Veronica's Christmas Present

This is Veronica's present from her daughter.  Do I need to say anymore?

This is only 1/4 of it, it's pretty big, it will cover a queen size bed.  We don't know who made it or when.  She found it at an antique store and paid $15.00 for it.  What a find.  It does have a couple of little stains on it, so we'll use Sew Clean on it and spray it with Sew Fresh to freshen it up, but it is truly wonderful.  Veronica was so happy.

 Here is a close up of one of the blocks

and another

and another.  

Aren't these fabrics great????????/

It is all hand quilted.  This is a close up.

Wow, this is just amazing!

80 weight thread

Wow, I got some of this 80 weight thread from Wonderfil.  This is a soft polyester that is free of any chemical adhesive that ensures unhindered delivery of the thread.  This also avoids the build up of undesired residue, such as dried adhesive in both the bobbin case and machine.   The high tenacity works well even with a heavy top thread.  It has a matte finish so it blends well with your fabric. They have 36 colors.  If you buy the big pack, let's call it a snack pack, you get all 36 colors to try out and extra neutrals for a total of 40 bobbins.  You can also get 12 packs of several neutrals.  The 80 weight thread only comes in bobbins but with Andrew's new invention, you'll be able to use the 80 weight bobbin thread as a top thread.  I don't know if I can show you the invention yet as I have a prototype of it.  I'll show you as soon as he says I can.  Who's Andrew?  He's the owner of the company.      

Just a few pictures to tempt you.

2 1/2" Templates

Have you seen these great new templates?  They all work with 2 1/2" strips.  There are quite a few more, but these were the ones I thought would work great.  There are hexagons, 45 degree triangles, 60 degree triangles, a mini Dresden plate, and one called Mini Fat Cat that is a tumbler.  They also have one that makes a 6" 54-40 or Fight block.  We've played with a few and they are so much fun. You can use them to hang on your key change and if you have a quilting emergency, well, you've got a template you can use!  Quilting emergency averted!  

We'll ave some projects soon...stay tuned.

    

More things to do with The Applique Pressing Sheet

Did you know that you can use The Applique Pressing sheet as a a paint pallet?  This is straight from the website.  You can read about the other things you can use The Applique Pressing Sheet for by going to www.bearthreaddesigns.com.



CRAFT SHEET & PAINTING SURFACE -- The Appliqué Pressing Sheet is a great crafting surface. This non-stick surface is great for hot glue guns, glue melts, wax designs, stiffening fabric, glue projects, rubber stamps, and embossing. It works great for kids' crafts. Also great as a paint pallet. Paint peels off when dry. Clean up is a breeze.  

What is an Applique Pressing Sheet?

I recently had a couple of ladies ask me what the differences were in our products.  So I decided that we will devote a few of our Tip Thursday's to tell you what each product does, Veronica will have some samples and show you some completed projects.  We start with our main product The Applique Pressing Sheet. You can use you Applique Pressing Sheet when making fusible web projects.  All of our Applique Pressing Sheets come with a free pattern so you can go home and "play".  We give you a tracing guide, which is pictured below. All of the pieces are seperated so that you can trace them without having to figure put which piece needs that little 1/8" so that fabric touches fabric.

Trace the pattern onto fusible web.














Once you have that traced, you will fuse it to fabric.

When you have fused all of your fabric to your fusible web, you'll cut your pieces out.  I use teflon scissors.  More on those later.

Here it is with the fusible web still on the back.

 I usually put all of my cut pieces into a baggie ready to go to the ironing board.  This is our pattern (it's in the package with your Applique Pressing Sheet).

 Next you put The Applique Pressing Sheet on top of the pattern.

As you see, you can see through the sheet with the pattern underneath.  So now you're ready to fuse. You add your first piece.  I usually add the pieces that are in the back of the design first and build it up.  It is much easier to do it this way than to add pieces underneath after you fuse the top pieces.  I think of it as building a cake.  You gotta start at the bottom and go up!

 

You continue fusing until all of your pieces are fused to the sheet.  Let it cool off and gently peel it off of the sheet.  You entire project is now in one piece, everything is exactly where it should be and

all of your fusible web is still on the back.  The only part that has fused is where the fabric is touching fabric.  Now you take your completed fused piece, put it on the background fabric and press it down.  

Now it's done and ready for you to quilt it.

This is a project Veronica just finished .  It is one part of a block of the month pattern by Pine Needles.

With The Applique Pressing Sheet, you can get very detailed with your quilts.  Have fun and tomorrow we'll show you lots of pictures of quilts that Veronica has made.

The Applique Pressing Sheet comes in 3 sizes.  The original in a flat or rolled package is 13" x 17", We also have an 18" x 20" and a 27" x 30" for those extra large quilts.  All three sizes are available on our website www.bearthreaddesigns.com.

eBosser

Have you seen the eBosser ?  Well, we got one.  We have a Go! and Go!Baby and we have lots of the Accuquilt dies.  We use them to cut fabric for our kits for our cruises.  We do like them, but Veronica's arm gets tired of cranking so she has to grab Kevin and make him help.  Well, with the eBosser, there is no cranking the handle because it's electric.  Best of all, it takes the Go! dies. Yes, seriously, it does.  So if you don't have those dies, but you've got Sizzix or Cuttlebug dies, the eBosser can take those as well.  Veronica is cutting fabric like crazy.  She's hooked.  Veronica has been cutting fabric for her scrap quilts.  We'll have pictures of those shortly.  So where do you get one?  Call Scott at Citrus Sew and Vac.              

