Nifty Notions #8 Purple Hobbies Binding Wheel

 One day a few weeks ago I was visiting my most loved online quilt shops looking for new to me notions.  As you know I have reviewed several Purple Hobbies products in the last year.  So I decided to pop over to the website to see if there was anything new.   And look what I found.  Isn't it the cutest little Ferris Wheel ever?  Without hesitation it was in my cart and on it's way to Podunk. 

Before the review I want to let you know I don't get paid in anyway to review the Purple Hobbies products.  I don't receive money for you clicking on links.  This is an honest review. 

 Heather of Purple Hobbies has given me a discount code to share with you and that's all I get and really that's not for me it's for you.  You will find the code near the end of this post under Review Results.

  Waiting to use this was so hard but I needed a quilt to put binding on so I had to wait.  Sure I played with it, in and out of the box.  Spinning it, looking at the construction of it.  I even put some odd scrap pieces of binding on it a time or two.  But I didn't cheat.  You will get to see it in use at the sewing machine for the first in todays post and video at the bottom of this post.

Finally the day has arrived.  

My first try loading the Binding Wheel was not successful.  My binding was in a big pile an it caused the binding to pull on the wheel and not flow freely.  So I decided to see if fan folding the binding would help make the loading a little easier.  

Attaching the binding to the wheel is easy after fan folding.  Loading the wheel is easy, just slide it through the slot in the center. 

Notice the binding under the brace at the bottom of the wheel.  This helps to guide the binding as you spin.  

 I should mention I cut my binding 1 3/4" wide then folded it in half.  This is pretty small.  Most bindings are 2.25" or 2.5".  As you can see there's plenty of room for a wider binding.  The instructions state the wheel can hold enough binding for a king size quilt.

And then all I need to do was start spinning.  Using my left and to spin the wheel and my right to guide the binding.  

TADA!  That was fast!  378 inches of binding in less than a minute!

The suggested way to use the Binding Wheel is to set it on the floor.  But I'm going to get a little wild and crazy.  Let's try setting on the table beside the machine.  

It stayed right there the entire time. When I came to the corners of the quilt I would pull out about an extra 18 inches just to be safe.  The wheel never even offered to slide off the table while doing all the shifting and turning of he quilt.  

The wheel spins so freely the slightest little tug and ZOOM, there's more binding ready to be stitched down.  It worked so well I never even tried it on the floor.  But if your tabletop has limited space put it on the floor as suggested.  

1. Cost

$25 - I don't regret my purchase and would buy it again should it somehow break.

  If you use the code PodunkPretties at checkout on the Purple Hobbies website you will receive 20% off your entire cart.  The code expires 12/31/21.  Use it now and/or use it again later in the year. 

2. Ease of Use

Yes, very easy to use.  I was shocked how smoothly the wheel turns.  It made spinning the binding onto the wheel very quick and easy.  I was also pretty amazed that it did not even offer to fall off my sewing table.

3.Efficiency

It took more time to prepare my binding to be put on the quilt.  BUT it made the process of sewing the binding to the quilt much quicker.   No more stepping on the binding or rolling over it with my chair.  No readjusting the binding out of the way.  

Here's a video tutorial for using the Binding Wheel.  As usual, pardon the mishaps and video editing errors.  I'm a one man band and learning.  The video is made for YouTube so there's some information at the being of the video to let new comers get to know me a little.

If you would like to see more of my product reviews click on the Nifty Notions image below or here.  Or in the sidebar of my blog.  This will take you to all the Nifty Notions Reviews starting with the first one to the most current.

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A Box of Surprise and Some Playtime

 Who doesn't love a surprise box of goodies?  I purchased this scrap box of fabric from Daisy Cottage Quilts.  I had no idea what would be in the box.  It was listed as a medium flat rate box of scraps, no fabric pictures were included, just a picture of the box.  But Sharon of Daisy Cottage Quilts plays in my color pallet so I was pretty sure I was going to receive some cute fabric scraps. 

And Sharon did not disappoint.   I was hoping for reds and yellows because they are the colors are use the most and are lacking in my stash right now.  I'm pretty sure I squealed when I saw this print.  I just purchased a FQ of it a couple months ago but I wanted more and now I have it!

As I dug through the box it just kept getting better.  Do you see that?  Pam Kitty prints!   Yes I have these in my stash already but...a gal can never have to many PKM's.  

