Sweet Baby!

Oh my goodness, I just had to post this picture as soon as I saw it. This is an updated picture of Leah, my friend Miranda's baby. I'm in process of making quilts for Leah and big sis Jacqueline.

Isn't she the sweetest baby, in her cute lil Pooh outfit?? She's laying on the 4th quilt I ever made (and technically, it was my first finished quilt), given to Jacqueline for Christmas 2007. We had used Miranda's house in Denver as a hotel for a night, as we drove home for Christmas that year. So I had to bring something with me as a thank you. Now I do have to confess...I didn't actually piece the top. It was a remnant of a cheater cloth I found @ my local fabric store for $1. Yep, $1...coupled with some yardage from Joann's bought on sale, I think I spent less than $10 to provide protection for babies laying on the carpet!

Now the first quilt I ever made is still sitting in a box, waiting for the quilting to be completed on it. I should finish it, because I'm proud of my effort...but the thing is, it's sort of ugly (at least in my head). I bought some interesting fat quarters @ Joann's (because I had NO IDEA what I was doing at that point, including fabric buying), and took a beginner quilting class.

My 2nd quilt is the purple quilt you see if you look @ my Blogger profile. It went to my mom for Christmas...she loves purple (her garage door on her house is purple), and it's my favorite that I've made so far. I curl up under it every time I'm there to visit. :) That quilt was hard work, triangles attached to 1" strips...lots and lots of ironing and trimming. I spent one whole quilt class @ Joann's just figuring out my layout for those squares.

Ah, memories!

Confession Time

So I have a confession... I hate pom-poms. Not these pom-poms...I love those - I was a cheerleader in HS, after all. What I'm talking about are these kinds of pom-poms...you know, embellishments... Oh Fransson just posted a cute 9-patch quilt, which I love...except for the pom-poms on the top. And don't get me started on the trim...I will NEVER decorate a lampshade in a pom-pom trim...eww!

If you are a lover of poms, I apologize for this rant...to each her own, I guess!

Walking in a Spiderweb...

...leave a message and I'll call you back...

I've been wondering about these spiderweb blocks, since that seems to be one of the new trends floating around the blogland quilters these days, including ones being done for another virtual quilting bee, Block Party. One of the peeps in Pieced Together is polling to see if we'd be interested in putting these together for her month; I decided it was time to try one out.

I wasn't overly concerned about getting this perfect (or even changing the orientation of the photo in this post - lol!). The tutorial recommends you use a glue stick to tack down the center fabric; I didn't do this, as I didn't have a glue stick (must look @ work tomorrow). So I think this led to a little bit of shifting, which is why my seams aren't quite matchy-matchy where the pieceing begins. And I didn't bother to switch to a heftier needle, which I agree would have punched the paper even more and made easier to remove. But other than, it really wasn't difficult, and I could definitely see myself doing something like this again. It probably took me an hour to do the block, but that time also included cutting the templates and running back & forth between the kitchen (where the iron lives) and the spare bedroom (where my sewing machine lives). Plus, I was trying not to disturb the homework process:

I'm going to call it a success! But now, what to do with that block??

Wishing it was Spring

Darci, one of my Pieced Together buddies, is hosting a fat quarter swap. Do you wanna join in? Sounds like fun to me!

Fiberfill?

Does anyone have any strong opinions on fiberfill? I need to re-stuff Shep, the doggy I got from my Grandma, whom Patches is somewhat modeled after.

I'm not wanting to use the cheapo poly-fill stuff you buy @ Joanns - I was going to try to buy something from a natural fiber... But I'm not sure of a great source to find cotton/wool fiberfill...

Mental Note to Myself...

This is not how magnetic snaps are supposed to look:

Rather, this is how the snap should look:

The washer goes against the wrong side of the fabric...duh!

I made another fabric basket for a Christmas gift for one of my grandmas...I ran out of steam to make the 3 baskets on my list, and only ended up with this one. I'm sure it will be a last second decision on who to give it to...the others will be sent for Valentine's Day if I get my mojo back. Completely scrappy, and to be honest, mostly made from fabrics I would not otherwise use. Some were from the Spare Change swap, and others are more vintage-y squares I got from Nanette when I ordered from her (all completely unique, begging to be a part of something scrappy like this). You can't tell in the photo, but the bottom is a deep purple mini cord. And the inside is a floral print from a thrifted pillow case.

