Review of The ScrapMaBob and GIVEAWAY!!

I am so excited about sharing this product review with you all today!  As a quilting instructor, and home sewer, I find that I am always faced with how people can safely have a beverage in class without endangering your own sewing machine, or your neighbor's sewing machine, from accidental spillage.  As we all know, our sewing tools are not cheap and we don't want any type of liquid to come into contact with anything.  

Couple the beverage safety issue with the inevitable scrap/garbage issue and we have a couple of problems that I think most quilters/sewers/quilting instructors face on a regular basis.

I have been looking for a product that would help us all deal with these trials - and quilters - I think I may have found the answer!!  *Insert drum-roll*  The ScrapMaBob by The Original Scrap Box company is a truly amazing and well thought out design!  This product is actually marketed to scrap-bookers but hey we quilters like a cup of tea while we generate scraps too!!

Here it is!!  (Yes that is my Jane Austen tea mug)

 

The ScrapMaBob can hold a 32 oz drink - that's a Big Gulp if you like those!  The frame is all steel so it is nice and strong and easy to clean.  The scrap bag is a nice canvas that is large enough for lots of scraps (or snacks!).  You can never have enough room for scraps in my house!

  

I absolutely love how well thought out the cup holder is - notice the open slot on the right side for a mug handle?  My tea mug is easy to pick up but yet it still holds the mug safely in place and away from my sewing machine.

 

The scrap bag is easy to remove just by squeezing and lifting out.   The bag is very large so you won't have to remove it very often - unless you are going on a scrap busting marathon!!  the only assembly required is threading the bag onto the ring and attaching the bag to the cup holder - a nice quick set-up that allows more time for sewing.

 

The clamp, to attach the ScrapMaBob to your work area, is very large and can accommodate even a very thick table so this will easily fit most work areas (maximum table width 3.25”).  If you don't want the scrap bag, but only the drink holder, you can just leave it off like in the picture.

Final verdict - I really love the ScrapMaBob and I am going to recommend that my local quilt shops carry this very well thought-out, well-built and useful product.  I can see quilters wanting one by their sewing machines at the very least; but, if you're like me, you'll also want one by your cutting table and perhaps even on your ironing board.

This is a must have  tool that every quilter should have!

Now on to the GIVE-AWAY!!

You have a chance to win one of two ScrapMaBobs generously provided by the Original Scrap Box Company.

Ok here's the fine print!

For one chance to win you can comment on this post.  Tell me why you would love to win a ScrapMaBob.

For a second chance to win, become a follower and leave another comment here for a second entry.  If you already follow my blog that's fine just leave a comment here telling me that you do.

Every comment is your entry - 1 comment one entry ;-)

Please, please make sure your blogger is not set to no-reply!!!!  Please see my previous post here on how to make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger!  If a no-reply blogger is chosen then I will be forced to draw another name and I really don't want to do that!


I will be holding 2 draws so get entering and good luck!!   I will draw for the winner, using a random number generator on Sunday.


Good Luck everyone!

I Finally Hung the Rug!

Well I finally did it!  I finally hung my little alien rug that I finished, ohhhh, in November of 2009!!  He is a Halloween stair kick (or riser) but it is still the only one I have made - sigh.  

 

I had such big plans for these.  This little guy only took me about a month to finish and I loved working on him.  You can see his start here and his finish here.  I had plans to make 5 stair risers for Halloween to go on the stairs in the foyer before the turn, and 5 Christmas ones, as well as everyday ones for all of my stairs, I think there are 25, but, sadly that has gone by the way-side for a bit.  So, needless to say, I decided to hang this little guy on the very top stair as a daily reminder.

I love rug hooking, a lot, but, I have been taking a bit of a break from lately.  However, with all this HOT weather it seems like the perfect thing to get back to since I have a floor frame, I don't have to have anything touching me, unlike quilting, so, it is pleasant to do in the hot weather.  I know that sounds odd - working with wool in the hot weather; but, it really is!

So, what do you think?  Should I pull out those projects again?  What are you all working on in this HOT weather?

Bust My Stash Photo Challenge - by Accuquilt - US Residents Only

Accuquilt is running another fun give-away!  I always love their give-aways.

