A Big Shot review

Aug 15, 2010 at 09:53

As you can tell, I am back... and somewhat normal. For the last week Ms. Violet has decided to start going to bed between 9 and 10 in the evening and sleeping until 4am. Wow! I almost feel human again. Notice... I said, "Almost!" However, before long she will be sleeping through the night and I might just miss getting up for diapers and feedings. Okay, not really.

I've slowly started to get little crafty things and some sewing done. It's been a miracle, so before too long I hope to be up and fully functional.

I have put together lots of little dresses and blankets. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap photos of them before they were gifted away. I contribute that to the fog I have been living in. I just hope all my seams were straight. LOL!

I wanted to take a minute to post about a new little gadget that I bought while I was pregnant, but never made the time.

It is the Sizzix Big Shot. Okay, so it is nothing spectacular. However, it's new to me and I love it. Come on... it is pink and has sparklies, does it get any better than that? I'll answer that question... No, it doesn't. ^_^



I have been sewing more and more little quilts lately. Per the request of nieces, nephews, cousins, you name it. Everyone wants a little something cute for the babies. Thank goodness the kids are still small so I can get away with making little lovies.

I shopped around for a while before deciding on the Big Shot. I mean, c'mon... there is the Accuquilt system and the Westminster Sizzix Big Shot Pro (that is almost the same as the Accuquilt). While I would have LOVED getting a bigger machine, I could not justify spending the extra bucks for one of the larger machines. The Big Shot does everything I need. It slices, it dices, it cuts 5" squares! While my Big Shot may only cut two 2.5" strips at a time, as compared to the three strips from Accuquilt, I still love it. It makes accuracy so much easier and I don't have to get the rotary cutter out when Ben is running circles around me. Super plus in my book.

I have found that I can use the 6" wide Accuquilt dies with my Big Shot. Don't let people tell you otherwise. I just had to get the circular saw out and shave a 1/4" off one side to make it work. However, the savings is well worth it. The Accuquilt dies are cheaper than the Westminster dies at the moment, since Westminster is a new machine. I think Westminster will need to drop their prices if they are going compete with the Accuquilt (even though there are a few different dies between the systems). Plus Westminster does not have a 5" square die cutter or the rag square die cutter, only Accuquilt has those. But Westminster does have the super popular Hexie die. I may have to break down and try my hand at hexies since I now know I won't have to cut out all those little shapes by hand.

My altered Accuquilt 5" square die.




A couple of dies I have in my collection.





Oh, I had a little Tufted Tweets left over in my stash and made my girlfriend a little 5" charm pack.



Okay, enough jabbering. I better get to crafting/sewing while Violet is napping and Ben is with his Avo.

Have a super crafty day!