Threads Needles and Tension

Do you want to know how to alleviate 90% of all your sewing troubles?  Just learn about thread, sewing machine needles and the tension dials on you machine. If you do this with your machine, I guarantee you will have less frustration later and Aboid some of the typical problems. 

That is exactly what we did today at our Fibre Artists Meet and Exchange (FAME) day. First we spent one hour going through a handbook I created and discussing needles, threads and tension. Everyone added their suggestions too so we had a lot of great information!  Then we played with our machines to discover preset tensions and how to change tensions with regular 50 Weight thread in regular and free motion. Everyone discovered the ‘personality’ of their machine!

After lunch we had show and tell. Great work and ideas!  Then back to playing with our machines by trying couching and bobbin work. Followed by some playing with make-and-take bookmarks and needle minders. 

Everyone agreed that they would not take the time at home to ‘get to know’ their machine and were glad to discover so many tips in today’s class!  Now we are ready for next weeks class on thread painting!

A few of the FAME participants trying out thread, needles and tension on their machines. 

Ruth showing her Spoonflower print of a photo of a watercolour picture she painted. Ready for quilting. 

Susan showing a pieces quilt featuring many of her own hand dyed fabrics. 

Needle Minder directions and close up of the finished piece. It conveniently sits beside my sewing machine with a decorative straight pin marking the type of needle I have placed in my machine. 

I mostly use Topstitch needles now.  They work perfectly for piecing, appliqué, thread painting, garment sewing, etc. Basically any kind of sewing!  

I love Topstitch needles for three reasons. 1.  All topstitch needles have an elongated eye. That makes them easy to thread but more importantly there is less friction on the thread as it passes through the eye and consequently the thread doesn’t fray;

2.  Topstitch needles have a deep groove for the thread to travel in (again reducing friction and fraying issues);

3.  Topstitch needles are sharp enough to penetrate most fabrics and layers of fabrics. 

Also, Topstitch needles are now available coated in titanium which lengthens the life of your needle almost 10 times. Basically, you don’t have to change your needle after 8 hours as previously recommended but only when you hear a change in the sound of your needle going through the fabric (about 60 hours) or when the needle breaks. 

You can buy titanium coated Topstitch needles from Superior. They come in a plastic case of five needles for around $7. Or you can buy them directly from Organ, who makes them, in a foil envelope for even cheaper. Check at you Local Quilt Shop (LQS); if they don’t have them suggest they get them. A sewer really doesn’t need any other type of needle. Make sure you get all four sizes of Topstitch needles. You will want 70 for fine threads, 80 or 90 for regular weight threads and 100 for thick threads. 

The only other needles I buy are Microtex needles. These are great for very fine detail work where you don’t want to see a hole where you stitch, or when using finicky metallic and Mylar threads. However, since switching to titanium coated Topstitch needles I use the Microtex needles less often. 

Days For Girls Sewing

Imagine....  what if not having sanitary supplies meant DAYS without school. DAYS without income. DAYS without leaving the house?

Girls use socks, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, anything they can find . . . But often miss 3 - 5 DAYS of school every month. 

Resolving this issue is key to social change for women all over the world. The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school. 

Imagine.....  What if your love for sewing, or your stash of fabric or cash donation, or your willingness to cut/iron fabric could help girls break free from poverty and reach their full potential?  What if YOU could make a difference? You can!

And I can!  And I did. At a sewing session at Mad B’s. Thanks to "DAYS for Girls - Gold Canyon AZ Team". 

What is in a DAYS for Girls kit?                     1 drawstring bag.                                      2 moisture barrier shields.                        8 absorbent tri-fold liners.                           2 large Ziplock freezer bags.                      1 washcloth.                                                  2 pairs of panties.                                       1 travel sized soap.                                

Drive to Roosevelt Dam

Don, Leah and I took a long drive past Tortilla Flat to Roosevelt Dam on road 88 up to Lake Roosevelt.  The road is paved a ways past Tortilla Flat, but then turns to a dirt/sand road with many twists and turns.
First stop was at Fish Creek Vista. Hard to believe they cut a road throughout here in the early 1900s to build a dam for the water and electricity.