You can shop her store on Etsy she has a small shop with some yardage, quilt kits and bundles.  

Her Etsy Shop

To get a mystery box you will need to follow her on Instagram.  When she has a de-stash sale she'll let you know when it is and how to purchase.  Word of warning.  She's a very busy woman and sometimes(not all the time) her shipping from Instagram sales takes a week or two to get out the door. But I think it's worth the wait with great de-stash prices.  

Instagram

This is the best scrap box I've ever purchased.  A pretty good amount of low volume prints were included.  The low volume prints will be great for Bonnie Hunter's next mystery quilt in November.   Sharon tossed in one yard of  solid white and 1/2 a yard of a green dot print.  There's a few novelty prints...UGG...but I think they can be incorporated into a Bonnie quilt if I cut them small enough.  You know Bonnie's rule about ugly fabric right?  "If it's still ugly, you just haven't cut it small enough." HA!  Some of my older prints I think would need to be shredded.  HA!

After playing and drooling over my box of goodies for far to long it was time to get busy.  I'm testing and reviewing a new product from Purple Hobbies.  The Binding Wheel review will be posted tomorrow here on my blog and on YouTube. 

Heather from Purple Hobbies is so creative and she loves feedback and ideas for new products.  She offered to make me an affiliate but I declined.   I feel being paid for my opinion would alter my opinion.  Last year she sent me a bunch of products to review.  I received nothing in return other than those products.  When I saw she had this new Binding Wheel I knew I had to try it out, so I ordered it immediately.  This is NOT a free to me product.  I paid full price.(psst...I'll have a discount code for you tomorrow)

If you missed out on my Nifty Notions  reviews click on the image below.  This image with a link is also on the righthand sidebar of my blog.  So you can comeback to my blog anytime and easily find all  the reviews.  

Well it's time to get busy and get some things done because....It's snowing again....YAH!  More playtime outside!⛄❅⛄

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Squaring up and Making a Path

Can you believe it?  A Podunk Picnic is off the quilting frame and ready to be squared up.  I think that was the fasted I've ever quilted a quilt of this size. 70 x 90 or 75 x 90...well it's somewhere close to those numbers.   Sitting for hours sewing the binding on is a well deserved break.

But before squaring up and attaching the binding I need to clear a path for the delivery of packages. The six inches of snowfall has made huge snowdrift on the front walkway and porch. I'm pretty sure the deliveries won't make it to my front porch if the snow isn't cleared.  This didn't take long because the snow is so powdery, it's like shoveling clouds.  This is one time I'm thankful for super cold weather.  Just a few degrees warmer and this would have been a real chore.  The warmer it is the heavier the snow.

The driveway isn't so bad, no drifts out here.  If you look closely at the middle of the drive you can see scrape marks on the top of the snow.  Those were made by me and the snow plow that is attached to the front of the 4-wheeler.  My plan was to clear the drive for Mr. Podunk.  It would take far to long to tell you about all the problems I encountered.  All that really matters is the 4-wheeler died when I went into the road to turn around. 

How was I going to get it out of the road if it doesn't restart?  I suppose I could find a way to pull it with my car?  No, that's not a good idea.  So many things could go wrong there.  More than likely the car would get stuck in the snow.  So I calmed myself and thought through the situation.  Why did it die?  GAS?  I can't see the gas gauge due to its frosted over on the inside of the gauge.  Then I remembered there's a gas reserve, I just need to flip the switch. I said a little mental prayer  "please lord don't let me be on the reserve tank already".   I find the switch that has 3 settings but I can't read them because I don't have my glasses.  All I can do is flip it and try to start.  The first flip of the switch and she didn't start.  The second flip and NO START!   NO NO NO!  This is not happening to me.  So I flip through the different settings again and finally she starts.  Hallelujah!  Let's get this thing out of the road before she dies again.  It was straight back to the garage to park that crazy machine.  I need some coffee and a little quilt therapy. 

Back in my happy place and feeling oh so much better.  In here I know how to make things work.  Let's get this girl squared up and ready for binding. 

To square up the corners of the quilt I'm using Marti Michelle's Diagonal Set Triangle ruler.  It's not meant for this but it works like a charm for the corners.

This ruler is for cutting set in triangles for an on point quilt.  When I purchased it I thought it would be easier and quicker to cut those triangles from strips instead of squares.  I like cutting them from squares.  It's faster and there's no scrap fabric.  

