Cool Tools!

I discovered some nifty items among the vendors at my last two quilt shows and want to pass them on to you. Here are the first three. I will have two more as soon as I can find them! I bought them to use for my next big project, but I don’t know where they are. Believe me, I have thoroughly searched. Don’t you love it when you put something away so well you don’t know where it is.

The first is “cork fabric” by Ever Sewn. I didn’t know such a thing existed. And yes, it is actual cork. I found it at Eleanor Burn’s shop during the Road to California trip. There were three colors available including natural (light brown), espresso (dark brown), and magenta. I bought the natural and magenta. I checked and Eleanor’s on-line shop offers the cork in natural with gold flecks, espresso, and black. The fabric comes in one yard cuts with a width of 27″. I haven’t decided what I might do with the cork, but I do have one idea. I’ll have to sample and see if it will work. A couple women in our group make purses out of the cork. One was carrying hers. So apparently, the cork fabric has been out for a while, but it was new to me.

I found the second item, mini-hangers, at the Temecula Quilt Co. The hangers measure 6″ wide by 5.5″ high. They are perfect for hanging small quilts or other items. One woman suggested a hanger with a small quilt would make a great gift. Great idea. I think I paid $7.00 per hanger.

The third item, Magnetic Invisible Quilt Hangers, I found at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. They can hold very large quilts, although I forget the maximum weight. What I like about them was the ease with which they work.

The package contains magnetic hangers and removable adhesive strips. Apply the strip to the wall where desired and stick the magnet hanger onto the strip. Purchase a flat metal bar (cost a couple of dollars) cut to the length of the  quilt’s sleeve at a hardware store and slide the bar into the sleeve. The magnetic hanger will hold the quilt by the metal bar through the sleeve. No holes in the wall. You can rearrange quilts easily. The invisible strips slide right off the wall. The company is Magnificent Quilting Company.