 Have you stared at your fabric stash and wished that you had the time and energy to cut up your fabric for future projects?  AccuQuilt has the answer!  Click on the following link to participate: http://on.fb.me/qtyUoq or go to AccuQuilt’s Facebook page and click “Like”.  Then go to the ‘Bust My Stash’ tab under their profile picture and upload a picture of your fabric stash.  Submit your photo by Friday, July 22^nd and you’ll be eligible to win a GO! Mix and Match 12” Starter Set.  The photo with the most votes by July 31^st wins!  Photos will be voted on by viewers and fans of the AccuQuilt Facebook page using the following criteria: relevance, creativity, and originality.  Share with your friends during the voting period to increase your odds of winning!

Good Luck!

 

And speaking of Accuquilt - I know I do that a lot LOL - did you know that you can get 22 free patterns by clicking this link and signing up for the newsletter?  That's pretty good!

 

Where Am I?

I bet a few of you have been wondering where I have been this past while?  Well I know that some of you have because I have received a few messages ;-)  Well, I am here I didn't run away and join the circus I swear ~ I just haven't been sewing as much lately.  Why, you ask?  Well, the kids are off school for the summer and the weather has been so wonderful and very hot so I've been trying to get outside as much as possible lately.  I think living in Canada makes me really appreciate the few months of really nice weather we have and since we live in a town that is right on the water and within walking distance to a nice beach and park we've been spending a lot of time outdoors.  If you would like to see some pictures of my town you can see them here.  Needless to say, I haven't been sitting behind my sewing machine since I finished my rag bag ~ sigh.

I also wanted to hop on and tell you all about another Baby Go! cutter give-away over at The Vintage Sheet Blog!  If you don't have one of these little beauties you have been missing out!

Happy Summer!

A Go! Baby Give-Away!

 Just a quick blog post today ~ Our Busy Little Bunch has a Baby Go! and three dies give-away!  So hop on over for a chance to win one of these little cuties!

New Raggy Project Bag!

 

Yeehaw a new project bag is finished!  I made a raggy project bag several years ago that has seen A LOT of use so when I got some new rag dies for my Accuquilt Go! I decided to test them out!  Aren't those rag appliques so cute?!  I just love them.  This is the front of the bag and it is large enough to carry your rotary cutting mat to class.  My last bag was a little bit smaller than this and I frequently wished it was a bit bigger so when I was re-designing the bag I decided to do just that.  

I also used the rectangular die to make the bag gusseted instead of flat.  I frequently wish my original bag could hold more and the rectangular die was just the perfect width for the bag.

 

Here's the back of the bag and if you can enlarge the photo you can see the purposes for those pockets!  The long pocket holds my 6" x 24" ruler and the other pockets hold other rulers, notions and my rotary cutter.  These really allow me to be organized with my tools for classes.    Aren't they cute?

See the fringe along the outside of the back?  I also figured out how to cut that with my Go! rag dies - so no hand fringing!  Yey!  I am working on a video for this though so the tutorial will be video format instead of written here - so stayed tuned for that one!

I hope you like my bag!  Any comments or questions please feel free to leave them here since I love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Quilting!

Can You Guess?

 

Can you guess what I have been working on today from this photo?  I bet you can't - well - maybe you can you never know!

I used my Accuquilt Go! large rag die and the NEW rag applique dies to piece together this little beauty.  It will look so pretty once it is washed - but - I am not finished yet!!!  There is more to come and more in the works.  Aren't those rag appliques wonderful?  I have done rag applique ONE other time and I swore I never would again but when Accuquilt came out with these I fell instantly in love.

Instead of batting in the middle, I am using a great tip from a friend, and, I am using Osnaburg which really adds to the fringe.  You can usually find it at your fabric stores.  I cut it with my Go! and layer it between the flannel.  Easy peesy.

So can you guess what it is?

Did I Redeem Myself?

So I decided to redeem myself with out quilt guild challenge!  I grabbed my challenge package and decided to try out a new, to me, method - the half hexi method.  This is a really neat method that allows you to make hexagons without any y-seams - cool huh?

Anyways, I grabbed my Go! cutter and my 2.5" strip die and cut all the fabrics into 2.5" strips.

 

Then I used a half hexi paper template and cut the 2.5" strips into half hexis.  Sewed the pieces into strips and then sewed the rows together.  Easy peesy!

