My favorite things...

Have you been listening to the podcasts of Amy and April called Quiltcast? If not hop on over to the itunes store here. I've been listening to it as I take my walks in the mornings. The podcasts are full of great information and I feel like they're walking with me having a casual conversation about life and quilting and how to do both at the same time!

One of the features of the podcast is a top five - sewing supplies and sources of inspiration so far. I'm really enjoying that. Recently Camille listed her favorite supplies and I couldn't agree more with all her featured items. So in addition to all of those, I thought I'd share 5 of my favorites...

Disappearing marking pens ~ my favorite is Dritz because they seem to last longer than any others. I use the purple marker which disappears in a day or so to mark almost all my quilting. Obviously you can't mark the whole quilt unless you're going to quilt it pretty quick, but I just mark as I go and have found the purple lines to be really visible on almost every fabric.

My dry erase board ~ I started using this when I was writing my book as a way to stay organized and on track. I've since kept it up as a way remind me what I have going and what I may want to do next. Seems to be much too much to keep in my head!

Freezer Paper ~ I use it for hand appliqué, making templates that I then rotary cut around, and paper piecing. If you haven't tried it yet - the waxy side sticks to your fabric when you hit it with a dry iron, but the paper then pulls off cleanly. It's sold in most grocery stores {does anyone still use it for freezing?} Used it this weekend for my September Lucky Stars block!

I do a different method of paper piecing than most. The pattern is on freezer paper, but the pieces are not sewn directly to the paper. The paper pulls right off.

Quilt Pattern books ~ I have tons of quilting books, but these are my go-to favorites for finding new blocks, naming blocks and construction. I think between the three I have enough patterns to last a lifetime!

Bias Square ruler ~ My most frequently used specialty ruler! It's great for squaring up units of a block or blocks themselves up to 8". I love the clearly visible diagonal line and the fact that there's a solid line from each 1/8" marking to the diagonal. These 6" blocks came from Judy Hopkins book above and were squared up with my Bias Square!

I'm starting what will be a year-long project reminiscent of the Farmer's Wife quilt along and totally inspired by this gorgeous quilt. Stay tuned!