Aug 14th - Purple Daisies

Tonight's chat is sponsored by Cristy of Purple Daisies!

 Purple Daisies is owned by Cristy Fincher, daughter of Master Quilter, Sharon Schamber.  Purple Daisies is about bringing quilting and sewing education to all types of sewists.  Sharon is a pretty fantastic quilter and sewist, in her own right.  She spent much of Cristy's childhood owning and operating a successful wedding gown design and production company, Time & Eternity Fashions/DeJa Vu Designs.  Everything that Sharon knows about sewing and machines, she has brought with her to the quilting world.  Now, Sharon shares all of her tips, tricks and techniques in the classes she teaches, all over the world.  In addition, each of her classes are available on DVD.  All of Sharon's DVD classes are available at Purple Daisies online store, along with the tools that Sharon recommends, to help you along the way.  Cristy's childhood was spent at her mom's side, next to her machines, dress mannequins and bolts upon bolts of fabric.  She came by sewing very naturally, and enjoys passing along techniques and ideas to help all sewists become even better and more educated.  Starting Purple Daisies has allowed her to be at home with her 3 kids, and has given her the opportunity to teach and share with quilters sewists everywhere.

Cristy is giving everyone 20% off at her site! Just use the coupon talknt

Tips & Tricks from Cristy

1)  Needles - ball point needles are the best for all piecing, applique, and quilting. They're kind to your threads and fabrics.

2) Sewing Set-up: For piecing/applique, machine should be higher, on a table. For quilting, machine should be set in a table so that your arms are at a 90* angle at your elbows. You'll be amazed how much more comfortable this set up is!

3) Longarmers should really sit at their machines, and be at eye-level with their quilting. This relieves back/neck strain.

5)FMQ - Path and how to get from point A to B is important. We teach how to write letters in school so we write correctlywe should approach learning FMQ the same way. Seeing how will help get your started and reduce frustration.

6)Machine Oil - Keep your machine well oiled, and please, for the benefit of your machine, only use clear oil. No yellow oil.

7) Vacuum the lint out of your machine, rather than blowing it out. Blowing into it pushes the lint around and in it. #

8) FMQ Tools - For Domestic FMQ, Sharon recommends the Quilt Halo, Supreme Slider and Bobbin Genies.

9) Starching your fabric before cutting and piecing stabilized the biases and prevents distortion