Fiber Babble: It's Almost Cheating, I Tellya

It's Almost Cheating, I Tellya

December 06, 2010

There will be no services. "Trap Door" by Sarah Graves ♦♦◊◊◊

Hi, me again... breaking another long stretch between posts. The last few weeks have just been go, do, go, do, collapse, go, go, do. Knock wood I've stayed healthy throughout, though I have experienced some stress. You'll pick up on it, I'm sure, as I regale you with blog posts (by the hundreds, I'm sure!) telling of the many things that have kept me from you, dear readers.

A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago about how I come up with stuff to write about. Well, if I only write once or twice a month it's not that hard, you know? If I were to do it daily? You'd get some interesting stuff interspersed with

"Went to work.
Did math for a quilt design.
Hyperventilated when Adam hung quilt blocks on the wall.
Came home & potato-ed in front of the Netbook & TV while Mr. W. cooked a frozen pizza for dinner.
The end."

But I do have a list of topics and events, small and large, to share with you. By the time I get around to it, the ship may have already sailed (notice a lack of Thanksgiving turkey pictures? Don't fret - I'll get to them eventually!).

Heard in Casa de Babble last month:

Me: Honey, you ordered my Christmas present today!
Mr. W.: I did? How thoughtful of me!
Me: I thought so, too! You rock!
Mr. W.: What did I get you?
Me: I can't tell you, it will ruin the surprise!

This is an Accuquilt Go! Baby fabric cutter. For the non-quilters or scrapbookers out there, it's a nifty tool that uses blades formed into shapes (dies) on which you can precisely cut multiple layers of fabrics. The Go! Baby's big brother, the Go! Cutter, has been all over blogland and Facebook these past few months because Accuquilt has been doing some pretty heavy-duty give-away-ing.

We have and sell Go! Cutters at the shop. We also have the grand-daddy, the Grande Mark, which is the totally not portable Janitor-In-A-Drum-sized version, complete with dozens of dies in all shapes and sizes. This might lead you to deduce that I really have no need to have my very own Go! Baby cutter, since I have such resources at my disposal. You'd be right.

But it is soooooo stinkin' cute!!

It even has an optional little carrying case in hot pink that reminds me of a 'purse-dog purse'. (No, "Mr. W." didn't order that for me, too.)

I put a couple of the dies on my Christmas Wish List so the rest of the family can get in on the surprise. I don't see that this is going to completely change my life with regard to cutting fabrics for quilts, and unlike many bloggers I've seen Go! crazy over the past months I can't see that my scrap pile will magically turn into a half-dozen quilts.

BUT

What I do see is the ability to use it for some non-standard shapes that are more challenging to rotary cut or hand-cut accurately. Like 5- and 6-pointed stars, Drunkard's Path components, various flower or feather shapes. There's a bunch to chose from! This could be the gift that keeps on giving, since it's probable they'll come out with new dies each year that I'll want to add to my collection!

In October (really, I am that far behind in posts) I gave a class at the shop for a quilt I 'designed' based upon a project I saw on the Accuquilt (Go!) website. We named it Leaf Toss and all of the pieces for the quilt were cut on the big cutter at the shop.

Including time spent pointing and laughing at my disorganization, it took about 2½ hours for a roomful of 11 quilters to make the wallhanging/tabletopper. Most people fused a few of the leaves on in class to learn the technique and then took the rest home (it was after 9pm!) to finish up in the morning.

Technical shorthand: 2-5" strips, 5-5" strips, 3 (or 4?) 1½" strips, Maple Leaves, Oak Leaves, Acorns, Stitch Witchery. Finishes approximately 33" square.

We liked it so much and got so many suggestions from the quilters that I've started doing seasonal quilts and classes using the same concept. Tomorrow evening's class is "Gingerbread Toss" with (of course) gingerbread men. We'll do a "Valentine Toss" in February, "Flower Toss" in the spring... well, you get the idea.

And maybe you'll even get to see a picture of Gingerbread Toss before it's time for Valentine Toss.

Labels: blogging, quilting

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8 Comments:

At 12/06/2010 2:37 PM,

Dena Babbled Back:

Love your Leaf toss wall hanging.

At 12/07/2010 5:38 AM,

Crispy Babbled Back:

Cute quilt you designed :0) I'm sure you will have lots of repeat students each month.

What a wonderful hubby you have. He must have read your mind LOL. I bet all those giveaways that the GO people did generated a lot of revenue....talk about a lot of free advertising (though I found it rather annoying after the first couple of giveaways LOL). Oh, no reflection on your excitement, as you actually bought it all on your own :0)

Crispy

At 12/07/2010 1:37 PM,

Carrie P. Babbled Back:

It is the time of year to be busy!
I want to get some more dies for my GO. Hopefully I can find time to use it next year.
Great quilt you designed.

At 12/07/2010 8:20 PM,

golo8 Babbled Back:

Glad see you posting again... but how is the kitten??? growing?? behaving?? Love your tossed quilts...looking forward to seeing more... Love the Go BAby, but maybe a bit expensive after buying all the templates etc... I will just buy the cut outs... Merry Christmas

At 12/08/2010 9:48 AM,

Gimpy Cat Babbled Back:

Holey Hooley, Adam has that ladder up on the counter top doesnt he? Yikes, no wonder you were freaking but you did retain the prescence of mind to take a photo!!

Love your quilt, look forward to seeing the gingerbread one. Hope you get some rest over christmas, how is Moon Pie?

At 12/11/2010 10:56 AM,

Sharyn Mallow Woerz Babbled Back:

Moonpie is sooo beautiful.
Howdy from your neighbor in Kalama,
Sharyn

At 12/12/2010 8:29 AM,

Darcie Babbled Back:

lol You're always so funny...I love it when you post!

Golly...so that's how you really get what you want for Christmas?! That sounds easy peasy. I may just have to do a little online yarn shopping for my husband today. Wouldn't want to stress him by having him do it himself, right?!

Stay well, T!

At 1/10/2011 4:21 PM,

Candace Babbled Back:

Did you get your go baby? I know that the big guy is out of my reach but I've been tempted to get the little one at some point. Do you like it a lot?