I Don't Do Zippers: The 6 1/2" Trick

About a week ago I had brilliant idea come to me while having my morning cup of coffee. I swear we would still be in the dark ages without that stuff! Anyhow, I love layer cakes and I have been dreaming of an Accuquilt die that would cut them easily into this one simple configuration without having to do anything other than plop the stack of fabric down and crank. I know, I know, there are lots of Accuquilt dies that will get the job done but I wanted one that cut the whole thing at once. Well the new die release came and went and there was nothing new for the Studio. Then, that faithful morning I realized, I already owned the die that can cut this block!! Yipee! The block I am talking about is this.

It's just a very simple 4 piece block but the cool part is that I cut this whole block with 1 die and it cut all 4 piece at the same time. I know, cool aye? Well here is how I did it. This will only work with the Studio cutter because you need to use the 6.5" square die that cuts 4 at a time. You just take you stack of 10-10"x 10" squares and lay it on the die carefully lining up 2 of the 4 side with the die blades like this. Take your time and line it up carefully or you will end up chopping off fabric and it won't be accurate.

From here you just send it through the rollers and BAM, this is what you get.

When you sew it together you can flip the pieces so you get a block that you dont have to match up any seams which is great for a beginer quilter. It's not rocket science but it sure makes cutting out one of my favorite quick and scrappy quilt blocks a lot quicker.