Coming Clean

I took a little trip up island to Naniamo to visit a quilt shop called Snip and Stitch who had their annual tent sale on yesterday.  There was a lot less fabric left because Sweet P - aka Paulette had been there ahead of me.  No, I don't NEED anything she said.  Well head over to her blog and find out what she didn't need   !http://sweetp-paulette.blogspot.com/.

I needed to be a good girl because near the end of August I am going to the APWQ ( Association of Pacific West Quilters ) Show in Tacoma, Washington with the Victoria Quilt Guild so I must save my quilting money for that.

I did buy some fat quarters which ranged from $1.59 to $1.99 that will work well for my Farmer's Wife project and because I had a coupon for 30% off of reg priced items I found a GO! die and rack that was calling my name.  I didn't overspend but came home pleased with my finds.

My quilting buddy found this book while there and purchased it for me for an early birthday gift.  I was so pleased as I love Scrappy!  It is the  All Time Favorite Scrappy Quilts book from That Patchwork Place.  Lucky me.  What a fun day and to add to your fun there is a giveaway going on at "Sew Fun Quilts" so take a peek and see what you could win.  http://sewfunquilts-sewmeow.blogspot.com/2011/08/heywanna-win-free-giveaway.html

Have a great Sunday everyone.

This how you save time using your GO!  At least that is what I hoped to do.  I wanted to make some 4 patches so I cut out a pile of  2 1/2'' lengths with my GO!  After sewing them in strips I was bemoaning having to cut the sewn strips for the four patches.  So here is where the laziness aka resourcefulness reared itself.

What if I took those strips and laid them on the GO! and cut them crosswise?
I drew a line parallel to the cutting blades at the top of the die with a Sharpie pen.


I lined up my first strip exactly on that new line then added another four strips underneath that. You can't rush this, take your time.  After all it's sink or swim now right.  Then the GO! did it's magic and my strips were cut once again.

I measured them to make sure they were accurate and of course they were.  After all I'm using the Go! remember.

Once sewn together they look like this.

Look how cute they are all pressed.

This was fast and precise so it doesn't get much better than that.



                                                         

I made the rule so I can break the rule.

After working on my scrappy Tumbler quilt I knew that I didn't have enough light scrappy pieces.  My thought was to only use scraps but I had to 'scrap' that rule and went to my stash and found these Batik pieces and with a quick roll of my Baby Go! it got me on the right track.  I love my Baby Go! because it takes no time at all to cut up these Tumbler pieces, less than a minute, no kidding it's that fast!

Also another couple of blocks from my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. 

This is number 29 - Cut Glass Dish

Here is number 30 - End of Day

So I am off to whip up (Ha Ha) a few more blocks today for the FWSQ.  So wish me luck or at least wish me matching seams!

Not many days left for the Giveaway

Hurry over to Natasha at Joy of Quilting's blog.  She is giving away this cool Slice and you wouldn't want to miss getting in on the action.http://joyofquilting-natasha.blogspot.com/2011/06/oh-my-goodness-i-have-awesome-giveaway.html

What was I thinking.....

I had planned to get back to my Dresden Quilt but once I pressed the stitching and started the process of turning these little cuties I changed my mind.  I knew this was a job to be done while watching a boring show on TV so I quietly set it aside.

Once that decision was made I cleaned my sewing room, no picture of a before and after so you'll just have to take my word for it.  I then finished off a couple more FWQS blocks.  I put together #21 Contrary Wife (Does a contrary wife even exist?)

Skipped to #29 Economy

A shout out to a talented and generous quilter, Rachelle Quadros who is the gal sitting in the picture.  Once a month Rachelle gives our quilt group 10 blocks of  The Farmer's Wife Quilt Sampler she has already worked the kinks out of.  Yes, we are lucky to have someone do all the math and shortcuts for our joint project.  You rock Rachelle.

Only 8 more blocks left to do for this month so can't wait to get back to my Bernina.

I give a Hoot

Hoo wouldn't fall in love with these faces.  Time to save up my pennies so I can buy the dies from Accuquilt to make these sweeties.http://www.accuquilt.com/patterns/project-ideas/go-projects/home-decor/go-give-a-hoot-owl-pillows.html

Winner of the Baby Go!

Well, today is the big day and I decided to phone my mother who lives in a Senior's Lodge in LLoydminster, Ab to randomly choose a number from 1-467 and she choose #81. She had no clue as to why she was choosing this number so will have to phone back and explain later.  So that lucky person is a lady by the name of Sandy from Zach's Quilting Mom blog.  Congratulations Sandy.   I'm sure that winning a Baby Go! and 3 dies of her choice will make her day.  Thanks to all who participated in this giveaway.  I appreciate all your comments and can't wait to get to know everyone better through our love of quilting.  Keep your eyes open as there are a few Baby Go's being given away out in blog land lately.

More FWQS and mug mats

Spent the day finishing off theses mug mats for gifts my husband is giving to a couple from the US.  They have booked him for a Butchart Garden and city tour (Victoria, BC) in his1954 Caddy Limo.  The lady that contacted him  for the tour was recommended  by her mother who took a tour with Dale awhile back.  The Mom is a quilter and noticed the Fancy Nancy quilt I made for the Caddy.   So I thought why not give them a couple of  mug mats for themselves and the same for Mom and Dad. 

