Christmas in July Challenge

Well, it's towards the end of July already.  What a month it has been!  With the virus and social distancing, mask wearing and making...it is all rather sad.  A bright spot for all the Island Ambassadors has been the arrival of boxes of lovely fabrics and supplies for us to use the next 6 months in our monthly challenges.

Our challenge for this month is called Christmas in July and it was truly a unique challenge.  Accuquilt Go!  which is one of our sponsors, supplied each Ambassador with a Go! Me Fabric Cutter Starter Set.

This is just the cutest little Accuquilt Go! Cutter.  Very small and very portable.  It has the same great cutting performance as the larger Go! cutters, but is small enough to travel with. This size is great if you have a small sewing area, or if you just don't want a large cutter taking up space.   If you've been interested in purchasing a cutter, but weren't sure- this is a great size to try out, and there are loads of other dies that you can use in this machine.

This Starter set comes with two dies, a cutting mat, instructions and a few patterns.

The most interesting part of our July Challenge is that we were instructed to make a small project like a table runner and give that -AND- the Go! Me away!  We could choose someone we thought would enjoy the cutter and give it away sometime during July.  We got to feel like Santa Claus!  Thanks Accuquilt!

First I'll show you the table runner I made using the two dies that were included in the set.  The dies were for 3" finished half squares and  3" finished quarter square blocks.  I like that size for something like a table runner.  I used fabrics from the Sunset Blooms Collection by Kathy Engle (in your stores now).  The Go! Me made the cutting and piecing go quickly.

Hobbs Cotton Batting is always a plus.

I thought it looked very nice on my coffee table.

I used two colors of Aurifil thread for quilting.  The brownish color on the right is # 6010.  This is one of my favorite colors as it seems to blend with almost anything.

Now my project was made- who to give it to?  Having so many quilting friends, it was a hard decision for me to make. They all would have loved to have it.  I finally decided to gift it to my quilting friend Elaine.  She is a gifted quilter and has grandchildren that I thought would also enjoy using it.

The day arrived and the packages were wrapped for the big surprise.

Elaine had no idea- boy was she surprised!

 She loved the Go! and the table runner.  She said she felt like she had won the lottery!

A few days later I saw one of her posts on Facebook.  Her grandson who is a sewer had already been using the cutter, so I know it will get a lot of use at her house!  Merry Christmas Elaine!


Thanks to Island Batik, Accuquilt Go!  Aurifil Threads and Hobbs Batting for the products used in this challenge.

*The winners from my July 14 Blog are  Mary Q and Pamela.  Your issues of McCalls Quilting Sept/Oct will be arriving soon.