Accuquilt Recommendation

[Susan B.]

Jo Jo, love the hexagons and love the background star even more! Is this easy or are you having to stitch funny angles?

Our weather is so awful, I'm going to stitch all day

[Lois B.]

Here are a couple pics of my in-progress blocks. This is a really fun quilt to make and thankfully friends are helping me by gifting me 4 by 4 inch squares so that no two fabrics will be repeated. I'm not paying much attention to what goes next to what because the black triangles are my calming links.

JoJo, Which die are you using for the triangles? This quilt looks like so much fun.

[Jo H.]

Thanks everyone. The die for the triangles is the GO! Equilateral Triangles, item 55079. I'm using the middle die.

It is very easy to sew...all straight seams. The only thing I have to do is pin the intersections so the seams match up. I'm kind of stubborn and can't stand it if my seams are off so I pin like Alex showed us. Her method is much better than my old way was.

I'm sure there are many other ways to make blocks but I'm making diamonds and will begin attaching diagonal rows once I have enough blocks done.

[Charae H.]

Jo Jo-- This is such a fun pattern. I recognize a couple fabrics that I have in my stash-- Don't you just love the Barnyard Boogie animals? I've made a couple of soft cover infant books with that fabric as an inspiration.
Can't wait to see the end result!

[Susan B.]

I cut out a whole log cabin quilt last night, 64" x 64" in about 2-3 hours (I lose track of time listening to books)..

ops: ops: :roll: I cut out enough pieces for one row (10 blocks). Back to the ironing board :-) EQ7 helped me figure out how much I need.

[Susan B.]

Susan, thank you for sharing that you starch your fabric for die cutting...great idea! And, thank you to everyone else who has posted great info and creative ideas here.

I initially bought the Studio cutter after I saw Ricky demo it with his new Arabesque dies on TQS. I just bought the GO! cutter. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

The dies for the Studio are a much better quality and will cut more multiple layers of ALL kinds of fabrics and craft materials than the GO!. I've cut everything from heavy plastic template sheets to adhesive Foamies with my Studio dies, and the designs are clearly visible on the dies (no marking on dies like with the older Go! dies), but they cost more. (If you sign up for Accuquilt's newsletter and make online purchases through their SPECIAL sales, you can collect points which gives you wonderful extra buying power on the Accuquilt website.)

The portability of the Go! was the big attraction for my purchase. The new dies are now clearly marked, but over time, depending on how often they are used, I don't believe they will hold up like the Studio dies. I can use all my Go! dies with my Studio cutter because Accuquilt heard all the requests to have them design adaptable cutting mats. I've found that the quality of the GO! cutting mats is not as good as the Studio mats, so you might need to purchase them more often. It all comes down to how much will you use each cutter and for what purpose, and how much do you want to invest in this wonderful quilting tool. The accurate cutting and time these cutters and dies will save is enormous!

Jo-Ann's is a great resource for buying the Go! cutter (I got mine after Xmas this year for $199.), and basic dies, mats, and some specialty dies. However, the Accuquilt website is wonderful for getting in on great deals, free shipping on orders over $99, purchasing specialty and new dies, and gift cards. They had a fabulous gift card offer a week ago! Right now Accuquilt is offering the Studio for the rock-bottom price of $399. It's not as big a monster size as you might think, but it does need a dedicated permanent location. I never buy any dies before reading all the online reviews from end-users! Accuquilt's website also has helpful tutorials, books, and free patterns.

I ordered the new GO! Log Cabin die and am looking forward to using it on my Studio so I can cut 10-12 layers at once, depending on the type of fabric used. And, Accuquilt just came out with new dies for cutting those delightful circles in tiny sizes that we all covet, but don't want to cut by hand. In addition to the #55079 Equilateral Triangles (which cuts one each 2 1/2", 1 1/2", and 1"), I found the #55320 Half Square 1" finished triangles GO! die (cuts eight 1" HSTs) to be great for cutting multiple, small triangles for miniature quilts.

