Thread

Good evening friends. Today we got our new stand for Glide Thread all set up and loaded!  (and when I say we, I mean not me, but the girls at the shop) So I decided tonight I would go over a few things about Thread. 

We sell Aurifil and now Glide in our shop, we have been using both and have had great success with both products. 

Aurifil is a 100% cotton thread and has a wide variety of weights and uses. 

For weight the higher the number the thinner the thread is. 

We have some of all the weights (Floss, 12, 28, 40, 50 and 80 weight) of Aurifil thread in a variety of colors. For the 40 and 50 weight we have both the large and small spools, and we usually have cones in some of the more neutral colors. If we don't have exactly what you are looking for we can order it in for you. 

For all the details of which thread to use and when just follow this link 

The two most commonly used are 40weight and 50 weight, I do use both for piecing but keep it to the same weight in one particular project. If a quilt has a lot of piecing or small blocks I do prefer the 50 weight as it is a little thinner, so it takes less room in the seam allowance and also lies just a little flatter. I do like to use 40 weight when making bags. 50 weight is wound on an orange spool and 40 weight is on a green spool.

For piecing I primarily use a light grey or a light tan color. I have a lot of colors of thread, but the colors I normally use when binding my quilt or when making a bag. If I have to topstitch anything I will match my thread to the fabric. 

Aurifil is cross wound, if you look at a spool the thread strands run up and down the spool in a Zig Zag format. To have it pull nice and even off the spool and through your machine the spool should be either laying horizontal at the top of the machine, or standing on a cone stand behind the machine. This will minimize thread breakages. Standing upright on top of the machine is not the best option.

Glide Thread is used mainly for Longarm and Machine Quilting, as well as Embroidery. The thread is Polyester. 

We have had great success with the thread on our APQS Longarms, and Esther does use it on her Embroidery Machine. I have never tried to machine quilt with it on my regular machine so I cannot testify to how it works on a domestic machine. Esther did try sew a bag with it and it did not go very well. 

We have 110 colors of the NO. 40 Glide thread in the shop, on the 1100 yard spools, the other colors, weights and sizes will be special order for now. 

Now that I have gone over the two we sell, I want to just mention that quality of thread does really matter.

Thread literally holds our projects together, and so you want something that is a good product consistently!

I hear frequently that Aurifil is expensive, so Esther and I did some research. When priced out per yard, Aurifil is actually cheaper than many other quality threads that are currently available to purchase. Also a large spool of thread will last me about 5-8 quilt tops, depending on the size of quilts, and how intricate the piecing is. At $16 a spool that's just a couple dollars per quilt, so not a big expense at all. 

Both Aurifil and Glide have very little lint. This is very good for your sewing machine. They are also both very smooth and consistent, also good for that machine of yours that you spent $100-$1000s of dollars on. Lint build up and poor quality thread can damage your sewing machine and cause you a lot of money to repair. (this doesn't mean you can skip out on cleaning your machine, you still need to do that)

If you are looking to expand your color stash of Aurifil we have the Aurifil Color Masters club in which you get 3 large spools every month for 12 months. We also have color boxes in a variety of combinations as another option. We don't have anything in place like that for Glide yet, but it may be coming in the near future. 

I hope this answers some questions you may have had about thread, and if you have more please come see us at the shop or send us a message. 

Have a great weekend, the weather here in Southern Alberta is looking fantastic for the weekend, so we are hoping for some time at the park.

Kayla

2021 Aurifil Color Builders

Tonight I am introducing a new subscription program that will run in our shop in 2021. 

It is called the 2021 Aurifil Color Builders and is organized by Aurifil Thread and is available to you through Quilt Shops that carry Aurifil Thread. 

The program was built to highlight 40 wt thread which is very versatile. It is great for piecing and quilting, sewing garments and bags and is beautiful when used as a Topstitching thread. 

There are 12 mini collections that you will receive over the course of 1 year. Each mini collection will focus on a different color, and will include a warm, medium and a dark shade of the color.

