Leah Day Tackles Templates

Last week, I received some news that made me feel pretty cruddy. Nothing too major now, especially after giving it some thought and prayer. The next morning, I arrived at the shop still feeling a little out of sorts. My hubby, with a big cheesy grin, met me with phone in hand and said, "Oh Amy...Leah Day, line one!"

Leah and I had a great little chat. She's a very encouraging and down to earth kind of gal. If you read her blog you already know that, and you probably know about her new line of templates.

But, if you don't know, Leah's got a great learning program called the Machine Quilting Block Party. One of the blocks is a Dresden plate block and she's developed her own line of templates to help her students cut out these shapes quickly and accurately.

She's also designed them to work well as quilting rulers (used with a ruler foot of course!) with etched 1/4 inch markings along the edges. At 3mm thick, they're great for low shank machines and could be used with care with high shank sewing machines as well (keep the foot down low), though you know I like my rulers as thick as possible for safety and ease of gripping. These are not suitable for hopping long arm machines and probably not the #72 Bernina foot.

I love a good, multipurpose tool! The ends of the curved blades and especially the circles can be really useful. There are several stretches of straight edges as well. For the price and the versatility, I think it's a great deal.

They've been so popular that she's currently sold out of the Dresden Plate Template Set, but will have them in stock really soon!

She doesn't sell ruler feet, so she's been kind enough to send folks my way via Amy's Quilting Adventures for those. That's why she was calling. Sweet, huh?

Over on her blog, The Free Motion Quilting Project, Wednesday's post, Ruler Foot Quilting for Beginners, shows her templates and how she's used them for quilting her project. I love seeing how people use the rulers they have in creative ways to make a variety of designs. You should check it out.

She does a great job of showing how to make a clamshell type design with a single shape (actually she does this twice, with a different template) which is my preferred way of doing clamshells.

Speaking of using the rulers you already have for a variety of designs, that's what my second class with Craftsy is all about. While it's great to have some specialty templates if you want them, we all want to use our templates in as many ways as possible.

Creative Quilting with Rulers can be yours at half off right now with this coupon code link. (Coupon link disclaimer: Get 50% off the full retail price of select Craftsy classes taught by Amy Johnson. Cannot be combined with any other coupons. Expires March 19, 2017.)

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the heads up, Amy. I'm going over to look at it. Blessings,

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  2. thanks Amy I have been over and it is interesting that she is using templates that aren't as thick as you like. just shows we have to experiment and see what we prefer.

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    1. Yep! Work with what works for you. Par tof my preference for thicker rulers is probably based on me doing ruler work when there weren't thin rulers available. Another part of it is that thicker rulers are easier to grip. But if I quilted on a low shank machine, I'd be thrilled for other options.

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  3. I actually purchased them, very impressed. Love tools that have more than one purpose.

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  4. You mentioned that Leah Day's templates would not work with the Bernina 72 foot. Can you explain why? I have a Bernina 790 and have purchased Westalee starter pack. They sent me the low shank foot and the thin rulers. Was this correct on their part?

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    1. My personal opinion is that since the Bernina ruler foot hops a bit so I recommend thicker rulers. I know Bernina has rulers that they are branding for use with this foot and they are 1/4 inch thick rulers. Thicker rulers are easier to hold still and are less likely to slide under a foot, especially one that moves with each stitch. I think some people have adjusted their Bernina machine's settings so it doesn't hop, so it may be perfectly fine with their ruler foot. Plus, it sounds as if you're using the Westalee foot. I'd say, see what works for you. Leah finds it suitable, but I am a fan of thicker rulers. To each their own.

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