Friday 14 October 2011

As Stiff As Desired

Well, general consensus seemed to be why avoid lowering the tone when the opportunity arose. (Arose - snicker, snicker!) So, please consider the tone well and truly lowered.

God forbid this is the first time you are reading my blog! If it is, I don't always stoop to these levels, but on the other hand if you are looking for someone who takes life very seriously than we might be at cross purposes here.

So on to the stiff stuff. I am glad to say that Stiffy worked a trick and the snowflakes are well and truly 'set'. I am amazed at how different they look once they have been soaked in the solution, stretched out and left to dry. I am so pleased with the results.

This photo is not upside down.
I am holding it upright just by the hanging loop to show you how well Stiffy worked.
As I have not used a pattern for the snowflakes and I tend to forget what I did from one to the next, each and every snowflake should end up unique - just like the real ones.


Now the serious question. If you were going to try and sell these at a craft fair what do you think would be a fair price for them that people would be willing to pay? All suggestions welcome.

I am pleased to say that the French Onion Soup last night was a huge success. I loved it. He loved it. Emily tried it and wanted to know why it hadn't been offered on their dinner menu. I take it that means she loved it too. Best let Helen try it later on. I presumed (wrongly) that they would turn their noses up at something which had onions as its main ingredient. I should know better by now as I do have two very adventurous eaters.

Scrumptious!
While I would like to wow you with many accomplishments, I am afraid you will have to be satisfied with my tablerunner progress for today. I have cut, and Go! Babied, and now have started my curved piecing. I can't wait to get to the perle cotton snowflakes, and I have an idea for the back which I am not telling about yet. Have to see if I can do it first.


I would say that the above gives my secret partner a rough idea of the tablerunner, but you would then have to visualise a white background, and hide the horror of that grotty old carpet.

Seeing as how I have been using my Go! to cut these blocks, let's talk Go! talk again. I am beginning to think that there is something wrong with my cutter. I have done eight cuts to achieve the above blocks - keeping in mind I have leftover white outside bits, and the curved inner bits in the blues so actually have twice as many pieces as shown here. I cut through four layers of fabric each time. With only eight cuts my new cutting mat looks like this.

It is already losing its flatness slightly and the cuts are quite deep.
I have started to become more aware of other parts of the Go! showing wear.
This is the back of my Drunkard's Path which is the die I have used the most.
Anyone else who has a Go! - is this type of wear normal?

This isn't the  best of photos, but if you look you can see green.
This is very fine and powder like, and what gets scraped off the back of the die
when it passes through the Go!
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has a Go! Baby and whether they experience similar problems and this is just the way they are made, or if I have a problem that goes much further than what I originally thought, which was just the cutting mat.

Susan

22 comments:

  1. Ooo im loving your stiffy snowflakes! Id definatly buy one but im no help as to how much to ask for one. Have you tried google/etsy to see if there is anthing similar to gauge it against?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, that soup looks delicious!! Much better than my tea (philly on toast!) - wonder if any of my neighbours can cook?! Love the title and I think anyone arriving at your blog hoping for help in the downstairs bedroom department (sorry, suddenly gone all Stephen Fry!) will be impressed at the stiffness achieved...will there be a rush on this from slightly furtive/sheepish looking men?!! I have no idea whether this is normal wear and tear for a Go baby but if I'd bought one and it did that after such a short time then I'd be complaining faster than you could say Jack Robinson, especially as they're marketed as a replacement for a rotary cutter...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmmm that soup looks good. Your kids are better than I am - I love french onion soup, but physically cant eat it unless I've blended it first! Wimp... I like to use Red Onions, and a nice big whack of balsamic vinegar whilst they're stewing, get some crispy edges! mmmmm.
    Glad you're keeping track of the Go deterioration, not so glad you've had so much to document. Sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your stiffy snow flakes. No idea what you could/should charge but I suspect if you call them stiffy snow flakes you can charge more! They're certainly gorgeous and I'd love to hand one or three on my tree.

    I stopped entering giveaway's for the go when I read this review.http://badskirt.blogspot.com/2011/07/away-we-go.html

    I read a few more positive ones which made me start entering again. But this has been enough that I won't be buying one or suggesting anyone buys me one as a present.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello you, soup looks delish. Go Baby wear looks not so delish, I own a paper cutting machine (way back when paper was my preferred craft medium) and was never impressed with it, hence the last comment about cutters. They never seem dependable. As for Mr Snowman's stiffy (couldn't resist), I love it! I have no idea whether these are a go-er for the christmas fair as it depends on how quicky you can churn them out...I guess I think I would pay £3-4 for one, which might not be a fair reflection of the effort you've put in, but I'm trying to imagine what I'd spend on a decoration..does that help? will ping you an email with my other thoughts on prices too xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh no - is the Go! turning into the Soda Stream of quilting?!!

