accuquilt advice

[Dawn S.]

Limbania,

Thank you so much! The hummingbird is an original design...no pattern. I used some freezer paper for my drawing paper, taped to my cutting mat, and just started shading in colors, forming the bird. I had studied a lot of different hummingbirds online, and loved the fire throated hummingbird, from Costa Rica, if I remember correctly. Then, I just started layering in those "clamshell" pieces and glueing as I overlapped each each one. The whole bird was actually a single unit, not attached to anything but itself, until I layer it down onto the background for hand appliquéing. That's also how I did my jester quilt, which was juried into Houston this year. She (the jester) was also one unit, until I placed her onto the background. Kind of a strange way to attack appliqué, but it works for me. Both, Ricky and Alex influenced my "prepared edge" appliqué method. My jester was done with Ricky's Stable Stuff, and the hummingbird was done with Alex's Quilter's Select Applistick paper sheets. The vine and flowers on the hummingbird are free form, hand cut and raw edge. I zig zagged the edges and then outlined them with a heavy weight, black aurifil thread. I'm hoping the Hoffman Challenge fabric inspires me this year! I'm soooooo looking forward to designing another cool quilt!

[Betty J.]

Dawn, what wonderful work and imaginative use of the Accuquilt system. I have it, but haven't used it to its maximum potential obviously. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Betty J.]

Thanks for explaining how you made your hummingbird quilt, Dawn. I'm sure you'll be making many more cool and gorgeous quilts. You're very talented.
I need to start using my Accuquilt. You are certainly inspiring me to do so. Thanks again!

[sharon p.]

I love my go cutter. I bought the electric one because I have rheumatoid arthritis and don't have to worry about turning the crank amy wrists getting sore. . It's more expensive but worth it in the long run. I don't think the go dies work on the studios but the studios work on the go cutter. You may want to double check. Good luck with your decision. You'll love it.

[Geneva C.]

Hello, I have a Go cutter and have been having problems with the pieces I am cutting being 1/8" smaller than the die. I wonder what I am doing wrong. I can fudge the 1/8" but isn't that not the point of having the die cutter?
Also, sometimes my pieces get stuck in the corner of the die and when I pull them out they ravel. I've cleaned the die very closely with the little pick they gave me.

Any help would be appreciated.

geneva

[Judith A.]

Hi Geneva,
Here are some tips I have learned. You may already know them, but here goes...
Try starching your fabrics first before running them through the Accuquilt. I use a heavy starch when I cut pieces with a bias side. They cut perfectly.
Place the fabric with the straight of grain (parallel to the selvage) along the length of the Accuauilt., and the crosswise grain along the short side of the Accuauilt.
You might try cutting fewer layers of fabric at one time, especially shapes with bias edges.

I had one die that had the problem you are having. I had cut thousands of hexagons with it for a queen-sized grandmother's garden quilt. I think I wore it out. The fabric started to get caught in corners of the die blades, and didn't cut completely there. Irritating. Aaaurgh!!! I investigated the corner of the die where the pieces weren't cutting completely, and discovered that the blades had separated slightly there, leaving a gap between them. It was no wonder that the pieces were getting stuck and not cutting in that corner.
I used pliers to pull the blades back together again. That corrected the problem for awhile, but then the blades started separating again. I bought a new die the next time they were on sale.

Other than the problem I had with this one die, I am delighted with my Accuquilt cutter. It saves me a lot of time, and prevents a lot of hand pain.

I suggest you check your warranty, and call Accuquilt. They may have some better advice. Let us know what happens.

Happy quilting,
Judy Austin

[Judith A.]

Hi Judith,

I have a Sizzix Big Shot Pro and have the problem of the inaccurate, short cuts that Geneva described; mostly with the square shape dies. What kind of starch do you use? I use Mary Ellen's Best Press.
Mary

[Judith A.]

Hi Mary,
I buy Sta-Flo concentrated liquid starch at my grocery store. It comes in a blue jug. I follow the directions on the bottle to dilute it to make heavy starch... sort of. I am not too particular about it. I just estimate.

Happy quilting,
Judy Austin

[Geneva C.]

Judy, Thanks for the advice. I will check out the corners on my die that doesn't cut. My dies are practically new, so I don't know what happened! I will try some starch, though that is another step that I hoped to avoid.

Thanks! geneva

[Geneva C.]

thank you for sharing this post. it is really helpful for me

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Assignment Help

[Dawn S.]

I thought you all might want to see my latest GO! cuttings. The quilt was supposed to be longarmed in time for our quilt show, but life happened too many times for my longarmer. So the top is just stuck up on my design wall. It is a modified Judy Niemeyer Raindrops pattern, and then I went crazy with it. Just love my GO! It is called SPLAT!




Dawn

[Dawn S.]

Dawn,
Splat is gorgeous

[Dawn S.]

Dawn, that is amazing! What a beautiful quilt!

[Geneva C.]

Dawn! Splat is wonderful! It's such a happy quilt.
geneva

[Pat L.]

Dawn, what a fun, happy quilt, it's wonderful!!