Pat Sloan's I Love To Make Quilts

Did you know you need to clean your rotary cutter when you change the blade?

FIRST...

Did you miss my announcement of the next Block Wednesday?

CLICK HERE for Winter Fun! Details

You can either call this a public service announcement or 'Reality Quilting'.. either way.. I'm about to show you real life happening right in my studio.. are you ready?.. it might get a little.. scary....  But.. it's necessary...

Sometimes we just do NOT take the time to be sure our tools are in the best condition. You are cutting with your blade that you KNOW is dull, it is hard to push, it must have a nick because you are cutting places it missed, and you .. just.. keep .. using it... 

DISCLAIMER -- names have been changed to protect the innocent.... I believe Sofia did this.. right here in my studio.. let's see what happened... 

After numerous times of the blade not cutting all the places I ... I mean..Sofia decided to take a look.. maybe change that blade even!

Being a very careful quilter she has a container of OLD blades and NEW blades clearly marked.  

This Olfa rotary cutter is BRILLIANT as it takes all the guesswork and frustration out of changing the blade. 

1. Turn it over and slide down that yellow part so the screw holding the blade on is now free
2. let the blade with the cover drop to the table and then turn it over
3. OH MY... horror!! 
4. There is a THREAD MAT in those grooves
5. I needed.. I mean... Sofia needed to get a needle to pry all the dust out

Next you will dump off the old blade and put a new one on that cover

BUT.. be sure you clean the crud off there too!!  

ewwwwww this is a dirty job!

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Now the BRILLIANT part continues!

Just lay the handle on top of the blade and cover, the screw goes back into place

Slide the yellow holder UP to hold in the screw

You are ready to rock and roll!!! New Blade, Clean Rotary cutter!

How often do you find yourself doing the same thing as Sofia and I? 

Now do yourself a huge favor and buy one

• Purple ones HERE, Aqua HERE, more sizes HERE. They may have a slightly different blade changing
• New blades, of course! Get those HERE!
• Get my FREE Notices and you will be the first to know when I write something useful, funny or useful AND funny.. wink!
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How about a little Scrap quilting fun + a Giveaway?

When I was asked to share my good friend Bonnie Hunter's Book 'String Frenzy' during her book tour I said heck yes! I've been sewing strips of extra fabric, strings of fabric, together for many years.  

Bonnie has such a wonderful eye for combining scraps into very effective quilts! You will love her book. So let's see what I selected to work on.

** BUY a String Frenzy for 20% off! **

I decided that I have a LOT of neutrals that are just not getting used. Some are pretty big pieces, others are 1/2 a layer cake square, or a part of a fat quarter that was left.

I decided that Bonnie's gorgeous 'Indigo-a-Go-Go' would use up the most lights. She make this quilt to use her African Indygo prints.  It really stretched those into a full size quilt with this pattern!

I've been making these type of strip units almost since I started quilting. I did one great big project that was part of a challenge and then toured to different shows a few yrs ago. It's very zen like to sew strips like this, I really love it! Another reason I was drawn to this quilt was the fact that I got to sew these units. 

Because I want my strips to stay in the background, I'm using fabrics that read tonal and don't have a lot of other colors in them

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As I had left over strips, I sew units to it to be used in the next strip unit, see below, it is an excellent way to use up leftovers!

I am EXCITED to use that strip of 'An American In Paris', I've had it awhile.

I decided to go with the pinky/red Figtree and the aqua Figtree fabrics. I have quite a bit of each and love them as a combo.

Lay out all the blocks so you like the placement.

Note that the direction of the strips in the aqua blocks. Some are horizontal and some vertical string placement. 

This little surprise is why I love doing these type of quilts!

I have the top of my office assistant loaded up with this project. That way I can pull it up next to my Baby lock Solaris!  

See how nice my Koala Studio table is, I love that my machine sits flush with the top and I have a comfy Koala chair to sit in.

I've decided the best way to do this is to make these 9-patch blocks. 

I'll mix and match the red and aqua in the blocks so that when I set them the Figtree fabrics will be scattered around. And it's more motivating to me to sew these big 9-patch blocks as I go rather than waiting until the end. 

The book has 12 quilts and tips of how to use your scraps. I love Bonnie's stories about each quilt too!

This is another of my favorites in her book, the pumpkin patch.. do you have a lot of orange to use up?

And Dawn's Early Light is so gorgeous with red/white & blue. 

** BUY yourself String Frenzy, you'll love it! **

GIVEAWAY - Leave me a comment telling me

Do you save scraps?

leave the comment by 6pm April 11. 

Winner is Nancy P who said "Yes I save my scraps, but now I have added saving scrap squares - thank you Pat Sloan. After being inspired by you, I now have baskets of 2, 2 1/2, 3 and 4 inch scrap fabric squares."

Book Tour:

• Friday, 4/5: C&T Publishing at ctpub.com/blog
• Saturday, 4/6: Pat Sloan at ilovetomakequilts.com
• Sunday, 4/7: Sandra Clemons at makeitblossomdesigns.com
• Monday, 4/8: Susan Arnold at quiltfabrication.com
• Tuesday, 4/9: Bernie Kringel at needleandfoot.com
• Wednesday, 4/10: Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.blogspot.com

CLICK to read  the legal sweepstakes stuff I'm required to tell you.