Summer madness

 Ever have one of those summers where you seem to do both nothing and everything?
It's been a really weird summer here, both for weather and activity. We've not done much, no great trips or vacations. No big outdoor projects, yet I feel like I've been on the go the entire time.

I've done some sewing. Ok a LOT of sewing, to the point I've killed yet another iron.
Good thing I long ago discovered I should only every own cheap ones as they seem to die on me rather frequently.

I have 3 new patterns coming very soon, to be added to the ones already up on Fat Quarter Shop.
I just need to get them washed and photographed. I've been to 3 stores trying to find the Shout Colour Catchers I use whenever I wash my quilts, especially new ones, with no luck. I'm really not willing to try and wash these without them because of the dark colours and the material I've used on the back of two of them is a purple marble and it just seems like something that will bleed.

I'm also still working on the patterns for Stitchin Heaven and their Charm School and Perse-Anality Club, though I hear they won't be continuing with them after the end of the year.

 I've signed on to do some Quilt Alongs this fall, as well as design a Modern Block of the Month for Lola Pink Fabrics

In all this I feel like I've abandoned my blog a bit and it makes me sad. I miss writing and sharing with all of you, and getting your comments and stories in return.
So I'm going to make a stronger effort to update more. I also hope this will help me do some none work sewing as I really feel if I let it get too much more I won't be able to sew just for the heck of it anymore.
On the other hand whenever I come up with something new I want to make it into a pattern, which is probably a dumb thing to do but multitasking is in my bones lol.
Part of living with any kind of disability is knowing your limits, but also trying to get around them. And for me that means doing as much as I can when I can, and combining things together. I find myself very impatient with my health, especially the exhaustion I've been dealing with, it's so much harder to push through/ignore then the pain. And they don't seem to have any drugs for it but caffeine!
I'm really hoping that Little Bit going back to school will help me recapture some level of normalcy. Allowing me to go back to schedule that physically works for me instead of just trying to stay awake and present for her.
My sewing room hasn't even been unpacked from when we moved in December. I've just been grabbing things out of boxes as I go, which had made one heck of a mess.

More chances at an AccuQuilt

AccuQuilt just wants to givieaway more of these things! They have another contest going on Facebook.
AccuQuilt has asked that I pass the word on to you so here it is.



Camp Quiltalong Prize Giveaway

Join in some campfire fun for a chance to win great prizes totaling over $1500!  Fons & Porter, Fabric.com, and AccuQuilt have teamed up to provide us all with a huge giveaway on Facebook.  Simply “Like” these Facebook pages and gain access to all three sections of a secret code that unlock your chance to win!  Follow the camp trail on the bottom of each sponsor’s page and it will take you to the next campground to retrieve the next section of code.  Once you’ve captured all three pieces of the secret code, go to www.accuquilt.com/indianblocks and enter the full code to register to win! 

Your summer camping trip begins at AccuQuilt, so get GO!-ing at http://www.facebook.com/accuquilt?sk=wall#!/accuquilt?sk=app_10467688569


And remember to sign up for the AccuQuilt newsletter! You can get 22 free patterns!

Desperate Housewives Quilt Block

Quilt Jane is running the Desperate Housewives Quilt Along, or as Jane puts it, the quilt-as-you-wish-along, with a new block being posted every week for 50 weeks. She was short a person so asked me to make up a block!
So here is "Rolling Divide". The block finishes at 8". Like most of what I do it's easier then it looks, and don't worry about those itty bitty pieces, we don't actually touch them. You can do this scrappy if you like, I just used the fabrics Little Bit chose. I used the AccuQuilt Baby Go! to cut out my pieces, using the Alex Anderson Baskets Die, using the 2" squares, and 1 1/2" finished half square triangle parts of the die.