The Missouri Star Quilt Co. does make nice Plexiglas ruler to make these that is inexpensive.  You can see the ruler in action here.  I did try to purchase this ruler, to make life easier, but, when I went to check out the shipping was $15.00 for a $5.00 ruler!  Needless to say I canceled the order.  I really feel that was just way too much in shipping - even by half ;-)

 

Here it is all together and quilted.  I really like how this turned out and how the rayon thread looks across the fabrics.  You can click on the photo to see it larger.  All in all I am very happy with how this turned out and that I did go back and complete the challenge even after I plunged ahead without reading the instructions ;-)

In other news - this weekend I spent the whole weekend in a fitness studio doing my Zumba 1 and Zumba Gold certifications - fun stuff!  Now to practice, practice, practice!  I love Zumba and I can't wait to add this to the fitness classes I teach.

PST - there is a give-away for 3 Go! dies over at Talin's Corner!

Happy Quilting everyone!!

A Baby Go! Give-Away!

 

Just a quick post to let you know about a great give-away of a Baby Go! and three dies of your choice over at Samelia's Mum blog!  Run on over now and enter to win - I know I did!  I absolutely love my Go! cutter and use it so much - actually much more than I thought I would when I bought it.  It has rekindled my love for rag quilts and applique again.

I have a much longer blog post coming later but for now this give-away was too good not to share ;-)

I Really Need To Read the Directions!

I really need to read the directions sometimes and just stop skimming!

We are having a Grandmother's Flower Garden Challenge at our guild and they gave out little fabric packages.  I got an idea for the challenge and plunged on ahead without reading the instructions.  I didn't want to use the fabric in the package so I bought my own - sigh!

 

 If you enlarge the photo you can see the very first instruction "use all the colours in your fabric pack" - woops!  I completely messed up!  Grrr.

Then I pulled out my book More Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini since I thought that the quilt was completely cut out and ready to sew - well it wasn't.  I was only about half finished the cutting.  I had cut for Variation 1 and not for Variation 2.  Woops!  If you enlarge the photo you can see the cutting directions very clearly.  I guess I just stopped reading - oh well!  I pulled out my Go! cutter again and got to work with the remainder of the scraps I had set aside a long time ago.

 

It took a little while - but I just put on a TV show and away I went!  This required that I cut 416 1.5" red squares but I had them cut in only a couple of minutes with my Go!  I love that machine and never would have cut this quilt out if I didn't have it! 

So note to self - read ALL of the instructions all the way through and stop just plunging in head-first without reading ALL of the instructions!  Ok maybe most of the instructions first  LOL!

So what do you all do?  Read all of the instructions or read as you go along?  let me know in the comments - I would love to hear from you!

Bright Twister

A participant in my Twister class dropped by and brought her finished Twister top over the other day and she let me snap a picture!  Thanks Missy V!

 

Isn't it great?  She used a charm pack of some great bright fabrics and I just love it!  It will make a nice little table topper that would brighten up any room.  

I think that thing I love the most about the Twisters is that they all look so different and always amazing.  I also love it when I get to see the results when people take my classes ;-)

Have you made a Twister yet?  If so I would love to see it - you can share it on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SunshowerQuilts

Extending the Life of Your Rag Die Mats

Hi all!

Sorry for the small break between blog posts but the weather has been amazing and I wanted to get my gardening finished before we got all the rain they are calling for this week.  I spent days in the garden getting all my seeds planted and everything cleaned up - yey!  Now it's back to quilting!  So today I have been machine quilting and shooting a video.

I've heard so many comments about how much the Accuquilt Go! chews up the rag die mats, and, they really do, but, you can really extend the life of your mats, and still get beautiful cuts, if you do a little shifting around.  So, I decided to make a small video tutorial on how to extend the life of your rag die cutting mats.

I hope that you find it useful!  This particular mat, as chewed up as it is, is now cutting it's fourth rag quilt and still cutting beautifully!

If you have any questions please feel free to leave them here; and, if you have any video ideas or suggestions please let me know.

Happy Quilting!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope that all the Mothers, Mothers- to be and want to be Mothers have an amazing day today.  You all deserve it.  Do something for yourself today!!!

xoxox

Shopping the Stash!

Look what I found in my stash!!  *ok well all except the red at the top left LOL*

Here's a little back-ground.

I am demonstrating the Go! tomorrow at the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild show tomorrow and I thought to myself - you know I bet I'll be showing the rag die a lot since people seem to love it so much.  Then I thought - wow I should cut out a rag quilt while I'm demoing so that I'm doing something useful.  I went to my LQS today to see if I could find some flannel that was calling to me.  I saw that lonely little piece of red on a bolt in the 50% off bin and thought - hang on!!  I think I have a whole bunch of flannel-tiks in my stash in that drawer I hardly ever open!!  So I grabbed the red and came home to see what I had.  I pulled all the rest of these out of my drawer - how cool is that??  The ones on the bottom are fat quarters and the rest are some yardage.