A quick stop on the road to check out a tarantula that Don spied.


Lunch stop at Apache Lake Resort.


Roosevelt Dam built in 1906 out of natural stone blocks cut on site, then raised 77 feet in the 80s.


Roosevelt bridge spans the huge Roosevelt Lake that was created by the Dam project.

Canal Convergence

Many festivals featuring light occur here in the desert. Scottsdale has an annual Canal Convergence where artists creat art installations that are set up along the canal for 10 days. Very interesting and festive mood!

Infinity Crystal - uses form, light and mirrors to create the illusion of infinity. 

Re-Cyclone - 20 foot tall sculpture made of 5000 upcycled plastic water bottles that illuminated as participants rotate it with a hand wheel. 

Flotus - 12 polished aluminum lotus sculptures with LED lights and the ability to shoot flames up to 30 feet in the air. Spectacular light, fire and music show!

Maverick Challenges

The November Mavericks meeting focused on various challenges issued a year ago. 

The first photo is of the challenge "Free Reign" based on depicting carousel images. 

The second challenge was "Fractired Flowers" where each participant made a simple flower block. Then the blocks were cut into four pieces, mixed and given out for the participant to finish. Here are some of the transfigurations. 

Another challenge was "Yellow Brick Road". Each participant received a piece of paper with a flowing line traced on to it. Each participant was to use that pattern to design a piece of a yellow brick road. 

The next two photos show work from a stamping class at Marla’s Marvellous Mansion with Randy Kemp. 

The last photo is of an interesting scarf made from old silk ties made by Wanda. It is a great idea and set my mind to wandering!

First Water Hike

In preparation for their longer hike, Don and Leah planned a short hike on which I joined them.  They chose to park at mile 208 on Tortilla Flat road and scramble down to First Water Creek and follow it to Canyon Lake. 

And scramble we did!  There did not seem to be any clear path. Going down didn’t seem too hard. We let gravity do the work. Lol. We scrambled down about 300 feet to First Water Creek. 

Leah and Don did a small side path exploration while I sketched the canyon scenery. We had a snack lunch on the river worn rocks and hiked a short distance farther to see an inlet of Canyon Lake. Lots of Fountain Grass growing here!

The scramble back out of the ravine was more difficult than the descent. We never really did find a path. Got "attacked" by a few cacti and Palo Verde bushes!

Fun hike!  Now we are ready for a Mexican supper at Blue Adobe. 😋

‘Arizona!" Installation

Once Jin Choi had the total crocheted lace ribbon built it was then Thomas Shine’s turn to take over and get this 2 to 3 ton lace ribbon suspended in the air!  

First the lace ribbon was sewn onto a mesh grid to keep the ribbon from sagging. Also, the ribbon had to be able to curve so plastic tubing was attached horizontally to the top and bottom of the ribbon and also some pieces of 8 feet tall tubing was placed vertically. The mesh and tubing gave the ribbon structure and support. 

Then the ribbon had to be suspended over the canal. A crane, large metal posts and hundreds of cables were used to lift and hang the art!  An amazing feat of engineering!

Plastic poles and mesh. 

Sewing the ribbon to the mesh. 

Crane in place to lift crocheted lace ribbon for installation. 

See how the poles and mesh give the crochet lace ribbon some structure so it will not sag but can still curve over the canal. 

One small section of the crocheted lace ribbon suspended over the canal. It looks like it is floating in mid air!  Amazing!

"Arizona" Crocheting

Once Jin Choi had the concept for "Arizona!" she had to enlist the support of volunteer crocheters to build enough strips and motif blocks to make the 600 feet by 8 feet tall lace ribbon. 

I was one of over 100 volunteer crocheters who worked on pieces. I was assigned strip #2. It took a while to decipher Jin’s architectural style drawings to interpret the crochet work. But once we ironed out some kinks we all got busy crocheting using marine grade polyester rope. 