  

Aurifil's goal is to increase their sustainability and have a positive environmental impact and so this year for the Color Builders Program, Aurifil has chosen to focus on Endangered Species. Every month for 12 months they will focus on one of the animals currently on the Endangered Species List and work with Earth League International to create change with awareness and fundraising. The color inspiration for each month will come from 1 of the 12 different animals. 

We have Early Bird pricing on right now for the 2021 Aurifil Color Builders Club. If you sign up before November 30 you will get the mini collection of thread each month for 1 year for $45 a month. 

If you miss the Early Bird sign up it will be $50 per month instead. 

The sign up fee is $5 and this will be returned to you as a credit on your first bill. 

Shipping is available and is $4 per month. 

A credit card will be kept on file and you will be charged each month on the 1st (the 2nd if the 1st is a Sunday or a Holiday)

You can sign up by clicking Here

This program is a great way to slowly build the colors of thread in your stash. 

Have a great weekend, Kayla

Aurifil Recap

MLXLS​​Tuesday we held two Aurifil Information Presentations. These sessions were both well attended and from the feedback we have received so far they were found to be very informative as well. Elena and Bradley from Aurifil came out to our store and gave some background on the company as well as went through the process of how Aurifil Thread is produced. Everyone that attended the presentations left with a swag bag of Aurifil products, which retails at over $50. 

The cotton for Aurifl thread is grown in the Mako region of Egypt on the Nile River. As explained to us the region in which the cotton is grown can have a huge impact on the quality of the final product. After being harvested the cotton goes through a 15 step process in which it becomes the strong, 2 ply, virtually lint free thread that we love. Bradley had a great video tour of the factory in which we got to see all but one of the processes (he had to keep one thing a trade secret after all) of how Aurifl thread is made. 

Because Aurifl is high quality and virtually lint free your machines will love it as well. Low quality thread is one of the main causes of machine break down. 

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Aurifil thread comes in 5 different weights, 12, 28, 40, 50 and 80 and 270 different colors. It is available in small and large spools and in cones. There are a wide variety of designer collections available in small and large spools, in which designers have put together their favorite colors, or colors to match a new fabric line.  There is also Aurifil Floss which is a 6 strand floss wound on a spool rather than as a skein, this comes in 80 colors.

The numbers and words on your Aurifil thread spool tell you the weight, color number, dye lot and that is indeed 100% cotton grown in the Mako region. For the large spools you can pop the base off and tucked around the end there is the end of the thread, this is a lot easier than trying to unravel it. For the small spools you can run a needle under the edge and find the end this way.

There is also a free app for apple and android in which you can load your "stash" of thread and always know which colors and weights you have at home, it is simply called "Aurifil". 

Now that this event has passed it is on to planning the next ones. 

Our big clearance sale is next week October 11-13. The sale will be held in our basement during regular store hours. 

Our bag workshop will be held the following weekend. The trunkshow for this is on Friday, October 19 in the evening, and if you would like to attend this we can still fit you in. There will be dessert, and Tara will be showing off some of her creations. 

Esther will be gone during the entire month of November, so we have decided to once again play Bingo on Facebook while she is gone. The format will be a little different this time, so if you played last time you will need to resign up, your old cards will not do you any good.

We will be playing with 2.5" squares this time. When you register you will be given 25 squares. Every business day during November, Esther will post a picture of a couple squares to our Facebook Page until we have a winner. To win you need to have 15 squares that match those that she posted, and post a picture of them to our page with a caption that says "Bingo." 

It is free to play and you can sign up in store, and pick up your squares starting Tuesday, October 9. If you live out of our are you can sign up by email and we will ship your squares. Sign up will end on Saturday, October 26 and we will begin playing on November 1. Esther will be on holidays so the pictures may be posted at different times each day. The pictures will only be posted on Facebook so you need to be on Facebook and like our page to play along.

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SXLLM​​In December we will be hosting a Zen Chic Trunk show. We will have a contest in which you can enter your projects made with Zen Chic fabrics. You can enter as many projects as you like, quilts, bags, table toppers or wall hangings, and they can be made with any of her fabric lines. They need to be brought in store by November 23 for judging so that we can announce the winners during the trunk show. Our judges will be Rob and Marqui from TrendTex Fabrics and Brigitte Heitland herself from Zen Chic. The more entries we get the more fun these are, so get working on those projects. The winner will receive a fantastic gift basket courtesy of TrendTex Fabrics and Chicken Feed Quilts. 

