New Product Launch on Live TV this weekend!

I thought you might like to know about a project that I’m launching this weekend on live TV!

I’ve been collaborating with the lovely people at Crafter’s Companion to produce die sets for their Build A Block range. These work with their Gemini machine and are a fantastic alternative to using a rotary cutter for patchwork.

There are three different designs in my little collection, and each comes in this very smart packaging with my logo and even my face on the back!!

Each pack contains the dies to make a 12″ block along with a detailed booklet which has instructions to make three different projects.

As all their sample projects used solid fabrics I thought it would be fun to try the blocks out using prints and I began using my current favourite blenders ‘Floral Elements’ by Art Gallery Fabrics, as seen in my recent Bedding Plants quilt (I have lots left over from selling kits).

I made one of the Compass Gem blocks and added a border of the same background. This is such a fabulous motif that I wanted it to really stand out.

Before turning it into a 16″ cushion I first quilted it on my Handi Quilter Moxie. I used rulers to accentuate all the angles and then filled the background with what I call my ‘coffee bean’ design.

I think those matchstick lines against the curvy quilting on the background have made for a fabulous texture!

Next up I chose this bundle called Sunburst, also by AGF fabrics (in fact I have used Art Gallery throughout for these projects).  As we have been enjoying a heat wave in the UK for the last couple of weeks the saturated colours and beach themed motifs in this collection seemed particularly apt!

For the Windmill die set I made four blocks and put them together to create this mini quilt. The combination of orange and blue/turquoise is always such a winner!  And I love the mix of curves and angles in this design. As with all three designs it is so versatile and can be made into so many different looking quilts and projects.

I quilted this on my domestic Janome using a walking foot and a continual circle, starting in the centre. I used Aurifil 28wt in #2600 for this and Aurifil 40/3 in #2000 for the cushion.

Next up is another AGF collection, my favourite of the current batch sent to me by UK distributors Hantex. This one is Open Heart by Maureen Cracknell and it’s so beautiful and includes so many of my favourite colours.

This is also my favourite out of all the die sets, ‘Eastham’. This was based on my Fujiwhara quilt (which in turn is a version of ‘Storm at Sea’) that I made for Today’s Quilter many years ago. That particular quilt was designed to use the Denyse Schmidt ‘Eastham’ fabric line and when I sent Crafter’s Companion some early images of an adapted block they still had ‘Eastham’ in the title.  The name stuck with CC and they have kept it for this set!  It’s quite an approproate name for me as East was my maiden name.

This is probably the most versatile block yet and offers endless kaliedoscopic variations. I’ve used one main block with repeating elements around the edge to create an 18″ cushion.

I hand quilted this one using matching colours of Aurifil 12wt wool.  I really need to keep this beautiful cushion for myself and would actually like to make a whole quilt of this particular 18″ block!

One of the best things about using the dies is the level of accuracy you can achieve. Every piece is cut exactly the same (and you can cut as many as 8 at once, in fact I cut 9 accidentally once and they were still perfect!) which made stitching these together an absolute dream, despite them looking like quite tricky blocks!

I have also struggled with a long running RSI on my left elbow from rotary cutting so I try to avoid quilts that require a lot of this nowadays. However I can see that the Gemini machine (and my own personal die sets!) may be the way to go for me in the future.

These three Build a Block die sets will be officially launched on Sunday in a series of live TV segments on both Crafter’s Companion TV and Create and Craft TV, and I’ll be appearing Live too!!

From 7.30am and again at 10.30am I’ll be on Create and Craft with Lizzy Curtis.  Check out the schedule here. And then at 12pm I’ll be on Crater’s TV where I’ll also be doing a whole segment on my book New Patchwork and Quilting Basics.

It’s two years since I last did any live TV and as it’s something I really enjoy I’m super excited about doing this on Sunday (despite the very early start!).  I hope you can tune in (or catch up later) and find out more about these products!