on the website today at Proverbs 31.org.  It was so good I had to show you!  It is written by Renee Swope and is from chapter 6 of her book "A Confident Heart".

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31 (NIV)

One morning I woke up feeling beat up by discouragement. My mind was being bullied by thoughts of doubt: I can't do it all! I am not cut out to be a wife, a mom, a daughter, a speaker, a writer and all the other things God has called me to.My thoughts were against me, and my feelings were too.

As I lay in bed feeling completely inadequate, my radio alarm came on. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by Twila Paris singing to me. With confident assurance, she spoke truth to my soul, telling me this was no time for fear, but a time for faith and determination. She challenged me not to lose my vision or be carried away by my emotions, but to hold on to all that I had hidden in my heart, and all I believed to be true. Then she reminded me of the most important truth of all: God is in control. [1]

As I heard these words, my thoughts aligned with God's truth. It changed my whole perspective. I went from feeling afraid to feeling determined and from feeling out of control to knowing God is in control.

We have the choice either to let doubt beat us up or to let God's truth build us up.
If we have Christ in us, we have full access to God's power and His promises to live with a confident heart. But it won't just happen because it's possible. We have to take action.
When my alarm came on that morning, I was so glad I'd set my radio to that station the night before, so I would wake up hearing encouraging music and truth. Just like I tuned into that station, we need to get intentional about tuning our thoughts into God's thoughts toward us, every day.

In the same way a radio has AM and FM frequencies, so do our thoughts. They are either AM (against me) or FM (for me) thoughts. The truth is, we are often our worst critics and have a lot of AM thoughts.

Find this book here

And if our thoughts are against us, our feelings will be too.
So, the next time you get those feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt, stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you are thinking that is making you feel that way. Then compare your thoughts about that situation to God's thoughts, which are reflected in Scripture. Do they match? If not, find a promise in God's Word to replace the lie that has filled your heart with doubt. Here are few to get your started:

• When doubt comes against me, saying I'm weak and all alone, I will focus on the truth that God is for me! I can be strong and courageous because the Lord my God is with me. He will never leave me nor forsake me. (Deuteronomy 31:6, NIV)

• When doubt comes against me, saying I'm not good enough for a certain role or position, I will remember that God is for me! He says I am His masterpiece, created to be new in Christ so that I could do good things He planned long ago. (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)


Power Verses:
1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (NIV)

Deuteronomy 20:4, "For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." (NIV)

Romans 8:37, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (NIV)

[1] "God Is In Control," © 1993 by Twila Paris. All Rights Reserved. From He Is Exalted: Live Worship CD.