 I'm a certified mug mat fiend and this is where I have fun with the Slice!  They may have to smuggle them across the border as they are pretty priceless and may put them over their $ limit.

Here are the latest pictures from my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

So far so good and I can't wait for the next installment.

Vicki B Quilts is giving away a Baby GO!

Go over to Vicki B Quilts http://vickibquilts.blogspot.com/  as she also has a giveaway for a Baby Go! and three dies of your choice. The odds are pretty good so don't delay and give it a GO!  Good luck to all.

Slice Giveaway

There is a great giveaway going on over at Natasha's Joy of Quilting blog http://joyofquilting-natasha.blogspot.com/2011/06/oh-my-goodness-i-have-awesome-giveaway.html.
She has a Slice just waiting for some lucky person to win.  And what is a Slice you might ask?  Well, Natasha has the answer for you and your really gonna like it.  I think there is also a Rogue involved and that is part of the fun.  Good luck everyone and may there be a Slice in your life soon.

AccuQuilt is saving us money again

AccuQuilt is helping us save more money again with great sales on their Cutters, Dies and more.  Check out these savings and with the money you save you could buy even more AccuQuilt products.  Good luck with trying to decide on which one to buy because that is the hard part but once you are over that hurdle it is easy sailing.  What I especially like about AccuQuilt is that they are so user friendly!

Now this is a great price on the Studio and it could be yours.
http://www.accuquilt.com/studio-shop/studio-fabric-cutter/studio-fabric-cutter.html



Once you have the Studio you can get a great deal on their dies.
http://www.accuquilt.com/studio-shop/dies.html



More savings when you but multiples, gotta love a saving!
http://www.accuquilt.com/go-shop/sale.html




Now this is one sweet deal-love that Alex Anderson. My bucket list is to meet her one day.
http://www.accuquilt.com/go-shop/go-portable-fabric-cutters/go-baby-fabric-cutter-gift-with-purchase.html



Have fun with the sales and hope you become a member of the AccuQuilt family.

Blogger problems

Sorry I am still having trouble with Blogger so will keep working at it for the giveaway.

Giveaway of a Baby Go! and 3 dies

I hope this post works as I am having trouble with blogger so here I go again.

Thanks to AccuQuilt I am able to Giveaway a Baby Go! and 3 dies of the winner's choice. 

I can feel the excitement growing.

To decide on the 3 dies you just couldn't live without go to AccuQuilt and enjoy the view.

http://www.accuquilt.com/go-shop/dies/go-baby.html

Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment here (at the end of this post) with your 3 choices of Baby G0! dies.

2.   Become a follower or comment that you are already a follower for another chance to win.

3.   Post about this giveaway for yet another chance.

Only comments on this post will be included in this giveaway so please don't leave a comment on the AccuQuilt Facebook page.

Remember in order for me to contact the winner I need a way to do so.  If you are a no-reply-blogger you could miss out on a chance of a lifetime.

The Giveaway will close on midnight, July 9th, 2011 and I will announce the winner on Sunday, July 10th, 2011.

Good luck to everyone

Go! Instructions are simple

I wanted to try my hand at giving a Go! demonstration using one of my newly acquired dies. 
The die I will demo is the Quarter Square-4" Finished Triangle.

The first thing to do when you get a new die is to outline the blade area.
This will help to position your fabric on the die.

Once you have chosen your fabric colors cut strips 11 1/2" wide across the width of your fabric.

Give them both a press.

You can fan fold your fabric to lay it on the die or just cut strips.

The fabric then can be placed on the die to cut.  Cut your fabric on the straight of grain to reduce distortion.

 I was going to use my Baby Go! but switched over to the regular Go! (the one my hubby bought me for my Birthday).  Yes I am pretty spoiled but in a good way.

Look at this delightful pile-oh-la-la and with the dogears already cut off.  So sweet and time saving.

You now can sew right sides together.  Match the two lighter fabrics and the two darker fabrics in pairs. Remember you are dealing with raw bias edges so handle carefully.

Chain piece wherever you can, it does save time and thread. 

Make sure to press your seams as you go.  Lock those babies together!

Press seams open towards the darker fabric.

Your pairs can now be joined into an Hourglass unit.  Once again set your seams then press open.
Continue this process until you have Four Hourglass units made.

We're at the home stretch.  Sew your Hourglass blocks together in pairs, press the seams, then join the pairs together to make a block.

As you can see I do pin to match my seams and still hope for the best.

Press seams to set then open your block and press it.
Now wasn't that super easy and the time you save cutting using the Go! machine is phenomenal (big word).
You can get all the details off of the instruction page when you purchase the die.  Have fun, it is easy peasy (too much Jaime Oliver).

I cut some more Triangles and then cut some more and then....... well I did make a little project using the Quarter Square-4" Finished Triangle die, the Go! Strip Cutter-1 1/2" and from my Value die, the 2 1/2" square.  Can you see where I used what? 

Also visit the AccuQuilt site and browse to your hearts content.  There is a wealth of knowledge freely given so indulge yourself.

http://www.accuquilt.com/

May there be an AccuQuilt in your future!