I was recently contacted by the nice people at accuquilt.  They wanted to see if I would like to use and review their Go! Cutter!  My immediate response was YES!  I’ve seen Jackie talk about her Studio Cutter the last year or so, and admired from afar, knowing that I would probably not be owning anything like it….Now I do!  :)

I’ve never used anything like this, at first I was a bit incredulous.  Really?  That will cut my fabric?  It’s just gray foam…

I went through my scraps, and pulled a bunch to cut. (I only got sidetracked for 30 minutes – organizing!)

 It’s SUPER simple to use, the gray foam goes up, then your fabric on top.

 The cutting mat goes on top, to sandwich everything together – then crank it through the roller.

On the other side you get your shapes - 

 These … Read More »

Winner:  Darlene at SewCalGal!  Congratulations :)

I’m happy to have read a book!  Really it shouldn’t be such a monumental occasion, but life has been so busy – I haven’t let myself get caught up in books as much lately.

Get LuckyI set up this review months ago with Lisa at TLC Book Tours, here’s a little from the back cover -

Sarah Harper isn’t sure if the stupid decisions she sometimes makes are good choices in disguise—or if they’re really just stupid. But either way, after forwarding an inappropriate email to her entire company, she suddenly finds herself out of a job.
So she goes home to Houston—and her sister, Mackie—for Thanksgiving. But before Sarah can share her troubles with her sister, she learns that Mackie has some woes of her own: After years of trying, Mackie’s given up on having a baby—and plans … Read More »

I’m excited to be reviewing another book for TLC Book Tours!  Keeping the Feast: One Couple’s Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy, by Paula Butturini, is an incredible journey, that I loved reading!

From TLC Book Tours –

Keeping the Feast is a story of love, trauma, and the personal and marital healing that can come from a beautiful place and its simple traditions. It’s a memoir about what happens when tragedy and its psychological aftershocks strike a previously happy marriage and a couple must stubbornly fight to find its bearings. Most significantly, it is a book about the power of one of the most fundamental rituals – the daily sharing of food around a family table. Food — the growing, shopping, preparing, cooking, eating, talking, sharing and memory of it — becomes the symbol of a family’s innate desire to survive, to accept and even … Read More »

I almost forgot to tell you –

I have had the privilege of working with Windham’s Gees Bend collection of hand dyed solid fabrics! They are SO pretty, so much more than the color swatches online show. The slight variations in the fabric is really nice and adds depth to my projects!
(image courtesy of Sew, Mama, Sew)

The quality of fabric is great too, nice weight and feel in my hand. Windham highly encourages a pre-washing in cold water and a color catcher in the wash after you have finished your quilt.

After a quick google search I found the following retailers selling the fabrics, or kits -

Sew, Mama, SewFabric.comeQuilter.comIf you are a shop owner and have the fabrics in stock leave a comment letting us know! I will add you to the list :)

If you haven’t entered yet, … Read More »

I’m excited to have a chance to review Saving Sammy, by Beth Maloney for TLC Book Tours. While the content is serious, the book is well written and a real page turner!From TLC Book Tours –
“Sammy’s mother, Beth, already coping with the overwhelming responsibility of raising three sons alone, watched helplessly as her middle child descended into madness. Sammy was soon diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and later with Tourette syndrome. Unwilling to accept the doctors’ prognoses for lifelong mental illness and repeated hospitalizations, Beth fought to uncover what was causing this decline. Racing against time as Sammy slipped further from reality, Beth’s quest took her to the center of the medical community’s raging debate about whether mental illness can be caused by infection. With the battle lines firmly drawn, Beth searched until she found two cutting-edge doctors who … Read More »

Something new for me! A while back I joined the MotherTalk network, and was recently asked to review Daniel X – Watch the Skies by James Patterson & Ned Rust.

I have to say that action/alien adventures are not usually my first pick in leisure reading – but this book is fun! It is geared for teen boys that haven’t found a book to hold their interest – and I imagine it would. Written in the first person you get a sense that you are there with the characters and in on the secret. Who doesn’t love to be in “the know?”

Young Daniel is himself an alien and busy fighting his nemesis, Number 5, in a sleepy US town. Daniel is likable and surrounds himself with his materialized, imaginary friends, to help outsmart Number 5. … Read More »

I love, and am so thankful for this community of crafters in blogland! I have found another community, just for quilters – My Quilt Patch.

They host an interactive quilting website, including forums, and master quilters sharing their knowledge. My Quilt Patch is a members only site, with a small monthly subscription fee, (this keeps advertising on the site to a minimum) but they offer a free trial month – so you can check it out and decide if it’s a good fit for you!

My Quilt Patch has galleries to display your creations, lots of articles to encourage you as you learn new techniques and styles. I found free patterns and project there too!

The quilters forum is a great area to ask questions and share from your experiences, and they seem to have lots of new and fun … Read More »