Sunday, March 20, 2011

What I did on national quilting day

I made a festive banner...

and hung it in my friend's office at work....
...but not before slicing a bit of my finger off with a rotary cutter.  
I've never doubted that rotary cutters are sharp.  However, I have wondered from time to time how people manage to cut themselves with rotary cutters.  It seems simple, keep your hand on the ruler to stabilize it and cut away from yourself.  I mean, really, its a simple concept - it isn't like the fabric is a moving target.  So, here I am merrily cutting triangles for the banner when I hang a finger over the edge of the ruler and slice a chunk of my finger off. I ran to the sink to wash the cut off and soon realized that I couldn't get it to stop bleeding and I live alone and this is how I'm going to die.  I called my friend at home who didn't answer, called another friend at home who didn't answer, then called the first friend on her mobile who picked up.  I blurted out that I had cut off part of my finger and made it very clear that I am not the person to call in an emergency because I was clearly freaking out about the blood (the cats slept through this because it was not the kind of emergency that involved their food dish).  The friend with the mobile was shopping at the time but told me that she would be at my place as soon as possible and in the meantime called her husband who came over and patched me up.  They also brought ginger flavored vodka because I clearly needed a blood thinner at that point.  At any rate, the finger was saved and I can go another night without the cats eating my face. (And ginger vodka = yum.)

The banner was hung today at work as part of a surprise party celebration for a friend of mine.  I also made brownies with peppermint patties in them and red velvet cupcakes - all while wearing a rubber glove on my hand.  I wanted to sew the triangles right side together and then fold them out before sewing them together in a line. However, the excitement of bleeding out on my kitchen floor prevented that from happening and I just sewed the triangles with wrong sides together so there will be a pattern from whichever way you view it.  I'm happy with the results and this little accident may have prevented me from doing way too much work.

5 comments:

  1. Sorry about the finger - but I'm glad the cats didn't eat your face. Cute banner!

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  2. About three months ago I did the same thing (in exactly the same way) so I know that in and of itself it's not funny. That didn't stop me from almost peeing myself with laughter while reading this. I hope it heals up fast and you're back in the swing soon.

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  3. Certainly you are not the first one to do that ... nor the last. Sorry for laughing but your discription was so funny. The rule here is, DON'T BLEED ON THE QUILT!!

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  4. OMG! So good to hear it happened to someone else! I was alone, called my sister who took me to the doctors (with my hand held in the air) who proceeded to give me 4 stitches! I too wondered how people did it... I wish I could say I am sooooo much more careful now... just a bit luckier! (Love the cat image!)

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  5. This is so me! Ok, so I haven't cut myself with a rotary cutter yet. But have managed to almost sever a tendon while grating cheese. Cheese! And make my finger somewhat triangular while cutting spinach, on xmas day. It too wouldn't stop bleeding which required a brisk 40min walk to the ER. It too not helping with the stopping the bleeding. And I won't mention the numerous injuries I got when I worked in a bakery during uni. Hmm.... Having mentioned all this, I now understand my preference for scissors over the rotary :)

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