So this is what the eBosser looks like...

with fabric, dies and the cover for the dies.  By the way, I'm working on a Hexagon quilt, so I needed to cut more hexagons.  I like doing it this way because all of my sides are the same size.

Here is a picture of my hexagon quilt.  I'm trying to use different scraps, I needed to clean out the scrap bin and this was a good way.  This is also a great project to take along on the airplane.  I use the English paper piecing method using Paper Pieces shapes.  They have some of the best products.      

Wanted: Cat with an Attitude

A few weeks ago, we recieved a call from a quilter with a story ... and what a story it was ...

She called us slightly worried. She had just recently purchased 25-yards of fabric for a project and she was unaware that her cat had chosen the bag as an impromptu litter box one day, peeing all over the fabric. She was wanting to know if Bear Thread Designs' Sew Clean could help remove both the stain and smell.

Veronica suggested she throw the fabric in the washing machine with 1/2 cup of Sew Clean and the least amount of water possible (each washing machine is different), then let it air dry. Repeat if necessary since the quilter was unsure of when the cat had pottied on the fabric. A week later the quilter called back excited! It had worked! Sew Clean saved her fabric (and probably one of the cat's 9 lives!)

So with a little Sew Clean and a little patience, her fabric was as good as new, though I'm sure that kitty cat was on Santa's naughty list for a while!

 

Sew Easy to Clean with Sew Clean

Life with toddlers is never as easy as it looks on T.V. and Veronica's daughter, Michelle, is learning that lesson the hard way as she battles with her head strong 2 year old. (He may or may not get that trait from his grandmother!)

The recent lesson has been learning to pick up himself, or clean up his messes, so when he decided to color the refridgerator a few weeks ago, Michelle gave him a rag, sprayed some Sew Clean on it and set him to work cleaning his mess. When he was done, she washed his hands and explained to him that coloring on some things are not allowed and moved on ...



Apparently, the lesson that stuck with him was not "don't color on the fridge" but rather, "if I color on the fridge I get to wipe it off", because a week later he colored on the refridgerator again then went to show mommy so she could give him the towel! That boy!!

If you have a Sew Clean story, please let us know so we can share it! Check back later this week to see how Sew Clean saved a kitty from losing one of his 9 lives!



You did WHAT with the Applique Pressing Sheet!?!: BBQ in Style!

Jaggie here! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I am so stuffed from all the food I ate yesterday! We spent the morning at Veronica and Kevin's ranch with their daughter and grandson, then went to the grandparent's ranch and celebrated in true Texas form with fajitas! We ate until we all felt like an old lazy ranch dog lounging in the shade of the porch on a hot Texas day ... oh, wait! That's exactly what we did!

Well, before we all reached that point, Veronica and Michelle spent the morning organizing the "Creative Room" at the office and then Veronica's personal sewing room. Going through and organizing fabrics and notions is always motivating for them to get projects and samples finished and of course inspires new things for us to share with our Bear Thread Designs friends!

Michelle is a master organizer, but I think she learned at an early age that if she volunteers to help her mom organize the "craft chaos", then she gets to raid the stash! That's exactly what she did yesterday, working on three different projects, two of which she completed. So as part of our "You did WHAT with the Applique Pressing Sheet!?! series, here is my favorite ...

She made the lil guy an apron so he could help with the 4th of July BBQ. He was more interested putting rocks into the empty planters, but maybe next time!

The pattern is from one of the Bear Thread Designs, Inc. applique books called, "A Season to Applique", and it features quick and easy patterns for a variety of holiday and sasonal projects!

Did you do any projects over the holiday? What did you do? We'd love to hear about them!

If you "like" our Facebook page and post a photo of your 4th of July project, you'll be entered into a drawing for this book. If someone comes to our page and posts that you sent them, you will get a second shot at the drawing! (They must link to your name so we can contact you if you win.) You The contest will end July 31, 2012 so hurry and visit our page today! The winner will get it in time to start on some fun fall projects!

Well, I'll be exploring all the newly discovered fabrics and notions in our Creative Room, and will have more patriotic and other projects for you in the coming days! Come back and visit for a free pattern or two!

You did WHAT with the Applique Pressing Sheet!?!

I think this is going to be one of my favorite regular posts! We love to hear what creative projects The Applique Pressing Sheet TM owners have done. Or even the Grip-n-Press, Grip-n-Grip, and Stick-n-Press. Tell us what you've used yours for and send us a photo and you can be featured on our "You did WHAT with the Applique Pressing Sheet?" segment!!

Veronica's daughter, Michelle, loves to cook and has The Applique Pressing Sheet TM and Grip-n-Press for the kitchen for cooling things. Recently, she tried her hand at chocolate covered strawberries. She was a little worried about the chocolate sticking to the plate she was going to harden them on in the refrigerator, so she pulled out The Applique Pressing Sheet TM and soon had a yummy treat without a sticky mess to clean up.

She said she didn't make a lot since it was an experiment, but I think she just didn't want to share ... or ate them all before she got around to taking photos ... yeah, I think it was the second reason!

 

Doesn't that look yummy!?! And all she had to do was wash The Applique Pressing Sheet TM in warm soapy water and let dry in her dish rack. Quick clean-up means she was back to eating her sweet treat in no time!

Send your photos and stories to BearTD@hotmail.com and tell us how creative you are!

Happy crafting!