Quilter Guy

Arrow Sewing Cabinets

July 8, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

Arrow Sewing Cabinet – Aussie

Due to an unfortunate kitten accident my mothers old sewing cabinet with an electric lift got broken. (The kitten hit the switch and burned up the motor) She asked me to keep an eye out a new cabinet.

Arrow Sewing Cabinet – Dingo

The VERY next day, Arrow Sewing Cabinets (They are both Arrow and Kangaroo) announced on their Facebook page that they were having a moving sale!!

The good news for them is they are growing and moving to a bigger facility. The BETTER news was that they were selling many of their display models for less than half off.

Arrow Sewing Cabinet – Bandicoot

So needless to say, my mother and I got some new sewing cabinets. 🙂 I already own an “Aussie” and a “Dingo” cutting table, and they are completely fantastic.

So I was able to pick up a “Bandicoot” for myself, and also a “Shirley” cabinet. The price for BOTH of them? $175.00…AMAZING yes??? (I have friends that come over to sew with me and now have a spot for each machine.) Plus they matched the color that I already have, so it was a win-WIN

Arrow Sewing Cabinet – Shirley

My mother got the “Marilyn” and is super excited!!

So my mother is off tomorrow to drive to Wisconsin to pick them up…but she’s driving my new car…so hopefully it makes it back in one piece.

Arrow Sewing Cabinet – Marilyn

Filed Under: Equipment

Be There, Get your Square – Block #2

July 7, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

I got my second block finished from my Kaye England BOM. It looks more vibrant in person, but I am pleased with how it turned out.

Block #2 was MUCH easier than the first block. But one thing to note, it’s not that block number #1 was hard. There were just more pieces. The construction was easy, all flying geese units and half square triangles. The rewarding part, is putting them all together and seeing an intricate block, the hardest part is patience, and sometimes lining up those seams! 🙂

Anyway we get our next 2 blocks on your meeting on July 27th at Pine Needles Sewing Center. So no more block to show until then!

Filed Under: BOM, Fabric Designers, LQS

Tula Pink, 3 Dog Design Co, and Fons & Porter (OH MY!)

July 1, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

So I have to admit, when it came to fabric designers, I paid no attention. I would go into my LQS and look at all the fabric and pick up what I liked. That was until a year ago, my friend Charisma (who is like the Rain-man of fabrics) started rattling off the different fabrics in a scrappy quilt. “That’s Amy Butler, and there’s some Kaffe and Tula Pink…”

“And Who-la?” I asked. It was Tula pink, and she had the most interesting fabric. We were at quilt market, so we sought out Tula and said hello. Then I put in my pre-order for a yard of each print in her new line. Then 4 yards of a print I liked for the border etc. Not long after that I had received the Fons & Porter Love of quilting. It was the May-June 2013 edition. There was a quilt on the cover, a BEAUTIFUL quilt. The pattern was by 3 Dog Design Co and it was gorgeous!! Colorful and interesting and WAY to difficult for me to make…..but I couldn’t help myself…I wanted it. So I set out, bought all of the fabric and got to work.

My first roadblock….it was a template quilt. So I sent out to have some templates made. Got them back a week or so later and got to work. And BOY was it a lot of work. A LOT of cutting, and more cutting. And cutting on top of that. I believe I was able to get through 3 seasons of “The Good Wife” while I was cutting out this quilt. The picture to the left is a tiny sampling of all of the pieces I had to cut out. I believe this is what I had accomplished the first day.

Once I was done cutting it was time to assemble my first block. And boy howdy, are there a few pieces in this block 50 pieces per block. So there was a little sewing involved with each block. I became a chain piecing FOOL! And I have to admit, many times I thought to myself, just put it all in a plastic tote and save it from another day. But I KNEW that if I did that it would never get pulled out again. All of that lovely fabric would be doomed to live out it’s life stuck in a plastic tote. So I kept going.

And I’m REALLY Happy that I did. It took me almost 3 months, but I completed the top and sent it off to my good friend Charisma to quilt it. Well I have to say all of the work was TOTALLY worth it. This quilt remains my all time favorite quilt. I just LOVE it!! I was really proud of the work I did on this one. (So proud it’s in my logo) So if you’re up for a challenge, this would be a great one. Tula also have a FAB new line coming soon!!!