Ever heard that expression "the mind is willing but the flesh is weak"? I have heard that used in many contexts but never with quilting -- until now.
I love to quilt -- if I am in the mood and things don't get all glitchy. I also have a very, very short attention span. Right now I have a quilt on the machine, two on the cutting table and one in my head and guess who isn't in the mood to quilt? Yep. I think I do ok with the cutting (to a point) and the piecing but when it comes to spreading the whole mess out on a large, flat surface (the floor comes to mind) I just go all ughy. In the first place, if I put it on the floor there is a huge chance there will be a cat in the middle of it in a nanosecond. Again, if I put it on the floor I risk never being able to get up from pinning it assuming I can get down there to begin with. So, I asked for a lovely cutting table for Christmas a couple of years ago to help with the process which does help, provided I don't want to create a quilt for my king-sized bed. I may be employing Georgia Bonesteel's techniques for quilting as I go if I tackle that project again.
However, with all these drawbacks in my physical ability and my mental prowess, I still love to quilt. There is something about creating a blanket that just sends lovey feelings all over me, probably because it reminds me of my great-grandma who essentially got me to thinking about it oh, long around 1954-55. I mean, come on, the great-great granddaughter of pioneer quilters just can't drop the ball, right? So, on I go.
I have learned a few things along the way though. I have learned that with all our new fangled gadgets for making like easier, I still liked the evenings at g-grandma's watching her piece quilt blocks with nothing but a needle and a thread and a pair of scissors. In dull light, I might add. I have never attempted hand piecing although I would love to but figure the short attention span might not be a good match for it -- I am, after all, a woman of this instant gratification generation. Still, I am a purist and think the hand piecers/quilters still have it right. However, after cutting out a quilt with scissors one Christmas and finding that all my strips were off between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch, I gave up on the scissors and went back to the rotary cutter. That was better. However, the rotary cutter and ruler aren't my best friends -- I seem to be a bit ruler dysfunctional but it is still better than scissors -- I have just learned to jiggle things a bit to make them fit. Of course, I do lots of strip piecing and stuff like that, I don't really cut out quilt squares and piece things together -- I take the easy way out.
In any event, I caved in and bought one of these today.
It is called Accuquilt Go and is a die cutter for fabric. I have seen one used and I have watched the video. It all looks very promising and not nearly so messy as my rotary cutting. I have read many reviews and the only negative one I found was today, AFTER the purchase. I haven't tried it out yet -- I refuse to unpack it until I am further along with the ones I have already started -- otherwise I will just get even more distracted and have three more projects in various stages of completion.
I will report back in when I have had some experience with the thing but I will say that sassy pic of the lady holding it with one hand -- yeah, I had to have somebody carry the box to the car for me -- it only weighs 15 pounds but -- well, I'm just sayin'.
