Have you seen the Clover Pendant thread cutter? It's been around along time and is handy for hand sewing away from home. You can also use it when you are piecing. A student showed a neat way to use it to cut apart chain pieced units. Turn it upside down and insert the end in a spool…

Or get a round, wood finial and drill a hole in the top of it. I think this one has also had a bit of its base sawed off…

I gotta say, this works better for me than using scissors or a rotary cutter. I used it to cut apart the millions (well, not millions… it just seemed like millions) of HSTs that I made recently.

I wish I could remember the name of the wonderful quilter who both showed me this AND gave me my own wooden ball. I love it! And, because some of you may not have one of these Clover pendants, I've put them on my website. Click here and scroll down the page if you need one!