Nov 26 10
Playing Around With Nikki and this Week’s Store Specials
If you’ve needed to call our warehouse or needed help with an order, then you know that Nikki, our warehouse manager, is a really nice person. What you may not know is that she has never quilted or sewn, so she has been learning a lot about all these products over the last couple of months. It finally hit me how hard it must be for her to be around all these colorful products and not really understand how much fun they are, so it was time to start showing her the ropes! Last week, we spent some time together doing fusible applique and I thought she might be interested in seeing how fast you can create an applique “scene” using the Sizzix machine. The above pillow is what I threw together during our short session together. To make it, I used the BigZ bird die:
and also the Sizzix Flower layers die:
The nice thing about this flower layers die is that you can use all 4 layers of the flower or not, depending upon size limitations or your design aesthetic. In this case, the largest size of flower petals was too big for my pillow, so those pieces were saved for another project. Here is a shot of the pillow front after fusing. I kid you not, this part takes about 1 minute because the fabric cutting part goes so fast:
Once fused onto bleached muslin, I embroidered the edges of all the applique shapes with solid colored rayon and trilobal polyester threads:
Because the applique shapes were all backed by fusible web, I didn’t need to use any stabilizer. Here’s a shot of the backside, just before I added my batting layer:
Next up, I outlined all the pieces of the applique shapes with invisible thread (Monopoly, by Superior Threads), and then I quilted this background design in white cotton thread. The background design is a hybrid between swirls and McTavishing, with a deliberate effort to be heavy on the swirls. I really like the movement those big swirls add. Here’s a shot of it before I stuffed it:
Isn’t it cool how adding something as simple as those swirls coming off the birds adds a real whimsical, almost magical quality to such a simple applique scene? And here’s the finished product once again:
Have I mentioned just how much I love my Sizzix machine?!! This is the most addictive quilting “gadget” I have encountered…EVER, and I’ve been quilting for almost 35 years! I think I may come up with a class or two that involve using this machine so I can infect others with the Sizzix bug. I wish you all could see my sewing room now. I literally have many, many quilts in the process of being pieced and being quilted because it’s so quick and easy to make quilts using this machine!
And now for what’s on sale in the store this week…pretty much everything, because this week’s special is FREE SHIPPING FOR ANY RETAIL SALES SHIPPED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES! If you don’t live within the United States, we haven’t forgotten about you-we’ll deduct 15% off your retail merchandise total and refund it to you, no matter what you buy! To get free shipping on your retail purchase, just enter turkey in the discount code box. If you live outside the United States, enter friends in the discount code box and we’ll deduct 15% off your retail merchandise total. Sale prices good through 11:59 pm eastern time on Saturday, 12/4/10.
Love it, how sweet, and your quilting is gorgeous
Hey Patsy!
The pillow you “threw” together, with the Sizzix really turned out great. I’m thinking you are having much fun with it!
I haven’t seen this here in Canada yet. How similar is it to the AccuQuilt system? I have seen the AccuQuilt demonstrated, but it seems to me a lot of hard work to crank that handle to get the fabric through on the dies. How does the Sizzix work? I love the results you are getting with it!
-Alice
-Alice