Learn all about the Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutters and find free Accuquilt patterns and tutorials, as well as information on Accuquilt dies.
How to Store AccuQuilt Dies Correctly
the basic steps involved in cutting your quilt fabrics using an AccuQuilt GO!™ cutting machine, complete with a video tutorial!
...getting an AccuQuilt Qube! If you have the AccuQuilt Go!, AccuQuilt Go! Big Electric, or even the AccuQuilt Go! Me you can use the Qube die sets...
Explore the world of effortless cutting with the AccuQuilt GO! Today I'm sharing my top 3 Pros and Cons of this system. See if it's the right fit for you!
One thing you very quickly realise when you own an AccuQuilt is that you want to cut anything and everything with it! So, I thought it would be a useful post to share how you can use an AccuQuilt for any quilt pattern. Well, just about any quilt pattern! I’m using one of my most […]
the basic steps involved in cutting your quilt fabrics using an AccuQuilt GO!™ cutting machine, complete with a video tutorial!
squiggle Free Quilt Block Tutorial Squiggle Quilt Block 8" or 12" finished Side by Side Layout Offset Layout Fabric Cutting Chart Click the Image Below To See Carol's Books DOWNLOAD FREE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE VIDEO DESCRIPTION ON YOUTUBE ACCUQUILT - CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION Happy quilting! Carol
If you're looking for a more efficient way to cut fabric for quilting, you should consider using a fabric cutting machine.
One thing you very quickly realise when you own an AccuQuilt is that you want to cut anything and everything with it! So, I thought it would be a useful post to share how you can use an AccuQuilt for any quilt pattern. Well, just about any quilt pattern! I’m using one of my most […]
While these Half Rectangle Triangles look complex, they are actually a simple quilt block to make using rulers or AccuQuilt.
If you love traditional quilts, but are looking for a project that isn’t just another simple square on square design, the Twirling Stars Quilt Pattern…
Learn how to quickly make the tumber table runner using the AccuQuilt fabric cutting machine.
I love a simple large scale pattern for novelty fabrics and Starburst from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. is perfect. While the Starburst tutorial uses layer cakes - I choose to make my half square triangles with fabric yardage and the 6" finished square HST Accuquilt die. My graphic skills are a little rustic so please ignore the color scheme and focus only on the diagram: I made my guide with 10 blocks across by 12 rows down. The MSQC tutorial has larger half square triangles, a border and is configured in a square. This is for a bed so I made the 'pattern' into a rectangle and changed the size of the HST. It's really a great pattern to alter both in HST size and dimensions. Making a graph to follow beforehand is very helpful! I did exactly like Jenny said in the video - working in quadrants which was fun and easy to keep track of. It's nice to use bold colors. Bright turquoise minky on the back (to match Captain America), and Aurifil 50wt. black thread for the top. I really wanted those black elongated starbursts to stand out without distraction. Using a smaller 6" finished half square triangle had some nice benefits. I could use yardage, not distort the pattern too much when keeping it to 60" wide - and the best bonus of all ... a 'bigger starburst!" This two tone quilt needed 240 Accuquilt cut HST pieces - 120 black triangles and 120 comic book triangles. If you are making your own half square triangles - here is a good tutorial from Jacquelynne Steves and a wonderful chart on what size to cut your squares. She gives two sizes - one that allows wiggle room and further trimming - love that. If you are making this quilt in two colors you need 60 squares in each color. Using a generous 7.25" square for your half square triangles so you can trim them after sewing - 2.4 yards of each fabric is the math. I would go a bit more generous and get 3 yards but I always err on more than less. The extra can always go towards the binding. Materials: Marvel Retro Comics Covers fabric Wintergreen Aged Solids / Moda Aurifil 50wt. #2600 (Dove) #2692 (black) #1148 (Turquoise) Warm & White batting Dimple Dot Minky in Peacock / Hawthorne Threads Accuquilt Half Square Triangle 6" finished square Thanks to Missouri Star Quilt Co. for the Starburst tutorial Thanks to Jacquelynne Steves for the HST tutorial Size: 60" x 72" March 2018
I just love the Hunter Star Pattern!!! It is so gorgeous! Fat Quarter Shop has simplified the pattern and is offering the block pattern for FREE! Fat Quarter Shop used Ombre Confetti Metallic by V & Co to make this amazing Hunter Star quilt....plus they have a kit available here. I chose to use the lovely Flora and Fawn fabric by Amanda Herring with Riley Blake Designs. I just love the sweet little deer and florals! I made four blocks to create my Hunter Star Pillow/Mini Quilt! Ready to make your own Hunter's Star Project! Supplies: 1. Flora and Fawn Fabric- Amanda Herring with Riley Blake Designs. 1 FQ or 1/2 yard of each gray print will work for 4 blocks to make a pillow or mini quilt. Fat Quarter Shop has the Fat Quarter Bundle on sale this week (here). Sale price valid until 2/18/18 and is less than $2 per FQ...yay! 2. Swiss Dots- hot pink/white by Riley Blake Designs - 3/4 yard for 4 blocks 3. Backing- 3/4 yard 3. Hunter's Star Quilt Block Pattern: FREE or complete pattern with multiple size options HERE. Start Sewing: 1. Sew 4 Hunter's Star Quilt Blocks....I just had to fussy cut those adorable deer 2. Assemble 4 blocks as shown 3. For quilting- I chose to stipple/meander...it's my "go to" and I love it! 4. Pillow Backing: I used the left over fabric squares to make a pieced backing and I LOVE it!!!! It makes me sooooo happy! Helpful tip: Make sure you trim your final blocks as recommended in pattern. I forgot to do this...oops! Thank you Fat Quarter Shop for having me be part of the Hunter's Star Quilt Along! I hope you decide to sew a few of these Hunter's Star blocks...they are fabulous! Follow me on Instagram @mellierc and here on my Blog for more sewing, quilting, and fabric fun! Melanie #fqsquiltalong #hunterstarquilt #huntersstarquilt #classicandvintage #floraandfawnfabric #rileyblakedesigns #fabricismyfun This post contains affiliate links to Fat Quarter Shop. Thank you.
