The English Geek

Tips for Using Minky

Last December, I saw a quilt made entirely of minky at one of the fabric stores near me. Pieced front, solid back, and  the binding: all crafted with minky, which is a luscious, lovely, soft, silky, and maddening  fabric. It was gorgeous but not something I’d ever  attempt.

 
(this gigantic expanse of minky —60" x 85"— is going to become a quilt back today!)

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a dedicated fan of minky. I used it first way back in 2005, when it wasn’t quite as easy to find in the fabric store. I’ve used it as the backing (or part, at least) of several quilts and made a couple of quilts with a mix of cotton or flannel and minky. It’s a completely me sort of fabric, especially the one that has an embossed paisley pattern. Luscious, lovely, soft, silky, and paisley? Sign me up!
 
(A close up of the paisley detail, with lots of contrast so you can see the pattern)

But, it’s incredibly hard to work with, especially for a quilter like me, who tends to be just a little left of perfect. Try as I might, my cotton pieced quilts are rarely exactly square. Throw in some stretch, and some curling, and yeah: every time I use minky I swear it’s my last time.

Until I make another quilt.

I especially like it for backing quilts. It quilts up beautifully—you’d think the pattern would get all ugly, but it just sort of swallows the stitches, creating an alternating pattern-within-a-pattern effect. It washes well. And, well: it’s just so soft. It’s irresistible.

If you find yourself under the sway of minky, too, here are a couple of things I’ve learned about working with it—all discovered while sewing! (Which means these are real-life tips)

1. Perhaps most important: always use a 1/2" or 5/8" seam. The first pieced blanket I made with minky, a nine patch with minky as the center squares and flannel everywhere else, I pieced with 1/4" seams. Big mistake. Every time I wash it, another minky-meets-flannel seam pulls open. This is one of Kaleb’s favorite baby quilts and I’ve repaired it more times than I can tell. It’s not very pretty anymore! (He still loves it.) Especially if you’re working with different fabrics, this is essential. But minky-on-minky requires wider seams, too.

2. Prepare yourself for the stretch. Minky stretches widthwise, but not lengthwise. This is occasionally frustrating. (Read: always frustrating.) With a minky quilt back, this might lead to the dreading puckers! Avoid these by alternating the direction you quilt in—quilt a lengthwise row, then a widthwise, then back the other way. (I don’t do freeform quilting so I have no minky + freeform advice.)

3. One of the least stressful ways to make a minky backing is to frame it with a cotton or flannel. You’d have one big square of minky in the middle, surrounded by that other fabric. Having the less stretchy fabric on the outside edge makes the quilting go much easier and the chance for puckers smaller.

4. If you piece the back, use spray adhesive to hold the minky seams open flat. Or baste them open.(Ironing won’t do anything other than muck up your minky. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything.)

5. Watch the nap—make sure it flows the same way. Or, make it flow different ways on purpose, but remember: minky nap matters. Especially if your little ones are wont to pet their blankies!

6. If the minky goes all the way to the edge of your quilt (front orback), serge or zig zag stitch the entire edge of the quilt before you add the binding. I know lots of people who do this regardless, but I tend to skip this step—unless I’m working with minky. The extra row of stitches does wonders for making your binding lie straight.

7. If you’re piecing with a combination of fabrics, put the minky on the bottom, but no matter what, use your walking foot if you have one.

8. Prepare yourself: this is messy stuff. It will get everywhere. Your spouse will be annoyed. Your vacuum and your needle plate will quickly get clogged with fluff. The only way to combat this is to just get the damn quilt finished! Also, it’s expensive. When I first found the paisley stuff, it was $20 a yard. TWENTY BUCKS!?! It’s gone down a little bit. I still will only buy it with a coupon or at a sale.

9. There are various opinions on whether to use batting or not with minky. I’ve used high loft, low loft, and no batting with minky. My favorite is low loft for ease of use, although the high loft + minky combo is so cloudlike it’s worth the extra frustration. I didn’t like the no batting look because the minky is sort of sheer (I was using the pale pink one) and you can see the pieced back of the front through the quilt back. Plus, it doesn’t bother me that the quilts are heavy. They feel warmer that way. This topic is all opinion—you’ll have to try the options to see which one you like best.

10. Be flexible! I think this of every quilt I make, but you have to be especially anti-perfection to work happily with minky. Or a better quilter than I am. The fluffy nature of the stuff sort of covers up some of the off-square quality. If you want perfectly exact squares, this probably isn’t your fabric. Triangles might be impossible! The fact is, though, that the resulting quilt is so cuddle-able, the slightly off-square quality won’t matter to the person who loves it!

