Postby Harriet » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:11 pm
That looks like a really good cutter, SuzLew. Is yours red? (Would be easy to see and not lose among fabric!)
Got dstepgd's quilt bound today with the idea I came up with in my sleep (or drifting into sleep) for better looking fast machine binding. I sewed the 2.5 inch wide straight binding strips together along their length, right sides together, with a 1/8th inch seam. Then I pressed so that the little seam lay in the middle of one side, so it would be hidden inside when I wrapped the binding around to sew it on. (I tried for about 3/8th inch on the front, slightly wider on the back.) I sewed it on with a narrow blanket stitch in one step, being careful to catch the top edge perfectly. On the back the stitches were all on the binding even though it left some of the binding edge free.
Because I used thread that matched the binding almost exactly, it really looks neat on the back, too. Because it's stitched that first time it's pretty stable, doesn't shift or get wavy. I didn't pin - I just stopped every six inches and adjusted front and back amounts. For the two quilt sides, I just cut the binding off flush, and for the top and bottom I sewed by hand for the last inch at each corner, to cover them neatly. I got it done in one day (82x60 quilt).
The design wall went up well. I used 2 white Command adhesive wall mounts with hooks to hold a $4 thin gold-tone expanding (to 84 inches, it says) cafe curtain rod. 60-inch wide gray polar fleece hangs from a few inches below the ceiling to about a foot from floor. It's been holding all the existing parts of the woods/forest quilt for several days now and all seems well. Dh walked past in the hallway, glanced in at the arrangement and said, "Now I like that a lot." and kept walking. That's about as much input as I'll get from him through the whole process, but I appreciate it.
If you don't believe in miracles, you're not being realistic.