What a weekend. Thank God it's Tippy Tuesday!

Well that had to be one of the top 5 worst weekends ever. for those that know all ready, Mom is doing fine now and she's moving forward with cardiologists to determine what needs to be done, if anything. For those that don't, Mom had a medical emergency on Thursday and is now doing fine, but wont be in the store much the next few weeks. Until then, y'all are stuck with Debi and I! :-)

Now, on to cheerier things...it's Tippy Tuesday!

* We all know what a hassle bias binding can be, so whenever you've got enough extra that you could use for another quilt, wrap it gently around a toilet paper tube. Be careful not to stretch it. But that way, it's flat so no need to iron it, gently wrapped so it won't get stretched badly or caught on anything, and it's easy to find and to store.

* If you need a little bit of stabilizer, but don't have any on hand....head to the laundry room and use a USED dryer sheet instead! The fabric softener has all ready dried away, so the sheet is thinner, easier to take out and won't leave any residue on your fabric.

* Personally, I'm not a pre-washer of my fabric simply because I prefer the look of the quilt after it gets quilted, then washed and dried, but this is a great tip anyway and has saved my bacon more than once. Shout Color Catchers are AWESOME. When you wash your fabric/quilt for the first time, dye may come out of your fabric especially if the fabric is a lower quality (think Wal-Mart, JoAnn's), and that dye run-off is just about guaranteed to ruin your fabric and anything else you wash with it. toss in a Color Catcher or two and voila! The dye has run off, but nothing gets stained.

* Orphan/extra blocks make for cute pillows! Add fabric to attain the desired size, choose a back and there you have it!

* Just like with medical sharps, thought for different reasons, used needles, rotary blades and pins can be dangerous to just throw away on their own. For pins and needles, use an old, empty medicine bottle. punch a hole in the lid large enough to fit the pin heads through, and super glue the lid to the bottle. Pins and needles aren't too likely to spill out if dropped, and curious kids won't be able to open the bottle. As for rotary blades, keep an old rotary blade case and mark an "X" or "OLD" on it in permanent marker. That way, the old blades are still contained, and you know that case is not full of new blades.

* Save leftover batting that is at least 9.5" x 9.5" because it can still be used for potholders! You will still want the thermal material in there too, so you don't burn yourself while using them, but that batting helps insulate further.