These were the flannel-tiks from Princess Mira from several years ago - I bought them with no clear purpose, I just really liked them, and they got stored away.  Now I think I have a project for them but I am thinking about taking out the orange and red fabrics (yes, the red I just purchased) so that I can have all just blues and greens.  I think that a rag quilt - like my Pink Rag Quilt - might be really nice in these colours.  And then maybe my boys would stop stealing mine ;-)  And since I could cut while I work this might just be a win-win-win. 

1. I get to use my stash 
2. I get to cut while I demo the Go!
3. I get another fuzzy rag quilt

So, note to self, shop the stash before you shop at the shop!

What do you guys do?  Shop the stash first or shop at the shops?

Speaking of shopping the shops - anyone in the Ottawa area going to the show this weekend?

Machine Quilting Today!

Hey everyone!

I've been machine quilting the past few days and since a few people have asked to see my machine quilting area, while I am quilting, I thought that I would share that with you today.  From the next picture you are seeing the back of my 9" harp machine with the quilt covering where my piecing machine is.  You can see it just sunk down on the bottom right of the picture.  I sink the machine using the air lift we installed.

Want to see more pictures of my sewing area without the quilt?  You can find them here in a previous post.  I show basically how we constructed the table and some links!

 

This is the other side of my sewing area.  See the additional space on the left and how I put the bulk of the quilt on the left and behind the machine?  This makes a huge difference on maneuvering the quilt without it hurting my back and shoulders.  I try to never have any of the quilt on my body; but rather, have the whole of the quilt supported by the table.

 

I love my sewing area and how there is shared space between the machines that can be used easily.  

What do you think?  Does it make more sense now that you see a quilt on it?

Any questions feel free to ask them here!

Happy Quilting!

Leaders and Enders Video Part 2

Here it is!  Part 2 of my Leaders and Enders Video!  This one covers the construction of the X-Block, or Crossroads Block, as a leaders and enders project  I hope that you enjoy it :-D

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here and I will do my best to answer them!  I love to hear from you all.

Happy Quilting!

Big Gulp!

Yesterday I took a big gulp and plunged in head first! 

I needed to cut 336 1.5" squares of red fabric, for the quilt I have been cutting, and I really really (emphasis on really) did NOT want to do that with a rotary cutter.  I mean I could have I just didn't want to.  I knew that I could cut those strips and then squares on my Go! cutter using the 1.5" strip die that I've been using.  But, honestly, here's my confession, I hadn't cut yardage yet this way!  So I thought I would give it a try.

I cut my strips and then loaded them onto the cutter folded so that they fit across the cutter.  Yep, I loaded all my strips at once - might as well jump in head first right?

Then I took a big gulp of air and put the fabric through the cutter.

 

I took off the mat and wowzers!  Look at all of the perfect 1.5" squares!!!  I got all my 336 squares in seconds.  I measured them and they are totally perfect!!  So fast, so easy, so perfect! *insert happy dance here!*

 

I stacked up my little beauties in  my plastic container and sat back to admire them - aren't they pretty??  Sorry for the gushing but I am just so happy with my Go! cutter and the 1.5" strip die.  I honestly didn't think that it would:

a) be able to cut that many squares at the same time and

b) cut them so perfectly!

 

I am one happy quilter!  

The quilt that I am making from the book More Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini is now completely cut out and ready to start being pieced.  I am very excited since I have wanted to make this quilt for a few years now - but I really, really didn't want to cut those small pieces.  Again, it's not that I can't cut them with a rotary cutter but that I didn't want to.  Laziness?  Maybe, but, I am ok with that ;-)  I think I prefer to call it efficiency LOL!

I am now ready to start sewing the blocks together and truly - I am so excited to see this scrap quilt come together - I don't think I'll be able to save it for a leaders and enders project.

I love to read your comments so if you'd like to leave one here or on my Facebook page you are more than welcome!

So what is everyone working on today?

A Whole Lot of 1.5" Strips!

