What a difference a blade makes!

All the half-square triangles for Christmas Pickle have to be trimmed to size before joining them into pinwheel blocks. I was trimming away on my rotary mat when it dawned on me that I probably needed to change my blade as I could not clearly recall when I changed it last. What a difference! Now the trimming is so much easier.

Some time ago, one of my quilting friends bought a large quantity of Olfa blades on eBay at a sizeable discount from the usual retail price. She passed on a few packages to me at her cost and I vowed to be better about changing the blade frequently. Given how many unused blades I still have on hand, I have not followed through as I intended. I will have to do better – it makes cutting so much easier and I have heard is safer too because the blade is less likely to slip.