One of the best things about being part of a crafting community is the interesting people you meet. There are many talented people out there who have spent years honing their skills and creating stunning projects. Unfortunately, Dan is not one of them.

This is Dan the Quilter Man.

Dan is the type of guy who lives by the philosophy of “why bother to do it right when you can do it twice (assuming you survive the first attempt)”. It is not that Dan is stupid (although the jury is still out on that one), it’s that he refuses to invest the time to learn how to do things properly. This attitude combined with an unhealthy amount of curiosity and a complete lack of any ability to foresee the consequences of his actions results in one disaster after another.

For most people having a hobby is an important part of living a healthy life. However, in Dan’s case, hobbies are apparently designed to shorten his life span. Dan’s most recent hobby, wood working, resulted in a disaster that landed him on local news where the community got to see his woodshop burn to the ground. The only thing Dan managed to save was his buddy Charlie.

Now with lots of time on his hands (always a dangerous situation for someone like Dan) and the woodshop gone he has decided to take up a new hobby. Dan’s wife (who will remain nameless to protect the innocent) has been a quilter for years so Dan has decided to join her in that time-honoured hobby. Frankly, it is possible that the quilting community will never be the same.

NOTE: No cats were harmed in the making of this video - only Dan!

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel.

You can see that Dan's first attempt at using a rotary cutter wasn't very successful. Don't be a Dan! Follow these tips for safe rotary cutting:

Always close your cutter after making your cut. Always! Get into the habit of cut, close, cut, close and you'll never have an unfortunate accident, like Dan.
Use a ruler when you are rotary cutter to prevent the cutter veering off in an unexpected direction. Ouch!
Keep one finger on the cutting mat and the other ones on the ruler. This helps to stabilize the ruler when rotary cutting.
Pay attention when you are cutting. Don't let purry assistants, like Charlie, distract you from your task.

While I don't recommend cutting up your shirt to use for quilting, I sometimes buy shirts from the thrift shop for just this purpose. I found Bonnie Hunter's video helpful in deconstructing an old shirt for quilting fabric.

I hope you have better success in attempting your first quilting project and remember: don't be a Dan!

Creatively,