At Quilt Market last fall, I met the lovely folks from the Daylight Company.  I almost walked right past their booth, as I've had my trusty OttLight for over 10 years, and have been quite content with it. But I'm so glad I did not walk past. These products have been true game changers for me.  Read on to find out why! (And if these sound good to you, there's a special discount code at the end of the post, just for you!)

Slimline LED Table Lamp

Since I bought my Janome Artistic SD, I've been trying to figure out a good way to light the space.  The incandescent light that comes with the machine is cheaply made, and installation requires splicing wires. I got little stick-on LED lights to light under the arm, but that's not where I need the light. I've used an Ott Light floor lamp, positioned to the left of the needle, but it's always in my way, and wobbles when the quilt knocks into it. So, not the best circumstances for quilt lighting.

All that changed with the Daylight table lamp.  I was able to set the light up in under five minutes, and it came simply packaged with easy-to-follow instructions.  At first, I worried about the clamp.  I thought it might eventually vibrate loose.  I've quilted five quilts with this lamp, and the clamp has not budged a bit, so it's quite secure. On my first quilt, I intended to switch between the Ott Light and the new light with every bobbin change, to see if the light was really different. But I quickly abandoned that plan, as the Ott Light simply was not bright enough after using the Daylight.

Some features I love about the Daylight lamp:

-Very slim design, so it doesn't interfere with my ability to see the quilt.

-Super bright light, making it easier for me to see the thread and subtle tension issues

-Comfortable light, even though it's bright,my eyes don't feel strained even after a couple of hours sewing.

I even started hand sewing at my quilting table because of that light.  I know, it looks silly to have hand piecing by a midarm quilting machine, but the light is simply THAT GOOD.

Wafer Light Box

Confession: I did not previously own a light box of any type.  My idea of using a light box was taping a paper to a bright window, holding fabric on top of the paper and tracing. Was it comfortable? No. Cheap? Yes. Frustrating? Absolutely. I have five kids. Let's just say, that if I'm trying to trace something precisely  onto fabric for embroidery or applique, my chances of achieving that on a bright sunny day while the kids are around are nil. Most of the time, my opportunities for tracing something onto fabric were between 11 pm and 1 am.  And it's kind of tough to find a sunny window at that time.

I LOVE the Wafer Light Box.  It's thin, and lightweight, so it stores easily. Just like the LED lamp, the light is bright but easy on the eyes. I used it to trace lettering for a baby announcement quilt.  (At night, I might add!). It was super-easy to see the paper through the fabric, and tracing went quickly.  Last time I used the bright window method, I discovered the light was insufficient to trace onto saturated fabric, like the Moda Grunge  that I adore using.  However, I could see the lettering no problem through the same fabric using the Wafer. My kids love using the Wafer for their school projects too. It even has a dimming feature, so you can adjust the light to whatever intensity works best for you.

In the picture above, I have an applique layout under the fabric. Then I can lay the pieces out on the fabric exactly where they need to go.  I'm still learning on the applique, but this is SO much easier than trying to line up the patches any other way.

I've been using both this light and light box in my studio for several months now, and I'm absolutely thrilled with both of them. The folks at the Daylight Company gave me both of these products to try out. But if you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you know I don't review products unless I use them myself. So, if you're interested in trying out their products, you can go to the Daylight Company website.  Using the code TCQ0217 will give you a discount on the Wafer 1 lightbox, the Wafer 2 Lightbox and the Slimline S LED Table Lamp. (This is a little smaller than mine, the Slimline LED table lamp- but that one's out of stock right now).

Now, back to work on that applique!

Happy Stitching!