September 1, 2010

Zowie !





Yesterday and Today

Himself: Was still working at the early dinner time when he went out on another late call then worked till bedtime. No one has answered his two important questions yet: What is his territory, and why is the upload so slow when no one else’s uploads are slow.

Herself: …and the quilt blog too: Swam, worked on poem, fixed lunches , read blogs, cooked, read. A simple day.

My Babylonian Captivity: Do stop in and read Tugster's experience as a human shield. He writes that, “ i was captured in kuwait (where i was teaching in the kuwaiti air force)….”

Gratitude: Simplicity. Lessa. Lenora brought over a violet too.

One of the OD readers wanted to know what I meant by a lightweight cutter. This one is by Fiskars. It’s 12 inches wide, and tho it looks just like the 12 inch paper cutter, you can find this machine in the fabric sections of any good fabric store….and Jo Ann’s too.

The modern quilter, which I am not, uses many tools to help them cut and sew straight lines and quarter inch wide seams. Until very recently, I did all my cutting on the blue mat using the Olfa rotary cutter and that big, wide ruler. I confess to being challenged when it comes to cutting straight edges. Now I still cut long strips, the width I want the finished pieces, but it is much easier to run them through the small cutter to make more accurate small pieces.

Put the fabric in and line it up straight. Lower the bar which lightly locks in place. Run the rotary blade, which lives inside it’s little orange cover over the fabric. “Zap.” You’ve cut a piece and move on to the next “Zap.” Zowie!

6 comments:

  1. I wondered what that was when you wrote about it yesterday. Thanks for the pictures. If I ever get back to quilting, I'll look for one. I can't cut straight either.

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  2. Thanks for the explanation. I am trying (as in not started) to quilt again. I made many baby quilts when the babes were, well, babies. I have a rotary cutter and a mat. I now have a yen for a cutter like yours. I sent my dust laden and much neglected sewing machine to the local fixers hoping they can clean years of dust and grandchild fuzz out of it. Not likely to get too much hand stitching out of me. Great picture so helpful in shopping up supplies.

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  3. If you go missing we'll look for you under piles of tiny quilt pieces. Quilting was not my thing but many people really enjoy quilting.

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  4. Tools for hobbies change so fast, I cannot keep up. I used to sew and sew ages ago and now my pile of mending sits and sits.

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  5. That looks a bit like a torture device! EEEP!

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  6. I'm so glad you put in the picture as I was trying so hard to "see" it. This seems a nifty tool. If I really get back into sewing all that fabric up that I've stashed so many years, I'll be sure to look into purchasing one. So far I haven't noticed any at our JoAnn's but then I haven't looked for it either. Oh the things you learn by reading blogs!

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