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? But, when life gives you different colors of cabinets, you make a two-toned kitchen!
This is the quilt I've decided to make to start off the new year! It's Losing My Marbles by Kaffe Fassett. The pattern is in his book, Quilts in Italy. I bought a kit from Glorious Color and am now awaiting receiving it. This will be fun! I've decided to applique the circles using used dryer sheets and have several friends saving theirs for me as I don't really do that much laundry. This is how it works: 1. Trace the pattern you want to applique on the dryer sheet. I place the sheet on a piece of sandpaper which helps stabilize it. 2. Place is on the right side of the fabric and stitch all the way around. 3. Trim the dryer sheet/fabric. 4. Slit the dryer sheet. 5. Turn it inside out. 6. Applique It's a little more time consuming but it's worth it. The quilt has 115 circles and I expect it will take me a while to finish it.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed a flurry of half square triangles in the making. This is a fun little mindless sewing, scrap busting project that I started recently to rescue several cut away triangles from my last few projects. Now, I'm not exactly the epitome of a "never throw a scrap away" kind of girl, but some scraps are just too good to toss. So, as with almost every project that I start... who needs a plan? Just make it up as you go, and if you're going to do it at all, then do it big! Go big, or go home, right? I've also been adding other scraps as well as a few of those this-fabric-was-just-made-for-this favorites. I've been saving this Heather Ross fabric for a long time for just the right project, and I'd have to say it belongs in this quilt! I've been having fun experimenting with the endless layout possibilities of the most simple quilting unit out there. Here's a few that I've come up with so far. These first two have potential, but I'm not completely sold on either layout: I've been thinking that I would like to do an Ocean Waves quilt. As an individual block I think it's nice, but I'm not so convinced when there are more units together... perhahps a little too busy and bright? Speaking of busy, meet the "take the cake" version! I really like the layout of this block, but it just feels like it needs more thought about negative space to bring a calm to the bold contrasts. So, in an effort to create more negative space, I tried this Bunting Block version. I like the idea of the negative space, but perhaps now there is too much negative space, leaving me with too many left over HST's. Well, I suppose this just means that I'm back to the drawing board, but there are a few more favorite fabrics that "need" to be added to the mix... Do you have any good half square triangle layout ideas? Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
Rainbow Heart Quilt When my daughter was 3, I made her a rainbow heart cake for her birthday. When I asked her what quilt design she wanted, she said, "a rainbow heart quilt". Each heart block has 49, 2 inch squares. This will be the first to be quilted on my new Sunshine 16 quilting machine. January 2018 Update Debra asked for some pointers and so I typed up a few instructions and figured I'd update this orignial post in case anyone else is interested. I really still love this quilt My daughter uses it for her 10 month old baby son to sit on with his toys. It's well washed and a little faded but still charming! Here are a few instructions: The squares finish at 1 1/2" (so 2" unfinished). Originally, I started with scrappy long strips of one color family and made the hearts each in one colorway with complementary color borders (like a scrappy purple heart would have a green border) but when my daughter saw the blocks, she said, I thought you were going to make the hearts multi color and so I took apart parts of the blocks and put them back together with another color block and they mostly have just 2 or 3 colors, but you can still see some strips of greens, yellows, or purples in the background of each block, which helps the hearts to stand out. I did sew about 3 strips together and then sliced them up so I was rarely actually sewing little 2" squares together (too time consuming). For Each Block 1. Gather colorful scraps and cut into 2" strips (or you could make them wider) Divide the colors into "heart" and "background" colors. Just make sure that your background colors are different than your heart colors for each block. You can have hearts and backgrounds in the same color, just not in the same block. 2. Make a 9 patch from heart colors 3. Make two heart corners. Two strips of 3 squres with half square triangle on two corners. One of the half square triangles needs to be of heart color and one of background color. 4. A background four patch in the top (one square makes the V indent of the heart) 5. A background border 6. Make as many blocks as you wish and sew together. I put mine together on point. I added a blue border, another border of rainbow squares and bound it in green.