And just because I'm having fun playing with my new camera, and the severe lack of photos earlier today, isn't the macro setting just amazing??

The full-size photo is even better!

AND...who is this little guy?? This is Meeko, he sometimes lives in our neighbor's back yard, and likes to crawl up the tree and peer at our kitties. Steve managed to capture this photo of him (with some Picasa editing thrown in to lighten him up and lessen the devil eyes).

Alright, y'all...this is probably the last real post for a while...so Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy 2009, etc. etc. See ya on the flip side! :)

The year is coming to a close...

...and I packed up my sewing machine last night, so that's its nice & safe from kitties while we're in Nebraska over the holidays. All of my supplies and fabrics are put away, although I realized I need re-organize my craft closet when I get back.

My goals in 2009 are to start AND finish a bunch of quilts (so I can use up the copious quantities of fabric I acquired this year)...and to maybe take a class or two on garment sewing, as I would like to make myself some skirts.

At some point, I also need to catch up on some scrapbooking, which has gone into some serious hibernation while I've been sewing.

Cheers in 2009!

Tutorial: Purse/Bag Handles

Based on the difficulty I had making the reversible purse, and because I had already cut the pieces from my expensive Echino Nico fabric, I had to do something different, using the pieces I had. So I cut off the handles of the reversible purse template and decided to make lemonade... And in the process, I decided just to make some normal bag handles and do the tutorial I promised.

So here goes! Before you start, you should figure out how long your handle(s) need to be. When I do the hobo bags, the handle is approx. 26" long, the ones on the Manhattan bag are each approx. 14" long, and the ones in this tutorial are each approx. 20" long. For an cross-body messenger style bag, that will land you in the 45"-60" range depending on how tall you are - just grab a measuring tape (the sewing kind, not the metal kind), and sling across your body to figure it out. This tutorial will give you handles that measure 1.25" in width.

What you need:

*Handle fabric = 4" wide by the length of your handles (see above)

*Pellon 987F Fleece (or a similar weighted fusible fleece - I think it's a medium to heavy weight fleece) cut to 1.25" width

*Pellon DecorBond 809 (or similar) cut to 1.25" width

*Twill tape 1.25" width (I bought this stuff - yes, the 72 yd. roll, I figured it was easier than going to the store every so often just to get twill tape...I will never run out of this, and it cost $12!)

Directions:

*Cut your 4" wide handle strips. This is what I started with:

please excuse my pressing sheet in these photos - there are some gross burn marks!

*Iron wrong sides together in half length-wise.

*Then open up your fabric. Place your fleece fusible side against wrong side of handle piece, using the center crease as the edge you butt the fleece up against...then give it a light press (enough to make it stick), fold the handle wrong sides together and give it a good press (you're using the handle as a press cloth). REMINDER: Make sure you're using steam on the wool/cotton setting!

*Open your handle fabric back up. Place the DecorBond on the other side of the crease, fusible against wrong side of fabric, and repeat the previous step. If your fleece/DecorBond pieces aren't as long as the handle, don't worry! I just butt the ends of a new piece right up against the end of where I stopped, and it works fine (but don't overlap, you don't need the bulk). Trust me, you won't be able to tell where the split is once you get this sewed up!

*Place the twill tape on top of the side with the DecorBond.

*Fold over the remaining edge of the handle fabric on top of the twill tape/DecorBond side. You should be folding over approximately .75" - with the folds, it's probably somewhere between .5" and .75".

*Repeat fold over and ironing on the fleece side.

*Then fold wrong sides together in half again, and iron the crap out of the strap. Provided you did the above steps properly, the open sides of the strap should be lined up with each other.

*Now we are going to sew. I pin the open sides of the strap together to prevent shifting. I start in the middle and work my way out.

See how I've lined up the breaks in the fabric design? This is important if your fabric can be lined up (and isn't a seamless allover print). The pins really do help the fabric from bunching up in the next steps.

*For the top-stitching, I use my zipper foot. This allows me to get really close to the edge. I think I do this step as if I were left-handed. I attach my zipper foot on the left side, so I get good light from machine to see. Make sure your needle is kicked all the way out to the edge of your zipper foot. NOTE: I use a 90/14 needle for this step, you are going thru a LOT of layers, and really, do you want to deal with a broken needle in the middle of sewing?? No, you do not.