Thank you all for your great comments about my first two videos!  They were fun to make and I have a couple more in the planning stages to do so stay tuned!  In the mean time you can subscribe to my YouTube channel if you like ;-)

Remember a while ago when I found that bag of scraps that I had set aside for a quilt project?  If you don't remember you can see them here.   Well after I found that bag of fabric I had pressed it all and stacked it in a container and put it away on a shelf.  Well, that was in January.  Yesterday we had huge winds here that knocked out power for over 7 hours.  Without the distraction of the TV and internet etc I decided to pull out this bin and use my new 1.5" strip cutter for my Accuquilt Go!  I just started laying the pieces on the strips and cut all the random pieces into 1.5" strips.  

At first the strip cutter was very hard to get through the cutter and I had to push the mat down and through the cutter a bit.  Not hard or anything - you should never force the cutter; but, the foam was very stiff at first.  After a couple passes through the cutter the die broke in and it was effortless.  Most people don't realize that the dies and the cutter both need to break in when you first start using them.  This was the stiffest die that I have ever used but it broke in nicely and was a real time-saver - I couldn't imagine cutting all those 1.5" strips on my own!  I also wish that the die blades were just a little bit longer - maybe 0.5 cm longer - or maybe that's just me.

 

You can see the picture of the quilt that I am making from the book More Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Do you like my little sorters?  I love these little containers - they are the plastic containers I get fresh mushrooms in from the grocery store and they work so wonderfully!  They nest in each other and are free - I like free - doesn't everyone?  

After 1 was finished cutting the strips I needed to cut the strips down into rectangles.  For the 1.5" squares I just sent the pieces through the cutter again the other way.  For the 1.5" x 2.5" rectangles I used my 2.5" strip cutter - the rest I had to rotary cut since I don't have any of those dies - hmmmmm maybe a little shopping is in order?  I did, however, use my Value Die for the 4.5" x 1.5" rectangles.  It's amazing to me how much faster die cutting is than rotary cutting!  Don't get me wrong I still rotary cut!  But chopping down the scraps this way was very nice - with very little waste.

Now I need to do all this again with the off-whites and creams in the other half of the container.  Should I wait for another power outage or get to it now?  I still have over 300 1.5" red squares to cut as well - but I am cutting this from a solid red Kona fabric.

You know - now that I am looking at this again - it would make a good leaders and enders project I think!  What do you think?

Leaders and Enders!

Hi all!

I thought that I would share the video we did yesterday on leaders and enders.  I have been using 2" squares for about 9 years or so as my leaders and enders and I have done so many projects with them.  If you would like to see the method in a nutshell you can see it in this post from 2006.  I absolutely love how you get a project from basically nothing with them!  My video features the 2" square Accuquilt Go! die but you can definitely cut these by hand.  I cut by hand for years before I got this die.

When I teach classes I frequently show my leaders and enders method so I thought that making a video would be a great idea since so many people have not yet heard of this great method.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has made this method pretty famous in the quilting world but believe it or not I heard about this method years before from a fellow quilter and just fell in love with it!  Bonnie even has a book out on leaders and enders which is wonderful and well worth checking out if you're interested.  She uses many different shapes and sizes as leaders and enders; but, I guess I just love my 2" squares!

So, have you made any leaders and enders projects?  If you have I would love to see them - maybe you could share them on my Facebook page?

My First Video Featurng the Go! Bountiful Baskets Die

 

I finally did it!  I published a video on YouTube!  it features the Bountiful Baskets die for the Accuquilt Go!  I decided to do this video since so many quilters seem to have a hard time with the basket handle on this die.  I discovered a few tricks that made this a lot easier and the handle smooth.  I go over block assembly using my tricks that actually make this little block go together really well.

I hope that you will check out the video and let me know what you think!  You can watch it here or click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGjV-TRuKkA

Happy Quilting!

We Have a Critter Winner!

Congratulations we have a winner!

Using a rondom number generator from random.org I chose a winner from the 88 sucessful entries.

And our winner is!

Kathy H has left a new comment on your post "Spring Placemats and a GIVE-AWAY!!":

I haven't made any basket placemats or quilts yet and was holding off as they looked complicated. But with the basket die, it looks so much easier. The placemat is very cute, especially for Easter basket time.

Congratulations Kathy!  I've sent an e-mail off to Kathy so I can send her the little critters!  I hope that you enjoy them and will send a picture of what you do with them.

Thanks so much to everyone that entered - I hope you had fun on the Spring Blog Hop - I know that I had a lot of fun participating it it.

Happy Quilting all!!

Waste Not Want Not!

Hi all!  Have you entered my give-away yet?  If not you still have time to enter to win some great die-cut critters!  Read all about it here!