The trunkshow itself will run the first week of December. We will have a game night on December 4, which you need to register for if you would like to attend, some spots have already been spoken for so sign up soon as there is only a limited number of spots available. There will be some trivia, games, snacks and drinks. Throughout the week we will do some fun specials, and mini games in store. 

All of us at Chicken Feed Quilts wish you a happy Thanksgiving. We are very thankful for you, our customers and your support in everything that we do. We will be open Saturday but closed on Monday.

Kayla

Busy Weeks

The last few days have been extra busy for Esther and it won't be slowing down for a little while either. She led the first sessions of the Bag of The Month Club, plus 2 other classes, she went to Calgary to pick up our new Aurifil Stand, and today she went to the Border to pick up all the boxes that Accuquilt sent us for our trunk show coming up next week. 

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The Bag Club went great and the ladies that signed up left with a mesh zipper pouch, and an ID pouch with a zipper pocket and a lanyard to make for easy carrying. Next month is the Bag Workshop, and we can still fit you in if your are interested but have not signed up yet. 

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Our newest Aurifil stand (number 3) was picked up yesterday by Esther, and this morning her and I set it up, and started filling it, when Carrie got to the store she jumped in and we got all three stands pretty well organized. We are just waiting for some 40 weight small spools that were back ordered, but these should be here in about a week and a half. Our new stand is all small spools as we wanted to have a wide variety of colors in the 50 and 40 weights available. This stand got here just in time for our Aurifil Presentation that is just around the corner. There will actually be two presentations, one in the afternoon and one in the evening of Tuesday, October 2. The presentation will be given by the President of Aurifil and their Director of Marketing.  If you haven't yet registered to attend this, do so soon. It will be very informative and will show you how important thread really is.

The Accuquilt Trunk Show starts on Tuesday. I have mentioned this show a few times but haven't gone into a lot of detail about it. Esther picked up an entire pallet of boxes, which contain quilts, product and gifts for the Trunk Show. I for one can't wait to see what all the boxes contain.

We will have the Trunk Show set up in our main floor classroom from September 25-29. Their will be quilts from Accuquilt displayed, all three of the Systems will be set up, and we will do demos on them. We will also give you a chance to try them out, we have lots of fabric available to chop up. 

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There will be gifts available with each purchase of a machine or major bundles. The Baby Go's are on special next week as well. We will also have some draws and there will be some freebies as well, so come on out to see what these machines can do.

In addition to the Accuquilt Trunk Show, it is also Shop Hop Next weekend. This is always a fun weekend with so many quilters coming through in such a small space of time. I am sad to have to miss the majority of the weekend, due to a work thing I have to attend with my husband, but I am excited to go away with him for a couple days with no kids. 

A new shipment of Emmaline Hardware came yesterday, this shipment contains her latest releases as well as everything that needed to be re-ordered because we were running low on inventory after the bag classes this past weekend. 

A shipment of fabric came today as well. Another 6 boxes. I didn't get a chance to see what was inside but it was whispered to me that it is supposed to be Art Gallery, so I will definitely be checking them out tomorrow!

Our first Phd Class session yesterday went really well, and everyone commented that it was nice to be getting some of these older projects finished and off their mind. The next one goes tomorrow and I am excited to see the next batch of projects half done. 

As a side note and something that made our day, on Wednesday, Moda mentioned us on their blog and shared a photo of the Moda Blockheads we have been doing. That in addition to Chris W Designs including a photo of Kayla's backpack in her email last week made us feel pretty special. 

We love to see what you create with fabric you purchase from Chicken Feed, so tag us in your photos!

Kayla

Aurifil Presentation

As all of you know by now I'm sure, we at Chicken Feed Quilts love our Aurifil Thread! The strength, consistency, and quality in each spool is unbeatable in our opinions, and with 5 different weights it works for each project that we are working on, from handwork to standard piecing to top stitching. 

