AccuQuilt Coupon Code

Use coupon code QQK49 through 11/30/11 to save 10% off your entire AccuQuilt order from http://www.accuquilt.com.

I just used this on my order today! :)  

Patriotic Pot Holder / Hot Pad using Accuquilt 10" Die & Riley Blake Designs "How To" Video

Uh-oh!  It would seem my OCD has taken over - AGAIN!  I've started creating things and I just can't stop!

I have just started selling Riley Blake Designs fabrics in my eBay store and their web site has a nice "How To" section.  I was intrigued by a video showing how to QUICKLY and SIMPLY make a hot pad using 10" squares.  Lucky for me, I just so happened (yeah, right!) to have a new 10" die on order from Accuquilt, so I HAD to make this potholder!!

The video calls for 5 unique 10" fabric squares, so I dashed out to my Patriotic fabric shelf and scooped up 5 coordinating prints.  I cut an 11" strip from each bolt and placed all 5 fabrics on my shiny, new die, which has blades for cutting 2 10" squares at a time (times the number of fabric layers).  Since each strip was double layered, I ended up with a total of 20 squares (4 each).  Oh joy!

I also cut an 11" strip off my bolt of Insul-Bright batting, which is specifically designed for making hot pads and other items that need to be heat-resistant.  I made 4 10" squares.   

 



I followed the directions on the video and in about 15 minutes I had completed this cute hot pad.  Great!  I will make a set for my mom for Christmas!  One more gift checked off my list.  Hooray!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer & Fun Fur Baby Blanket - Merry Christmas!!

I sure have a short attention span these days!  From my son's quilt, to the new baby/Christmas gift for a friend of mine...

 

Rudolph Fleece Fabric

I have this adorable Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer fleece print listed in my eBay store, and I knew I just HAD to make SOMETHING with it!  With less than a yard left on one of my bolts, I felt it was time.

I scrounged around my store for a nice, fluffy print to back it with and ended up with this darker red fun fur fabric.  

It's my first time working with fun fur fabric, and I must admit that it's not my favorite.  It took a while for me to figure out that it kept getting caught up in the sewing machine foot.  Once I realized that (Doh!) it was simply a matter of pressing it down with my fingers as it fed through the presser foot.  Problem solved!

After I sewed the two layers together, I pondered how I would secure the interior of the blanket's front to its back.  Oh wow!  The PERFECT opportunity to try my hand at free motion quilting (for the first time ever)!!!  The pattern has a lovely, thick black outline, so it was so easy to simply trace some of the characters on the print.  The thread is practically invisible on the front, and it would take an archaeological dig to find it on the back side!  

The end result is going to be great!  The two layers will be secured to each other and baby can lay on the blanket without feeling anything but the soft, cozy fleece (and the fun fur, of course!).  Hooray!! 

I like the blanket, but I'm not sure I'm going to work with that fun fur again any time soon.  I have red fur EVERYWHERE in my studio!  Ack... time for shop vac!!

Rag Quilt using Accuquilt Studio 5.25" Square Die

Recently I decided to take a break from my business for almost a whole day (gasp!) in order to do something fun and crafty!

I've owned a couple dozen Accuquilt Studio dies for the past few years which have mostly been gathering dust, so I thought I'd actually put one to good use.  My little boy LOVES penguins, and I have an adorable penguin fabric that has been set aside for something special for him. 

I took my penguin fabric and perused my store (gosh, it's fun to go fabric shopping in my own home!) and found a bunch of coordinating prints. Before I knew it, I was whipping out 5.25 inch rag cut squares of fabric (with the Accuquilt 5.25 inch die) and stitching them together!  When all is said and done, I will have cut OVER 600 SQUARES (front/back/batting) to complete this quilt!  Yikes, why didn't I get the BIG square die???

Side note: Accuquilt is running a Black Friday week-long special of 25% off all Studio dies!  I'm probably going to be buying the 8.5 inch die set this week (includes smaller die for batting)!


Anyway, I'm not quite halfway finished with this project and I've already been "discovered" by my son.  So much for a surprise Christmas gift!  That's okay.  He actually enjoyed helping me place the squares in the right order, after which he handed them to me as I added square after square to my quilt rows.  


The end result will be a bit "busier" than I had hoped.  Oh well.  I didn't have enough of some of the prints I really wanted to use, so I added more prints.  When it's finished and run through the wash (to curl up the frayed edges) I think it will have a much cleaner look.


