Kuchi Kopi Wrist Pincushion

I finally made myself a new and fun version of one my most used sewing tools. Check out my Kuchi Kopi wrist pincushion!

As you already know I am a big fan of the show Bob's Burgers so I thought Kuchi Kopi would make a great pincushion. I had this awesome slap bracelet stylus from Bento Box Entertainment so I thought why not combine the two for something adorable and useful. I may just wear it as a cute plush bracelet when I'm not sewing!

My Favorite Way to Baste a Quilt

Today I wanted to share my favorite basting method.

Surprised?! Yep I don't pin my quilts I spray them and  I LOVE both of these sprays! The yellow bottle is Dritz Quilting Spray Adhesive and the white is June Taylor Quilt Basting Spray. They make basting a quilt a breeze and much faster, at least for me. Before I tried spray basting I would spend hours pinning my quilts. It seemed no matter how hard I tried when pinning my quilt layers together they always shifted. I would pin the entire thing just to quilt one row and have to go back and re-pin pulling everything tight again and repeat the process over and over. I even resorted to using straight pins between my safety pins since I could pin them faster and keep things tighter but that only resulted in me getting stuck/scraped when I was quilting it. This is so much easier! I lay out my quilt back wrong side up and spray it. Then I spread my batting on it pressing it together while smoothing out any wrinkles. Then spray the batting and lay my quilt top on it. Smooth it out and its ready to quilt!

Now while this is my go to for quilt basting it isn't with out its drawbacks. First its not cheap. The regular price of the Dritz brand is $15.99 while the June Taylor brand is $12.99. I buy it at Joann's when they have a good sale or a good coupon. Both brands have worked well for me. I used the June Taylor one (first time trying that brand) on my queen size bunting quilt and had no issues.

Another thing I ran into is this stuff can ruin your manicure so be careful! I did not know this and here is what happened.

This is just regular nail polish and the basting spray kind of dissolved it making it tacky. It wasn't enough that the polish got on anything it just looked bad, I had cotton batting stuck all over my nails and it wouldn't wash off. Gel polish on the other hand was better. The batting still stuck to my nails as you can see.

That time it was really bad, but I was able to remove it with alcohol swabs and save my manicure. It just dulled the finish a bit.

 

Just something to be aware of if you are like me and keep your nails painted.  

Finally protect the surface you are spraying on. I bought a cheap, plastic, shower curtain specifically for this and just put under my quilts before spraying so it doesn't get on my carpet. It's a temporary adhesive so it does dissipate but I try to be careful and keep it off the carpet. 

Hope you find these tips useful and if you try it let me know what you think.

Two Finished Quilts

I just realized it has been over a month since my last post! It never ceases to amaze me at how fast time can pass when you are either busy or doing something fun. In my case it was both. I finally finished the bunting quilt I was making for my sister and that I wrote about in my previous blog post. It was my first queen sized quilt! Here it is all finished.

In the second picture you can see the pieced backing from my previous tutorial.
I also finished a baby quilt for my step-sister who just had a baby girl. I was told her theme was "purple butterflies." So this is what I came up with. Here is the front:

And the back:

I love pieced quilt backs! I think they tie the quilt together nicely and from a thrifty perspective you can use pieces that may be left over from the top.

In my next post I am going to share my favorite quilt basting method so be sure to check back later this week!