Tuesday, November 14, 2006

My Sick Day

The carpets were cleaned in our office over the weekend and I think I had a bad reaction to the cleaning solution. Yesterday I got a horrible sore throat. This morning when I woke up I could hardly talk and was achy and foggy brained. So I decided the best thing for me to do was to stay home. I feel better tonight, but still not 100%. One more good night's sleep should help a lot.

I did do some office work (isn't it wonderful to have a VPN to access?). I slept for a couple more hours. And, of course, I got some quilty tasks done. I machine sewed the binding to one of Tasha's quilts. I pinned the binding down and started hand sewing it down. I sorted through my scraps of binding and tried to match them to completed tops. Unfortunately I could only get enough batting together for one wallhanging. I made a list of what I need for backing, batting and binding to finish three of my tops and three of Tasha's tops. I also sewed and pressed 360 inches of binding for my Magic Ribbons quilt.

Tracey received a beautiful painting from her DH. She challenged us to talk about one of our Top 10 gifts. I've been thinking about this all day. There aren't too many presents that I get from anyone that I haven't asked for so many of them are not surprises. I do collect cross necklaces. Last Christmas DH bought me a necklace that is Jesus with his arms out wide. It is very delicate and very beautiful. I would rate it one of my Top 10 gifts.

My turn for a challenge for all of you. What is your coolest and cheapest quilting tool? A tool that makes some part of quilting easier to do without costing a lot of money. You tell me yours and tell you mine tomorrow.

9 comments:

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

Hi, pleased you loved the picture as much as I do. I'll have to think about the tools-quarter inch patchwork foot made the most difference to my skill! A great ruler I got in the farm tools section at a Show makes a big difference, too. I may post irt tomorrow. Hope you are feeling better. T

sewnut said...

My current favourite coolest and cheapest tool is the round spindle base from a stack of CD-R'S that I am using as a template for a quilting pattern in a border.It was free as packaging.
Since however I have set that project aside for a while I will also boast about my very "pointy- bent-nose-tweezers". They are really from a surplus store that featured dental equipment. These are as sharp as a darning needle at the end, have ridges to grip firmly, have a post to keep them from slipping apart when they are being used [major panic moment - I cannot find them right now] and they cost $1.80. I actually went back and bought half a dozen as gifts (all gone now).

relax... I looked everwhere and found them safely asleep in the tool box of my serger. They definately are useful for threading. I also use them as an awl, to poke around, to control unruly trims that I want to send under the sewing machine's presser foot, for retrieving lost bits as well as a holder for any piece of fabric that I use to swab around my sewing machine's unreachable areas to catch threads and lint clumps.

Can you tell I love it?

sewnut said...

I like this challenge so much I copied it to my blog also and added a photo of my tweezers.
http://sewnut-barda.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

OK, my favorite cheap quilting tool is a bag of those silver hair clippy things I got at a dollar store. They work really well to hold down binding while you do the hand sewing on the back...much better than straight pins.

Hope you feel better son!

Angie said...

My wooden shish-kabob skewer. :) I use that thing all the time when I'm machine-sewing. LOL

Libby said...

Elmer's School Glue for basting applique -- it works just the same as the brand in quilt shops for and it's only 20 cents per bottle during Back-To-School sales.

Anonymous said...

All good ideas!!!

Mine is the door peeper - that you put in your door to see who's knocking or ringing the bell before opening it - string it on a piece of ribbon and use as a reducing glass. I got mine at the hardware store.

My 2nd favorite is the hairclips like Dianne mentioned.

Anonymous said...

Hope you're feeling better!

I think my favorite tool is my rotary cutter. I have a Fiskars one with a comfortable grip. Not too exciting.

Beth said...

mine is blue painters tape...stack up 5 or so layers...and mark your 1/4 inch along the edge of the 1.4 inch foot. Easy...removable..cheap and no residue left behind.