Harbor Freight Indispensable sewing room aid
 

I absolutely love these magnetic bowls. :thumbup: I keep straight pins in one and safety pins in another, etc. When pins fall I just sweep the floor with a bowl. Voila! All picked up. They are on sale now for $3.00. http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...tm_source=1010

good idea. I'm one of those who has good luck with the blades for rotary cutters from Harbor Freight. They have some nifty things there.

Bless you for showing me these!

I tried the bowls but the con for me is all the pins get in a jumble and hard to pull apart. I like the magnetic pin holders that automatically puts the pins going in one direction even when sweeping them up off the floor.

Please be careful with the magnetic bowls as they can wipe out (erase) digital machine information and your machine will no longer work. Tks. GiGi

GiGi was so right to warn you about the digital machines. So sorry. Didn't think of you ladies with machines with tails. I am a treadler. No electronics here - alright - I do have a 401A (great machine) but only use her when I am simply not up to treadling - which is not often. Another plus is when the bowl tips over (I am so clumsy) all the pins stay together. I also use it to magnetize the tip of my scissors.

What type of rotary blades do you buy there? Brand and size? Very interested in knowing. Thanks so much!

They are great but be careful with these bowls around your computer machines....I destroyed my Kindle Fire by putting it too close to my magnetic pin bowl. I removed the bowl from my sewing room.

The bowl was one of my treasured fines at HF, then the blades are a blessing. Also bought a magnetic extender pointer that I can pick up pins with( or anything metal) with out bending over so much,

The rotary blades are 2 in a package for $1.99. They are called Carpet Cutter Replacement Blades and are in the Floor Installation aisle. Some quilters have had bad experiences with them, but I have been using them since 2009 with no problems at all. They re-sharpen with my reg little blade sharpener and cut just as well as the 35.00 pack of 5 does. There have been several "interesting" threads on the subject...I will continue to buy and use them with my Olpha rotary cutter. The only downer for me is that they only come in the 45mg size! I can live with that! Hope this helps...at least buy one and judge for yourself!

I have 3 of these (1 even has a handle).
1 for each machine.

They work great.

Forgot to mention that HB is having a Black Friday sale
and the Magnet Bowls will be $2.00 (see their sales papers).

JoAnn's are $10.99 (What a savings).

magnetic bowl
 

What a great price--I paid a lot more from my quilt/Viking store.

Love mine!!!

I bought some of the rotary blades to try and somehow managed to loose them. Maybe I'll find them if not I guess I will have to make a trip to HF just to get some.

Rotary cutters
 

Thanks Sooo... much!!! Looked them up on Harbor Freight and they are a FANTASTIC $1.99 for two!!!!
They are the 1 3/4. I will be making a trip to Harbor freight!!!
Thanks for the Idea!!

I found a little LED flashlight that can hang from the top of my machine (on the needle side). It works for me when I sew at night. The light has one bulb on one end. One of the sides has all LED. It looks like a rectangle with rounded corners, is about palm-size, and way less $$ than the ones that attach with a magnet that I see in sewing catalogs. The hangar is built in and is easy to pull out when needed. Bad description, but just go look in the flashlight section.

My hubby came home with a bunch of these for me a few years ago. I have several by my machines, one on my desk for paper clips and so on. I gave them as little Christmas gifts with a couple of FQ to my sewing pals. They love them. Great invention!!!!

Thanks so much for your reply. I will definitely give these a try.

I bought 6 of them last year .. DH stole 4 of them .. I may have to go back and get more !LOL They are great for pins, needles, and paper clips. I really like the HF blades as well, as I have good luck with them. Harbor Freight is my go to store when I want something for the Sewing Room .. as well as a few others !LOL Never know what one can find out there to help out the quilter,sewist, crafter, artist.. LOL

Thanks for posting these! Told DH about them so we're off to HF this weekend.

Home Depot has them too...just don't put them near your computer sewing machine!!!

Love H F. I buy blades there, but have also purchased a nice square . Bought a tool bag with wheels for when I want to take my big machine to a class. There seem to be many uses for "men" things in the quilting world.

OMG I didn't know that, thanks!

[QUOTE=diamondee;6416290]I just got a tool carrier to put my sewing machine in for easy transport to quilt class. $20.00. It's not fancy but it has wheels :)
http://www.harborfreight.com/20-inch...-bag-3264.html

[/I got this also. Works fine. Also been using the blades with no problems!QUOTE]