Last fall, I signed up for a class at Modern Domestic , it was a beginning quilting class focused on half square triangles. My plan was to make a quilt for my friend Erin...well, her first baby, Mara. It turned out pretty good and I found it pretty fun. So, I always viewed quilting as something I would pursue...probably...when I got old, haha...well, I guess that time came at the ripe age of 42. I got the bug and away I was swept. I enjoyed the tediousness of the work, its fairly mindless work for the most part, but at the same time, Its fair to say that I'm a perfectionist about these types of things so mindless may not be the best way to describe it. I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the fabric possibilities but I nailed down some nice gender neutral choices as Erin is not much for girly-girly. My favorite thing about the quilt process is cutting the fabric, and my absolute favorite part is the binding--making it and hand sewing it--I love, love the hand sewing part--
Several years ago, as a medical student, I was gifted an amazing first aid kit from an EMT friend. It included a cheap hemostat which I never had the misfortune to use. I broke this out when I was making my first quilt. Instead of buying the little wooden stick that one uses to pin the quilt sandwich, I tried this. Ever since, I have discovered a new thing to use it for on almost every sewing project. Just last week, I used it with my #69 foot (Roll and Shell Hemmer Foot)--I can grab and twist near the end, when the folded part starts to rove to the right which causes the hem to be uneven-- I just grab, lock and twist, get it going again and release at the last second. I use is for pulling pins at the last minute while sewing, basically anywhere my fingers can't easily get in. Its also great for tying knots when you have almost non-existent short thread--you just throw a surgeon's knot (which there are tons of videos on YouTube showing one how to instrument tie a sur