Book Review - Crafty Critters

It's been awhile since I've looked at a book that isn't all about quilting. I do, however, also like to pick up books that have stitching projects in them. I'm a sucker for cute, whimsical designs and Crafty Critters has lots of these. 

This is a small book packed full of adorable projects, perfect for gifts. In Crafty Critters, you'll learn to sew whimsical little projects that feature owls, foxes and other woodland animals.

Look through the book with me in the video below or on my YouTube channel.

Love the projects in this book? You can pick up your own copy and start stitching up one - or all - of these sweet designs.

Creatively,

Disclaimer:  I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small amount of compensation should you purchase by clicking through a link above. Thank you for helping me continue creating videos and blogposts.

Book Review: Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt

I've been catching up on my quilt book reading over the winter holidays and found one that I'm sure will be a big help for beginner quilters. It's always a struggle to learn something new, but with Pat Sloan helping you, it's a piece of cake.

In her latest book, Teach Me to Machine Quilt, Pat is helping you learn how to quilt on a domestic sewing machine. Learning to machine quilt is always a challenging technique for new quilters and can be quite intimidating. Pat takes the "fear factor" out of machine quilting. In Teach Me to Machine Quilt she explains the entire process: choosing batting, learning how to set up your sewing machine and how to actually quilt that top.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

I like how Pat eases you into this process. She doesn't jump into free motion qullting right off the start. She starts by showing you how to quilt using your walking foot and demonstrates the various quilting designs that can be achieved with it. This is a great place for a beginning machine quilter to start as it is similar to the piecing process: you're using the machine's foot to create the quilting design.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

Once you've mastered this technique, she gently guides you through learning how to free motion quilt. Again, Pat chooses simple designs to start before moving on to slightly more complicated quilting motifs.

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

To make it easy to try these different machine quilting motifs, Pat includes patterns in the book and suggests which designs would work well with these projects. You get to make a new project and quilt it at the same time. No "quilt as desired" in this book (a term I really don't like).

Photo courtesy or www.martingale-pub.com

Watch my video review of Pat's book below or on my YouTube channel.

If you're a beginning quilter or a more advanced quilter who wants to try some different motifs, you'll want to add Pat Sloan's Teach Me to Machine Quilt to your quilting library. 

Creatively,

P.S. I am an Amazon affiliate and as such I receive a small amount of compensation should you purchase a product through a link in this blogpost. Thanks for continuing to support Chatterbox Quilts.

Book Review - Moda All-Stars Mini Marvels

It's the first Thursday of 2017 and you know what that means: Telecast Thursday!

To start the year, I taking a look at a new book from the Moda All-Stars. It's called Mini Marvels and has lots of cute, little projects for you to create. To see some of the projects in this book and my take on it, please watch the video below or on my YouTube channel.

Receive automatic notifications when new videos are released by subscribing to my YouTube channel. Please feel free to share my videos with your quilty friends.

To purchase your own copy of Moda All-Stars Mini Marvels go to http://amzn.to/2iF62DZ.

I'm interested to know if you like to create large or mini projects. Leave me a comment below to let me know your preference. I read each and every comment and love to hear from my subscribers.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Quilt Basting Spray Revisited

This is a special Telecast Thursday as my hubby and I are celebrating our 32nd anniversary. As you must've guessed, I was a child bride :)

I've had lots of comments and questions on my homemade quilt basting spray so I thought it was time to revisit this topic. Many of my viewers have tried it and been very pleased with the results. Some were wondering how long you could keep the spray and if it evaporated over time or if it might cause issues if left in their quilt. In this video I'm addressing some of these issues.

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

Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts shows you how to make your own quilt basting spray to use when basting your quilt sandwiches. No more pinning! Find the recipe for this homemade quilt basting spray at http://bit.ly/1nHuyqw Explore, Create, Share...all things fabric at Chatterbox Quilts We love to connect with and help our subscribers, so post any questions or comments below.

NOTE: Don't use the homemade quilt basting spray on fusible webbing, interfacing or stabilizer as it may damage these products and make them ineffective. I have only tried this on regular quilting cotton, so cannot attest to its effectiveness with any other type of produce. 

If you've tried the homemade quilt basting spray, I'd love to hear how you liked it. If you have any questions that I didn't address in this video, let me know so I can answer them in a future video.

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Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Book Review: 180 Doodle Quilting Designs

Happy Thursday!

After several months of inactivity, I've finally gotten back to some longarm quilting. My poor HQ Infinity had to oiled and cleaned up so I could finish a small quilt. I'm blaming this lack of quilting on summer - and the fact that I was immersed in preparing for the One World Quilt Along (you can sign up for this online quilt along at www.quiltfusion.com/one-world). Now with fall, it's back to stitching and what always makes me hesitate is choosing the "perfect" quilt motif. Of course there isn't a perfect quilt design for any quilt: it's a combination of your skill level and what you think would look good on the quilt. 

I've recently been looking through 180 Doodle Quilting Designs compiled by Karen M. Burns for inspiration and there is lots of it in this book! For a look at what types of designs you can find in it, watch the video below or on my YouTube channel. 

I think this is a great reference book, no matter what your quilting skill level is. Simple or more complicated designs, you'll find lots of both varieties in 180 Doodle Quilting Designs.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. If you like what you see, please share my videos with your fellow creatives.

Creatively,

I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small compensation if you purchase by clicking through the links in this blogpost. Thank you for helping me to continue creating this type of content.