Welcome to my blog… I am hand quilting feathers today on THE MAN quilt for my honey 🙂
This is a queen sized snuggly quilt I am have been working on since Christmas… but now I am on the downhill slide! Less than 1/4 of the hand quilting remains to be done!!! Yippee 😉 Read more about this quilt on my post here.
So today I will focus on feathers! 12 left after this one… but I will mix them in with the 10 blocks remaining to quilt to keep it fun!
What I am really excited about is a new-to-me product I just found that removed my heavy handed graphite (Fons & Porter) marks…
Here is the bottle next to the feather I tested it on…
Check out the close up of the first area I “tested” it on…
It made the pencil marks kind of foam up then following the directions on the bottle I rubbed off the pencil marks… I used a dry paper towel… then rinsed the area with a damp rag… which I did… I also asked for feedback from my fave facebook group “Celebrate Hand Quilting” as I was afraid it may have a chemical in it to do this that could hurt the quilt… however from that I found out there are several brands of this pencil remover and a good recipe was shared too!
Wanna make your own? Try this on a test piece first!!! Don’t go for your actual quilt to test like I did 🙂
Recipe for pencil removal spray… use a 4 oz spray bottle that is easy to use… esp at an angle for ease of use!
3 oz. water, 1 oz. rubbing alcohol, 2 – 3 drops PALMOLIVE dishwashing liquid. Mix together and apply with a soft tooth brush. Dawn dishwashing liquid will NOT work! Shared from my facebook group for later reference and because I like to share with my readers!
My professionally bought marking pencil remover looks like this…
made by Quilter’s Rule who provides lots of quilting notions for traditional quilters so I thought it sounded great for under $7 for the 8 ounce bottle! I shopped on her Ebay shop and in later correspondence found out she runs a little quilt shop in her home and advertises her wares also on Ebay… so I am supporting a LQS with my Ebay purchase 🙂 Yippee!
afquilts is her eBay name… and here is a link to her store on Ebay… 🙂 Debbie is friendly knowledgeable, and ready to try to find what you want.
I currently have her looking for a specific needle type for me… hard to find for sure !!!
The OTHER information I got from my Celebrate Hand Quilting facebook friends was a link to this review on the spray…
It is long and fairly tedious but interesting read for me… basically it can also take out or lighten permanent marker… but is not know to hurt the fabric if using it for pencil marks on any colors which is this formulas intended use.
I hope all these links I have shared have been helpful if you are like me and like to mark with graphite… with my arthritis didn’t make me so heavy handed to draw pretty lines! lol
If you have made it this far in this post I want to reward you with a cool pattern I found on Youtube… it is from last year and is a great tute on these cute ornaments you see below… about 4″ square finished or so… hand sized! Check that out here!
II hope you have a Fun Weekend whatever you do… as for me it is back to swirly feathers… hand stitching an overcast day away!
Designoriginalsbykc Blog 
I have that pencil remover also but must admit to only using it once. I normally use chalk or blue wash out pen so rarely use pencil. I have had such good luck with white chalk and Mark B Gone that I rarely try the pencil. I don't mess with good luck LOL
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Pretty feather pattern shows up nicely on the sashing. Great marking removal tips. I shall keep the product in mind and also the homemade recipe. I would have tried Dawn, but now I know it won't work.
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Your hand quilting is fabulous and that pencil removing product could be used for more than just quilting, think pencil on children's clothing! So cool!
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LUV the MAN quilt–the color combination is to die for and the intensity of the blue makes it dance!best from Tunisia,nadia
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Your feathers are looking beautiful. Thanks for the tips on what to use for pencil marks.
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Thanks for the new to me feather. It's one I had not seen or imagined.
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I am a victim of that Fons and Porter graphite pencil as well. Water soluble my foot. I had a few marks on an applique piece and they would not come out at all. So then I scrubbed with water and detergent and while they faded a bit I can still see them. Then I had to re-iron the piece after it dried and I'll never buy a Fons / Porter product again I was so ticked off at that point! 🙂 I could have used a cheap regular pencil and washed it out easier!
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I don't feel victim to F & P… I am victim to a heavy hand! lol I love Fons & Porter products… just happy to find an easier way to remove my heavy handed marks 🙂 Kathi
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I don't worry about heavy pencil marks. I always wash my quilts and have never had a problem with the pencil washing out. I am amazed how much time quilter's spend fretting marking. Maybe one should do a sample piece wash it and see how it turns out and use what works best for them. There are so many notions in the quilting world that are so unnecessary. I like to keep it simple.
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I learned to mark with soap and chalk (tayloring days). I've made those little ornaments before – they are very quick and great to use up scraps.
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Thanks for all the information on removing pencil marks. Very good to know. I also like your little ornaments. Cute!
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Thanks for the tips on graphite. I just use a regular mechanical pencil to mark my embroideries and crazy quilts and haven't had problems with it washing out. I'm using chalk to mark a quilt I'm working on now. Cute ornaments. I make some every year for stocking stuffers and haven't made that one yet. I've bookmarked it.
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I have never heard of this product so I enjoyed learning about it… thanks for the info!And thanks for linking up… enjoy your slow stitching!
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