It's Day 3 of the fabulous Fairy Tales Blog Hop hosted by the wonderful Joan of MooseStash Quilting. She has a fantastic group of quilty-minded friends lined up for this fun-filled blog hop. Find them all listed below! You'll want to visit each one!
Every little girl loves Fairy Tales - Every little girl falls in love with Unicorns at sometime in her life. OH! the stirrings of imagination! Castles, princesses & magical creatures! So a unicorn is a must for the wee-one in my life!
With thoughts of my Rainbow-loving, magical Grand-daughter in mind, I wanted to create something to celebrate her excitement.
I created my own take on the pattern - Reverse Applique Unicorn Quilt Tutorial from We All Sew At Bernina. You can find the original pattern at the link. Instead of reverse applique, I chose to go with a raw edge, whole cloth version. Using "Nightlife" by Chong-aHwang for Timeless Treasures Fabrics as the color foundation made this a fun project. It went together quickly for a sweet summer blanket!
*Note that some may be able to help me out with-- I tried out some metallic threads in the quilting to add Sparkle to the unicorn. The thread broke quite a bit....wrong needle, set tension????
And on another side note, I believe I’ll use a cheaper machine to use the metallic threads as I found lots of tiny metal shavings off the thread in my Bernina while cleaning g it after quilting was complete. Probably not good for the internals.
Leave me some tips or suggestions in the comments for a chance to win some left over project charms of "Nightlife". Follow my Blog for an additional entry! Winner will be chosen at random on the last day of the blog hop. Good Luck!
Random Generator Selector : COMMENTER # 13 out of 26 (plus followers) was selected. Congratulations Lee of The Butler Did It! Please contact me with your mailing information by Monday June 28th or another random selection will be made. Thanks everyone for visiting my stop in the Fairy Tale Blog Hop.
Monday June 21
Becky’s Adventurers in Quilting and Travel
Tuesday June 22
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!
Wednesday June 23
Thursday June 24
Friday June 25
Beautiful Unicorn quilt for your beautiful little princess!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to gift it to her!
DeleteYour unicorn quilt is just darling. I am sorry you had trouble with the metallic threads. I am sure someone can help you with that. That is one reason that I haven't tried to do that. Fear of breaking and/or damaging my machine. It's a good idea you had to use an older machine. I am sure your granddaughter is loving it.
ReplyDeleteI Do Worry about the machine, I've invested a lot into it and wish it to last my lifetime ;)
DeleteThis is a beautiful quilt! I don't use metallics (have been afraid to) so have no advice for you. Perhaps someone at a quilt shop would know? Anyway, thanks for sharing your lovely project--job well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol! I've been reading that little needle book and Daryl of Patchouli Moon Studio provided some excellent tips also concerning the thread. I'm going to try all of those suggestions in an old machine just to practice more with them.
DeleteYour unicorn is great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rebecca, it was fun playing with it!
DeleteYour unicorn is magical and lovely!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm looking at it still and thinking some dense quilting in the horse body would make a great addition to the quilt!
DeleteWhat a sweet unicorn, and I love unicorns!
ReplyDeleteAs for your woes, you need to use a metallic needle for the thread, use a cone stand and place it a foot or more away from the machine, this is becuase the metallic thread when it comes off the spool is very curly and it need the time to uncoil as it travels through the needle. You might also not thread the thread into the very last thread guide by the needle, as that can cause the thread to break. Another thing you can try too is running a bit of thread conditioner along the length of the spool of thread; use Needle Lube or Sewer's Aid. You can Google it to see how to use it. If you don't have a cone stand, place your thread into a quart canning jar or something similar. This will allow the thread to also travel farther to uncoil better as it feeds off the spool down to the needle. You can also do the same thing if you ever use Sliver thread (which is a Mylar thread). Both sliver and metallic threads just have too tight of a coil to them right off the spool. Good luck.
Wow! All the suggestions are fantastic. Thank you so much. I will be trying all of this (needle lube included if need be)
DeleteWhat a wonderful gift for a child, her very own magic to carry around and snuggle with. Great job.
ReplyDeleteShe does love her blankets. She calls them Bees. :)
DeleteYour unicorn quilt is adorable. I love unicorns too! Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI found some gorgeous wall stickers to go with them! What fun!
