A little tiny finish

In the spring I ordered these treats from Bird Brain Designs as an easter present for myself. I haven't tried the perle floss yet - I'm still a DMC user! I promise to try it on my next project and see how it works. I first saw Darlene's completed sampler on her blog called Quilting Daze and loved it. I stitched a small block of the Easter Sampler design for a hand stitching demo and it has been sitting patiently waiting for me to do something with it. This photo is a little yellowish, but here is the hand stitching completed.

I decided to make one of my favorite paper pieced patterns for the border. It's just a simple design, but I really enjoy sewing it. I taught this as a class in the fall, but I don't see any photos of it on my blog - hmmm, don't know if I forgot to post those? I'll look for those photos and post them tomorrow if I find them.

Anyway, here is a photo of trying to figure out what the size of the border should be and how many spikes I will need in the pattern. It looks much bigger in these photos than it really is...the finished size is just a bit bigger than 6" square! Once I figured out the math, I strip paper pieced the border pieces, sewed them on the block, and then machine quilted. I stippled the background, and stitched in the ditch around the border spikes.

Then I thought I'd try a new binding technique that I learned from Anne Morrell Robinson at Quilt Canada. I wish I would have taken a photo to remind me how to do it, because here is how my first attempts looked! That's not going to work! I eventually remembered how to do it correctly, and was happy with how the corners layed flat.

So here is the finished project...anybody have an idea for a name for this little cutie????!?!