Clearance Savings at Craftsy

Just a quick post to let you know about the sale on craft supplies this week-end at Craftsy. While their clearance prices are fantastic, this week-end they're even better!

Craftsy is taking an additional 20% off their existing clearance prices to give you great deals on their project kits and supplies for only a few days. Be sure to check out the deep discounts on your favorite brands before their Winter Clearance sale is over! Now's the time to pick up those kits and supplies that you've had your eye on.

Hurry, this sale only lasts until 11:59 p.m. MST on February 29, 2016.

Happy shopping!

Creatively,

P.S. I'm a Craftsy affiliate and will receive a small amount of compensation if you purchase items through the links in this blogpost. Thank you.

Telecast Thursday - Janome Circular Sewing Attachment Overview

I've found the perfect tool to create circles on my Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP sewing machine: the circular sewing attachment. The one I purchased, #202106009 fits on my machine and will also work on the Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8200 QCP machine. Check with your local Janome dealer or on-line to see if this attachment fits your sewing machine or if there is another option for you.

This attachment can be used to create a variety of effects, but first you have to know how it works and how to attach it to your sewing machine.

Watch the video below or on my Youtube channel for an overview of this multi-use attachment.

I'll have more blogposts and videos on this attachment so you can see all the different ways it can add intricacy to your quilt projects.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Homemade Quilt Basting Spray

Now that I have a long arm quilting machine, I don't have to baste my quilt before quilting it ... unless I have a small project that I want to quilt on my domestic quilting machine (can't let those skills deteriorate!). I really don't like basting my quilt with pins or hand basting the layers together (does anyone do that anymore?), so I've been looking for an alternative - and I've found one!

I discovered a recipe for homemade quilt basting spray and I'm pleased to share it with you. I found this recipe at California Quilting and found that it works very well (thanks, Janet!). It's much more economical than buying temporary spray adhesive and much easier on your fingers than pinning. Here's the recipe:

3 cups water (divided into 2 cups and 1 cup)

3 – 4 Tbsp. flour

½ tsp. salt

1 cup rubbing alcohol

Watch the video below or on my Youtube channel to see how to combine all these basic ingredients to create one fantastic quilt basting spray.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. You can also click on the Chatterbox Quilts logo in the lower right corner on the video itself to subscribe. If you like what you see, please share my videos with your fellow creatives.

I hope you'll try this way of basting and will let me know if you're a convert to basting your quilts using this method.

Creatively,

Free Valentine's Project with the Brother Scan N Cut

Looking for a quick Valentine's Day project to create with your Brother Scan N Cut? I have just the one for you!

Charlie helped in the fabric selection for this project

I decided to whip up a quick wall hanging for Valentine's Day using some of the pre-loaded designs in my Scan N Cut. Here's the tutorial, so you can create your own wall hanging.

I wanted to create a vintage-y look with some scallops and hearts, so I decided to have a sprinkling of hearts on a scalloped background. This was so easy as these designs are already included in the Scan N Cut library.

Background layer was design BA-A010 in the designs already in the Scan N Cut

I chose a scalloped design for the appliqué background layer and enlarged it to be 10" x 16" (okay, it was really 10.01 x 16", but that's just a smidge off). I saved this to my library so I could use it again. Then I selected the heart motif and created four hearts; making each one a slightly different width and height.

Heart #1

Heart #2

Heart #3

Heart #4

Then the fun part began: choosing the fabrics! I decided to go with batiks for the hearts and managed to find 4 different reds/pinks for them. I decide to stick with a white fabric for the scalloped appliqué background so the hearts would really contrast with it. I also chose the patterned pink batik for the layer under the scalloped background

 Lovely shades of red and pink batiks for the heart appliqués

I applied fusible web to the back of the heart fabrics, loaded them onto my Scan N Cut sheet and cut out the hearts. Easy!

Next, I fused fusible web to the back of the fabric that was going to scalloped and cut out the layer that would be underneath the hearts. Note, that I used the 12" x 24" mat to cut this part.

Lovely scalloped background all cut out!

I arranged and fused the hearts to the scalloped background and then fused it all to a large piece (14" X 18") of pink batik. It was looking really great! I wanted to add a border around it all, so I selected a pink and red polka dot fabric and cut out 3" borders.

Hearts fused to the scalloped appliqué background

I thought it needed a bit more pizazz, so I inserted some 1" white ribbon between the background and the border – sort of like a flange. (I always save ribbons from gifts, candy boxes, etc. just for this purpose). I did this only on the sides so it created a nice linear frame before the outer border.

Next I added the top and bottom borders. Here's what the wall hanging looked like at this point.

I was pleased with it but thought it needed a little something – how about some buttons? I just happen to have a few of these in my stash… so it was easy to find several different colours and types to jazz up the hearts.

Heart #1 all buttoned up!

Heart #2 looks great with floral buttons in pink

I used tiny buttons on Heart #3

I decided to add four buttons on the last heart - just because ;}

Here's a look at the final wall hanging top.

Yes, I know that there are only 3 buttons on the last heart - which one do you like better?

Since this is a wall hanging, I've decided to leave the edges of the appliqués unfinished (I know, daring, right?!). I just have to quilt this wall hanging and then stitch on the buttons (I may get lazy and just glue them on) and I'll have the perfect Valentine's Day decoration.

There's still time to create this Valentine's Day project with your own Scan N Cut machine, so I hope you'll give it a try.

Creatively,