I'm loving my summer SEW much!!

I've really been taking advantage of my homework  free summer!  And I've also shown my sewing machine, whom I lovingly refer to as my Brother, no mercy.  None.  Nada.  Merciless as in never, ever, ever giving the poor guy a break.  Not even potty breaks...unless, of course, I need one!  But that's ok because in just a few short weeks, back in the closet he'll go until Christmas break.  Or better yet, that would be a good time to send him in for a good cleaning and to get oiled.  Kind of like a spa day!
So I wrote yesterday of my first attempt last week at making a quilt and how it was a huge success, and how I'm totally a professional now.  Ha!  

Well, I just finished up a chevron chenille blanket that I l-o-v-e.  Here she is:

I have to add that while I absolutely love my blanket, I really do not like the cutting part.  At all.  

I knew I was facing perhaps my biggest "cutting job" EVER with all the zigzags, so Gabriella and I made a run to Jo-Ann to buy a sharpener for my 2,388 pairs of scissors and ended up also buying 3 of these:

(Source: Fiskars.com)

They are Fiskars package openers that were on clearance for $1.97 each.  Can you believe it?!  They are listed at $14.99 online (!)

Well, I was on a mission, so I also bought one of these chenille cutters:

(Source: Google)

After the half-off sale and a coupon and my handy-dandy student discount (normally gives me 10% off, but during the month of July it was 20%!!), I ended up with a grand total under $11.  Score!
After trying the chenille cutter, I immediately did NOT like it.  It seemed to rip and tear the flannel layers and left the edges sort of stretched.  I just didn't like the way it "mauled" my fabric, so I quickly switched to the Fiskars tool.  Definitely the my new favorite tool.
The blade size is perfect for all those chevrons and before I knew it, I was finished.  This tool really is amazing!  I'm so glad I bought all three of them (at Gabriella's urging.)  Thanks Gabi!
You just have to be very, very careful using it because that thing doesn't mess around!  It's very sharp, precise and fast.  And it is now my new BFF.

Well, after I finished this blanket, Gabriella helped me organize my fabrics and we got them all folded uniformly.

Well...this of course only inspired me to start on yet another project.  Which will be tomorrow's post (:

Have a wonderful Thursday!