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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Rulers I may have an obsession

   Well, I am waiting for my daughter to come home, so I will know if she has pneumonia. The Dr. sent her for an x-ray to be sure. She was sick all last week, and went back to work this week, but really has not felt good enough to be there. So when she got to work today and the phones were not working (she answers the phones for a Pediatricians office), she called the Dr. to see why she seemed to be getting worse instead of better.

Well, this is just a sampling of my rulers layed out on the table. The one in the middle is my favorite ruler. I use it for most of my cutting straight lines. It is O'lipfa and it has a lip on the edge that will hug the mat to keep it straight on long cuts.

As you can see I have a wide selection of other rulers, many of them I have never used. Some I bought just because I thought they would help me in the future,others I bought for a specific quilt I planned to make. Like the ones up top in the middle. It came with a pattern to make cute fish blocks. I have stored them and as that sometimes goes I can't remember where I stored them.
Okay this one I bought because .... well I really don't know why, and this is the kicker, I don't know how to use it either. Some of it I can understand, but really not enough to use it. If you recognize it maybe you can comment and tell me how to use it. LOL
You can see the lip on my fav. right there on the left. I do love that lip.


As you can see these two are quilt in a day rulers. I love Elanore Burns and I have more books of hers than I do of any other quilt author. I have used this one on several occasions, but not the larger one, I even have plans for another quilt that will use this one. Do you have a favorite quilt author that has rulers to go with her/his books?
Then this one is the one I bought because I had to make a quilt with out a pattern and I had a vision for another one to go with it. The circle ruler was the vision quilt, and it has not been made yet.


I even went out and got a special rotary cutter to use with this one, as you can see the regular one would never make it around those curves. I hate this about me, but I think fear that it won't work is the reason I have not used this one. So today I may just go in the sewing room and give it a shot. You see that is one of my 2011 goals, over come the fears I have in quilting. Last year it was to challenge myself, this year over come fears.
Now this little jewel is gonna be fun to use and I have looked forward to having time to get it out and use it. I just keep saying I need to complete the ones I have started before starting any more new  ones. That is a good idea right.
 Spinning Star will have many inset seams when putting it in a quilt, unless I chose to applique it onto a block. To do that I might as well just use the Dresden plate ruler. Well, it isn't quiet the same, but close enough.

That one is on the table somewhere let me see if I can find it and post it too.

Well, it was there, but I can't seem to find it in the photos.So on to the next ones.
I have used the heart for many things, up to and including as a quilting line for three different quilts by hand and by machine. Then I got the Fons and Porter thingy and I have not used it yet.
I have a definite plan for the diamond. That is for a beautiful quilt with stars that are two colors and if done with the correct color choices ,look like they are three dimensional. I get so excited when I even think about making that one. I do love stars.

  The little 3 1/2 inch square is one I use for making my scraps usable . No I have not forgotten about getting our scraps under control. I am working on it and taking pictures along the way. The there is the add a quarter, they come in several colors, and this one just happens to be yellow, it may have to do with the brand, but I don't know. I use that most often when I am making a quilt the old fashion way with templets, instead of rulers and rotary cutters. Although I usually do the actual cutting with a rotary cutter if I can.
So that is my special edition for this week, not that I won't be posting again this week, I may. So have a quilty day.
Tennye

3 comments:

joyofquilting said...

Well, Tennye, Your talk about getting your scraps under control gas inspired me to dig out one of the calico bags and start ironing and cutting up my scraps. We've been having trouble with my elderly parents that need to go into care and mum is refusing to go until she has sorted through all her stuff. Imagine a 2 story 5 bedroom poolroom sized craft room and 2 living areas house full of fabrics collected over the past 20 years and you're probably half way to guessing how much has to be sorted. I DON'T WANT TO GET THAT BAD!! So your blog on getting scraps under control was very timely for me. I have cut the plaids and the purple into various sizes , only about 20 other colours to go....

Joy

joyofquilting said...

sorry, gas should have been HAS

joyofquilting said...

I forgot to add a comment on the rulers. My favourite ones are by Westalee, they can be set to cut a certain width so you don't end up with some blocks/strips that are the wrong size. I hate it when I make a mistake. I've been using them for the scrap reduction. I also like the Blue Willow rulers that are on angles at the end , haven't got any yet but they're on the wish list. I think I might be a bit of a ruler freak too.