Well after I finished cutting those critters out I had a nice pile of scrap batiks with fusible on the back left-over.  A really big hand-full of them that I just couldn't throw out!  There was lots of good fabric in there and I wanted it!

So I had an a-ha moment and I grabbed my Rose of Sharon die for my Go! 

 

I placed the bits of fabric and fusible over whatever shape they were large enough for and once I had a bunch of shapes covered I ran it through.

 

And this is what I ended up with!  Lots and lots of little flowers, circles and leaves!  How cool is that??!!  Insta-project!  I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet but believe me these little guys will find a home!  

 

The blue container in the picture is actually the packaging from mushrooms from the grocery store LOL!  I love these packages - I just wash them well and then use them as sorters.  They nest into each other so they can stack really well.  You can organize a lot of little bits really effectively this way.  Waste not want not!

So what do you think - would you have thrown out the bits?

More Give-Aways!

No it's not another one from me LOL!  But I think that you are all enjoying a chance at those die-cut critters!  Maybe I'll run more give-aways using die-cuts then for you guys that don't have a Go! . . . .  . yet!

Accuquilt, The Quilt Show and Aurifil have teamed up for an absolutely amazing give-away!  There is $1520.00 worth of prizes to be given away so enter!

Just Plain Laine is having a give-away to die for and I thought that I would share!  She's on today for the Spring Themed Blog Hop!

Also P.S. I Quilt is having a great fat quarter give-away!

And Leedle Deedle Quilts is having a fat quarter give-away!

Spring Placemats and a GIVE-AWAY!! ~ Now CLOSED

I'm lucky enough to be taking part in SewCalGal's Spring Themed Blog Hop!  Follow the link to find the other blogs participating!  Yey! and I am so happy to offer you this place-mat tutorial.  I used 30's reproduction prints for my baskets and a white fabric for the background.  So nice and spring-like!  But, I also think these place-mats would look amazing in country fabrics or in bright fabrics on a black background.  I also thought that the baskets were very appropriate since Easter is coming up and these would look just amazing on the table Easter morning. 

This tutorial features the Accuquilt Go! Bountiful Baskets die by Alex Anderson.  This is such a great die for cutting this cut little basket block.  Because this block is copyrighted I can't give you the cutting directions here but don't worry!!  Alex Anderson gives a video tutorial on constructing this block that you can access here.  And, you can access the cutting instructions here if you don't have this amazing die!  If you want another Basket tutorial you can click on my Wednesday Blog Hop buddy Bits and Pieces because she did the baskets die as well.  Who would have thunk it LOL!

To compare and contrast the die cuts versus cutting by hand I cut one basket block completely according to Alex's directions and video and the rest with the Go!  I can honestly say that not only is cutting easier on the Go! but it is less wasteful!  I get that question all of the time - is the Go! wasteful?  Nope not at all for this block!  Alex's rotary cutting directions on the video ask you to start with 2 squares 5" x 7" and doing this wastes a lot of your feature fabric.  With the Go! Bountiful Baskets die you can just cut your squares and lay them on with very little waste.  I put the picture up of the cuts so that you could see how tight they are - yey!!  I don't like wasting fabric.  And with the price of fabric - here in Canada we pay about $16.00 a meter -  less wasted fabric is great! And, having those dog ears cut off makes the piecing sooo easy!

Ok - so now that you have all made your postage stamp baskets (you will need 4 for each place-mat) you will also need 2 squares 5" x 5" - if you have the 5" square die you can use that and cut two for each place-mat.  You will also need one rectangle 8.5" x 14.5" for each place-mat.  Using the picture at the top lay out your place-mats and sew them together using a 1/4" seam.

Layer your place-mats with batting and backing and quilt as desired.  Because I used some nice vintage fabrics I machine quilted them with a feather motif.  If you don't want to bind your place-mats you can also do the inside out method.  If you would like a tutorial on the inside out method I give one here.  I chose to bind my place-mats to give them a more vintage look and because I had that nice print that I love!  If you do choose to bind your place-mats you will need 2 strips, for each place-mat, 2' by the width of fabric.  Need a binding tutorial?  You can find one right here. 

Now for a give-away!  It's spring and I love that everything is coming back and is lovely so I am offering 10 die-cut Butterflies and Dragonflies (5 of each) that I featured back in this post.   I have already put Steam a Seam fusible webbing on the backs so all you need to do is peel, stick and stitch!  Sweet!

