Good Things

1. I discovered that the open-toed foot that I bought for applique works perfectly for piecing when the needle is moved to the right.

2. At guild last night we had what we call "The Tool Man", a vendor who sells notions, gadgets, and books for cut rate prices. I found a copy of Libby Lehman's book Threadplay for $12. When I was looking for it before taking her class last spring I found out it is out of print and sells for about $85. This copy is of course used, and has some stuck together pages from spilled something, but even so...

3 For the binding of my Queen Anne's Lace piece I used the piped binding technique described by Susan Cleveland in Winter 2005 American Quilter. (She also has a book called, I think, Piping Hot Bindings.) It worked beautifully. I've done a piped binding before, and it was ok, but didn't have the precision that her way has. She stitches the piping on first using a bobbin thread that contrasts with backing and then stitches the binding from the back, using the first stitching as a guide. Perfect.