Have all of you sewing people out there heard of a new product called Soft and Stable? If you make bags, placemats, or other home dec items that need a lightweight, soft yet stiff, durable, and easy-to-sew product in between your fabric layers, this is it!
A very nice lady named Annie has developed it, and I was introduced to it at Spring Quilt Market. I LOVE working with it! Annie said she even had it tested to make sure it's totally safe for babies and children, which it is. No scary invisible chemical residues to harm your child.
I used it to make the pink bag at the beginning of the post, and the red striped bag you see above. Since it has fabric on both sides of the foam product, it doesn't shift when sewn. It's a dream to quilt over, but it's so stable that you don't need to quilt over it at all if you don't want to. When making bags, just layer it with your fabric and sew the seams as normal. You can buy it directly from Annie at byAnnie.com. It's a bit more pricey than normal batting, but TOTALLY worth it.
I'm actually on vacation right now with my family - we're visiting Steve's extended family in Idaho - and there's no computer in the house so things are going to be quiet on my blog for awhile. Thank goodness for local library computers! I always take my computer for granted until I'm away from one for awhile, then it's major separation anxiety. That, and non-productive anxiety, which I've been fighting for the past several days... it's unbelievably hard for me to sit around and not have access to any of the 200 or so projects that are awaiting completion in my studio at home.
The kids are having a fabulous time with their cousins, grandparents, and aunts/uncles though, so that's good. And I brought some applique blocks to work on for a new quilt, but I didn't have time to prep more than 4 blocks before I left, so they're all done now. I'm also reading a really great book that my friend gave me for my birthday called "The Help". Very insightful and eye-opening - I highly recommend it.
Before leaving for this trip, I quickly loaded up some photos of some projects I've been working on for next summer's issues of some quilting magazines.
Thought I'd give you a sneak peek just for fun.
You can see more examples of the raw-edge technique here, but someday I'll have a machine that does a nice pretty blanket stitch instead!
When I get back from our trip I'll have lots of fun pics to share of our adventures here in Idaho. The weather here is great - nice and hot for plenty of pool time, but really dry so I don't suffocate and go insane from the humidity and the mosquitoes like I do in Virginia, even in the shade. Can you tell I'm fond of mugginess? Then it's only a little bit o' time before school starts again! Pretty amazing. Hope you all have a fun last bit of summer!
I'm also reading "The Help" right now and am really enjoying it...very insightful and a good all-around read. I'm interested to see how the movie compares to the book...if they can bring the vivid characters in the book to life on the screen. Enjoy your vacation! Did you drive all the way to Idaho...that is SUCH a long trip. I hope you enjoyed it on a plane instead. :)
Posted by: Natalie Rose | August 10, 2011 at 10:04 AM