A Scary Halloween Sewing Story!

I originally wrote this scary (but totally true) Halloween story for you all last year. With so many new readers, I’m sharing it again. I may tell it every Halloween, as we gather around our campfires sewing machines telling scary stories.  I don’t really love the scary side of Halloween. I’m more into sewing cute Halloween quilts then I am into scary haunted houses.  That being said, this is my idea of scary story telling.

In 2012, my loving husband bought me a brand new Ott Light for my sewing room.  It sat at the corner of my large cutting table and really brightened up my cutting area.  I loved it.  A week or two after the addition of the lamp, I was happily cutting strips for my next quilt.  I was in the zone and working fast.  I was cutting lots of yardage and having a great time.  Well, unbeknownst to me, the cord of the Ott Light had gotten pulled up under some of the yardage.  I bet you can see where this is going.  I moved that piece of fabric closer to me, lined it up with my ruler, and sliced right into it – along with the cord of the Ott Light.  That’s the night that the lights went out in Illinois.  The lights flickered and the whole house went dark.  I shocked the living daylights out of myself.  I screamed.  I dropped my trusty rotary cutter.  My husband hollered from the dark living room, “What the ??”

Long story short.  I survived.  Lesson learned is to not cut cords with a rotary cutter and to pay attention to make sure cords are nowhere near your fabric.  My husband reset the breakers and the lights came back on.  I think my hair might have been standing on end but the only two losses in this story are my rotary cutter and my lamp.  Fortunately, the lamp cord was later fixed by my ever-handy husband.  I still have it to this day and it works just fine.  My rotary cutter took the biggest hit.  A triangle section was burnt right out of that blade; it looked like a pie with one slice missing.  The yellow rubber handle and guard were blackened and burnt.  I think that rubber handle saved my life.  For real.  And this is the story of how I became emotionally attached to a rotary cutter.  I refuse to get a new one.  Blackened and burnt, my rotary cutter is my friend.  Forever. 

The moral of this scary quilting story is that you should never cut an electrical cord with a rotary cutter.  And if you do, use one with a rubber handle. 

There are a lot more scary quilting stories out there that involve rotary cutters and blood.  Raise your hand if you’ve ever cut yourself with a rotary cutter!  Yep.  Me too.  Here’s some other handy advice:  don’t google pictures of rotary blade cuts.  Now, that’s scary!

Have a happy Halloween and here’s to no scary rotary cutter incidents!

‘Til next time,

Beth

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