Last night and today, the Quilt Company in Allison Park, PA hosted an event called The Creative Grids Experience. It was a cross between a quilt retreat and a Creative Grids promotion. They required the participants to purchase two Creative Grids rulers, and then showed various ways to use them to make quilts and table runners. The required purchase was part of the price of the event, so it wasn't a surprise. The nice thing was that if you owned either or both rulers, the cost of the ruler was given back to you in the form of a gift certificate to the shop. The one ruler was the Curved Slotted Ruler, which I would have never considered buying, because curved seams and I don't get along. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to sew the curved pieces cut with this ruler. If you want to see how it works, there is a good video on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgF12HbO0jc
The other 'ruler' was really a set of templates called the Scrap Crazy 6 Templates. I already owned these, but had never used them. Don't laugh, I'm sure you have at least one quilt tool that you just had to have, and it is still in the wrapper! The cool thing about these templates is that you can use them together or separately. Together, they make a scrappy block that finishes at 6 inches. (Hence the name...) But if you don't want to make a scrappy quilt, the templates can also be used to make really cool patterns by cutting each template from a separate fabric. Again, You Tube has a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlfD9DXp9GQ
So I had a great time sewing last evening and all day today. The only bad part is that now I have three more UFOs, since I didn't finish any of the projects. Oh, well, I'll just add them to the projects for the UFO Challenge I mentioned the other day!
That sounds like a wonderful retreat! You have no idea how many rulers I have that I have never used. I can recall at least 4 right off the top of my head that I purchased at Quilt Market in Houston 5 years ago as a set/promo from Creative Grids. 2 of my girlfriends purchased with me the same ruler set and they haven't used theirs either.
ReplyDeleteAfter I finished using the curvy ruler, I told the other ladies at my table that I was already preparing the Ebay post in my head.... 'Almost brand new! Only used once!"....
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