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The quilting world has been all abuzz since the introduction of the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter at the October '08 International Quilt Market. QuiltWoman was fortunate enough to be at the unveiling of the GO! and the creative juices have been flowing ever since. Among the earliest to see the creative possibilities of the AccuQuilt GO! was one of our premier designers, Barb Sackel. Before she even left Quilt Market, she was bursting with ideas. And Barb didn't let us down. Between the end of October and mid November, Barb conceived,
documented, and stitched up eight brand new quilt patterns that can use the AccuQuilt GO!. If you are not lucky enough to have a GO!, don't despair. These patterns also have templates that you can use to cut out the necessary shapes. Or just do what I'm considering...buy one of the patterns and then tell your family that you must have an AccuQuilt GO! to accompany the pattern. As Barb puts it, "The AccuQuilt GO! is any quilter's next great gift. My patterns are just the frosting on the cake." One of the first patterns to come into the QuiltWoman office was the Rag Star Quilt. Made out of soft flannel, this quilt made us want to crawl under our desks and take a nap.
Hard on it's heels were two wall hangings. One was Seasonal Sunflower Skinnie. How innovative! You use the Rag Square die to create the petals or snowflakes (your pick the season).
The other new design was Dahlias. The creative use of the Round Flower die gave us these lovely flowers using Barb's Snip and Clip Method .
We barely had time to get those three designs off to our graphic designers when Barb showed up with a couple of more Skinnies. This time it was Pixie Dust and String of Beads. How does she do it? We shipped those designs off to the graphic designers!
By this time, I suspect Barb was sleep deprived. The next two designs to arrive at our office were Comfy & Cozy and Cabins & Posies (say THAT 5 times fast). Comfy and Cozy is more of a traditional quilt. The great part of using the AccuQuilt GO! to create this design is that you don't have to spend hours with your rotary cutter and ruler. Just crank and go...the resulting piece will be accurate cut after cut after cut. But remember, you can cut this pattern out in the tradition method...if you want.
Cabins & Posies is a whimsical traditional quilt if you will. Again, the Round Flower die is used, only this time in a more conventional way.
Finally Barb brought over the "Crème de la Crème" of her GO! inspired creations. She set a challenge for herself to create a design that used as many dies available as possible for the AccuQuilt GO!. Yes, I said AS MANY AS POSSIBLE!!! Here is the result, the Let's GO Sampler. If you are one of the lucky individuals to own many of the dies, this quilt will be a breeze. Can you pick out the die that is missing? No, we couldn't either.
Well, that was quite a bit of work on Barb's part in just a few months. But knowing her, I was betting she had something new in the works. So I just gave Barb a call to see if she had anything cooking. Sure enough, she's been busy in her studio, and some of her latest designs are for the GO! once again. Barb hinted at something called "Aspen in Bloom". Hmmm, I wonder what that could be about. Another new design is "All About Glitz" which has turned out to be a favorite of her pattern testers, they were fighting over it! I'm sure there is no glitter involved. Also coming along are two more Skinnies. Barb said one looked like fantasy flowers in a pot and another was a sampler of sorts called "I love quilting". I haven't seen any of them, so I am as much in suspense as you. But knowing Barb, they are sure to wonderful. The minute we get them, I'll be sure to give you the scoop! Just a final word....all these patterns are available on-line from QuiltWoman.com. But you had probably already figured that out.