with Rob Appell
Every year about this time my inner Christmas elf comes sneaking out. I start cooking up ideas for cool handmade gifts that are as fun to make as they are to receive.
My applique tea towels combine raw edge applique with free motion quilting, so it’s a win-win for me! Click HERE to watch the tutorial!
I’m a free motion kind of guy. My quilts are like blank canvases just waiting to be filled with pure creativity. But this week, I’m actually “coloring” inside the lines.
Free motion quilting on a panel is like target practice. As you stitch along the printed designs of your panel, you get a feel for the pace and movement of machine quilting. Bonus: because you’re practicing on a panel rather than scraps, you’ll end up with a totally useful quilted project. Click HERE to watch the vid!
Cork fabric is made from the bark of the cork oak tree. And the cool thing is, these trees are able to regenerate their bark, consuming massive amounts of carbon dioxide in the process. Talk about “green!”
The fabric is waterproof and stain resistant. It wears like leather and is super lightweight and durable. In short, it’s the perfect choice for my Streamline Wallet. Click HERE to learn how to make this cool little project!
A fidget quilt is outfitted with a variety of textures and moveable parts: prairie points, ric rac, pockets, velcro, zippers, you name it! It’s purpose is to occupy restless hands and soothe anxious minds – all while keeping your legs warm.
Fidget quilts can provide tons of comfort to individuals with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, and fiddling with those little parts and pieces is great exercise for the mind as well as the hands. (They are also great for kids and adults with ADHD, ADD, or autism.)
These quilts are super fun to make, and they bless the lives of those who receive them. Click HERE to watch the tutorial!
I began work on the Shark Applicutter more than five years ago, and the reason I invented it was a safety issue. I had started using the smallest rotary cutter I could find, an 18mm, to cut out the shapes used in my Endangered Species project. These quilts featured an “up close and personal” portrait of each endangered animal and required a lot of intricate cutting. As we all know, necessity is the mother of invention, so I started using my rotary cutter in a new way, holding it like a pen instead of using an overhand grip. When I used it this way, I could twist and move it more freely, but it had a few drawbacks. I started teaching my classes with the 18mm rotary cutter, but I noticed that many people were struggling to cut with it safely and accurately due to arthritis and other issues. As I listened to their concerns, I realized that adding a bump, like the dorsal fin on a shark, would make it safer to use and more accurate.
While I was on a teaching trip in Hawaii, I found myself sitting on a beach in Kona, mulling over a few ideas when inspiration struck me. I looked over at this chunk of old surfboard sticking out of the sand next to me and suddenly realized that I could use resin to make an amazing handle for the applicutter. At the same time I had been working on the rotary cutter handle back home, I was also making plastic water bottle spaceships with my son. The two projects came together in my mind right there on the beach. My son and I had been adding these little plexiglas wings onto water bottles and as I looked at that surfboard I realized I could make a handle from the same materials. Right when I got home, I went right to work creating the first prototype and immediately proved to myself that it worked fantastically. Now all I needed was a company to make it.
I saw a need in the industry for a better tool and a safer tool and I feel really proud of what I’ve created. It took a couple years for everything to come together and by the time I was about ready to sell it at quilt market, I began talking to people at Missouri Star Quilt Co. about the Shark Applicutter and they helped open the door. It was actually part of my interview when I joined the company. I had a silver, James Bond briefcase with me and I presented my product to them. They thought it was genius! I was ecstatic to join the MSQC family as the face of Man Sewing, and amazed that they believed in my product and in me.
It has been a five-year process to bring the Shark Applicutter to where it is today and the time just flew by. I had been so busy with everything else in my life that I felt like God helped me from start to finish. It was such a fun mission for me to take on; it has really been a fantastic ride. I can’t wait to see where it will go from here!
Shark Applicutter features:
Stitch in the ditch is a style of machine quilting that simply follows the seam lines of the quilt top. The trouble is, all those layers of fabric and batting can really bog down the operation.
My advice? Swap out your presser foot for a walking foot. The walking foot is like “4-wheel drive” for your machine. It gently guides the top layer of fabric in sync with the feed dogs, so everything stays smooth and properly sandwiched.
Click HERE to learn how to stitch in the ditch with your walking foot!