*Edge-stitch the open sides of your handles first, staying as close to the edge as possible, but trying to keep a consistent distance from the edge of the handle. If you have more than one handle, go ahead and chain-piece these suckers. Then turn your handle to the fold side, and edge stitch that side too!

*Now, you could stop after stitching both sides. BUT, why not add another row of stitches to each side?? I kick my needle back toward the center, and line up the edge of the zipper foot to the edge of the fabric, and away I go! Seriously, the double lines look SOOO much better. And as an added bonus, in case you messed up your edge stitching on the open side of the handle, the 2nd row of stitches will ensure you get that handle sewn up nicely!

*Attach your handles where they belong.

Make sure you figure out which side of the handle should be the outside of the handle, and place that side right sides against your bag fabric. For a more solid/allover print, I make whatever side that has the best stitching as my outside.

*Sew your lining & outside together, leaving an opening for turning in the top. Top-stitch around top edge of bag, closing your turning hole while doing so. Don't forget to keep your handles straight up from the top of the bag so you get a good top-stitch to hold them in place.

And viola! You're done...you have an awesome bag with super sturdy handles!

Whew! That took forever, mucho props to all those who have put together tutorials out there!

The Reversible Purse

So there is a reversible purse tutorial available online - 2 slightly different variations, one from Martha and one from All People Quilt (and now I can't find the link to the pattern...grrr...). I printed the template from the APQ version, because I didn't have to enlarge the page to put the template together...just a bunch of paper & taped it together. Then I cut out the pieces for 2 bags from my $18/yard Echino Nico fabric, and got to work. APQ suggests adding a layer of batting with the lining, so I thought "what the hell?" and decided to actually quilt it, adding a layer of muslin to the back (BTW, did the quilting first then cut the template). Then the directions between Martha & APQ differ.

So I followed Martha's directions, sewed up the sides, but not all the way up for both lining & outside. And I sewed along the tops of the handles. Then disaster hit...sewing the lining & outside together. The smaller strap handle wouldn't fit around the bottom part of my machine, so I had to sew it upright (I don't know if this makes sense), which was difficult. Then I figured out I shouldn't have sewed the tops of the handles (APQ instructions coming in here) because I wasn't able to turn the handles once I got the lining & outside partially sewn together. Out came the seam ripper...pulled out the top seams and the unstitched a bit down the side where the lining & outside were sewn together. Then I could turn the handles, re-sew the tops together, and stitch the outside to lining AGAIN. I was able to successfully sew together the "neck" of the bag and topstitch. But again, topstitching the outside of the little handle was considerably difficult.

Honestly, this is probably the worse bag I've put together so far...the instructions seem deceptively simple, and need to be much more detailed. If you are going to attempt this one, I would go with APQ's instructions, they seemed to get you on the right track (if you can figure them out). Has anyone in bloggy land managed to make this bag successfully 1st try??? A more detailed tutorial would be great...

Anywho, here is the lining side of the bag...the outside shall remain only a hint, otherwise the recipient will know she is the recipient based on the fabric.

Scotty Doggie update

Kyle has named his Scotty doggie "Patches" and the fabric basket is being used to corral and tote around his blocks!

AND, my grandma is giving me the Scotty doggie she has, under the condition that I can't change his name - he is called Shep. I think I can agree to that condition!

The Weekend Update

I suffered my first crafting injury on Friday night:

I was making a little card keeper thing, and trying to hammer on a snap using this thingy. Obviously, that didn't quite go as planned... Now the blood blister just looks very dark under the skin, and I keep trying to lick what I think is chocolate off my finger. That was too much information, huh? Well, it's going to happen again during this post, so consider yourselves warned...


I finished up my Winter Foxes handbag...but have since discovered I apparently have no idea how to properly attach magnetic snaps and need to un-sew my lining so I can place the snap washer BEHIND the fabric (shoulda asked my mechanically-inclined hubby when doing this step if it looked right to him). Which means I've screwed up more than one magnetic snap... *grr*

The bag was difficult to put together - the mini-cord lining/side fabric coupled with Pellon 987F fleece and some DecorBond make for some thick layers (I even bent a denim needle!). But other than the snap issue, I'm really diggin' this bag...it's cute! And my handles are super sturdy - one of these days, I'm going to do a tutorial on making bag straps, because I really like how hefty and professional-looking they turn out, and I haven't seen a tutorial that provides the same level of heft. I just need to make another bag with straps, so I can do the photos for the steps.


