Product Review: Sew Tites Magnetic Ruler

 

After trying out the Sew Magnetic rotating cutting mat, I decided to try out one of the magnetic rulers. The 6.5" square one seemed like a good one to start with as it would fit on the surface of the rotating mat well. The ruler and mat and magnet boosters all fit inside the storage box which is nice. I can keep all this together.

Wow! This ruler goes down in place on the mat and there it stays. It's easy to move when you need to move it though. As I used the rotary cutter to cut the fabric, I only held my finger on the rotating mat to keep it steady. The ruler didn't budge at all. Pretty amazing. If you have thicker material, several layers, or even a quilted piece you're trimming you can use the boosters on top of the ruler to keep it all steady.

See? It made a great cut, all without gripping holding or steadying the ruler at all. 

Here's a closeup of the magnets that are embedded in the ruler. The ruler is a fairly thick and sturdy plastic to accommodate the weight of the magnets. 

There are four magnets in this 6.5" square ruler. They don't block too much of the view of your fabric or block as they're placed far enough away from the edges.

I'm now considering investing in the large mat and big ruler (the non-rotating version) to replace my usual cutting mat,  because this system really works well for me. Now to work on one of my project to really use this cool new tool.

Metro Twist Back

 

Yesterday at a very delightful and entertaining Sew Day, I buckled down and sewed this together to use for the back of Metro Twist. 

It turns out it's almost exactly the right size, even though I didn't measure it all as I was making it. Which is actually just a little bit weird! A bit too long, and just a bit not wide enough.

I started with this one curved pieced block left over from making the quilt top and just kept adding fabric scraps and pieces. All of these were the same fabrics used to make the quilt top.

November To-Do

 

November is underway and here's a look at what's on my design wall at the moment. The back I just started making for the Metro Twist quilt top, and the almost finished Running Out of Raincloud quilt. 

Begin Something New

Make a Cotton Candy pouch for the BAMQ swap.

Oxbow Tote - cut out and begin the assembly.

Toned-Down Circle Sampler - arrange and appliqué the circles, start embroidering.

AG Stamp Quilt - continue to make more blocks using cut out the cut out stamp block centers from Tula Pink fabrics.

Design a quilt for the Sister Artists 3 embroideries. 

Continue Assembly

Trim to size and then sew the 12 columns of the Temperature Quilt together.

Bohemian Wife -finish assembling the quilt back, sandwich and make the binding, take to long armer this month.

Pantone Project - work on a overall design, either in EQ8 or up on the design wall.

City Sampler -Put together a backing, make binding. - take to long armer this month.

Y.E.S. Coat - continue making pieces/blocks. assemble on foundation, cut out lining pieces from the fabric that I dyed.

Snake In The Garden - Finish hand stitching

Kawandii - Finish hand stitching/assembly

Quilting

Running Out of Raincloud -  finish quilting, binding or facing.

Trinket

Metro Twist (finish the backing)

Slopes

Final Steps

I'm so close to being to put Running Out of Raincloud in this category... 

However November

November is here and we hopefully will get some rain tonight. It feels like good stay inside and sew weather.

The monthly marker is made from this close-up picture of the quilting on the Running Out of Raincloud quilt. 

Edited in the Snapseed and Percolator apps.

Here's the 31 second long video from my one second everyday for October.

 The monthly I-Did List for October is as follows:

1. I made two donation Sunflower blocks.
2. I quilted and quilted and quilted and quilted my Ruby+Bee challenge quilt.
3. I worked on the borders for the City Sampler.
4. I reviewed a new rotating magnetic cutting mat.
5. I voted!
6. I made some Friendship Stars for a friend's quilt.

I posted here 27/31 days, I posted on Instagram 8 times, on Threads 14 times, on BlueSky 23 times and on Facebook 1 time. A lot more posting from me this month. I'm chalking that up to being "too online" because of the upcoming election.  I went to Sew Day for BAMQ, and I virtually attended meetings for a writing/quilting class a couple times until it ended. We traveled to Sacramento for a family birthday party and had several other family visits of differing configurations, as well as even more going to doctor visits with my Dad.  I'm honestly urprised I got as much done as I did.

This month, I hope that I'll have the time, energy and bandwidth to get some more sewing done.

October Cornucopia

Well, the last day of October is of course Halloween...so Boo!👻 To!🎃 You!🧡 Here's a cornucopia post of all the various things I read, watched, listened to, learned from or enjoyed this month. 

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I bought this fundraiser compilation (136 songs!) Cardinals At The Window, raising money for flood relief for Western North Carolina. It is really really good. And I also got this new compilation from Noise For Now, called Songs For Sex, supporting the National Women's Health Network. I wasn't sure what to expect given the title, but it was a lot of really great music by artists I already liked and new ones too.

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Join in on November 2nd for International Scrap Sorting Day.

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More music, another Tiny Desk Concert, this time with saxophonist, Kamasi Washington and a great back up band including his father on flute and soprano saxophone, just amazing. Do yourself a favor and listen to this one.

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This is called the best meatball recipe, which of course YMMV, but I thought that they were awesome, and I had never thought of using ricotta instead of milk!

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Podcasts I've enjoyed this month: 

SlowBurn: The Rise of Fox News - super interesting, especially if you've never watched Fox that much

Organized Money - on how business really works, I really like the one on grocery store chains

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Material Girls has been doing a year-long 3 Yard SewALong, releasing a pattern a month for free that uses 3 yards of fabric. This month's pattern, Uniform is really great and is still available through the end of today 10/31/24. Then it's for sale on their website. But there's two more months to look forward to this year if you miss that one.

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Another cool innovation with EQ8 partnering with Accuquilt, a new add-on to the EQ8 software. This looks pretty useful for block making.

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Shake The Muse is a really interesting generative art prompter.

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Make some 12.5" blocks for Wrap The World In Quilts, Sunflower Quilt for Ukraine project.

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Some short and sweet and great encouragement from Ira Glass on The Gap.

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A very beautiful and moving essay about all things, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

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Nearly There

Now it's starting to look like I wanted, so I'm almost done with the quilting.

Will I get it done in time, who knows?

I really do like how it looks though.

So much texture!

Studio Assistant Exam

 

Well, some decisions were made on the quilting I'm doing to finish Running Out of Rain Cloud. I carried the quilting lines ofmustard yellow out into the adjoining areas to the corner triangles.  I did 15 lines out into the rest of the quilt. I really like how the various angles cross over with the vertical hot pink quilting lines.

I had my studio assistant come in and check my work to make sure I was on track.

He said the texture was acceptable for sitting on. He really seems to enjoy my new floor lamp, like it's his own little spotlight.

Okay, all that quilting work and it barely even shows up on first glance. Granted this is not the best lit photo I can take. I'm going to carry on with this quilting a bit more and then try some side lighting to see if the quilting shows up a little better.