Did You Know

As some of you may know I have been selling Accuquilt Products since 2010. I have been using the cutters and dies so long that if I can't make a quilt using the dies I have (and they are many) I don't want to make that pattern. I know that sounds silly but after using them for so long it is really faster to cut lots of different pieces using the cutter and dies. Depending on which cutter you are using you can cut 6 or 10 layers at a time. If you have an Accuquilt system but would like to know more about getting more ideas on how to use it you can watch the live videos they do every week on Wednesday at Noon CDT (convert to your time where ever you may be.) They last between 30 minutes to 50 minutes and you can pick up tips even if you have been using your cutter for awhile.

Meanwhile last week I took a class at Bobbins Quilt and Sew in Buhl, Idaho and we made a potholder in the hoop. It is a Kimber Bell design and there are six fruit designs on the CD. They are made to be Chenilled but I like them just sewn. Think I will head out to the quilt room and try the Pineapple.
If you have something to share would love to see it.

Turning the Churn Dash Block into a Folded Corners Block

I have seen several people wanting a pattern to make the Folded Corners block.  This is a variation of the Churn Dash Block seen here. 
As you can see the first block is a traditional two color Churn Dash block. The second block is the folded corners block. This block uses a light, a medium and a dark of whatever color family you choose to use and a background fabric. To get a 12" finished block if you are using Accuquilt dies you will need a 4.5" half square triangle #55031, a 4.5" square # 55060 or the one on the value die #55018 (both of these will finish at 4") and a 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle #55159 and the 2.5" half square triangles die # 55063 or the shape on the #55018 value die.
The only difference between these two blocks is using
4 colors for the folded corners instead of 2 for the Churn Dash. The next difference is that on the outside rectangle you add 2 2.5" 2"f half square triangles to make a flying geese unit on all four outside pieces  using the dark fabric.

If I have confused you please let me know. If you make some of these block please share

If you wanted to make the block 9"f instead of twelve you would use the die # 55006 3"f square, 55009 3"f half square triangles, #55158 Rectangles and 55319 for the half square triangles to make the flying geese with the rectangle units.

What have you been doing While Staying Safe?

Hope everyone has been taking care of themselves and staying safe. Since I work from home most of the time I have been getting some things done and making slow progress on organizing the quilt room. Last year I learned about a die company from Austrailia called

A1 Craft and Quilting or as most call them Blue Wren. They make some cool dies I haven't seen anywhere else so I have ordered a few of them and tried them out. For Christmas they have dies for Kangaroos pulling the sleigh.  
This is one of the dies I will be trying in the near future. Trying to decide on fabrics. Also for the first time ever I tried the Tumbling Blocks no Y seams. The 6" size goes together really fast but sure uses up some material. These are just a couple of things I have been playing with. Have you been doing some sewing and making projects while staying home. Even if you have been quilting are there other things you make? 
Well guess I will read for awhile. 

In the Quilt Room Today

Today was a good day and I spent some time in the quilt room. I have been working to get things cleaned up and organized so hopefully I can get busy finishing a mountain of projects that have been collecting. Some need borders added so they can be quilted some are a set of blocks made and just need to be made into a top so it can be quilted. That's my main goal this year to get as many of them quilted or ready to be quilted. We will see how well I do. Is anyone else trying to finish projects? I will be posting finishes as I can get them done hopefully it will work out to at least one a month. Will see how well I do.

I Am Once Again Going to Try Very Hard to Post More Often

I have been wanting to get back to doing Machine Embroidery. I used to do some many years ago and quit when we decided we needed to live somewhere other than WA state and started looking for a place to live. We looked for about 3 years and finally decided that we liked the Rupert, Idaho area and started looking for a place to buy. We purchased our place in Sept/Oct of 2008 went back to WA and started packing to bring some things down before winter set in. We managed one load  and went back to WA and packed up everything we could to be ready to start moving after the winter. By the end of 2009(and 7 loads later) I came down around the end of October and stayed here for the next 6 weeks while my husband was in WA taking care of some things and getting another load ready to bring down. My quilt room with all my material, quilting machine, other sewing machines etc. took one and 1/2 loads to move. The full load of the quilt room was the heaviest load we moved. So now that we have been here for 12 years I have finally started back to learn how to do machine embroidery again. So this November during the Black Friday sales I purchased a Janome 500 e and so far I am really enjoying it. There are a bunch of tutorials on youtube which have helped quite a bit and the book that comes with the machine is pretty good compared to some I have seen. The reason for such a long post is that my fourth project was done today and I'm quite pleased with how well it came out. The Tiger can be found on the Urban Threads website.