I love this thread!! And "Frugal" is not MY middle name. I used ruler, pencil, and scissors for my very first quilt (for the blocks only). Then I bought a mat, rotary cutter, and 5" x 24 " ruler for the sashings and borders. Seems that everytime I make a new quilt top, I buy more gadgets. I'm in a guild that does BOMs. Sometimes we use templates. Yikes! My blocks never come out right. So lately I've been trying to apply strip quilting as much as I can instead of using the templates. Notice I said "quilt top"? That's about as far as I get, and then I'm on to a new top. Only finish the ones I NEED to finish.....as this graduation quilt that is already late. He'll get it in time for his college graduation, hopefully. His school colors and college colors are the same so this is making it very interesting. I've kind changed the theme midstream so they would tie in. Having fun doing it.