The long edges of the ruler are perfect for squaring up the corners. Sixteen inches from the corner out to the point.

I was pretty happy with the corners, not too much to trim away.  Just a tiny sliver at the very tip.  This is rare for my quilts.  Often my corners become skewed when I baste them down on the quilt frame.  Over the years I've tried so many different tips and tricks to keep this from happening but the one thing that has helped the most is starch.  Heavy starch.  Making the fabric as stiff as paper is best. I like to buy concentrated starch so I can mix it to my desired stiffness.

One down, 3 more go.

After cutting the corner I switch to a 6.5 x 24 ruler for the long straight sides.

It only took about 10 minutes to trim all the way around the quilt.  Now to separate the batting from the scrap fabrics and sort the fabrics.

My backing was made from two different fabrics. I cut them apart and sort them by color and size.

I ended up with quite a bit of scrap bin sizes.  My scrap bins are anything less than a fat quarter.  The larger piece is about 7-8" wide and over 90" long so I'm going to put it in with the FQ's.

And then the smallest pieces are less than one inch wide.  I save these for making rope rugs.  If you have never seen the rope rugs, you can read more about them here.

The smaller pieces of batting and fabric will go into a scrap bag for making my baby girl Khaleesi a new dog bed.  I'm getting pretty close to having enough stuffing I just need to come up with a plan.  Do I go simple or a little more fancy?  Any suggestions on a pet bed pattern?

Khaleesi will not come in when it's time for daddy to come home.  It was about 10 degrees and snowing.  She sat out there for 45 minutes.  

 

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Making Progress and Butter

 BRRR...It's freezing here in Podunk.  A whopping 12 degrees with a feels like temperature of -1.  But inside it's sunny and 70 with the plans of A Podunk Picnic(the name of the quilt) this afternoon.  

This sunny girl should be off the frame today.  If all goes well I'll be hand stitching the binding before this evening.  The plan was to have it off the frame last night but I became a little distracted by the Winter Storm Warning!   Better to be safe than sorry so we made a run to the grocery store just in case the world comes to a complete stop over 4-6 inches of snow. 

While shopping and stocking up for the Apocalyptic snowfall(eyeroll).  I decided to buy this half gallon of Heavy Cream and try my hand at butter making.  I blame YouTube for this impulse buy.  Watching cooking videos is one of my favorite time wasting activities.  I'm not sure what I watched that made YouTube put butter making into the suggested videos for me but they were right, I watched it and loved it.  Those algorithm's know me too well, I find that kind of scary.

The gal in the video used a food processor but I decided to use my stand mixer instead.  Using the stand mixer took a little longer than the food processor but it worked great.  Look how the butter stuck to the whisk!  How neat is that?!  This made the next step a little easier.

Who knew you had to wash butter?  

You're basically kneading the butter to get out any white milky stuff.  Would that be buttermilk?  She said in the video but I don't remember.  Anyway I washed my butter.

Then kept kneading until it stopped releasing water.

Two cups of heavy cream made 6 ounces of butter.  How does it taste?  Like butter but not the butter I like.  It's not as rich as my preferred brand.   Mr. Podunk couldn't tell the difference between his butter(different than my preferred brand) and my homemade butter.  So will I make this again?  Probably not, but it's nice to know how to make it just in case.  It may come in handy someday.

In my opinion Kerrygold butter is the best tasting butter.  It's more expensive ($4.50 for 2 sticks) but worth every penny.  It adds a richer flavor to your food. It definitely makes baked goods better.  I know not everyone is a butter eater or connoisseur but it plays a big roll in my very limited low histamine diet.

 Since it's so important to me and it's so expensive,  I preformed a little taste test a couple of months ago to see if I could find a new yummy butter.  The test was simple, just taking bites of butter.  

The butters tested were 

Land-o-Lakes

 Great Value(Walmart brand)

 Vital Farms

 Challenge

  Land-o-Lakes and Vital Farms were okay, but lacked a rich buttery flavor. 

 

Great Value and Challenge tasted like a chemical.  Is it possible the waxy paper they were wrapped in had leached into the butter? 

 Mr. Podunk said he couldn't tell a difference in any of them.  I guess I'm picky when it comes to butter.

If you're interesting in making butter, here's the video I used to make my butter.

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