Food and Fiber Floozie: tutorial on pressing binding, Moe's quesadillas...yum!, Martini NIght

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

tutorial on pressing binding, Moe's quesadillas...yum!, Martini NIght

Michael was up super early on Monday (5/22), trying to make sure he had packed everything for his trip to Pinehurst. He also picked some glads that got snapped off in the rain storm overnight (isn't that color gorgeous?):

I dropped him off at 8:30 at Ralph’s house and continued on to Harris Teeter for just a few things. I headed down to the studio after I made my tea and fired off a secret project…or 2…pictures hopefully at the end of the week :~). After that I started working on binding. My #1 goal for these few days when Michael is gone is to get our bed quilt labeled and bound and ON THE BED!!! So, to that end I started to make the binding. When Barb M stopped by to pick up her quilt,

SPECTACULAR!!!

she mentioned that she was having trouble pressing her black binding, so I showed her a trick that BG showed me years ago…and will really come in handy for me as well, considering I have over 400 inches of binding to fold! So, sew your binding strips together in your usual fashion on the diagonal and trim your seam to 1/4 ‘’ and press seams open (please don't ask me what that black shadow is on the bottom left corner....I took this picture THREE times...and believe me, my fingers were no where near the front of the camera...but it showed up each time so...oh well).

Press the beginning 6 - 8 inches of your binding in half, wrong sides together:

Now you're going to take a long pin (like a hat pin or maybe a "T" pin) and hook it through a tiny part of your ironing surface (thanks to Larry W ....who made my table top ironing boards, I have great padding to put that pin in):

Snick the raw edge part of your folded binding up against the pin:

Now put the pin into the ironing board again immediately at the other side of the binding (you've now created a space beneath the pin that is only as wide as your folded binding):

Put your hot iron down on the right side of the pin (I'm righthanded. Starting with this point, if you are lefthanded, then reverse everything).

Using your left hand to keep the fabric untwisted and curved the right way for folding:

Pull the fabric under the pin and under the iron with your right hand:

Sometimes I have to pick my iron up, and then put it back down because it shuts off automatically (and quickly) in that position, but that only takes a second and you are on your way again! It took literally about 2 minutes to fold and press over 400 inches (over 11 yards) of binding…

this trick is AWESOME! I finished all of my binding and my secret project just in time to change clothes and be ready for a pick up by Paula. We headed out to MOE's Southwest Grill for Mexican for lunch….yum!!! We both got chicken quesadillas,

and an extra order of queso dip….

OMgoodness…that dip was so yummy! After a quick stop at the post office, I was home by 1:30, ready to dive back into binding. I fired up Miss Scarlett and set her off on quilting, while I started to sew the binding to the wrong side of the bed quilt. Joanne & Miss Anne stopped by a bit later for a slice of my chocolate tart (I can honestly say that this 9 – 9-1/2 inch tart will serve TWELVE people!!! I have been slicing it very thinly as the pieces are VERY rich!)

and we had a good time talking for just a bit before I put my nose back to the grindstone! By the time I left for martini night, I had the binding mostly on one side of the quilt, and finished 6 more rows of quilting on Miss Scarlett. Barb N hosted martini night and for some reason I don’t think I was able to attend last time she did it….I am sure I would have remembered her house….lots and lots of beautiful and precious tchchotckes! Or as Hyacinth Bucket (that’s pronounced bouquet) would say “object de art”. Any other KEEPING UP APPEARANCES fans out there??? Anyway, the food was fabulous: