The cutting, the cutting.....!!!

[wrenkins]

I've made a start on two quilts for my spare room. I've chosen a very simple block as there will be millions of them so the pieces are straightforward but OMG the cutting! Squillions of pieces and every time I think I've finished....there's more.

The first time I'd finished I remembered that I needed two coloured bits per block and not one so I had to cut the same again. The second time I finished it occurred to me that I had only done enough for one quilt so I have even more of the same to do again! 

Then there's the background. Many many variations of black and white... Some will have more bits than others but my ocd demands that they are would like them distributed evenly across both quilts.

I haven't even come to the randomisation part of colours versus B&W. 

How do you do it? Do you do all the cutting first? Do you cut a bit and sew a bit? Do you lay the whole thing out on the floor/bed/design board?!?!??!

Life was simpler when I thought less.

[Iminei]

Aaaaggghhh!!!   


Noooooo !! (I) Never ever cut everything out at the start ...

All you achieve is a huge pile of cutout pieces that are already starting to fray and an ominous feeling in the pit of your stomach as you view them and the enormity of the task ahead settles in!

[wrenkins]

Aaaaggghhh!!!   


Noooooo !! (I) Never ever cut everything out at the start ...

All you achieve is a huge pile of cutout pieces that are already starting to fray and an ominous feeling in the pit of your stomach as you view them and the enormity of the task ahead settles in!

Yes! That!

I just need to make sure that I have enough of everything. Better looking at it than looking for it and all that.

[Ploshkin]

Also, you often don't need to cut out the actual pieces - e.g.  sewing 2 long strips together then cutting into units or if you are doing a number of log cabin blocks, chain sewing each block onto the next strip and cutting apart afterwards.  It makes things quicker and more accurate as you're cutting to fit as you go along.
I would suggest that if you follow Iminei's BOMs, as you have resolved to do  you will pick up a lot of tips and tricks to make piecing easier.

[Pearl]

Definitely cut a bit, sew a bit.  I have the attention span of a gnat. 

[wrenkins]

I have done a full size double log cabin quilt but it was a hundred years ago and I don't remember it being this bad.  I think it's because the lil strips are so skinny.

I'm going to sew some today and make smaller piles of bigger pieces. That'll make me feel a bit better I think.

I'm still thinking about my log cabin BOM block. I'd really like a badge and it's not like I'm going to win one anytime soon.  What goes with YELLOW?

[Pearl]

For contrast, purple.  Yummy!

Or complementary colours, orange or green. 

[wrenkins]

I was thinking navy or dark blue @Pearl so purply blues would fit.

I like the idea of orange but I don't have much in stash and that's what I'm using. Just stash! No exceptions! Nope! Not one! 

[BrendaP]

I usually try to cut everything at the start - my preferred way with any block pattern is ot have as much variety of fabrics as possible and doing it that way is more likely to get each fabric randomly, but evenly, distributed through the whole thing.   On occasions though my maths has gone wrong and I've ended up with too many cut pieces. 

To go with yellow: a strong contrast of dark blues, dark purples, dark greens and possibly dark brown.  To mix in with it for gentle variety - cream, peach, pale pink, beige, light coffee.

[Acorn]

I do all the cutting at the start, because if I don't I will wake up in the night convinced that I don't have enough of something.  I'm good at being irrational in the middle of the night, so I try to second guess myself.

Luckily the Quilt Police are still bound and gagged in the field shelter.

[Kenora]

Cut a little, sew a little - my quilts always evolve as I go along.

[Lisalou1965]

I tend to cut a little, sew a little, although it would'nt bother me to do all the cutting at the start, to be honest. I just don't. Dunno why!

[wrenkins]

I've made a start and have ten blocks done! Ha!

Just do that seven more times +2 and then do it all again and we're there! 

[Sheilago]

Definitely block by  block, but then I do love scrappy quilts, so I don’t have to worry too much about running out of fabric! Cutting out is my least favourite bit, so I couldn’t do it all at once.

[wrenkins]

After all that I have finally (I think) finished aaaaaall the cutting for both quilts barring miscounts and brain fades. I spent most of today doing the second one with a little bit of sewing for light relief. 

I 'lost'  one fabric and ran out of another by one block's worth so all in all not too bad.
I also made my Feb BOM log cabin $%$%^*("$. I have made fewer mistakes in entire quilts than I did in that bu$$er!