Sizzix Big Shot Pro

 I never thought this day would come, but I took the plunge and purchased the Sizzix Big Shot Pro.  The reasons I didn't want to buy it:

• High price tag
• The large size and weight
• The added expense of the dies
• Storage space issues for both the machine and the dies
• I already have the Cuttlebug, the Cricut Expression, and the Silhouette Cameo die cutting machines
• I already have a rotary cutter, scissors and rulers for cutting fabrics

What finally swayed me to purchase this version of die cutting machine:

• May 2014's rotary cutter injury to the fingertip of my left hand ring finger and the previous thumb slicing and stitches from a mandolin slicer. I realized that the money savings on the machine and dies were not worth injuring my fingers any further.  
• I could pay for the machine with just 2 or 3 visits to the doctor to treat said fingertip injuries.
• Cut 10 fabric layers at once!  With my handheld rotary cutter, I could only cut through 2 layers of fabric at a time, and would often slip my grip on the ruler during cuts, resulting in crooked shapes. 
• Machine cutting fabric saves time and prevents injuries.  This means more time to have fun sewing and quilting!
• The Double Wedding Ring Quilting die is calling my name.  It only fits into the Big Shot Pro machine--not the other die cutting machines.  I have tried to make a DWR block with shapes I printed for free online, but the shapes cut out crooked by scissors no matter how hard I tried.  This made piecing them together a real bugger.  I didn't complete an entire block because I struggled to match up the crazy curved seams.  I haven't bought the die yet.  But, I got the larger Pro machine so that the option to get the die is there.
• I knew that I could save some money buying the smaller Big Shot machine, but I bought the smaller Cricut machine originally, and kept wishing I had the larger Expression until I finally bought it.  So, I started with the biggest Big Shot Pro.
• A post I read online said that Sizzix quilting dies do not fit into the Accuquilt machines, but that the Accuquilt dies do fit into the Sizzix Big Shot Pro.  I wanted the machine with the most die cutting options.  Also,  the AccuCut dies tend to cost more than the Sizzix dies, based on the online research I did.  I'm still enough of a cheapskate to want cheaper dies.  If I find a particular die only available through AccuCut, I can still buy and use it.

 The first die I tried with the machine is one that I purchased on sale for 30% off at scrapbook.com.  It's the tessellating pinwheel die, which is small enough to fit in the Cuttlebug or either smaller Big Shot or Vagabond.

Only some of the Sizzix quilting dies are compatible with smaller die cutting machines.  The photo above shows the die on top of a Cuttlebug B cutting plate.

The 2 1/2" strip cutting die is 6" x 25", so it's too big for the Cuttlebug.   I use it to cut bias binding for quilts.  It can also cut squares, rectangles, and diamond shapes with two passes.

My sewing machine is out for a 2-3 week vacation.  I'll sew these fabric pieces together when it returns.  At first I was afraid to use the Big Shot Pro because it is so big and beastly.  I felt buyer's remorse at the price and weight of the thing, but chose to wait and keep it.

My husband has several different kinds of saws, because each saw does a slightly different thing than the other ones.  I view die cutting machines as tools, too.  Some are better for cutting multiple fabric layers at once (Sizzix Big Shot Pro), while others are better for cutting intricate images purchased online or designed on the computer (Silhouette Cameo).  It is so quick and easy to cut fabric this way!

Happy 18th Anniversary!

We were so young 18 years ago!  Hard to believe that much time has passed since our wedding day!

Mayhem in May Part Two

For Mother's Day I got to fulfill a wish request I've had for years!  I got to order a serger machine!  Here's the one I purchased through Amazon:

It's the Juki MO-50e.  I got it for $229 with free shipping.  

I researched online reviews on this Juki serger before buying.  The only negative reviews seemed to discuss threading difficulties.

I also had threading problems with this serger at first.  The printed manual's threading instructions  don't clearly explain how to thread the loopers.  My threads kept jamming, because I missed the automatic part of one of the looper guides.  The enclosed DVD with threading instructions helped me see my mistake and get the threading just right.

Cheap cotton thread breaks every time it runs through the machine's high speed and tension settings, resulting in several re-threading experiences.  I switched to Gutermann, Sulky and 100% polyester threads to avoid breakage and re-threading.  Here's the best thing I learned from online searches:  Maxi Lock thread cones for sergers can be purchased from a mail-order and online company called Wawak for only $1.79 each.  Most other sources I found charged $4 minimum per thread cone.  

My first completed serger project was a simple jersey knit maxi skirt.  I love how quickly and easily the serger handles knit stretchy fabrics!  My Viking machine just can't sew through stretchy fabrics without the fabrics getting pulled through the needle plate and down into the bobbin case.  Now, with the serger, I don't have to avoid stretchy fabrics any more!