I usually have 12 or more blocks in a quilt. Since our Block of the Month Group is only planning on 9 blocks, I decided to add a few of my own blocks. Eight Pointed Star I first learned this technique at Quilt, Etc. I choose this method if I have a large print for my star. I don't want to break up the large print with a seam through the middle of one of the points. Another method of making this star uses half-square triangles (leave a comment if you would like a tutorial on that method). This is not a 'no waste' method of making stars. This is a very accurate method, but there is alot of waste. I get creative and use the extra pieces on the back of the quilt or in the border. In order for this pattern to work you also have to have a small print or a solid for the background fabric. If you have a busy background print you will see the seams more clearly. As always, the seams are a scant 1/4". Cut from background fabric (A1) eight 4" x 6 1/2" rectangles (A2) eight 3" squares Cut from color 1 (red) (B) four 3 x 6 1/2" rectangles Cut from color 2 (green) (C) four 3 x 6 1/2" rectangles Everything cut out. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each square background (A2) Place a background square (A2) right sides together on each 3 x 6 1/2" rectangles (B, C). Make sure the diagonals slant towards the right on one fabric and to the left on the other fabric. In my photo the squares (A2) slant towards the right on my red (B) fabric and to the left on my green (C) fabric. Pin so the square doesn't shift while you are sewing. Sew along the diagonal line on each square. I usually chain sew all eight sub-units, one piece after another. Trim 1/4" to the right of the sewn line on all eight pieces. Ready to cut. It's hard to see, but the two corners of the square and the drawn line are under the 1/4" line of the ruler. This is what your sub-unit will look like when it's trimmed. Press one color towards the background fabric (A) and one color towards the colored fabric (B or C). Eleanor Burns is always very careful about pressing. Reading her books and watching her videos has taught me to think through the pressing process so that I have the least amount of bulk in the seam allowances. It also allows seam nesting, which makes for better points. I pressed my AB sub-units towards the background (A) and my AC sub-units towards the green (B) fabric. Using your AB and AC sub-units place an A1 unit (4 x 6 1/2" background) fabric on the LONG edge of the colored fabric. See the photo above. Sneak peak! I pushed the unsewn pieces from the above photo together and placed paper over the parts that will be trimmed away just to see if I had everything lined up correctly. Sew the AB and AC sub-units to the 4"x 6 1/2" rectangle. Press the seam towards the red (B) fabric, and towards the background (A) fabric on the units with green (C) fabric. Make sure your seams nest, then place one AC unit on top of an AB unit matching the colored fabrics. (See top left in the photo). Draw a diagonal line that is parallel with the first seam (see photo). Nest seams and pin in place along the drawn line. Sew along the drawn line. You can't see the stitching, but this unit is ready to be trimmed 1/4" from the sewn edge. Check and double check to make sure you are cutting on the correct side of the line. You should only have a small colored triangle on the right side of the ruler and MOST of the colored fabric under the ruler. This is what you want it to look like after it's been cut. Press towards one side. It isn't as important to press towards one side or the other in this step. I generally press towards the green (C) fabric. Get your blocks ready to sew the next seam. It's really starting to look like a star now! Place one unit right sides together with another, nest the seams and pin where the seams nest to keep them from shifting while you sew. I place my sewn units like this on the pressing board so that I remember to press one seam up and one seam down. This press is important because it will allow you to nest the center seam of the star. Place both halves of the block together and nest the seams, especially the seams at the center of the star, pin in place and sew the last seam. I press on the wrong side so I can swirl the center seam and reduce the bulk. Then I turn it over and do a final pressing on the front. Final block from the right side. I love stars! They are also one of my most challenging blocks because I am always trying to avoid cutting off the points. If my cutting and seams aren't accurate--I loose points every time. As always, you are welcome to leave a question in the comments if I haven't explained something clearly enough. Pin It
Janelle Wind is the creative driving force behind The Janelle Wind Collection - a bright, bold and funky Australian design house.
