Making It All Worth It

[Vaughn McMillan]

Some of you may have seen various posts from me over the past few months regarding some quilt pattern cutting boards I've made. You may or may not recall, but I made one, it failed due to thinness and grain orientation, so I made two more, but thicker and with the grain oriented consistently. The first of the thicker quilt boards was given as a replacement for the one that failed. The second thick board went to a friend of my sister's -- a friend who's got at least as much money tied up in quilting machinery as I do in WW tools. My sis gave her friend the board for her birthday on the 14th.

I've gotten advice from the SMC gang along the way, so I thought I'd share the end result. Here's Donna, the quilter friend:

31984

My sis said Donna couldn't stop feeling the board. (I finished it with General Salad Bowl finish, polished down to 1500 grit.) Baby's behind soft, it is.

31983

And here's a shot of the finished board itself...11" square x 1" thick, all end grain, made of maple, walnut, cherry, padauk and purple heart.

31985

One of these days (er...nights) when I have the time and energy, I intend to do a write-up on the making of these boards. I have several more quilt boards in the queue, so I intend to refine the process a bit more.

- Vaughn

P.S. I would have put this in the Quilting Forum, had I been able to find it. :cool: Although this post is woodworking-related, there are also references to actual people I know and girly things like quilts, so I didn't want to risk putting a thread in the General forum. :rolleyes:

- V

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

That's an awfullly pretty board...better than the last one I remember seeing. She'll prolly be chopping onions on it tomorrow. NOT! :)

KC

[Karl Laustrup]

Really nice board Vaughn. And the recipient seems to be liking it also. That's a good thing. :)

I for one would be very interested in a tutorial on making those type of boards. I am always ready to learn new stuff.

Karl

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Vaughn hits another home-run!

VERY nice, I'll be looking for the tutorial as well, my Mom is a quilter, and she'd LOVE one.

Looks like you made your sister's friend very happy, yep, I'd say it is worth it!

Cheers!

[Dick Parr]

Wow Vaughn, great job and someone is very happy.:)

[Joe Pelonio]

Vaughn,

Beautiful work. I'm always surprised to see how many times quilt
related items pop up on the forum, I guess a lot of our wives are quilters.
If you wanted to make more & sell some of those you might try posting an ad here:

http://www.quiltersreview.com/classified/buy_ad.asp

I've used it and got some really nice jobs cutting acrylic templates
for quilters. Maybe even show one to the owner of a local quilting shop and see if they'd sell them on consignment. My wife is in a quilt guild
with monthly meetings and those ladies (and a couple of men) just love
to buy anything quilt related.

[tod evans]

looking good vaughn...02 tod

[David Fried]

Vaughn,

Being one who considers it good day when I can cut two pieces of wood and actually have them fit together, I am in awe of those boards and how tight they are. Great job!! Looks like she loves it.

Dave Fried

[Steve Ash]

Vaughan,

Real nice work, when you get ready for that tutorial mark another interested student down. My wife also quilts and she'd love one.

[Jim Becker]

The smile says it all!

[Lou Morrissette]

Vaughn,

Fine work for sure. The fit on those angles is perfect. Be sure I'll be waiting on that tutorial.

Lou

[Norman Hitt]

Talk about ATTENTION to DETAIL..!!!! Beautiful, Vaughn. Like Jim said, The Smile Says It ALL. (If'n ya keep this up, yer likely ta git GOOD at it.):rolleyes: :D

[Gail O'Rourke]

Vaughn,

Very nice. I love it...you have a lot of patience!

[Richard Wolf]

Vauhn, I always love to see your boards. Great.

Richard

[Jay Knoll]

Vaughn

That is some fantastic work -- there are a lot of parallels between woodworking and quilting, my Mom is a quilter and she is always telling me that the sign of a good traditional quilt is that all the intersections are "straight and square".

Just think, at least when we work, the material doesn't move as we work it

Thanks for the post,

Jay

[Pete Harbin]

Way to go V! It's always great to hit the bullseye with someone like that. I bet she'll enjoy the board forever.

Excellent job as well. As others have said, really tight and clean lines...you're a patient man!

Pete

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice Vaughn, and Donna obviously thinks so too. I have done a little quilting, and I see some parallels with what you have done. Now you have me thinking about some project that will incorporate both quilting and woodworking. Maybe someday ... :)

[Robert McGowen]

Cutting board and tutorial both get a thumbs up! Having made a few boards, you have to be doing it for smiles or a very small hourly rate to do that quilt pattern. Great work.

[John Miliunas]

As usual, your cutting board work is awesome, only this time, the rewards are probably the greatest!!! Marvelous, Vaughn! :) :cool:

[Jeff A. Smith]

Looks super!

But now I've got to study-up and see what one does with one of these boards in the quilt-making process!

Jeff

[Jason Tuinstra]

Vaughn, you're always on the cutting edge aren't you (sorry 'bout that)! The board looks great; too great. You really need to give two board as gifts - one to display and one to use :p Seriously nice work. I've tried to build one of these before and I know that it's not easy. Great job. I look forward to a write up so that we can learn from a pro.

[Ellen Benkin]

Exactly, Jay. I have a good friend who is a quilter and she ooohs and aaah over my working in wood. I told her it was much easier than working with flexible material like cotton.

We all await the plans for the quilt cutting board so we can give them to quilting friends.

[scott spencer]

....pssstt....I think she likes it! ;) The picture says it all!

[Colleen Devine]

I, too, would appreciate a tutorial. Again, beautiful work!

Colleen

[John Buzzurro]

As usual Vaughn, very nice work. I'm looking forward to the write-up.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice Vaughn, that is a Beautiful piece. Just a piece of art by itself!

Corey

[Per Swenson]

Vaughn,

Excellent!

That is so dang nice!

Per