Handwork--it's catching!

     In March I taught at the New Jersey Quilt Festival. As one of several teachers, we were paired with a roomie and that's when Laura Wasilowski and I got to know each other. If you looked at our work, you might think we'd be apples and oranges but we have lots in common it turns out. Both of us try not to take ourselves too seriously. We found we could trade paperback books (for airplane reading) but the big news was that we discovered we both liked hand sewing. 

Laura's latest book Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts had just come out and to my surprise, the book features hand sewing touches.


     In addition to being Professor Emeritus of the Chicago School of Fusing, Laura loves hand embroidery. We got to talking about needles and here's a mini-interview I did with Laura. 


Pepper: " What type of needles did you use when stitching the quilts in your new book?"

Laura: "You'd never know by looking at me but I'm really fussy about the embroidery needles I use when stitching my little fused art quilts. Most of the
stitching on the quilts is done with  my hand-dyed Size 8 threads. My favorite needle for a size 8 pearl cotton is a size 4 Richard Hemmings embroidery needle. These excellent needles are from Colonial Needles http://www.colonialneedle.com/ and they slide through the fabric like
butter. (Not that I've ever sewn butter.)"

Pepper: "Do you use a hoop when adding embroidery stitches?"

Laura: "No, Pepper, I am a totally hoopless stitcher. If you place a raw-edged
fused quilt into a hoop, it may stretch the fabric and fray the edges. So I
avoid a hoop and add embroidery stitches just through the batting and quilt
top. If you'd like more fascinating tips for stitching a fused art quilts
on my blog under Thread-u-cation.
http://artfabrik.blogspot.com/p/thread-u-cation.html."

Pepper: "Thanks Laura!"

To my blog readers: you might not have known it but you're on a blog tour. So, if you comment on this blog posting, your email will be put into the pot and you'll have the chance to win a copy of Laura's new book. The offer lasts until 9 PM this evening April 30. Good luck!