Cindy Staub @quiltdoodledesigns ------ Let us talk about binding! Your quilt is pieced, quilted and now it’s time to finish it with a lovely strip of binding. Binding a quilt is my least favorite part of the process but in an odd sense, the most satisfying part of the process when it is all done. In a series of blogs,
During QuiltCon 2020, I created a number of Instagram posts of quilts grouped by various topics. That process really helped me to think about how I was experiencing my first QuiltCon and the amazing wealth of quilts. But it also takes a lot more time and energy than I’ve had at QuiltCon 202
Colourwave Quilt Back in October last year I shared with you my progress on a workshop with Jan Hassard held at Busy Bees Patchwork, to make this Colourwave quilt. As you can see it is complete and it has been for some time, I just haven't had time to share it with you. Jan specialises in colour and geometric designs and her workshops come highly recommended. If you step back from you screen you will see the illusional effect of this quilt pattern even more. Colourwave Quilt - fabric selection On my return from the workshop I had a bit of a re-jig of my colours and worked out a colour scheme which I was much happier with. To get this colour effect you need at least 36 different fabrics which is quite a tall order if you don't collect batiks in your stash, but the more you have the better the effect. Suzi the Cat helps with the Colourwave Quilt Suzi the cat was keen to join in this project. She is very pleased I don't have a design wall and that I have to use the floor ... Superior Threads Rainbow 821 Carnival variegated thread Not only is the quilt top done, but it is quilted. I used a variegated Superior Threads Rainbow (821 Carnival) thread which blended well with all the different colours of the quilt and really popped when it reached the black fabric. I use 80/20 cotton/polyester for the wadding. Kiss by Melonie J Caldwell and Patricia Ritter In fact I loved the effect of the variegated thread on black so much that I used a black fabric for the backing. Using my long arm quilting machine I stitched out a digital pantograph, Kiss by Melonie J Caldwell and Patricia Ritter. There were so many different patterns I could have chosen for this quilt, each giving a different look. Colourwave Quilt It was lovely to work with such bright and colourful fabrics for a change and also to work on a smaller sized quilt than normal. Thanks Jan! Joining up with Whoop Whoop Friday! and Crazy Mom Quilts! Colourwave Quilt - Borders
Photo above © Merry Gregg This quilting pattern / tutorial is available for free... Full Post: North Star
Welcome to Modern Quilt Month 2016! We've enjoyed seeing the modern quilts at various shows, and summer is the perfect time to feature them...
Let’s talk machine maintenance! Properly caring for your machine is key to making sure it stitches just like the day you brought it home.
I completely love this 10 Minute Block. It’s so quick and easy. Unfortunately I don't know the origin of this block. A fellow quilter introduced me to it and I enjoy passing on the method. To make the block you will need 2 x 10” squares of contrasting fabric. As Christmas is coming I have used Christmas fabric so you can see how easy it is to make place mats and table centres for your Christmas table setting, or a quick and easy gift for a friend. HOW T
Summer is cruising by and I'm struggling to keep up with it! I'm wondering where those lazy days of summer disappeared to. It seems like it's been a few years since I've seen them! Hmmmm...may have something to do with the age of my kiddos! Back in May I was asked by my client to custom quilt this quilt she made for a Kaffe Fassett display at HMQS. Here's a bit about it... "Each year the Kaffe and Friends exhibit becomes bigger and better. Our group that started 7 years ago, has expanded from 15 ladies to about 45, and instead of being held in only one quilt shop, we now have three classes held in two different shops in Salt Lake and Ogden. The ladies, and one gentleman, are creative and exciting to be around. We used Kaffe Fassett fabric lines, and others that work well together, such as Brandon Mabley, Phillip Jacobs, batiks and more. This year the class consisted of Dresden plates in assorted varieties, small. Large, funky, stripes, solids, cutouts, inserts, paper pieced, and any other kind that the imaginations could create. The instructions were given each month and the members could select their own color scheme and decide on their final layout. We have skylines, underwater scenes, checkerboard backgrounds, gradations, trees, aborigional walkabouts, and many I have not yet seen. Join the movement starting again in January of 2015, at Elaines Quilt shop in SLC, or My Heritage in Ogden. The instructor, Kaye Evans has some more exciting ideas for the upcoming year. Call the shops for more information." This was one of the biggest quilts I've custom quilted...and definitely the most colorful! I love it! Honestly, I had so much fun quilting this (which I usually can't say about a quilt this large). I had no plan when I started quilting, other than to bring texture to the quilt. Because it's such a colorful quilt, I knew intricate quilting designs would get lost, so simple lines in various designs was my goal. I took about a bzillion pics. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! :)
You could make these blocks using charm squares or jelly rolls as it uses 2.5' pieces. Join the blocks together to make a star quilt block. Very effective use of dark and lights.
