Thursday, July 24, 2014

HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY OLFA!!!



Raise your hand if you remember life before the rotary cutter! Ok, because I don't. I'm sure my mom does, 'cuz, uh, when it came on the scene I was 10 years old. Does that make me sound young? I hope so, I'm not feelin' it.

Anywho...thank QUILTY GOODNESS OLFA came on the scene and developed a product that changed the world! Well, the quilty/sew-y world anyway. Just imagine, without that rotary cutter, terms like "stack and whack" would be more like "stack and hack" at it with your scissors until your arm aches and your carpal tunnel flares up. Dear Olfa, we should be thanking you for saving our achy arms on a daily basis! Thank you, thank you, thank you! From the bottom of our....arms, er hearts.

Ok, NOW raise your hand if you LOVE OLFA and would like to WIN a prize to celebrate their 35th anniversary?!  All hands are up? Yeah, I thought so. Well you're in luck....because we have one to GIVEAWAY!

We were one of the lucky designers asked by OLFA to do a block for their 35th anni quilt, how cool is that??? 

They sent us this cool box:




Which was filled with these lovelies:



Look at that little rotary cutter pin! Isn't it the cutest? Yeah, I'm wearing it around until my kids notice and wonder what the heck it is, haha!

So then we were tasked with designing a 6.5" square block....notice the handy dandy OLFA ruler to help us out there? AND a rotating cutting mat! Coolest ever.  Seriously been playing with that thing! Wonder if I can get my whole 45" cutting mat to rotate...hmmmm. 

Ok, so then we rubbed our hands together to create a block. What to make, what to make? It had to include yellow (for obvious yellow OLFA reasons!), and had to represent OLFA in some way. And, it had to have a Lizzie B look to it after all, right?  Soooo, I whipped up a little sketch on my iPad, cuz who doesn't whip up sketches on their iPad?



Very precise, right? Hey, don't judge, it works for us, 'k?

Then I got to work with my yellow patchwork strips...


Looks fab with the cutter, right? I cut those babies up into 1.5" strips and did some nice little patchy lookin' blocks, making just enough for them to fit in my block. 

Then I thought, hmmmm, I think I'm gonna use turquoise instead of white since in my head, this OLFA block was the sun spreading it's rays of OLFA sunshine, right? I know you thought so too.


So I pieced those strips onto a 7" square piece of paper, ready to square up to 6.5" when I was done. Lookin' good, right? Now here was the fun part....
ROTATING MAT TIME!


So cool...just kept my hand on the ruler and simply twisted the mat to cut the next side!
(Note: yes my cutter is still open, and NO I never keep it open when it's not in use and you shouldn't either! Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program...)


See how the mat turns over the rubber pad on the bottom? Coolness.


Just kept rotating and cutting until my block was all squared up!


See? Finished, told ya I keep it closed when not in use...ha! Now all that was left to do was "Lizzie B-ify" it by adding a bit of appliqué. 


et VOILA! There you have our Rotary Cutter block of sunshine! Cute or what? I kinda thought so, but I might be biased.


So, are ya ready to win a rotary cutter and small cutting mat of your very own from OLFA?! They've set one aside just for our readers. Gotta love them.

Ok, so comment on this blogpost for a chance to win, tell us what your 
FAVORITE OLFA PRODUCT is!

Please include your email addie in the comment so we can contact you should the random generator pick you.

*THE WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN! 

And don't forget to wish OLFA a... 




P.S. You can follow OLFA on social media by using the handle @OLFAcreates


THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING EVERYONE!

35 comments:

  1. Happy birthday OLFA.. My favorite product would have to be the cutting mat.. grwat product... thank you for a chance to win a great prize. ..

    Amber-
    nishgirl_17_411(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  2. My favorite Olfa product(s) are rulers. Any and all sizes. I have lots. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  3. My favorite Olfa product is the 45 mm rotary cutter. It works for almost all cutting jobs. Thanks for the entertaining post (and great eye candy!) Liz, and Happy Birthday Olfa!

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  4. i love all Olfa products! if i have to pick one it would be their cutters. Thanks for the chance to win. suzanne

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  5. Favorite Olfa product? Definitely my rotary cutters. But the mat is great, too. Then there's the rulers...Maybe everything!

