Top Ten Quilting Tools

These are my essential quilting tools. The top four would make it into a backpack for a road trip.

1. Really good hand sewing needles. I am loving John James needles. I threw away my collection of other needles when I found these. These slide into fabric.
   


2. High quality thread. No more cheap thread! It's not worth the headache. For stitching up quilt blocks on the machine my favorite is a huge cone of 100% cotton by Gutermann.



3. Sharp scissors. I have a classic pair of Ginghers which I love. And I have some lightweight Clover shears which are also wonderful.



4. Fine, sharp pins. These Clover pins are fabulous for all fabrics.



5. A new, sharp seam ripper for those unexpected oopses.



6. Radio-I need my tunes! And I'm old school. Haven't hopped on the IPod train. So far I prefer the simplicity of an on/off switch.



7. Light! I like to sew in natural light, next to a big window. If that won't work, I turn on my Ott light.



8. A comfy chair that's the right height for my sewing machine and table. No sore back.



9. A cutting mat and ruler.
   


10. The most amazing invention: a rotary cutter. I cut a lot, so I splurged on this weighted deluxe rotary cutter. If you counted up all of the hours this gadget has saved quilters in the last two decades, the number would easily make it to the sun and back.