DeleteWho doesn't love unicorns? Adorable quilt!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan, I'm still a baby quilter and soon I hope to get more time to devote to it. I want to make my quilts shine with beautiful quilting stitches!
DeleteYour little precious granddaughter is going to absolutely love her new Unicorn Quilt Anita. It's just adorable. I too, would have done it just like you with regular applique and forget the reverse stuff. LOL!! I buy metallic needles and use them all the time... mostly because the eye is bigger and they are easier for me to thread. You might want to try that. I break the little pin off the automatic threaders on my machines all the time. If you have a solutions for that?? LOL!! Thanks for playing in Fairy Tale land with us.
ReplyDeleteOh Gosh, I rarely use the automatic threader! I always have to go back and reteach myself how to use it! I have read through my little need book published by Schmetz and saw that they have needles for that! Thanks for the suggestion and I will be purchasing a couple of those to keep on hand.
DeleteYour unicorn is gorgeous and I love the metallic thread on the unicorn. I've only used metallic thread a few times, so I'm no help with advice.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I'm going to continue "trying" out the thread to see if I can have better success. We'll see how that goes ;)
DeleteAnita your unicorn is too sweet! What little one wouldn’t love to have such a magical creature in their home.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carol, I'm ever so happy to create things for her!
DeleteHow sweet ! what a lucky granddaughter!!
ReplyDeleteShe is a true joy!
DeleteAnd I am a follower on Bloglovn!
ReplyDelete;)
DeleteHow adorable - Unicorn is fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pam! I feel like it isn't quite done yet. I may sneak back and quilt a little denser in the horse body.
DeleteWhat a perfect quilt for a perfect little granddaughter. Metallic thread is a tough one. Lower your tension WAY down - that may help.
ReplyDeletegreat idea. I will be trying this again on test swatches to see what happens!
DeleteWhat a great idea for your grand-daughter. I have used metalic threads successfully in my bobbin. I just made sure that I know where to quilt from the back and then quilt away. It does work! Take care.
ReplyDeleteWow, I haven't tried it in the bobbin yet. Interesting. I may try so practice swatches.
DeleteA great idea for little girls and boys. The magic that is added to the quilt provides so much food for storytelling.
ReplyDeleteI can't get metallic thread or invisible threads to work in my Bernina, and am reading suggestions here that I might try. Thanks
I too am studying up on this, are you a member of the Bernina Blog and email group? They send suggestions and tutorials all the time. I'm pouring through some of them to find answers but I will continue to practice and test on swatches in the meantime. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteSweet quilt! I've tried metallics and had the same problem with breaking thread. I wish that I knew the answer, because I like the sparkle that it adds to a project.
ReplyDeleteI too love that Sparkle so I'm going to keep testing and practicing on swatches. Thanks for visiting me Sharon!
DeleteI've not used metallic threads, but it's a great idea and I'm grateful for all these tips. Love the picture of your granddaughter and the quilt is truly a beautiful keepsake. So gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI'm continuing my education on this one, and will keep practicing and testing on swatches as well. I'm testing all the tips just to see what works nicely.
DeleteWhat a beautiful unicorn quilt! I love unicorns. I'm sure your granddaughter will treasure this one!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to gift it!
DeleteLovely unicorn. On the thread problem, if you have had the metallic for awhile, throw it out. It has changed a lot but I feel my older spools are far inferior to the newer ones.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, I know this one is a newer purchase so I do believe if I follow some of the tips provided I will have much success. I'm going to continue practicing and testing on swatches to find that perfect rhythm with it :)
DeleteSuch a beautiful unicorn and granddaughter! Wish I had some suggestions for you, but I haven't used metallic threads yet. Maybe I'll get brave enough at some point. Thanks for sharing your magical unicorn! -Andrea
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Andrea, I will be testing and practicing way more with the metallic thread. I do love that sparkle it adds to a quilt.
DeleteLovely quilt. I bet your sweet granddaughter just loves it.
ReplyDeleteemotional story, she moved this weekend and she cried at bedtime when her mother put her unicorn blanket on the bed. She told her mommy that Grammy made it for her and she is going to miss her. :(
DeleteGorgeous quilt! Metallic thread is hard when quilting... I put mine in a little jar next to the machine and then thread it through - helps with tension... xx
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this tip. I may get back into blogging again shortly and try something new. My hope was to document all my quilts but time has gotten away from me.
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