I'll send 5 whole dragonflies but 5 bodies separated from the butterfly bodies so you can mix and match.  (Ok UPDATE!  I'm sending you everything that you see in the above photo!  It's more than I originally said - and it includes an extra set of dragon fly wings that you can attach to one of the extra bodies.  I'm sending 9 bodies in total) You will absolutely love working with these little guys and they would look great on any quilt!

Ok here's the fine print!

For one chance to win you can comment on this post.  Tell me why you would love to win these little cuties or what you would make with them.

For a second chance to win, become a follower and leave another comment here for a second entry.  If you already follow my blog that's fine just leave a comment here telling me that you do.

For a third chance, blog about my giveaway and leave another comment here telling me where I can find your post!

For a fourth chance to win like me on Facebook and leave another comment here.  Again, if you already like me on Facebook just tell me so in a comment.

Every comment is your entry - 1 comment one entry ;-)

Please, please make sure your blogger is not set to no-reply!!!!  Please see a previous post here on how to make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger!  If a no-reply blogger is chosen then I will be forced to draw another name and I really don't want to do that!

 So what do you think?  Do you want to make some great basket place-mats?  I hope that you will enter my give-away to win some great die-cut critters!  And don't forget to visit the other bloggers!

We'll end the Give-Away Sunday so get entering and good luck!  The give-away is now closed ~ thank you so much for all who entered!

Spring Theme Blog Hop

 

Are you ready for a Spring Themed Blog Hop?  Well SewCalGal sure is and she's hosting a great one!  Each day she is featuring two bloggers and I'm on Wednesday!  Yay!!  For a complete listing of the blogs involved please check out SewCalGal's blog! 

So check back tomorrow for my project!  I think you're going to like it - or at least I do ;-)

My Sewing Table

Hi all!  I was so inspired after reading Marguerita's book, Sew and Quilt in Comfort,  again yesterday that I wanted to make some changes to my sewing set-up. I thought that I might share with you what we did yesterday; but, first I need to give you a little bit of the back-story on my sewing machine table.  When I first started quilting we were newly married and had a new born baby.  I loved to quilt and was sewing on the dining room table - sound familiar?  Since sending my quilts out to be machine quilted at that time simply wasn't a financial option I had to learn to quilt them myself.  Well if any of you machine quilt on a table-top you know how hard this can be without a good set-up.

I went into a quilt store and looked at the Horn of America cabinets - they were beautiful and wonderful and very pretty - but also very expensive to this newly wed new Mom!  Spending $1500 just wasn't feasible so my husband built me a very basic copy of the cabinet that I loved so that my sewing machine could be sunk down level with the bed.  This made quilting easier but I still need support on the left hand side for the bulk of the quilt.  I used my ironing board lowered down to support the bulk.  Now an ironing board is NOT very stable so I would frequently knock it over.  So the second incarnation of my sewing table was born - we took the main top off and added permanent support for the left side.

Then I got a new machine!!  An embroidery machine!!  Well the embroidery machine needed to be able to be level with the sewing table and on top of the sewing table easily so I purchased the Touch Release Air Lift from Horn of America and the Plexiglas insert that fit my machine.  Most people don't know that you can purchase this on its own - but you can!  We installed the lift onto my custom sewing table and I was extremely happy!

Then I got another machine with a large harp for machine quilting.  It came with a large extension table and I quilted with it table-top for a couple years - not ideal but doable.  After reading Marguerita's book through I realized that I was not doing myself any favours and I enlisted my husband to make more changes to my table.

First we decided where I wanted the sewing machine sunk - and I took Marguerita's advice and pushed it back several inches.

 

Then we cut a big hole in the table to fit the machine.

 

Then we adjusted the hole until the machine could go in it.  This took some time LOL!  After the hole was cut my husband added a shelf under the table so that the sewing machine wouldn't fall through the hole to the floor!  And so that the bed of the sewing machine would be level with the table top.

 

Yey!  A level quilting machine!

 

Here's a view of the table showing both my machines - I have shared space between them so I am not wasting.  When I want to use my larger machine to machine quilt I use the air lift on my other machine to sink it down, so it sits under the cabinet, so that I have extended space.

 

Here is the large extension table that came with my machine.  It works well but the machine is elevated just shy of 3.5" with it on!  Not very ergonomic.   You can also see how I have left hand support for both of my sewing machines as well.  This is a must-have for me.

