Lesson I learned about pebble quilting
 

Never, ever, ever attempt pebble quilting with white thread on light fabric! Most people would know better. Not me. It's done now, but it isn't done well. I could hardly see where I'd already quilted. My eyes are strained, my head aches and my shoulders are sore. And I thought it would be so easy!

The other lesson is black on black... ask me how I know! I think my eyes are still recovering.

It's hard, I know :) try improving the lighting, it does help a bit. I have one of those daylight lamps and I use it when doing fiddly little things like that and it does help.

I agree with Woody, really good lighting makes all the difference for me too!

What we REALLY need is thread that will change color after a washing. They have white cieling paint that goes on blue then dry's to white - so you can see what you've already painted. So ... how about getting thread to do it????

Wouldn't it be nice to have thread like that???

With white on white no one can see the mistakes, so why worry?

Some quilters use a black lite when quilting with a color that does not show up much.I have not tried it but they seem to like it.

I have never heard of this before! Sounds like a good plan! I recently made a QAYG strip quilt that had me sewing long strips of black together and I used black thread and black batting and it was a nightmare. I had to put my small Ott lite on my cutting table directly above the pieces I was pinning and then it still wasn't always clear.

sometimes lighting at an angle helps....wonder if superior thread could come up with something like the ironaway or wateraway product that is used for quilt marking pens only on the thread...guess I will e-mail them an ask

actually they read quilting board ....laughing....they will see it here first

What is pebble quilting?

LOL Okay ladies, I will remember this post when I am quilting.

LOL - thank you for sharing!

I have a small LED light that I bought for less than $25 that sticks on my machine. It has an adjustable goose neck that can be positioned right on the area I am sewing in. I can see every little stitch. It is really powerful. LOOve it. Can also stretch the neck out to shine on my quilt to see to rip.

In 100 years they'll be there to be upset?????

You can use a black light. Also, use the sunlight. There are perfect times of day to quilt where you won't strain your eyes so much. In the evenings, the sun shines into the quilting room so all I see is the quilting. I love it. Of course, I close the window back up when I'm done. Make sure to take breaks. I love the look of pebbling, but it kills my wrists. Micro handles will be a must in the future.

I just finished a king size quilt with alot of black - I did cirles on the black -WHY !!!-never again.........

Pebble Quilting is FMQ in the shape of pebbles (or uneven circles of different sizes).

You could draw the shapes with the blue marking pens and then follow along the outline. That would help with visibility but it would also add some time.

Right on, BellaBoo! Some of these folks need to read an old, old book titled The Hidden Persuaders, by Vance Packard. As in "Pall Mall filters the smoke further." Yeah, for the first puff. Of course, that was a long time ago.
Now people are afraid of used dryer sheets and won't use them as foundations for string quilts because "they are full of chemicals." No they aren't. Most of the chemicals that were orginally in them are now in the clothes that were in the dryer with them--and you are wearing them right now. My mantra for my high school students was "USE A LITTLE
SENSE!" froggyintexas

Bella, You really need to invent that thread, you'll be rich, rich, rich! I'm gonna have to look for one of those litte clip on lights as I think that would've helped a lot. I sew in front of a window & had a lamp placed to shine over my left shoulder and used a small Ott light placed on it's side behind and still couldn't see!

I once made the mistake of hand quilting a dark quilt with black thread. I couldn't see where I had quilted already.

I wish I had seen this "thread" YEARS ago! I thought the problem in seeing black on black was ME...as in "I guess I'm getting old." I guess I am not sinking into decrepitude as fast as I thought. Thanks, guys!

That is also why I hate invisible thread. Yes it blends but drives me nuts to work with it!

Really? I did not know about the cieling paint. I've learned so much here. I try to use thread that is just a shade off for black or white.

I have never heard of Pebble quilting, what is it?

The new Viking machine comes with a black light bulb. I saw a demo of it - it's WONDERFUL for black on black or white on white. Sure hope I can still buy a regular base bulb that is black light (the new Viking machine has a very sexy light under the handles so it always shines right on the needle).

I sent an e-mail to Superior thread and the answer back is that they will check out the possibility of this type of thread

today I think I will experiment with coloring some thread with a iron out dissapearing marker....thinking of taping the marker to machine case so the thread has to run over it...and doing pebbles......on a sample square, obviosly..lol