I bet most quilters have had that thought at some point or another

So there's this group of quilters from Iowa coming to Costa Rica this month for the second half of a cultural exchange that began when a similar group from here visited Iowa in 2005. I didn't go on the trip, but the Parrot Quilt was my contribution to the Shapes and Colors of Costa Rica show, around which the trip revolved.

One result of the Costa Rican ladies' visit to the US was the birth, one year ago, of the quilt guild of Costa Rica. I served as co-treasurer for the group's first year and, somehow, seem to have emerged from last week's board meeting as the president of the group for 2007.

Getting back to the upcoming delegation from Iowa, the guild had a set of tote bags made up and asked members to decorate them for the guests. I had intended to participate, but missed the meeting where the bags were distributed. Then at the board meeting it was announced that we were still several bags short, so the board members who had not yet participated took home some of the remaining ones.

I had made a leaf block out of some of my hand dyed fabric some time last year for a project that held my interest for about a day, and figured I could decorate my bag with that, which I did. I cut a square of batting to go between the block and the bag, turned the raw edges of the block to the back of the batting square, then quilted the block right onto the bag. I wasn't sure how well it would all fit onto the sewing machine bed without taking the bag apart, but fortunately the tightest spots at the bottom corners were still pretty accessible.

Unfortunately, before sewing even the first stitch, I picked up my rotary cutter (think of a pizza cutter, but very, very [Really. Very very very.] sharp) to cut out the square of batting.

Well, picking up the cutter was not, in itself, unfortunate. The unfortunate part is that, whether from extended disuse or from third-party meddling, the screw that holds the (normally) free-rotating blade onto the handle was turned down tight.

Add to that my brilliant maneuver of making the first cut with my left hand so as not to have to turn things around in order to make the second cut with my right hand, and...well, I suppose you can guess the rest.

Some of my thoughts, in approximate chronological order:

• Oh, man. You don't want that.
• Do NOT bleed on the fabric.*
• Yeah, that's going to leave a scar.
• Okay, so it's still bleeding, but it's way less than when Mom cut her hand on the corned beef can when we were little.
• I bet Lisa remembers that.
• How many times did I see that tube of antibiotic cream on the kitchen counter? Would it have killed me to bring it upstairs at some point?
  

*This being the thought referenced in the title.

Anyway. It's been dealt with and, in fact, never actually hurt at all. It did make the hand sewing/machine sewing decision a pretty easy one to make though.