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

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.

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 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.

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 - Dyeing Quilt Batting

Welcome to another episode of Telecast Thursday!

Today I'm stepping away from quilting to bring you a tutorial on dyeing quilt batting. Okay, it is sort of something to do with quilting, but you don't usually get your hands wet when you're doing that! Although I do wear gloves when I'm quilting...

Back to today's subject. I have lots of small batting bits that are left over after quilting my quilts and I keep them stuffed in a big plastic bag. They're too small to be of much use (unless I use them for dusters and who wants to dust?!), but too big to throw away. What can be done with these leftover batting pieces? Dye them! Yes, quilt batting dyes easily and makes great appliqués. Check out the video to see how easy it is to do this.

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

Let me know if you've ever tried dyeing batting and what your results were. If you haven't yet tried this, I hop you will and send me photos of your results. See, your microwave isn't really meant for cooking!

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, 

 

Celebrating!

I'm doing a happy dance today and I'll tell you why: I've reached over 1000 subscribers on my Youtube channel!

I can remember when I only had a handful of subscribers and was just thrilled that someone was watching my content. I was over the moon when I reached 500 subscribers and am definitely doing a happy dance due to my over 1000 subscribers.

Thanks so much for your support. Your comments and questions let me know that you're watching and interested in what I'm creating.

Charlie and Teeka are also excited about this milestone and want to share their excitement with you. You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

I hope you'll continue to watch my videos and let me know what you're interested in seeing on my channel. As for me, I'm planning my next videotaping so you'll continue to receive new videos each and every week – guaranteed!

If you aren't already a subscriber, be sure to join the group at Chatterbox Quilts.

Creatively,

 


Telecast Thursday - Quilting Motif Choices

It's Thursday again and time for another Telecast Thursday!

I'm sure you've had to decide on what quilting motif to use on a project. This can be a tough choice and sometimes you may decide to just put the project away until you can make the right choice (oh, maybe that's just me!). Don't worry about making the right choice, just quilt that puppy! 

In this video, I'll show you two different ways of quilting the same wall hanging. While there is a definite difference between these two projects, they both look great! The reason is simple: I quilted what I was comfortable quilting. Take a look to see what I mean.

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.

Creatively, 

 

Youtube: Channel, Videos and Playlists, oh my!

Do you watch the videos on my Youtube channel or do you watch them through my blog posts? If you're a subscriber to my Youtube channel, you automatically receive new content each week – you don't even have to go looking for them, any time a new video is released, you'll receive an email to let you know there is a new one to watch. If you don't watch my videos on Youtube, you may not be aware of how the content is organized.

You may think that I post videos on my Youtube channel willy-nilly and there isn't any easy way to find a video on a specific topic, other than scrolling down through a large list of videos. This just isn't the case!  I have developed playlists to categorize my videos and make it easy for my subscribers to quickly find videos on specific subjects. I often post a series of videos and it's so much easier to find all of them in one playlist.

Let me explain how this works. I'll walk you through how to find and use playlists and I'm assuming that you're going to Youtube on a laptop or computer, rather than a mobile device, as it looks a bit different if you're looking for the playlists on those devices. When you go to my Youtube channel – you're going there now, right? -  you'll see several choices along the top menu, such as Home (where you currently are, but perhaps not where you're reading this blog post!), Videos, Playlists, Channels, etc.

 
 This is a portion of what you'll see on the home screen of my Youtube channel

 

This is a portion of what you'll see on the home screen of my Youtube channel

 

The one you're interested in is "Playlists", so just click on it now. This will take you to the Playlists page, where you can see the different playlists, or categories, of videos. If you click on the "All Playlists" on the left side of the screen under the main menu, you will see a list of the playlists that are available and can access any of the playlists from here.

 
Now you're on the Playlists area of my Youtube channel

Now you're on the Playlists area of my Youtube channel

 

If you don't click on the "All playlists" dropdown menu, you will notice that there are thumbnails and playlists under "Playlists by Chatterboxquilts". Click on the "Hand Embroidery and Stitchery" playlist to be taken to 15 videos about this subject (each playlist has a different number of videos depending on how many there are for that particular category).

You'll see a list of all the videos in this playlist on the right side of your screen. You can either let the videos play automatically or select the video you'd like to view. 

 
The videos in the playlist will play automatically or you can select a specific video from the right sidebar.

The videos in the playlist will play automatically or you can select a specific video from the right sidebar.

 

New videos are added to the appropriate playlist and I will create new playlists if I'm starting a new series of videos on one specific subject.

I hope that this helps to explain the categorization of the videos on my Youtube channel and makes it easier for you to find the one, or two, or three in which you are interested. 

Creatively,