Quilters Favourites

Geta of Geta's Quilting Studio is hosting a Quilters Favourites Linky party and she has asked us to share some tips tricks and other useful info:
Geta does the most amazing quilts - but her quilting is more than amazing - pop on over and have a good look through her blog.

Here is her cute button:

So, onto Quilters Favourites -  Geta prompted us with a load of topics that we could share information about - I picked a few - I am no expert so I will leave the rest to the others.

Any advice for a successful colour scheme of a quilt ?I think if you don't feel confident about colour - ask - either at your quilt shop or other quilting friends whose work you like.  or search online and copy the tones/colours of quilts you like.
Alternately - pick one fabric you like and add coordinating colours/fabrics.  If you think you need extra - find a colour on the opposite side of the colour wheel and add a small amount.

If you enjoy other quilt techniques than patchwork, could you share some tips with us ? 
I love doing stitcheries, not intricate embroidery - just back stitch, stem stitch satin stitch etc - and turning them into quilts.  I love the handwork - I find it very relaxing to be able to do that at the end of the day when I get home from work.  I don't like tracing - so I really love pre-printed patterns or iron transfers.
I also love variegated threads - and I love having a lot of threads to choose from.  Unfortunately I have a weakness for "collections" - once I buy a few threads of a range I feel the need to collect them all. (yes, I have all the DMCs and a few other brands as well)

Machine quilting tips  - Practice and patience.  New needle & remember to change it.  A Needle plate with a single hole (ie doesn't cater for zig zag stitches). I don't do it much - at this stage I am happy to pay for it.  (Got to keep working to support my habits!!)

Hand quilting tips  - Don't  !!!  (same as for machine quilting...)


Do you have free tutorials on your blog?I have a mini "How to" on how to finish off a small quilt/wall hanging if you don't want or need to do binding - using a "pillow case" or "envelope" style and it saves that annoying problem of trying to join the gap and make it look like it wasn't there.

Go here for that.

The sewing machine - share a few things you love at your sewing machine; what makes it special? What features do you think are the most important to a sewing machine used for quilting? I have a machine that includes a lot of decorative stitches.  When I bought it,  I thought "Oh yes, they are pretty - will probably never use them..."  But I have been doing a class for an appliqued quilt using all decorative stitches to applique the pieces to the backgrounds (not just the normal blanket stitch).  I am loving it - I have used it on other projects too and I am starting to use some of them for machine quilting some projects.
You can see some of my blocks here and here.

Tips for organizing the sewing tools, the fabrics, the sewing studio? 
Cyber space is full of ideas on organising your sewing area, so I  won't go there.  But a couple of things I find handy are:
(1)  a basket or two to put things in when you don't have time to put it all away but want to tidy up.  and
(2) - I have a normal stationery type of ruler that I like to keep in my sewing drawer.  (30cm long about 1.5" wide - the type you may have used in school)  BUT it is always falling into the bottom of the drawer and then I cant find it.  The inside of my drawer has a narrow "shelf" like bit - very hard to describe this - and I have put a blob of Blu Tac there and I stick my ruler to it when I put it back in the drawer.  Then its always where I can find it.
(Blu Tac - in case its called something else where you are) is like a slightly sticky piece of putty - a bit like chewing gum that you can use to stick posters etc onto a wall)
I took a picture in case...

(yes I have a lint roller too Geta!) 

(3) -My machine sits on top of a desk - it doesn't drop down - but I find it really handy to put my machine on a felt pad (2 thicknesses  - I can put pins in it as I sew and I can slide the machine out of the way when I want to use the desk for other things.

Would you like to share one of your favourite quilts, made by you ? 
I love this quilt - designed by Amy Bradley called The Quilt Diva.  I made it in 2008 and won a prize for it in a local quilt show.

I love most of my quilts - for different reasons.

Do you have a favourite quilt, made by other quilter ?  
Maybe one day I will make  a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, but I love a lot of different types of quilts - generally not things in Country Colours and whilst I admire pretty and romantic - or shabby chic - its not me

Don't Do Like Me! (Geta said:We all feel sometimes uninspired, or may have ideas which are not the best, and they may result in a lot of work for projects which we finally hate; or we may imagine shortcuts that finally give us only headaches instead of making our work easier. 
If this happened to you, please share your failure lessons to encourage the rest of us that we're not alone and quilting is worth the hard lessons along the way).

I have come to the point in my life where - if I don't like something now - I probably wont like it later and that I have so many more projects I want to do - it's better to stop now and not use up more time.  Sometimes, you can pass the project along to someone who you know will finish t, otherwise it may as well go out - maybe a charity shop will find it a new home.

Well that is a bit of maybe useful / maybe useless information - a little bit about me & my hobby - which I am sure saves me from being a regular at a mental home!!!

PS: Sorry for the mixture of type styles - I might quilt but blogger and formatting is not on my agenda for now!