Ricci's Quilt...Part Four

I returned last night from teaching in Pasco, Washington and had a wonderful time! What a great group of quilters in a beautiful town nestled next to the Columbia River.

I brought Ricci's quilt with me to start pecking away at some of the handwork and thought I would share how I manage to get this done on an airplane. I always have my
fanny pack on which carries my cash, ID, etc. BUT the most important part is the spool of thread tucked inside that I can pull the thread out as I need it for beading and binding.

I have my beads stuck to masking tape so they don't spill all over the plane. (I take wide masking tape, wrap it around my hand sticky side out, and then sprinkle and stick beads to it). I can stick this to my quilt top and simply pick the beads off as I need them.

I carry extra beads with me to replenish the supply on the masking tape. Michael's sells a great storage compartment that locks the lids down and by pushing on the locking lever you can open up only one door at a time to get more beads.

I LOVE those little sticky leather dots you can put on your finger as a thimble.

I use the Dovo scissors that are sharp on one end and rounded on the other. It makes it through security at the airport just fine as the x-ray reads it as a double blunt edged pair of scissors!

I use the John James Sharps size 12 needles for beading my freshwater pearls and itsy bitsy beads. They are much shorter than the really long fine needles and they are thin enough to fit through the finer beads.

Ricci's quilt is finally going back in the machine tonight for a little bit but I thought you would all appreciate some travel tips in the meantime!