I would never sew in stilettos. However, I would sew WITH a stiletto. I didn’t know that they moonlight as a sewing tool until Christmas time, when a friend from quilt guild made these adorable things for everyone in the guild:
They are really useful for holding down little pieces of fabric in spots where my fat fingers just dare not go.
See? I think this stiletto’s grandmother was a shish kabob stick. And look where she is now!
Ever wonder what to do with all of your million strips of leftover batting? Well, you should pull out your basting spray, and make a very small quilt that is batted with strips. Basting spray and strips of batting are a match made in heaven.
First, take your backing outside so you can get it nice and dirty on the cement in your back yard. Spray basting spray on it, and then arrange your strips edge to edge.
Next, spray the batting. Fold your quilt top in half, and spread / smooth it over your batting, then smooth your way from the fold up to the top. Basting spray is really forgiving. You if you get a wrinkle you can just pull up the fabric and smooth it down again. They should make something like that for skin.
After you’re all basted together, call your sister who likes to free-motion quilt, and enslave her to finish the quilting while you watch and eat bonbons.
I did bind this quilt, but I forgot to photograph it finished. It was in my UFO pile for a long time, and finally someone is due with a boy at a convenient time for me to finish it. I love how quickly a quilt comes together when the top is just one block. One. Done. Fun.
I accurately predicted the gender of my first two children, so when I decided that this third one was a girl, I felt very sure that I was right again.
I finished a lovely pink quilt, which took two years total after sitting in the UFO pile for a long time. I call it “Pink Headache,” because headache is what will happen after looking at it for too long.
Well, I was wrong. This baby will not be getting a headache from HIS quilt. Since I found out late that I was wrong, I wanted something easy and quick, and I have had the itch to do some stripping (hehe, I love to make quilter jokes about stripping. I’m a nerd), so I made up this maze quilt for him:
I cut random widths between 2 and 3-1/2 inches, and put white between each one. I laid them out with white filler strips, then snipped a spot in each scrappy strip and put in a white spacer.
For the path through the maze I used a Doll Needle
and some blue pearl cotton. I used Minky
If you are familiar with the mitered corner, this should be a breeze. I sort of wanted someone to hold my hand the first time I did it, just because it wasn’t the same angle as a normal corner. It turned out fine. I did it, and you can do it, too!
Lay your binding down flush with the edge, like a normal binding.
Fold the binding so it sticks out at a 90 degree angle from the center of the corner you are rounding.
Fold the binding back down so it is flush with the rest of the corner as well.
At this point I like to finger press my binding fold down in both directions. The finger press line will make a nice little guide for where to stop the needle when you are sewing it down, and where to start again.
See that pretty little line? Hello line. Thanks in advance for your help.
Needle down, sew the binding down to your finger press line. Sometimes I backstitch here, if I am feeling confident in who I am, and where I have stitched. Raise and remove the needle, and adjust your position so that you start sewing at the finger press line on the other side of your corner.
Yes, that line there.
Sometimes I backstitch here, too, if I am still feeling confident. Like on those days when I remember to brush my teeth AND wear deodorant.
You should end up with a corner that looks like these.
And you can fold that baby over, and sew it down by hand or machine, depending on what flips your skirt or how soon the Christmas present is due. This one was finished at 4:30 on a Christmas Eve, for the record.
Look at those sexy corners. Way to go!
The best thing about Christmas is that when it’s over, you can post your sewing projects on the internet without risking giving away exciting secrets!
I made this mini-hexagon quilt for my mom for Christmas. I got the strips at an exchange at my quilt guild.
I plan to post some tutorial-ish pictures of binding the corners of this thing in the next week or so. I was super nervous that it would be a huge headache, but it really wasn’t that bad.
Jenny Sews 