After a whirlwind Saturday morning finishing and packaging up some birthday presents (SIL Kristina and step-mom Donna) and just-because presents (for 2 of my fav baby girls Jacqueline & Leah), we headed out...

for Donna

For my girl Jacqueline

I made Steve go with me up to Echo Park, to the BUST Holiday Craftacular. His efforts were rewarded by the sight of hundreds of people dressed up as Santa, riding bikes and singing on a school bus - only in LA! The craftacular was OK; I didn't end up buying anything, but the stuff was way better than the Redondo Beach craft fair a couple of weeks ago (that was just old ladies selling stuff like doilies that doesn't really appeal to anyone in my age range, although I appreciate the effort)...but there weren't that many different vendors (maybe 20), so that was sort of disappointing. But I think this was the first year in LA... The other random thing was that this was held in what probably turned into a nightclub later that night... My fav vendor was I Heart Guts; completely unique, I liked the "I'm a Liver, not a Fighter" tees! And speaking of...I guess I Heart Guts will also be participating next weekend in Unique Los Angeles - maybe I'll go check this one out too, hopefully sans Steve (I feel bad torturing him!).



We hung out with Gabe on Saturday, sans Joelle (in DC for work), as Steve is busy learning all things xbox and Media Center. He also was transferring some DVDs to the new TB drive. As of last night, we (and by we, I mean Steve) figured out the best way to get the connection to the main router is to use good old fashioned CAT5 cable (of which we have hundreds of feet, so definitely didn't need to go to a store to get some of that). We just couldn't get the wireless to work at a speed necessary to stream to the xbox. But we were able to stream Kung Fu Panda from the TB drive in the other room, and watch it last night - good times. Steve will be drilling a hole thru the wall next weekend, so he can feed the CAT5 thru the wall to the spare bedroom/office where the router is housed. I am cringing already, as would my landlord if he knew we were putting more holes in the walls. We are going to have to buy a gallon of spackle to repair those holes when we (eventually) move out!


We also put up the Christmas decorations - we don't actually have as much as I remember, but it's still quite a bit for a small apartment with very little storage space. I think I'm going to do a separate post on the random ornaments that decorate our tree - it's very "scrappy" with no cohesive theme. But my tree skirt looks awesome underneath the fake tree! And hopefully it will hold up to repeated washings from the cat barfing on it (keepin' it real here, folks!).

Ok, Mir...time for your opinion...

So I decided to venture over to Santa Monica's Sewing Arts Center because I needed thread during Thursday's lunch break. While there, I had a chat with a lady about the disaster quilt, and she seemed pretty convinced the thrifted sheet was a BAD idea for the backing.

dimensions approximately 37" x 44"

Since I don't think I can rip out my stitches, I'm going to have to start all over again. Fortunately, I bought the quilt kit on sale, so dollars-wise, I'm not out very much at all.

So there are several options for you Mir.

I can salvage most of the blocks from the original quilt (all except 3)...

So...
1) I can rework the original blocks into a smaller, more squarish quilt (more like 37" x 37")

OR, I can completely start over and make something new. I happen to have the perfect fabrics to use...but they shall remain a surprise ;) Although, I will tell you that they are more subdued than the ones above!

So...

2) I can re-do the original quilt in new fabrics

OR - we can do a new pattern - below are some ideas...

3) Disappearing Nine-Patch (this is way easier than it looks, BTW):From Krom Mama

4) Happy Hour quilt:

from CrazyMomQuilts

5) Patchwork Charm squares:

Also CrazyMomQuilts

6) Finn's Quilt:

So those are some choices - none of which is at all complicated, and totally doable.

Mir, your assignment is to pick 2 of the above (or 2 of your own idea, as long as it's relatively simple - squares & rectangles are good for me)...and let me know...

Then I'll pick what I want to do! ;)

Saturday Crafting

In between watching LOTR movies, I cut out the pieces for 2 new handbags:And since I wasn't sure if I was ready to completely fuss with the expensive Belgium linen Winter Foxes fabric, I decided to make the butterflies my prototype bag using the Manhattan Handbag pattern I bought a few months ago and haven't gotten around to using yet.

