Mary, no it wasn't. I had a couple of bins of fabric that I had accumulated and different sizes of mats and felt that by having all that I was obligated to make quilts and I started to not enjoy it at all. By giving all but one mat away (12x24) and I did keep my cutters, that pressure of *having* to quilt was released and this feeling of *wanting* to make a quilt is back. Maybe. lol

I didn't think of this, thank you!

I've wondered how that would work on apparel - sometimes my pinking shears are just to big to get into the smaller seams of the clothes I sometimes sew for my grandson or for dolls.

Update: I did stop at JoAnn's to purchase the 24x36 mat, but they smelled so bad! I had forgotten that. By the time I had finished walking around the store, smelling the mat along the way, I decided to stick with my 12x24 that I kept and go from there. And, if I decide that I really don't want to continue making quilts, I won't have something else I rarely use, which was another reason why I purged in the first place.

Thank you all though, I'm glad I asked!

Over time I have cut lots of things wrongly with my rotary cutters. I have cut lots of things properly with scissors. With scissors the time drag is the need to mark everything with a pencil or other marking device. How about just buying a small mat and medium size rotary cutter. Use scissors to cut yardage into manageable sizes or use precuts and subcut with the small equiptment. Then, if the quilting bug bites again, invest in a larger board. I used to store one under the bed when not in use.

I'd say accuracy is in the hands of the holder! With my shaky mitts, scissor cutting would leave me with waverly edges and that would be so much fun to get an accurate quarter inch seam on.....NOT!

I just used a moda precut and there were quite a few wonky v-cut strips in the pack so precuts do no mean accuracy

Like Dolphyngyrl I've had precuts, even from supposedly high-quality manufacturers, that were amazingly inconsistent even within the same package. I've just finished piecing the blocks for a Sugar and Spice quilt using a combination of my own Precuts (made from my scraps) and commercial charm square Precuts from Moda, Tonga Treats and Riley Blake-- I had to spend a lot of time trimming the commercial precuts because they varied as much as 1/4" in size in some cases within the same package. I had to unpick a number of elements before I realized that the reason I was having a hard time getting corners to match up was that not all of the commercial 5" squares were actually 5" square.

I make my own precuts out of scraps using accuquilt dies for 2" and 3.5" squares, and a rotary cutter for anything larger. I started quilting before rotary cutters were invented and only made a couple of quilts because I got so frustrated with using scissors and templates partly because it is slow, but also because I've never mastered scissor cutting LOL. When I discovered Rotary cutting I got back into quilt making.

Rob

Personally, I would go with rotary cutting rather than using scissors, although they have a place in our quilting world. Last year I convinced my DH that because of my shoulder issues, had right shoulder replaced a year ago and now just tore the rotator cuff on my left shoulder, so surgery is in my future; so he surprised me by buying the Fiskars ruler and cutter. I love it - while I still use my other rotary cutter for some things, when I'm going to be doing a lot of cutting, I use that ruler and cutter because you just put your hand on the handle and push, no muss, no fuss, and no issue with carpal tunnel.

Well at my age I started quilting using scissors and I would never go back to that way of cutting. I almost stopped quilting as so much cutting took so long and was painful with my RA. Thank goodness for all the toy's we have today that make quilting so much better and more fun.

I remember when the rotary cutter was introduce in the USA. I saw it at a show and thought it was clever. the man sold out in a few minutes, he couldn't take the money quickly enough. I had made about 100 quits by then by hand cutting with a scissor, and hand quilted the quilts too by hand. For straight lines, i'd go with the rotary cutter. things like birds and hearts, by scissor.

I took my first quilting class from a teacher who insisted that handmade was the only way, so I made pillows and
pieced and quilted by hand using scissors and needles and thread. I did sew the pillows together using my sewing
machine and was scolded for that ! It was 15 years before I tried again. Then came he rotary cutter!!

I have never used scissors and handpiecing again.... I have a much happier time now !

rotary cutting