I've tried the "new" way to make HST where you sew around a large square and cut diagonally twice. I starched the heck out of my fabric to tame those bias edges. My blocks went together without much problem but the fear of handling the HST too much and stretching the bias was just too stressful for me. I have gone back to the old way of making the HST two at a time and trimming them and I was much happier.

LOL, to me rotary cutters are the "new way"... and I LOVE my comic book boards. I can actually see what fabrics I have now. But the rest of it, gluing, die cutting, and using computerized machines... not for me. I guess "new" and "old" is relative for each one of us.

I have several quilts my MIL, and my Auntie, and my Sister made the old way. They had nothing but their hands and their Creativity to use. Don't know how they did so good.

I've also gone back to using a dry iron and a spray bottle of water. My current iron is actually a steam iron but I've never put any water into it. It's just an inexpensive iron, I bought at WalMart. Works great, without the water/steam! :)

Old or new , it should always be about what works for you.

Some days I'm tempted to go back to hand piecing. Took longer, but all my seams matched, all my points were sharp, all my blocks ended up true to size. I doubt if I'll ever go back to all hand piecing, but I might do it now and then. I've only done a little of hand quilting, but I do plan to try it some day. Seems like it would be very relaxing.

I still prefer to do things the "old" way alot. But since I got the Go cutter, I won't be rotary cutting my strips anymore. I love that thing. Got the 8 inch circle die for it and my nieces wound up cutting 44 circles out of old jeans today. They got bored and wanted something new to do. still got quite a few pairs of jeans to go.

I'll glue baste when I see a study proving that the stuff really vanishes from the batting without a trace, even in today's low water washers. Until then, the image of roaches emerging at night and heading straight for spilled glue will carry the day.

hugs,
Charlotte

I sometimes draw around a template and cut it out with my scissors. Some days I just don't feel like standing up and using the rotary cutter. Usually I'm cutting on scraps when I use my scissors.

I struggle with change!