Lifting The Lid...

...on my quilter's "pencil box" has revealed quite an array of marking tools that I have accumulated over the years.  There was a brilliant idea hatched, a few months ago, to form a monthly support group for machine quilters that would meet a local quilt shop. This group has sparked the interest of a wide group of women from domestic machine to longarm with everything in-between, even wanna-be quilters; all are welcome, the sessions are fun and informative! This month's assignment was to bring a favorite quilting tool for share and tell. I decided to bring my "pencil box" and all if its contents. The box itself is 3 inches deep and measures about 6" X 8", it has become a receptacle for every marking tool that I have ever met (rarely do I meet one that doesn't come home with me). This hot pink box is easy to find and always close at hand when I am quilting. I try to quilt without marking as much as I can but most of the time that's impossible for me; I find that I need to mark registration lines, at the very least. The beauty of my pencil box is that there is a wide variety of marking tools contained within!  Certainly every pencil or pen isn't used on every project, each quilt brings its own needs depending on the fabric, color and design. If using a stencil I might use a light swipe of the pounce with white chalk, other times I might find that dots from an air-erasable pen is just what I need on lighter fabrics to align my straight edges for continuity. I have an assortment of chalk rollers, chalk pencils,  standard and mechanical pencils, and pencils with silver lead for marking on darker fabrics. I have gel-pens and magic crayons, the marks from these claim to vanish completely when heat is added, I have always had good luck with them. I have masking tape, marking pens that go away with water and even a soap stone marker. Through the years I have learned a few things: it's nice to have all of the above on hand, it's vital to try each out on a scrap of fabric before making even the first mark on a quilt, and it's always a good idea to mark with a light hand! I've never had any luck removing any colored (even yellow) chalk, those needs to leave my pencil box permanently; and I would never let a hot iron touch any of the areas where air-erasable or water-soluble marks have been as it can result in a permanent, brown, stain. I do keep mark-removal tools handy: a fabric eraser, a clean dry toothbrush and a water spritzer. A friend told me recently that she tried one of the above mentioned marking tools and it didn't prove satisfactory to her; my advice was to start herself a box and try it again on another project, it might be just the pencil she needs on down the quilting road, we can't ever be too prepared!

Life is Good!