Sunday, May 4, 2014

Markers I Love.... Aha! Moment Tip #10

My sister, Linda, gave me the idea for this post.  Thank you, Linda!  She has been a huge part of my blog, faithfully commenting on every single post, usually making fun of my vacationing brain, or the fact that I'm older than she, but most often being so positive.  Between her and my daughter, Dayna, they have nurtured my feelings of worth as I send my thoughts and pictures out into the hinterland of cyberspace.  Just as Linda is my self-appointed #1 comment-maker, Dayna is my #1 cheerleader for comment numbers, and new comment-makers!  They both make my heart swell a little bit each time they send me their love in this way.

But this post is about MARKERS!  I can muse about encouragement another time!  Back on track, Sandra. . .

A few people commented about the handwriting on "Tribute to Flowering Dogwood".  How it flowed and how it was balanced.  Here's my secret:
1.  I've always, since day #1, handwritten with FMQ, particulary my name.  Handwriting is natural, so transfers quite easily to quilting, and I love the flow feeling.  So practise handwriting, especially if you are new to FMQ.

2. I use this marker, usually the purple end, to write on the border first before I quilt it.  This way I can see how much space it will take up and adjust accordingly.  I use it as a placement guide, not stressing about hitting the letters exactly, just ball-parking it.  It helps get the muscle-memory in my body if I actually write on the quilt first.  It has a pretty fine tip.  Best of all, it disappears when I'm done!  The blue end is just as good, and sometimes better, for those times when you do NOT want your ink to disappear in ten minutes.  You just spritz it with water.  I keep a Kleenex handy to soak up any extra water droplets.


This marker is also a good one.  I got it from Leah Day, as it's one she recommends.  You remove the marks by spritzing with water, just like the Mar-B-Gone.  It has a very fine point.


In the Craftsy class, "Dot to Dot Quilting" with Angela Walters, someone asked her what markers she was using.  Well, once I found out what they were, I got some!  Made by Clover, I got them on Amazon.  I really like these.  The chalk disappears completely with spritzing, and fades with brushing if you need to re-mark and do not want to wet your quilt until you're done quilting the motif.  They sharpen up nicely with a regular-sized pencil sharpener.  They come in a pack of 3. 


I used to love, and I still do, although I don't use them as often, these Clover chark rolling markers.  Why don't I use them as often?  I think it's because I need a tip on my marker, especially if I'm writing or drawing flowing lines.  These are super for straight lines or short registration marks, like I need on the current Scrap-a-Palooza quilt I'm quilting.


Here is one I bought to try.  Chako.  I haven't tried it much yet, but I like it so far.  It's much the same as the one Leah uses, and has that super-fine tip I love.  It doesn't leave that dark of a line when you first write, but the line darkens within a few seconds.  So there's no need to go over several times a mark.  Yes, I speak from experience. 


And these?  Well, suffice it to say they are made in France, so in my opinion, if it's French it's awesome, LOL.  I guess I can confess here that I was French in several of my past lives.  I've loved the French language, the culture, the country, the people since I was oh, 5, and I used to be mesmerized by Thierry la Fronde on TV.  Now THAT dates me.  Proves that I am older than my sister, Linda.


These come with a refill case of leads (hmm, or did I buy them extra? Can't recall)  Regardless, I love, love, "j'adore" these.  Super fine hard chalk lead that shows up beautifully on dark fabrics.  I used these on "Merry Cat-mas" where I needed to mark lines.  I haven't used the flowing one except to try it on scrap, and it puzzles me.  It doesn't seem to flow well, and I have to read up on it some more, so I can't pass judgement.  However, once I figure out its uses, and get some more use out of it, I will post about it.  If it's anything like its cousin, I will love it too.  The chalk pencil one that I love also has a very comfortable grip.

Here is a picture of the second dogwood quilt (I've named her, but saving it as a surprise for tomorrow's post when I have (hopefully) her finished.  You can see how the purple disappearing ink pen looks on the green fabric, as well as the white Clover marker.   The purple is a little darker than it appears in the photo.


It's always good to have a variety of marking tools, not only because of the different colours of fabric, but also because of the variety of uses for marking on that fabric.

Now I'm heading back to my Avanté to get this second scrap quilt DONE!!

I have a new love of a song, thanks to CBC Radio 2:  "Another Love" by Tom Odell.  That PIANO!!  Love it.  He's not too bad for a blonde guy either, LOL (I usually go for the dark ones)!  I've added him to my YouTube playlist, love that feature.  And I just bought the song too from iTunes.  I also bought Serena Ryder's CD "Harmony" from Chapters online with some of my birthday gift certificate from my mum.  Thanks Mum!  Check out "Fall" and "Stompa" and "What I Wouldn't Do"...oh never mind, just buy the whole CD!  I hope to catch her in concert this summer.  I'm going to blame some of the bumps in my straight line quilting on bopping to the music. . . I am so very grateful for my two ears that hear all the beautiful music in the world.  Mmmm.

Note: I have gone back to a Blogger profile and deleted my Google+ one so that I will hopefully no longer be a no-reply blogger.  I've not heard back from Google yet. . .

Update:  I took a picture of where I do use the rolling wheel chalk markers when I was joining the end of the binding on this quilt:

You can easily see the nice crisp very visible line these markers make.  If you want to see my binding tutorial click here.



3 comments:

  1. Great information on markers. Thanks for sharing.

    Can't wait to see your quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thierry la Fronde ? Seriously I've never even HEARD of him! Wow, ya, that REALLY dates you. Not that it's not glaringly obvious anyway, methinks.
    LOL I just clicked your link to that and it's a show, not a person LOL!

    You're welcome for the idea for this post! :D Love all your posts and love to comment :D :D
    What isn't "positive" about making fun of your vacationing brain, or the fact that you're (much LOL) older than me?

    Yes, I like the bigger, darker font! :))

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think there's a compliment in there...somewhere...maybe a couple....I think...
    :-)
    Glad your old eyes like the bigger font too!

    ReplyDelete

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