    Love the snowflakes - depends on your 'market' darling! I would say £2 each or 3 for £5 BUT I have no idea how long they take to make xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. How big are your crocheted snowflakes Susan..my initial reaction was more than Hadley but I`m a bit out of touch perhaps. The `GO` thing is very irritating - hope you get it sorted.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh how I sniggered when I saw a thumbnail of 'Stiffy'! But seams it's dones just what it says on the tin! The soup looks delish! Need to turn some of my onions into a good soup :) Sorry the Go Baby isn't quite living up to expectations! Like Ceri My paper cutter mat never lasted as long as I expected.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great news on the viagra for snowflakes - works a treat!How much you can sell them for will depend on the venue I guess!? Between £2 and £3.50 I guess?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think you may have a problem with the actual machine. I haven't used my Go Baby for anything so far other than to cut around 500 HSt's. My mat is barely cut at all compared to yours. I'll send you photos.
    I used both sides of the mat and it's still useable-just.
    I also don't have any other wear and tear on the machine or on the dies. I have had a couple of issues with the HST's not all being accurate, but most of them are.
    I love your Stiffy snowflakes but have no idea how much you should charge for them.
    One of my all time favourite soups is French onion, yum.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Luckily, I just read two blogs this week that had problems with their Go! similar to yours. Here are their URL's so you can read about it. Hopefully this will help you.

    Here is the link where she's explaining the wear and tear on the mat and how many times she's used it:

    1st blog with problems:

    http://loveaffairwithmybrother.blogspot.com/2011/10/go-baby-review.html

    2nd blog with problems:
    http://canadianabroad-susan.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-was-supposed-to-do-favour-for-friend.html

    Here is the link to her post about her phone call to Accuquilt:

    http://canadianabroad-susan.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-ive-learned-about-go-babys-cutting.html

    GOOD LUCK!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love those snowflakes. I bought an e pattern last year to make some but because it was from the US I found it a bit tricky because at that time I was unaware of the difference between UK and US terms. When I saw yours I immediately thought of asking you for your pattern only to discover that you made it up as you went along, you clever thing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your snowflakes are super cute! My experience of craft fairs is that folks don't want to pay the true value of handmade goods, but if you had them nicely ribbon wrapped in sets of 4 say, you could charge £5. Not sure how England prices compare with here, but folks are pretty stingey here when it comes to craft fairs. Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have a full size GO! and the mats on that do mark quickly, but not nearly as quickly as it appears on the Go! baby. I suspect the cutting mat on the baby is different than the big Go!. My mats are dark grey and look thicker than what you've shown. Time to call them again....

    ReplyDelete
  15. I hate to hear that about the Go but it does confirm what Love Affair has said when comparing it to others. Hmmmm

    I am so glad you are pleased with your stiffy .....er stuff! hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  16. That table runner is going to look gorgeous. I don't have a Go, but I do have a Big Shot. I've had it for about 5 years and the cutting mats are completely covered with cuts and bowed, I just put them in upside down after each go, it still works fine...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, forgot to say, I LOVE the snowflakes, they are on my to do list, and I've pinned them.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Where to start....! Your french onion soup looks delicious and has made me very hungry, especially when I don't think tea will be much more than an omlette for me tonight. Your snowflakes look great: stiffy really seems to work.
    I love, love the colours of your drunkard path blocks.

    ReplyDelete
  19. First, your snow flake photo is fab - the one of the two flakes on wood. Spectacular.

    I don't know what to say RE your Go! mat. I'm really surprised and a little sad.

    How to price your flakes? Well, I see ladies here are going for much more than I would. This is horrible from someone who makes handmade stuff, but I'd price them lower. 1 - 1.50 pounds (nearly 2 euro), but just because its so little that folks don't have to think much - they just hand over the cash. They're clearly worth more for your time, etc, though.

    ReplyDelete
  20. If I saw those gorgeous snowflakes at a craft fair I'd be willing to pay 3 bucks each or thereabouts for them.(that's 2 pounds in your funny money ) They really are so pretty!

    How much were you thinking? Am I close?

    That really stinks about your Go!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh, so glad you got a good stiffy, nothing worse than a sad floppy... snowflake ;o) Not sure about the pricing, how big are they? Maybe do them in sets of 3 for whatever (£5 maybe?)

    The soup looks yummy!

    Sorry about the Go Baby, I'd heard such rave reviews about them, I'm rather sad to see 'what happens next'

    ReplyDelete
  22. love the look of that soup and those snowflakes are great! x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I read them all and I love them all. I do my utmost to reply to comments as often as possible. If you comment and never receive a reply from me there is the possibility that you are a no-reply commenter.