to quilt or not to quilt

Today Kate helped me with the art quilts I'm making for her little quilt swap. Tomorrow is the deadline, so I really needed to get her advice and finish them. I was trying to figure out how to add a wide binding which would have Pellon inside it to make it stand out like a frame. The way I was trying would have worked, I think, but was not going to be easy. Kate suggested an easier way and I have now finished all the sewing on one of the quilts. I will do the other one tomorrow. There is a lot of hand sewing to put on the binding and I don't exactly enjoy that, especially since I am using Kate's thimble which is too big for me. I finally wrapped my finger with masking tape to keep the thimble on. The final touches, after all the stitching is done will be to add some little animals and an elf which I made from Fimo. I will post photos when they are done. Kate says the quilts are good enough to put into the swap. I almost hate to give them away, but I can always make similar ones. And I'm looking forward to getting a lovely art quilt made by someone else.

Kate's iron burned itself up today. It was weird. I was sewing and heard this odd popping noise, rather like popcorn or the kids popping bubble wrap. Then I smelled smoke! Boy did it stink! We can't figure out why the iron did this, as it is supposed to turn itself off if it overheats. Of course, the warranty had expired a few months ago. Isn't that always the case? So we went shopping for a new iron. A cheap one this time. Kate has very bad luck with irons and has to replace them every few years, so she is not buying any more expensive ones. Mine turns itself off if I don't pick it up and use it after 10 minutes or so. Hopefully, that will prevent problems like we had today.