8 hours + AccuCut = ?

Today was a 'free' day. nothing on the to-do list. so i decided to play with the AccuCut machine. i really don't use it enough.

With the last I Spy quilt that i made i decided i needed to do that again. it was so quick and easy. so i dug out all the scrap boxes and starting cutting.

The AccuCut machine will cut 6  3.5" squares at a time....i need an 8x12" piece of fabric to do that. so i dug through the boxes and cut everything in there to get as many 8x12" pieces of fabric that i could. i wound up with 345 pieces. whew!!   there was a lot of stuff in those scrap boxes.

I figured out 15 of those pieces used 1 yard of fabric....so i busted 23 yards of scrap fabrics today. woohoo!! who knew there was that much in those boxes. and, trust me, there is still a LOT more in the boxes.....they are now just pieces smaller than 8x12.

I ironed them all up and then....10 at a time...ran them through the cutter. it has taken me all day to accomplish this. i now have 2,070  3.5" squares......105 different fabrics.

It takes 165 squares to make a kid size donation quilt with these in the pattern that i am using....so i can make 12 donation quilts. with all these blocks. of course, i need some sashing fabric, too....but i have lots of that on the shelves.

A few of the fabrics i only have 6 pieces...but most of them i have multiples. this is going to be fun. in the pattern....the middle row is 3 squares wide....so i am going to make some 9 patches to go in there...rather than just 3 rows of different blocks. i figured that out when i made the last quilt. there were some blocks there were next to each other that really looked good together. you can see at the top middle of the pic that there are some squares laying on other squares. those are the ones....so far....that i will use for the 9 patches.

Not that i usually have any time to sit around and twiddle my thumbs and wonder what i will do....but if i do....i can get these blocks out and do some mindless stitching.

You know.....i just thought of something....if i had a sewing day here at the studio.....i could have a few friends over.....and we could sew all these blocks up in a day.....dontcha think?   hahahahaha 

I imagine if i called people with my idea they would say.....sure....we'll be right there.....

Later

AccuCut vs Go Cutter

I got my AccuCut machine several years ago and love it...it cuts great and is fast and easy.

Recently i was in a JoAnn's store...cruising the aisles..LOL...never a good thing to do. they had a display of Go Cutter dies...along with the Go Cutter itself. i surely didn't want another cutter...they are a bit pricey. but as i was looking at the dies...(they were on sale...it would be bad juju to not at least LOOK at them)...i saw this one...and had to have it.

Look at that cute little dragonfly....you would want it, too...i know you would. and the bumblebee and the butterly are just a bonus. i even took it out of the package to check it out.

But you know my brain doesn't always register properly.. and in my own defense, if i noticed i don't know if i would have known.....the heights are different from the dies for the AccuCut. the AccuCut die is on the left.

Oh my...bummer...what to do. i tried stacking magazines under it...2 was too tight. couldn't get the right combination of fat and thin magazines to make it work properly. taking it back wasn't really an option for me. i really wanted that dragonfly...plus JoAnn's is about 125 miles from me. i just visit there when i go to my sisters.

So, as i usually do when stuck for a solution, i gave the problem to my husband. he fixes most anything. he brought me a piece of drywall...too thick and too messy. then we tried a piece of plywood....almost, almost good but a bit shy of working. he went back to his creative space (the barn..LOL)...to come up with another solution.

So, a bit later he came back with this.

It's the original piece of plywood with duct tape wrapped around it. he had black tape in the barn and it looked prettier...but i only had the regular gray stuff at the studio. so we added one more layer of the gray and it works fine now.

The heights of the dies are almost the same.

Now the only challenge is to keep the Go die from sliding off its base helper. i think i shall get some double sided tape to solve that problem. i probably won't be getting any more Go Cutter dies...the solution is a bit aggravating. and the solution to that is not to even LOOK at them when i am at JoAnn's. a new years resolution....don't go down the Go aisle at JoAnn's. LOL 

And here is what i wound up with after all that finagelling.

They are just the cutest. I believe they are going on a baby quilt...i made lots of them. they have fusible on the backs.

Now, i know the AccuCut people want you to buy both machines so they can make some money but i am of the opinion that it would have made more customers happy if they could use the same dies on both machines. I certainly am not going out to get a Go Cutter.

But, just so you know....the Go Cutter dies will work on the AccuCut...you just gotta figure out a solution. but, of course, the AccuCut dies won't work on the Go Cutter. too bad.

Which machine do you use? Do you have both? which do you like better? inquiring minds want to know.