Happy Scrapping

I've had my new Go Cutter for about a week now, and I've been playing with it here and there. I started with my scrap basket and worked my way through the little bits and pieces. With no particular goal in mind, I just started matching up scraps to shapes and filing them away.
The most frustrating thing I found at the beginning was not having the dies for the shapes that I usually cut. I have a routine worked out for cutting scraps into frequently used sizes bases on Bonny Hunters Scrap User's system. I use 5 inch squares for the Girl Scout quilts, so I focus on those first, especially with novelty fabrics. After that I cut strips, usually 2.5 inches, but sometimes 3.5. When the fabric gets too small for that I switch to 2 inch strips and then 1.5 inches.

So after I started getting the hang of the whole GO cutter thing, I began to work out a system. By looking at the dies I had, I estimated the width of fabric that would fit nicely in each die. Then while going through my scrap basket, I looked for fabric that would work with those dies. I went ahead and rotary cut the shapes that I didn't have dies for. For the rest, I just loosely cut fabric into pieces that were a little bigger than the shape I had in mind and stacked them on top of the die that I wanted to use.
I carried out this whole experiment in fabric while sitting next to the pool making sure nobody was going to drown.
Once I got a system going, cutting the fabric went really quickly. By the time the kids were ready to be done swimming, I had a nice little collection of squares and strips and circles. There wasn't much more waste than their would have been if I were cutting everything traditionally and it does go much faster, especially if working with yardage rather than scraps.
So, if you are thinking about getting a Go Cutter, think about how you cut fabric. Do you use specific shapes again and again? Would you make a quilt because it uses the shapes you have the die for? Are you willing to invest in the dies you need to make the quilts you want?
I like gadgets, so the idea of using a cool new tool makes me happy. I can see myself having fun and making quilts to get the most out of my new cutter.