Friday, August 29, 2014

#2

 

We made a #2 low-volume quilt once the first quilt was sold out in our Etsy shop. Most (when we say "most", we really mean just over 50%) of the fabrics in this quilt are the same fabrics as in the last quilt since it is a scrap quilt.

It's fun to see all of the variations in the two quilts:
Hint: #1 is on the left, and #2 is on the right.

If you wanna read more about #1, you can click here to where we blogged about it.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

A Word About Walking Feet

Raise your hand if you want to know more about walking feet! You're at the right place then :) New quilters often have questions such as "What is a Walking Foot and What is it Used for?" and "Which Walking Foot Should I Buy?" So to answer a few of those questions:

WHAT IS A WALKING FOOT
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A walking foot is a sewing machine part used to help feed thick fabric through a machine. It has an extra set of feed-dogs on the bottom of the foot to help guide layers of fabric through evenly.


WHAT IS A WALKING FOOT USED FOR?
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A walking foot is a quilter's best friend. It is used for 2 steps in the quilting process:

1. Straight line machine quilting.
The walking foot is a cousin to the darning foot (the darning foot is used for free motion quilting that is not for straight lines) The walking foot makes the thick *quilt-sandwich feed through the machine more smoothly. 


2. Binding.
A walking foot is used when machine attaching a quilt binding. The walking foot helps the *quilt-sandwich run through the machine in an efficient manner when sewing on the pesky binding. Kidding about that pesky part but not about the efficiency ;)


*A quilt sandwich consists of three basted (aka safety-pinned) layers: the pieced quilt top, batting, and backing fabric.

WHICH WALKING FOOT SHOULD I BUY?
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The real question here is what walking foot should you NOT buy. The number one rule is DO NOT buy a walking foot with a plastic hook that attaches to your screw, buy a metal one. (Does anyone have a name for that thingamajig?!) Both of our plastic walking feet jammed on the first day of use. The metal foot has been our best friend through it all!


Another suggestion is to buy a walking foot with a guide. This helps to keep your lines straight. It's kinda important...just sayin'



Note: Please ignore the plastic hooky-thing we know we just discussed (Rule number one is still in force). This is the only picture we had of the guide...so just go with it :)

Rule number three is pretty easy. Make sure to buy a foot that works for your brand of sewing machine. Most walking feet are universal so don't sweat it too much. And have fun with your new gizmo!

Monday, August 11, 2014

An August Finish


For starters, we would like to apologize that this post didn't hit the blog sooner...apparently when we say we will show you a quilt "in a day or so" (to quote verbatim) we mean the "or so" part. That's how it is done in Quackadoodlequiltlandia. Yup, such a place exists. Honestly, we live there ;) Sorry if we lost ya for a minute; we will get back to our discussion of our August finish.


We are trying to pinch our pennies (it appears that we are fabric hoarders) and so we are getting reacquainted with the scrap basket. Trips to the fabric store? Outta the question (for at least a few weeks days). It's tough stuff. We are only partially kidding, but let's just say that you won't have to drag us kickin' and screamin' to the fabric store any time soon. :)

They do say that "desperation is the mother of invention":


Sometimes in scrappy quilts the creativity is what makes-or-brakes it. This quilt? We think we've got it made. But we aren't partial or anything :)



All of the prints in this quilt are our favorites. The pattern, Hopscotch by Thimble Blossoms, is perfect for using up scraps since it uses 2.5" strips. Hallelujah!


The backing fabric was a no-brainier since we had already used the gray in the diamonds on the front. Stippling a quilt is always a no-brainer too.



30" x 43". The perfect size for a baby boy. If you wanna have it for keeps, click here :) Yes, we were trying to send ya on a guilt trip.


Lovin' this shot of the quilt in a basket. It is such a precious little quilt.


If you need a little pick-me-up here ya go: Happy Monday! and Happy Quilting!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

It's Time

It's about time to give you the run-down on some of our new projects.


And time to show you a cute picture of some polka-dotty balloons.


It's also time to start a new quilt. We need to put our thinking caps on for this one...What do you think we should make? Or, on second thought, we could just ask Pinterest ;) That works too.


You know what else it's time for? It is time to hit the sewing. HARD. Because the shop is in disarray. The kind of chaos where there is nothing---nada---to buy. Yeah, that is chaos.


We snuck in some quilting time this week (who could blame us?) and so it looks like we have a head-start on our quest to fill the Etsy Shop. Tell ya what, whoever ends up with this quilt is LUCKY with a capital "L" because it smells like fresh laundry. **JEALOUS**


We will show you pictures of this quilt in a day or so. The binding, the backing, the front...the whole works :) Oh, and we will do good on our promise to write you a tutorial in a few days. Or weeks.

Thanks for listening!