Here's what I've done so far:


Front & Back are 100% cotton quilting fabrics and the "batting" I used is a gecko 100% cotton flannel print that was pretty much a "dog" item in my fabric shop.  My son likes it, though, because he can see lizard bits and pieces in the frayed edges. And the colors on the flannel print coordinate nicely with the colors in the front of the quilt.  The back side is rows of several black and white prints.  


Here's hoping it will be completed before Christmas!  (THIS Christmas...)  ;0)

Here's what's done so far (probably about 40% complete).  Final dimensions will be roughly 42" x 63".

Joey with his best pal, Penguino, taking their first look at the in-process quilt.

Back Side with all Black & White Prints

Close Up Pic of Main Penguin Print

Vintage Neckties from Bucks Covered Bridge Farm

Hard to believe it's been 8 months since my last post.  To say I've been busy would be a BIG understatement.  The fabric business has been very good this year! :)  Excuses done, now on to the business at hand.

I know a lot of crafters recycle materials in their sewing projects, such as fabrics found in vintage neckties.  I have recently met a local gentleman who has a LARGE selection of vintage ties for sale in his eBay store Bucks Covered Bridge Farm.  He has other odds and ends, too, but the neckties caught my attention.

He has 100% positive feedback, is a top-rated seller and offers a 100% money back guarantee - INCLUDING shipping charges!  

Check out his store and maybe you'll find just what you're looking for to create your next beautiful craft! 

New Web Store Now Online!

I'm very excited to announce that my new independent fabric shop - Woolly Moose Fabrics & Crafts - is now live!  Please stop by when you have a chance and use the coupon code WMFGRAND for 10% off your first purchase! :0) 

Now Woolly Moose offers 2 great locations to meet your fabric and crafting needs: http://www.woollymoosefabrics.com 
http://www.woollymoose.com/

Another Wallet (ish) Thingy Made with my Cricut Imagine

No time for details right now, but here's a new wallet type this I whipped up this morning using my newly updated Cricut Imagine.  Forgive the upside down print on the front!  lol

How to Make a Toddler / Preschooler Velcro Belt with Fabric & Webbing

I have a VERY thin little boy who is only in the 3rd percentile (as in 3%, not 33%) for his weight/age.  That has posed a great challenge in terms of keeping his pants up.  I like the jeans that have adjustable waist bands, but he complains about how the buttons feel.  We've worn out our one and only toddler belt I could find for him, so I'm suddenly obsessed with making belts! 

I took some pics of the first belt I made for him, but I can't find the right camera memory card that shows it, so I will showcase a belt that I made for a little girl.  I gave it to my neighbor so that she could have her 4 year old daughter give it a test run.  I haven't heard back yet how it worked out, but I think it should be just fine.

It was really quite simple to make (once I figured out a few reworks!).  I have no step-by-step pics, but here's what I did.

First, I cut a strip of 1.75 inch wide fabric the entire length of the bolt (~44 inches).  (I own a fabric store, so everything I use pretty much comes straight off the bolt.)  I pressed it over on both sides so that the pattern was where I liked it and so the two sides met approximately in the middle on the back.

Next, I cut a length of 1 inch wide webbing (mine is acrylic/cotton blend) to the length I needed (about 25 inches).  I cut a 1/2 inch wide by 26 inch long piece of Heat-n-Bond Lite and pressed it down the center, leaving a bit hanging off one end.  I removed the paper to expose the sticky side and carefully pressed the fabric strip onto it, making sure to adjust as necessary so that it stayed centered and the pattern stayed where it should be.

I then top stitched down each side of the belt.  On the end with the Heat-n-Bond hanging off, I folded the end over twice to cover the raw edges and sewed it to the back of the belt to give it a nice finished edge.  On the other side, I left a couple inches of the fabric strip and sewed down the middle to secure the two sides of the raw fabric to the back of the strip.  I then added a strip of Velcro (the loop part) and folded the raw fabric end under it before sewing the Velcro in place. I positioned a strip of the hook part of the Velcro opposite the loop on the back of the webbing and sewed it in place.  This created an adjustable end of the belt where it can be secured around the first loop on a pair of jeans.  See photo below:

Please forgive the less than perfect sewing, as this was slightly reworked and I had a little boy tugging at my leg while I was working on it!  ;0)

To finish off the belt, I sewed a strip of Velcro (hook part) onto the opposite end of the belt, leaving just a little bit of room (maybe an inch at most) for the little tyke wearing the pants to grab a hold and pull the belt off herself.  And finally, I added a strip of Velcro (loop part) to the region where the belt is secured to the first belt loop.  See photo below:



I have so much fabric that I'd like to perfect my technique and make some of these to sell either in my ebay store (www.woollymoose.com) and/or at craft shows.  I have TONS of fabric at my disposal, so there is really no limit to the designs I can come up with.  I'd love to hear comments, so let me know what you think!

