Seams French

1. Prewash? 2. Underline with stabilizer? 3. Marking Choices? 4. Type of Batting? When starting any new quilt, there are many choices to consider and decisions to make regarding materials, designs and techniques. The above sample is testing background filler stitches. Working with silk creates it's own unique challenges. Although many quilters are choosing to work with silk today, resource info was scattered and hard to find, both on-line and in books. One invaluable source has been the book "Silk Quilts" written by Hanne Vibeke de Konig. Published in 2000, the information is well researched and still relevant today. 1. Pre-wash? Once the fabrics have been chosen, in my case it's a silk dupioni, the question of pre-washing must be resolved. Opinions in the quilting world vary on this, although my findings led me to believe most quilters choose not to prewash silk.  The draw back to this is that the quilt must then be dry cleaned if it ever gets soil...

Since my last post, there has been construction happening on several fronts. The most obvious is the new look of my blog site. There are still many kinks to iron out on that front. "Techno Wizardry" is as alien to me as sewing and quilting are a natural extension of who I am. Since I'd rather be quilting any day , the blog rework is a bit of an ordeal but it is slowly coming together.  (If my 3 year old granddaughter could read, she probably would have had the rework up months ago!) That having been said, I will start posting again in the next couple of weeks, ironing out the rest of the kinks along the way. However, throughout the drama of my computer trauma, the sewing machine has been running overtime, happily quilting. And my hands, not idle either, are working on new boutis pieces. Here are a few pics of some of the projects that have been keeping me busy. A doll quilt and vintage doll bed were under the tree at Christmas. The star blocks are left-over ...