Confession

I have a quilting confession to make: I am an old fashioned, self taught quilter. When I made my first quilt in 2008, I had never read a quilting book or searched for a YouTube tutorial. I just cut out a window template and went for it. The same is true today. I spend - sometimes an entire day's worth of craft time - measuring  and cutting the window templates needed for a quilt. I have made many, many templates. 

I use an Exacto knife, after much measuring, to cut the window templates out. They are made from thick cardstock. I set the template on the fabric to be quilted and trace the outside (which makes a cutting line) and the inside line (that is the sewing line - quite simply, a line to follow as I sew - which, for me, is the whole point of these templates).

I have never used a rotary cutter but I would love to try one someday. The thing that makes me nervous about rotary cutters in the absence of a sewing line. I suppose I could find a 1/4 inch sewing line to follow on my sewing machine's foot....but I just love that ink line that I get with the window templates. The sewing lines can be lined up and it makes me feel confident that the finished squares (and eventually the finished quilt) will all line up.

And that is the whole point of this quilting adventure, right? It should all line up.