I think it turned out super cute. I'm surprised by how big it is, the pieces seemed small when I was cutting them. I used Stiffy, the really bad Timtex substitute, but at the time I bought it, Timtex was no where to be found...and I wasn't really wanting any of the other substitute items. And you know what - it's worked out okay so far. Granted, the bag hasn't been washed, so I don't know what's going to happen there. I'm hoping this butterfly bag is already spoken for...cuz otherwise I might keep it for myself (it coordinates with my owly backpack tote). For my Winter Foxes bag, the lining and side/bottom pieces are going to be a gray micro-cord. I'm excited to make the bag - the 1st went together VERY quickly once I got all of the pieces cut out (and fleece/decor bond ironed).

And in a completely random ending to this post, this is the shirt I got today when Steve & I went to Disneyland (actually the shirt was bought in California Adventure, but whatever):

We're on a mission to find a "I'm with Dopey" shirt for him to wear - they had one, but it was women's shirt, so that wasn't going to work. The other alternative is to find him a "I'm Grumpy" shirt, to go along with his Grumpy hat (and my "I Heart Grumpy Guys" hat). Supposedly, the shirt exists, but we didn't find it.

Mr. Snowman

He's done! I finally finished up the binding on him last night. I was having total mental issues (and google search issues) and couldn't figure out how to do continuous seam binding (so there's no overlap of the binding strips). Finally found something that showed me in a book last night, but then had to do it 4 times...yes, 4 times, before I got the pieces sewed together properly! My brain just doesn't work that way sometimes...and especially with solid fabrics that don't have right/wrong sides. Michelle (my LA blogger name twin) sent me a link this morning to this tutorial, which is exactly what I was trying to do.

For the quilting, I ended up busting out the walking foot, and quilted straight-line spiral through the middle of each piece. This seems to work, I still need to have a chat with the ladies at Luella's about free motion quilting.

Alrighty, guests just arrived, I gotta go! More later!

Cotton Blossoms

I like this line, but I'm not in love with it so completely that I feel compelled to buy more than I need to complete the projects I have going.

This is what I put together with the rest of my charm pack (coupled with the new fabrics I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop to complete my projects) - this happened Saturday, as I was sequestering myself from the bad air outside). I put together more of the charms, but couldn't cut them into Disappearing nine-patch as suggested, because I only had 15 charms for both the Orange/Brown and Red/Green colorways. So I stuck with plain & simple:

This is going to be a Christmas-y table runner that I'm gifting. The red is the backing fabric, the cream color is the border to put around the blocks.

Got a little fancier with the 8 charms I had from the aqua group - half-square triangles. The centers of my blocks are lined up perfectly...the triangles on the outside, not so much. Oh well. :-D I don't know what I'm going to do with these yet, but I have a half yard of the dot plaid print to play with. Maybe a tote for someone? Or maybe I'll make myself some mini-quilts to hang in my office @ work. I really need to do something about the ugly painting on the wall in there - as in, take it down, and put up something I would rather look at.

I need to iron fabric so I can cut & keep going on these projects. (BTW - you MUST say "iron" in your head exactly like John Travolta does as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray - makes me laugh every time!). Toodles!

I need help

So a while back, I posted that I was having issues with Miranda's Baby #2 quilt. Well, now Baby #2 has arrived (a week ago, as a matter of fact):

This is Leah (and my favorite picture) - she's pretty cute, huh? :) Still doesn't make me want one of my own, Mir! :-p

So I figured since the child is now out of womb, maybe I should get crackin' on that quilt again. Here's the problem: still can't get the stippling going, my needle keeps breaking, exactly like the last picture. I don't know what the problem is...thread, bobbin winding, backing (thrifted sheet), needle, batting?? I just dunno. I was able to successfully complete the couch quilt, so I know that I have the set-up correct on the machine. I thought it could be the seams (the couch quilt has virtually no seams), but when I broke the needle, I wasn't on top of a seam. I also tried flipping the quilt over, so I was quilting from the backing side, just in case the fabric was having issues sliding around...that didn't really help me either!

But which of these things is causing the problem...or could it be all of them? Grr! And since my stippling has been so crazy, I don't know if I can rip the stitches out and pair the top with different batting & backing fabric (the stitches are probably WAY too close together).

