Fussy Cut Template

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon in my studio working on a variety of projects.  It's nice to be able to meander from project to project with no big deadlines looming for the moment.  I cut squares from some of my blue strip sets and played with them a bit.

Then I worked on a round quilt for our guild's upcoming challenge.  Since I'm in charge of the challenge, I figured I'd better start working on my own.  This is due in early March, but after only an hour or so, I already have half of the circle pieced.  I won't show it here until after my March guild meeting.

Then I pulled out a quilt kit I bought more than a year ago.  It's been sitting on my shelf, collecting dust.  I'm not usually a "kit quilt" person; I'd rather do my own thing, design my own pattern.  I don't even like to use patterns.  But I saw  this quilt (Flutterby collection from Moda) and fell in love with it.  So I ordered the kit.  As part of my self-imposed "green" challenge, not buying fabric for a year, I'm not only trying to make better use of my stash, but also to get some projects like this done.  I'm planning on doing the piecing for this project at our guild's retreat next month.  The diamond centers must be fussy cut, and I'd like to get that part done before retreat.

To make a template, I traced the pattern on poster board and cut it out.  I also cut out the center, leaving a quarter inch along the sides.  Then I glued the poster board piece to a piece of transparency film and cut away the excess.
I positioned my template on the fabric and outlined some of the key elements on the transparency film.
Then I traced around the template onto the fabric; these lines are the cutting lines.  Easy peasy.  I cut this diamond with scissors, but I'm hoping to use a rotary cutter once I get going on this.  One diamond cut, 38 to go.

By the way, the photograph of this quilt on the link doesn't do the fabric justice!