Belated Birthday Presents!

I ordered something for my birthday, way back in February (Birthday money from my brother).  Since it was on back order, I didn't get it until late last month.  I didn't have a chance to try it out until today.

Sew Easy Ruler Cutter

Sew Easy Ruler cutter

This is the Sew Easy Ruler Cutter.  I got mine at The Quilt Place out of Florida.  They let me know very quickly that this item was out of stock, and that they were waiting for it to come in.  They shipped this as soon as they got it.  Since it is from an Australian company (and made in China), I'm sure that is the reason for the delay.  I had tried to order the version that Fiskars made, but, Fiskars informed me that they were not making them at the moment, but, were hoping to start making them available again before the end of this year.  I didn't want to wait a year for my Birthday present. 

Here are some of the details about this ruler.

4.5" x 27.5"

sorry for the glare

last of the info

Ok, now to try this ruler cutter out.  I needed to make the binding for a quilt (secret project, you'll see it soon), so... 

1st, to square up my edge on my fabric.

squaring up the edge

2nd, to cut my 2.5" binding strips.

2.5" strip lined up, ready to cut

This is the blade, retracted.

blade retracted

This is the blade, pushed down for cutting.

blade pushed down for cutting

As you can tell, the blade doesn't stick down enough to damage your cutting surface, just enough to cut your fabric.  Since I wasn't familiar with this, and didn't want to do any damage, I didn't push quite hard enough on the first cutting pass.  Once I realized that the blade only goes so far down, I pushed hard enough on the second pass. 

my three strips for binding

This ruler didn't slip at all, unlike my regular rulers tend to do.  The nice metal rail keeps my fingers out of the way, too.  I can use any of my 45mm blades with this ruler.  I can even use it on paper (12 sheets) or 6 thicknesses of fabric.  Woohoo!  I give this ruler an 'A'.  Thanks brother and sweet sister-in-law!  I see this ruler getting lots of use in the future. 

I received another lovely, belated Birthday gift, as well.  The lovely Leona, from Leona's Quilting Adventure, sent me a lovey package last week.  I just LOVE getting surprise packages in the mail.  Sew much nicer than those BILLS I usually receive in the mail. 

goodies from Leona

goodies from Leona

Cute tags, a great flower piece (will probably be used as a label on a quilt) lots of yellow buttons, and a lovely polka dotted fat quarter.  The card with the quilt size chart will sit by my sewing machine for quick reference.  I'm always trying to remember basic sizes for quilts.  Go check out her blog. 

I'm off to finish binding a quilt.  Tomorrow, a few quilting friends and I will be going to a brand new quilt store in the area.  I'll try to take a few pictures for you.  We'll also be visiting IKEA for lunch and shopping.  2 of my friends have never been to IKEA before.  Do you think I can be good in both stores?????   We'll see ; )