The photo above shows a side view of the skirt.  The hem at the left side (bottom of the skirt) was a hand sewn slip stitch, but the side seams and blind hem waistband were all sewn on my serger.  The blind hem is easy once you lift the upper blade out of the way and figure out the folding directions for the fabric.  I didn't use a pattern on this skirt, so the waist/hip area is not tapered or fitted.  That's why it looks bunchy (until I fix it).  

**Update** The serger stopped working well after 4 or 5 projects.  I tried replacing the blades and adding oil and just couldn't get the thread tension working any more.  It still cuts and serges, but the stitches are sloppy and too loose.  Inexpensive machines really do not last.

Mayhem in the Month of May

Last month we attended our niece's wedding, threw a birthday party at our house for my daughter, started building a shed in the backyard, planted our garden, and had a few injuries.

I'll start with my daughter's party, because we had a lot of fun with it. We decided to go with a minion theme from the Despicable Me movies. I found a really cute svg file for three different minion poses online to cut with my Cricut machine and the no longer available for the Cricut Sure Cuts a Lot software. Visit Okie Ladybug's wonderful blog HERE if you are interested in this cutting file. It works with Make the Cut software, too.

I originally cut 18 to 22 minions for our school's teacher appreciation week with a "You're One in a Minion" theme. Since a dozen or so minions were leftover after that week, I used them on the invitations for my daughter's party with the text: "Assemble the minions! You are invited to a despicable party for {name}'s {year}th birthday." It included the address, date and time. I used the Dalek free font from dafont.com because it looked industrial Gru-ish to me.

At the party, the guests first decorated a yellow gift bag to look like a minion. I found a free download of a pin the goggles on the minion game HERE at Hale Grafx, a great resource for many fun free printables, so I printed extra sets of goggles to stick on the bags for the minion faces. For the gift bags, we just used blue construction paper for the overalls and a fine point black sharpie to draw the mouths, hair and detailing on the overalls. The gift bags doubled as the party favor bags, so that guests could keep adding things to the inside of the bags as we went along.  It was a great gathering activity since not all party guests arrive at the same time.

The goggles on the water bottles came from Target.  They are called Beer Keepers (or something like that).  They came in packs of 6 or 8.  I found them in the party aisle along with other unique party favors and gag gifts.   Each guest took home a water bottle minion.

We had banana shaped hard candies (like Runts) which I ordered online from amazon before the party.  Minions go crazy for bananas, you know.

For our next activity, my daughter wanted to paint fingernails, so I ordered a 24 pack of assorted Shany brand nail polish bottles from Amazon before the party. Each guest chose two bottles to keep. While their nails dried, we watched a minion short cartoon from a $5 Walmart DVD bin.

While we set up for the minion shaped pinata (also found at Walmart), the kids played pin the goggles on the minion game from Hale Grafx. For prizes, they got a twinkie decorated to look like a minion. (That's another idea I found online through pinterest and google searching. I love the internet!) They also got candy and small plastic toys from the pinata.

The birthday cake was just a simple double layer lemon cake from a cake mix with a raspberry/blueberry filling.  I used yellow frosting for most of the cake, black frosting in a grocery store tube for the hair and glasses, white frosting for the eyes, and small circles cut from graham crackers for the irises.  Nothing fancy, but it tasted great!  After cake and banana splits, we opened gifts.  Then guests could choose to either make the elastic band bracelets on plastic looms or to play outside.  We had a lot of silly fun!

While decorating for the party, I needed to hang some minion party streamers from Zurcher's on our vaulted ceiling.  The thought came to mind to use a ladder, but I had a swollen, painful knee due to arthritis, and didn't want to haul a heavy ladder into our house from the garage.  I decided to climb onto the back of the couch to reach the ceiling instead.  That worked just fine until I had a moment of stupidity when I decided to jump onto our wood floor from the back of the couch.  I couldn't stick the landing because my swollen knee buckled from the pressure of the jump, and landed on my tailbone on our hard tile floor.  Ouch!

I spent the entire party on my feet because I couldn't sit at all without extreme agony.  At least my tailbone hurt so much that I could no longer feel the pain from my swollen knee.  Those injuries led to even more injuries in the days that followed.  It took three weeks before I could sit without pain.

The back of each decorated Twinkie had a little computer printed tag I made with the Dalek font again, which said "Thanks for coming to my party!  You're one in a minion!"  I also gave a few of the extra minion Twinkies out on Mother's Day with a tag saying "Happy Mother's Day!  You're One in a Minion!"

I'll share more about May's Mayhem in the next post!  Mother's Day was great!