Trimming points and switching blades

After much deliberation, I pulled out the box with all the pieces for my blue Kyoto Gardens quilt. Getting reacquainted with them I acknowledged that they would continue to sit, unsewn, unless I just gritted my teeth and trimmed all the points that needed trimming on all those pieces.  I had thought I would trim as I went, but I kept not sewing because I never felt like trimming. See that white triangle?  It needed 4 swipes of the rotary cutter to trim the points just so.  The blue pieces they will be sewn to have only 2 trimming cuts, thank goodness!

After trimming the first half dozen I gave in and changed the blade on my rotary cutter.  Magic!  I don’t know why I always wait too long to change my blade.  Perhaps it’s partly due to resenting how much the blades cost and how short a time they stay sharp, but mostly I don’t realize how dull it has gotten until I put on the new sharp one and feel it slicing through fabric so effortlessly.  With a new blade and a fair amount of determination, all the trimming was done in a few hours.

Here is an illustration of why the trimming is worth it for this quilt.

Trimming the points not only eliminates a lot of bulk where 8 points meet it also helps me line these odd shapes up just right.  It was monotonous to do, but will be worth it now that I can sit and chain sew pieces together.  I’ll have enough units put together soon to show you what the quilt will look like.