Custom Dies

I have been asked about  my custom made dies. I bought the Accuquilt GO Baby cutter 2 years ago with the starter set of dies. A year ago I discovered the swag die and decided to invest in a gzillion more applique dies and figure out how to do a complete Red and Green antique type sampler top in a weekend. Life has a way of intersecting our plans and I am still working out this crazy plan.

Once I got started cutting out the shapes, I got frustrated trying to cut out just leaves from around the various sizes of flowers on a board and responded to the the ad from            www.CustomShapePros.com
This took a few days to sort out as I was designing 3 separate dies that cut only leaves in small, medium and large sizes. I wanted to have them do double duty so that I could cut out pre-fused fabric shapes for raw edged machine applique as well as for fabric for hand applique. Each smaller leaf size nestles inside the larger  so that I can cut the smaller shape out of freezer paper or wash-away foundation and the larger one out of fabric and then iron the 2 together then turn under the seam allowance for hand or machine applique.

The whole idea was to spend less time using scissors which hurt  my arthritic hands. As I was working on this order, I was also considering reproducing my own version of an antique quilt and had the scathingly brilliant idea of doing this using the GO dies.

So, I then had a special die made up with 3 sizes of natural leaves that could be used for this 1814 applique quilt. More on this when I have some progress to show. The thing that has slowed me down here is trying to figure out how to do the stems.

The order took a few days for us to get the right shapes figured out then they made them and shipped them out within 5 days. The dies each cost between $60 -$80 US plus shipping. It cost $40 US to ship them to Canada, or so we thought. Canada Customs has a way of intervening though. This package arrived at out door by UPS and we had to pay an extra $102 Cdn to receive it. Now I do not mind paying customs charges on international purchases. I shop across the border often and seldom have to pay the extra. However, it is the $48 brokerage fee on the order that gets me. As dairy farmers with a  high profile herd of Guernsey cattle, we often transport livestock across the border to and from the USA. We are no longer able to just load a cow onto the truck and drive across with the appropriate health documents required. We now have to hire a trucker/broker and pay the trucking fees as well as the $600 brokerage fee.

I am putting this on hold for a while until I get caught up on some farm paper work, doctoral homework and writing. . .  Sigh. . . . I love quilting.

Blessings,
Chris