Telecast Thursday - Breaktime!

It's Telecast Thursday and the start of my summer vacation! Yay! It's been a busy June and July for me so I'm looking forward to some downtime with my family in Ontario. Besides hitting up a few quilt shops - I think I know where a few of them are - we'll be getting together with friends and family to celebrate my parents' 60th anniversary. Quite a milestone! Thank goodness my brother and I moved out or they might not have made it this far :) Just kididng, bro! 

I'll be back in a few weeks, but while I'm away, I've reached into the archives and am posting a few oldies, but goodies, that you may have missed. 

Let's start with a not so oldie: if you haven't already heard about it, I'm co-hosting the One World Quilt Along with Keith (Uncle Gravy) from QuiltFusion. The fun starts on September 15, but you can sign up now so you're all ready to go in September. To find out more about it, you can watch the video below.

And, if you're into the Pokémon Go craze, you might enjoy this humourous take on it.

Let's take a look back at some machine videos. I use a Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP and while it comes with lots of extra presser feet, I've also added a few more specialized feet/attachments to it. In one of my videos, I took a look at Janome's ruler foot which allows you to use rulers on your domestic sewing machine. It's really quite easy to do and opens up a lot of possibilities for free motion quilting.

Another attachment that I've been having lots of fun with is the Janome Circular Sewing Attachment. I have several videos on this little baby, but will include one of them here to give you a taste of what it can do when you combine its abilities with the decorative stitches on the Janome 8900. I think I'll be using this to add some extra embellishment to my One World quilt.

Now I want to share more than one video with you - I'm going to share a whole YouTube playlist. If you're wondering what a playlist is, it is a collection of videos with a common theme. The one I want to share with you is "Got 15 Minutes?".  We always think that we need hours to accomplish anything on our projects, but the truth is that you can accomplish a lot in just 15 minutes. Take a look at the ideas in these videos and give them a try. I'd love to hear your ideas on what you can accomplish in your 15 quilting minutes.

That's probably enough to keep you busy for a couple of weeks. I'll be back with a new blogpost and video on August 18. See you then!

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Organization with Wunderlist

It's Thursday again, and you know what that means: another episode of Telecast Thursday.

I have a hard time keeping myself organized. Okay, really, I have a hard time keeping my distractions to a minimum, and it can seem that the tasks I have to do in my business seem to be overwhelming. I need a system to keep myself organized. I need a system that will categorize my tasks and break them into smaller chunks. I need a system that will send me reminders - and keep sending me reminders - of the tasks I need to accomplish. Thankfully, there's Wunderlist!

Wunderlist is an app that you can use on your computer, your iPad or your smartphone. Okay, if you don't like to use technology, just hear me out first before you discard this method. I also like to have paper in my hand and Wunderlist allows me to print out my tasks so they are right in front of me.

Check out the video below or on my Youtube channel to see why I love this app.

Do you have a favourite method to keep yourself organized (or are you easily distracted as I am?)? Let me know what your system is and why you like it in the comments below.

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.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - The Pick-a-Pocket Purse

It's another Telecast Thursday and this week I'm sharing some of my tips for constructing the Pick-a-Pocket purse. This free pattern can be found at www.allpeoplequilt.com, the American Patchwork & Quilting website. I've made several of these purses and decided to change it a bit this time. 

To help ensure that you pass quality control, check out the video for my helpful tips.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.  

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.

Share your photos of your favourite purse pattern or photos of this specific one, if you've made it. Let me know your best tips for purse construction in the comments below.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - EuroSteam Next Generation Iron - a Review

Welcome to Telecast Thursday! This week I'm sharing my review on my latest acquisition.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have purchased a new iron. Previously I had been using one of the standard irons that you can buy for regular ironing - you know, clothing and things like that (I can't remember the last time I ironed a piece of clothing!). I have never purchased a "quilting iron". I was okay with the iron I was using, but was on the look-out for a new one as I'd had this one for several years and it didn't seem to be getting quite as hot as it used to.

Luckily, there was a booth at Quilt Canada 2015 that was selling the EuroSteam Next Generation (sounds Star-Treky, doesn't it?) iron, and, at the encouragement of my husband, I decided to check it out. 

EuroSteam Next Generation iron

Wow, was I impressed! First, the saleslady was so knowledgeable about the iron and had her spiel down pat, but she also was able to answer all the questions I had. In the space of about 5 minutes, I'd bought one and was looking forward to trying it out on some quilt fabric once I returned home.

I was a bit sceptical that the iron would perform as well at home as it did at the show, but I didn't need to be concerned. This iron is wonderful! It has an internal water tank/boiler and when you add water (it uses regular tap water) to it and turn it on, it heats up very quickly. You can choose to have steam with it or not. You can have constant steam, which is helpful for ironing draperies or using on a vertical surface and you can adjust the volume of this steam. If you prefer, you can keep the steam off and just use a burst of steam when it is required. This uses up less water and you won't have to refill the tank as often.

Increase your level of constant steam by turning the black dial to the right. Turn the dial all the way to the left for no steam and press the white button in the centre of the steam control dial to get a burst of steam.

The iron came with a measuring cup to use when filling the tank as well as a cap remover to use when taking the cap on and off the iron (helps to get this very tight and makes it easy to loosen). Like a radiator in a car, you need to let the iron cool down before taking the cap off to add more water (or to empty the water). A rubber mat was also included on which to put the iron when not in use.

The measuring cup and cap remover - some of the accessories included with the iron. Note the red line on the measuring cup which indicates how much water to put in the iron.

The function I like best about this iron is that I don't have to stand it on its end - it remains with the soleplate down when you're not using it. And... you can leave it on fabric and it won't scorch the fabric! It's hard to believe, but it's true! As I use my iron for cotton fabric almost exclusively, I have scorched other fabric types when pressing as I turned the heat on the iron up too high. I don't have to worry about this with the EuroSteam iron. I can go from pressing cotton fabric to pressing silk ribbon without any concerns. This is brilliant!

Okay, do I sound excited about my iron? Well, I am. It presses much better than my regular iron and is quick to take out all the wrinkles in my fabric. It's simple and has no bells and whistles, but it does exactly what I want it to do: press any of my fabrics quickly and without scorching. You just turn the iron on, choose the steam level (or not) and you're ready to press. I also like the fact that it doesn't shut off automatically. I dislike that feature in an iron because I use it when I'm quilting and I like my iron hot and ready at all times. 

On or off - no need to select special fabrics for this iron to work.

To see how the EuroSteam Next Generation iron works, watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

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.

So, if you're looking for a new iron and aren't sure what to get, I would highly recommend the EuroSteam Next Generation iron. Tell them Kim sent you!

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Quilting When You're Ready

Welcome to another episode of Telecast Thursday! Today's video is for those of you who, like me, have a few WIP's in the house. You know, those quilt tops that you were so excited to create, but then got distracted by another project before you could quilt them. Okay, maybe I'm the only one who has more than 10 quilt tops waiting in the queue to be quilted (although I doubt it!).

A few Easter quilts waiting for quilting - still.

Pumpkin table runner needs a bit of quilting.

Hearts Abloom still not quilted, but will be soon!

While I used to feel guilty about all these not-quite-quilts-yet that are stacked up in my studio, I realized that there is a good reason why these haven't yet been quilted. Watch the video to find out what this reason is.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

I hope this video has made you feel better about the UFO's in your studio! Drop me a note to let me know how many you currently have.

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.

Creatively,