Kathy Russell 
It sounds as if Singer have tried to produce a budget sewing machine that does it all, dressmaking, quilting, embroidery and more. There are many claims about what is the best sewing machine for quilting, so let’s take a closer look and see what the Singer Confidence Quilter can do.
Singer claim to give you a high-performance machine for a fraction of the cost:
On the face of it, the Singer S18 looks like a great sewing machine for quilting. You can see by the image that it has that all essential extra throat space needed and conveniently located function buttons. Let’s have a look at the functions and features in more detail.
I believe most of us crafters can’t resist a good book, they are a great source of new ideas and I just love adding how to quilt books to my collection!
Things have come a long way since the book in the image was published in 1921. Thousands have been published since then and I’ve put together a list of my top 5 favorite quilting books.
We know how expensive it is to keep buying different dies and different size quilting rulers to get the shape we want for our projects.
Well, how about a product that scans AND cuts, like the Brother Scan Cut Machine?!
A world’s first, you don’t need any cartridges dies or computer software.
You can scan a photo, sketch or an image and the Brother ScanNCut will whatever shape you want.
Product – Singer Futura xl 400 Computerized Sewing Embroidery Machine
Price – Special Package only $1,799.00 – I want it all special!
Website – Sewing Machines Plus
The Singer Futura xl 400 Computerized Sewing Embroidery Machine is part of special package from Sewing machines Plus is packed with goodies.
There are thousands of quilting patterns available on the Internet, but it’s not so easy to find free quilt patterns to print.
I decided to have an in-depth look over at freequilting.com, part of a group of websites that offer free patterns for most crafts.
When first landing on the start page you are faced with a “pattern search” in the middle and a “join” form to the right. If you do a search and try to download the pattern you’ll be prompted to join. The navigation is well laid out with the patterns in sections:
I’ve written reviews on some of the larger items we use as quilters but there are lots of other tools and notions that can be useful. Here are commonly used tools for quilting and the best place to purchase them
Wonder Clips are particularly good for holding binding in place while sewing and have 1/4″ and 1/2″ seam markings.
They can be used in place of pins for all sewing related tasks. They can also be used for card craft and knitting tasks where you need to hold pieces together.
They’re easy to see if you drop one and it’s also easy to see them on your project.
Even if you have arthritis in your hands they are easy to operate, easier that pins.
I LOVE CLOVER WONDER CLIPS!
Most quilters like to embellish with embroidery at some point. An embroidery sewing machine that is also suitable for quilting is ideal for this and Janome have produced a model they claim is perfect for this.
I’ve had many many irons over the years all promising the sun, moon and earth. Well not quite, but at the very least they should be non-drip (don’t you just hate those rusty water marks) and have a smooth glide sole plate. There’s also the issue of ergonomics, aching shoulders and wrists, we want to avoid this! So, for us quilters/sewers what is a good iron for quilting?
Oliso make irons specifically for quilting and today I’m taking a look at one of their models.