After watching Patsy Thompson's creative tutorial on using the Big Shot die cutter, I decided it was a great addition to my Studio and GO! cutters because it would "fill in the little gaps" to all my dies. It was on sale at Amazon for $49.99 on Black Friday! I got mine later for $55 on Amazon because I took too much time to think about that purchase. I also found some beautiful scroll-type Sizzix dies for half price.

I only mentioned all the above pricing info because this can be a costly addendum to our expensive sewing/embroidering machines. And...the die cutting capability is totally addictive! Little by little, our rotary cutters might become obsolete. :mrgreen:

[Susan B.]

Shirley, Lots of good information there, but I believe the Go log cabin can only cut 4 to 6 layers, you are limited by the die, not the die cutter.
Have fun!
Susan

[Susan B.]

Shirley, Lots of good information there, but I believe the Go log cabin can only cut 4 to 6 layers, you are limited by the die, not the die cutter.
Have fun!
Susan

Hi, Susan,
Thanx for your comment and glad you read through all that verbage! :mrgreen: You're absolutely correct about the Go! log cabin die being able to cut 4-6 layers with the GO! cutter only. I mentioned for "comparison's sake only" that I could cut more log cabin layers with my "Studio" cutter because I have the larger tray and adaptable cutting mats for the Go! dies to do so. My point was the Studio cutter can accommodate all the Go! dies, but not vice versa. This makes having a Studio cutter worth its weight in gold for quilters who make a lot of charity or very large log cabin quilts...or any other quilts for that matter.

[Betty J.]

I gave myself a couple of new dies for Christmas. I have the Go! and love it especially for snuggle quilts and appliques on clothing or utility items.

[Marianne G.]

After watching Patsy Thompson's creative tutorial on using the Big Shot die cutter, I decided it was a great addition to my Studio and GO! cutters because it would "fill in the little gaps" to all my dies. It was on sale at Amazon for $49.99 on Black Friday! I got mine later for $55 on Amazon because I took too much time to think about that purchase. I also found some beautiful scroll-type Sizzix dies for half price.

I only mentioned all the above pricing info because this can be a costly addendum to our expensive sewing/embroidering machines. And...the die cutting capability is totally addictive! Little by little, our rotary cutters might become obsolete. :mrgreen:

I have searched around for Patsy Thompson's tutorial you mention above is it on YouTube or where did you see if. I am geared up to buy a cutter but can't decide which one to get. It is hard to find dies and accessories here in Europe or maybe I'm just not good at putting the right wording into my search engine ops:
Marianne

[Margo C.]

http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/.../archives/1783

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok4DR1d3UUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeGvTshthU4

[Marianne G.]

Thank you very much, Margo!

[Norma H.]

Marianne I did a search on AccuQuilt Cutter UK and this came up
http://www.quiltdirect.co.uk/acatalog/AccuQuilt.html

It seems they have something to choose from, but maybe they only have the GO.
I'm sure you UK'ers will be able to do it better. Just an idea of what to write to the search engine

[Marianne G.]

Marianne I did a search on AccuQuilt Cutter UK and this came up
http://www.quiltdirect.co.uk/acatalog/AccuQuilt.html

It seems they have something to choose from, but maybe they only have the GO.
I'm sure you UK'ers will be able to do it better. Just an idea of what to write to the search engine

Thank you, Norma. So far the shop you link to and one other is all I have found that sells the dies for fabric - the Sizzix cutter seems to be for paper craft only here but I will persevere. I may have to wait till there's a show on to find them both to compare. Are they available in Denmark? I will be going there in spring sometime and if we take the car I could transport it easily. I don't think I would like to add them to my luggage if we fly :lol:
Thanks again for searching.
Marianne

[Norma H.]

A new search gave me one result in Danish

http://baliquilt.dk/shop/accuquilt-87c1.html

The address is on the bottom of the page. If you tell me where you are going I could explore it more, but I know the lady who has this shop and she is nice.

You definitely need a car to transport this