Last night Steve was reading yesterday’s post and he decided that it was the perfect time to give me an early Christmas gift. Now I know what the little man is running from!

How many of you have one (or more) of these posable wooden figures? I love mine. I don’t usually draw them, they just live on my desk and keep me company. My wooden guys didn’t make me smile, though, until my (grown) sons started playing with them. 

I basted a couple of quilts last week and thought I’d share a trick with you. Whether you hand or machine quilt, here’s a way to protect the batting at the edges of your quilt while you are quilting. First, run a line of basting stitches not quite 1/4″ away from the raw edge of the top of the quilt. This holds the 3 layers firmly together at the edges.

Trim away the excess batting, leaving about 3/4″ of batting beyond the edge of the quilt top. Trim the backing about 3/4″ away from the edge of the batting.

Fold the backing over the batting. Butt the raw edges of the 2 fabrics together. Baste the backing over the batting. Do this on all four sides of your basted quilt.

You’ll be surprised at how much this simple step will protect the outer edges of your quilt from stretching and fraying as you work. And it cuts down on the amount of lint generated when you machine quilt. 

I found the link to the 50 Strange Buildings of the World on the blog, A Cup Of Jo. These buildings make me smile! 

I heard about this video this week – I’m not very up to date with cool You Tube videos. I thought I’d post this for those of you who haven’t seen it either. The group, Straight No Chaser, has a Christmas album out now called High Spirits. You can buy it at Amazon or on iTunes.

My grandson, Jack, is just over a year old and is no longer content to just sit and play. He wants to be everywhere, all at once! He likes to push buttons on anything electronic – the TV, my computer, the printers, the modem – none are safe. He responds pretty well to “no” but I don’t want to be a constant “no” machine.