My Quilty Little Secrets :)

Have you seen Amy's post (and link-up) about her Quilty Secrets?
It got me thinking, and without further ado, here are my top 10 "Quilty Secrets:"

1.  I rarely pin.  But after reading a few other "Quilty Secret" lists, I would say this is more like the norm (well, either that or sewing over pins).  :)

2.  I do most of my cutting with my cutting board on my ironing board or on the floor.  I think I'm supposed to use a hard surface or something?

3. Not really a fan of Cotton+Steel.  Or Liberty.  Or Aneela Hoey.  SORRY!! I've also never really been a fan of scrap quilts. 

4. Sometimes I let the twins scatter my buttons all over my sewing room just so I can have a few extra minutes of sewing time.  Not to mention the fact that letting them watch a few episodes of Dora or Blues Clues every day is becoming alarmingly more common.  I used to try so hard to limit my sewing time to times when they were NOT awake.  And I feel guilty letting them watch so much TV.  But as they get older and take fewer naps (almost none now), it's just SO HARD.  Sometimes I just have to be a bad mom for an hour or so.  ;)  It's for my sanity.

5.  I don't really like the post-wash crinkly look.  I prefer flat an crisp and I don't like the way washing my quilts changes the way the quilting looks.

6.  I press open 90% of the time.  I had a couple of ladies freak out about this once at a sewing night (I was even pressing my HSTs open - gasp!) so I have tried pressing to the side a few times since.  It works okay for me, but I just can't quite get the hang of it.  Also, I love ironing. 

7.  I don't really have UFOs.  I prefer to finish things completely before starting new things.  My to-do list, on the other hand, is quite another story...

8.  Rotary blades and needles - changing them is like pulling teeth.  I don't have a problem cleaning out my machine every now and then, but that's because I do that for free.

9.  I've tried machine stitching binding and was convinced for awhile that it was the way to go because it's so fast.  Then I learned how to stitch binding by hand and realized how much better it looks (at least, compared to MY machine binding).  Now I hand bind EVERYTHING and I love it.

10.  Sometimes I use polyester batting.  I know.  It's really not as bad as others make it seem.  :)



Now how about you?  What are your "Quilty Secrets?"

Wanna see some more?  Check out the link-up HERE.