Happy quilting!

dear Pinterest followers:

I just wanted you to know that each time I receive a message stating that ______________ is following me on Pinterest, I am simultaneously honored, thrilled, excited, and terrified.

Terrified because here's the deal: I signed up for Pinterest about the same time I resolved to spend less time on the Internet. And, there's also the fact that I am hopelessly lame in locating all the cool Internets stuff that everyone else stumbles upon. (This coincides, of course, with all the other stuff I'm hopelessly lame at, like coolness and interior design and personal flair.)

So! If you are following me on Pinterest, prepare to be a little bit (actually, quite a big bit) underwhelmed by my Pinning proclivities. Which isn't to say I'm not excited that you're following me. I am, I am!

I just wanted to warn you in advance: I'm a lame Pinner.

love,

me

April in Review: In Like a Lion, out Like a...

lion:

 

(the last day of April we woke up to this.) (However, no branches were broken in this snow storm.) And so continues the bout of strange and disappointing springs. All of my hyacinths are finished and I hardly got to enjoy them it's been so cold this month! In further news, here are our monthly details:

Kaleb

Is in the habit of saying "Mom, you forgot something," every once in awhile. The thing I forgot is always a hug.

Got to go on a field trip to the animal shelter. (I refrained from telling him that is where Emily’s last moments were.) He got to hold a kitten, which was definitely the highlight of the experience. He is a kitty lover!

Had his first-ever sleep over, when Kendell was in the hospital. Three + weeks later, he is still talking about it.

Is doing a little better at the sleeping thing. There’ve been a few nights he’s actually slept the entire night. (Including the night of the sleep over.)

Loves, loves, loves going to the park with his brothers. He’s become an expert monkey-bar doer and has the blister scars to prove it. When he came home with his first enormous blister he was terrified that cutting the skin off would hurt. Some gentle machinations with the clipper/scissor thing later, he was much happier.

Nathan

When he was at his aunt Cindy’s house one day while Kendell was at the hospital, he took a pretty good fall from his bike. His elbow and shoulder got the worst of it, leaving him with three enormous, bloody scrapes. Lots of bandaids were required because Nathan is a scab picker. He’s finally scabless but likely will have scars.

Suffered a bout of the stomach flu that’s been hard to get over. He went back to school the next day but has had a few vague stomach aches here and there.

Has fallen in love with mahatma (saffron rice). We make burritos out of it at our house, with black beans and cheddar cheese. So far he’s the only kid I’ve been able to convert to this deliciousness.

Is reading Summerland by Michael Chabon. Everytime I see him reading, I tell him how cool it is to read Chabon!

Jake

April is officially track season, and Jake was very dedicated. He didn’t miss a single practice. He liked doing his extra workouts at the park, so he’d take Kaleb and Nathan with him. They all got in the habit of singing "I will follow you into the park" (a la the Plain White T’s song) when they left

Is not excited about lawnmowing season, although he has graduated, this year, to being able to mow with his MP3 player. (Apparently there is some lawn mowing curriculum that only husbands know the detail of, and not until you’re 13 can you mow and have music.)

Still takes great delight in the fact that he’s taller than me. In fact, he seems to get taller than me daily. He’s gotten so tall that he needs a new church suit, he’s all gangly arms & long legs & broadening shoulders. I’m still the boss of him, though, no matter how tall he gets!

Is making me crazy because all of a sudden he doesn’t want to read. WTH? Not reading is like...so foreign I cannot even conjure up an appropriate simile. Nothing is grabbing his readerly soul. (This is completely freaking me out.) I picked up Orson Scott Card’s Pathfinder last week and am dearly & desperately hoping this will cure his literary anomie.

Haley

At the beginning of the month Haley tried out for student council. She didn’t win, but the sting of that went away when she was asked to prom. Then the Prom Angst began: over the shoes, the earrings, the dress (she ordered a green one but they sent a purple one instead), the date itself. Prom was last weekend and not only did she survive, she had fun!

For spring break, she went to Seattle with her BFF Nikki. They did all the touristy stuff and she fell in love with traveling. I hope life brings her lots of opportunities for travel.

She turned 16. While she still isn’t very interested in getting her driver’s license, she’s excited to be of dating age and went on two dates the weekend after her birthday. I am loving that she’s social & outgoing & capable but not boy crazy in the least. I hope that lasts.

For English she’s reading Great Expectations. As I am not a Charles D. fan, I’ve not been as much help to her with this assignment. I DID buy my own copy to read along with her, but alas: I have yet to crack the dang thing open.

She’s discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) Coldplay. Since I like the group too, we’ve had some cool talks about music.

