It took me about an hour but I did the quilt math and the scrap puzzle and I’ve got the whole block cut.
Then I went to make dinner, put the last of 3 batches in the canner and now I’m waiting for it to reach the correct pressure. Then I’ve got 75 minutes to piece the August BOM before I need to be in the kitchen again.
What a productive evening! I’m looking forward to seeing your block.
My BOM fabrics are bold colours / prints, but now I’m using up scraps the blocks are getting wilder and wilder! But it’s fun finding out how many blocks I can get from these fabrics.
I was sorting through my boxes of special fabrics. Holiday, Halloween, florals, kids stuff, fun prints and fouqnd some more flannel charms that may work with the more neutral blocks. Yay!
And I designed and sewed a simple block today and whew, I don’t know where my mind was, because I made so many simple errors in cutting and assembling. That’s the problem with designing your own blocks, sometimes your dyslexic brain just can’t parse it all out. Fix now, but an 8" 4 x 4 block really shouldn’t take all afternoon.
Updating on my quilting ruler storage, here’s what I ended up with.
I originally 3d printed a holder for the square rulers but it was fiddly to get them in/out of so I went with them leaning on a little command strip picture ledge instead. The hooks @AudiobookLover showed worked perfectly for the longer rulers! On a completely random note, the little Shark handvac is amazing. I have one in my art studio too, it’s perfect for quickly cleaning up without having to get out the big vacuum.
Now that I’ve got my sewing room setup, and can access it during the day, I’m planning to join in on the quiltalong fun!
Looks great! Your organizing skills continue to impress and amaze me! I can’t wait to see what you make. I am sure all of your color studies will definitely help with quilting as well.
Thanks Linda!
Another question for the group, is there much difference between self healing mats? I want to get a large A0 size (36” x 48”) mat and it doesn’t look like OLFA or Fiskars make ones that large. Does anyone have one they love or should I just buy whichever one Amazon recommends?
Do you have a Michael’s nearby?
Avoid seemingly good deals on Amazon. They are often notoriously inaccurate.
Out of curiosity, why are you looking for that particular size cutting mat? A 24” x 36” is usually plenty big. Especially since most rulers fit a 24” depth, and most quilting fabric is about 22” wide folded off the bolt. If you’re trying to cut longer than that, you’re likely to overextend your reach, letting the ruler slip off course, and ending up with crooked cuts.
I have used both OLFA and Fiskars mats over the year. When it was time to replace my last Fiskars one, I got a new Fiskars that came in purple, rather than their usual grey or yellow. I like the color, but I preferred the layout and direction of the numbers on the ild yellow one.
I like to use my largest ones if I can cut all around the table, especially if I am sewing from a pattern. I agree, though, that if you are working at a table from one side, you aren’t going to be able to reach all that way and still be accurate. Storage is a pain as well…I keep mine under the bed, flat, until I need it on my work table. My favorite one is yellow on one side and pale green on the other. I also have a black one and a gray one and two small 8x10 for paper crafts or EPP.
I have a 24" x 36" cutting mat by Olfa (green and yellow lines) inches on one side, cm on the other. Mine is inch-size up because I almost exclusively use foreign patterns in inches. This size is the largest size that fits on my desk, but I would have liked a bigger surface. 24 x 36" is big enough for cutting quilting fabric, but garment fabrics are usually much wider (1,4 m or 1,5m) . I wouldn’t cut those out with a ruler and rotary cutter, but I prefer to cut out on my mat, rather than the floor or dining table, to prevent damage to the surface by pins / scissors.
I have a second, small, dollar store self-healing cutting mat for papercraft, it was only like €2 something, but it’s not completely accurate. It’s no big deal because I use it to avoid getting glue on my desk or my good mat, but it’s not really useful for it’s actual purpose. The cheap mat is also much smoother, which isn’t good because fabric and paper is much more likely to move.
My cutting mat is on my desk year round. It just stays there, so it always stays flat.
I have a big 24x36" OLFA for cutting quilting fabric but I want a larger 36"x48" for cutting clothes sewing patterns with a projector and rotary cutter (my hands would -hate- if I had to cut paper patterns + cut fabric with scissors). I figured this was the best thread to ask about cutting mats since I felt confident most quilters would have one 
Yes, that is exactly what those larger mats are used for…projector patterns cut with a rotary blade.
And what I’m working on right now:
Not my usual style but this will be for my MIL. There will be six sunflower blocks in total and 6 different panel blocks, all in this style (autumn / harvest / pumpkin / sunflower) I’ve finished 3/6 sunflowers so it will be finished soon I hope. This BOM has really made me love star blocks, while I used to be a bit scared of flying geese.
I’ll have to figure out the backing though. I’d planned to use a black fabric from stash (not the same black that’s in the blocks) that I had left over from the surprise quilt, but it shrunk very much, way more than the other fabrics. I don’t know if I’ve got something else suitable in stash.
When this one is done, it’s finally time to start a quilt for myself!!! I’ve got plans / fabric for not one, but two Queen sized quilts for my bed (summer and winter) and I’m looking forward to starting them.
Those blocks are wild! So colorful and I know you made good use of your scraps!
The colors in your mom’s quilt will be nice for fall and winter.
The original July block was scrappy and white which shows a clear star, this one is scrappy and solid but my solid isn’t really contrasting enough to bring out the star shape. But it’s done.
I’ve got 7 BOM blocks so I’m going to try and make 2 more for a 3x3 quilt.
I have a big OLFA self-healing cutting mat, but also this gigantic translucent one that’s 56x33” and nearly covers this oversized cutting table we built out of a sheet of plywood over 2 Kallaxs. The lady at the fabric store said it is not self healing but that you can still cut on it and I do. She just said you will have to replace it eventually, but you have to replace the self healing mats so what’s the difference? I only cut really big pieces on than one, garments mostly so no repetitive cuts like you do with blocks. It’s holding up fine.
Today’s Bingo prompt is:
Measure twice, cut once
Today’s Bingo prompt is:
Clean your bobbin case