As always, thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Experimenting with Fabric Keychains & More

This will be a quick post - mostly photos for now since it's very late and my son will be awake in about 5 or 6 hours (the early bird actually catches the grumpy mommy, but I digress...). 


I'm excited that I've had the opportunity over the past few days to actually create something with the endless supply of raw materials at my disposal!  Almost all of these are made with remnants from my ebay store (http://www.woollymoose.com/) that I have been wanting to use for a long time.  I've been having a LOT of fun creating fabric keychains.  Tonight I even made a little wallet/sunglass holder that I whipped together with very little forethought and a modest amount of reworking.  LOL  I think for my first try it turned out okay. 


I will do my best over the next few days to find time to describe how I made these items.  I'd love to hear opinions on what you like or don't like about any (or all) of them!  I'm a big girl, I can take the criticism.  ;-)


All right, for the pics...  the last one with the butterflies and lady bugs is my son's favorite! I made it with a flannel remnant that I laminated with iron-on vinyl and then sewed onto 1" webbing. 

Cutting Fabric with Silhouette SD, Cricut Imagine (& other models) AccuQuilt Die Cutters, and more!

I am beginning to wonder if I should seek help for my obsession with die cutting systems!  Perhaps I should form a self-help group: DCA - Die Cutters Anonymous.  LOL

This past weekend I made a list of the die cutters I now own and was astonished to see how long it was!  

AccuQuilt Go!
AccuQuilt Studio
Sizzix Big Shot
Cuttlebug (Original)
Cricut Personal Cutter
Cricut Create
Cricut Expression (2)
Cricut Imagine
Silhouette SD
The Slice
Pazzles Inspiration (on order - can't wait for it to arrive!)




Since I have thousands of bolts of fabric, it is my intent to use these cutting systems to make fabric appliques (w/ Heat n Bond Lite) that can be used for sewing, scrapbooking, and general crafting items.  I plan to list dozens of these die cuts in my ebay store at http://www.woollymoose.com/. 

I also plan - as time permits - to put together some tutorials on the various systems.  I know there are lots of tutorials on the Internet for cutting fabrics with these types of systems, but I have yet to see anyone with the variety of systems I own.  Each has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages.  I'm still learning about each of them, but I'd like to share what I learn with you as I go. 

Please stay tuned.  My business has grown by 2,000% in recent months, so I have been VERY BUSY!  It's a good problem to have. :)

As a teaser, I am posting photos of a few items that I just cut yesterday with my new Silhouette SD.  I first adhered Heat n Bond Lite to 3 different types of fabrics (100% Cotton, 100% Polyester, & Mesh).  Next, I placed the fabric (paper backing to mat and fabric facing up) onto my fresh (sticky) Cricut mat (cut to fit the Silhouette machine) and cut using the following custom settings: 

SPEED: 2 
THICKNESS: 33 
PINK (3 mm) Blade
Double Cut (Except for Mesh)

They all cut BEAUTIFULLY!  I didn't try the cotton or polyester prints with a single cut, so a single cut might have been sufficient. 

I will post more when I get a chance! :)

 100% Cotton Valentine Fabric

 100% Polyester Easter Fabric (on Left WITH paper backing - on Right WITHOUT paper backing)

Mesh Fabric without paper backing

Polyester & Mesh Appliques Pressed to a plain sheet of copy paper using my Clover mini iron.  I think the mesh flower would be really cute with a child's face in the center.  I couldn't believe how nicely the mesh cut!.  What a great surprise!!

In case you were wondering, I did a quick search on the Internet and Heat n Bond Lite IS acid-free.  Check out the following link, where someone contacted the manufacturer a few years ago to ask that question:  http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/2008/01/msg00149.html