Useless Quiling Gadgets & Other Boondoggles
#141
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 225
Ok lets look at a positive side... we all have bought things we thought we just could not live without lesson learned. Now let me tell you how to replace some of those things with items you have at home already.............first the binding spool around the neck I never liked that so lucky I didn't buy one but what I do have and can't live with out is a Cheddar Ball Jar. You know the kind that you buy at the store full of puffed chesse or popcorn, well I bought one, the kids ate the puffed cheese and I kept the jar. Hubby slit a square on the plastic lid. Now I take it to the ironing board as I iron my binding it falls into the jar then I pull the last end of binding through the hole he cut and snap the lid back on......wala.....I put the jar on the floor next to me and sew the binding. It doesn't get turned around or choke me either and it also serves as a container to save your bias strips to make blocks. The only thing that I wore out on my jar was the lid so I just go buy another one and I am happy again. Now about the pins........I don't like the teeny tiny pins but I do like the flat head pins or the one's with the yellow head and at times they do get blunt so I just run it through my hair (works really good it you have an oily head) and this resharpens the pins. Grandma use to do this all the time. I also like the binding clips that you buy at the hair salon supply store but I have gotten very spoiled and like the new clover clips. Have I ever bought things I shouldn't have or didn't need yes I have but as everyone sometimes we just get carried away with the gusto of quilt shows and sellers. Hope this helps. Live and learn.
#143
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Provo, UT
Posts: 7
I have to say that I bought one of the fabric covered pressing sticks and if you are talking about what I bought it is one of the best purchases I've ever made. As a matter of fact on Pinterest you can see how to make them for yourself. I am in the process of making about 30 of them to give as gifts at a quilting retreat I am part of. I can hardly wait to give them away because I know the participants will be so thrilled to have them after they see how they are used and how beautifully a seam can be pressed open or to one side!
#144
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 443
My daughter has the Aqququilt and we both enjoy using it. She has the tumbler which is difficult to cut without the aqququilt go. It is a little pricey but save so much time and is so accurate. I have bought some of the other dies from
"Sew for Less" and their prices are very reasonable. Consider the Half square triangle, 1 1/2" strip and the 2 1/2" strips which we use alot. Good luck with it. Joanne
"Sew for Less" and their prices are very reasonable. Consider the Half square triangle, 1 1/2" strip and the 2 1/2" strips which we use alot. Good luck with it. Joanne
#145
I bought the Accuquilt Go. I have the die that came with it and the tumbler die. Although I have used it and do like it...the dies are expensive. I keep waiting for the 2 1/2" strip die to go on sale, but it doesn't ever seem to do that. I think that is one die that I would use on every quilt for the binding. I think people that do a lot of applique probably really like it.
#146
I love Pinmoors! If you can't get a pin into with ease then your pins are probably the fault. I use glass head fine patchwork pins for all my pinning and they go in the Pinmoor like butter and stay there until I take them out.
#147
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 368
Good thread! Useless purchases for me were the Flynn frame, Quilter's Calculator and gift of a cutter called something like an Accucutter or Accuquilter??? I love my Sidewinder. Several rulers were duds. When I first started quilting a new quilter friend pointed out several times that gadgets I wanted to buy were just like things I already owned, but were used in a different way, for example. I started to really check things out before purchasing and I saved a lot of money. I really appreciate how clever and careful she is with gadgets. My biggest money waste has been books or patterns which I have not used.
#148
I too use an empty toilet paper roll, but use a neon green shoelace to hang it around my neck. It works great.
#149
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 8,145
I think that I would have asked for my $$ back rather than buy more fabric for the class. What is wrong with a person who thinks that only his or her taste is good? The quilt class teacher wasn't going to have to live with the finished product - you were.
#150
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BellaBoo
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04-18-2010 05:46 PM