Thoughts? BTW - I'm way too cheap to take it to a long-arm quilter, but at this point, it might be a viable option to get the darn thing crossed off my list.

Snowman progress

Here's the update to my snowman embroidery: So I attempted to do a log cabin block with only 2 fabrics, not quite sure it was exactly as intended, but I do like it. I trimmed the little guy down to 5", and the strips are 2.5" cuts. The layout really screws with Steve's engineer brain. I don't think he can handle how it's not a symetrical pattern...but it is square... The quote was something like "it's a mathematical impossibility"...NERD! :-D

While I was sewing the log-cabin blocks together, I was using my Cotton Blossom charm pack Brown/orangey squares as leaders/enders. And I came up with this:

Not sure what I'm going to do, except that I think I'm going to turn these into a table runner for Thanksgiving. We're hosting "homeless children's" Thanksgiving again this year (those of us away from our immediate families...or being ditched by our immediate families), so I want to try to add some decor to the table.

Later gators!

I Love Snowmen!

So, a while back, Michele at CalicoDaisy put up an opportunity to win a free embroidery design...and I was one of the lucky recipients! I kinda have this thing for snowmen, so I chose this cute little guy...and have been trying to figure out what to do with him... So this weekend, while up in San Jose, I visited a quilt shop I knew was having a sale (yay for Google!), and picked up these "Winter" fabrics by Minick & Simpson:

So I'm thinking a wall-hanging type of project of some kind... I need to go get some coordinating red & green solids and we'll see where it goes from there...

I'm definitely excited about the embroideries, Michele does great work. I deffo have an idea for another project where I need to enlist her help, I just have to run it by the recipient first.

EDIT 11/3/2008: The CalicoDaisy etsy shop now has this cute lil guy available for purchase! :)

A Scotty for Kyle

This weekend, we are going to be headed up to San Jose for baby Kyle's baptism. Kyle is the adopted son of Mark & Liz...Mark is Steve's godfather, and Steve is going to be Kyle's godfather. So I felt compelled to make something for Kyle...and then somewhere online I saw a Scotty dog (sincerest apologies to whomever I borrowed this idea from **EDIT - Found the link stuffed in my IE favorites - also Pink Penguin**)...and it immediately made me think of this Scotty dog softie my grandma used to let me sleep with, although he was made of carpet-like fabric, if I remember correctly. **Mom, if you're reading this, find out if grandma still has that doggie...I would like him!**

Anyway, I came up with a pattern for the doggie, using trusty rusty Excel. I fell in love with the American Jane "Recess" fabrics, so I ordered a layer cake from Pink Chalk.

I cut each layer cake into 3x10 strips, then cut 3" squares from that. So I ended up with 120 squares, which I used to somewhat randomly piece together Mr. Scotty Doggie:


I didn't realize until I put the 2 pictures together that I used the navy polka dot fabric in the exact same spot on both sides of his face.

I think I had 25 extra squares leftover, so I decided I wanted to make a fabric basket using Pink Penguin's tutorial:



So hopefully the colors and fabrics aren't too girly, I thought they were fun, kinda Crayola primary colors. If not, I can always keep him...and name him Jock. ;) Now I just need to figure out what to do with the remainder 7x10 Recess pieces (pun intended, although I know it was weak)...

Wendell follow-up

The prob w/Wendell is that I didn't get enough seam allowance going on him...so I think if I were to gift to any small child, he might be too "loved" and fall apart. Plus, I'm still not very good at all with stitching up the stuffing hole (I think there is a proper term for this, but I would have no idea), so my whip stitch (again, I think that's what I'm doing) is about all I have the patience to do with any amount of precision, and it shows (literally!).

I'm envious of those who are able to stitch...not a skill I have. I still have a WIP/UFO cross-stitch project floating around somewhere that was supposed to be a gift to my mom for Christmas 2006. And I have a completely unstarted cross-stitch project that was supposed to be for the guest bedroom (my Americana room)...the supplies are shoved behind my scrapbooking treasure trove. And on a completely random tangent, I really want to move, so I can pack up my apartment and see how much crap I need to get rid of...I'm sure I'll be the source of copious quantities of trash and Goodwill bags.

And I'm really envious of those who actually enjoy binding their quilts...because I view it as an entirely tedious process. I'm not sure I would actually pay someone to bind a quilt for me...I'm too cheap!