Cutting
(12) green 2" squares
(9) blue 2" squares
(2) green 2 3/8 squares
(2) blue  2 3/8" squares
 (2) pink 4" x 1 1/2" strip
(1) pink 8 1/2" x 1 1/2" strip

Sewing
Draw a line on the back of the blue 2 3/8" squares, diagonally corner to corner. Layer right sides together with the green squares and stitch 1/4" on either side of the line. Cut along the line and press to the green. Trim to 2".

Lay the patches out according to the diagram.

     

Stitch into rows and press rows in opposing directions so that when you stitch the rows together they "snap" into place. This will help you match your points.
Stitch into rows and press.






At this point your block measures 8".
Cut it into quarters, each measuring 4" x 4" square.

Sew the 4" 1 1/2" strip lengthwise along one of the cut edges.  Stitch another of the 4" unit to the other long side of the strip.  Repeat with the other 2 units.  Press towards the strip.

 

Stitch the 8 1/2" strip to the half units. Press to the strip.

Your block should measure 8 1/2", which will be 8" finished.

Baby Go! Winner is...

Patti from Saskatoon! Congratulations! E-mail me, caraquilts @ gmail.com with your choice of three dies and address and I will forward it on to the awesome people at AccuQuilt who made this possible!

Congratulation! I know you're going to love the Baby Go! Especially for applique and other shapes that take forever to cut.

Two weeks??

How in the world has it been almost 2 weeks since I last posted?? This summer is getting away from me way too fast!!
The AccuQuilt Baby Go! giveaway is open until Sunday so make sure you've entered!! I can't wait to be able to give someone one of these!

So by now I'm sure you've all seen the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along that pretty much everyone in blog land seems to be doing? Well way back in June, actually I think it was the end of May, anyways over on twitter it was being discussed and Pat Sloan and I decided we wanted to join in but really didn't want to commit to 2 blocks a week for a year. Just not going to happen. So we decided we were going to be the Farmer's Mistresses!
All the fun, none of the commitment!
Now someone got upset on the flickr group over the term so I think we're going by Farmer's girlfriends now but still.
Anyways, I'm doing mine completely from Fig Tree fabrics, 75% of which will come from my stash most likely.I'm hoping to have a bit from every on of Joanna's lines in the quilt.

I hate templates so right now am only doing the ones I can figure out the math on, and one of the yahoo groups has the designs as paper piecing patterns so will probably do some of them that way.
I'm ok with a few templates but this is kind of silly to me.
So here are a few of the blocks I've gotten finished. Several more have decided to hide in the wasteland that is my sewing room. It's getting kind of scary in there so I will have to clean it out soon. I'm losing way to much.


I have 3 more patterns coming out soon, including this one, so I've been working crazy hard to get them finished up. I'm very excited about these ones and hope you will be too.

Remember you can buy my patterns that are already out at Fat Quarter Shop now!

Baby Go! giveaway

I know I promised it last week but I have been having a really hard time coming up with the giveaway for the Baby Go! There are so many options but then I got to thinking that the whole point of AccuQuilt is to make life for us quilters easier, not more complicated.
I really wish I had more of these to giveaway because I know so many who they could help but I only have the one, plus three dies.You can read my review of the Baby Go! here.

So here's how it's going to work. You have three chances to win.

Chance #1
Leave me a comment telling me how you think the Baby Go! will make things easier for you. That's it.

Chance #2
Use social media to spread the word about the giveaway. That's facebook, twitter, blogs, google+ etc
Leave me a comment with the link, and if it's on twitter make sure to include @caraquilts #gogiveaway in the tweet.

Chance #3
Like my new facebook page.

That's it. Three chances. The first one requires nothing but a comment, the extra two are a bit of work for you. I will draw on August 7th.
I'd love for you to follow/connect with me on various social media sites but I'm not going to force it. If you want to I'd love it, you can get all the link on the top left sidebar of the blog.

There is also this giveaway going on on Facebook from AccuQuilt too!

Bust My Stash Photo Challenge

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 & 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!

It's been so hot here I haven't been able to spend much time in my sewing room, which turns out to be the warmest in the house, but as soon as the heat wave breaks I'll get the tutorial put together for you using the dies I got with my Baby.

