Book Review - Crafty Critters

It's been awhile since I've looked at a book that isn't all about quilting. I do, however, also like to pick up books that have stitching projects in them. I'm a sucker for cute, whimsical designs and Crafty Critters has lots of these. 

This is a small book packed full of adorable projects, perfect for gifts. In Crafty Critters, you'll learn to sew whimsical little projects that feature owls, foxes and other woodland animals.

Look through the book with me in the video below or on my YouTube channel.

Love the projects in this book? You can pick up your own copy and start stitching up one - or all - of these sweet designs.

Creatively,

Disclaimer:  I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small amount of compensation should you purchase by clicking through a link above. Thank you for helping me continue creating videos and blogposts.

How to use the Tracing Feature with the Janome Artistic Edge

This Telecast Thursday I'm going to let you in on one of my favourite features on the Janome Artistic Edge - besides the fact that it cuts amazingly well and is so fast too.

There are so many things that the Janome Artistic Edge can do: cut paper, vinyl, leather, fabric, apply crystals, and oh, so much more. I have been mostly using it to cut appliqué shapes from fabric and having great success using it to cut out the intricate appliqué shapes in the One World quilt. The SimpleCut software comes pre-bundled with the Janome Artistic Edge and is used to operate the machine. It has many helpful features and one of these is the "trace" feature. I use this feature all the time for two reasons:

• to tell me exactly where the Edge will be cutting the appliqué shape out of my fabric, which allows me to make any necessary adjustments. 
• to tell me how much fabric I need to prepare for appliqué shapes which makes for economical use of fabric and fusible web.

To see more detail on how to use the trace feature, watch the video below or on my YouTube channel.

This is just one of the advantages of the SimpleCut software and the more I'm using it, the more I realize how much it can do!

If you have a digital cutter, let me know in the comments below what your favourite feature is.

Creatively,

Janome Artistic Edge: Fabric Preparation

It's Thursday and that means it's time for another Telecast Thursday blogpost.

This week I'm taking a look at how to prepare your fabric to be cut with a digital cutter, such as the Janome Artistic Edge. It seems that some cutters don't like it when fabric is fabric-y and not paper-y. In this video I'll show you how to make your fabric stiffer - more paper-y - so that the digital cutter can do its very best job. 

Watch the video below or on my YouTube channel.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you'll always receive a notification when I post a new video. If you like this video, I hope you'll share it with your quilting friends.

Let me know your best tips to achieving peak performance from your digital cutter in the comments below.

Creatively,

Book Review: Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt

I've been catching up on my quilt book reading over the winter holidays and found one that I'm sure will be a big help for beginner quilters. It's always a struggle to learn something new, but with Pat Sloan helping you, it's a piece of cake.

In her latest book, Teach Me to Machine Quilt, Pat is helping you learn how to quilt on a domestic sewing machine. Learning to machine quilt is always a challenging technique for new quilters and can be quite intimidating. Pat takes the "fear factor" out of machine quilting. In Teach Me to Machine Quilt she explains the entire process: choosing batting, learning how to set up your sewing machine and how to actually quilt that top.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

I like how Pat eases you into this process. She doesn't jump into free motion qullting right off the start. She starts by showing you how to quilt using your walking foot and demonstrates the various quilting designs that can be achieved with it. This is a great place for a beginning machine quilter to start as it is similar to the piecing process: you're using the machine's foot to create the quilting design.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

Once you've mastered this technique, she gently guides you through learning how to free motion quilt. Again, Pat chooses simple designs to start before moving on to slightly more complicated quilting motifs.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

To make it easy to try these different machine quilting motifs, Pat includes patterns in the book and suggests which designs would work well with these projects. You get to make a new project and quilt it at the same time. No "quilt as desired" in this book (a term I really don't like).

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

Watch my video review of Pat's book below or on my YouTube channel.

If you're a beginning quilter or a more advanced quilter who wants to try some different motifs, you'll want to add Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt to your quilting library. 

Creatively,

P.S. I am an Amazon affiliate and as such I receive a small amount of compensation should you purchase a product through a link in this blogpost. Thanks for continuing to support Chatterbox Quilts.

One World Quilt Along Block 5

It's January 15, 2017 and that means it's time for Block 5 of the One World Quilt Along. This is the first horizontal block in the quilt and will be below the previous four blocks. 

Keith's version of Block 5

I love the colours in this block and had fun picking blues and "fishy" colours from my stash. 

Waves done. Time to add some fish!

If you haven't joined the One World Quilt Along yet, there is still time to do so. Each block in the quilt is constructed individually so you can really start working on any block - you don't have to start with Block 1. There are two subscriptions to choose from: Quilter or Viewer. All the details can be found here.

If you are already subscribed in the One World Quilt Along, be sure to check out the videos that Keith and I have done for this month's block. As always, we provide tips and information to help you construct your quilt.

Have fun with this month's block and see you in February 2017 for Block 6.

Creatively,