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In just over a month the President of Aurifil and their Director of Marketing are coming to our store to do a presentation on Aurifil Thread. The company is based in Italy, so this is no small trip for them, and we are thrilled that they have agreed to do two presentations in our Shop. The presentation is an hour and a half long and will be filled with information about Aurifil. There will also be goodies from the company handed out, and from previous experience I know that they give out pretty amazing gifts. For everyone that joined our Aurifil Thread Club at the beginning of the year there will be an extra gift.

Esther, Carrie and I will be attending a special presentation for quilt shop owners on October 1 and we are super excited to hear about whats new in their company and what their plans are for the future.  

As for the future of Aurifil at Chicken Feed Quilts, our third stand for thread is on order and should be in our store next week sometime. The plan is to fill this one with the small spools in a wide variety of color shades. These small spools are great for when you need the thread color to match your project. I mainly use it for top stitching bags and applique. 

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We also hope to bring in more of the designer boxes. These boxes come in two sizes and contain either 10 small spools or 12 large ones in the main colors that the designer uses and coordinate with their fabric at a lower cost than it would be to buy all the spools individually. 

Seats for the presentation have been filling very quickly, and we can only fit so many so if you want to learn more about Aurifil call the store or come on in to reserve your seat. There is a $5 fee for each seat, this will be returned to you as Chicken Feed Cash when you show up for the event, if you have reserved a seat and do not come you will forfeit your $5. 

We will be closed on Monday, September 3rd for Labor Day. Our weekend plans are two family dinners, one with each side of the family which we do every weekend, a BBQ with friends, a trip to the Farmer's Market and an outing to the Corn Maze. On Tuesday I will be sending two of my boys off to school. Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Kayla

Does Thread Matter

In the past few weeks I have had a lot of questions about thread, so today i will try to answer some questions you all may have. First of all we quilt with a good quality 100% cotton and recommend that to all quilters. 100% cotton is soft and strong, wears well on your projects and doesn't fight the fabric fibres as they are both cotton(that is if you are quilting with cotton). Kayla, Carrie and I love Aurifil thread. And piece with a 40 or 50 weight, 40wt is a bit thicker. Auriful is a high quality Egyptian  cotton with long strands to reduce lint and thread breakage. We also longarm quilt with the 40 or 50 wt but find the 40 wt shows up a bit better than the 50 weight. I guess if you don't want to see the quilting 50 wt would be great.

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Aurifil thread comes in many different weights from a 6 strand floss, 12wt, 28wt, 40wt, 50wt, and 80wt. we mostly have 50wt in the store with more than 120 of the 270 colours, we have some 40wt and 80wt and are hoping to build our collection very soon. We also have some sets by designers, many designers have signed on with aurifil and have thread colours to match their fabrics. That being said for piecing I use a light tan, light grey, white and a med./grey or brown for everything. I do match colours when appliquéing and like the 50 wt for that. It shows nice and lays flat on the fabrics.

We also love King Tut variegated thread for long arm quilting, we try to keep all of the King Tut colours in stock.  We have some magnifico for appliqué, it has a shine to it and  if you like hand appliqué, wool work, and stitchery we have some valdani and cosmo flosses and threads. 

Lots of time people gasp at the price of a good quality thread but when you think of the cost of your quilting project why wouldn't you spend a couple of dollars on good thread, and really thats all it is, a large spool of thread is only $14.50 and I'm not quite sure how many quilts it makes but I don't take many spools of thread home so I'm guessing about 5-6 projects maybe more depending on size and pieces and how much picking you do:(.  And your sewing machine will also love you as thread quality also affects the lint build up.

Last of all here is a bit of a chart to help you pick thread weights.

12wt-hand appliqué, hand embroidery, embellishing

28wt-cross stitching, hand embroidery, hand appliqué, hand            piecing, lace

40wt-machine piecing, machine quilting, machine appliqué,              long arm quilting, top stitching

50wt-machine piecing, machine appliqué, machine quilting,              long arm quilting, top stitching

80wt-hand turned appliqué, english paper piecing, machine              appliqué

                                                                                 Have a great weekend

                                            Esther