Amy

my "diet" has nearly been undone by Pepsi throwbacks. I cannot explain how delicious they are to me. The exactly right level of sweetness, bubble, and flavor. I was surprised when I tasted regular Pepsi at how different the flavors are. Luckily they don’t have Pepsi Throwback as a fountain drink or I’d be in trouble.

I made a quilt for my niece Lyndsay’s new baby, who is due anytime now. I had a moment of epiphany at her shower that I want to blog about, but I’ll add: the quilt was cute!

My back pain is slowly getting better. If I sit for a long time at work, it inevitably aches, but this just means I’ve been trying to move around more. I was sort of afraid to really start running a lot, but as I’ve got Ragnar coming up, I need to anyway—and so far, running does NOT make my back hurt. Happy day!

I can’t stop listening to Adele’s new CD, 21. I love her because her voice is so powerful and distinctive, her lyrics are interesting, and she’s not a stupid blonde waif. I admire a bit of intelligence in a musician! Nearly completely on the other music spectrum, I’ve also been listening to a lot of Prince. Oddly enough, Becky has been too. We both discovered just how naughty "Little Red Corvette" is. I never picked up on what the lyrics really mean until this month. DUH! But it’s a great song to run to!

I've been working on a quilt of my own. Yes, not one to give away to anyone. Just one for my front room. More details when I finish it.

Since April included Earth Day, here’s a little shout-out of gratitude to my neighbor, who lets me share his recycling can. It makes me untenably happy to recycle—anxious and annoyed that it’s not easier to do here, but still.

Kendell

After his surprise surgery, he took two weeks off of work, but is now pretty much recuperated and back to normal. Except, he gets tired really easily and can’t lift as much as he normally does. The surgeon told him it might take him up to three months before he feels back to normal again. (Apparently that really high bilirubin level is hard to work out of the system.) Have I mentioned that we are both so, so grateful for good medical insurance? I count this as one of my biggest (financial and peace-bringing) blessings. He might not make a ton of money, but we do have that.

His current musicians of choice: Katy Perry and Bon Jovi. Sort of a strange combo, but whatever!

This probably should go in May’s review, but as we worried about it all April I’m putting it here. Back in...I don’t know, last September? June? sometime last year, the company he works for, Novell, was purchased by Attachmate. It took a long time for the sale to be finalized, but it finally was in April. Today was the day everyone was dreading and worrying about: layoffs. And not just a few here and there...brutal layoffs. 700+ people. Kendell is safe (so far) but gah, my stomach just aches for all those families whose lives were turned upside down today. I have been there before, and constantly fear being there again, and have nothing but empathy to send their way. I nearly feel guilty for feeling grateful that Kendell’s job was spared. Deep breath.

How was your April???

Before I Turn 40 Goal #1: Marathon

In my running history, I've done at least a dozen 5ks, 10 or so 10ks, and seven half marathons:

• Hobble Creek Half 2003
• Hobble Creek Half 2004
• Snow Canyon Half 2008
• Provo City Half 2009
• Provo Canyon Half 2009
• Moab Other Half 2009
• Halloween Half 2010 (how did I not blog about this race?)

But, way back in 2001, I signed up for the St. George marathon. I was 29 and I wanted to run it before I turned 30. Then life transpired against me: Kendell was laid off and we were all miserable and insurance-less and broke, and once I made it to 15 miles (my longest run ever), my ITB got too painful to deal with. I went to the PT once, but remember: we were broke & insuranceless. So I didn't run the race. That next January I went back to school for my teaching certificate, then survived student teaching (one of the roughest, most exhausting 10 weeks of my life) and taught high school for two years. Then I had Kaleb, which explains the three-year gap in racing.

Still, though, I've held in my heart the desire to run at least one full marathon before I turn 40. And, since I turned 39 in April, it's do-or-not-do time. I've been debating all month—shouldI do it? Can I? Am I strong enough? Will my ITB defeat me again? Can I work the intense training into my already-packed life? Is it too much to ask my family to sacrifice? Is this a selfish goal or a worthy one? (I've already proved I tend to over think things, and this is no exception.)

The St. George marathon is sort of "THE" marathon in Utah. It's in October, so you have all summer to train for it. Almost every runner I know has run it. It's so popular, in fact, that it's tough to get in to—if you don't live in St. George, you get in just if you're lucky in the lottery.

But after all that internal debate, I always knew I was going to at least try. I just submitted my application to the lottery, and Friday the results will be published. I'm leaving the decision to the Running Gods. If I get in the lottery, I'll be running it for certain (ITB allowing, of course.)

What do you hope to accomplish before your next decade birthday?