So I entered into the sewing room and examined my cutting table.  Not too bad, just a few things to move off of it.

Before

Ta Da!  Like magic; all cleared off and ready for cutting!

After

Ha! I wish it were that easy, though as far as clutter goes this wasn’t really that big a chore.  I mostly had to reshelf a few books and move a few ‘in progress’ projects off the table.

When I got home after purchasing the fabric, I cut out little squares and pinned them to a photo copy of the pattern page with the fabric requirements on it.  I was so proud of myself for doing that!  But, of course, now I notice that I never indicated which fabrics were going to be which border and I no longer remember what was which.

I started to cut the strips, trying to guess what my thoughts had been regarding the borders back when I bought the fabric.  After coming up one strip short on the fabric that I ‘guessed’ was going to be the first border, I decided to concentrate on the squares and cut the borders later.

Here are all the strips nicely cut and in the order in which I will be sewing them:

It was interesting cutting them.  When I started there was one thread, every few inches, on the bottom layer of fabric that was not cutting.  I decided that my rotary cutter needed a new blade (this was not a new problem, I had just lived with it).  But I started to have the same exact problem with the brand new blade.  So I fiddled with the angle that I held the cutter and discovered that if I held it upright (vertical, rather than parallel to the surface) I had no problems and I had less slippage of the ruler as well!   

Well, I’m almost ready to start sewing now, but it will have to wait until this coming weekend.