 

This is the removable left hand support that we made for my quilting machine - I can't have it as a permanent fixture because it is in a very busy area of the house and people would bang into it.   It just slides off and folds up to store so that I can put it away when I am not machine quilting.

 

Here's the wooden shelf that now holds my machine.  Nothing fancy but it works!  I can now use my knee lift again since my machine is lower.   I can slide my hand in on the left to change my bobbins.

 

One last thing.  I used Marguerita's advise, again, and used clear vinyl over the bed and part of my table so that the surface is completely smooth and slippery.  The area of the table right around the sewing machine was a little rough so this really helps to smooth it out.

So what do you think?  It's not ready for a magazine photo shoot but it works for me and I love it!  Although I love the Horn of America cabinets I wouldn't trade this one for the world since this one perfectly fits me and what I want.  Besides - this cabinet has taken approximately 11 years to build so far!  Who knows what we're going to do to it next ;-)

What do you think?  If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here!  I love to hear from you.

Sew and Quilt in Comfort - A Book Review!

 

I was lucky enough to be sent Marguerita McManus' new book Sew and Quilt in Comfort:  How to Inexpensively Create and Customize Your Sewing and Quilting Area to Fit you Perfectly.   She is the author of a book that I love Crazy Shortcut Quilts. This is a great book for quilters who are currently creating in a less than ideal setting.  I know you're out there you quilters who have your sewing machine set up on the dining room table or a small card table.  Most quilters don't have a dedicated space or a sewing studio that looks like it could be featured in a magazine.  I wish we could all have a beautiful studio but often it just is not possible!

Am I speaking to you yet?  If you do have a wonderful studio, and, are 100% happy with your set-up, than this book is not for you.  But, if you're one of those quilters who doesn't have an ideal studio - this book is for you!  Marguerita gives doable and inexpensive ways to set yourself up a sewing area that will allow you to sew in comfort!  I absolutely love that her solutions can be taken down and stored easily as they are light-weight, flat and can be stored in a closet or under the bed.  This book offers realistic advise that any quilter could implement.

Marguerita put a couple videos on YouTube showing her table and how she constructed that have got over 50 000 hits and have really helped a lot of qulters.

Here's part 1

And here's part 2
And part 3

Watching the videos will make you reconsider how you're currently quilting and how you can easily make your set-up work for you!  The book goes into greater detail than the videos and is a great reference when you're actually changing your set-up.   Several of the tips in the book made me change my set-up for machine quilting.  Moving the sewing machine back a few inches really increased visibility and decreased shoulder strain.  I also love the idea of the faux-long-arm set-up that several quilters use. 

So if you want to easily create a more comfortable quilting area I would highly recommend this book!!  You can get it here on Amazon or even a Kindle version for only $2.99!!  You won't regret it!

So check out the videos Marguerita has a great YouTube channel!

What's your set-up like?  Studio fit for a magazine shoot or the dinning room table?

You Get What You Pay For!

 

Wowie sometimes a saying can be so true! A while back I found what I thought was an amazing deal on rotary cutter blades at a fabric store.  They had Singer blades on sale for $0.99 each!  Yey, I thought, I'd better stock up!  Up here in Canada blades are around $8.00 each so I thought I was getting a real deal. How bad can they be I wondered?  Singer is a good name isn't it?  Well, was I ever wrong!  The blades burred so fast!  They got nicks in them and just never cut well.  The metal must be very soft in these blades.  But, hey, I bought about 30 of them so I wanted to use them up!!  I've been putting up with these blades on projects for a while so I stopped noticing how horid they are to work with!

This weekend, while I was demoing,  I caught the corner of my ruler with my rotary cutter and really nicked the blade.  I couldn't cut with it anymore so I ran over to the notions wall and grabbed a new blade (don't worry I paid for it latter LOL).  I quickly switched blades and started cutting with a new Olfa blade instead of the Singer blade.  Wowie-zowie what a difference!  It was night and day a better blade.  The cutting was perfect and the rotary cutter rolled wonderfully!  I had forgotten how much I had to work to cut with those Singer blades, how much pressure I had to put on the cutter and the re-cuts I had to do!  

You can pick the saying that applies here:

• penny wise pound foolish
• you get what you pay for
• if it seems to good to be true it probably is
• etc

I don't want to go back to using those cheap blades now.  I have about 9 of those blades left and I want to throw them out!  

What would you guys do?  Would you throw the blades away or save them for an easy to cut out, accuracy not so important project?