Different strokes for different folks

Before I start : The picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post below. I just think that a picture-less post is boring, boring, boring so ... the picture shows a mock-up of some of my Rectangular Hexagon blocks, laid out on my ironing board. I have at the time of writing, finished 2/3s of the blocks I need.

Another note :
I have absolutely no economical ties with Inklingo (more's the pity). I do not own even the tiniest bit of that company, and I do not, in any way, get paid by Linda Franz or Inklingo ... or, indeed, Accuquilt.

So, get ready for :

Accuquilt vs Inklingo.

On one of my forays around the internet, I stumbled upon a site, that led me to the Accuquilt page, and ... I've heard about it before, and it sounds nifty. It truly does. Slap the fabric on a piece-of-something that comes with the cutting-machine, run everything through with the hand-crank and ... hey presto ! up to 6 identical and precisely cut shapes.

And I noticed the 'Studio Top Selling Die Bundle' which has one Dresden Plate shape, and one size Orange Peel (but only with half-peels), one size Winding Ways and one size Drunkard's Path ... and some leaves, flowers and squares.
Apart from the Leaves and flowers, everything is available in Inklingo. The Orange Peel and the Drunkard's Path collections have squares too.

And I thought, well, Inklingo doesn't cut it out for you. You need to find your scissors or your rotary-cutter.
But if you don't have an ancient blade in your rotary-cutter, you can cut up to 6 identical shapes with that one too. It isn't something the Accuquilt can do that my rotary-cutter can't.

But the price !
I can get just about anything Inklingo, and still have money left over compared to buying the Accuquilt 'Studio Top Selling bundle' of shapes. That particular set of cutting dies costs a whopping 750 $ (and that is with a discount, because it is a bundle); to actually use that particular bundle, I'll have to have the 'Studio Fabric Cutter' as well, and that one alone is 595 $.

Then I thought, how far can I go for 1,345 $ with Inklingo.
Well, the cheapest MacBook (according to apple.com) will set me back 999 $ ... let's call that 1,000 $ (and we all know that Mac is more expensive than generic windows-computers, so I'm not bargain hunting here)
That leaves me 345 $ to get a printer and one or more collections of Inklingo.
An HP deskjet all-in-one, will set me back about 100 $ (remember, I'm not bargain-hunting), and then there will be 245 $ left to get all of the Inklingo collections that are similar to the ones in the 'Top Selling Die Bundle' ... and I will still have money left over !!!
So, the economic bottom-line is, that I can get 4 (comparable) Inklingo-collections, AND a computer, AND a printer (and not the cheapest possible) and still have money in my pocket, compared to buying the Studio Fabric Cutter, and that Top Selling bundle of cutting-dies.

What is more, the cutting-machine will only cut fabric. It doesn't do anything else.

And yes, I also found out, that I could get much cheaper versions if I went with the smaller 'GO!' cutter (which starts at 140 $ for the 'baby' size and costs 350 $ for the 'normal' size), but still ... There is a very limited number of 'dies' for the 'baby' one. If I want the big, top-selling bundle, I need the big, 600 $ machine.

If I then look at what is available for the small, and much less expensive, 'GO!' cutting-machine, and look at the dies for making a Double Wedding Ring quilt ... that set of dies is 90 $, and the prize for the Double Wedding Ring Inklingo collection is only 35 $ ... what is more, the Inklingo version includes a seriously beautiful design e-book.

... it's not even as if one can just slap any fabric in any size or any condition into the cutting-machine either ! It has a limitation on sizes of fabric, just like the printer which prints Inklingo shapes does, and the fabrics used in the cutting-machine needs to lie flat (i.e. be ironed) just as I iron fabric to freezer-paper with Inklingo.

It sort-of boggles my mind how expensive that nifty (and yes, it *is* nifty) piece of equimpment is, particularly seeing that it has one use only. The computer has many other uses, with and without Inklingo, and the Inklingo collections are much, much cheaper than the comparable accuquilt-collections.
I can change a lot of rotary-blades, and buy some seriously good scissors and still come out ahead using Inklingo ... if I am willing to cut under my own steam.

So I think I'll stay with Inklingo, thank you all the same, buy myself some new rotary blades, and continue to cut on my own, rather than invest in a machine to do it for me. It is a nifty and neat idea, but I like the prize of Inklingo better :-)

Oh, and this is not even mentioning, that with Inklingo, you get the match-marks and the cross-hairs which shows you exactly where to match the pieces together :-) That in itself is - in my opinion - worth gold. Particularly when dealing with curved shapes or shapes with lots of bias.