Stop foot pedal scooting across the floor

1 01 2017

I have lovely hardwood floors in my house. But they are a darned nuisance for my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen’s foot pedal — it wants to slip further and further away from me as I put pressure on it. I tried putting that non-slip stuff underneath it (you know — that slightly tacky plastic mesh stuff you put under rugs or in drawers to stop things sliding around). It worked to a point, but eventually the foot pedal would creep away. I needed to come up with a better solution…

On one of the forums, someone had suggested putting Velcro dots under the foot pedal if you’re on carpet. Well, my machine isn’t on carpet, but that got me thinking… Perhaps Velcro dots would work with something else that doesn’t slip on wooden floors? Hmmmm….

Something like an old neoprene mouse mat, perhaps? That’s neoprene on the top and bottom, not the newer mouse mats that have a slippery top surface.

So I tried it, and I’m here to report that with the combination of Velcro dots on the feet on the foot pedal AND a neoprene mouse mat, my foot pedal no longer slides or creeps away from me. I call that a win!

I haven’t tried this on tile, but I expect it would work similarly – worth a try, anyway.

Velcro dots stuck to the base of the foot controller

Velcro dots stuck to the base of the foot controller

Foot controller with Velcro feet sticks to the neoprene mat, which sticks to the wooden floor

Foot controller with Velcro feet sticks to the neoprene mat, which sticks to the wooden floor





Community Quilt 305

1 01 2017

This small, colourful, and very geometric quilt needed something to soften the hard edges, so I quilted it using the curvaceous open headband motif in a bright yellow thread.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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Threads used:

  • Top: Fil-Tec Glide ‘Mango’ (40 wt, trilobal polyester, colour 80116)
  • Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

 





Community Quilt 304

1 01 2017

Another big quilt made with ‘busy’ fabrics. To quilt it, I stitched in the ditch around all the elements in the blocks, then did cathedral windows in the small 2″-square internal borders. I did a large meandering stipple in the main border.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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Threads used:

  • Top: Fil-Tec Harmony ‘Driftwood’ (40 wt, cotton, colour 14069)
  • Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

 





Community Quilt 303

1 01 2017

How to quilt this scrappy quilt made with very ‘busy’ fabrics? I decided on a simple cathedral window motif for each of the squares in the main part of the quilt and the border, using a variegated green and yellow thread.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

quilt303_01

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Threads used:

  • Top: Superior ‘Nile Crocodile’ (40 wt, cotton, colour 943)
  • Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)

 





Community Quilt 302

1 01 2017

This was a really big quilt. How to quilt it? I decided on an all-over motif, a variation of open headbands, with ‘petals’ to emulate flowers. I used a purple, yellow, and cream variegated thread, which seemed to work well with the pinky-mauve main colour in this quilt.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

quilt302_03

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Back:

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Threads used:

  • Top: Wonderfil Mirage (30 wt, rayon, colour SD 32)
  • Bottom: Fil-Tec Magna Glide Classic pre-wound bobbin (light tan)