Baby Go! Review

 I received my Baby Go! last week and have been playing with it and thinking on its uses, strengths and weaknesses. I wanted to be able to give you all a really honest review. I am really grateful to AccuQuilt for letting me have one, and to give one away!, but my review is based more on if I'd bought it, and what I would tell my friends about it.

This is especially true since I can give you some insights on it from the point of view of someone who has chronic pain, and often am weak and have difficulty with the cutting aspect of quilting.

So my thoughts in general are positive. I'll give all my highlights first then do another section on some of the drawbacks.
I received the 2 1/2" strip die, the 3 size of hexagon die, and Alex Anderson's Bountiful Baskets die.

It is super easy to use, both my 7 year old and I could crank the handle with 4 layers of fabric on it.
It only weighs about 11 lbs, so it's not too heavy to move around.
It folds up nice and small so doesn't take a lot of space to store the machine itself.
For applique, especially fusible, and geometric shapes like hexagons or apple cores, it is a massive time saver when it comes to cutting. If you really like doing any of these type of quilts you will use this a lot.


I was able to use a charm pack and just cut the larger hexagon (5" across). I cut out all 42 hexies in about 10-15 minutes. No back pain. And they all were exactly the same.
If they had a 4 1/2"-5" tumbler die I'd be in heaven. The 3 1/2" tumbler wastes too much of a charm pack for me to use it.
It does cut the 2 1/2" strips quickly as well.  

The mats are thick, thicker then a rotary cutting mat, so will probably last a good long time, so long as you follow the instructions on rotating them when you use them and store them properly.

The dies are well hidden in the foam board so no worries about kiddos, or klutzy me, getting cut accidentally.

Theoretically would could use the strip cutter to cut squares by re-cutting the strips. I didn't try this.

You can put paper through the machine, and in fact that is a step for troubleshooting, so you could make accurate English paper piecing pieces.

It is easy to use the Baby Go! sitting down at the table, or standing up.

Drawbacks
No matter how careful you are it wastes fabric, especially with strips etc, which I hate.
I can use my rotary cutter and get an extra strip or two out of a yard of fabric then I could using the 2 1/2" strip cutter. Also the strips can be slightly wonky, especially in the middle, depending on how you folded the fabric, just like with a rotary cutter.

The dies and mats are fairly large and take up a good deal of space. They are also pricey if you're not going to use it several times. The regular Go! has way more dies available, and in bigger sizes, which I think would be far more useful. I find that the limited number, and size of dies available for the Baby Go! to be a drawback. More will be add all the time though. The Baby Go! will not have anything bigger then the 5" rag die though. So if you like larger patches you will need the Go! This is sort of a personal thing. Look at what's available and what and how you quilt.

You can't use it to trim or square up blocks. Ok you could but it would be very difficult to be accurate and make sure you trimmed it properly.

You have to cut, fold or rip your fabric to fit it to the machine. The bed of the machine is only about 6" wide. Once I'm already cutting with the rotary cutter I don't want to switch back to the machine. And again you lose fabric making sure your dies are fully covered, about 1/4-1/2" on either side.

So what's the final verdict?
The Baby Go! would be a neat addition to your tools list, it will save you tons of time and back ache, especially with geometric and applique shapes,  but you are still going to being using your rotary cutter and mat, just like we still use scissors.
If you can afford it go with the regular Accuquilt Go! just based on the number, size and types of dies available.

Stay tuned for a tutorial or two coming up using the Baby Go! and a giveaway, where you could win a Baby Go! and your choice of three dies.

And remember to sign up for the Accuquilt newsletter, where you get 22 free quilt patterns just for signing up! You also get a discount code that can be used when ordering.
Disclosure: I get points for every person who signs up and with enough points can get a free die. I appreciate it thanks!

There is also the Bust My Stash Photo Challenge going on Facebook.  While you're there make sure to friend me!

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 & 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!