the gears are turning...

You already know how I feel about my die cutters, right?  I bought the Gadget Gears die when I bought my Big Shot for my last birthday and I've had a project planned for almost as long, but I couldn't quite figure out the background.

 

I wanted to use little bits of lots of neutrals. That charm pack I got for my birthday last week was the perfect solution -- the whole thing is made up of neutrals. Eight charms gave me exactly what I needed with very little waste....and I've got plans for those leftover bits!

The perfect black and brown fabric for the gears was already pulled for the other project I was working on last night, the one I can't show you quite yet. And I'd figured out what do with the background of this project while I was trying to come up with excuses not to work on on the other one...  So I'm playing and having fun and expect to have a new tutorial to share with you later this week.

I've had some questions about the Sizzix dies and where to buy them and whether using them to cut fabric would void the warranty. 

Gadget Gears is one of Sizzix's scrapbooking dies. (They also make dies for quilting.) I bought mine at Joann's with a 40% off coupon. You can find them at crafting and scrapbooking stores and the Bigz dies run around $20 before coupons or discounts.  If you've got dies from your scrapbooking days, or friends who scrapbook, hit them up!

Cutting fabric will not damage your steel rule dies. According to Linda Nitzen at Sizzix, you can cut up to eight layers of quilting cotton.

The old red machine and its dies can also be used to cut fabric, but they tell me that the new Bigz dies are too large to work well in the red machine. A friend gave me one of those red machines just before I bought my Big Shot, so I'm going to do some experimenting and see what happens. I'll let you know!

To see more design walls, head over to Patchwork Times.