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Saturday 4 August 2012

Lean Mean Cutting Machine...

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make a sampler quilt by Sizzix using a selection of their new quilting dies; easy I thought; to include as many of the 20 blocks shown here as I could, including a whole herd of Y seams; oh it'll be fine, I hoped...


The only other specification was a scrappy style, similar to this apple core quilt...
So I pulled some fabrics in advance of receiving the dies, and as soon as they came I began, and pretty much straight after, finished cutting all the pieces!


Having only really cut the mini dresden previously, I can honestly say I had not appreciated the ease and speed of using the cutter!  Resisting the urge to sound like an advert, this is so cool.  I am guessing the Go! is similar, and I am sure some of you have tried both, I haven't, but I can say this is a great bit of sturdy kit.

I had 4.5" and 2.5" squares, a 4.5" quarter-square triangle set, 2.5"x4.5' rectangle and a similar sized trapezoid to work with.

If you are not familiar with cutting dies, they are steel cutters in-bedded in dense foam, which are basically squeezed between the Sizzix rollers and cut the fabric placed between the cutting die and cutting mat.

Some even have an open centre section, useful for fussy-cutting too.

I was dubious about the wastage, but I was quite economic with my fabric, and did not use pieces that covered the whole die, making sure instead that they simply covered the cutter shape.  This may sound like I ended up cutting twice, but honestly, scissor cutting squares, rectangles and strips from the larger pieces of fabric I pulled was no bother.  Maybe cutting the 2.5" squares for this project could have been done more fabric-efficiently by rotary cutter, but it was so much faster, and as you can cut multiple pieces at a time, it was more than fine by me.  If you have odd shaped scraps to trim up, the square dies would be fantastic.

If I had had to cut these pieces by hand, I would still be at it, and the triangle and trapezoid shapes would have left a lot to be desired in the accuracy department. 

So bouyed by the super-fast cutting, I started piecing.

I made all 20 8" blocks in 2 hours!  I know I was probably sewing fast to distract me from my then computer plight, but the accurate cutting and a 1/4" foot meant that everything matched perfectly, there was no unpicking and no swearing!


I sashed with 2" white Klona...


I backed it with single piece of pink Klona, and quilted a walking-foot's width from each vertical and horizontal seam.  Simple and effective to compliment the blocks.




I am happy with all my seams and points, and I don't say that very often, if ever, until now!


As the cut pieces came out with such precision, and super-useful clipped corners, my Y seams were more perfect than I could have imagined!


The finished quilt measures up at a sweet 43" x 57".


This has been sent off to Sizzix HQ and will be accompanying them to Festival Of Quilts in a couple of weeks time!


If you are heading to FoQs, please go check out their stand; unfortunately I can't be there, but you may see a familiar face or two, and look out for the new hexie dies; I can't wait to get my hands on those!

39 comments:

  1. 20 8" blocks all different pieced in 2 hours? Are you sure you'd pass the doping test?! Incredible work missus x

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    1. This comment truly made me laugh out loud.

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  2. Hadley it's brilliant!! I love the scrappy look and don't even think I'd attempt a Y seam, ever. I'm going on the Saturday so I'll be sure to look out for it! x

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  3. that bloody rock missus! I am so impressed!!!!!

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  4. Very cool :-) You're a machine! 20 block in 2 hours, incredible!

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  5. Such a cool sampler quilt Hadley! Yay you! And it's going to be a famous travelling to Birmingham quilt too ... so proud of you and your sexxy sizzix xx

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  6. Could have used one of those sizzix to cut out my 72 kites today! Your sampler quilt looks great Mrs...

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  7. Looking good, Hadley! They should throw a gold your way!

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  8. Very cool Hadley - I am going to the FoQ on the Friday so will stop by and take a pic for you x

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  9. This quilt is gorgeous - the sashing makes the blocks stand out so beautifully. Great work! I would love a die cutter, it is on my long list of gadgets I covet.

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  10. That sampler quilt is gorgeous! Great review Hadley x

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  11. And the gold medal goes to...awesome speedy work, looks great and it's going to FoQ what more could you want?

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  12. Definitely worthy of a gold medal! I will definitely go check it out out the lovely hostess with mostest that will be there too :)

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  13. brilliant it is gorgeous you get the GOLD :)))

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  14. Beautiful quilt! I think a due-cutter would be so fun to try!

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  15. Love the colours in your quilt. Also the method of photographing it (having spent half an hour pegging a quilt in a tree for photos and still not happy with the photos !!!!!!) I think a rummage through my wardrobe may just produce the solution.

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  16. Nice! I really like that Y-seam block! It's it awesome what precision cutting can do?

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  17. Great quilt. I'm not much of a sizzix fan. The price of the machine alone would buy a lot of fabric, and I'm never in such a rush. But again a really cute quilt and I'm happy you had so much fun!!!!

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  18. Wow, that's some splendid and speedy work you've done there! I hope someone is going to take a photo of it on the Sizzix stand for you!

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  19. That is a lovely quilt and it is so nice to hear how useful the cutter is.

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  20. Wow! That is just amazing and lovely! Congratulations!!!

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  21. Fabulous blocks Hadley. Love 'a herd of Y seams'!!

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  22. Beautiful quilt! I've been wondering about the Sizzix so I appreciate your review.

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  23. You're a machine lol But yes, I love my cutter, and it does do things rather more accurately than I think I might by hand, especially curvy circly bits! Love the finished result, even the Y seams!

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  24. How very cool, you have a quilt at the foq!! Superb sewing missus, and damn you, yet another thing I want now, was hoping it would be rubbish!

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  25. Yay, so cool you have a quilt at FoQs - that's brill. And so pretty too. Well done you :-)

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  26. That's a lovely quilt! I like your review of the Sizzix, too. I've been wondering how they are in practice - they're a lot cheaper than the Go, I think.

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  27. Wow that is such a stunning quilt! I love the picture of the quilt top in the window! =D

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  28. wow, you did that fast and it turned out quite nice. You always do a great job on your projects

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  29. looks fabulous Hadley! great work!

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  30. I love a scrappy sampler! And I am thinking this little machine needs to be on my Christmas list - one can't start planning too early, you know.

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  31. Surely an olympic work of art worthy of a gold medal?

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  32. Gorgeous sampler quilt. I have a big shot for scrapping and can see that this might help solve some of my wonky seams but will still have to contend with operator error.

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  33. So uhhhm, you`re basically exhibiting at the FoQ. How cool is that? The quilt is fab - I just want some of what you`re taking.

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  34. Burlimey! you never fail to amaze me! (don't worry I'm not going to go back through all the missed posts and bombard you with comments - Little F has just woken up!) x

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  35. Wow, what n accolade, and what a fab quilt, thank goodness at last someone sent you a gizmo!

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  36. Oh wow! Nothing beats a lovely sampler quilt. The blocks are just lovely - perfectly unique and interesting. Great colors too! Well done, Hadley!

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