QuiltingVagabond

Good tutorial Marcia! I discovered that I have nearly every size of strip cutting die - except for the one I needed today of course!
It didn't slow me down much. Clue 1 is sewn and ready to press.

AmyBible

Oh Lisa - so sorry to hear about your cutter. Don't know if this will help or not but have you seen the cutter/ruler combo Eleanor Burns uses? It's called Sew Easy and you push down on the cutter with the palm of your hand and slide it up and back along the ruler. Google "sew easy ruler cutter" to see if it will work for you.

Well I was only going to use 1 fabric per color but after watching Bonnie and Holly's video I decided I better go full on scrappy. I kept her blue, green, and red, but switched her orange to yellow and her neutral to orange SO my 4-patches are RED and ORANGE - eeks... was worried it might be hard to tell the colors apart but I think they are stinking cute!
I had squares in my scrap bin in the right size to make about half the units and used yardage for the rest.

Everything is cut but I only have 20 units made and I am measuring each and every one after I press. I could not do Bonnie's seam twist with just my fingers, so I am un-sewing those few stitches as I sew. It's actually going pretty fast.
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Carol in WI

Amy, they really are stinking cute. I still have company here, but I'm watching closely and can feel myself getting drawn in quickly. I will be anxious to see how yours progresses.

joe'smom

AmyBible, thanks so much for that suggestion. I will look into it. It's going to be so exciting watching your units come together. I love red and orange together, so your 4-patches look great to me!

I had to stop trying to cut, as it was so exhausting with the broken cutter. Can I ask your opinions on another project? This is a large planned string block (some of the elements are scrappy and some constant), sewn together except for the last piece (brown shown here). They are untrimmed, as I can't trim them until I sew the last piece on, and I've been having quite a time finding something appropriate for that spot. Do you think the brown fabric works here? If you think the brown is okay, do you still find it okay when the four pieces are put randomly together? (I'm finding it a little creepy, like alien tentacles). I'm prepared to go looking for something else, but not quite sure what to look for.

AmyBible

Thanks Lisa.
As for your strings - I've never made a string quilt but I kind of like the alien tentacles... haha.

Battle Axe

What part is broken on your cutter???? Is the center axle out of round?

Marcia

joe'smom

I don't know what's wrong with the cutter. Everything looks normal to me. I did hear a snapping sound, and after that it didn't work. I tried new blades, so it wasn't a problem with the blade. And I cleaned it, so that isn't the problem, either. Previously when a cutter stopped working, they said it was because I was pressing too hard and ruined the bolt, so maybe it's that again. That time I sent them the cutter; this time I sent an email asking about replacement parts.

Terry in the ADK

Tnx for the help. Since dies are 20% off today( hopefully all weekend) I will just have to buy the 1 1/2 “ strip die !!! Our LQS honors the online sales so a quick visit is in my future tomorrow!
Any help you can offer during our mystery will be greatly appreciated, Battle Axle! TIA

ckcowl

As I cleaned up, sorted, remolded & organized my shelves I pulled many reds, oranges, blues greens and off whites that I liked, might work & stacked them up on the quilting table. Today I started on the first clue- don’t feel like I made a big dent but I managed to get a nice start on my 4-patches. I’m going to try to get a few more done each day this week. I love that I am totally using scraps/ stash fabrics for this.

Mariposa

ck~ great progress on those pretty scraps!