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  6. I love my rotary cutter and cutting mat! I can't imagine quilting without them!

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  7. Love my curved rotary cutter. The blade closes when I'm finished with a cut, plus the cutter fits the hand so well. Don't know what I'd do without Olfa!

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  8. My fav has got be all my Olfa rotary cutters...from the 60mm right down to the teeny 18mm! I've only used Olfa since I switched from using scissors ( yipes! that was about 25yrs ago). I'd love that cute little pin for my collection! Happy B-Day to a great company!

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  9. I love that rotating cutting mat.

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  10. The only Olfa product I have is the 45mm cutter. The blue/turquoise one! I'd love to try the small one too.

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  11. The aqua rotary cutter is my favorite!

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  12. Happy Birthday Olfa, what a great milestone...for me it's the cutters!

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  13. The Olfa 45mm Deluxe Ergonomic Rotary Cutter. It' ergonomic and is comfortable in my hand. It automatically closes when you put it down making it SAFE, and it has a button that can be push essentially locking it from opening accidentally.

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  14. Definitely my 12 in rotating cutting mat. I want the 18 in but it's got a pretty steep price tag. I love how your block turned out.

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  15. I love all of my Olfa products, but especially my Aqua cutter - it's so pretty. But I bet if I had one of those rotating mats it would be my favorite!

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  16. I love my Olfa cutting mat - its just a plain regular one but serves me well!

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  17. I love my olfa rotary cutter. I couldnt quilt with out it

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  18. I love the 6.5" frosted square. Sounds like a perfect bday treat!

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    Replies
    1. HI there! You were chosen by our random number generator as the winner of the OLFA contest! Please reply with your email address so OLFA can get in touch with you!

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  19. My favorite is my Olfa cutter. It is the 45mm and it is turquoise and yellow. It matches my sewing rioom!

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  20. Happy Birthday, Olfa! I got my first rotary cutter in 1984, I think. It is still great!

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  21. I still use my original 23in X 35in Olfa Cuting mat after all these years. Happy Birthday Olfa.

    catheyself@gmail.com

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  22. My favorite product is my Olfa 45mm ergonomic rotary cutter! I have carpal tunnel and it's made rotary cutting more comfortable.

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  23. My favorite Olfa product is definitely their rotary cutters. I still have the first one that I bought almost 30 years ago.

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  24. My #1 choice of Olfa products is the rotary cutter. A very close second is their rotary cutting mat. Thanks sew much for this chance to win! :-D

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  25. i love my 18" x 24" self healing rotary mat!

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  26. I use the Olfa self healing cutting mat, ruler, and rotary cutter in concert with each other. The coolest tool, the one that makes me smile, is the PINKING BLADE.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLFA!!! May you continue to change the sewing/quilting world.
    bee.barb@gmail.com

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  27. I adore the block you created!! I remember going to the store as a new quilter to purchase my sewing items & Olfa were the products I got. It's hard to pick a favorite, that would be like favoring one of my children over the others!! thanksalatte @ gmail.com

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  28. That's a terrific block. Love the turquoise with the yellow. My cutting mat and my 45 mm rotary cutter and my 6" by 12" ruler are my quilting buddies. They are always my starting point. Thank you Olfa!

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  29. I love my 45mm, but I think my new favorite is the itsy-bitsy cutter I got recently to save time cutting crafting patterns.

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  30. I just got the big rotary cutter from Olaf (60?) and I'm hooked, I love it. It's my new favorite.

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  31. I wanted to buy olfa rotary cutter but can't find in Singapore ..hope got chance to win this gift set, thank you

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  32. Happy birthday, Olfa! Older than I am so no, I don't remember and can't imagine life without a rotary cutter. Oh, dear sweet cutter, I'm so glad to hav eyou in my life.

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  33. Happy birthday OLFA! My favourite OLFAs are the ergonomic rotary cutters, and I especially like any that come out in special colours, like the pink one for breast cancer research. I have a standard one in silver too, which I think was for the 30th anniversary! Thank you for the giveaway!

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