I Wont Be Buying A Lottery Ticket Today

Remember how I said I was working on a binding today?  Look at this...yep, that is a miter, right smack dab in the middle of my corner!  What are the chances that it would land there?  And, of course it was on the third corner.  There was no way I was taking that baby out!

Cool Tool

Today I am making binding for a quilt.  This nifty little tool is a great help.

Important: On your strip (and yes, it is still folded and I am working on the open ends), place your ruler so that the top of the ruler is even with your fabric.  You then rotary cut from the bottom of the strip to the top (about where 4 is).  Then cut the small vertical piece.

These strips were both cut the same, just turned around .

Now you nestle those two strips.  Sew 1/4 inch from corner to corner (where you see the two pins) and...and...wait for it...

VOILA..you have a perfectly pieced biased binding strip.  Pretty cool, huh?  Told you it was a cool tool!

More of the Same

Unfortunately, I only had one yard of this fabric.  I wish I would have had more.  It was enough for just one pillowcase.  I'm sure I bought this fabric for some lovely young lady, but since it is more than 5 years old, I am sure she is probably out of this stage by now.  Those ballerina hippos sure are cute though.

Again, another one yard piece of fabric.  Some of these focus fabrics are so darn cute.  I am keeping a small square of each one of these pillowcase fabrics, just in case I decide to make an i-spy quilt someday.

Batter Up

How do you like my valance?  I bought this baseball print to make a valance.  Needless to say, I changed my mind and used something else.  I was stuck trying to figure out what I was going to make with 3 yards of this fabric.  Ugh.  I already used up 1 yard making some bibs for Matthew.  Since I had enough left, I decided to make a set of pillowcases.  Pillowcases are such a great way of stash busting large pieces of fabric.  And, I finished them just in time.  Spring training is only 3 months away (grin).

Consignment Shops

Mike will be transferring jobs beginning February 14.  This job will be 5 days a week from 8 to 4.  Finally some normal hours for my son.  With the changing of jobs comes a shift in babysitting duties.  Beckham will now be with us on Thursdays AND Fridays.  It was time for me to update the toy collection/selection.  Since winter in Wisconsin is in full swing, rummage sales were out.  I decided to check out some consignment shops.  Wow, I had no idea what great places these are.  I found some wonderful, like-new toys at more than reasonable prices.  The picture shows just some of my bargains...Becks is one happy camper.  Even though I found all these great toys....

....he still likes to play in Maddy's pet carrier.  Thank goodness Maddy can't talk, because I am sure she would have a few choice words for the little interloper!! 

Katz

Friday's pillowcase of the day is some krazy katz.  Pretty soon I will be sewing pillowcases in my sleep!

Another "Kick"

It would seem I sew in spurts. Sometimes for weeks on end, I do no sewing. Then there are times when I get on a kick, like a few months ago, and I make multiples of one thing. Well, I think I am on another kick. My Goddaughter visited last Friday and wanted me to teach her how to make a pillowcase. It went so quickly and easily, that I wondered why I didn't make more of them. I decided to dig out all the fun focus fabrics that I have. Matthew now has a few new sets of pillowcases, with more to come. The "kick" continues.....