Our thanks to Georgie Howe for sending us these helpful hints.

To check on whether a fabric is going to bleed, tear a small piece of muslin in half and throw one half in the washer and dryer with the dark fabric and then compare with the other half.

To cut down on fraying, cut the edges with pinking shears, serge the edges or cut off a small corner on each edge.

Stabilize fabric with spray starch when ironing.

When rotary cutting the same size strip again and again, attach a small pile of sticky notes to your ruler so the fabric can be snugged up against the same line each time.

Sew a sample block before starting your quilt to check your accuracy and to make sure you like your color combinations.

Save your sample blocks and when you have enough, sew them together into a crazy patch sampler quilt. Makes a great picnic blanket.

Turn your ironing board around to iron large pieces of fabric.

To make cutting fabric easier, cut through a fabric softener sheet before you start.

Use artists' graphite paper to trace quilting patterns onto your quilt top. It comes in black and white and washes out completely.

Thread cut at an angle will go through the eye of a needle more easily. Don't wet your thread. It absorbs moisture and gets fatter.

A large flashlight under a glass-topped coffee table makes a great light box and never gets too hot.

Throw bonded quilt batting in the dryer on the fluff cycle for five minutes to remove the creases.

When basting your quilt, tape the backing to a tile (or any gridded) floor with masking tape before adding the batting and top. Line everything up and it will stay square throughout the basting process.

When basting, pull a long length of thread halfway through. Two people can use the same thread going in opposite directions and you'll have fewer knots.

Store quilts in progress, and the fabric that accompanies them, in cotton pillow cases rather than plastic bags. Pin one square of the project on the outside to identify it. Hang the pillowcase from a clip-type skirt hanger.

Once your fingers becomes callused, run an emery board across it to smooth and toughen it.

Use fusible thread in the bobbin when sewing on the binding. Just turn and press and the binding will fuse in place. You still need to sew it, but you won't need to pin.

When cutting out a complicated block with many pieces, if you're not ready to sew it together, place the pieces in the block formation on the shiny side of the pieced of freezer paper and press in place with a warm iron. The pieces will stick until you're ready to peel them off and sew them together.

When sewing late into night, choose white over red and M & M's over chocolate covered cherries.