Here I am beginning one strip. As you can see I have used colour coded yarn to help me know where my intersections are. 

Here is a picture of the design map I was given to build my strip. It wasn’t written as a crochet pattern but rather like a design map. A little intimidating at first, but once I figured it out it was easy to follow. 

I ended up crocheting three strips, each strip being almost 14 feet in length. 

My ‘small’ part probably took about 30 hours to complete, but once you add all the others crocheters the total (estimated) time spent to create the lace ribbon was around 7000 hours!

Whew!!!

"Arizona!" Conception

Now that "Arizona!" Is installed people are asking for more details on how the art and installation were done. In this post I will focus on the art part. 

Jin Choi and Thomas Shine are the designers of the art. Jin dreams up the design and Thomas figures out how to install it!  The husband and wife team explored Arizona and were very captivated with Antelope Canyon which is home to amazing natural sculptures:  erosion by wind and water on colourful sandstone rock. Jim created the sculpture to represent the power of wind and water. The lace ribbon floats and curves in the air. 

Jin designed the basic pattern of the ribbon as a repetition of two long strips and four different square motifs. 

Can you see the basic building blocks in the above photos?

Art Installation "Arizona!"

Name an art project that you have been involved with that included over 200 people working over 6650 hours on?  I don’t think too many times a project of this magnitude is undertaken and complete in under a year and a half!

Today was a marvellous gathering to view the art installation "Arizona!".  Husband and wife architecture team, Choi and Shine, led a small group of us through "Canal Convergence" in Scottsdale, Arizona and explained the entire process from conception to completion of their art installation "Arizona!"  

The entire installation is 600 feet long by 8 feet tall. The installation process of hanging a 2500 pound sculpture is an engineering feet!  (I think Don was more interested in the installation than the crocheted lace work.)

I am proud to be involved in this project by crocheting 36 feet of Strip 2 which runs at the top and bottom of the design. There was a total of over 100 crocheters involved in the project. 

Inside the loop area where you can get up close to the crocheted lace. You feel like you are a bride with a veil on looking through to other far away pieces of the enormous sculpture. 

From a distance the sculpture looks like a ribbon of lace. (The pink octopus looking blob is a different sculpture in the background.)

Here the curving lace ribbon reflects on the canal water. In the dark foreground Thomas Shine is explaining the sculpture to our group. 

This last photo shows Barb (a Fibre friend from Alberta who also volunteered to crochet) and I in front of a sample of the crochet lace ribbon. 

Framing Ideas

Don and I are always looking to interesting framing ideas. Either for his photography or my fibre art. 

We were in a home decor store. (I know!  I actually got Don into that kind of store!!  He must have thought it was a golf store?!) It was shocking how many reproduced wall art paintings they had in it!  Thousands!  No wonder no one buys original art work any more!  Any way, I digress. 

We saw a couple of interesting ways of framing groups of photos. Raised pieces within one frame. We will have to try this. Could be interesting. 

The above frame has sixteen 5" squares that are ‘float’ mounted within one frame. 

This had three pieces mounted using small blocks of wood top and bottom. 

Here is a close up side view. Shows how the wood holds the art away from the back of the frame to achieve that ‘floating’ look. 

Arches National Park

Arches National Park near Moab Utah is spectacularly beautiful. This trip was made even more special by a musician playing under Windows Arch. Everyone was mesmerized. The sound coming from the small black steel drum was hauntingly ethereal. Wow!  What a treat!!

We drove right to the end of the park where there are various trail heads for hikes. At dusk we took a hike to Delicate Arch where we watched the sun go down. All the red stone formations turned a glowing pink colour. Stunning!

Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway

Drove the Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway to Moab today. It starts in Utah, heads a bit east and into Colorado and then south a ways before heading west again into Utah. Lots of open plains areas until we got into the red rocks. (Puts Sedona rocks to shame!)