What's Happening

Surely not much on the quilting front, as we have been busy readying the living/dining room for painting.  I looked back in my photo files to May last year and found this pic I meant to share long ago regarding attaching a binding:  I lay my little 1 x 6" ruler with the 1/4 line horizontally on the unstitched edge, also making sure a vertical hash mark is at the raw edge of the side I'm currently sewing.  It is then easy to put in a pin at the quarter inch mark from the right edge to indicate where to stop stitching, then backstitch and remove the quilt from under the needle to do the miter fold of the binding. 

This photo struck me particularly because I cannot find this 1 x 6 ruler ANYWHERE. It usually lives in a drawer bin on the door of my sewing desk, but I last remember it out in the dining room where I was looking at a quilt template pattern in a magazine last weekend. I'm pretty sure I put it back on my desk, but am afraid it got accidentally swept off and into the trashcan when I was moving things around.  The trashcan was subsequently emptied by Grant for the weekly pickup and I didn't miss the ruler until mid week.  This ruler was my constant companion for years and will need to be replaced, as a seam gauge just doesn't work the same way as a quilting ruler!

The above binding was going on these two placemats I made for DD Erica for her little house in Arizona.  She has recently petitioned for another set in similar colors, and while combing my scrap boxes I found some suitable fabrics and even some scraps from these.  Erica also noted that my Blogger's Quilt Festival post was incorrect--her bed is a King, not Queen, and therefore the quilt I made her is even more impressive for its size :).  Thanks, Erica!

It is also Russell the dog's 12th  birthday today. 

Here he is at Christmas 2005.  He's a bit grayer now and has put on some weight, but is still going strong!