Star Crossed Christmas Quilt Block
Let's give a nod to my southern neighbors and look at the Wyoming Valley quilt block today. I used the traditional coloring for this 12
Hallo Ihr Lieben, ich habe meinen Miniquilt fertig !!!! Ich bin begeistert und finde ihn nun einfach richtig toll. Die Größe ist 58 x 74 cm. Unten habe ich noch einmal ein vorher Foto eingestellt. So hat man einmal den Vergleich, was die Quiltarbeit ausmacht. Ideenhilfe hatte ich von *** Nana *** und gequiltet habe ich auch wieder mit ihrem wundervollen Garn. Danke !!! Hi lovelies, I finished my mini quilt !!! I`m so happy with the result. Size is 23 x 29 inch. On the end of this post I show you a before quilting picture. It is amazing how it changed. Thank you *** Nana *** for your help. And I quilted again with the fantastic thread from Nana. Thank you! Noch einmal ein vorher Foto. Liebe Grüße Grit
I promised I would show you what I made with the leftovers from my Bow Tie Quilt... Well, I actually made TWO quilts. But today I am sharing just one of them (don't worry I'll share the second one soon). The first quilt from the leftovers was a scrappy 9-Patch and Snowball quilt! Two blocks, in my opinion, where you never can go wrong! In fact, this combination of blocks creates a classic pattern you've probably seen before. They make a fun secondary pattern together, too! This is a great pattern to help you use up scraps! I used 4" (cut) squares for the 9-Patch squares and the bright Snowball corners. The large, white Snowball squares were cut at 11". But really, with some simple math, you could adjust this pattern to work with any size squares! I just so happened to have 4" squares left over from my Bow Tie quilt. I mocked up this version in EQ7 to show you the entire layout. I did a 5 x 7 block layout to keep the symmetry, but with that came a slightly long, skinny quilt. Mine finished at 52" x 73". Normally I think a good proportion is about a 12" - 15" difference. If you aren't a fan of the long, skinny look, another option would be to make it square. I personally am perfectly fine with square quilts, but I know some people aren't. And since I was making this just for fun (and was planning on selling it), I decided to keep it rectangular. I found a pink Riley Blake floral for the back and a turquoise gingham for the binding. I didn't show many pictures of this quilt on Instagram because unfortunately there was an issue with the long-arm quilting. You probably can't tell from these photos since I tried to hide the parts that were really bad, although now I'm wishing I would've taken some pictures of those parts to show you! But basically, I used a new-to-me long-arm quilting company and I think this was the first time they used this orange peel design and they had a hard time lining up the design. There was a lot of overlapping and such. I felt bad (and I know they felt really bad) but these things happen sometimes. Fortunately, they made it right in the end, which I appreciated. I ended up selling the quilt (with a huge discount) to a photographer wanting to use it as a photo prop. And obviously, I told her ahead of time what the situation was. Overall, I still think this quilt turned out cute. After washing and drying it, the owner may not notice all the imperfections in the quilting. I love the fabrics and the design, and orange peel quilting is always a favorite of mine! Maybe I'll make another one someday. I definitely have lots of squares that need to be put to good use. Have you ever had a long-arm quilting "mishap"? I am thinking about putting together a blog post with some advice to long-arm quilters from their customers. Over the 20 years that I've been quilting, I've had hundreds of quilts long-arm quilted and I've learned a lot. I've dealt with a few mishaps along the way and have definitely seen a difference in how different long-armers handle them. Some of them handle it wonderfully and some of them don't. I wish they all had a policy in place for how they will handle mistakes, because they are bound to happen once in a while. Please share your "mishap" stories or the advice you wish you could give your long-arm quilter below. Thanks for stopping by!
How To Make a Perfect Ohio Star Quilt Block. DIY Sewing Tutorial
Learn how to make this Fast and Easy Christmas Mug Rug with this Tutorial and free template. a little floral applique included
squiggle Free Quilt Block Tutorial Squiggle Quilt Block 8" or 12" finished Side by Side Layout Offset Layout Fabric Cutting Chart Click the Image Below To See Carol's Books DOWNLOAD FREE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE VIDEO DESCRIPTION ON YOUTUBE ACCUQUILT - CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION Happy quilting! Carol
