Strip Sticks!

Oh, no!  Have I turned into one of THOSE bloggers who try and convince you to buy products that someone is paying them to do just that?  No, I don't think so.  I am a self-proclaimed pressing aid collector.  Hams, sleeve roll, point presser and clapper...  And, not only do I own these pressing aids,  I actually use them!  So, when daughter Barb gave me two new pressing aids for Mother's Day, I was so thrilled!  She is a relatively new quilter, and saw these at one of her quilting classes.  I had never seen them before, but knew right away that they would come in very handy!  Weeks Ringle, of the Modern Quilt Studio fame, said on a Craftsy class I took (btw, one of the best classes I have taken online), said they ALWAYS press the seams open on the quilts they make.  Their quilts are precise and beautifully created.  The bad thing about pressing seams open, however, that it is not all that easy to do when the seams are 1/4" wide.  Plus, as you press one seam, the others get messed up.  The Strip Sticks that Barb gave me, solve those problems.  They are long fabric covered pressing sticks, in two sizes,  that elevate the seam you are pressing, so that other seams don't get out of whack.  It helps, also, in getting those seams really pressed fully open.  In the Patchwork America quilt I am making, with the over 2000 little squares, the Strip Sticks are being put to very good use.  The top picture is a bit hard to see, but you can sort of make out the seams pressed open on the quilt so far.  The bottom picture is from the Strip Stick web here.  I guess old dogs CAN learn new tricks!  Thanks again, Barb!  Jerilynn